Mordred had stormed off from her Master in a rage the previous night, returning to his home and shutting herself away in the room adjacent to his until morning. When she woke up however, she couldn't even recall why she had gotten so angered. What he had said was correct, she just wasn't ready to hear it.
That immaturity is exactly what lead to her fall, and even as a Heroic Spirit she was unable to escape it. She sat cross legged in her room, waiting for her Master to arrive in the morning, in order to apologize for her rash actions. But as the time passed away with no sign of him, she began to wonder if he was ever going to show. She had told him to leave her be until they were to fight Caster, but she hadn't ever expected that he would listen to her. Perhaps her rash actions had broken their Master Servant relationship forevermore, rendering them unable to cooperate in order to win?
Unable to shake her anxiety, Mordred stood up and exited her room, entering the quiet hall. There were no signs of her Master or anyone else, a rare sight in a normally busy estate.
Mordred, who had mentally prepared only for a serious confrontation with her Master had no idea how to proceed now. Should she search him out now, or wait for him to return? Pondering the choices before her momentarily, her thoughts were interrupted by a flash of blue in the corner of her vision. The figure that had just entered the living room of the estate was unmistakably that of her 'Father.'
Mordred's heart began to race, beating loudly against her inner ear. The Command spell still bound her from attacking, but it didn't prevent her anger from boiling to the forefront of her personality. And they were alone, no one else seemed to be present in the building. Not her Master, not that annoying redhead that followed them around all last night, and not him.
What curse had he employed, what sinister magecraft or Noble Phantasm had he wielded to turn her proud and mighty father into such a sorry state. Mordred hated her father more than anyone, but it was only because she also loved them more than anything in this world. It was this love, bordering on obsession, that drove her rage. Her 'father' was the strongest knight, the greatest king, and all she wanted was to live up to that legacy.
But when she had awoken in the modern world by the power of the holy grail, she had come face to face with a version of her 'father' she could hardly recognize. Weak, passive even; the glorious King of Knights had been tamed. Who exactly was that man, that Giorno Giovanna, to be able to pull off such a feat?
More than because of the tragic ending to her legend, Mordred didn't wish to face her father now because of how much weaker they had become. Even if Arturia gave her approval now, it was meaningless. Being praised by a housecat was more insulting than the rejection of a lion, she wanted nothing more than to return to her room and evade the woman waiting behind that now ominous door, however…
Mordred's stomach let out a low rumble, sealing her fate. While Servants did not require food to maintain their forms normally, the high mana consumption of the Saber class combined with her refusal to go into spirit form led to this. Food could be converted into mana by her servant body, alleviating some of the drain she put on her Master. Hesitating in front of the door, Mordred steeled her resolve and entered the living room, which held the only path to the kitchen.
The room was empty, had her father already left? She wondered this for a moment, then caught note of the sounds from the kitchen. A sudden dread, worse fear then when she had faced down Berserker assailed the young woman, was her father cooking alone? As a king of a war ravaged country, Arturia rarely had chance to partake in any delicate cuisine, and this showed quite evidently in her own attempts at cooking.
With a burst of magical energy, Mordred dashed into the kitchen right as Arturia was about to pour a strange noxious liquid into a frying pan. Grabbing her arm, Mordred stopped her from doing whatever she had intended to the eggs currently cooking on the stove. A wave of nausea assaulted Mordred, the pull of her binding Command Spell activating from the perceived aggression.
"D-Don't… add that," Mordred winced though the command spell, forcing Arturia's dangerous looking concoction away from the stovetop. "I've already died to your hand by the blade, I would not wish to do so again from poisoning."
"Eh?" Arturia just looked at Mordred with a perplexed expression. Ah right, none of the men of this household were brave enough to tell her how bad she was. "Y-You don't like my cooking? I know I was a bit lost at first but I feel like I've gotten much better as of late..."
"Move aside, I will once again assist my helpless father with a simple task." Pushing past Arturia, Mordred grabbed spices from the nearby rack and headed towards the fridge. "A king is unfit to prepare his own food, so it can't be helped."
And so the two cooked the remainder of the meal together, the awkward silence between them refusing to break. After it was finished they both sat at the dining table in the next room over. Mordred hadn't said a single word to her father since she had started cooking, but she had still managed to say more to her than she had since the first day of her summoning. Picking up a fried egg with a pair of chopsticks, Mordred place it in her mouth and began to chew.
