"Hey you. You wouldn't happen to be Shirou, aren't you?" A voice said.

Shirou sighed as he knew where that voice came from. "What it is now Merlin?"

As he turned around, he expected to see Merlin and his smug grin on his face. However, instead of Merlin, the person that called him out looked like a male version of Arturia with a few differences. One of which was the armor scheme in which while it looked similar to Arturia's armor, it had a few differences in which the colors were a bit off, there weren't any armor guards on his hands, the design on his chest armor was different, and there was a hood on the back that he was wearing.

"Who are you? You look like Arturia, but different at the same time..."

"Are you talking about my female counterparts?" the voice said.

Shirou was shocked to hear that. "Female counterparts?! Wait, does that mean...?!"

The person cleared his throat and said, "I suppose introductions are in order, are they?" as he unhooded himself, revealing his face. "Please to meet you Shirou, my name is Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table."

Shirou was shocked to hear this. "A male version of Arturia?! And his name is King Arthur?! Well the throne of heroes does connect to all realities of time and space and can summon any heroic spirit over there. But still! Who would have ever thought that there would be a male version of Arturia? Well...guess the history books were actually right for once..."

"Um...are you okay?" Arthur asked.

"Hm? Oh yeah, sorry. Just thinking about something..." Shirou replied as he shook his head. "My name is Emiya Shirou," he said with a bow.

Arthur raised his hand. "It's nice to meet you Emiya Shirou," he said with a smile.

Shirou raised his hand and grabbed Arthur's hand too. "Yeah. Likewise."

As he and Arthur were shaking hands, Shirou asked him, "But how come you know me?"

Arthur chucked. "Well..." he said as his mind went back to what happened earlier...

(A few hours ago...)

Arthur was walking down in Chaldea's hallway, minding his own business. As he was walking down, he noticed Arturia on the table with her head down, moaning about something.

Arthur, being the kind person, decides to check on her to see what's wrong with her.

"My female self, is there something wrong?" Arthur asked Arturia.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing Arthur..." Arturia replied with a moan.

"Are you sure? That tone of yours doesn't seems to support what you're saying."

Arturia let out a sigh. After a few seconds of silence, Arturia decides to speak up. "It's Shirou."

Arthur was confused. "Shirou? Who is Shirou?"

"He's me and my counterparts' scabbard and queen," Arturia replied.

Arthur was surprised at what Arturia just said. "Scabbard? Queen?"

"Yes."

"And Shirou is a man?"

"Yes."

Arthur was surprised to hear this. "Just who is this Shirou that is making my female counterpart like this? And he's a man, yet she calls him his queen...what is the connection between the two?" he thought as he sat down in front of Arturia. "I take it that this Shirou is causing you harm?"

"No. Rather, I'm worried about him."

"What do you mean?"

Arturia let out a sigh. "I'm worried about his safety. Ever since I left him after the Holy Grail War and went to Avalon, my mind hasn't stopped thinking about him. I waited for him for so long in Avalon and then I was summoned here by master. I'll admit, I was sad when I was first brought here since I'll never be able to see him ever again. However, ever since Shirou came here, life has been enjoyable again."

"I see. So how is this making you like this?"

"Well...I worry for his safety because of how much work he does in Chaldea. Even after all those years, he still hasn't changed. However, I fear that he'll overwork himself if he keeps doing it. For example, my Ruler counterpart told me that Shirou fell asleep from nearly overworking himself when he was doing Tristan's job at the casino in Chaldea. What's more, there were times that I fear that I may lose him whenever he would go in a singularity with master without me. Luckily, I can count on my counterparts to make sure he is safe along with Rin and the others. But still..."

"And that's why you're mopping around here? Because you're worried about him?" Arthur asked.

"Well yeah...but that's not the only reason."

"What do you mean?"

Arturia let out a sigh before continuing. "I don't know how he does it, but he somehow attracts the attention of other servants so easily."

"I see...does that make you jealous?"

"Well...it does...a bit," Arturia muttered.

Arthur was silent before thinking, "This amount of emotion from my female counterpart...just how much of an effect does this Shirou have on her?"

After a few moments of silence, Arthur then said, "Do you want me to talk to him about this?"

Arturia looked at Arthur for a moment. "Eh? You? Talking to him?"

"Yeah."

Arturia thought about Arthur's suggestion and said, "All right. But don't scold him too hard though."

"Sure. And what does he look like?"

"Red hair, wears a white kimono, and has a katana on his side."

Arthur smiled. "I got it," he said as he walked out of the room Arturia was in. As he was walking, he thought, "Shirou...just what kind of person are you...?"

(Back to the present...)

"And that's how I knew you," Arthur said.

Shirou was surprised at Arthur's story. "Arturia, you were that worried about me this whole time...?" he thought.

"Um excuse me, are you okay?" Arthur said, snapping Shirou out of his thoughts.

"Oh sorry, I was in my thoughts. Anyways, I suppose you're here to talk to me about something?"

"Yes. Do you mind?"

"No. But right here isn't a good place for a conversation. Let's move to a different location, shall we?"

"That I don't mind."

"Okay then, follow me."

