Arieen woke up and wondered what the hell she drank last night, because for once she was sore, tired and felt satisfied in a way that was hard to explain. The last time she had felt this good was...

She turned to see a familiar head of red hair next to her. All good on that front. Then she looked the other direction and groaned.

Of course...she had been so caught up in old memories that she would end up in a threesome with a damn incubus.

Merlin, the bastard, looked both bemused and mischievous when he realized what happened himself. Scathach simply rolled over.

It wasn't the first, nor would it be the last, that the two would become so drunk that they ended up having more than one extra bed partner.

Hell, Arieen had a habit of dragging her into it whenever she found someone worth their time.

Arturia, when she saw what was going on had an odd look on her face.

"Merlin, really?" she said dryly.

Merlin looked downright smug about the whole thing.

"He's a surprisingly better partner than most I drag into my bed," shrugged Arieen.

Arturia looked to Merlin.

"I've been celibate since the day I thought you were killed," said Merlin flatly. "Like I was going to turn down a proper threesome with two hot women."

"Still...Merlin?"

"And?" she said, not getting why it was important. "He's one of the few heroes I can stand, and we have a lot in common. Besides, you make it sound like I should care about having multiple flings. I already have descendants running around after all."

Arturia was about to say something, before that filtered through her head.

"Wait...what?!"

"Congrats, you're a grandparent...multiple times over. Pretty sure Scathach's apprentice Iris is one of them."

Arturia was appalled. Arieen could care less.

"Who was the father?"

"Cu Cuhainn. Pretty sure there was some fairy bullshit since his legend happened before ours, but at this point I could care less."

Arturia was still struggling to accept the fact that she was alive and that she was living under the same roof as her child. The fact Arieen was so matter of fact when it came to having a child (out of implied wedlock no less) was jarring. To be fair, Arturia had been raised in a time period where if a woman got knocked up out of marriage she was treated as a pariah for the most part.

Arieen however had been raised in a time period where women had mostly equal rights to men and where being an unwed mother was not entirely the end of the world.

Either way, Arieen was not opposed to Merlin joining in on the bedroom fun.

Of all the things she expected to kill her, laughter was low on that list. At least she wasn't alone, because even Arturia and Scathach were close to passing out.

The reason was simple, and Merlin's pout made things so much worse, really.

Arieen hadn't heard the comment Merlin made to piss Illya off, but she would never forget the retort Illya came up with.

"Whatever you say, Rapunzel."

Dead silence.

"Rapunzel?" said Merlin, confused.

Illya looked him dead in the eye after visibly looking him up and down.

"Long hair, trapped in a tower like some fairy tale princess and expecting everyone to clean up your mess? Sounds like Rapunzel to me," said Illya flatly.

Arieen was the first to crack, and started howling. Arturia, once she realized what Illya was implying was also cracking up.

Every time she looked at Merlin, she just broke into fresh peals of laughter.

It took her entirely too long to regain her composure to more moderate giggling.

"I am so keeping you for that!" said Arieen, ruffling Illya's hair. Illya beamed at her.

Merlin was still pouting, but he decided a change of subject was in order. That being said, this was the first time he had heard his king laugh so hard in his presence.

Therapy was doing her wonders. She was still a king, but the burden on her shoulders was gone and she was finally acting human again. He had regretted putting all this on her, but there had been no choice.

"Any idea why your Squire has Avalon inside him?" asked Merlin.

Arieen spat her drink out. Arturia stared at him in disbelief.

"Say what now?" said Arieen.

"Your personal Squire, Shirou. He has Avalon inside him. Didn't you notice?" asked Merlin.

Before anyone could respond to that, Illya spoke up.

"I thought it was lost with my mother?" she said confused.

"Your mother?" said Arturia.

Illya nodded.

"Grandfather acquired it for Daddy so he'd have the strongest possible servant, and I remember Daddy putting it in my mother before he left. I have no idea why it would be in Shirou though."

"That would be my fault," said a voice. It was Kiritsugu. He was firmly in retirement, and more than happy to be under the reign of Arieen. "After the King saved him from the fire, I put it inside so he had a better chance to live."

Arieen had a serious look on your face.

"You're thinking about something. What is it?" asked Scathach.

"I'm debating on whether Dad has progressed enough in therapy to meet Nimue finally."

Arturia blinked at that.

"Wait...you know where she is?"

"She has Excalibur. I checked with her after a while and asked her about that, and she confirmed it was in her keeping since Sir Bedivere tossed the thing into her lake. He damn near beaned her in the head with the thing."

A strange look filled the faces of Arturia and Merlin both.

"Why didn't you claim it for yourself?" asked Shirou, confused.

"I got into enough trouble when that bitch stole Clarent. The sword finally accepts me as it's master, but the odds of that happening with Excalibur are so low it's not worth trying," shrugged Mordred. "Besides, the only sword I would consider claiming for myself is Caliburn, not Excalibur."

"What's the difference?" asked Shirou.

"Caliburn was the 'Sword that Chooses Kings'. Excalibur is the 'Sword of Promised Victory'," said Merlin quietly.

