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Gilgamesh studied the scene in front of him.
Right before his eyes, there were five dead people, five rotting corpses, with their throats expertly slit. The killings had not taken place within his borders, in fact, they had happened right outside them, but his soldiers and the other guards had been unable to identify the perpetrators of this massacre.
Usually, Gilgamesh gave less than a fleeting thought to whatever happened outside his kingdom. However, as he had already been in the area for the inspection of his borders that he did personally every now and then, and since he had been rather bored, he had decided that he might as well distract himself by seeing what was causing the unrest outside his lands.
He had been feeling strangely restless in his palace, due to the prolonged absence of a certain person, a person who had brilliant green gems as eyes, but he refused to ponder over his unusual pining.
Even though it had been months since he had last seen or heard of her – from a message he had gotten from Iskandar, he knew she had reached him and given him the information he needed about the Einzbern family – she seemed to have acquired a permanent place for herself in his mind.
Slightly annoyed, he firmly refused to let his thoughts linger on her any longer, so he brought forth his previous considerations. He was supposed to check on his borders, consequently he had gone to do precisely that; during his tour, when he had reached this area, he had noticed that the soldiers were perplexed and kept talking about some mysterious deaths, therefore he had deigned to give his attention to the matter – and he was now examining the place.
The scene was unusually spotless and there was no unnecessary spillage of blood around either. There did not seem to have been struggles, no sign of torture on the dead, no humiliation inflicted on the bodies; they had been killed with clean cuts on their throats, caused by a sharp blade and precise strikes, and while they had not been mutilated afterwards, they had been left to rot.
A messenger came, claiming that the bodies had been identified as those of the bandits and renowned brutal murderers who had been raiding villages in the past few months. They had never dared cross the borders of Uruk – of course they wouldn’t dare, Gilgamesh thought dismissively – but they had been spreading terror with their thieving, murdering, destroying, setting houses on fire and occasionally using violence on the people.
Now they were dead, and would not be able to harm anyone ever again–
Gilgamesh’s eyes would have widened, had he not managed to stop himself in time. His gaze swept over the corpses once again.
The clean and efficient killings. The neat scene that held no degradation for the dead bodies. The fact that they were extremely dangerous people and had been terrorizing innocents.
The signs were all there… how could he have missed it before? How could it have taken him so long to recognize the deadly work of the woman he couldn’t wait to see again, whose firm green eyes refused to leave his dreams and whose heart he yearned for every second of every day?
A large smirk threatened to appear on Gilgamesh’s face, but he held it back.
“Saber,” he almost purred, voice barely above a whisper, his crimson eyes flashing.
This was her work.
But…
He suddenly walked over to the corpses and observed them carefully. He would not lower himself to touch those disgusting mongrels, as they were unworthy of his consideration, but there was no need for such a thing to realize that they had not been dead for very long.
His heartbeat increased, and he almost – almost – smirked again.
She was not far.
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Arturia held her breath, retreating further into the shadows. It would not do for the city guards to catch her.
She was going to have to wait a few more hours, until things quieted down and she would be able to use the darkness to her advantage; stealthily creeping out of the city before dawn, she could then start following her new target on the next day already.
Grimacing slightly, she thought about her successful execution of the five murderers from just a little while prior. Arturia never did, and never would allow herself to smile in satisfaction. She was never going to be fond of killing, and no matter how much those monsters had deserved their death, she was not going to rejoice.
She had much more work to do; once a threat was disposed, there was another one to take care of.
It also didn’t help that those bandits had been just outside the borders of Uruk, and merely thinking of that place had the power of unsettling her, for she remembered all too well who its king was.
She inwardly berated herself. She was more mature than this; she would not allow him to occupy her thoughts to the point of distraction – even if that meant that she could not prevent him from being in her mind in the first place.
Finally, she realized, the atmosphere around her had started to change. The streets were becoming more silent sooner than expected as people were beginning to go back to their homes.
Seeing her chance, she leapt from the shadows, aiming for the nearest city gates.
An arm suddenly grabbed her around the waist, while a hand went to cover her mouth to prevent every unlikely intention she might have had of screaming out. The unexpected rough slamming of her body against something stony hard knocked the air out of her lungs, and she gasped sharply, the sound stifled by the person’s hand.
The unknown attacker firmly caged her, pushing her against the heavy wall with his entire form; she could not see his face because it was covered by a dark hood, but thanks to the closeness she could clearly guess from his build that it was a male. She immediately began to struggle to free herself, managing to land a kick that, from his flinch, appeared to have been rather painful.
But he did not release her, instead acting faster than she had expected in catching her wrists as she was trying to take out her dagger. He leaned forward, and his lips were suddenly next to her ear.
His voice was low, harsh, and slightly breathless.
“What a warm greeting, Arturia.”
Her eyes widened. If she had not immediately recognized his voice, hearing her real name was enough to lay all her doubts to rest, because there was only one person who knew her identity, and she stilled in his grasp, her movements frozen.
“…Gilgamesh?” she whispered in disbelief.
She attempted to free her hands, but as he was still holding them securely, she could only manage to pull one out. Rapidly but with a hint of hesitation as well, she reached for his hood and pulled it back.
His golden hair, perfectly sculpted features and crimson eyes were there to welcome her, and her own eyes widened even more.
“What are you doing here?”
He smirked, his eyes staring at her with great intensity, as if he couldn’t bear to look away and wanted to see right into her soul.
“I could ask you the same, incautious Saber. After killing those filthy creatures, you should have left right away instead of lingering around.”
She was silent, and from just that, he was able to immediately guess, continuing where he left off, “There were other people in need of your help, weren’t there?”
Again she was silent, and that was answer enough. He valiantly suppressed a sigh, knowing that it was useless to waste his time in berating her, since such a behaviour was part of her nature.
Taking her by surprise, however, he then leaned forward, releasing her other hand to let his fingers come up to touch her cheek, her neck, and her tightly braided blonde locks.
“Come back to Uruk,” he told her, his eyes so close to hers that she almost felt hypnotized by them.
She did not seem to be entirely at ease under his touch though, and when he noticed, he pulled back just a little.
He did not give her the time to compose herself and in fact made her freeze by adding, “Don’t tell me you didn’t miss me.”
Obviously a bit more comfortable with some space between them, she stared now straight back at him, her expression wary as she took a few steps away from the wall.
“It’s only been eight months,” she pointed out, observing his reaction closely.
He looked slightly disappointed, his hands reaching for her again, attempting to touch her cheeks lightly, but she moved to the side, avoiding the contact and creating more distance between them.
“You haven’t decided yet,” he deduced, staring at her intently.
She did not move, did not even tilt her head to the side, simply holding his gaze in spite of the darkness.
“There’s still four months, Gilgamesh. Your terms were clear, and I gave you my word that before a full year passed, I would make my decision.”
She took another few steps back, ready to let the darkness swallow her, in order to be finally able to reach the city gates and leave, but then seemed to reconsider.
Abruptly, she came closer to him again, her small yet determined hand coming up to touch his cheek fleetingly, in the same vein of the gesture he had meant to do himself but that she had not allowed.
“Four months,” she repeated, her green eyes locked onto his crimson ones, letting him in, openly permitting him to read her soul with just that one look.
As she turned around and soundlessly disappeared in the shadows, Gilgamesh couldn’t help himself – he stared after her, and he smiled.
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