Chapter 3: Homecoming


Home...never thought I'd think of britain that way again.

Haven't set foot on it since I was fifteen. Since Emil...well since things went down with Emil the way they did, and my other brother ruined what little relationship I still had with Father. And now I'll be back.

Not sure if I should be happy or skeptical. Seems almost too good to be true.

Guess I'll just have to wait and find out; and if things go south I can always return to the states.


March 25

Once again Elric found himself on the hill of Camlann. Surrounded by the bodies of dead men and impaled upon a lance.

He knew it was not real—that this was not reality—and nothing more than an illusion of his mind conjured from Mordred's memories, but it all felt so real. The pain, both physical and emotional, was agonizing.

His hand reached out for the figure which killed him, hearing himself mutter "Father…" as they walked away. Coldly. Without a second thought—as if it was nothing. Leaving him to die—alone.

An emotion of despair washed over Elric and all he could think to say was "Screw you," and how he hated them for their coldness, but the words never came out. Then everything went dark until he heard a voice.

"Master?"

It was Mordred's, and it pulled him from the nightmare.

A gasp was uttered from the magician's lips as he awakened. Opening his eyes to find himself returning to his chair on the Tunstall—the private plane transporting them to Britain. Seeing Mordred knelt down before his chair with a hand on his shoulder, with a face that could almost be mistaken for concerned.

He wiped the sweat from his brow. Rubbing his forehead to relieve the headache he was afflicted with.

"Sorry about that." Elric apologized to the other passengers on the plane he had been disturbing, and Mordred. They all seemed the understanding sort, though they seemed to have some misconceptions about the reason behind freelancer and why he was thrashing in his sleep (except for the Saber of Red).

Mordred returned to her seat. Savoring the champagne they were provided.

"Another nightmare?"

"Yeah," Elric confirmed. "I think I liked it better when I was just seeing the fall out."

"Huh?"

"Nothing; just go back to enjoying yourself."

Watching him try to stop his hand from shaking, Mordred asked sarcastically "Maybe you should see a professional."

"Very funny." Elric said with a smirk.

Making a more serious expression, Mordred begins to ask "Ain't there-" but Elric interrupted her.

"We'll talk about it on the ground." Elric told her, looking out at the ground below.

I really hate flying.


The plane landed, then the Welsh American and his Servant traveled (once they were free to move as they pleased) for some time until stopping at a local restaurant.

They ordered some food to relax while Elric planned out what to do next. Still not certain what sort of reception they would receive. Though Elric was more anxious than Mordred was—as the magus had been reluctant to tell her that the Magus her father called Master during the Fifth Grail War was here.

Uncertain how that reunion would play out.

Gazing out the window as Mordred ate her meal. Everything looked the same to Elric's eyes. It had been more than half a decade and yet England felt almost no different to his melancholic perspective.

He wondered about the people there as well. Contemplated if his family had not changed, as well.

"Um…" Mordred's voice jarred him back from his thinking. "I was wondering about something."

"What is it?" Elric asked, hoping it wasn't about his dreams.

"After you summoned me you said there was already a Grail War, correct?"

Looking around, making sure no one was close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation, he told her "Yeah."

"What happened; and why are there Servants still around?"

Oh.

"The Fifth Grail War, it ended I believe four or five years ago with the grail being destroyed—by your father and her master."

"Why? It could have granted them any wish they desired."

"It was corrupted, apparently, or so I hear."

"Oh." Mordred stated in surprise and instant understanding "That sounds like Father."

"Though that wasn't all that happened." Elric continued. "When the grail was destroyed it briefly created a vortex to another dimension or reality—where the rules were different—and something was released into this one, and this "something" created a new status quo where the Servants could remain in this world. It also caused a number of objects to be released into this world."

"What kinda objects?"

"Take the Round Table shard I used to summon you, for example. It was one of them."

"Catalysts."

"Yep. Recently Clock Tower began using them in summonings and they asked me through a proxy to perform one. Thus you were summoned."

"Guess I wasn't what you were expecting?" Mordred asked, sounding a little dejected, as if she expected him to loathe her. Looking down at her food.

Elric imagined this was a result of what happened with the King of Knight.

"To be honest: I was hesitant to perform the summoning from the beginning. Didn't want to put up with some sanctimonious Knight, then you appeared and...you were an improvement compared to what I expected."

