Asia Argento felt a bit troubled as she looked at the one who called herself the King of Knights, Arturia Pendragon. Currently, both of them were in a spare bedroom in the Hyoudou residence.
Noticing the golden-haired nun's troubled look, Arturia turned and spoke, "Is something the matter, Master? Are you unwell?" Despite her calm look, there was a hint of worry in her tone as she spoke to Asia.
"Ah, n-no! It's nothing!" Asia shook her head. "P-please do not mind me, Miss Arturia!"
Arturia blinked and tilted her head. "You are definitely troubled, Master." She went closer to the golden-haired nun. "Please, do tell. Are you perhaps worried about our current arrangement? Is this place not suited to your liking?"
"I-it's nothing like that! I-it's just…" Asia hesitated. "W-well… I've been a trouble to you, Miss Arturia. I can't speak Japanese, and now I can only rely on you…" She looked down, feeling a little ashamed.
A while ago, after everything that happened, Arturia escorted both Asia and Issei, who was already conscious but still dazed, to the latter's house. Asia could not speak Japanese and could only speak Italian and English, so Arturia spoke on her behalf to Issei's parents, telling them that the boy was somehow involved in some sort of accident, explaining the injuries he had on his body. And thanks to Asia's ability to use healing spells, all the worst wounds he received, like the one in his shoulder, had been fully healed.
And considering that Asia had no place to live at the moment, Arturia asked Issei's parents to allow them to stay in the Hyoudou residence for a night. Due to the fact that both Arturia and Asia had no money with them, they couldn't go to a hotel to stay for a night. And both parents of the boy, despite their apparent eccentricities, were a pair of pleasant and good-hearted people. After realizing that the girls had no money with them, Issei's parents immediately welcomed both of them to stay at their place for a night.
The king was eternally grateful for their good-naturedness. Even though both of them were strangers to the couple, they were still willing to welcome them with open arms.
Now that they were given a place to stay, Arturia believed that it was the right time for her to address their current situation to Asia. Already clad in a white blouse and a blue skirt, Arturia stood in front of Asia, her expression remaining neutral. Despite that she was no longer clad in her shining armor, Asia couldn't help but feel that the woman who stood before her was still very regal in appearance. Actually, she had somehow magically changed her clothes before coming to the Hyoudou residence. After all, wearing that armor might make her stick out like a sore thumb.
"Master…" Arturia began. "Regarding what happened earlier, I heard your prayer…" She looked into Asia's green eyes as she spoke. "It was a simple, yet earnest prayer, and I couldn't find it in my heart to let it go unheeded. As a knight, ignoring a cry for help is against everything I stand for."
"Y-you heard my prayer…?" Asia looked at Arturia in astonishment. "Are you perhaps a messenger of God? Or perhaps an Angel?" She had seen Angels before, but only the fallen ones. One of them was Raynare, the one who tried to kill her friend, Issei.
"No." Arturia shook her head. Being likened to an Angel felt strange to the king, but she let it slide for the time being, thinking that Asia might still be confused by what had happened to her. "Like I told you earlier, I am Arturia Pendragon. You might know me as King Arthur Pendragon…" During her reign, she had concealed her true gender. As a king, she considered her gender as something irrelevant. So, it was only natural that she was known as a man in recorded history.
"H-how…?" Asia became more and more confused. She used to be a part of the Church, so she was taught many things, including the legend of King Arthur. To her knowledge, there was nothing that indicated King Arthur being a woman.
Seeing Asia's confused expression, the king smiled a little as she spoke, "It is a long story, a story that may take many days to finish. But for the time being, I shall explain to you about the mark on the back of your hand."
"Mark?" Asia looked at the back of her left hand. "You mean this?" She showed the mark to Arturia.
"Yes, that mark. The mark is the sign of our connection, the connection between a Master and a Servant," Arturia explained. "I am bonded to you through this mark, the Command Seals. With these Command Seals, you can order me to do absolutely everything, even things I may be uncomfortable with. In order to manifest myself into this world, I chose to become a Servant to you so that I could answer your prayer, Asia Argento."
"M-Miss Arturia… th-this is…" Asia stared at the inverted cross on the back of her left hand with widened eyes. "Just because of my prayer, y-you're willing to…" She gave Arturia a sad look. "This isn't necessary. Just for the sake of someone as insignificant as me, y-you…" She shook her head. "W-why…?"