Arieen looked a little sheepish.

"I've always admired Caliburn over Excalibur," she admitted. "Call me selfish, but I've always wanted to try my own luck at pulling it from the stone. It's one thing to be called a king, but for something like that to acknowledge you as a rightful king is another story."

Never before had Arturia felt such empathy for her child. While Excalibur was indeed a superior sword, she had always favored Caliburn because of what it represented. She regretted the day she had accidentally destroyed the sword in a fit of rage by breaking the code of chivalry.

Finding out Mordred had always wanted to prove herself by pulling the same sword from the stone was a little surprising, but Arturia understood why.

For all she had accomplished, she still wanted that one crucial piece of validation that everything she had done to this point was worth it.

Arturia didn't know why she did it. Just that some instinct told her what she needed to do. Perhaps all that therapy Arieen had insisted she attend was getting to her.

She hugged Arieen. It was awkward as hell, and it was clear Arturia was uncomfortable, but she still hugged her child tightly.

It was a bit too much for her to take. Arieen didn't know why, but she started silently crying. This was the first real sign that Arturia accepted her.

Merlin was silently re-evaluating everything he knew about Arieen. It was one thing to call yourself a king...it was another to have the ability to reach even the most closed off person to the point they were willing to give such a public display of affection.

Arieen didn't need a sword to prove her worth. Merlin could tell she was just as much a king as her sire.

At least Arieen had conclusive proof that family therapy was working.

Waver looked at the letter that had been sent via magecraft with some concern. Naturally, his first instinct was to bring it up with Arieen and to a lesser extent Arturia.

The second Arieen read the contents, she let out a massive sigh.

"I knew we would eventually have to return to England, but the timing could have been better. There's no way I can leave yet another mess that woman made alone. Especially considering the rumors."

"What are you going to do?" asked Waver.

"You go to this village and find out what you can. I plan to take Arturia to see Nimue in her turf and reclaim her sword. Then we'll need to check with the goblins regarding Iris' inheritance and see what she needs to do in order to become the full head of her household."

Waver blushed at that. Considering his situation, he had originally planned to pay for the El Melloi titles to spite Kayneth even though he was long since dead.

He mostly abandoned that after meeting Iris. He had nothing left to prove to the arrogant prick now that he was dead. If anything, him becoming successful in spite of his origins with multiple partners would likely make Kayneth spin in his grave regardless.

And no, Arieen still hadn't stopped laughing over the fact the shy, nerdy Waver ended up with Iris and Hermione. And knowing Iris' luck, he'd likely end up with yet another girl by the end of his trip to England.

(She was right, even if she had to face palm at yet another mess of her mother's to clean up.)

Either way, they had a trip to plan.

In England

Arturia was struck by the sheer difference of England from her time to the present. One of the things Arieen did was drag her sire to a museum and had Arturia listen to how things had changed since her time. While Camelot was a myth, the legend of it had major impact on later generations.

Arturia had to come to terms that while her kingdom had fallen, the legacy it left behind made her sacrifice worth it.

Arturia was rather somber about the entire thing, and Arieen already had plenty of history books to gleefully dump on her father to read to further hammer the point in.

Once she was ready, Arieen booked a ticket via train to Ireland. Sure, it would have been faster to take a plane, but not as fun.

Iris and Waver had already gone to visit this village Waver had been told about to discover why one of his friends had contacted him.

After an uncomfortable amount of time on the train, Arturia spoke.

"So...why did you think it was so important for me to visit that museum?" she asked.

"Your shade was pretty adamant about obtaining the Grail to undo everything she created with Camelot, and basically spat on all the sacrifices of the knights who made it happen," said Arieen flatly. "Which is the main reason I finally got around to waking you up. Hearing you disrespect all the blood, sweat and tears of your knights to unify the kingdom pissed me off."

Arturia wanted to deny it...however her therapist had made a point in forcing her to admit that while she hadn't been perfect, she had done something no one else could. England had not only survived the fall of her beloved Camelot, but had thrived. It had stumbled and almost fallen many times along the way, but it was now a major super power of the world and had even spawned a second country that had risen to the top five most powerful countries on the planet.

Seeing her old sword again caused a swell of emotions to fill Arturia. On one hand, it gave her a comforting degree of familiarity and security. On the other...she honestly didn't know if she deserved to have this sword considering everything that happened.

Arieen could relate...it had taken her centuries before Clarent finally accepted her as it's master, and even then it was occasionally finicky.

That being said both blondes immediately went to the first pub they found the second they met Waver's new "student" Gray. All Arieen had to hear was the fact that the "Black Madonna", aka Morgana had a hand in the fact she looked entirely too much like Arturia and Arieen before she started hitting the hardest bottles she could get her hands on.

She drank three taverns and two liquors stores dry before she was even remotely ready to touch that headache.

Gray was having her own private breakdown upon realizing that the king she was supposed to act as a replacement for was apparently still very much alive, and that the entire purpose of the ritual was pointless from the start.

At least she would have a chance for a normal life on the island.