Semi-long A/N slash Rant:
Okay, since a certain "Guest" reviewer has firmly irritated me to the point I have deleted the hateful comment they left, I would like to clarify a few things that people keep bringing up.
Namely the fact that certain 'people' seem to view Mordred as "transgender". Yes I DO in fact know that the definition of the word means someone born to one gender but identifies as the opposite.
However here are a few key points people seem to miss, likely because they haven't actually BOTHERED to actually watch/read Fate/Apocrypha or even look up the series in the first place. Let along considered things from a historical perspective.
When Mordred was summoned, Shishigo made a comment about how the "Knight of Betrayal" was a woman, which annoyed her so much she drew her sword on him to never bring it up again. If anything Mordred is more of a tomboy, not a transgender, for valid reasons. Then again he could have just summoned her during that 'time of the month'.
During the time period Mordred was alive in, women's rights were almost entirely nonexistent. Hell, even Arturia's gender was mistaken for a man according to Fate/Zero. So the fact Mordred would prefer to be addressed as a "man" is simply because of the time period she grew up in, when men had most, if not all the power. There's also the fact that it was unheard of for a woman to be a Knight.
Also, it's simply less confusing than using gender neutral terms all the time.
So please, do not post any hateful reviews on the story. Also, if I catch any more like the one who left such a nasty guest review because they couldn't be bothered to post under their username, I am happy to report that I can and WILL delete them from here on out.
I post these stories for entertainment purposes, and I do not appreciate such nasty comments on the review page. If you don't have the guts to post it under a proper username, it will be removed.
The World Cup was amazing. Waver and Regina loved every minute of it, as did Mordred when the blood finally started flowing. It was over far too quickly for anyone's taste.
And then a bunch of drunken idiots had to ruin everything by dressing up as Death Eaters and causing a panic. There really was only one response to that nonsense.
"My lady Hedwig, would you please be so kind as to show your royal displeasure to them interrupting your hunting time and teach these peasants the error of their ways?" said Regina sweetly.
Mordred cracked up at the imperious hoot the owl gave hearing that, puffing up her feathers in an important way. He laughed even harder when the owl did in fact take off and start using her upgraded eyes and talons to really cause all sorts of hell on the idiots outside.
Best of all, the majority of the action was right outside their tent, which meant he got to enjoy it all while drinking a beer and sitting in his fold up chair.
"Almost as good as the actual game!" he said, toasting the owl.
Regina clinked her own bottle to that. It wasn't like Mordred gave a damn about underage drinking... in his time the drinking age was up to the parents, and it wasn't that uncommon for twelve or even thirteen year olds to drink hard liquor with their fathers.
Though to be fair, most noble children did start on wine at least.
By the time Hedwig finished off the Death Eaters...or to be more precise, when some idiot set off the Dark Mark and scared everyone off, most of the beer had been consumed.
Waver helped Mordred put the tent away, since Regina was out cold.
She had been woken up from a sound sleep before, and the alcohol's effects didn't help in that regard.
(On the side, Mordred was bribing Hedwig with live mice for the good laugh and the very amusing show she had given him. He laughed even harder at the headline the next morning about a demon owl.)
In the magical enclaves...
The reaction to finding out exactly where Regina Potter had disappeared to for a little over a year came with mixed results.
Most people were angry she abandoned her Hogwarts education. After all, wasn't the thousand year old school the premiere school in England to learn magic? Was it suddenly not good enough for her?
Those that knew exactly WHAT Clock Tower was and what being a student there meant, especially since she had obtained an apprenticeship for the full length of her schooling realized that Dumbledore's so-called protege was far more interesting and had far more potential than they originally anticipated. Dumbledore himself had been laughed out of Clock Tower when he attempted to apply and it had nothing to do with his lineage or fame. That school only accepted the truly talented, as well as the best and brightest...never mind that only the most established pure blood lineages from around the world could access the full spectrum of what the school had to offer.
To those who had an actual grasp of what power really meant, in any form, the fact Regina was now pubicly acknowledging that she was a Magus who followed the Old Ways of the Druids, it meant that a rather uninteresting pawn had suddenly turned around and become a knight or even a queen right under their noses.
Any idiot could use a wand and call themselves a witch or wizard. It took someone with a greater degree of skill, ability and intelligence to call themselves a Magus.
Regina wouldn't even need to sit her O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s if she graduated from that school...she could write her own ticket into any job she wanted.
For some, the revelation had come as a major shock.