"..."
"It's a little..." Arturia looked listlessly at the plate before her, her blank expression both impossible to read but also incredibly telling.
"Bland." Mordred sighed and leaned back, falling onto the tatami mat floor. She had never made much more than simple dishes as a knight, but at least she had some common sense in choice of flavoring compared to Arturia. "What a useless knight I am. I cannot even prepare a meal properly."
"I do not think meal service is a requirement of knighthood, Mordred." Arturia, despite the failure of a meal before her continued to eat it, having been used to many a similar meal back in her own time. "You were summoned as the knight class Saber, not the support class of 'Chef' after all."
Was that a joke, a joke coming out of her stoic father's mouth? The shock would have made Mordred fall out of her chair, if she wasn't already on the ground at the time.
"Wise words, but… I don't appear to be that good at that either. We have yet to defeat even a single Master or Servant, even now I continue to be nothing but a failure of a knight. You knew I had reached my limits back then, didn't you? That's why you wouldn't accept me, I could never become king while so weak."
"On the contrary, you are a strong knight, possibly stronger than I ever was." Arturia's words felt strange, was she a heroic spirit from a different past? The throne of heroes could summon from beyond time and space, so perhaps…
"Your attempts at humor are unwanted, father. If I am so strong, I would not have met the end I did." Sitting back up, Mordred glared at Arturia, who was currently sipping a cup of green tea. "You rejected me for being weak, you said so yourself!"
"You're wrong, Mordred, you are strong." Standing up, Arturia looked down at the still seated Mordred. "You are too strong, too strong to understand your own limitations, for they were never reached until it was too late. You saw me as an invincible hero like all the others, but I was weaker than you could ever know. But it was because of that weakness I grew up with that led me to greatness, I would have never gathered my knights if I had been strong, and what would have happened to Britain without them?"
A king can't win a war without an army.
Her Master's words echoed in her mind, the same words that had caused their latest conflict. Even a teenager of the modern era understood how to be a king more than she did, how could she be so foolish? The thought that Shirou saw her exactly as Arturia had then filled Mordred's body with a sense of regret, followed by fear. Things were repeating themselves, was she cursed to relive this fate?
"Mordred, you never grew up with weakness, you were born with the power of a hero. But because of this, you never developed the strength of a king. Then and now my response is the same, you do not possess what a king requires to lead his country."
There was no anger in her words, they were just the truth. Mordred knew it all along, but she didn't want to hear it, she still couldn't accept it, she wouldn't accept it! There had to be some other reason, some factor that prevented Arturia from accepting her strength.
"Don't give me that shit! You just refuse to accept me because of who I am, because of mother!" Mordred rose to her feet, her eyes burning with rage. Instead of feeling the pain of rejection, she chose to fill her heart with rage, just as she had done back then. "You spout your nonsense as if it means anything, but you're just holding a petty grudge!"
"That isn't true, Mordre-"
But Arturia never got to finish her response, the fist of her 'son' rocketing into her face, smashing her against the wall. The house shuddered and the wall easily cracked from the force of the collision. Mordred gritted her teeth against the pain of the command spell, unable to disobey it further.
It was hopeless, even in the face of the truth she couldn't accept it. Too blackened was her heart over the years for her to be saved by mere words. There was nothing left to do but win the war and have her wish granted. Shirou's face flashed before her eyes, causing her anger to waver for a moment, but she quickly filled with rage once more, storming out of the house.
He was exactly the same, he didn't see her as anything but a nuisance, a worthless knight with no value. A man like him deserved a more worthy knight at his side, such as Bedivere or Gawain, she was just dragging her Master down.
Of course, these thoughts were false, but in her current state she wasn't able to understand this fact. Everything from her perspective seemed to reinforce this feeling of uselessness, so when a certain gang member who worked for her Master appeared, it seemed nothing more than another slight against her.
With her strength, does Master even need a Servant?
Tatsuki had appeared from the shadows as soon as Mordred had entered the yard, her normally cheerful persona now seeming quite serious.
"Come to humiliate me more, have you? Was overpowering me in that contest of strength not enough for you?"
"No no, nothing like that, Saber. I'm acting on the Boss' orders." As soon as she had said those words, Mordred had wished she had just come here to laugh at her instead. "Shirou said to keep an eye on you in case you did something reckless, and you look like you're about to storm out of here for good."
