A/N: Happy Holidays~!

Sorry if this seems short; aiming for a double update today; this and Not My Chaos a little later. Hope it makes people smile. Now then!

*sees Tiamat in FGO Arcade*

I will never, EVER forgive the Arcade! NEVAH!

That said, rejoice, for it gave me the kick to update this...

As ever, this story remains under the "Embers" rule for the time being. If folks don't like it, poof! Gone and deleted, once and for all and forever.I'm working two jobs, trying to keep a roof over my family's head, and at the end of the day this is very much a HOBBY. I simply don't have time to write a story no one likes, and feedback sustains me... So speak up! Make yourselves heard! I'd really rather not do erase anything, but I have so little time on my hands these days...it feels like I'm going mad...

Now for your questions. Lets keep it brief this time and get right into things.

Q: What music do you listen to while writing?

A: It varies. Case in point, I listened to Kekkai from Blue Exorcist while writing the second half of this chapter.

Q: Have you abandoned Fate?!

A: I have not. I'm doing research, collecting data- SO MANY NEW SERVANTS!- and writing out arcs. Rememer, the "A Most Unlikely" series was written back when I had a team. I'm alone now. You all know what COVID did to us. Those who didn't get sick went their separate ways. A lot of us got taken down in the purge, too...T_T

For that matter, I haven't abandoned my One Piece or Bloodborne stuff either. Those are niche stories, and far less popular than my main tales...

Q: Do you use beta readers?

A: On occasion, and only for the really long chapters. We're talking the 7k+ ones. Where are those you ask? They're few and far between these days, but make no mistake, we'll soon see a return to the longer chapters. Sooner than you think...

Q: You've see Tiamat in FGO Arcade, yes?

Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy.

A: Well, I was already planning something like this, but I suppose its canon now, soooo...

Q: Just how many rogue servants are wandering around?!

A: More than you think, less than you expect. It stands to reason a few would disagree with him, but others...

...well, some servants are outright antagonistic.

Q: Gilgamesh, no! Bad Gil! Go sit in the corner!

A: You wanna tell him that? Because I won't. Remember how powerful he is? No?

LET ME REMIND YOU.

Alright, I've kept you waiting long enough.

As ever, I own no quotes, jokes, laughs, references, memes, or themes. Not a wit nor a one.

Now then, I do hope you're prepared. This chapter doesn't pull its punches. What's that?

"I. Will. Protect."

~Beast.

To be a Mother

It was a Shadow Servant. Caster class.

Such was Naruto's first thought as water around the bridge began to seethe at a fever pitch; a proverbial left to boil. Wood and stone creaked beneath them and the mist seemed to grow heavier somehow, thicker than before, spiraling onward and upward into a thick miasma that seemed to grow denser with each passing moment. All the while Gatou screamed. Bones snapped. Blood ran from his eyes. Black light burst from the little man's every orifice as his body writhed and twisted, becoming something it wasn't meant to be.

Great teeming tentacles burst from the deep to lash at the bridge, nearly sending everyone spilling into the drink.

Few could withstand the power of a Servant and emerge unscathed. This had Gilgamesh written all over it.

"Power!" the former businessman rejoiced, flinging up his newly-robed arms. "Unlimited power! Nothing can stop me now...

"Snrk."

Someone laughed. Gatou rounded on the sound. ...why are you laughing?!"

"Because," Medea smiled primly at him, "You think that's strength. How unsightly."

"I know, right?!" Nobunaga continued to cackle at him. "Gilles?" The Archer scoffed. "That's the Card he gave you?! Weakling!"

"You dare mock me?!"

Naruto was only just beginning to laugh when his sixth sense shrieked a waning. Gatou howled at him, wild and devoid of all reason.

"I don't have to kill them! I just have to kill you!"

Dark light scythe through the air in a beam of coruscating light.

"Move!"

Nobunaga slammed him aside. Someone leaped in front of her to take the hit.

"No."

Tiamat raised a hand.

Her body was swallowed up by the dark.

(.0.0.0.)

"Snrk...!"

Gilgamesh laughed.

It was a harsh sound, rich and indulgent, a cackle heard by the heavens themselves as he threw his head back and laughed from the far shore. His very body shook with mirth; so much so that he actually had to clamp a hand to his forehead in a vain attempt to stave off his own merriment. Unexpected! How truly unexpected! He found much to be amusing in this world. But this? This was a surprise.

He hadn't intended this as a test. But perhaps it had played out well enough.

"Hahahah!" he guffawed one last time, wiping a mirthful tear from his eye. "So that's how it is! I see, I see!"

Rather than face the Servants arrayed against him, he vanished into the ether.

"Continue to entertain me, Mongrel...

(.0.0.0.)

Smoke spilled across the bridge, carrying with it the ashes of a dead servant.

Naruto barely noticed any of it; if only because his attention was decidedly elsewhere. Trembling hands reached out to cup a fallen fragment of a broken horn at his feet. Quivering fingers curled around it, shaking now as it crumbled away into duet. Shattered. She'd been blown apart, her temporary body broken like so much glass. Gone. Just like that. It wasn't fair.

And their enemy had the audacity to laugh, to mock him in his grief. "One down!"

An ember of rage sparked to life in his gut.

No.

This would not stand.

No, no.

This was wholly, utterly inexcusable.

No, no, no.

This demanded retribution-no, vengeance.

