Well here we go! First chapter of my GilgameshXHeroine story! ^-^ I'll try to update as fast as possible but if not, winter break is when I'll be churning out chapters left and right for you guys! ^-^ Some notes before you start reading though:
1. The events in this story takes place after what happens in Rosemary for a Forgotten Tomorrow(with the parts relating to Gilgamesh. No, you do not have to read that story before this one as it will be explained later on but people who have probably would understand bits of what is going on right away.
2. Because it is part of the same "verse", the name for the heroine is not Hakuno but Hikaru so it keeps things consistent.
I think that covers everything... And finally, personal thanks to The Fox Knight for helping me out with the title among other things! ^-^
Gilgamesh walked down the street with his hands in the pockets of his pants. He looked around in boredom at humans that went about their business around him. They were all busy in their own worlds. How boring. It was like the Grail War at the moment. So boring. Heck, it hadn't even begun yet.
He passed another street, almost bumping into a human. He made a face as the human hurried past him after a quick glance. It was almost time for him to head back. Tokiomi was such a bore. He wanted to stick by the rules no matter what. That was no fun at all. And to add insult to injury, there was nothing interesting out here. Nothing at all.
Something bumped against his leg. Again!? He looked down in disgust. It was a human girl-child. She had to be around seven years old. Her brown eyes were huge, raw and red. Long brown hair was tied into twin braids. She stared up at him with tears free-flowing down her chubby face.
He curled his nose in disgust. Ugh. Normal humans were horrible, this was even worse. He was about to walk away from the sniveling, disgusting child but something about her stopped him. There was something about this sniveling, crying child that he could not put his finger on that made him kneel to her height. "Stop crying," he snapped.
She rubbed her eyes as she stared at him. "But…but…" she blubbered. "Mommy is missing."
What was with this kid? She was staring at him like she expected him to help her find her mother. Ugh, he wished she would stop staring at him like that. "You need to be a Queen and stop crying," he said as he put his hand on her head. What the hell am I doing? he wondered. "Queens don't cry. They hold their head high. So stop crying!" he finished. He could not think with her making those stupid noises.
The girl nodded and puffed out her chest. The tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes but she was obviously fighting against any more of them leaking out. "Yeah! I'll be strong! I…I'll be a queen!"
Gilgamesh had to crack a smile at her enthusiasm. "Yes. Just like that." Where was this girl's mother? He stood and looked around but he didn't see anyone that vaguely looked like the little girl by his feet. "Your mother should have been looking after you better." He did not have time for this. Where was this kid's mother?
"Mommy is fine," she protested with a pout. She crossed her arms and stared up at him, straight in the eye. If he hadn't seen a couple of seconds before he would have never known that this girl had been crying a few moments before. "I just wandered away a bit. I can find Mommy again!" She blinked as if she realized something. "Your hair is blond!" Her eyes widened. "You speak Japanese good for someone from far away!"
What in the world was with this kid? He smirked at her and laughed. "I'll have you know, I am Gilgamesh! There is nothing I cannot do."
She giggled. "Giggle-kun!"
Wait what? He stared at the girl. "Did…did you just call me…'Giggle-kun'?" What kind of insult was that?! How dare this little girl call him that!?
"Yeah!" she replied happily, like she could not sense the inner rage tumbling through the golden Servant. "Cause you laugh funny! And you made me stop crying and made me giggle! So you are Giggle-kun!"
He stared down at her. What was with this girl? She was insulting him but at the same time she wasn't at all. She was…interesting. He opened his mouth to ask something else of her but she had turned away, having obviously spotted something.
"Mommy!" The girl ran away from Gilgamesh's side to a young woman who looked almost like her. Her mother said something to her and the girl winced. A grin was on her face though so whatever it was probably wasn't bad. She slipped her hand into her mother's and waved goodbye to Gilgamesh. "Bye Giggle-kun! Thank you!"
He waved goodbye as the mother dipped her head to Gilgamesh before she began dragging her daughter away. She looked back at Gilgamesh. Her eyes never left his crimson ones until mother and daughter turned the corner and was gone.
