Many years ago, a prophecy was made. It stated that King Arthur would one day return when she was most needed - to bring back peace to the land. Thus, on her tombstone, it was written "Here lies King Arthur - King Once, and King in the Future", or more commonly known, "The Once and Future King".

However, it is never mentioned what "land" she shall return to, does it? Nor does it state that she will return alone.

And lastly, it never states that she would return when the threat had already arrived...

The Serpent Nebula.

The gas and dust from the Nebula creates a thick cloud that extends across a vast distance. While visually pleasing, it obscures sight, both physical and electronic, making it a nightmare for those without proper coordinates.

With no planetary mass around, there exists only one thing that makes the system of interest: The Citadel.

A colossal space station - 45 kilometers in length, 13 kilometers in diameter, and made out of unknown metals.

Built by the Protheans in years long gone, the Citadel is inhabited by over 13 million people of various species. Though heavily run by the three council races, an incredible amount of diversity could be found throughout the entire station, and many of the more influential races owned an embassy within it.

Inside the human embassy, four men in various uniforms sat inside an office, looking over various files on holo-screens, discussing the contents of them in low tones.

Two men wore blue military dress uniforms and had military styled hair cuts, one with dark hair, the other with gray. The third wore what seemed to be a white, futuristic suit, along with dark hair the same length as the other two. The fourth wore an old fashioned white suit, with a brown scarf that contained a flower design on it. Unlike the other three, he had messy shoulder length hair that was almost iridescent in the light.

Captain David Anderson, one of the Alliance's most decorated special forces operatives.

Admiral Steven Hackett, a top ranking official of the Alliance Navy and commanding officer of the Fifth Fleet.

Ambassador Donnel Udina, humanity's second ambassador to the Council races, and responsible for looking after mankind's interests.

And lastly, Admiral Emerys Myrrdin, another top ranking official that had recently been given a spot on the Advisory Board.

After looking at several different profiles on their holo-screens, the man in the futuristic white suit spoke up.

"Well," Udina said hesitantly, "What about Pendragon? She's a spacer, and has lived aboard starships most of her life."

A 3D image came up on the table, soon they were looking at a blonde woman with short hair, standing at attention in a military uniform. To the side of the image, several symbols popped up, showing rank and various statistics.

"Pendragon is a good choice. She comes from a military family," Anderson said approvingly, leaning back in his chair and smiling a little. "Her father and I are good friends. She's adopted, and has a brother that's serving as well."

Udina looked at him with an arched eyebrow, "Showing favoritism are we?"

Anderson's smile turned into a scowl very quickly, "Of course not." he said sharply, "She proved herself in the Blitz. Even after being taken by surprise while on shore leave, she managed to rally a few others soldiers that were there, as well as the colonists, against the invading forces. Considering the colonists were a mixture of species and people that she had never worked with before, I'd say that that is quite an achievement."

"Indeed." Admiral Hacket stated bluntly. "Quite frankly, she's the only reason Elysium is still standing."

"Hmmm, very well." Udina consented. "And I see she's biotic, correct?"

"Yes, she is. It should be noted that she is currently the only human that has been able to utilize the 'Biotic Charge' ability, something that only the Asari have been able to thus far." Anderson smiled fondly once more, "She's a prodigy, and an expert in close up fighting."

"Another point in her favor then." Udina decided. "So, what would you say sets her apart from the others?"

There was a small pause as the two other men thought in silence.

"She's dedicated." Anderson decided. "That, and very talented. She works harder than anybody else on the force, and she's constantly training. Her abilities, her knowledge and execution of tactics, her overwhelming charisma on the battlefield - there's a reason why she's had so much success in her career. While she is able to fight on her own, she excels at leading others."

"Hmmm, very well, she sounds very promising." He turned to another file on his screen. "What about... Emiya? He grew up in the colonies."

The 3D image was replaced with that of a red headed man with kind eyes standing at attention, the statistics and symbols replacing to match this new person.