"Even my Master does not trust me or my actions, as expected." Mordred turned away from the girl and continued to leave. "Do not worry, I won't be defeated while I'm gone. But I just can't… I cannot stand to be here for one more second with her."
"And I just can't let you leave, you know? I was told to keep you here, so I'm gonna do my best to keep that promise!" Walking out in front of Mordred, Tatsuki blocked the only exit from the yard, raising her fists as if she intended to fight the Servant before her.
While Mordred could easily escape over one of the walls, the symbolic gesture of this girl blocking her way was enough to trap her here. Her pride wouldn't let someone she considered inferior to get in her way without a fight.
"You against me, don't make me laugh." Narrowing her eyes, Mordred balled her hands into fists, a surge of energy flowing through her. "You may have surpassed during that casual bout, but you'd be no match against a knight like me in a serious battle."
Launching herself forward with a burst of magical energy, Mordred easily slipped through the gap in Tatsuki's defensive stance before she had a chance to react, her fist slamming into the redhead's body with the force of a sledgehammer. Tatsuki was thrown back well over ten feet, stopped only by the wall surrounding the estate.
"As expected, my mana burst skill far exceeds your human limits, as absurd as they may be." Heading towards the gate without looking back, Mordred hesitated. Was this really the right choice? This could easily seem like abandoning her Master, and in some ways she wanted to do just that. If she never saw Shirou again, she would never need to face her feelings towards him.
At times, she hated him, but that hate was different from her angry towards her enemies such as Berserker. No, this hate felt more like that aimed at her 'father,' which Mordred understood was born in part from her love of the King. If her feelings towards Shirou were the same as those towards Arturia… no, she must be reading too much into it.
"..!"
Just as she had finally resolved to leave, she felt a strange aura behind her. Instinctively she dodged to the left, a trail of deep purple flame crashing past where she had just been. Standing before her once more was Tatsuki, the ethereal flame emanating from her right hand. Holding up her flaming arm towards Mordred, the Servant of the sword noticed that what had once been the hand of an ordinary human girl had twisted, turning into that of a beast's.
The wall next to the gate besides Tatsuki had been completely destroyed, but it did not appear to have been the work of her brute strength. No, there was something different about the damage, like it had crumbled away naturally over time.
"I was told not to get serious, that it wasn't time to reveal this..." panting, Tatsuki grasped her transformed arm with her still normal left hand. "But against an opponent like you… I can't afford to pull my punches."
"Of course, I understand perfectly now." Mordred lifted her arm out to the side, her sword appearing in her palm. "I couldn't understand your inhuman strength, but that kind of ability makes perfect sense if one was actually a beast in human skin rather than the innocent girl they pretended to be!"
The two women clashed, Mordred with her sword and Tatsuki with her monstrous claw. Taking a wide swing at the Servant, the purple energy wrapped around her hand cut a path across the ground below them. Everything it touched, every blade of grass or flower, quickly withered and died, what sort of power was this?
Normally Mordred would have a clear advantage in this battle, possessing more speed and skill. But the unknown variable of Tatsuki's power, unsure of how it would affect her or her blade, forced her on the defensive. It was a little like a battle with another Servant, who had yet to reveal their Noble Phantasm.
Dodging past another of Tatsuki's wild swings, Mordred kicked the girl's feet out from under her and swung her sword singlehandedly down upon her. But the blade hut nothing but the earth as the redhead rolled out of it's path, leaping up with a powerful uppercut.
Sidestepping an attack of that speed was no trouble for a knight of Mordred's level, but the reach of Tatsuki's aura proved harder to judge. The red leather disintegrated on contact, spreading all the way down her left sleeve. The remaining scraps of cloth from the sleeve were worn out and looked as though they had survived for hundreds of years.
"A decent enough trick, but now that I understand it's range it will be no more use to you!" Pulling off what was left of her destroyed jacket sleeve and discarding it, Mordred pondered tearing off the remaining sleeve for consistency, but decided there was no merit in doing so.
Tatsuki lunged in, but Mordred easily sidestepped the girl's wide punch. With a flick of her wrist her crimson blade bit into the redhead's side, spilling a vermilion ichor across the emerald grass at their feet. The wounded girl staggered back, trying to gain some distance from Mordred, but the Knight wouldn't let her, her raised blade bearing down on her again.