"Wha?"

"Yeah. You may consider yourself a second-rate knight, but I find you to be exceptional. In both personality and skill."

That seemed to perk up Mordred's glum disposition.

"Really?" she smiled at that. "In that case I'm glad I beat those other clob heads to the summoning."

Much better.

Elric liked it better when she smiled. Mordred's own melancholy made him feel the same, so he was glad it was gone.

As they continued to eat their respective meals, he heard a motorcycle coming up in the distance, then saw it pass. It didn't affect him much. But when Mordred saw the motorcycle and its rider pass in the streets for half a second she suddenly bolted for the door.

"Hey-" Elric tried to stop her, but Mordred was too fast.

Elric pulled out some money asking himself mentally What was that about? Before a thought came to mind of who could get such an emotional reaction out of Mordred then he remembered they were not far from Clock Tower—and there are other Heroic Spirits at Clock Tower, these Servants would include other Sabers in town.

His eyes widened as the realization washed over his face and his heart began to race.

Shit!

Leaving the money for his food he dashed for the door with his bag slung on him.

Calling out to her mentally.

'Mordred! Mordred, stop!'

Mordred ignored her master. She practically couldn't stop even if she wanted to, given how worked up she was. Wait! Chasing after the motorcycle until she lost sight of it and leaving the knight of treachery behind, again. Father!

Damn! Damn! DAMN!

Lost 'im.

What a waste of time. Probably wasn't even Father.

Thankfully she had enough time to regain some of her composure and then "Mordred?" she suddenly heard her master stepping up behind her. "What's up?"

"I...I..." Mordred hesitated to say with precise certainty. She then sighed and put her hands on her hips. "I thought I saw another servant I knew...but they got away." Grinding her teeth angrily with a hurt expression barely contained. "Waste of my time, probably wasn't even them."

She expected Elric to be angry at her for ignoring his orders earlier. Instead Elric made a forlorn expression in response to seeing Mordred so crestfallen.

He placed a hand on Mordred's shoulder and said "Okay." Giving her a reassuring smile. "We'll find 'em later, I promise."

It took Mordred aback for a second, seeing that side of her master.

Then, Elric wraps an arm on her shoulder and says "But for now, Clock Tower is waiting."

"Yeah, yeah." Mordred muttered. "Lemme go, already." Then the Saber proceeded to follow her master's lead as they walked down the street. A few onlookers giving them a menagerie of looks. Not certain if they were a couple or friends.


The pair reached Clock Tower within an hour.

Thankfully they weren't required to use a vehicle, Elric doubted his nerves could handle Mordred's style of driving.

With its various structures and literal clock tower, it was bigger than Mordred expected or Elric remembered.

As they stepped closer, Elric pulled the red hood over his head.

Mordred saw this and asked "What are you doing that for, Master?"

"There's some folks here I'd rather avoid." Elric explained. "Also, I need to ask a favor."

"What?"

"I need you to just call me Elric while we're here; or at least call me Master less."

"Why?"

"Might give people here the wrong idea."

"And you or I care about that why?"

"It'll complicate things."

"Who cares."

Seeing she was going to be stubborn on this, Elric relents "Good point. But if it causes a problem—I called it."

They entered the building, taking in the sights, passing by people, boys turned their heads to get a better look at Mordred; accusatory eyes gazed at Elric—looking at him like a thug, that or they were envious of the looks some of the cute girls were giving him.

It was easy for them to find their bearings. It had been a few years but everything still looked the same—only different in the smaller details—to Elric and thus was easy to navigate. Mordred just followed his lead. Reluctantly. Remaining at his side as he walked through the halls.

They talked the whole time. Mostly busting balls.

As they continued walking down the hall (and the ballbusting banter) Elric saw a familiar face among the young maguses—of sorts—Luviagelita "Luvia" Edelfelt. Older than when they last spoke, in her final teen years. It made the magician hesitant to speak, let alone approach her. Then he saw the two next to her—Somnus Rheon and Aera—and the little positive emotions he felt were washed away by alarm and his heartbeat changed from a slow, almost relaxed beat, to one resembling a heart attack.

Luvia made eye contact; then so did Somnus, and Elric began to step back.

Shit.

