Fanfic / Save Scumming? It's on My Character Sheet

Save Scumming? It's on my Character Sheet is a fanfic written by Xorn and is a crossover between Fate/Grand Order and Re:Zero. It is available on Spacebattles, Sufficient Velocity and on Fanfiction.net

Shortly after getting unceremoniously kicked back to Earth, Natsuki Subaru spontaneously combusts. A number of deaths later, he joins the Chaldea Security Organization. And then dies some more.

Tropes:

• An Arm and a Leg: Hassan of the Cursed Arm does this after he hacks off Shaytan's arm, which results in him both losing his Noble Phantasm, and renouncing the title of Hassan-I-Sabbah to become Hanam again.
  • Mordred's leg ends up getting destroyed in one loop, while deflecting a spinning Tarrasque, and sending it flying into the sky. This winds up forcing Subaru to summon another Servant at Prelati's behest when Fafnir is detected incoming their location and Subaru refuses to leave Mordred to buy them time. Unfortunately he winds up with a Foreigner due to Prelati's interference.
• Anyone Can Die: As a result of Subaru's [[Return by Death]], any bad ending to a loop can feature the death of one of Subaru's allies before he bites the dust himself.
• Crazy-Prepared: Cu Chulainn took the precaution of inscribing runes onto himself to return stolen weapons to his hand, after Emiya used Caladbolg at some early point of the Grail War. This wound up paying off, allowing him to summon Gae Bolg to his hand when Emiya used Unlimited Blade Works.
• The Corruption: The Fuyuki Singularity corrupted its contenders in various ways, instead of just turning the majority of them into Shadow Servants. The exact way this corruption works is addressed later in Orleans where Prelati notes that one of the reasons that it's impossible for the Jeanne D'Arc Alter destroying France to be a corrupted Jeanne D'Arc is because blackening brings Servants to the logical conclusion of their personalities and goals and there is no logic that would make Jeanne D'Arc destroy France. In his own words, "If they don't break the hearts of anyone who loved the originals, they aren't real Alters".
  • Saber became Saber Alter, a tyrant who believes that mercy, honour, and dignity are all luxuries a king can't afford, not so dissimilar from the King who refused to allow herself luxuries.
  • Emiya became Emiya Alter, going from a Hero of Justice, willing to use dishonourable methods to protect the many, to an utter machine who would gladly allow innocents to die if it would grant him a clear shot at the perpetrator even refusing to complete The Corruption in order to hide his presence from Flauros and sabotage his and Saber Alter's efforts in the process while also trying to kill Subaru for good by kidnapping him during Rayshift at the end of the Fuyuki Singularity.
  • Hassan of the Cursed Arm, meanwhile had Shaytan completely overtake him after underestimating the Demon, which could construed as the logical extension from someone willing to lose an arm to become a member of the Hassan-i-Sabbah to someone who lost their whole body in that pursuit, the murkier nature of this manifestation of the blackening was perhaps why it was possible to free him from Shaytan.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Black Knight inflicts one onto Subaru and the others, including Reid of all people due to not understanding his abilities and leading to their deaths for that loop.
• Demonic Possession: Thanks to [[Return by Death]], not only does Subaru soon realise that Lev is possessed, his actions in Fuyuki wind up accidently freeing Hassan of The Cursed Arm from his corruption, which took the form of his Demonic Arm, Shaytan, fully merging with him.
• Detect Evil: Both Heracles Alter and Mordred have been shown to possess the ability to smell the Miasma of the Witch Satella on Subaru. Heracles Alter in fact uses this to navigate and track Subaru even while blinded.
• Determinator: Mordred noting that her father is unlikely to leave them to sort of the Incineration of Humanity without showing up again, recounts a story where she continued to show up in a jousting tournament, donning various disguises after she was knocked out of the first round, Subaru notes this makes her sound like a Sore Loser.
• Dual Wielding: During his battle with Emiya, Cu Chulainn uses both his staff as well as the Gae Bolg from Unlimited Blade Works to launch a counter offensive.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Emiya Alter, though in the process of blackening and his original self being resigned to loyalty to Saber Alter, nevertheless sabotages both her and Flauros' efforts to fight Chaldea, with the intent of getting an opening to dispatch the latter, even resisting the full blackening to better obsfuscate his motives and preventing his original self from recognising that Mordred has Avalon.
• For Want Of A Nail: Due to Subaru's interference, not only does Olga Marie get saved from the Initial Explosion that doomed her, but Professor Lev is freed of Flauros' possession, who is heavily implied to be unable to return to the Grand Temple of Time, upon his death, causing a new Flauros to replace him. This creates a ripple effect that is heavily implied to have lasting consequences.
• Framing the Guilty Party: In spite of Prelati's protests that he's an innocent victim, it is heavily suggested that the sham trial he and Gilles were subjected to, in order to allow the Nobles of the time access to the latter's property and lands, was inadvertently correct in its judgement.
• Historical In-Joke: When Jeanne shouts orders to a bunch of villagers fighting off a swarm of Wyvern's, she specifically lambasts the artillery, telling them to use grapeshoot, it's a reference to her notable use of cannons during the Hundred Years War.
• Improvised Weapon: The Black Knight's ability to use these, enables him to shred Reid to pieces with a pile of leaves, and during the next reset Subaru throws out that he may be Benkei, though even he admits it's a long shot.
