If I owned Familiar of Zero, I'd make Henrietta a more consistent and likable character.

If I owned Fate, I'd add more Heroic Spirits who aren't Asian, European, or Waifuan. Where's my Anansi?

Fair warning, Gilgamesh is such a difficult character that this story will take at least two chapters to set up properly. Also, I may not have gotten Gilgamesh's character perfectly correct. There's too many timelines and I haven't watched/read all of them.

This story is a part of my Louise Summons series. The goal of the series is to show what would happen if Louise (from Familiar of Zero) summoned a familiar from another franchise. Differences exist between the Anime, Manga, and LN versions, and those difference are dealt with differently. Timelines are flexible to what serves the story. Character traits are squished together as cleanly as possible. I do a minimal amount of planning for these stories. There is no end goal I want to force the story into. Instead, I want the story to develop as naturally as possible based on character interaction. Familiar of Zero had some potential, but it was wasted on a generic harem story. Let's change that, shall we?

"Looks like Louise failed another spell."

"Her family must be so embarrassed of her."

"Can you believe that she hasn't been expelled yet?"

"With any luck, tomorrow will be her last day."

"Good riddance. She's no better than a commoner."

Louise kept her head high as she did her best to ignore the whispers of her peers. Dark grey soot covered her form from head to toe, but she did not falter. She maintained the perfect image of a young noble lady all the way up to her room.

There, in the privacy of her personal area, did she finally allow her body to slump. Her mind wandered back to the event that had happened prior. Not only had she blown up a classroom while attempting a basic transmutation spell, but she had been forced to walk from the Earth Tower to her dorm room in the ruined clothes, having the result of the attempt on full display.

It wasn't the first time she had made a spectacular failure of herself. From the time she was a child, she had routinely failed to cast any spell correctly. It didn't matter the element nor difficulty of the spell. Every single attempt resulted in a smoky explosion.

Louise was used to be looked down on for her lack of magical ability. Her family members—most of them—were disappointed in her. Her teachers—most of them—thought she was a lost cause. Her classmates—all of them—ridiculed her, rather silently or openly. Many people assumed that the reason Louise held her head high was because she was too proud to realize her mistakes.

While pride was a part of the reason, that was a shallow explanation. Louise kept her chin up because that was the only way she could cope. At least, she reasoned, if she pretended to be unbothered by everyone's painful words, they would hurt less.

So she endured every barb sent her way, standing as unmoved fortress. Only when she was alone did she allow the cracks to show; the façade to break.

"I'll show them," said Louise. Her eyes were watery and red, but no tears from her eyes. Even in the comfort of her room, she wouldn't waste tears on a few petty insults. Instead, she funneled her sadness into furious determination. "I'm not a failure. I'm not a Zero. They'll see."

Louise stood in a large ring with the rest of the second-year student of the Tristan Magic Academy. It was time from the Familiar Summoning Exam. The "exam" was incredibly simple, and there were no records of anyone in the six thousand years of its existence failing it.

Louise could only pray that she wouldn't be the first.

"Are you nervous, Little Louise?"

The girl in question turned and glared at the one who had made the insulting inquiry. "Of course not, Zerbst," she spat. "Are you insinuating that I have reason to be nervous about something as trivial as this?"

Kirche von Zerbst, a tall, tanned, buxom readhead, gave Louise a teasing smile. "Well, after seeing your explosive failure in Mrs. Chevreuse class yesterday, I couldn't help feel concerned for you," she said. "It would be embarrassing if you failed here as well, wouldn't it?"

Louise could tell that the mockery in Kirche's voice was as thick as the balloons on her chest. "I won't fail today," Louise vowed. "I'm going to summon the most powerful familiar Halkegenia has ever seen! It will upstage anything you can summon, you barbarian cow."

Kirche's single visible eye burned with the challenge. "We shall see, little Louise," she said smugly. She flounced her mane of wild red hair as she stalked the crowd and sauntered to her blue-haired midget companion.

As the other girl left, Louise bit her bottom lip. In truth, she was extremely worried. The Familiar Summoning Exam was more of a coming-of-age ceremony than a proper exam, but it was still required for continuing one's magical education. If she failed here, as she had with every attempted spell in her life, her chance to become a proper mage was gone. And since Tristan wasn't a barbaric country like Germania, if she was not a mage, she would lose her right to be a noble.

Louise's fate rested on this exam.