"Master...?"

Mordred followed after Elric.

Elric told Mordred telepathically 'I need to put some distance between me and those three.'

'Did you do something to piss 'em off?'

'Somewhat...the point is I want to avoid things getting ugly, so I need a wide berth from 'em.'

"Oi!" Somnus called out, following after Elric as he tried to lit out of the place. "Hold it, I'd like a word."

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. CRAP!

They entered a new area, Elric still insisting on avoiding interacting with the younger Rheon and Mordred insisting on meeting the confrontation head on while also bombarding her master with several questions.

They nearly were able to break away from Somnus' line of sight but were blocked by some of the Glaives—a faction working for the Rheons that Elric would have preferred to avoid as well until meeting with his father—then, finally Elric spun around to find Somnus there with some of his friends stepping closer only to stop when his eyes locked with Elric's.

All the while students and faculty members congregated around to see what all the commotion was about.

Somnus took one look at Elric and then merely uttered the name "James?" before his friend Nyx summoned his pair of kukri knives, then Somnus—without hesitation—summoned a weapon of his own. A long sword resembling Bleidd but it was made from silver steel.

"Hello, brother."

Well...shit.

Mordred remained silent, only repeating the name "James" which Somnus had hissed moments ago.

A cadre of maguses soon joined Somnus in confronting the pair.

Guess I don't have a choice.

Cornered, Elric could see no other recourse but to fight so he drew his pistol, much to Somnus' confusion before simply saying "Berserker!" and a large knight in jet-black armor and a rustic helmet appeared out of its spirit form.

It stood beside Somnus, looking imposing but the rage of its power barely contained.

Somnus aimed his sword at Elric and said "Dispose of this reprobate."

It was typical of his younger half-brother—putting his personal and conjured up vendetta first.

Almost instinctively, Mordred ran between her master and the berserker, summoning Clarent to block the attack from the brute's pole.

The creature saw Mordred and went into a rage, screaming "ARTHUR!"

The Knight of Treachery bore her fangs and summoned her armor in response.

"What's your beef with Father?"

Seeing Mordred's armor appear around her, Somnus muttered with a smile "The Knight of Treachery." Then looked to Elric with a condescending tone "What a fitting half for you to be matched with."

Elric's furrowed brow frowned at the insinuation. He didn't know Mordred that well, but based on the memories he'd seen he could at least sympathize with her and had no problem siding against his servant's enemies—and even those who insulted his new partner in crime. So he took not-so-kindly to his half-brother's words.

"Shut up."

Somnus charged at Elric with his sword, the Glaive Nyx was not far behind, Slashing at him. Elric dodged them or blocked the blades with the barrel of his gun. Parrying then following up with shots aimed at the legs, but both were fast enough to just barely avoid being hit by the bullets.

This continued on for a few minutes. Elric and Mordred dodged and blocked, waiting for the opportunity to retaliate, then took the chance to counter attack when it was presented, then resumed dodging and blocking; rinse and repeat.

It continued for a while longer than a minute, so much so that it felt like hours, until a cadre of Heroic Spirits intervened.

A Rider in armor that had gold on the upper parts and spiky green and Archer with cat ears restrained Mordred before she could let loose with her mana burst, while another bigger Berserker detained the black knight. A different group of Glaives restrained stopped the fight between Elric and Somnus.

Anyone who tried to continue would probably get a punch and lights out.

"What is going on here?" a more prominent Glaive asked as he stepped onto the scene.

It was Regis, a senior member of the Glaives, with his Servant Bedivere and another Glaive, Elijah, not far behind him.

"Ask dipshit here." Elric told them, pointing his finger. "I was minding my own business and he decided to sic his Berserker on me." Putting away his beretta.

"Regis," Somnus protested for his own reasons "It's James. He's one of our enemies—I was merely dealing with him."

"That is unnecessary." Regis informed him. "Mr...Elric was requested to visit here." much to Somnus' disbelief.

"What? But he-" Somnus tried to argue more with his sanctimonious tone.

"Mr. Elric, Lord Rheon has requested that you wait in his office while he attends to a matter."

Somnus continued to protest, but Elric and Mordred ignored him. Elric more so, as he knew his brother was just doing what Lisa would want if she was there. Mordred, on the other hand, was vastly more interested in going back and punching him down a notch or two and off of his high horse.

