"My king."

The Lion King opened her eyes to see Mordred standing over her. The goddess had awakened on a cot in a sparsely decorated room in the Fuyuki Church. She had rested about as much as she could and was as close to full health as she could get. Her Divine Core was still irreparably damaged and her power was thus dampened, but it was what it was. The Lion King focused on adapting to the present rather than complaining about the past.

"Mordred, what did I miss? Have the other Masters arrived yet?"

"They have." Mordred got on one knee and bowed his head. "They have already come up with a strategy for facing the Greater Grail."

"Tell me everything with as much detail as you can."

"Yes, my king."

Mordred elaborated on everything that had happened since the Lion King went to sleep. He described the plan of action that their allies came up with and their roles in it. He even gave descriptions of all the Masters, Servants, and their allied magi, including their abilities and whatever could be determined about their histories.

"Thank you." The Lion King sat up. "Have you met with the other me and Illya yet?"

"No. I haven't left your side since you went to sleep. I received all this information from the overseer when he visited us post-meeting."

"I wanted to avoid them originally so as to not compound their grief, but now we're going to be working together. We are eventually going to face each other, we should get it out of the way now so they have time to sort through their emotions."

"As you wish."

The Lion King and her knight got up and searched for their former family. Said family was found training in the church courtyard. A stick enveloped in magical energy deflected the thrusts of a thin blade before riposting. Illya fell onto her bottom while Artoria stood tall.

The entirety of Gray's life sped across the goddess' vision upon seeing her vessel's family. Melancholy abounded in the deity's soul as she now had to confront those most harmed by Gray's menticide, besides Gray herself. There was no intentionality on the goddess' part when she stole Gray's body, and yet her guilt was relentless.

There was a second impact for the Lion King upon recognizing her alternate self, one who did not live beyond Camlann. It was nostalgic as hazy memories flickered in the goddess' head. She was so different before she achieved godhood and remorselessly engaged in sordid deeds for the sake of a biased idea of the greater good. She was always stoic, always distant, but never truly inhuman until Rhongomyniad changed her.

Both Artoria and Illya turned to face their visitors and they froze. The stick in Artoria's hands hit the ground.

"Ah." Artoria realized she lost her composure and straightened herself out. Her eyes darted back and forth between the goddess and Mordred. Her breathing became ragged like she was about to hyperventilate. "It's nice to meet you. I presume you are the Lion King and Mordred."

Illya was just crying with no attempt to hide her pain for the sake of courtesy.

"You are correct." the goddess said. "I am the Lion King, also known as Goddess Rhongomyniad or Artoria Pendragon. We already know who you both are for reasons I assume you know."

"We do. The overseer explained everything." Artoria's voice cracked.

"That's good. I want to apologize." The Lion King bowed her head. "I never intended to possess Gray, but I am still responsible and so you have my deepest apologies."

"There's no need. If it wasn't your decision, then you have no responsibility. That said, if you still feel the need to repent, then would you mind telling me what Gray's last thoughts were?"

"In her last moments, Gray thought of you both, as well as the rest of her family. She hoped that you would all be okay. Gray actually left a message for you both, though it's not mine to share." The Lion King pulled out Add.

"Hey, Artoria. Hey, Illya."

"Add, it's good to see you're okay." Artoria sighed.

"I'm happy you're both okay too." Add went quiet for a moment. "Gray's message was just to tell you both that she loved you. I guess she was worried you'd think she blamed you for…something."

"That sounds like her." Illya tried to speak, but her words were a garbled mess due to her crying. She even attempted to laugh, but the attempt fell apart instantly. She just began weeping with greater intensity than ever.

Artoria wrapped one arm around her daughter's shoulders while gently moving some hairs out of the girl's face with the other. The mother was also crying, though her tears came silently and slowly.

The Lion King's heart hurt from watching the pain Gray's family was going through. It wasn't just empathy for one's fellow humans that caused the goddess to feel bad in that moment, nor was it because of her and Artoria being two versions of the same person. The disquiet that the Lion King felt was that which one feels when one's family is in distress. The Lion King was viewing Artoria and Illya as her family due to the specks of Gray's being that persisted despite everything. It was these flickers of Gray that made the Lion King ask herself a question: should she tell Artoria and Illya about these remnants of Gray? On the one hand, telling them could uplift their spirits, but it could also give them false hope that Gray could be saved. To be fair, Gray might have been able to be restored. It was currently up in the air as to what was or wasn't possible in such an unprecedented situation. The goddess lacked emotional tact, and so she didn't know how revealing the fact that Gray may still exist would affect Artoria and Illya's mental health.

