章 1697: 12
Chapter 12: Chapter 8 Night 3Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
My thumb taps on the screen of my phone, held in one hand as I return to the House, letter in my other hand. I'd found what I was after on the phone, but it wasn't quite as planned- costing a bit more than I had thought, to begin with. That was for later, though. I give myself a shake as I near the door to the study, put my phone away and then enter, wordlessly passing Mordred's challenge to Artoria, who had been talking with Atalanta until I had entered the room. It takes her a fraction of a second to read it, but she keeps holding it long after she'd have finished, looking past the paper at…something in her own head while holding the paper right in her hands. I leave Artoria to her thoughts and turn to Atalanta, who is looking on with unspoken questions all over her face.
"We just got called out by Saber of Red. They want to fight us. Tonight. Our plan for Black is on hold- we'll deal with them later. Saber of Red takes priority."
Atalanta slowly nods, accepting the decision.
"I'm okay with that, but could you at least explain? You said you'd handle Saber of Red yourselves before, and the board doesn't tell me much about them. I don't know anything about them either, even though they were part of the Red Faction."
"Right, so Saber of Red-"
"Saber of Red is the Knight of Treachery, Mordred."
Artoria cuts in before I can explain. Atalanta lets out a whistle before turning to face Artoria, who doesn't seem to notice, still focused on the letter with an unreadable expression on her face.
"Ah. I can see why you'd want to handle that yourself; Revenge is always personal."
Those words seem to break the spell the letter has cast on Artoria, who tilts her head to the side while looking at the two of us. My gaze, meanwhile, is fixed to the page that Artoria's hands are twisting into a pretzel.
"Revenge?"
Artoria's visible confusion seems to confuse Atalanta in turn.
"You know, for your Kingdom-"
Artoria shakes her head.
"I do not feel the need to take revenge on Mordred. I merely will do my duty-"
There's a ripping sound, as the letter comes apart in her hands. She cuts herself off, looking down at them in surprise, and I take that as a sign to step in.
"Artoria. As a king, you might have fought Mordred out of duty, but your opinion on Mordred isn't the same as what your duty towards them is."
"With respect, Master, it is the same. I will fight Saber of Red, as is my duty as Saber of White. The conflict is not personal."
Atalanta's glancing between us now, seemingly aware now that the issue is even more complicated than it first appears.
"Even outside of how non-standard 'White' is, that isn't a reply what I said. How do you feel towards Mordred?"
"Mordred was a valued member of the Round Table, who broke it through ambition and treachery-"
"Nope. How you feel about Mordred; I know who Mordred is."
Artoria gives me the stink-eye at my interruption but gets my point at least. "Very well. Mordred is…aggravating, and what positive feelings I had for him are vastly overshadowed by my disappointment in his actions. I will make it clear that I harbor no hatred, nor do I desire revenge, but I also cannot say I hold any positive feelings towards him."
It's a start, at least. Atalanta takes advantage of the momentary break to interject.
"So, what's your plan for Saber of Red? If it isn't revenge, then-"
Artoria's gaze is still on me as she speaks. "Master has insisted on making an attempt at recruiting Mordred to White. I can understand his desire, given Mordred's strength, but needless to say I have some…hesitancy on this."
Sorry, but I'm not budging on this. "If you and Mordred actually can sit down and talk honestly, I'm fairly sure you'd be surprised how resolvable this is."
A shake of the head at my response. "I will believe it when it occurs. But it is your prerogative as Master to dictate we attempt this."
That isn't- Whatever. I catch the clock in the room, set to the time outside in Trifas. It's drawing close to evening already. If we don't want to waste time dodging Black and their traps, we should get moving now.
"Artoria- the time."
She turns, also looks at the clock behind her, and then stands.
"Right. Let us proceed then, Master."
"I'll stay here. With what you've shown, you should be able to handle a single Servant and Master pairing."
Yeah, but 'handling' them isn't the problem. Still, I bob my head in thanks to Atalanta's faith in us, and then the two of us make our way to the House exit in the park.
-
It's night-time when Saber and I reach the wall surrounding the graveyard on the edge of Trifas; we could have gotten here faster and earlier, but if we're going to fight it should be actually nighttime and not late evening, so we'd delayed things slightly. As a real participant, gotta remember to keep things on the down-low now. Artoria had been silent the whole trip, lost in some thoughts I wasn't going to touch yet. As I move to give the unlocked gate a push, Saber standing behind me, there's a surge of power on the other side of the graveyard's wall. Saber feels it also, which is why she has her blade up and ready when Mordred, armour sparking with red lighting, bursts through the wall by Saber's face and tackles the both of them deep into the forest.
I guess we're getting right into it, huh.
I pause for a moment, and the distraction almost causes me to miss the two creepy homing cursed-finger bullets flying at my back. Unfortunately for Kairi, not only are they shockingly slow from my perspective, they also are projectiles and so even with their homing capabilities, all they manage is to make an orbit of me once before falling out of the air. I step forward, to where the bullets came from. As I do, a mutilated heart flies over a mausoleum, only to be Jiwald finger-gunned out of the sky.
"Look, Kairi. I-"
Behind me, there's a dull wheezing sound as what looks like a pair of lungs hidden in the wall behind me expel a cloud of poison towards me. A wave of my hand disperses the cloud, no magic even required.
"No, listen, that isn't going to-"
A grave beside me erupts, as the bones of the grave shatter up like shrapnel. The blast curves around me, cutting and cursing the grass and an unfortunately nearby tree but failing to even disturb a hair on my head. Ok, enough of this. I stamp my foot on the ground, and the earth where Kairi is kneeling shudders and rises, pushing him up and out of the cover he was behind. As soon as he feels the earth move under him, he tries to dive away, but it only takes a thought for the land around that pillar to also rise. Soon, he's looking down at me from the small hill I've erected. Seemingly on reflex, he fires his shotgun again with his left hand. I don't even move, letting the finger-bullets glacially curve around and away from me.