A white flash filled Mordred's vision as the similar sound of swords clashing echoed out. Standing between her and Tatsuki was the figure of her 'father,' fully armored in her lily white battle armor. A twinge of pain shot through Mordred's body, her command spell reacting to the situation immediately.
"Cease this at once, Mordred!" Arturia's stern expression was refreshing, nostalgic even. How long had it been since she had looked at Mordred like that? Even before their reunion in the Holy Grail War it had become a rare sight. "What good will this accomplish, unless you intend to burn every bridge you have once again; You really haven't changed since then."
"Shut up, shut up!" Mordred gritted her teeth through the command spell's influence, shoving Arturia back and pointing her sword at the woman in white. "You always, always, always get in my way! You won't accept me as your child, your heir, yet you cannot stop butting your head in where you don't belong! 'The greatest king?' Don't make me laugh, you're nothing but a meddlesome fool, what did I ever see in you?"
Mordred herself didn't believe her own words, but they were easier, far more so than facing the truth. As she stared down her 'father,' she let her misguided rage take control, rather than fall into despair. But in that standstill, a single image appeared in her mind. Her Master, smiling like an idiot, no doubt about to throw himself into danger once more. He reminded her so much of herself, they really were fools.
"Clarent..."
Mordred's voice was practically a whisper, but all present could feel the power behind that word. It was the name of her sword, her Noble Phantasm. Arturia's body tensed up out of reflex, knowing full well the power of her 'son.' In her current state… could she even hope to defend against such an attack?
"Stop it, Mordred! Do you intend to unleash your full might here?!" Desperately waving her hand towards the house they had both come out of not long before, Arturia pleaded with the knight of treachery, but her words fell on deaf ears.
"SHUT UP!" Her body shaking with rage, Mordred's power threatened to overflow from her petite body. The ground at her feet was ravaged by her mana, staining it with the crimson color of a thousand battles. Her sword began to glow from within as she raised it above her head.
In her mind, Mordred saw her Master again. His hair a mess of blood and dirt, his clothing tattered and soaked red. But still he stood up, facing down a massive black giant he had no chance of winning. Another image, a memory of the harrowing battle against Arturia's terrible cooking they had faced together. Before she realized what was happening, a single tear had rolled down her face.
Mordred's blade, Clarent, vanished into the air in a flash. All of the energy she had built up dispersing harmlessly into the air. Breaking into a sprint before Arturia could say a word, Mordred fled the scene. Falling against the wall, Tatsuki clutched her wound, which was bleeding heavily.
"M-Master… did I do well?" She let out a pained gasp, reaching her free hand up towards the sky listlessly.
Shirou was on his way back from his meeting at the school when he felt it, every one of his modest amount of magic circuits flared up, sending a wave of nausea through his system. He fell to one knee, the pain wracking his body reminding him of the time he had first manifested his stand.
Not once had Mordred's actions caused such a drain on his reserves of mana, not even after exhausting herself against Berserker. Right away he concluded what this meant, she had activated her Noble Phantasm for the first time. Forcing himself to stand, He rushed towards the estate on shaking legs.
He couldn't imagine what was happening right now, had the enemy attacked while he was out. If anything happened to the gang… Shirou clenched his fists tighter and increased his run into a full out sprint.
When he arrived back at the estate, a few members of the Gang were standing at the front gate, including Angelo, one of his fellow Officers. As he approached the door, Angelo dashed out and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, pulling his face closer.
"Oi, where the hell have you been, Shirou!" Angelo growled at him, the normally upbeat Gangster showing a fury Shirou had never seen on his face.
"I had some business to attend to school, what happened?" Shirou placed his hand on Angelo's wrist, forcing him to release his grasp. "Where's Giorno?"
"Inside, we just got back too, I guess I'll let explain it." Walking past Shirou, Angelo intentionally slammed his shoulder into the young gangster, knocking him off of his feet. "You better clean up this mess, you're not a rookie anymore."
Unsure what Angelo meant by his last words, Shirou rushed inside, finding Giorno and Arturia waiting for him in the main room. He couldn't see Mordred anywhere, what had happened?
G-Giorno, what's going on, was it the enem-"
"It was your Saber, throwing a bit of a tantrum." Giorno's cold eyes pierced through Shirou, his opinion painfully clear despite his stoic look, he blamed him for this. "While you were off on your own she managed to cause quite the stir here, nearly blowing half the city away with her Noble Phantasm."