As Louise's peers stepped forward and summoned their familiars, Louise could see that most of the familiars were animals or fairly normal magical creatures. After most of her class had summoned their familiars, the most unusual of the bunch were a giant mole and a bugbear—which, despite its name, was actually a floating eyeball. Assuming she did pass the exam, the bar wasn't too high if she wanted to surpass her classmates.

The bar suddenly jumped when Kirche managed to summon a salamander as her familiar. To make matters worse, her friend, the diminutive Tabitha d'Orleans, summoned a Wind Dragon of all things. Short of summoning a manticore like her mother's, there was precious little Louise could summon to top that.

Finally, it was Louise's turn. The girl stepped forward and took a deep cleansing breath. She remembered the words spoken by her classmates. True to the tradition of the ritual, most students introduced themselves before saying something along the lines of "Pentagon of the five elements, heed my summoning, and bring forth my familiar."

However, Louise could feel that casting the spell that way would not work for her. Every time she had tried to cast a spell as she was instructed, it failed. To have a chance of success with this one, she would have to forge her own path Speaking straight from her heart, she began in a strong voice, "My familiar spirit that exists in the vast universe!"

Students exchanged glances of confusion. While it was not necessary to follow the usual words of the ritual, it was tradition because the words were tried and true. As Louise continued, her deviation stretched further.

"My divine, wise, beautiful, powerful familiar!"

Kirche smirked. "You're really going for it, aren't you, Louise?" Underneath her usual mocking tone was a trace of pride.

Louise could feel something responding to her chant. Her willpower burned in a way she had never experienced before. With renewed vigor, she continued, "By the power of the five elements, appear my servant! Answer my summon!"

The explosion that echoed across the academy and sent a plume of smoky ash into the air arrived to no one's surprise.

The figure who stepped out of it, however, was completely unexpected.

The first that everyone noticed was the gold. Gold hair. Gold earrings. Gold armor from the neck down. The man wore full plate-mail, with a dark grey chainmail visible through the gaps in the plates. A scarlet skirt-like cape flowed from the lower part of his breastplate, covering his lower body except the front and outer sides of his legs. The earrings that hung from his earlobes were simple rings, but they were clearly made of solid gold. His hair was short and spiky, flowing up and around to the back of his head, creating the image of a blond flame on the end of a golden torch.

The gold-clad man looked over the courtyard. It was impossible to gauge what was going inside his mind. His bright red eyes were locked into a searching gaze, evaluating not just the environment, but every single person in it. Every student who met his eyes was force to shirk away. The man's eyes burned the sun, if the sun was a prowling lion.

Eventually, his eyes met Louise's. Seeing the wand in her hand, he smirked. "So, you are the mongrel who dared summoned me?"

Louise was terrified. It was clear that her summon had not only failed to summon a familiar, it had plucked an extremely rich noble. However, her fear did not prevent her from rising to the insult. "I am no mongrel!" she refuted angrily.

The young mage was prepared to lecture the man, richly adorned or not, that insulting another noble was not proper etiquette. However, before she could continue, a small golden portal opened up in the air by the man's shoulder. From it, a small bronze dagger was shot out. The weapon whizzed by Louise's face, cutting a few of her long pink hairs as it flew with dizzying speed. Louise stopped short, a trembling hand reaching up to her face. At first, it appeared that the dagger had missed her face by millimeters. But as Louise gingerly touched her face, a thin line of red began to form on a nigh-invisible gash in her cheek.

Colbert stepped between Louise and the man. A bead of sweat began to form on the professor's bald forehead, but he stood firm as he said, "You will not harm any of my students. Identify yourself!"

"Silence, cur," The gold-clad man ordered. He did not raise his volume one iota, but at the sound of his voice Colbert lost all will to fight. "I have already dirtied one of my treasures on this mongrel. Do not tempt me to stain one of my other treasures with your blood."

The armored blond smirked as Colbert shuffled back, pulling along Louise by the arm. The girl looked like she was in shock, as she kept one hand lightly on the place she had been cut. "Leave the girl," the summoned man ordered. "I have business with her."

Colbert looked like he was about to refuse, but with only a second's hesitation, he dropped Louise's arm and stood back. It was clear that whoever Louise had summoned was powerful. That golden circle did not match any spell Colbert was acquainted with. The dagger suggested earth magic, but Colbert doubted that to be the case. The other man had no wand in his hand, nor any other item that could serve as a substitute. Colbert would assume him to be an elf based on his magic if his perfectly human ears weren't on full display.