Gilgamesh put his hands his pockets. That was interesting to say in the least. He turned and headed back to Tokiomi's place.
"Hikaruuuuu!"
Hikaru jerked forward in her chair. The front of it crashed down as she had been leaning back on it a few moments before. She glared up at her friend, Nagisa, who just giggled in response. "Wow Hikaru. Nice save there."
Hikaru rolled her eyes and got up.
"What in the world are you two doing?" sighed Yumi. She shook her head as she stared at her two best friends. "You're not trying to kill Hikaru again are you?"
"Of course not!" protested Nagisa. "I would never do something like that. Class just ended. It would be a shame to kill her now! Anyway, Hikaru, there's a new cake shop that opened downtown. You wanna go?"
Hikaru shook her head and gave her friends the most apologetic look she could muster. "Not today guys. I have things to do."
"Ahh man, are you having private lessons again tonight?" whined Nagisa. "You haven't been able to hang out with us in the past couple of days!"
"Come on Nagisa, don't get sour. Hikaru is busy." Yumi grabbed Nagisa's arm and tugged her away. "Don't worry. I'll take care of her. You just focus on your studies."
"Why does she need to take private lessons about English and other boring stuff like that? We learn about it in school!" whined Nagisa as she was dragged out of the classroom.
Hikaru rolled her eyes again. If only it was actually that. She put away her schoolbooks and got to her feet. She bid farewell to various people in the classroom before she headed outside. She almost bumped into Rin Tohsaka as she stepped out of the doorway.
"Sorry," Hikaru said quickly to the girl that transferred only a couple days before.
"It's alright," replied Rin with a flip of her hair as she walked past Hikaru with not another word. Tohsakas. Just because they were a great magus house they thought they were all that and the most important people in the world.
Hikaru walked in the opposite direction of Rin and headed for the stairs to the first floor. After grabbing her shoes at the shoe locker, she headed out into the city. She hated having to lie to Yumi and Nagisa but they had no idea that she was a magus of the Kishinami household. She wasn't heading back home now though.
For the past couple of days she had been sensing that something was wrong in the city. There were odd prana spikes every now and then along with multiple gas leaks and many deaths. She knew they were not caused by gas. There was something magical going on in the city and she needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was for her own curiosity's sake. It was times like this she wished her aunt had magic circuits. Hikaru hated being out of the loop in the magus world but what other choice did she have? She was not going to abandon Aunt Nomi now. All it would take to find out the answer was a bit of leg work. At least, that's what she thought a couple days ago.
With that thought in mind she headed for an office building a quick train ride away that had been on the news that morning. When she was near the building she saw police tape surrounding the area. Police officers were scattered along the perimeter. Thankfully she was not the only one curious to what had happened. The last one she had visited, she had been the only person there and the police had been watching her the whole time she was there with an evil eye.
She walked into the crowd and began focusing on the prana in the area. She picked up on residual prana from the night before. It was different than the previous incident. It was hard for her to explain in words how it was different. She just knew it was.
Following the prana, she walked away from the scene and headed down the street. However, like so many times before the signature disappeared before long. "Damn it," she snapped before backing up a few steps to catch the signature again. Once she found it, she followed it again.
Again.
Disappeared in the same spot. She stomped a foot against the ground in frustration. How many times did this make? Ten? Why do the prana signatures keep disappearing? It couldn't have been due to her limited ability. Then why?
"What could cause this?" she murmured to herself. Again she wished her aunt was in the magus world more. She pushed the thought away. No. That was not fair to Aunt Nomi. She was doing her best to raise Hikaru. She could not be blamed for Hikaru's lack of skill. She just needed to get stronger!
Suddenly the air seemed to feel heavy. She paused as she began tracking the signature. It was different than the signatures she had felt before but it was similar at the same time. And what got her even excited that this was not a trail for her to follow but something happening right now. Whatever was the source of this prana signature was active somewhere close by.