Just like she wanted to do to her father sometimes.

They were led to an office to sojourn. To Elric it was as easy as breathing. To Mordred it was a chor.

Agonizing, some might even say.

She paced through the room, letting Elric know every couple of seconds how "Bored" she was.

She really is a child.

They waited until noon was close to approaching. Mordred had half a mind to find this Lord Rheon and slap him silly—or something of that sort.

Suddenly the door opened—in walked a man who resembled Elric somewhat, or more like a cross between Elric and Somnus.

It was Lord Edward Rheon. Dressed sharply as ever.

The sight of him was off putting to Elric. He was still interested in seeing if what Dio suspected was true—if reconciliation was really being put on the table—but there was still all the baggage of the past. All he did to alienate his own son still had some weight.

"Welcome." Rheon greeted them.

Let's get this over with.

Lord Rheon offered to shake his hand with Mordred, but the Saber kept her arms crossed. Still grumpy about having to wait for so long.

Edward took it in strides and looked to Elric.

"James..."

"It's Elric, now." Elric corrected him. "My name's Elric."

"I see." Then responded. Pulling out his chair behind the desk. "I was curious as to what your new name was now. So far I've heard some of your aliases. I was starting to think Erron Harlow was the new permanent name, or you adopted the Belmont name permanently."

"Depends who I'm dealing with."

"..."

There was an awkward silence between them. Mordred could feel it in the air between them.

Finally Elric broke the silence by asking "What do you want?"

He had Dio's idea of what this was about, but he wanted to hear it from Lord Rheon's own lips and be free of any other possibilities.

"I...I wish to end this feud between us." Edward explained. "I realize now that it will bring me nothing of value in the future, only a waste of resources and the Glaives. To that end I desire to procure your services to resolve a task which has become a thorn in my side recently. In doing so I would be able to justify forcing Somnus to call off his vendetta with you."

At that Elric felt his heart sink, his hopes die, and could only mentally chastise himself for daring to think Dio was right in that instance.

This was not a matter of reconciliation, it was merely another job offer.

His mood soured and told his father "Not interested. I could just resolve it by beating Somnus once or twice...or til he'll have trouble moving for a week or two."

"You cannot just-" Rheon tried to protest.

But Elric would not have it "Why not, hm?" Having nothing but reasons upons reasons as to why he should do just what he said. "After all you did to me, to my mother, why should I show your son any mercy?"

"Because he is your brother." Rheon argued back. "And you owe me, this family, after what happened six years ago."

"Owe you?"

That caused the magician to lose his temper, and he simply had had enough of the bullshit and rushed to his feet and stood on the other end of the desk with a hateful glare.

"I "owe" you two things, Lord Rheon: Jack and Shit." Elric told him. Counting with two fingers, and putting more emphasis when using the middle one.

He stepped back, taking back his seat. Trying to regain some composure.

Should have known better.

Rheon did not relent, arguing further "I'm certain the Diolands would prefer to see this come to an end peacefully. Ned is as tired of this dispute as I, and as you know Somnus has no qualms about dragging others into this."

Elric relented.

"What's the job?"

Mordred was disappointed "Just like that?"

"Job's a job, unfortunately."

That pleased Edward Rheon, much to Elric's chagrin.

"I will be grateful for your cooperation." Rheon said, but it all sounded high and mighty to Elric.

"Don't mistake my compliance for deference." Elric told his father. "Just tell me what the job is."

"I presume you remember Luviagelita Edelfelt."

"Yeah, I was working up to talk with her before your ass hole of a son's short fuse went off."

"She is planning on leaving England for Japan tonight with two associates and never returning. You will return her to Clocktower as well as her friends."

"That's all?"

"Yes, and no."

"Would you just-"

Then he was interrupted by a new voice entering the room.

"So is he coming or what?"

That voice...

Elric looked over his shoulder to see a man emerge with brown hair and a lever-action shotgun holstered to his leg, wearing a grey denim jacket. He was recognizable to Elric, as the freelancer has always stood out in the past with his arrogant smirk.

It was a figure Elric recognized all too well. Wesley. A freelancer who would take any job, regardless if it involved maguses or normal humans.

Already, Elric was starting to regret his agreement.

Should have known better. Damn it!