Professor Colbert was an experienced veteran, but he couldn't risk turning the Academy into a bloodbath. While it pained him, he would give in to the mans demands if it would avoid bloodshed. He stepped away, keeping his head bowed as he muttered a chant under his breath. He wouldn't be able to stop the summoned man by force, but he could send the Headmaster a signal that something went wrong.

Louise stood before the man she summoned, trembling, too scared to move or speak.

"Who are you, mongrel?" the summoned man asked.

The aura of authority emanating from the man was too much for the girl to handle. "L-Louise Fra-ancoise le Blanc de l-la Valli-liere," Louise stuttered.

"Use your tongue properly or I shall remove it."

Shakily taking a deep breath, Louise said in one breath, "My name is Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere!" She kept her head held up, but did not dare meet the man's eyes. While she wanted to act with dignity, she didn't want to attract any more from her familiar—if she could even call him that.

"An extensive name for a lowly mongrel." Louise bit her tongue to keep from responding to that. "Tell me, do you know who I am?"

Louise's shoulders visibly slumped. Given the man's demeanor, she feared her answer would not please him. "I am afraid not, sir," she said weakly, her gaze falling lower as her confidence began to sink.

The man's golden boots clanked as he stepped towards her. "Do you know of the Holy Grail War?"

Confusion almost caused Louise to raise her head, but fear reminded her that meeting the man's eyes was likely to result in her death. "I am afraid I am not familiar with that war, sir," she answered honestly. "Does it have to do with—"

"I am asking the questions here."

"Yes, sir."

The man grinned, though Louise could not see it. "Such a curious magus you are. You have some bite, but you also know how to show your belly like the dog you are." He could see the tenseness in the girl's body as he spoke, and he enjoyed it. While his summoner could hold back her words, she couldn't control her body's involuntary responses. She wouldn't be his first pick to be a so-called-master—in fact, she'd be pretty low on the list—but she would be passable.

The man turned to the other students, who suddenly flinched and looked away. "Since this mongrel is ignorant of my True Name, I can assume the same can be said for the rest of you." It was worded like a question, but it was an undeniable statement. No student could guess who he was, and none were brave or foolish enough to make a guess. "Very well, I will give you the undisputed honor of my introduction."

The man smiled. It was not kind. It was not cruel. It was far beyond arrogance. This was a smile that demonstrated how high he stood above them. "I am Gilgamesh of Uruk, the King of Heroes!"

It was clear to everyone present that Gilgamesh did not have the disposition of a hero from the stories they were familiar with. To be called the King of Heroes was a rather arbitrary and probably false claim.

It was equally clear that not even an idiot would say so aloud while within his earshot.

Gilgamesh frowned as he looked at the students. "It appears that you mongrels do not know how to act before a king," he said icily.

One by one, the students began to fall to their knees in quick succession. Some of them even fell involuntarily, as they had lost the will to force their knees to hold firm. Colbert, the last one standing, also dipped a knee and bowed to the king.

Gilgamesh looked at them contemplatively. "Slow, but I in my mercy will spare your lives. Your ignorance is of no fault of your own."

"Thank you, your majesty," said Colbert, speaking for everyone. The knuckles wrapped around his staff were white as he could feel the lives of himself and his students hang in the balance. "If it should please your majesty, might I make arrangements for you meet with the ruler of our country? The capital is only a few hours away, and we were not prepared to host such an esteemed individual such as yourself."

"I can see that, mongrel," Gilgamesh said with disgust. He paused a moment, looking thoughtful. "Very well, send word to your king about my arrival. For now…" His gaze turned to Louise, who was kneeling before him with her head bowed. "I will see to her."

Louise could not hide the flinch that came with that declaration. Colbert, noticing this, felt he had to do something to ensure his student's safety. "Miss Valliere is but a student here, your majesty," he said. "If there are any questions you may have, I'm sure that I or the Headmaster—"

"You dare question a king?"

The killing intent Gilgamesh radiated was powerful enough to shut Colbert's jaw with a solid click. For several seconds, everyone waited with bated breath to see what the golden king would do. Eventually, the pressure released. Gilgamesh turned, his cape billowing dramatically as he did so. "Come," he ordered.

Gilgamesh gave no indication of who he was speaking to, but Louise picked up on her cue. Without raising her head, she followed in Gilgamesh's footsteps, staying a respectable several feet behind him. Students practically fell on top of each other while trying to get out of the king's way as he passed through the courtyard.

The King of Heroes came to stop at an open part of the courtyard. "This will do," he declared.