"He knows how tough it can be out there. His parents were killed when slavers attacked Mindoir." Anderson filled in, looking sadly at the file. "He was... Sixteen when it happened. Resourceful kid. Managed to round up a lot of the kids and other civilians and locked one of the buildings down tight until we managed to get troops over there."

"What about with what happened on Akuze?" Udina asked, "That sort of thing is bound to leave scars."

Anderson gave a small shrug, "Every soldier has scars. Emiya managed to keep most of the unit alive, even if he resorted to... unconventional tactics to do so."

Udina looked at him in concern, "Unconventional tactics? And what were those? The exact methods weren't mentioned in the record."

Admiral Hacket spoke up, "Suicidal tactics" he grunted disapproving, "He figured out that the Thresher Maws relied on vibrations on the surface to hunt. He collected all of the grenades from the men, got what was left of his unit to a rocky outcropping, then drove off while launching grenades. He managed to attract every Thresher Maw in the area."

"The men that survived were all heavily wounded." Anderson cut in, "All were released from military service with full honors due to their injuries. Somehow, Emiya managed to survive. We found him unconscious on top of a Thresher Maw that he had killed. He says he managed to get a full belt of grenades in its mouth, and quite frankly the damage done supports that." he shook his head, "He was extremely lucky that the other Thresher Maw's didn't realize he was there after that."

"I see..." Udina muttered, his eyes wide in surprise. "And he's an Engineer, correct?"

"Yes. He seems to have an instinctual grasp of the stuff." Anderson stated with a fond grin. "When he was first in the army, he was always going around helping fix stuff. It was obvious what field he would go into way before he actually went into it."

"And what would you say sets him apart from the others?", Udina asked the question on his list.

"Similar to Pendragon, Emiya displays a determination that is second to none." Anderson replied, "He trains as hard at his own abilities. He's also well liked by the men he works with, and has left many good impressions on the people he's worked with. When possible, he prefers solo missions though. He can, and has worked within a group before, but he truly excels when he's on his own."

Hacket grunted, "Despite this, we generally force him to work with a group." He said bluntly, "Mostly to keep him from attempting any more suicidal tactics."

"I see..." Udina muttered before looking at his file again, "And are these the types of people we want protecting the galaxy?"

"Yes," Anderson said immediately and without a shred of doubt, "Both Emiya and Pendragon have shown time and time again the lengths they're willing to go to in order to protect others. They inspire people in different ways, and have shown they don't care about race." He looked at all three men, "I honestly don't think we could find better people to represent humanity."

Udina nodded slowly while dismissing the 3D image on the table, "Very well then. Now we just need to figure out which of them to recommend," he murmured.

"Why not recommend both of them?" A young voice asked, causing the other three men to look at him. For the first time that evening Admiral Myrrdin had spoken up.

Twirling a pen in his hand lazily while reading the files in front of him, he looked very much at odds with the other men who appeared more serious.

"Hmph. Perhaps," Udina said sarcastically, "it's because the Council told us that they wanted us to nominate ONE person. Usually that means we give them ONE name."

Myrddin gave a carefree shrug, "So we have two qualified people that they can observe instead of one," he said lightly, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Before anybody else could speak, he quickly spoke up, "And you can relax, there's precedence for this you know."

The other three people immediately paused and looked at the man in confusion, and then at a document he brought up. "The salarians, asari, and turians have all submitted multiple people for a single Spectre examination at one time or another," the man lectured. "While it's unorthodox, and not done very often, it's obvious that it has been done in the past."

Hacket gave Myrddin an arched look, "And you believe that they would be alright with us submitting two candidates?" he asked, to which he received an eager nod.

"Yep! Pendragon and Emiya clearly have different specialties, one with biotics and the other with engineering. One specializes in group tactics and strategy while the other specializes in solo missions and solo combat." He gave them another easy grin, "They complement each other's abilities, and I think it would make for a rather interesting team up."