"I..." Shirou began to speak but quickly stopped, realizing anything he said now was nothing but an excuse. Looking at his feet, he struggled to think of anything to say, but before he had a chance, Giorno continued.
"Saber, no, Mordred… she's your responsibility, your Servant. And while you were gone for only a short time she rampaged out of control, nearly killing your new subordinate in the process."
"T-Tatsuki?! What happened, don't tell me she tried to fight Mordred, I just told her to keep watch..." This too was his fault, his responsibility. If there was any reason for her to lose control, it was their last fight, he was the direct cause of this all.
"Tatsuki is fine, She's more resilient than most, and I've healed her wounds. But still, things wouldn't have gone this way if you had been more in control, Shirou. Your Servant has run off to god knows where as well, this really is quite a disaster."
Shirou's thoughts filled with a vague memory, a strange dream he had had. If there was one strength to his character, Shirou would have to say it was his decisiveness. Often it backfired on him, as it had right now, but he didn't take long to arrive at his next decision. In that moment he already knew what he was going to do, nothing else mattered to him at all.
"Don't worry, I'll bring her back, no matter what." Shirou turned back and headed out into the hall. But before he left the house completely he looked back into the room, his eyes meeting Arturia's. "The Magician of Flowers said he's waiting in Avalon, if you ever find yourself there."
Ignoring her confused expression, Shirou ran out of the house into the city, not entirely sure where to go. Back in the living room on the Giovanna estate, Arturia smiled softly, a tint of sadness in her eyes.
"Still meddling as always, you intrusive old man… thank you."
Shirou ran, he ran throughout the city. He went everywhere he had with Mordred before, but he realized before long that it was hopeless. For all the time he had spent with Mordred until then he still failed to know a single thing about her, where would she go when she was upset?
If he wanted to run away, he would always end up drawn to the cherry tree in the park, like he had some sort of connection to it. But that wouldn't work with Mordred, she had no reason to go there. Why? Why hadn't he learned anything about her likes, his dislikes, he only knew about Mordred as a warrior… which didn't help him save the girl that was suffering right now.
Taking out his phone, Shirou looked at his contacts, his current determination overriding any and all logic. It had only been a few hours since he had declared himself his enemy, but he had nowhere else to turn. Calling the number, Shirou fully expected him not to answer.
"You don't understand how to be a rival, do you?" That sarcastic tone could belong to none other than Shinji Matou. "But I can't expect a simpleton like you to grasp the changing allegiances of the war quickly I suppose, what is this about?"
"The Matou's contribution to the Holy grail war was the Command Spell system, it's a longshot but… can you track a Servant with an active command spell on them?"
"I can, but what's in it for me to help my enemy? You're gonna have to make this worth it, you know?"
"I'll give you my Servant's true name, how's that? I'm sure you can do some serious damage with that knowledge, even without your own Servant."
The other line of the phone was silent for a moment, before Shinji finally answered.
"There are two, give me the name and I'll send you their locations."
Shirou sighed in relief, he honestly expected Shinji to refuse his request, but he had come through in the end.
"The Knight of Treachery."
"Mordred huh, all of the knights of Camelot are powerful Heroic Spirits, will you ever stop being lucky? I'll text you the locations, and Shirou… This is the last time, I won't help you again."
"I know, I wouldn't have called if I didn't have a choice."
Hanging up, Shirou waited for the information to arrive. Two addressed soon appeared on his screen, and Shirou recognized them both immediately. The first was the Tohsaka estate, so that must be Rin and Archer, leaving the other as the only option.
"Found you, Mordred, don't think you can run away from me so easily!" Regaining his confidence, Shirou ran towards the city zoo, the second address Shinji had given him.
What would he do when he caught up to her, what could he say that would fix things between them? As always, he had no ideas. But that was fine, he had lived his entire life this way, as long as his intentions were honest things would surely work out, he didn't need a plan!
When he arrived outside of the zoo's closed gates he wasted no time at all and vaulted over them, using his stand to reach a height in his jump that should have been impossible. The metal fence was nothing against his might, why would it possibly think it could obstruct his path? Of course, the gate had no such thoughts, as it was merely an object, but Shirou was running on pure instinct at this point, so it hadn't even occurred to him.
Because it was an off day and the zoo was closed there wasn't anyone around, so Shirou had no reason to hide his inhuman abilities. Carried through the empty park with his Stand, he easily cruised at twice his max speed on foot. To an onlooker with no ability to see his Stand it would have appeared as if he were flying, but in fact his stand was merely leaping great strides while carrying him along.