She didn't even need to think as she began running. She followed the prana through a residential district. Her legs began to ache and she reinforced them until they stopped aching. The source paused in certain locations but whatever it was just kept on moving. She still couldn't exactly pinpoint the location. She needed to get closer. The range was still too wide.
Thankfully, the more she ran, the closer she was getting to whatever it was. The range was reducing drastically and she quickened her pace. Close! She was so close!
The moon was rising and the lampposts turned on before she finally reached some sort of destination.
Panting, she rested her hands on her knees as she looked up at the huge church in front of her. The prana source was coming from inside it, she was sure of it. After she caught her breathe she stood and walked to the front door. She rested her hand on the door and hesitated. Was this a good idea? Should she really want to try to get to the bottom of the mystery of the prana?
She shook her head. No. She vowed to herself to find out. There was no backing out now.
She slapped herself on the cheeks before she pushed open the church door. "Hello?" she asked. It was as big on the inside as it was on the outside. It was creepily silent and the only light came from the moon that strained through the huge stain glass windows over her head. The source of the prana was close, she sensed. It was in here somewhere.
She took a deep breath and stepped into the church. Nothing. Not a soul moved or spoke. She made it to the pew and looked around, her ears on full alert. The source of the prana was close but she still could not locate it exactly. Where was it?
A footstep rang out from behind.
Hikaru whirled around. There was a man with short blond hair, the color of gold, leaning in the doorway she had walked in from. No. Based on the prana radiating off of him and the way he made her skin crawl, this guy was not human. The prana was close to what she was following but at the same time it was vastly different in a way she could not put her finger on. His crimson eyes stared at her in amusement but Hikaru did not feel comforted by that. The way he was looking at her made her skin crawl.
"Well, well, look what…" He trailed off in mid-sentence and they narrowed as he seemed to ponder something as he stared at her for what seemed like forever. A smile lit up his face and he began walking over to her in a fast stride.
Instinctively Hikaru reinforced her arms and legs. Once he was in range, her leg shot out to kick him. He reacted immediately, dodging her blow and at the same time moving closer to her.
"You haven't lost your spark at all," he laughed.
What? Hikaru punched but he dodged that as well. She kicked and punched but he just dodged every single blow. He didn't even bother blocking, like he knew that if he did get hit he would probably go flying from the strength behind the attack.
He reached out and grabbed her wrist. He couldn't hold onto it long as she swung her leg low to try to trip him. He backed up a few steps until he was out of range.
"Alright, we can stop this dance now," he said with a laugh as chains seemed to come out of nowhere and wrap around her arms and legs, promptly pinning her in place.
Hikaru tugged against the chains but even with her reinforcement she could not break free of them. "Who are you?" she snapped as she glared at the golden man head on. There was no way she was going to show fear to this guy, whatever he was. Inwardly though she scrambled through ideas to break free from the chains.
He ignored her question as he approached her. "Don't worry my Queen. I would never want to do this to you if there was no other way to make you listen."
Queen? What the hell was he talking about? Before she could protest and question what he was saying, he leaned in close to her face. Before she could headbutt him, he had pressed his lips against hers.
She could feel something slid down her throat as he kissed her. It was like water but it wasn't. At the same time, the chains around her arms and legs released her. She couldn't even think about attacking him as a sharp pain tore through her left hand.
He stepped back as she clutched her left hand tightly against her chest as she crumpled to the ground. "What the hell did you do to me!?" she snapped as she struggled to blink back tears. Her hand was on fire to the point that all she wanted to do was cut it off.
He did not say anything but put his hands in his pockets and look down at her with curiosity. "Huh, I never thought the favor I got from her would be this powerful."
What the hell was he talking about?
The pain was now subsiding and Hikaru checked her hand, afraid it would be burned or worse. No. It looked completely fine. Except now there was a red tattoo-like marking on the back of her hand. She sucked in a deep breath in shock. No way. It couldn't be. She had read about this in books but this couldn't be rubbed the markings a few times but it would not go away.