"Look, just stop that and listen to me."
That sentence seems to take him by surprise. Taking his silence as a yes, I begin to move to where he's still standing. Without warning, from deep in the forest behind me there's a massive thud, and I half-turn to see a cloud of debris rising from where I can tell Mordred and Artoria are clashing. As I turn, there's a flash as something falls from the sleeve of Kairi's right arm into his hand and he lunges at me. Still, no matter how he's reinforced himself, he's just far too slow. I step around the outstretched arm, extending my Shroud over my hand as I pluck the thin bone dagger from his hand with ease.
By the time he's even realizes he's been disarmed, I'm already several feet back from where I was, inspecting the dagger- a thin and spiraled bone almost like a miniature narwhal horn. I think this is the hydra dagger he prepared as a trump card?
"I don't suppose you'd stab yourself with that, Master of White?"
Kairi's voice is calm yet resigned. I give him a small smile and, with Reinhard's instincts silent on any potential threat, jab the knife into the skin of my left palm. Nothing. I pull out the blade and, watching Kairi all the while, slowly underhand it back towards him. He doesn't try and catch it, instead letting it land with a soft noise- he clearly doesn't want to touch it at all.
"Sorry, but I'm immune to poisons. Not even Hydra venom can hurt me."
Kairi makes a face at my apology.
"I guess King Arthur would have a beyond first-class Master. Now I see what that priest was talking about- I thought he was just trying to get us onside, especially after Ruler's warning, but you're really..."
There's a bench nearby that managed to escape the various traps set off in the graveyard. I gesture at it, in an 'after you' sort of way. He grimaces again but moves there and I feel a small pulse of magic flow from him towards one of the graves near the bench- hopefully disarming whatever trap was there. We both sit, Kairi pulling a packet of cigarettes from his jacket. He offers me one, but I wave it away. He takes his time lighting it, I guess hoping to stall for Mordred to somehow win and gets back here? In any case, time to give him what he wants.
"Look, I don't know what Shirou told you, or what you know, but you don't need to fight me, you know?"
"You do know you inserted yourself into the Holy Grail War, right? People fighting and dying for their wishes is the whole point."
"What if I told you, you could get your wish right now, no fighting required?"
"As powerful as you are, I'm pretty sure you can't just hand out access to the Root like that, Mr…?"
"Call me Reinhard. And no, not that wish. Your real one."
That causes Kairi to look up at me, eyes a little sharper.
"You can cure the Sisigou Magic Crest? And let the bloodline continue?"
Again, I shake my head. "Nope, not that either. Your step-daughter."
The lit cigarette falls from his hands.
"What?"
"For you, this isn't about the Root or continuing the Sisigou bloodline- you want your daughter back. I can do that."
"Let's say I believe you. How long would this revival take? You want me to step aside now, but what guarantee-"
I can already see he's just throwing questions out at me. He doesn't believe me, and is just stalling with questions. I raise a hand, cutting him off.
"Just...just sit there for a second."
With that, I step away and pull out my phone- this is what I had been checking before, back in the park after getting the letter. The criteria for characters were "two of canon name, personality or backstory, abilities, and appearance" and as I had theorized back when planning out the Wishes of the participants, it seems Kairi's stepdaughter met those qualifications, albeit likely on the barest of technicalities. The problem was…, well she seemed to have been priced as a T4 character despite, you know, never reaching that level of power given she'd died right after receiving the Crest. Thankfully, there'd been a small explanatory note attached to her page when I had first found it.
"To pre-empt the question you might waste our time asking, the selected option only barely qualifies as a potential recruit, and supplies are so limited we would be forced to retroactively take her from your current world. In addition, she has the theoretical potential to be supernatural, and so is priced according, as a Yoinked Tier 4 character. Please do not contact us with useless inquiries. The price is fixed and won't be changing no matter what."
Still, though, I could afford it; it'd just make things a bit tighter until the loan was paid. I click the purchase button, pay the points, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a small and thin girl with black hair and a plain white dress appears on the ground of the graveyard. I hear a shout from Kairi as he rushes over to examine her, abandoning his cigs and gun on the bench.
Suddenly, a burst of red lighting cuts over the graveyard from the forest below. Right. I need to get a move on; as Clarent Blood Arthur dissipates, I turn back to Kairi. I don't have time to properly explain things to Kairi now and so speak quickly as I prepare to head over to the Sabers.
"She should be as healthy- examine her to make sure she's real, whatever you want. Just don't get in my way at the moment. I have to stop Saber killing Mordred again."
I don't wait for a reply and speed off to where I can feel Artoria is, leaving Kairi and his daughter behind in an instant.
-
Artoria rises from where the impact of where Mordred her foe's charge had launched her. She can instantly tell that she is unharmed- her armour and Shroud having absorbed her impact. After having confirmed nothing will hinder her skills, she raises her blade towards Saber of Red. Who, to her surprise, doesn't answer her challenge as Artoria expects, instead pausing to take a proper look at her. It's hard to tell behind the distortion of the helmet, but she can hear a mixture of confusion and anger in the words Saber of Red throws her way.
"...What the hell...? Who the hell are you!? Who the hell are you supposed to be!?"
No need to reply to this opponent. Her face once again a tranquil mask, Artoria takes Excalibur in a two-handed grip, invisible blade tilted forwards with her body straight. A familiar stance, one she feels she took only days ago. Seeing this, Saber of Red's voice seems to become even more distorted.