"Master…" Arturia spoke softly. "Before I heard your prayer, I resided in Avalon, a place outside of time and space. It should be impossible for something from this world like a prayer to reach me, and yet, I was able to hear it. It has to be the will of fate itself that allowed such a thing to happen. So, in order to answer your prayer, I willed myself back to life into the world as the Once and Future King, and bonded myself to you as your Servant." She lowered herself and then held Asia's marked hand, tracing the lines of the mark with her fingers gently. "I know I can trust you, Master. I know I can trust my whole existence in your hands…"
"Miss Arturia…" Asia stared at the king in amazement. Then, she smiled. "Thank you…" She brought her other hand up to hold Arturia's. "Thank you for answering my prayer. For someone like me… for the sake of a lost lamb like me, you're willing to do such a thing." She brought Arturia's hand to her forehead, touching it lightly on the knuckle. "I am grateful." She looked back at the king, barely holding back tears.
Arturia smiled as she looked at Asia's face. Then, she let go of her hand and stood up. "Even so, there is still another matter that needs to be addressed. About that woman…" She was referring to Raynare, the one who tried to kill Asia's friend and take her away. "What is she?"
"Sh-she's… Miss Raynare, a Fallen Angel…" Asia said.
"What does such a corrupted creature want from a saint such as you, Master?" Arturia asked.
Hearing the king calling her a saint made the nun flinch. "I-it's… it's because… I broke a rule." She looked sad as she gently rubbed the mark on the back of her left hand. "I once belonged to the Church. You can say that I practically grew up in a monastery since I was young. And thanks to the power that I have, I made many friends. I was happy at that time." She looked at her palms. "As long as I have this power, I believed that I could live happily. But then, I broke a rule, and I was excommunicated."
Arturia had an unreadable expression on her face. "Excommunicated? Master…" She studied the ex-nun's face carefully. "What did you do?"
After a few moments of silence, Asia spoke hesitantly, "I… I used my power to heal a Devil, an enemy of God."
For a while, Arturia did not say anything. Then, she moved to sit beside Asia on the bed, and she looked straight into Asia's eyes. "Master…" This time, her tone was authoritative and demanding. "Please tell me more. Please tell me more about your excommunication and the act that caused you to be condemned by the Church. Tell me everything," she ordered.
Asia was soundly sleeping on her borrowed bed while Arturia was sitting on it, seemingly mulling over something. Earlier, the ex-nun had explained everything about her situation while in tears, and the king ended up comforting her as she cried. Arturia was processing the information that she received from Asia, regarding her excommunication and her being transferred to Japan. And there was also another matter regarding the Fallen Angels.
While she never encountered them when she was still alive, she had heard many things about these corrupted creatures. Fallen Angels are creatures tainted with sins. Their entire existence is fundamentally corrupted. For such a pure-hearted person like Asia to be involved with these creatures, the king couldn't help but feel her rage slowly building up in her chest. It was a rare moment for a usually calm person like her to be enraged by such a thing.
Arturia closed her eyes. Even though her existence was similar to that of a Servant, she was brought into the world as the Once and Future King, the deliverer of salvation. There was no Grail to support her existence as a Servant in this world, because as the Once and Future King, there was an entirely different system that allowed her to manifest into the world. She was not a Heroic Spirit nor a Counter Guardian, so there had to be something else that helped her return back to life.
Now that the King of Knights had returned to the world, she had to do something that needed to be done. She reopened her eyes and looked at the sleeping Asia.
Her eyes were resolute. After learning of what had happened to Asia, there was one thing that she had on her mind. She had returned to this world by answering her prayer. Her purpose of returning back into the mortal world was to become a sword and a shield for a girl she considered a living saint. If there was one thing that needed to be done, it would be that she needed to eliminate all the things that could bring harm to her.
She was a king, and she still considered herself one. She killed her own emotions and personal feelings for the sake of her kingship. So, for the sake of someone she needed to protect, she would gladly kill her own emotions once again, and she would bathe her sword with the blood of those wretched creatures.
But, before she could get up from the bed she shared with Asia, Arturia felt a gentle tug on her sleeve. The king blinked and looked down, only to see Asia's tiny hand pinching on her sleeve. Arturia looked at Asia's face, to see whether she was awake or not. From what she could see, the girl was still sleeping.
Still, Asia was mumbling even though she was not awake. And she was also crying.
"Asia..." Arturia muttered. For a few moments, she just observed the sleeping girl. Then, she brought her hand to her face, caressing her cheek with her fingers and wiping her tears.
After seeing her like this, the king began to understand what she needed to do. Even though eliminating the elements that could bring harm to Asia was a correct course of action, it wasn't necessarily a right one. And she knew that Asia wouldn't approve of such a thing if she were to find out about it. While she would place Asia's safety above all else, she would not just go out to find those Fallen Angels and slaughter them. She might be pragmatic as a king, but she wouldn't debase herself to act like a common, honorless assassin.