"Command seals…" she whispered, finally admitting to what they were. She gazed up at the man who had kissed her and somehow given the seals to her. "But how…What…what are you?"
"Gilgamesh. What are you doing?"
Hikaru turned to see a priest near the pew. If this golden man give her the creeps, this guy just reeked of it. There was something wrong with the way his cold eyes gazed at her. They weren't malice-filled per-say but they did not make her feel welcome.
"We're done Kotomine," said the man, Gilgamesh, in boredom. He held out a hand for Hikaru. She stared at the hand and then at the priest. She scrambled to her feet and Gilgamesh put an arm around her. "I'm going with my Queen now." He grinned. "The eighth Master in the Grail War."
"Woah, woah what!?" cried Hikaru. She reinforced her arms and pulled away from him. It couldn't be. She should have connected that fact when she saw the command seals but a part of her did not want to believe it. "Eighth Master!? Holy Grail War!? I'm not supposed to be in the War!" Her mind flash backed to that time ten years ago. The city torn apart, the dead bodies, the wreckage, the crying. Her chest ached at the thought. No. She could not be a part of any War.
"Gilgamesh, that is impossible," the priest said calmly. "The Grail can only have seven."
"Well, this one has eight," Gilgamesh replied. His eyes narrowed. "And I have gladly become her Servant in this War."
There was more underlying that statement than what was on the surface, Hikaru could tell. The priest sighed and stepped back, whatever fight in him was gone. Or he knew there was no point in fighting."Do what you will."
Gilgamesh turned to Hikaru and put one arm around her shoulder as he began leading her out of the church. She didn't even resist. Between Gilgamesh and that priest, golden-boy looked like the lesser of two evils. Once they were outside though, Hikaru released everything that had been pent up.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" she snapped as she pulled away from him. Why it did seem like he kept on touching her? She rubbed the command seals on her left hand but no matter how hard she rubbed the seals would not go away. "Get this stupid thing off of me. I don't know how you were able to do this without my permission but I refuse to be a Master in this Holy Grail War crap!"
Gilgamesh stared at her in confusion. "What are you talking about Hikaru?"
"How in the world do you know my name!?" Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. She had started the day in order to get an answer to the prana spikes in the city but she never expected it would end up like this. "Never mind." She held out her left hand. "Remove them. Remove these command seals at once. You can't force me to become a Master in this War if I don't want to be, right?" She couldn't remember the rules exactly but that was correct right?
Gilgamesh stared at her hand and then at her. His red eyes seemed genuinely confused. "My Queen, what are you talking about?" He held his head high. "You should be honored that I have chosen you to become my Master in this War. You are the only one that I accept as my Master and Queen."
Hikaru shook her head. What the hell was wrong with this guy!? "No. I don't want to be a Master. I don't want to be a...Queen!" She held up her hand for him to look at. "Plus how in the world did you even do this!? I know that…" She shivered at the thought of him kissing her and rubbed her lips with her hand. "…I know that it is impossible to make someone a Master that way." She blinked. Her head was starting to ache slightly. Great. On top of everything she was getting a headache. This day could not get any worse.
Gilgamesh shrugged. "A certain someone owed me a favor in return for causing me trouble. I decided to use it now." She felt a chill go up her spine as he stared at her like she was prey.
"How in the world do you know me?" she asked, trying to stay on task. "And why do you keep calling me your 'Queen'?" The headache was now getting worse. She blinked and shook her head as she tried to focus her thoughts.
"Because you are my Queen," he replied simply.
"What kind of response is that?" she snapped.
He smiled. "And you are fiery like always."
She paused. The way he had said and that look in his eyes. It was like he was remembering something from long ago. "How do you know me?" she repeated. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. Why did Gilgamesh suddenly seem so blurry? She struggled to grasp onto her thoughts. What in the world did he do to her?
He took a step towards her and caught her before she fell. "What the heck did you do?" Her tongue felt so heavy as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
"This is just a side effect. Don't worry. Sleep now my Queen." He kissed her forehead as her eyes closed and the darkness took her.