"You fake! How dare-"
With a crackle of lighting, Saber of Red leaps forward, using mana to boost his speeds even further while bringing Clarent down in a two-handed arc. The clumsy charge, short of finesse and instead relying on pure brute speed and strength, requires but a small movement to pirouette around. Artoria lets her infinite supply of mana flow through her body, her parameters enhanced to unprecedented heights as she lashes out mid-dodge. Invisible Air cuts towards her foe's side, but somehow the blow is sensed despite it being launched from a blind spot, and Clarent pulls up and out of its downwards chop. The V it forms deflects the strike up and away from Saber of Red's shoulder, leaving Excalibur to cleave through one of the horns of the helmet rather than into the flank of her opponent.
The leg of Saber of Red kicks out, slamming into the side of Artoria's side. A burst of pain, but also an opportunity- with a thought the edge her cape glows, sharpens and plunges like claws into her foe's leg. The scream from within the helmet tells her the edges had flowed through the joints and into flesh. Rather than recoil from the pain, Saber of Red launches a furious punch at the cape, breaking through the Shroud and slamming just above where his kick had impacted, sending Artoria skidding backwards.
Instinct more than anything warns Artoria, and she manages to pull Excalibur up into the path of the thrown Clarent, deflecting it upwards. Right into the hands of Saber of Red, who has leapt into the air and is now descending towards Artoria, blade swinging down. Mana pulses through her body, and Artoria catches Clarent's swing with the tip of her blade. The force of the strike causes the earth around her to shatter and gives way, leaving a large crater with Artoria, still unbowed, at its centre, and Saber of Red above her. With Excalibur still covered by Invisible Air, the scene would look absurd to onlookers- as if Artoria's raised right arm alone had somehow stopped Clarent's swing a sword-length away from her head. The tableau is held for a split second, and then Artoria's left hand comes up from her side, slamming into the hilt of her sword with her palm. The force carries through Excalibur and Clarent and up into Saber of Red, throwing them high into the air.
"You-!"
And then it's Saber of Red's turn to react on instinct, as Artoria leaps high into the air where Saber of Red has been thrown. Clarent is brought up, one hand on hilt and one on the flat and Artoria's blow is blocked. Still, the force of the attack launches Saber of Red down into the forest below, leaving another deep crater in the woods. Dirt and tree debris is thrown into the air and obscures sight as Artoria touches down herself, gaze fixed to where Saber of Red would have landed.
As the dirt and dust begins to dissipate, there's a yell, and Saber of Red bursts from the dust cloud straight towards her. A rapid exchange of blows flicks out, tearing through the earth around them as each deflection cuts rifts through the dirt and each combatant fends off death a dozen or more times. Eventually, both sides disengage, Saber of Red glaring at the twisting air concealing Artoria's blade.
"You faker; you even copied the dimensions of his sword? You've gone too far!"
The sound of metal scraping on metal draws Artroia's attention, as Saber of Red's helmet collapses away, while simultaneously Clarent sparks and is raised. With the helmet gone, Artoria can finally see the face she has only seen twice before in her life, twisted by the hatred flowing from Saber of Red's expression. Despite the helmet's effect that distorts speech disappearing, the Saber of Red's words are still nigh impossible to discern, as the depth of emotion all but smothers Saber of Red's speech.
"I may no longer be a true knight of the Round Table, but I won't let your mockery stand! You who defame my father, take this! Clarent-"
Mordred Saber of Red was always is too impetuous.
Standing still, making no obvious moves to counter or defend, Artoria watches Saber of Red for a moment, before finally bringing her own hand to the sheathe on her hip. A priceless gift from her Master, and a tool she had been lacking all those years ago, less than a week ago.
"-Blood Arthur!"
The wave of hatred and magic energy blasts forward, but Artoria is no longer 'there'. Lightning and fire tear the earth around her, but she is protected, invulnerable. As the beam fades, she can hear Saber of Red's crazed laughter.
"How was that, you fake! How dare you steal and warp the image of my father!"
The reply slip from her mouth before she can stop it, the first words she has said all exchange. "I was correct. You are utterly unsuited to rule."
"Wha-"
Artoria doesn't pause for dust to clear, releasing Invisible Air behind her as an engine and blasting forward, trees behind her falling as the wind explodes behind her. The act clears the smoke and Saber of Red's face becomes visible, contorted in shock. Still, though, Saber of Red is a Servant and manages to begin to bring Clarent up to block her swing. However, as Saber of Red's eyes meet Excalibur there's a pause of horrified recognition which should doom the attempt at defence. Overly emotional.
Sparks rise from armour, as Saber of Red screams.
"FATHER!"
Rather than hopelessly defend, Saber of Red pushes mana into her movements and bursts forwards in an effort to meet the charge. To Artoria's surprise, the swings meet and clash. Despite her superior parameters, mana supply and mindset, something allows Saber of Red to match her directly, if only for a moment. Green eyes meet, and Artoria meets the gaze of desperation and fury and...something Artoria cannot place with her expressionless mask last worn at Camlann.
The moment passes; whatever was allowing Mordred Saber of Red to match her strength falters for a split-second, and Artoria instantly takes advantage. Mana again flows through her body, almost bursting out, and Saber of Red is overpowered. Even as they try to resist with both hands, the force pushes them down until they're almost kneeling before her.
Again, a leg lashes out, but Artoria expects it this time. A cry echoes through the night, as her cape, formed into a claw with sharp nails, catches the desperate and ill-positioned kick, digs deep and twists. No sudden bursts of strength this time, no punches or lashing out. It's all Saber of Red can do to keep Excalibur from driving Clarent into their shoulders. The battle is over. As Artoria looks down, she sees Mordred looking up at her.
"Do you feel anything?"