He dragged himself upright, heedless of Nobunaga's protest. Someone -Medea?- said something, but her words fell on deaf ears. Numb feet dragged him forward. A tentacle flicked out at him; he caught it in a clawed hand, tore it free and whipped it at Gatou. It struck the portly man and sent him sprawling with a squeal. Even with his new powers, he was nothing. Naruto closed with him, uncaring as a stray spell rent his cheek and tore a bloody gouge there.

Gatou shrieked. "Why won't you die?!"

"You...first."

Firm hands closed around his throat and hoisted him into the air. Squeezed. He didn't need a Servant for this. Did want one. He'd strangle this little bastard with his own two hands...!

"Ahhh~?"

A soft voice brought Naruto up short...as an unfamiliar figure appeared before him in the smoke.

Bare feet padded across the stone. Red eyes faded back to blue. "What in the...?"

Something tapped his shoulder. Hoping against hope, he dared to turn.

And he saw.

She looked...young. Slender and tall yet younger than she'd been before; pale blue hair trailing loosely behind her horns to match her a off colored dress. She didn't so much walk as she did glide across the bridge. Hers was the form one might expect of a girl taking their first steps into adolescence, as if she'd been reborn in a different form entirely. He barely felt half the drain one might expect from a true Beast. Her eyes -Tiamat's eyes!- blinked back at him innocuously, utterly unafraid of the tainted chakra coursing through his veins.

His hands lost their grip. Gatou crashed to the floor, wasted and gasping for air.

"Um...Tia?"

"Ah?" She touched both hands to her face, getting a feel for it. "Tia." she whispered, frowned, then said it again, almost too soft to hear. "Tiamat. You gave me a nickname. Tia." she nodded her head slowly, humming to herself. "I like it...

Just like that, the last of her rage guttered out. "You're talking!"

Her eyes widened. "I am?"

"Ha!" Nobunaga crowed! "Called it! She changed her class! Well, maybe not so much changed as regressed to a larva state...

Naruto craned his neck her way, unable to comprehend what she'd just said. "Say what?"

"Don't you get it? All that power was too much for you...unless she reduced herself properly." she pushed herself up, coughing a little as she dusted off her mantle. "So she took on a blank card and forced herself into a new class container! She's not a Ruler, or even an Avenger! She's an...

Gatou shrieked. "STOP IGNORING ME!"

That foul light came on again, only to be swatted aside with a negligible gesture by Tiamat. It struck the water and detonated, birthing a pillar of light. Against the backdrop of that ghastly radiance, she smiled. It was not a terrifying smile, but it rooted them all the same.

...Alter Ego!" Nobunaga clapped in thinly veiled delight. "And she's got full class advantage against Casters! As expected of a former Beast!"

"Yes." she whispered softly. "That's what I am. Alter Ego. Me. I am me." A tiny smile graced her pristine visage. "Are you happy? Now I can fight...!" Her words trailed away as she saw the blood on his face. Those lovely eyes narrowed. "Blood. You're bleeding."

Anko swore a blue streak. "Aaaand just like that, she's triggered."

Across the bridge, Spartacus stilled, his rampage momentarily forgotten for a moment. One of Gatou's men drove a club into the back of his head; for their efforts, they were promptly backhanded into the frothing waters below.

Naruto stiffened as Tiamat reached out to cup his face.

"You're hurt."

"Its just a bit of blood." he argued." I'll be fine."

"No." Maybe he would be, but Tiamat certainly was not. Her eyes promised murder in its most visceral form. She turned slowly, eyeing Gatou, still sprawled at their feet like the retch he was. "You tried to hurt him. You shed his blood." her horns began to glow. Deploying Noble Phantasm."

"Wait, what's you're Noble Phantaaaaaaaaandherewegoagain!"

His words trailed off as Tiamat burst into her true form and thundered upright, looming to the full towering height afforded her by her status as a Beast. Larger still. She loomed over Gatou with intent, eyes alight, toothy maw gaping wide.

"Choose your next words very carefully, little man."

Gatou whimpered. "M-Mercy! I give up! I surrender! I'll tel you everything! Just keep thant thing away from me!

"Wait, we need him alive!" Naruto raised an arm when Tiamat hissed. "Just calm down. We still don't know how he got that card!"

"Calm?! How can I be CALM?! He hurt you! He dies!"

A mighty limb rose, poised to squash the businessman like the gnat he was.

Gatou...well, I suppose it bears repeating. Gatou did not die well.

Tiamat's arm swept down and Gatou ceased to exist.

In his wake, only a crimson stain remained.

So passed a miserable shell of a man.

A/N: And so begins the rise of Alter Ego Tiamat.

Good luck Nobunaga and the rest. You've got some compteition.

As ever, reviews keep me writing. If a chapter doesn't get any...my inspiration dries up.

Soooooo in the Immortal Words of Atlas......Review...Would You Kindly?

Now then...have some potential previews in the meantime.

I await your opinion and feedback.

Sooooooo...which do you like?

(Potential previews!)

Tiamat was a cuddler. Who knew?

Nobunaga bridled. "Hey! Just because you have a proper body now doesn't mean you get to monopolize him!"

"Before you go." Penthesilea fidgeted. "I...have a request."

"Sure, anything you need."

...fight me."

"Eh?"

A finger poked his cheek. "Its just a scratch."

"No, that was black magic. You'll have a scar there, now.

"And?"

"Well, some of us like scars...

R&R~!

~Nz.