And finally, he saw her. Her clothes were tattered from the fight at the estate and her back was turned to him, but it was unmistakably her. Shirou started to run towards her, but he quickly skidded to a stop. Something was off about the air, he could feel a wrongness about the area around them.
"..!"
A flash of light from the air above him filled his vision, barely missing the young gangster as he he rolled to the left. His honed combat reflexes were the only thing that had saved him from almost certain death. The burst of magical energy had left a scar in the ground stretching back a good ten feet from where it had impacted, what sort of magic was was that? It couldn't be, were they finally showing themselves..?
A figure appeared next to Mordred, a purple and black cloak obscuring their face, but their body was clearly female. At the same time, Mordred turned to face Shirou, but her eyes remained facing downward.
"Why… Why did you come here?!" Mordred suddenly looked up as she spoke, her eyes filled with tears. Her words weren't directed at the magus who had appeared, who was likely the enemy they were searching for, but at Shirou.
"Mordred… what are you doing?"
Tears streamed down her face as she ran, her destination was unknown aside from one thing. That was that she had to escape, to be anywhere but that house. As always, Mordred ran from her problems instead of facing them. Grown artificially to adulthood in only a few years, the 'son' of King Arthur had never be granted a chance to naturally mature. As such, she only had childish solutions to her problems.
If there was a wall in her way, break it down with brute force. Someone can repair it later anyways, right? And if her emotions became too hard to control, she simply avoided dealing with them. She couldn't make sense of her simultaneous hatred and love for her father, so she had run away, going so far as to rebel against Arturia. Is history destined to repeat itself? Is this her fate regardless of the time she's in?
Before she realized it, she had found herself inside the closed zoo, looking down on the lion cage. Like her 'father' Mordred felt a connection to lions, and was naturally drawn here by it. Unable to calm down, her confused feelings swirled around in her mind. She couldn't make sense of her feelings towards her Master, and every time she pictured his face her chest tightened. Even her feelings towards Arturia had never felt like this before, what was happening?
Mordred clenched her fist, slamming it against the railing in front of her. The metal might as well have been putty against her strength, easily bending from her strike. What would he think of what she'd done? Would he be upset with her? Enraged over her injuring his gang subordinate? Or for running away?
That earnest, kind Master of hers… She she was first summoned her only thoughts had been 'Is this man worthy of me as a Servant?,' but she had been wrong. It was not he who was unworthy, but her. Someone like her, a failure of a knight, a heroic legend tainted in blood and betrayal… a hero like that had no right to stand by his side.
"Stupid Master, why couldn't you have summoned Gawain, or Tristan?" Her body began to shake, memories of her former comrades flooding her thoughts. Every one of her compatriots, aside from perhaps Lancelot was a shining, exemplary knight. With one of them by his side, he could surely have made his wish come true.
"A more skilled Master would be able to use your talents effectively, Saber." An unknown voice appeared from behind her, sending a shiver through Mordred's body.
The knight spun around, coming face to face with a cloaked woman. She knew just by looking at her that she was no mere Magus, no, this was a Servant. The enemy they had been searching for had finally shown herself, but why?
"Caster… have you decided to commit suicide by my blade?" Mordred's sword, Clarent, materialized in her hand as she spoke, the ornate blade facing the woman before her.
"That command spell he placed on you… it must be such a burden. Not being able to complete what you started, back in Camelot. What a pitiful Master he is to chain your beautiful, wild soul with such a misguided order." Caster disappeared as she spoke, her words echoing in Mordred's ears unnaturally. The cloaked woman appeared behind Mordred, her lips pressed up against the Swordswoman's ear. "I can set you free."
"Do not try and tempt me, witch!" Mordred twisted her body, swinging her sword in an upward slash towards Caster, but the blade hit empty air. "You think me so weak willed to give in to such a ploy?"
"Am I not merely putting to word that which you've already felt? I've been watching you for some time, Saber, I understand you quite well." Caster's voice now appeared behind Mordred, and while there was no sign of hostility in her words they still lacked any sense of kindness. "I am no stranger to betrayal, and I can tell just be looking at you that you're at your limit. Your soul needs to be free, you can't let your false feelings towards you Master tie you down."
"False… feelings?"