"I cannot."
Mordred's arms fail, strength suddenly leaving them, and Excalibur drives Clarent deep into Mordred's shoulder. For some reason, Artoria instinctively feels this is somehow not the worst wound inflicted in these last few moments. With Mordred remains still silently looking at her, with almost dead eyes, Artoria steps back and raises her blade.
And then her Master is between her and Mordred, arms wide.
"Stop!"
-
It's a solemn return to the graveyard; Mordred is limping, and barely reacting to the world around, Artoria is silently, her eyes focused on something I can't see. It's only when we reach the graveyard, with the hole in the wall still there from Mordred's opening attack, that Mordred seems to shake herself awake. Her previously-glassy gaze falls on Artoria instinctively, but she puts in visible effort to tug her gaze to me.
"Master of White. My Master...is he…?"
"He's unharmed."
The words ring somewhat hollow at the state of the graveyard. I can see the mound of earth I raised, a cloud of poison still hanging in the air, the V of destruction caused by the corpse-mine, the impacts and curse-marks surrounding where the finger-bullets and the massive and a growing patch of dead grass around the still-discarded Hydra knife. It doesn't look like something anyone would walk away unharmed from.
"I swear. I left him right by that bench. I'd guess he might be in your catacomb base? I left him with something to deal with…"
Mordred doesn't say anything, instead closing her eyes and centering herself. She turns, facing where the catacomb entrance is and nods to herself.
"Right. ...Thanks, I guess."
A pause. Mordred clearly doesn't know what to do, and both she and Artoria are making very clear efforts to avoid one another, leaving me to pick up the slack.
"...could we come in?"
"...I mean...It is...a tomb, you know?"
I give her a small smile. "I know. We won't be there long and we all have a lot to talk about."
'We all' causes Mordred's face to twist again, but she straightens out her face and again closes her eyes; I imagine she's in contact with her Master telepathically.
"...He says, "Come on in"."
"How was he?"
Mordred's right eyebrow rises.
"Shouldn't you know? You were the one who left him here."
"Oh. Sorry. Not physically. I meant how was he emotionally? Could you tell how he was feeling?"
Her mouth snaps shut. I guess she is a bit hesitant to give me anything like that. For all her "Knight of Treachery" title, she was loyal to Kairi. I wave my hand "Whatever. Don't worry about it."
-
It's a short flight of stairs down into Kairi and Mordred's base, if 'a larger than usual room with two sleeping bags, two folding stools, a paraffin lamp and a skeletal fax machine' counts as a base. It doesn't exactly stack up compared to mine- no kitchen, no dining room, nothing. Just a dark room underground with disassembled skeletons for company.
Mordred comes to a stop at the bottom of the stairs when she sees Kairi, kneeling over his daughter. He's placed her on what I assume is his sleeping bag and all around the two are circles in the dirt and discarded bones and dried organs. Seeing all this, Mordred lets out a groan, and brings the palm of her hand up to her face.
"What the hell, Master?"
"Saber, good to see you're alive. As for this, you'll need to ask Master of White over there."
She removes her hand from her face and turns to me and I give Kairi a look to ask him if he's sure, but he doesn't even look up from his work. There's a burst of magic, and a series of bones nearby rise into the air for a moment before falling exactly where they had been before.
"Ok, so your Master wanted to revive his stepdaughter as his Grail wish. So, I thought "I can handle that myself, so let's do that instead". Once he stopped attacking me, I just did that."
"'I just did that' he says."
Kairi speaks without turning, eyes still focused entirely on his daughter.
"He did 'just' do that. Turned his back to me so I couldn't exactly see what he did, but from the back I could see him move his hands some and suddenly there she was. Lying on the ground right in front of him. And-" he leans back on his arms "-as far as everything I've done can tell, she's real. Not a homunculus, lookalike or fake. She has the right bones, blood, skin, hair, eyes, even soul as far as I can tell. She even somehow has the Crest that killed her in her body, but it isn't poisoning her. It's...overwhelming. Impossible."
He struggles for words for a moment, before turning to face us. His eyes pass over Mordred, wincing as he takes in her condition, to me.
"I…don't know what now, to be honest. I've spent years of my life for this, planning on getting her back or, more likely, dying trying. And now here she is and...I'm not sure what to do next."
Mordred glances at Artoria for a second, but then moves to the side of her Master to support him. There's a pause, as no-one knows what to say next. Finally, Mordred breaks the silence.
"Well...you have us beat. I...won't be getting my Wish, and Master has his. So…"
I sigh. First of all, this isn't really the place for this-
I clap my hands, and once again the portal to the Pocket Home springs to life. Both Kairi and Mordred seem taken aback at first, though Mordred tries to hide it after noticing how Artoria doesn't react.
"First, we should move here. This…isn't really the place for this." I turn to Kairi. "Would you need help moving-?"
His gaze flicks between me, the portal and his stepdaughter. "No. No, I'll manage. Saber could you-"
"On it, Master."
As Mordred says this, she moves to collect what little possessions the two of them possess, as Kairi bends down to pick up his still-unmoving stepdaughter. While this is happening, Artoria gives me a nod and heads through the portal herself, probably to warn Atalanta about the incoming…guests?
Kairi looks at the portal again, takes a deep breath, and steps through, accompanied by Mordred. I'm last through, closing the portal behind me. On the other side of the portal, I can see Atalanta waiting by the house door, her bow in hand but held low to the ground and unreadied. Not a threat, but the message of 'don't start anything here' is fairly clear. Artoria is already further into the house and Kairi and Mordred are on the path, looking around. Kairi speaks but doesn't turn around to face me.
"So, this is where you were holed up. I was wondering where you went after the park, but you can just…call up this wherever, huh?"
