Chapter 13.5 - Family Bonding.
Pocket Space of Arturia Morgana Pendragon The Night Before the Next world
(General P.O.V)
"Right, who wants to start.." Arturia says, everyone currently wearing their usual casual outfits as we sit around the front of the game room lounge in a circle.
Everyone is playing Truth or dare to pass the time, and none of us really able to sleep just yet due to how eager we are to enter the next world. Out of all of us. Artoria (Saber) and Mordred are especially eager while Medea also shows some visible interest and has expressed a desire to use this opportunity to gather up material for the future.
Mordred eagerly raises her hand, wanting the first turn of the truth or dare game. Artoria who's sitting right next to her just looks at Arturia wondering if she really will allow that considering how mischievous Mordred can be at times.
"Alright, go ahead.." Arturia says, making Artoria (Saber) just sigh as Mordred grins.
"Alright…sister…..Mashu, truth or dare!" Mordred asks Mashu, who looks startled, a hand soon on her left thigh to calm her from Ritsuka next to her.
"U-umm..D-dare…" Mashu says, making Fu next to Medea and Morgan le fay whistle with an impressed look at Mashu's courage.
"Hehehe, ok then…strip to your underwear, let's see what you're wearing under that uniform of yours~!" Mordred says with a mischievous grin, making a groping motion with her hands as Mashu squeaks with embarrassment.
"I….o-ok.." Mashu says, slowly removing her glasses, lab coat, top, pants, and everything that isn't her undergarments. Once she's done, everyone can see Mashu wearing a lacy black bra and panties with a faint purple trim to it, the stares making Mashu blush in embarrassment as she rushes to cover herself with her arms and hand.
"Heheh, looking good as always my dear Mashu~" Ritsuka says next to her, making Mashu quiver with embarrassment and slight arousal as certain memories begin to pop into her head.
"I….I….uuuuuh…..F-Fu, Truth or dare!" Mashu says, trying to get the game moving. Fu for her part just looks rather amused before simply going…" Truth"...
"D-do you..uuh…h-have a w-way to l-look human..?" Mashu asks, prompting Fu to frown and think for a moment, the question drawing everyone's attention as it does beg the question, considering the world we're going to is alot more strict with this sort of thing.
"No…I actually don't have something like that now that I think about it…." Fu says, looking concerned as it means that she won't be able to go about the new world freely as opposed to the world she came from.
This unfortunately means that Fu, for the most part, will have to stay out of sight as much as possible as she would draw way too much attention from the moonlit world, especially since for many of us, we can have at least a token measure of deniability.
"Oh well, I guess I'll be sitting on the sidelines for this world, much easier to watch things unfold anyway~" Fu says, bouncing back into a more positive outlook for the problem at hand before she resumes the game with…" How about you Sister Arturia, Truth or Dare~?" She asks the Head of the Pendragon family.
"Dare.." Arturia simply says, confident that whatever Fu plans she can easily…
"Until someone calls on you for another round, you are to reduce your intelligence and attention span to the levels of a total bimbo~" Fu dares, making Arturia freeze, Ritsuka and Mashu Blush hard at Fu's dare, Morgan cracks a small smug smile, Medea merely chuckles ominously at the prospect, Artoria just looks at Fu in horror and Mordred to have to hold her gut while laughing hard.
"Oh this is gonna be good…." Mordred says, soon receiving a death glare from Arturia who gulps and weighs her options before sighing and opening up her Tempest Jewel menu and sliding her intelligence and attention span slider down as well as setting it up to undo in at most an hour's time or she's asked another round, whichever happens first.
Once she presses confirm, her eyes widen before they glaze over, a ditzy, bubbly, and airheaded look soon settling on her face, not unlike her facade as Ruler-Chan, only it's not only real but far worse.
Grey, who is right at Arturia's side right now decides to keep an eye on Arturia in this temporary Bimbofied state. As Arturia giggles vapidly while lost in her own empty head, Fu snaps her fingers to try and force the now Bimbo head of the Pendragon Family to refocus on the game.
"Oooh Uuuuh…" Arturia says with a ditzy, brainless look before thinking with what little brain cells she still has access to before pointing at Mordred. "Like, Truth or dare~" Arturia says with a vapid, ditzy smile to which Mordred chuckles and simply goes.." Dare, it's not like a bimbo can do anything that dangerous…" in response..