"How pathetic that you haven't realized it yourself, very well then, I shall explain. You wish to run away, to free yourself from your shackles, but you can't bring yourself to do so. The reason for that is these feelings you have for your sorry excuse for a Master, but do you really think he cares about you?"
"I..."
"He is using you, can't you see that? He doesn't see you as anything more than a tool that can be replaced, isn't that why he's gone to seek the help of other Masters instead of trusting in your power? And you've fallen right into his trap, repeating history once again."
"That's not… My Master isn't like that!"
"Oh? Why then have you come here, are you not running from him?"
"It isn't my Master I wish to run from, but if I remain by his side I cannot escape them either." Mordred's body began to shake, her anger slowly returning as she recalled the events that lead to her departure from the house. "Master deserves better than me, a Servant he can trust, who can work with his allies instead of fighting against them."
"On the contrary, Saber. I think the one who isn't worthy here is him, any Master who doesn't see you for what you truly are, who can't use your peerless abilities to their fullest… that is the mark of one who is unworthy."
Seeming to teleport, Caster appeared in front of Mordred once more, a strange dagger loosely hanging from one hand. Mordred could tell right away that it was Caster's Noble Phantasm, had she decided to attack after all?
"But if you insist on your words, that you think your master would be better off without you, why not join me? I have ample mana to support even three Servants, you would be free to use your powers without holding back. And of course that pesky command spell would disappear as well, leaving you in a position to finish what you've started, what do you say?"
"Do you think I would fall for this? Your words are empty and meaningless, you just want to use me for your own ends." Crossing her arms, Mordred glared at the hooded magician. "As soon as I've defeated the other Servants for you you'll stab me in the back, right? Cut off my mana supply and let me fade away, an easy win where you barely have to lift a finger, you sorcerers never fail to disgust me with your tactics."
Her Master's face floated through her thoughts, his stupid smile that never seemed bothered by how bad a situation was. Beside that however, was the image of that girl, Tatsuki, laying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. It always happened this way, Mordred couldn't be a trusted ally, it always ended in their ruin. How many lives had been cut short by her reckless actions? How many had died under her command, during her foolish rebellion. Shirou always seemed like he was trying to fix things, but how could he fix this? Her actions this time were unforgivable she thought.
"Oh? It appears we have an unwanted guest." Caster gazed past Mordred, before vanishing into the air. A sudden burst of magical energy from above her lit the surrounding park, revealing to her the figure of the man Caster had been talking about. Mordred was simultaneously surprised at the sight but also felt as though it was obvious, who else would it have been?
Shirou Giovanna rolled out the way of Caster's unprovoked attack, the blonde boy stared directly at Mordred, Caster materializing right beside her. Mordred kept her eyes on the ground, avoiding eye contact with her Master. If only he had come sooner, before Caster's words had filled her with such confusion. She wanted to trust him, but what if he really was just playing with her feelings for his own gain? But even more so then that, she couldn't stand to face him after what she had done to Tatsuki, because if he was being sincere with his feelings… her betrayal would cut him even deeper.
Her feelings were too complicated, even more confusing than her feelings towards her 'father'. She hated it, nothing in her life had equipped her with the skills needed to make sense of her emotions. She wanted to stay by his side, but she also wanted to run away from him. She wanted him to forgive her for her actions, to tell her everything was alright. But she also thought she deserved to be punished for them, as much as it pained her.
"Why… Why did you come here?!" Tears forming in her eyes, Mordred let out a confused outburst, unable to control her emotions anymore.
"Mordred… what are you doing?" Shirou looked at her, his face remaining as stoic as possible, but it was clear he was having trouble understanding the current situation. "First you try and hide from me here, and now I find you with Caster. You're obviously not fighting them, so what exactly is going on here?"
"I… I don't know! Caster suddenly appeared, tried to trick me with her words, I thought I had resisted them but now… I'm just so confused, what have you done to me, Master?!" Mordred clutched her hand to her chest, feeling the rapid beating of her heart.
"You've just let yourself get too worked up over everything, let's go home and talk things over, alright?" Shirou calmly held out his hand towards Mordred, hoping his invitation would show he wasn't angry with her. "Tatsuki is fine, you haven't done anything wrong that can't be fixed, so let's just go back to the way things were."
But in his attempt to avoid upsetting Mordred further, by imitating Giorno's style of stoicism, he had only played into Caster's words. Unwittingly doing the same thing Caster said he would. His words felt hollow to Mordred, like he was trying to manipulate her into doing what he wanted. Even though his motives were pure, in her current state she couldn't see them clearly.