With no hand movement or incantation, a large golden portal sprung into being. Gliding out of the portal was something Louise could identify as an airship, though it didn't resemble any of the models she was familiar with. Airships were normal shaped similarly to sea ships, as air and water travel necessitated a lot of similar features. The most significant distinction airships had was the windstone that allowed them defy gravity and sail through the skies.

Gilgamesh's airship was small and triangular. Easily twice the size of Gilgamesh at its thickest and tapering down the ship's long bow. The color scheme fit with Gilgamesh's aesthetic. The bulk of the airship was gold with blue accents. On the ship's sides, small folded sails were marked with black lines while green filled the gaps. Louise could see only a small hull to put a windstone, and the thin green wings on the side looked like they wouldn't provide enough steering. But when a series of steps popped out from the side of the ship, she followed after Gilgamesh without a word.

Louise could tell that the ship was small on the outside, but standing on top of it, she could truly see how impractically it was designed. The ship's deck, or bridge, was barely the size of a large table. An ornate throne of gold and red took up a sizable amount of space. Additionally, there was no railing anywhere. Assuming this airship could actually fly, Louise would be trapped in close proximity with someone who could kill her on a whim with the danger of falling overboard with the slightest amount of turbulence.

"Don't tell me you're scared of heights," Gilgamesh scoffed as he sat on his throne.

Louise gulped audibly. "I am not, your majesty. I was just, taken aback by your ship. I have never seen anything quite like it before."

"And you will never see any vehicle that equals it in your life," Gilgamesh said. Louise would be tempted to say he sounded proud, but as per usual, everything he said was pronounced as a fact. "Do avoid screaming," the man added.

Louise was about to ask why, and then her heart dropped into her stomach as the ship shot into the air. The ship's small wings snapped out along gold metal spokes, allowing Louise to recognize that they had a butterfly-esque aesthetic to them. With the airship in motion, Louise could recognize that the ship's odd design, while impractical from commercial use, gave it unparalleled speed. Additionally, despite the speed of their near-vertical ascent, Louise didn't feel sick or unsteady, just surprised by the view.

"Incredible," she said breathlessly.

"That it is," Gilgamesh agreed idly. The airship came to a stop high above the academy. From their vantage point, they could see all of the surrounding area. The pentagon-shaped walls of the academy. The stables and ranch right outside the academy. Count Mott's manor down the road. And of course, the capital city of Tristan. Even with the distance, Louise could still make out the towers of the royal castle.

Gilgasmesh rose from his throne to join Louise at the end of the ship's incredibly small bridge. "As I suspected, this world is not the garden I once owned."

Louise turned to Gilgamesh who had an almost saddened look on his face. "Is something wrong, your majesty?" she asked. It had been less then ten minutes since she had summoned Gilgamesh, but she felt like he wasn't a person to easily show his vulnerable side. Much like herself.

"Wrong would imply that I am not in complete control of the situation."

Louise winced, but Gilgamesh didn't look angry. Instead, it seemed that he had given the answer out of reflex, as his focus was stretched out over the view Tristan. Louise took a chance to follow his eyes, but she could see nothing except the endless horizon. "May I ask why you asked for me specifically?" she risked a question.

"You may," the king replied, not looking away from the view before him. "Tell me, magus, what do you know about Heroic Spirits?"

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean, your majesty," Louise replied hesitantly. "I know of spirits, like the Water Spirit of Lake Lagdorian, but I know of no spirits that are called heroic."

"You truly know nothing." Louise could detect bitter amusement in the gold king's voice. "How amusing. Speak, girl. I can hear you shifting your feet. I have already acknowledged your ignorance and granted your permission to ask questions of me. Do not tempt me to return my favor."

Louise bit the inside of her cheek. Gilgamesh's words were infuriating, but she did not want to pick a fight with a self-proclaimed king with magic she had never seen before. And she was in his personal airship far, far away from anyone who could help her if she had an 'accident'. "Forgive my ignorance, your majesty, but I was wondering what a magus was?"

"What?" For once, Gilgamesh actually sounded surprised. "You mongrels call yourself something different?"

"Um, yes, your majesty," Louise replied. "We're mages."

For a moment Gilgamesh was silent. Louise could tell that his posture was too rigid for him to be at ease. Slowly, Gilgamesh turned around to face her. His eyes burned with intrigue, and something far more deadly. "For your own sake, you should speak truthfully, mongrel," he growled.

"I am," Louise assured him.

His eyes met hers, searching for truth. Captivated by his gaze, despite her fear, Louise found herself unable to pull away. Eventually, Gilgamesh nodded. "Then you do not practice magecraft." Once again, while worded like a question, he pronounced it as a fact.