Hermione had been most struck by the massive change in Regina's bearing. Gone was the uncertain witch she had known who generally caved to her friend's unspoken demands so they wouldn't leave her, and in her place was a woman with the bearing of a knight...no, a king. Regina held herself proudly, but without arrogance. There was a certain way she moved that spoke of long hours of harsh training, though she had the grace of a dancer.
And the way she easily reprimanded them without being insulting about it spoke volumes of how her mindset had firmly changed. She wasn't afraid to speak her real opinion anymore, or let her mind be known in spades.
Hermione looked at the picture in her room.
Had Regina truly been happy as their friend, when they had gotten so used to pushing her around and only considering her own opinion of the matter as an afterthought?
Considering how miserable she had been when Regina left, as no one else had been willing to put up with her bossy nature or study habits, Hermione had to take a long hard look at herself.
Perhaps Regina could put in a good word at this new school she was attending, and they could rekindle their friendship properly.
Ron was angry and hurt after the confrontation in getting water. Bill and the others had been silently impressed when they first met Regina, but none of them had been through the same adventures they had in Hogwarts. The way she so easily dismissed him...it hurt. It hurt just as bad as hearing everyone talk about his brothers and silently compare him to them.
Ginny barely knew Regina, but after seeing her properly since the incident in the Chamber she now fully idolized the girl. Depending on what path Regina took, Ron had absolutely no doubts Ginny would do her best to follow in her footsteps.
He wasn't sure how to feel or react to the revelation Regina had moved on from him. He didn't like it, not one bit.
Regina and Mordred were fighting, but this was normal for them. Except it wasn't.
Regina was using Caliburn rather than her practice sword and Mordred was using Clarent Blood Arthur.
The reason for that was simple... Mordred had deemed Regina's stamina and strength well enough that she was ready to practice with her actual sword rather than cheap modern ones. After all, the only way she would be able to draw out Caliburn's full potential was if she was used to it being in her hand and pulling on her magic.
Waver, as usual, was keeping half an eye on the two while reading a book. He found it fascinating to see the way Mordred trained his little sister and Master.
Watching Regina fight was more like watching an elite dancer in her element. It was more of an art form than a true battle, and he was always fascinated by the grace in which she moved.
She was even faster when she had her upgraded armor (which looked almost indentical to the first save for the slight sheen of the mithril) on, as opposed to the original set which was a bit heavier. Though that was possibly because the original armor didn't have charms to do anything about the weight. Mordred had been quite firm on that regard, saying that making it feel lighter would have been akin to cheating and she needed the extra training.
Regina had agreed, which was why her armor felt as heavy as it looked.
Today though, they had forgone the armor entirely and it was clear there was a major difference in speed on Regina's end because of it.
She wasn't quite up to Mordred's level, but her skills and ability was edging closer to a lower ranked Servant. Most of her defensive ability came from her armor, and Caliburn was in a class on it's own. However her combat skills required time and experience, which she had plenty of because she was still growing.
One thing was for sure...any worries about her not growing into her body went right out the window when she found out she had to get the armor adjusted because her bust had grown at least two cup sizes and she had to get a new wardrobe because she had finally begun to reverse all the damage the Dursleys had done to her as a child. She no longer looked like a pale rake...she had hips, thighs, an actual bust and a dancer's build that was almost pure muscle. Her hands were calloused from hours of training and her stamina was well above that of an Olympic medalist.
Say what you would about Mordred's brutal and very old fashioned idea of training methods...they might be considered inhumane by modern standards but they worked.
Then again, modern parents were all about 'safety' and 'restraint'. Mordred had grown up in a time period where people knew perfectly well safety was an illusion and that skimping out on vital training was a quick way to get killed in a full battle.
Present day society preferred to hide behind the illusion that the wolves at the door were merely feral dogs, and looked down upon the men and women who kept that illusion going because they had no issue with killing other humans if necessary.
Regina had trouble deciding which time period was better to exist in... she was born in the wrong time period for a knight and blooded warrior, but it was the best time for women since they had actual rights and freedoms to make them almost equal to men on multiple levels.
Mordred had sympathized about that particular issue.
Being a woman in the age of Knights sucked. People could talk about chivalry, men in armor and how 'exciting' it must have been back before the dark ages went away...but they were also quick to forget the health issues, the fact that women basically had no rights to speak of, the poor food quality, the lack of education and the fact that the reason the code of knights existed was to create an acceptable standard for the higher class of fighters.