"Something like that."
Atalanta by now has caught sight of what Kairi is holding. Her face shifts through a variety of expressions as she considers why a magus would be carrying around an unconscious child. Mordred, having caught one of Atalanta's darker expressions, has stepped in front of her Master, but isn't actually making any aggressive moves. This strange standoff continues until Atalanta contacts me telepathically.
'Master, is that-?'
'That's his child. I'm…helping with that. From what I know, he's not a bad parent.'
I can feel Atalanta's emotions calm over the link, and she lets her bow dissipate into non-existence, before stepping forwards slowly and speaking.
"Here. I'll show you where you can put her."
"Thanks."
With that minor bit of tension defused, everyone enters the house; Atalanta shows Kairi to one of the spare rooms, with me mentally adding another bed to it before the door opens, and helps Kairi lay out his daughter. Mordred, meanwhile, hovers near the door to the room, gazing down the hall to where Artoria can be seen, having seated herself one on of the chairs of the main table in the living room. I begin to move to stand next to Mordred, but as I do Kairi stands and moves to leave leave the room, glancing from Mordred, to where Mordred is looking, flicks his eyes to me, then Atalanta, back to his daughter once more, and finally gives a small sigh.
"Come on, Saber. Let's sit down and talk."
Atalanta, who nodded when Kairi's gaze fell on her, decides to remain behind to watch over his stepdaughter just in case, so the three of us move down the corridor to the living room table and Artoria. I take a seat next to Artoria, and Kairi and Mordred sit down opposite us. There's an awkward silence, as Mordred's gaze flicks between the two of us, Artoria's gaze remains focused at a point on the opposite wall. Right. Well. First things first, I guess.
"To begin with, I should talk about your stepdaughter, right?"
I get silent nod as a reply, and so I continue.
"Right. So, I basically used the method I used to summon Artoria to 'summon' your stepdaughter from her moment of death."
That gets a reaction from both guests; Kairi's eyebrows raise behind his glasses as soon as I finish, but while Mordred's reaction is slower it's also more dramatic, shooting out of her seat as she interjects.
"Hold on?! You mean-"
Mordred's yell is cut off by Artoria herself. "Yes. I am effectively King Arthur as you knew. Rather than a standard Servant, I am closer to an Incarnated Heroic Spirit."
As Mordred collapses back into her seat, almost in a stupor, there's silence as the information is processes. Eventually, Kairi speaks up.
"That's…unbelievable. But you two've done repeated unbelievable stuff already so…" he shrugs. "And how does this relate to my daughter?"
"So. The way my summoning worked, she's currently bound to me; she should be cured of your Crest's poison, her clothing should have become the equivalent of a transformable and combat effective Mystic Code, she's going to be biologically immortal, physically fit, able to learn combat, survival and magical skills faster while also having a knack for languages. She also should have an infinite source of magical energy. There's more, but-"
"And what's the catch?" Kairi's voice is clearly being forced to hold steady; he knows that that can't just come for free and is holding back terror at the cost of all this.
I let out a breath. "When I said she's bound to me, it wasn't a figure of speech- she's tied to me. I can influence her mind easily and can delete her from the world at will. And I can do any of this at any time, with no warning and across any distance. As long as she's bound to me, there's nothing that can change that. I don't plan on taking advantage of this, and fully intend to leave her with you and go on my way after the War, but while I can promise that you'd only have my words."
"You said 'as long as she's bound'?"
He was paying close attention. "I can unbind her. She wouldn't die from that process, but she would lose all the stuff I mentioned before and it's possible that without the binding, your Crest would again begin to-"
Kairi's grimace is fairly clear in both expression and tone. "Right. I get it."
"Technically, I could unbind her and then see if the Crest poison was still in effect. If it was, I could rebind her which'd cure it again, but I wouldn't be able to unbind her again- the second binding would be permanent. Working out what should be done might need to wait for her perspective, but if you wanted the binding gone, the best way I can think of would be to keep things as they are until you can get someone to extract the Crest and only unbind after. Unfortunately, the only person I know for sure who can do that in this War is Archer of Black and-"
"And so I'm forced to trust you until the War is over, knowing basically nothing about you or your goals. We know that you pissed off the Church Overseer something fierce, that you have a fairly good relationship with Ruler, and it seems you also managed to snag Archer of Red yourself, but not…well, anything else."
"Ok, so this is going to sound unbelievable, but please remember, you know, the other unbelievable stuff that's happened-"
-
To begin with, I lay out my situation, how I'm a wanderer traveling between worlds with the ability to recruit people to join me, who had a vision of this War and decided to insert myself into it. How I had managed to use my world-wandering powers to enhance myself and the general steps we had taken over the last three days, from eliminating Assassin of Black to now. Artoria occasionally interjects with her own takes on what happened, but Kairi and Mordred stay quiet for the whole thing, with the only real movements being Kairi beginning to smoke a cigarette.
When it's done, there's a pause. I expect Mordred to be the first to say something, but it's actually Kairi who breaks the quiet. He leans back in his chair.
"Well. At least I trust you more than before. Back in the graveyard I mean."
I tilt my head a little as I reply.
"Well, I hoped my attempts to talk would at least make me seem reasonable even back then."
He waves his lit cigarette in the air, poking at me with the lit end.
"No. No they don't. This is a Holy Grail War, you know? But I get it now. Back then I couldn't trust you because it looked like you were doing all this stuff for free, weakening your position in the Grail War for no reason. Trusting people who work for free is hard- you can trust someone who works for money, so long as you have money. But when someone works for free, it's scary… there's that voice in your head saying, "what if they come back and collect". But now it makes sense. You aren't thinking about the Grail War itself as the end point. Your 'money' is…companionship, or something like that. You have this power, and because of your vision you picked out people who you liked from that, and decided you want to get them to like you back, and for some to work with you."