"W-we do not, your majesty," Louise answered. She was still shaken, but knew Gilgamesh wanted answers promptly. "We practice magic, which the Founder granted us six thousand years ago."

"What an intriguing concept." Louise didn't know what to say to that, so she remained silent. After several long seconds, Gilgamesh spoke again. "Tell me, girl. If you are no magus, and you have no knowledge of the Holy Grail War or Heroic Spirits, how were you able to summon me?"

"I am not entirely sure, your majesty," Louise confessed, bowing low. "I was performing my Familiar Summoning Ceremony to summon a familiar spirit to serve me. I fear my spell went out of control as usual and pulled you from your lands by mistake. You have my most sincere apologies."

Louise didn't hear anything for several seconds, making her wonder if Gilgamesh was debating the best way to kill her. Then, to her surprise, she heard faint huffs of laughter. She kept her head down, but her face burned in shame as Gilgamesh's growing laughter filled the air. The laughter carried a mocking tone, but it sounded like he was more amused than angry. Still, she kept her head down, not wanting to risk shifting his mood in the opposite direction.

"So many magi dedicated their lives to reach the Root, and this child performs a Miracle without any knowledge of what she's doing. Calls it a mistake no less!" Gilgamesh cackled. "Girl, your summoning was crude and incomplete, but you have showed more promise than those useless magi. You have also provided me great amusement." He snapped his armored fingers. "I have decided. You will serve as my vassal."

Louise paled. She knew that her next words could easily offend Gilgamesh, but she felt compelled to say them anyway. "I am honored, your majesty," she said, carefully minding her words and tone. "But I am afraid that I have already dedicated my allegiance to the ruler of this land, Princess Henrietta."

At this, Gilgamesh's laughter abruptly stopped. Once again, Louise feared that her life was going to end then and there. However, while keeping her head bowed, she raised her gaze to meet Gilgamesh. Pink stared into red, fearful, but steadfast.

After a moment that lasted a far too long for Louise's liking, Gilgamesh nodded. "If you were a resident of my garden, I would be most displeased with you," he said casually, causing Louise to blanch. "However, seeing this is not my domain, I will forgive your impudence this time."

"You are too kind, your majesty." Louise finally allowed herself to breath. Her heart was pounding and her head throbbed. The intensity that Gilgamesh could produce far exceeded anything she had felt before. Louise had thought that her mother's presence could be overbearing, but when it came Gilgamesh's aura, it felt like an invisible hand squeezing her from all sides. Just who was this man?

"Indeed, I am far kinder than your kind deserve," Gilgamesh agreed. "Now, where can I find this Princess?"

"In the capital," Louise replied, pointing to it. "The castle is where the royal family resides."

"Then that is our destination," Gilgamesh declared. At once, the ship began to turn, pointing toward the capital city.

"B-but Mister Colbert's messengers haven't reached the palace yet!" Louise clamped a hand over her mouth as Gilgamesh's head slowly turned to her. "My apologies, your majesty. I spoke out of turn."

"That you did," Gilgamesh acknowledged. "Do not let it happen again. Now…" A vicious sneer spread across Gilgamesh's face. "Let me see what sort of figure inspires you enough to reject a king such as I!"

Gilgamesh is a royal pain in the patooshie.

People keep requesting various overpowered people to be summoned by Louise. I wrote a story for Godzilla, showing the problems of a familiar that is too large and impracticable to FIT in the story. Now here's Gilgamesh, showing what happens when a gold-clad arse of OPness shows up. It took me months to figure out a plot line where he didn't commit mass homicide soon after his summoning!

I appreciate suggestions, and I'm compiling a full list at some point so I can post it on my profile to show what I'm working on and what I've rejected. But hopefully the King of Monsters and the King of Heroes show the difficulty in summoning people who fit quite poorly in the universe. Unless y'all wanna see a murder spree on something, then I'll go ahead and summon Darkseid or someone equally as terrifying. High body counts make for high views(?)

If anyone is concerned about my portrayal of Gilgamesh, don't be afraid to tell me. He was a balancing act since he had multiple variations, but his Archer self is the one most people are familiar with. Hopefully the next chapter will have a good payoff for this chapter's confusing partial introduction.

EDIT: I rushed to get this chapter done for this upload slot, and it showed. Gilgamesh is one of the hardest character's I've attempted to write. Thanks to everyone who provide criticism during this chapter's debut 24 hours!

Reviews are good. Criticism is appreciated. Summon suggestions sometimes lead to stories like these! Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!