But to Mordred's surprise, the dare is…
"Like, you should totally kiss your daddy there, deep~" Making Artoria (Saber) and Mordred blush and look at each other before Mordred goes.."OH NO, NOT IN FRONT OF…" Before she notices everyone now looking at her expectantly, even the Bimbofied Arturia..
"Oh fine…." Mordred says reluctantly, wanting to get it over with. Without warning Artoria even for a moment, Mordred drags her into a deep, soul-searing kiss which makes Medea grin while rubbing her hands together..
Grey who's sitting opposite to Artoria just looks at the two and blushes deeply, before realizing that deep down she kinda enjoys seeing that from the two who were her ancestors essentially. She has to fight to keep down her own arousal as Mordred finally pulls away, both Artoria (Saber) and Mordred looking utterly mortified but not even the slightest bit displeased.
"Fine….Grey, your turn, truth or dare" Mordred says with a more subdued tone to her voice, catching Grey off-guard before simply going…"Truth.."
"Is it true you have a copy of HER spear..?" Mordred asks, pointing at the Ditzy and dumb Arturia while is still stuck in the dared Bimbo state. Grey just frowns before nodding slowly, elaborating.."Yes…the…people I was with before tried to make me into Artoria reborn….so that's why my face….is…" She struggles to say anymore, prompting Mordred to sigh, Artoria (Saber) clenches her fists tightly, and Medea looks oddly sympathetic..
Morgan le fay, however, just looks down and is in deep thought about something, likely contemplating what Grey just revealed. As for Ritsuka and Mashu, they are fairly Sympathetic, especially Mashu whose own life wasn't stellar before meeting Senpai and Sister Arturia..
Mordred sighs before simply going.."Alright, your turn Grey.." Grey simply nodded in response before looking right at Arturia..
"Arturia, truth or dare.." She asks her, which triggers the condition on the Tempest Jewel ring and restores Arturia's mind back to what it was before the dare. Arturia for her pain groans with a headache coming from her experience that quickly disappears..
"Not gonna go with dare again, Truth please.." Arturia says, getting her bearings while rubbing her temples with her index fingers..
"Do you plan on using the Lance once we get to the next world…?" Grey asks, making everyone's eyes fall on Arturia, who for her part looks to be thinking about the prospect before simply replying…
"I think I'll have to, especially due to the fact I will not be able to freely use my other powers as much as I did here in the DBZ world…" Confirms Arturia who decides to pull out the lance from where she stored it in the pocket space all the way since she first appeared in this world..
And the moment she does, she's forced to clutch her head in utter pain..
"AHHHGGH!" Arturia screams out as she holds the lance tightly, everyone getting up as they slowly get close before..
"DON'T TOUCH HER, SHE NEEDS TO DO THIS!" Medea AND Morgan le fay says, prompting everyone else to look at the two in complete confusion.
"NEEDS WHAT?!" Mordred says, enraged that they're stopping them from helping her..
However, everyone soon gets a good look at Arturia's face, or more specifically her eyes which are intermittently going from the usual green with the constant soft glow, to glowing with a more ethereal white light..
As for Arturia herself, she's struggling to comprehend what she's seeing before vaguely remembering something important..
That both the form she's taken, and the Goddess Rhongomyniad were considered the same entity on the waifu catalog itself. But because of the unusual way she was brought to this world, the fact she didn't actually use the lance for combat or try to actively connect to it in any way before made her bereft of several of these benefits.
Benefits that are now threatening to tear her mind apart if she doesn't figure out a way to handle this sheer influx of information, of be able to see into the past and future so seamlessly..
In the end, through sheer will alone she manages to figure out how to focus her new godly clairvoyance and even turn it off eventually. The ordeal left her feeling rather exhausted, before realizing that her various energies have for a lack of a better word "Changed" gaining a proper, no longer half-formed, divinity to it.
"I….am fine everyone…."Arturia reassures, finally beginning to understand the magnitude of power she recklessly threw upon herself in the past just out of convenience for credit spending.
"You sure…?" Grey says, slowly coming to Arturia's side since she's probably the most understanding out of everyone in the room about how draining the lance's use can be in some form. Arturia merely nods and everyone soon has a sigh of relief, with the game being called off in order to let everyone calm down.
An Hour later
(Arturia's P.O.V)
My head hurts a bit still from suddenly awakening to my full potential as Goddess Rhongomyniad, so I go to talk to Medea for perhaps something to help clear my head a bit.