• It Can Think: Heracles Alter much to Subaru's horror, and despite its blindness and madness, is shown to have a basic grasp of tactics ranging from using scent to keep track of its targets (or rather target) to digging a hole to dodge Clarent Blood Arthur.
• Jerkass: Prelati and how! In spite of what seems to be on the surface an extremely cheerful demonour, Prelati won't hesitate to lie and manipulate even when it's unnecessary, all the while he pokes and prods at people's sore spots for his own amusement.
• Kick the Dog: Prelati's interactions with Mordred are basically several chapter's worth of Kick the Dog, constantly needling her over her poor relationship with her father, Subaru suspects the only reason he didn't do the same to him and Mash was because he didn't know that much about them yet, and it's partly due to this that Subaru decides to put off meeting him again when he resets.
• Killed Offscreen: This happens to several of the characters, both in loops and even when they succeed.
  • Hanam returns to the Throne of Heroes when Fuyuki is cleared, without being able to say goodbye, something that hurts Subaru despite knowing there was no real way to keep him around.
  • Fou is accidently left behind with Ahab when Fafnir attacks, as Prelati transports the others to safety, though Subaru only realises it after that loop is over.
  • Mordred was flattened by Lancelot after a brief battle while Subaru was disorientated, though in her case it was due to no longer wielding Clarent while also missing a leg weakening her.
• Mighty Glacier: Mordred notes that unlike her own, Saber Alter's Armor is actually able to stand up to C-ranked and above Strength, at the cost of lowering her agility. Due to the Infinite Mana Saber Alter has access to, this is one of the few advantages Mordred has on her.
• Mythology Gag: Mordred remembers the Great Holy Grail War, referencing it several times, from mentioning how cigarette's suck, to noting how it's impossible to reconcile the Jeanne D'Arc destroying France with the Ruler of that War.
  • A darker reference happens in Fuyuki, where it's heavily implied that Saber Alter used Excalibur Morgan on the Tohsaka Household, levelling the place and vaporising Rin Tohsaka, Illyasviel Von Einzbern and Shirou Emiya, leaving only Avalon which Subaru is later able to retrieve.
• No-Sell: Due to Gluttony of Subaru's [[Authorities of Sin]], he is able to survive the Grail's Chaos Tide, and absorb Angra Mainyu in the process. Word of God suggests however, this was due to Angra Mainyu's unique set of circumstances, and this is not the true manifestation of Gluttony for Subaru.
  • This is averted much to Hanam's surprise when fighting Saber Alter, as his Protection from the Wind skill was deactivated as a result of his corruption, causing his death. In the next reset, Subaru warns him beforehand, so he is a lot more careful.
  • Cu Chulainn meanwhile is able to use his Protection From Arrows skill to his advantage when fighting Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works, allowing him to focus on the more dangerous Noble Phantasms.
• Noodle Incident: Subaru occasionally references things that happened to him during the loops post being sent back to Earth but before he reached Chaldea, such as an encounter with the Burial Agency and the Church that made him want to stay well away from them, and a time when he got captured by Atlas and had to be rescued.
  • Mordred meanwhile occasionally reminisces over events during her life, such as the anachronism that is Gawain's cooking, or Bor's potential outrage if he learned that people forgot about the Vorpal Bunny.
• Outside-Context Problem: Played with. While Subaru's abilities and what he brings along, are indeed from another world, there is enough understanding for what they are to classify them as Foreigners. With the Witch Satella herself being more akin to a Beast, enough at least for Flauros to confuse her with VII of the End.
• Oh, Crap!: Subaru has several whenever someone mentions a creature that gives him flashbacks to his own past adventures. From Ahab mentioning a White Whale to Mordred reminiscing over the Vorpal Bunny.
  • Flauros has his own when Subaru expels him from Lev's body, putting him in the grasp of Satella who he thinks is Beast VII of the End.
• Post-Final Boss: At the end of the Fuyuki Singularity, as they are ray-shifting to safety, Subaru gets hijacked in Void Space, and is forced to battle Emiya Alter in Unlimited Blade Works. Notably Subaru is in a position where even [Return by Death] might not have saved him, and is only saved by an unknown parties intervention.
• Ripple-Proof Memory: Edmond Dantes' Oblivion Correction Skill allows him to have glimpses of what happened during the previous loop, allowing him to get glimpses into the near future, though he chalks this up to the temporal instability of the Singularity instead of a time loop.
• Spam Attack: Saber Alter takes advantage of having Infinite Mana from not one but two Grails, to use Excalibur Morgan over and over again against Mordred, who due to damage sustained to the system during the attack on Chaldea, can only use her Noble Phantasm three times (thanks to Subaru's command spells), putting Mordred at a disadvantage.
• The Soulless: Lev is comatose and missing his soul after Subaru is able to free him from Flauros' control much to the latter's horror, though as Dr Roman notes, the shock might have killed Lev had it happened any other way.
• Tempting Fate: During Chaldea's summoning in Fuyuki, Olga Marie notes that there should be no problem sustaining a Servant so long as they aren't ridiculously powerful like King Arthur, causing Subaru to hope they don't summon someone like that. Lo and behold, they wind up summoning Mordred.
• That Man Is Dead: Hassan of the Cursed Arm insists that Subaru and the other's call him Hanam, due to no longer possessing his Demon Arm.
• Wrecked Weapon: Mordred is forced to sacrifice Clarent to cripple Saber Alter by turning it into a Broken Phantasm. Da Vinci is later able to replace it with a Azoth Dagger though it's noted it will be inferior in battle.