"You think I'm just going to listen to everything you say, don't you?" Mordred glared harshly at her Master, her confusion giving way to rage. As always when she couldn't understand something about her emotions she chose to ignore it, to replace the problem with this anger. "You force me to stay in that place, with them, day in and day out, even knowing how much it hurts me. You don't listen to me and just do whatever you want, sometimes forgetting I'm even there! Do you even want a Servant, let alone need one?"
"What are you talking about, Mordred? I just want what's best for our chances of winning, isn't that what you want?"
"That name… I loath it. That name is stained with blood, it's a curse on my legend, my tainted honor… and I told you not to call me that!"
She really was a fool, even now she wanted his forgiveness. She wanted her Master to hold her in his arms, to let her cry against his shoulder. All of her pain, their loneliness she had felt through years of rejection, she was reliving it now. If she just stopped her rage, if she ran over to him right now… would he forgive her?
But when she looked into his eyes one more time, she felt nothing but cold hostility. While it was more than likely aimed at Caster, in her distraught state she didn't even consider the possibility.
"You… You're just like Father, I suppose that makes sense, you've grown up along side them for so long." In her eyes, Shirou had everything she didn't. He was loved, he had a family that truly cared about him, that accepted him. And that family included her 'father,' who had helped raise him in a way Arturia had never once did for her. Turning to face Caster, Mordred touched the ornate dagger in the magus's hand.
"With this, my Rule Breaker, you can be free." Caster held up the blade towards Mordred's chest the tip piercing her skin slightly, but it drew no blood.
Mordred looked back at her Master once more, his face frozen in a look halfway between confusion and anguish. She had seen that face many time before, it was the face of a man on the wrong end of betrayal. Mordred's chest tightened, the physical pain of her actions almost stopping her hand. But when she imagined trying to face Shirou after this, she couldn't bear that pain any better.
Grasping the dagger in her hand, Mordred plunged it into her chest, feeling the spiritual connection with her Master snap. She could no longer feel his magical energy flowing into it, her body instantly becoming colder for it.
"Unlimited Blade Works, Act Two!"
A blur passed Mordred's vision, the silver aura of Shirou's Stand mixed with the blue flames it used to forge swords rushed past her, her Former Master's fist crashing into Caster's face without hesitation. A dagger burst out of his forearm, a result the incomplete and rushed nature of his Second Act's merging with his body. Without the right level of concentration his blades would begin to form inside his own body as they do with his Stand's first act. This is of course a much bigger problem with a body of flesh and blood, so he had decided to only use this power as a last resort.
"Don't think I'll let you abandon me that easily, Mordred! You're my Servant, but if I have to beat you down myself and drag you back home, I will."
An explosion rocked the ground around them, throwing Shirou off of his feet. At the epicenter was of course, Caster. The Servant of Magic was holding her face with one hand, a line of blood running down her chin from Shirou's strike.
"It's too late, boy. Your Saber has already made up her mind, can't you tell?"
"Does it look like I care about any of that?" Standing up on shaking feet, Shirou held his injured right arm with his left, various blades having formed inside of it. "Even without a Servant, I would be coming for you anyways for what you've been doing to this city, my city. I'll find you, punish you for your crimes, and bring back my Servant whether she wants it or not!"
"How selfish, do you not care about what your Servant wishes for in the slightest? It seems I was right about you."
"Of course I care, which is why I'll bring her exactly what she wants." Looking at his ex Servant, Shirou placed his right hand on his hip and raised his left in front of his face, fingers splayed. "You want to finish what you started in Camelot, right Mordred? I'll give you that chance, so wait for me, I'll bring your father straight to you. Then after Arturia finishes disciplining you for this tantrum you're throwing, let's all eat dinner again, as a Family."
"The sooner you've removed yourselves from this contest the better, feel free to sacrifice your lives foolishly against my territory, boy." slowly vanishing into thin air along with Mordred, Caster left behind one last message for the young Gangstar. "I'll be waiting at Ryuudou Temple, with your precious Saber..."
As soon as they had disappeared, Shirou fell to one knee. The toll of using his Second Act so thoughtlessly catching up with him. Breathing heavily, the final words of Caster echoed in his mind.
"Ryoudou Temple, so that's where you've been hiding, Caster!"