That's when I spot Mordred, Artoria (Saber), and Morgan le fay at the dining table, looking like they're about to talk about something. I decide to watch from afar to see if I need to step in at some point, the headache quickly forgotten.
"So father..you wanted to talk…?" Mordred asks, looking serious while she occasionally glances at Morgan le fay. Artoria (Saber) nods before looking at Morgan le fay who merely as well before soon Artoria speaks up…
"I think with what may come to be the destination, I want to get this out of the way…." Artoria (Saber) says in a soft, almost vulnerable tone of voice before she takes a deep breath and soon says.."I shouldn't have ignored you back then, should have had this sort of talk long before now…" Artoria (Saber) Says, looking down before continuing..
"Having spent so much time as a family, a real family here with my…older sister in this case, it's given me the perspective that I wouldn't have otherwise.." Artoria (Saber) finishes, looking at Mordred who just looks like she's struggling to comprehend what she's hearing…
"You….after all this time, after what we went through back then…that's all you can say..?" Mordred says in disbelief before she growls and flips the dining table and stops over to a now dumbfounded Artoria (Saber) before grabbing her by her blue combat dress.
"I fought, I bled, I obeyed and I rebelled, just to get you to acknowledge me as at least family, if not your son…" Mordred says, initially furious before her words begin to start wavering slightly, soon starting to look more like she's about to break down.
"So your bid for being king is…" Artoria (Saber) says before Mordred begins to laugh, sounding a bit broken inside, surprising even me while trying to keep my energy suppress to keep watching without being caught.
"Yes, all I wanted is to be acknowledged, oh sure I want to prove I can be a king like you can…but more than anything I just wanted you to acknowledge me…." Mordred says breaking down slightly as she speaks before she begins to tear up.
"Is that so hard, to at least talk to me, even privately?!" A teary-eyed and briefly furious Mordred says before Mordred begins to surprisingly sob in Artoria's (Saber) arms, not caring for once if her face is nestled between her fathers now impressively large bust..
She just wants the warmth of a family, the warmth that she has been getting but is deathly afraid of losing, of what she was denied in her past. And much to her own surprise, Mordred feels Artoria (Saber) Begin to wrap her arms around her and even begin to slightly tear up herself.
The two are completely oblivious to all else as they allow themselves to finally release the burdens of the past between the two. All while Morgan Le Fay curses her original timeline version for doing all this to her new family, the family she herself was also denied.
"While their original sister, the original Morgan Le Fay may have so many things to ruin their bond..I will make sure to protect it this time…" The Lost Belt Morgan Le Fay softly promises to herself.
I find myself watching on proudly, soon seeing Morgan Le fay get up and gently hug the two of them protectively. I'm glad that I didn't need to intervene here and move to sneak away and let them relax in each other's arms.
And when I did eventually come back to check on things..
I see all three of them on the couch asleep together, leaning on each other as I decide to cover the three of them up and switch the gaming couch into sofa bed mode.
"Goodnight you three, sweet dreams sisters…." I say to them as I leave to bed myself, tomorrow is after all the day we move onto the next world.
I wonder what awaits us.
I can't wait to find out!
Author's Note
This is mostly an interlude to help deal with some lingering loose threads that have yet to be properly resolved before we head to the new FATE world as well as a bit of initial fun.
Also, one of the people in the Waifu Catalog Discord actually pointed out something in particular about Arturia Lancer. She should have had a particularly broken ability of clairvoyance that allowed her to see quite far into the past and future.
This is admittedly a mistake in me not knowing about this ability beforehand and reading up on it, I needed to figure out a way to explain how she didn't use it before now.
So I made it an ability directly tied to having the lance itself, and since she barely ever touched the lance beyond the first and a bit into the second chapter, I reasoned out that the clairvoyance never had the chance to be transferred to her yet.
Now, this version of Goddess Rhongomyniad's temporal sight isn't gonna be the same one that Fate Grand Order's had. It'll be more focused and intentionally limited due to Arturia's mind not being able to handle it like that yet, acting more akin to activatable future sight until she manages to get better at handling the sheer influx of knowledge coming from both the past and the future.
The Talk between Mordred and Artoria..
This was honestly hard to write on a personal level rather than any lack of knowledge or inability to get the right sentences out. This really needed to happen, either before or during the next world.
Anyway, hope this was enjoyable despite being fairly short.
See you all Tuesday!