In the end, instead of going out to hunt those Fallen Angels, Arturia decided to stay and remain by Asia's side. She was a little irked by the fact that the Fallen Angels that had been making Asia's life miserable and the Church that had excommunicated her just because she healed a Devil were able to get away from the consequences of their actions. Still, life wasn't fair and she was aware of it. The least she could do was to stay vigilant by Asia's side.
"Master… you are a pure person…" The king spoke softly. "I will protect you from those wretched creatures and those who wish you harm."
Gently, she stroked Asia's face, pushing the golden strands of hair aside.
"Even if the world wishes to be your enemy, I shall be your knight."
It was already late at night. At this hour, most people were already at home, leaving the streets empty besides a handful of people with questionable backgrounds. Also, at this hour, one could simply walk down the street without drawing people's attention due to the aforementioned emptiness of the streets.
Walking down the street was a person whose body was hidden beneath an all-encompassing cloak. Strapped on their back was a huge shield shaped like a cross. The person might end up grabbing people's attentions if not due to the time. So, during midnight where people were at homes, the cloaked person was able to walk around freely with the glaringly-conspicuous item strapped on their back without being a subject of attentions.
Still, the streets were not entirely empty considering that a handful of people with questionable backgrounds were still prowling the streets, minding their own businesses. They were mostly the members of local gangs who liked causing disturbances around the neighborhood.
When those gang members spotted the cloaked figure, they reacted to such a sight in their typical way.
"Pfft, what are you, a cosplayer?!"
"That's one big-ass shield..."
"Never saw you before..."
And so on. The gang members were surrounding the cloaked person, now that the person's appearance and that glaringly-conspicuous shield strapped on their back had caught their attentions. Some of them were laughing, ridiculing their appearance. One of them even tried to touch the shield that was strapped on the person's back.
"Please don't touch it."
The cloaked person spoke with a distinctly-feminine voice as a slender hand from beneath the cloak pushed the hand that tried to touch the shield away. Then the person moved forward, leaving the group of gang members without saying a word.
The one who tried to touch the shield, being someone who was easily offended by almost anything, considered this a sign of disrespect. In a typical gang member's way, he bellowed, "What was that just now?!" He tried to grab the person's shoulder to stop the person from walking away, but the moment his hand touched the person's shoulder, the gang member suddenly felt weightless. "Eh?" It was probably due to the fact that he was sent flying a few feet before crashing onto the pavement. "Urgh!"
"The hell?!"
The person with the shield strapped on their back was the one who sent the man flying. The others didn't know how the person was able to do such a thing effortlessly, but before they could do anything like attacking the person head-on, the person turned to face the others and pulled down the hood that had been covering the entirety of their head, revealing the face of a silver-haired girl with chin-length hair. One of her eyes was covered by her bang.
"I would rather not harm anyone, but if any of you try to attack me, then I shall not show any mercy."
The girl spoke to the gang members with a calm, even tone, but somehow, they felt chills sent down their spines as they looked into the girl's eyes. It felt like there was something in those eyes that compelled them to stay back. Despite her unimpressive stature, the look of her eyes somehow frightened them.
Finally, the gang members decided that she was not worth the trouble. One of them helped the one who was blown away back on his feet while others muttered something, calling the girl a freak. After the gang members left, the girl was finally alone.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the girl adjusted the large, cross-shaped shield that was strapped on her back before she spun on her heel, making a clinking sound as she moved. She seemed to be wearing something like high-heeled greaves. After making sure that there was no one around her, she pulled the hood of her cloak back on, once again covering her head with it.
She looked at the night sky for a while before she walked down the street once again. As she walked, she was muttering something.
"Arthur... my king, Arthur..."
With the sounds of her footsteps filling the silence around the streets, the strange girl disappeared into the night.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Note: Hello, this is me, Prince Arjuna. As you might have noticed, I deleted Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 due to me being dissatisfied by the direction of where this story is going. So, in order to remedy that, I decided to rewrite both chapters, taking out some elements that I thought wasn't good and replaced with something different. And here we are, the rewritten version of Chapter 2 of The Once and Future King. I changed the part where Arturia killed those Fallen Angels with something else, and I hope you guys will like this one better. And in case if you guys want to review this chapter but unable to do so because you might already have reviewed the previous Chapter 2 earlier, you can just review this chapter via anonymous review. Don't hesitate to leave some reviews about your thoughts because the writer may need it to replenish his creativity juice.
Also, special thanks for Sorata Shioya for beta-reading this chapter. It's so nice working alongside you, as always. The rewritten version of Chapter 3 will come up soon, so please wait for it.
Prince Arjuna (2015)