My mouth quirks a bit.
"There's that. I will freely admit that I have my biases- you and Mordred were my favourite people in my vision, so even outside of my feelings regarding the Pendragons I would have wanted to help you."
Artoria shuffles a bit at that, and Mordred's attention is instantly pulled to her movements. Still, I don't get distracted and finish there and finish my thought.
"I will say that there's more to it than that, though. This specific Grail War presents a rare chance at making a Wish that won't automatically backfire, and I want to take advantage of that opportunity to improve things."
"Right, you said. That's why you went to the Priest first, and then why you joined with Archer."
Here, Mordred manages to pull herself away from examining Artoria and interjects.
"Speaking of that, what's your plan there? I….won't be getting my Wish, but as far as I know the Grail still needs fighting and stuff to power it- to get Atalanta's wish you're gonna need to fight."
"Yeah. I'm not expecting to get everyone on the War onside- the only ones I can directly help are Berserker of Black and Assassin of Red. There are others who I'd like to join, but they don't have desires I can directly fulfill, and I can't imagine that they'll just join up because I asked. And then there are others I wouldn't want to have join, who I have no real qualms about fighting."
I interrupt myself as I note Mordred's face twist, and it takes me a moment of review to work out she's making the face at my mention of Sermiramis. Right, Mordred saw a bit of Morgana in Semi right from the start, and they never really got on after that point.
"That stinkbug lady? You can help her with her Wish?"
"Yeah. It's…well, it's a selfish wish to rule a world. But I'm going to be visiting other worlds and I'm sure I can find at least one that'd improve with a competent ruler like her in charge."
"Bah. It'd be simpler to just crush her. How tough can an Assassin be anyways?"
I…it's such a perfect setup, given Mordred's canonical fate in Apocrypha, but I restrain myself.
"I wouldn't underestimate Semiramis. She might not be much just herself, but she had some nasty tricks up her sleeve- for one, she's much more a high-grade Caster than an Assassin."
Those words cause Mordred's scowl to deepen.
"I thought I detected something of mother in her; an Assassin and Caster fits her perfectly."
Right. Anyway, enough about Semiramis. We should really get onto the main topic of this.
"In any case, there'll be enough Servants who I'll have to fight to cover the Servant requirements of the Grail. But Mordred, just before you said you 'won't be getting your Wish', but…well, let's talk about that. What is your Wish, really?"
Mordred lets out a dark chuckle. "What, didn't you see in your vision? I want to go back to the Sword of Selection and draw it myself."
Getting that from the horse's mouth causes Artoria to shift in her seat, but she still does not open her mouth and talk to Mordred. Seeing this, I keep going.
"Ok, but why? Do you think Artoria was a failure who needed someone else to take his place?"
Those words cause Mordred to spring from her seat, slamming her hands into the table.
"King Arthur a failure!? Don't be absurd. His reign was absolutely perfect. He was perfectly impartial and upright, a model king!"
"So…what did you want?"
There's a moment of silence after that. Kairi is giving me a calculating look, trying to work out what I'm doing, while Artoria is resolutely not looking at Mordred. Mordred, meanwhile, seems taken-aback by my question, before spitting out her next sentence at Artoria.
"I…I want to be King to prove him wrong. To prove that he made a mistake when he refused to acknowledge me, seeing me only as my mother's shadow despite everything!"
I'm about to reply but am surprised when I hear a voice besides me cut in.
"That was never the case."
Everyone's gazes fly to Artoria, but she doesn't seem to elaborate. Realizing this is all Artoria intendeds to say causes Mordred's eyes to flash.
"Lies! Why else would you reject me as your heir!"
"As I said, you lack the qualities required of a King."
"In what way?! I lead! I administered! I put my life on the line for Britain!"
"Those are not the only qualities required of a King."
Mordred lets out a bark of a laugh, and falls back into her seat, glaring at Artoria.
"I don't believe you. Even though I excelled, the moment you found I was born of Morgan, you saw me as a dirtied child- the only flaw in your perfect rule."
Artoria silently shakes her head at this, but it's clear that this conversation has run into a wall with Artoria not elaborating and Mordred not considering. Still, let's pull it back a bit. I speak.
"But Mordred, if you wanted to be King to prove Artoria wrong, why did you want to be King to begin with?"
"Huh?"/"Right. I noticed that."
Both people sitting opposite me speak at once. Hearing this, there's a pause as Mordred turns to Kairi questioningly, and I extend my hand to Kairi, gesturing him to take over. He takes a breath, lets it out and then faces Mordred.
"You said "I want to be King to prove King Arthur wrong", but you must have had a reason to ask to be made heir before you were rejected."
That causes Mordred to still.
"-why I wanted to be King originally? …I…birthright? No...why did…"
Time to hammer in on this point- I remember that it's key to Mordred's revelation at the end of Apocrypha.
"Ok, let's go back more. Back to when you were a knight. Let's say one day you, alone, saw Artoria crying. It could be over something big or small, but-"
Mordred has snapped herself out of her musing as I started speaking and cuts me off with a scoff. "Arthur was the King. He didn't cry, time spent on that would have been done fixing the problem, not giving in to emotion."
"Ok, how about if she smiled one day? She saw a bird, or had a good meal, or something and-"
"Arthur was the King. He didn't smile; he had so much to do and he wasn't going to waste time-"
She pauses mid-sentence; something about the last bit caught her. She, hesitantly, turns to Artoria.
"Father...what do you think of your Master's cooking?"
What?
What?
Hold on, where did that come from? What?