Shirou then led Arthur to his room. As the door shut behind them as they went inside, Shirou then sat on his bed while Arthur sat on one of the chairs in his room. "So...what do you want to talk about?" Shirou asked.

"Well...it's about the relationship that you have with my female self. Do you mind explaining what that was about?"

"Well...I was Arturia's master during the fifth holy grail war in my timeline."

Arthur was surprised. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. During her time as my servant, I would...well...always put myself in dangerous situations," Shirou admitted with an embarrassed look on his face. "There were times where I would put myself in certain-death situations in which would always involve getting myself nearly killed."

"I see...and what was the reason for your actions?"

Shirou let out a small sigh before saying, "To protect Arturia from any harm."

For a moment, Arthur was stunned from what Shirou just said. After all, it's usually the servant's job to protect the master. Not the other way round. "Is that so?" he asked in a tone of interest. "Were you a powerful magus at the time?"

Shirou let out a chuckle. "Nope. I was actually a third-rate magus who can't even do a simple spell at the time."

Arthur was surprised. "What? So you were a magus who couldn't even manage to do a simple spell and yet somehow managed to survive the entirety of your holy grail war?"

"Yes. And I won the war as well."

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

Arthur was shocked to hear that someone who was a complete novice in the ways of magecraft managed to survive the entirety of a holy grail war and win at the same time.

What's more, he actually tried to save his servant, and managed to do so.

And it impressed him.

"Wow. That is impressive. In fact, you remind me of my former master," Arthur said with a smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She was like you in many ways I can ever imagine."

"Is that so? What was her name?"

"Ayaka Saijou."

"I see..."

For a moment, both sides were quiet because they were trying to figure out what to say to the other. Eventually, Shirou broke the silence.

"You know, I have never expected this to happen," Shirou said.

"What?"

"That I would ever meet a male version of Arturia who happened to be named Arthur," Shirou said with a chuckle.

Arthur then chuckled as well. "Really? Is it really that surprising for you?"

"Yeah. I mean, in my timeline, I found out that "King Arthur" was a girl named Arturia during the holy grail war. At that point, I was in shock of the news I received and even wondered if the history books were lying to me at one point. After the holy grail war was over, I got used to it. However, seeing you here just reignited the shock again because there's a world where King Arthur was actually a man. It's like I've been slapped in the face a bunch of times."

"I can't blame you. I was surprised as well."

"Yeah. Not only that, but apparently, the case goes to Mordred as well. Speaking of which, how is she with you?"

"With Mordred?"

"Yes."

"She's a good girl. Head-strong as well."

"I see. Well, I'm glad that you two are getting along," Shirou said with a smile.

"Your welcome. By the way, get this. Imagine my surprise when I found out that my female's counterpart's Merlin was a male."

Shirou was confused. "What? Can you repeat what you just said again?"

Arthur sighed. "Imagine my surprise when I found out that my female's counterpart's Merlin was a male."

Shirou was even more confused hearing Arthur's statement. "Wait...by any chance...is your world's version of Merlin..." he stammered as he pieced it together.

"Yes. In my world, Merlin is a woman."

Shirou did a spitake. "What?! You got to be kidding me!"

"Trust me. As ridiculous as it sounds, the Merlin in my world was a woman."

Shirou was stunned with what Arthur just said. "Wow. That's something I never expected. And I thought finding out that the Merlin of my world was young was a shock...but this...this is just bizarre."

"Yeah. And what's even more weird is that she has the same voice as my female counterparts."

"A female merlin with the voice of Arturia...somehow, I don't want to imagine that..."

Arthur chuckled. "Yeah. Just imagine what would happen if both of our Merlins meet..."

Both Shirou and Arthur shuddered at thought of it. "Okay, now I don't want to imagine that. Just the amount of pranks those two will make..." Shirou said.

"Me neither," Arthur replied a sigh. "Anyways, there's something else I need to tell you about."

"Okay. What is it?"

Arthur cleared his throat before he was about to say what he wanted to say. "Please try to limit yourself from overworking yourself. I'm telling you this for my female's counterparts' sake. She's worried that you'll overwork yourself and will pass out from exhaustion you know. Even though you may be a servant and can handle yourself now, she's still worried about you. Please."

Shirou thought about what Arthur said and replied, "Okay, I'll try to not overwork myself then."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Arthur smiled. "Good. That's all I can ask for."

Shirou sighed as he let out a sigh to get some air.

"By the way, I have one more question."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Why is it that my female counterparts call you their scabbard and queen?"

Shirou sighed again. "Well, it's a long story..." he said as he began the story about how he was called Queen Shirou and their scabbard...

Arturia was walking in Chaldea's hallway. As she was walking, she saw Arthur. She then stopped him for a moment and started talking to him.

"So, did Shirou get the message?" Arturia asked.

"Yes. He promised that he'll keep himself from overworking for you and your counterparts' sake," Arthur replied with a smile.

Arturia smiled back. "Well that's good."

"Yes. By the way, there was one question that I wanted to ask you."

"Sure. What is it?" Arturia asked.

Arthur cleared his throat before saying, "How did you and Shirou meet?"

Arturia smiled. "Well..." she said as she as she began to start telling the story.