Metallic footsteps accompanied Mordred as he stepped forward and dropped to one knee before Artoria.

"My king, I wish to apologize for my actions in life."

"Oh, it's fine. I've already long since forgiven you." Artoria crouched so she was eye level with her son. "I'm sorry for rejecting you. I was afraid of so many different things and that made me think that avoiding you was the best solution."

"Please, don't apologize!" Mordred shifted from kneeling to full on kowtowing. "I deserved to be rejected by you. I am unworthy of being alive, let alone being your son. I tried to destroy or steal all you cherished and, in my timeline, I was successful. My malfeasances must be appropriately punished and they certainly cannot be forgiven in any capacity."

"Mordred, you shouldn't torture yourself over your past failings." Artoria looked scared more than anything as she saw what her actions had wrought in another history. "It's okay to repent and atone, but self-loathing is unproductive. Also, as I said before, I am not blameless in this. You were hewn into who you are due to my negligence as a parent and so I also had a hand in the fall of Camelot, though it truly didn't fall in the case of your timeline."

The Lion King appreciated that her human self agreed that Mordred shouldn't be so obsessed with his sins. Mordred didn't respond in any noticeable way to Artoria's words, continuing to prostrate himself.

"Mordred, stand." The knight stood at the behest of his goddess and it made his expression clear. His facial features quivered as if he was suppressing his emotions. "Mordred, what are you feeling right now?"

"I am feeling nothing other than a desire to serve you faithfully and to repent for my mistakes, my king."

"Do not lie to me, Mordred. I order you to tell me the truth."

"I-" Mordred's arms hung pendulously. "I feel sad."

"About what?"

"I don't know, but this sensation arose when I first laid eyes upon the other you and the homunculus." Mordred put a hand on his chest.

"We're making you upset?" Illya said.

"I feel an emptiness not dissimilar to that which I feel when I think about my past mistakes."

"Are we causing you to feel this way, or are you feeling this way on our behalf out of empathy?" Artoria asked.

"Both in a way. I feel like I lost something, but also that I have hurt you, and also that I regret not being able to assuage your current pain." Mordred's eyes went foggy before regaining their clarity. "I'm in a daze right now. My apologies."

"You said you feel like you hurt them, but your phrasing was vague." The Lion King said. "Were you just referring to Artoria, or to both her and Illya."

"Both for some reason." Mordred's hand rose to touch his forehead. "I feel like I failed both of them. It's like I left them which hurt their hearts. It's as if-"

"You are their Mordred." The Lion King's interjection made Illya gasp. "You have not only the memories of the Mordred that Artoria and Illya came to see as family, but also his feelings. His regrets upon death are lingering inside you."

"How is that possible?"

"Certain experiences that have a strong enough impact on a Servant can be etched into their Saint Graph. This can allow them to retain memories from previous summonings, though this is rare. They usually only possess echoing thoughts and vague emotions rather than complete recollections of such formative events."

"So Mordred's time with us may have been so important to him that his Saint Graph was expanded?" Illya clasped her hands together.

"It's the only explanation I can come up with that has any precedent."

"That's great." Illya smiled through the tears. "I'm happy that we were so important to Mordred. We really did mean something to him."

"Mordred." Artoria's voice was barely audible.

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me something about how our Mordred felt?"

"Maybe."

"Can you tell us if Mordred truly loved us?"

"He did, that is without question." Mordred Alter spoke with confidence. "His short time with your family made him happier than ever before. It was so amazing that he often wondered if he was dreaming. He loved you all from the bottom of his heart."

"Thank you." Artoria covered her mouth as she lost her composure and began to whimper and moan. Her crying was no longer silent as she let her pain out. The Lion King knew herself well enough to know that Artoria had probably been repressing her sorrow and refusing to grieve. It was only upon reaching this breaking point that she could finally mourn properly.

The Lion King decided that it would be best not to tell Artoria and Illya about the embers of Gray's being within her, at least not right now. They needed time to finish accepting what they had lost before they could be given any hope that could lead to more heartache.

The sound of armor clattering grabbed the Lion King's attention. Mordred was shaking. His eyes were cloudy and red. He was just a step away from crying. The Lion King wanted to say something, but she knew that calling attention to him would make his tears flow.

It was when the goddess' own eyes grew moist that she smiled. She looked away to hide the welling up of Gray's residual sorrow. It was yet another sign that perhaps the girl could be restored.

The goddess mouthed, "What a sturdy heart you have, Gray."