Girls were married once they hit puberty or had their first blood, or very soon after. They started popping out children long before they were even eighteen and were expected to keep the house while their husbands went off to battle or the fields.
Boys were lucky to live past twenty, married young and aged even faster because of the living conditions back then. Training was harsh and unforgiving because it was a necessity to insure the young idiots actually lived past their first battle and were of more use than just cannon fodder for the more experienced fighters.
Human rights were a joke, and forget about child welfare laws or proper medicine. You were lucky if you had access to a proper doctor, or at least the coin to see a decent one if you needed it.
So yeah, Mordred could sympathize with the fact that her skill set was wrong for the time period, but then again she never would have flourished in one where she could have shined brightly as a flower in the field of battle.
Regina's legend would have been cut short by men who would have been very unhappy about a woman rising above what they considered her 'place' in the world, regardless of who she was related to. He had no doubts Arturia would have tried marrying her off just to keep the peace, which was a disaster waiting to happen. Never mind the fact she openly admitted to being a Wiccan, which was just a new way of saying "Druid" in his opinion. The belief system was certainly close enough for it to be mistaken as such, and they followed roughly the same gods and goddesses, never mind the practices.
Considering how strict the Christians and Catholics were, being so heavily influenced by Rome, they would have been very quick to go after her as a witch...ironic, considering she was one.
Mordred silently shook his head.
It was best for all involved that Regina was born in this time period...at least here her sharp tongue and royal demeanor wouldn't get her killed or worse.
Besides, from what Zelretch had mentioned she was likely to quite enjoy these...Grail Wars, once her skill level and ability was high enough to fool the other Servants and Masters into believing she was a Saber class Servant like him.
That ought to be very fun indeed.
"Enough," said Mordred, and Regina allowed Caliburn to take the odd standby form it apparently favored.
At least she wasn't completely exhausted like she used to be. She could actually walk to her room and eat something before passing out now!
That being said, Waver had taken to learning acupuncture since he wasn't quite confident enough to learn massage. Regina appreciated the attention either way, because it helped to work out the knots in her body.
That, and she never had any issue getting him to cuddle with her. Getting him to blush was one of her secret past times.
"You have improved greatly since we started training," said Mordred. "I can only say that it is a testament to your own ability and stubbornness. I've known young boys with less drive to improve themselves who have taken four times as long to get where you are now."
Regina beamed at him. Coming from Mordred, that was a true compliment as he didn't give them out lightly.
"So did Zelretch say which Heaven's Feel he was sending us to once we've had our fill of Middle Earth?" asked Regina, accepting the water from Waver.
Mordred briefly rested his eyes on Waver.
"He said something about the fourth, followed by the alternate one that took the place of the fifth because someone stole the Greater Grail during the third," said Mordred. "He didn't really explain what he meant outside of the fact that Waver was present during the first and I was summoned in the second."
From what Zelretch implied, Arturia would be present in the Fourth war as Saber.
Now if Mordred had just been summoned, he would have demanded that Zelretch send him there now to force Arturia to acknowledge him as their equal, not just another knight.
However being around Regina and training her had caused a slight change in his demeanor. He had mellowed a bit about the matter, mostly because when he told her his wish to prove to his 'father' that he had just as much right to be King as the King of Knights himself did, Regina had found a block and put Caliburn into it.
She had been able to remove it again no problem, which left Mordred.
Since it was the same sword and still had the enchantment to determine those who were worthy of rule upon it (though weakened), Mordred had gone up to try his luck.
He had felt more nervous than the first time he had gone into battle. What if he wasn't worthy? What if his dream to prove Arturia wrong about him being unworthy as a King would never be?
Mordred had put his hand on the hilt, taken a deep breath and cast aside his doubts.
The look upon his face when he was able to pull the sword free from the stone was hard to describe, but there were definitely tears.
Even after what he had done, even after everything that happened, Caliburn had still judged him as 'worthy'.
Mordred had cried, mostly out of relief and joy, that night for hours. Regina had stayed by his side the entire time, just being there for him.
"Anyone up for pizza? I really don't want to deal with the regular cooking and I could go for something more modern," suggested Regina.
With her work out regimen, she could eat anything she wanted and not gain a pound that wasn't muscle. A fact she took great glee and full advantage of, so long as she didn't return to a 'Dursley diet' as she called it.
She was developing quite the culinary palate.
Seeing the two boys perk up at the suggestion, Regina grinned. This was the way things should be.