Artoria seems even more taken-aback than I am. Eventually, she collects herself, and after a vague burst of telepathic communication asking if she could answer that I respond to positively, replies.
"My master is an exceptional cook. Every single meal he has cooked has been a delight."
There's a slight, but gentle smile on her face as she says this.
Mordred stares, gobsmacked. Kairi doesn't quite have the same reaction, but his eyes are opened wide in shock and...understanding?
No seriously, what?
"Ok. Time out, what's this about?"
Kairi responds, Mordred still dumbfounded into silence. "We met Ruler last night. She said your Saber enjoyed your food, and Mordred said that the King doesn't enjoy food, just eats because she has to."
Oh. Well. I guess I owe Jeanne some thanks. The point makes a good segue, though. I fix Mordred with my gaze.
"Mordred. The original reason you wanted the Crown wasn't because of birthright or a desire for power or anything like that. Wasn't it to lift your father's burdens and let her be human? To free her of the role that forced her not to cry, not to smile, not to eat better, or more food than she should?"
"No- No! I needed to prove-"
The way Mordred's voice breaks is not exactly convincing. I keep going-
"It's just that you also desperately wanted personal acknowledgement. More than a knight, you wanted to be Arthur's supporter and family. But it all fell apart with Artoria's unelaborated denial, which you thought meant Artoria only saw you as an extension of Morgana. And from there, everything warped and twisted until all you had left was the chance to make Artoria look at you with hatred for what you did."
Mordred's staring at me, wide-eyed. I can feel Artoria's shock at the revelation behind Mordred's motives, as well as a rising and bursting…anger? Wait hold o-
"For that? That was the reason for- Knight of Treachery, how many died in your Rebellion?"
Oh. Shit. I hadn't considered that from Artoria's perspective, it is only days after Camlann. The emotional wounds of that battle probably have not healed as the physical ones did. Still, I'm not letting this whole thing collapse!
"Hold on!"
Hearing me, Artoria restrains herself but her gaze on Mordred remains chilly and cutting. Mordred has wilted at the one-two punches of this conversation and is struggling to speak.
"I'm not saying Mordred's rebellion was in any way justified, but it wasn't a simple childish temper tantrum. The need for emotional acknowledgement is real, and Morgana made sure Mordred literally never got any of it, all while having an accelerated growth and aging that left Mordred with no connections in life. Mordred turning to you, and then your specific words where you didn't actually explain what you meant by 'you lack the capacity to be king' just caused the whole thing to collapse. It's all a massive communication failure, in part because Mordred was raised without any human connections and in part because you intentionally cut yourself off from human connections. Mordred is a victim, too-"
Artoria instantly shoots back; "Not as much of a victim as those whose lives were- my apologies, Master. I shouldn't be so emoti-"
"No! No no no! That's how this started! Emotions and communication could have solved this-" There is that one thing- "Like, to begin with can you explain what you meant by Mordred lacking the qualities of a King."
Artoria takes a breath, centres herself, and turns to Mordred. "I...your rebellion...I had thought I had come to terms with it, but...it is like a healed wound being suddenly reopened for infection. Before your rebellion, I valued and trusted you as a knight and subordinate. You were skilled, in your own way, and had talents the other knights did not, just as some had talents you did not possess. But none of the knights would have been suitable heirs- they all lacked the quality of a King I most strove for; the ability to rule justly and impartially. Had I stepped down and later committed a crime, I had no confidence they could carried out a fair judgement. That is not to say they were poor or unworthy knights, but they could not have ruled unbiasedly."
As she speaks of her knights, Artoria's eyes go distant, seeing a past I cannot see that is populated by the closest thing she had to friends. Towards the end, her voice has turned wistful, before she pulls herself together to continue.
"But your rebellion...At the time I believed your rebellion was carried out because you believed me to be a poor king, that you would do better for the people and so I…accepted it, even if I fought against it. But your true reasons…to me, they are unconscionable. I might have done you wrong, emotionally, but you did not hurt me alone. I do not hate you, but lashing out as you did proved beyond doubt that you were utterly unsuitable to be King."
Mordred's mouth is open, eyes are wide, as Artoria lays into her. From Mordred's perspective, this might have been the most she has heard "King Arthur" ever speak to her, and it's all tearing into her. Artoria, meanwhile, collects herself, looks to Mordred, then me, back to Mordred and finally lets out a sigh.
"...However, my Master has...an offer of sorts. The past might be the past and changing it might be impossible no matter how we wish, but while I can no longer truly call you a Knight of the Round Table, I might come to accept you as a comrade in the future."
Wha-
Mordred boggles at this, and I'm pretty shocked as well. Artoria had been laying into Mordred back there, and my emotional link to her says she wasn't putting on an act or show. Finding out Mordred's reasons weren't based at all on a belief she could do better but on personal issues had, for a moment, seriously infuriated Artoria. I was worried I'd have to put a lot more effort into smoothing things out here for any chance at all.
'Are you sure, Artoria?'
'I...will try to have faith in your belief that Mordred might have turned out differently with a different touch. My approach led to ruin, and while I cannot simply bring myself to completely ignore that, perhaps over time...'
Mordred almost leaps forward but catches herself instantly and instead turns to Kairi with a conflicted expression on her face. After a moment's deliberation, she slowly turns around.
"I...currently am still serving my Master. I won't just abandon him because you said to. If he comes up with another Wish he wants, I'll help him get that, even if I have to fight you again."
Artoria remains outwardly expressionless, but I can feel a small burst of satisfaction from her. A test of sorts, I suppose. Kairi and Mordred turn to face each other and communicate telepathically. I leave Artoria to her own thoughts, and so the table is deathly silent. Eventually, after several minutes, the two face us again. Mordred is visibly conflicted, and Kairi gives a slightly sad smile looking at Mordred's back of head, which he quickly wipes from his face as he slaps Mordred on the back.