The other three men looked thoughtful at that, and Udina nodded his acceptance, "The idea has merit," he decided, "And the worst case scenario is the Council gets irritated at us. Since we'll have precedence on our side, there's not much they can do about it. Unless you two have anything against it," He said to Anderson and Hacket, "Then I'll go ahead and make the call."

Anderson shook his head in the negative, and Hacket hummed thoughtfully before looking at Myrddin, "I have just one question." he said, "Have you looked at their psych evaluations?"

The other two men looked confused, and Myrddin tilted his head thoughtfully.

Hacket typed something on his screen and brought up a map of the galaxy and a timeline. "I thought this was interesting," he stated, "But apparently Pendragon and Emiya haven't ever met. In fact, they're often on missions that have put a fair bit of distance between them."

"So?" Udina asked.

It was a valid question. Alliance Space was quite large, and it wouldn't be unusual for two soldiers to never meet.

Hacket shifted in his chair, "They haven't had contact with each other." He repeated, "And yet look at their respective answers to the last question on the evaluation."

With as stressful as their positions could get, both physically and mentally, visits to a psychiatrist were mandatory. The last question that was given was simply 'What keeps you going?'

For Arturia Pendragon, the answer listed was - "I am waiting for somebody important to me."

For Shirou Emiya, the answer listed was - "I am searching for somebody that I once knew."

"Huh!" Myrddin exclaimed with an innocent smile, "Now that's quite the coincidence right there I'd say!"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's very interesting." Udina said impatiently, "But hardly relevant at this time. You can ask them about it later. Do you have any objections to recommending both of them?"

Hacket thought about it while giving a suspicious glance towards Myrddin, who gave another innocent smile, before shaking his head in the negative.

"Alright then," Udina said, "I'll go ahead and make the call."

And with that, three of the men walked out of the office and Udina started making the necessary arrangements.

Once out of sight, Admiral Myrddin leaned against the corridor wall and smiled smugly to himself, a few flowers growing from the cracks in the walls.

It was finally time. A prophecy two thousand years in the making was finally coming to fruition, and a promise made between a Sword and a Sheath will be kept.

He continued walking through the hallway, eventually making his way through the crowds of the Presidium, lost in his own thoughts.

Arturia was no longer a king, and the only responsibilities that she had were those that she placed upon herself. She was able to live a life of her own choosing, away from the meddling of prophecy, even if she wasn't away from the meddling of a certain mage. For that, he was happy for her.

Of course, knowing her, she would feel obligated to help out wherever she could. It was simply a part of who she was, and one of the reasons she was willing to sacrifice so much. For the sake of the happiness of others, she was willing to take on such a thankless burden. Compared to that, her current position was trivial.

Yet even without the title of King, she would need allies. People she could trust and that she could confide in. And who better a person to be by her side than the one whom she had fallen for? A man determined to be a hero, and who strived for so long to reunite with her?

Like her, he was willing to sacrifice much for the happiness of others, especially if SHE was included as one of the 'others'. Without knowing whether he would succeed in finding her, he never gave up hope. In truth, he doubted she could find another that would be as good an ally as he.

As he made it to the docks, he absently walked onto his ship, the Ynys Enlli,making a mental note to himself to make sure that Anderson installed a camera or something on the bridge of the Normandy. He had managed to keep the two in the dark regarding each other so he could see their reactions when they finally reunited, and he wasn't going to miss it now.

Being with Shiro again would put her in a good mood, so he was pretty sure that Arturia wouldn't maim him for that little prank.

As his ship took off, he smiled mischievously. If they hadn't been planning on destroying all of sentient life, he would've felt bad for the Reapers.

Author's Notes:

Hey there! This is an idea that I thought up, and I wanted to see what people thought about it. Do you think it's worth it to continue? Or is the idea 'meh'?

As always, I give thanks to my sister, who was willing to beta read this chapter for me. She is also the one that came up with the title, which I was really struggling with.