"Go on. I'll be ok- my Wish was granted after all. You have a chance to get your true wish here, so grab it and don't let go."
"I don't need you to tell me that!" Mordred's expression is harder to read, and she avoids looking at Kairi as she stands up and reaches her hand out towards Artoria.
"I…if…I would like to fight alongside you once more, my liege."
Artoria remains seated and silent, looking at the hand; her lack of immediate reply sucks the air from the room. Slowly, her gaze goes up the extended arm and to Mordred's face, clearly trying to hide her fear behind a mask of bravado. Seeing this, more than anything, seems to convince Artoria to act. The room lets out a breath as Artoria rises and takes Mordred's hand.
"Granting forgiveness may be a thorny path, and I cannot promise I will ever see you as you wish me to. But I will accept this attempt as a first step."
As Mordred's face turns to joy that she poorly hides, and Kairi lets out a small chuckle, I let out a breath and smile. Thank God this worked.
"Right. Mordred, let me know when you're ready and I'll handle the rest." Here, I address Kairi. "Also, if you want, you can also sign up for this to get everything your daughter got- if she stays immortal, you might want that also. The offer'll be open all War, though, so feel to ask at any time."
-
Jeanne looks around the empty park and lets her shoulders slump. White, it seemed, intended to run through this War at a breakthrough pace now that they had officially joined it. Soon after recruiting Archer of Red, they had begun a conflict with Saber of Red; a fact that, thanks to Saber of Red's use of their Noble Phantasm, would have been easy enough to notice even without Ruler's detection radius. And what's more, it seemed that White had emerged victorious while also not eliminating Saber of Red or their Master.
The precise details of what had happened were still beyond Ruler, which was why she had hoped to interview White on the matter. She had originally intended to oversee the aftermath directly, but had refrained; shortly after Saber of Red had used their Noble Phantasm, she had detected both Lancer and Rider of Red begin to rapidly approach the battlefield themselves, likely in an attempt by Red to support their Saber and remove the threat of White. They had arrived mere minutes after the two Master and Servant pairing had disappeared- if Ruler had to guess, into White's strange portal. Normally, she would have still moved forwards to investigate, but her past encounter with Lancer of Red, as well as the information provided by the Master of White made her excerise caution with Red. Now more than ever, she must survive long enough to properly oversee the conclusion of this increasingly complex War.
As she waits, hoping that White will once more emerge, she can feel a change in the War. It seems White has recruited the unknown Saber of Red. Red was getting progressively worn away by both Black and White in the worst possible way, with three of their seven (eight) Servants deserting them for the other factions. Still, Jeanne feels a small burst of aggravation at White; while turning Servants to other sides was technically a legal tactic, the scope and speed White was carrying it out felt…somewhat against the spirit of the War, especially given the Incarnated nature of White's Servants. Nothing that yet warranted intervention, but certainly one more thing to discuss with White, hopefully in a discussion less…fraught than their last meeting.
Notes:
So, big fight scene. The Kairi v Rein was never in doubt, but the method of defusing it was something I'd thought up a whiiiiile back. The Mordred v Artoria fight was more interesting, but similarly not really in doubt; Artoria with infinite Mana Burst+Avalon was always going to win (she'd have won with either of them, after all) even with Mordred's history-repetition advantage. Mordred still hopefully put up a good showing, even if she was slightly blinded by rage in the first half with Artoria's "distortion" of Arthur's image.
Artoria having a bad personal reaction towards Mordred is my way of trying to reconcile Artoria's…well, her statement that at Camlan she didn't hate Mordred and her almost OOC hatred of Mordred in FGO. The way I did it was by making it so that getting an understanding of Mordred is what ticks Artoria off more than anything- Artoria accepted (what she incorrectly understood) the motive behind Mordred's rebellion to be in "Mordred sees Artoria as a bad king, so rebellion in order to install Good King", but the revelation it was caused by entirely personal reasons, which Artoria had done her best to separate from ruling makes her...aggravated.
For examples of what I'm talking about regarding FGO Artoria fairly clearly hating Mordred, the only events I found where Mordred and Artoria directly interact have these exchanges;
Artoria to Mordred: "You should take this opportunity to pick armor that suits your frame. Of course, even if you do that still won't be enough to bring your grade as a knight above negative."
And
Artoria to Mordred: "Quiet. Shut up. You are distracting me."
And
Mash: "Mordred is over there throwing a ball against the wall all alone and glancing over at us…"
Artoria: "Oh, that's just your standard kid hoping to make it into the major leagues someday. Clearly, the child wants to practice alone in stoic silence."
And
Artoria: "You are just as much a thug as him [Beowulf], Sir Mordred."
And
Artoria: "[Mash] is like natural, pristine water. You [Mordred], on the other hand, are a cheap, chaotic cocktail of cola, sugar, cream, and churros."
Like, the dialogue could probably not be clearer that Artoria has personal issues with Mordred that she didn't have (or didn't allow herself to have) back when she was alive/dying, and I've interpreted that as both Artoria being freer with her emotions and her understanding of Mordred's motive ticking her off more than when she had a false assumption about Mordred's motive.
I also would like to reiterate that, like the tags and the AN of the prologue say, this is Catalogue-inspired and is not using all the lore tied with the mechanics. For example, Selling is not a Fate Massively Worse Than Death, it's just effectively Deletion From The World- a more permanent killing where standard revival becomes impossible. It's still morally bad, in that people who are Sold are by definition captives, but IMO it's less absurdly monstrous and makes it actually something I might wind up using (wanting to avoid the Dishonored problem).
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