Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Avalon Bond.

I received a lot of criticism regarding Arturia's behavior in her fight against Heracles, precisely after David and Ritsuka's actions. I understand that most of the readers are still thinking about the servant Saber from UBW. Indeed, this story is about the UBW timeline with the obvious difference in Shirou's love affair. However, Arturia Pendragon in this story has been through a lot of changes. For instance, Saber had the Holy Grail in mind and was willing to do what was necessary – in a more pragmatic sense – to obtain the Grail. Nowadays, the Grail is completely behind her and all she wants is to spend her life with Shirou and have a family together. Another major shift happened in Chapter 11 when Arturia Pendragon took over another Arturia Pendragon's life body with the help of Zelretch.

She had to assimilate many of the wrongs that this Arturia Pendragon had committed.

Her drive and her core, though, are still aligned with the honor and valor of a knight, through and through. And with Shirou by her side, those values are only heightened. Shirou, for his part, has changed as well, sure, because of the adventures they had been through together with the Church and the Clock Tower, not to mention the fact that Senji Muramasa's spirit now resides within Shirou's reality marble.

Arturia Pendragon is a completely tough character to understand and assimilate. There are plenty of different versions of her going around in Nasuverse (hell, there are more than ten different Arturias to choose from). And each version of her, for sure, suffers changes based on the different interactions in life and as a servant. Who's to say precisely what her choices would be in each scenario or different circumstances. She in FSN is still alive after the Grail. She in FGO is merely a servant…a copy from the Throne of Heroes. Well, copy from many different versions of her, that is.

And there is still a Saber servant in Fate Zero who is supposed to be the same as FSN, seeing as it is a prequel. So, in a nutshell, this Arturia Pendragon is no longer the same Saber servant that she was in UBW.

Now, with that out of the way, it's time for the 4th singularity.


Avalon Bond

Part II – Fate Grand Order

Chapter 31 – Londinium Part I

Beta: Axel Emiya


The staff from Chaldea as well as the allied servants witnessed a true miracle in the kitchen as the trio composed of Shirou, Archer, and Boudica made a marvelous banquet for everyone. Well, in the beginning, Shirou and Archer got in each other's way, but Boudica had to use her authority to quiet both down and allow them to work as a part of the team behind the kitchen counter. It was quite the humorous spectacle for everyone to see different versions of Emiya Shirou being scolded like children by the Queen of Promised Victory.

Right now, the place was vacant as everyone had returned to their respective places, leaving only Shirou and Arturia who picked up a table and shared a nice cup of tea.

Chaldea reaching the 4th singularity now marked officially the half of their assignment posed by Zelretch and despite the mentions of Solomon in the last singularity, neither Romani, Da Vinci, or Olga had managed to find anything noteworthy to help them figure out who is truly behind the Humanity's extinction. Sure, the mention of Demon Gods was a reference to King Solomon's, but there was nothing that indicated that the ones who appeared in the singularities came from Solomon's era.

In the end, the people from Chaldea just didn't have enough data to reach a feasible conclusion.

Olga had the feeling that the next singularities could reveal more intel for them to work with. Her father's journal provided very little information.

"It's rare for us to enjoy this peace, huh. Romani and Da Vinci are sure taking their sweet time telling us when it's time to deploy."

Arturia hummed as she drank the last drop of her teacup.

"Well, just like in our world, sometimes it's good for us to have these downtimes in between missions." Shirou concurred as he served his fiancée more tea. "How do you think our friends are back home, Shirou?" The question came up as a surprise to the redhead swordsmith. Indeed, it has been quite a long time since he got to see their loved ones back home…Taiga, Rin, Sakura, Issei…Shirou truly hoped that they were doing alright in their absence. Especially, Taiga, since Rin and Sakura kept each other's company in London.

"It's been a long time since we saw them, huh, Arturia." The king of knights allowed herself some time for reminiscing as well. "Indeed, as surprising as that sounds, I quite miss having Taiga at home, demanding food."

Arturia smiled at that as well.

"Indeed, she must be suffering quite a bit, without you, Shirou. I also miss chatting with Rin and Sakura. I just hope they are alright at the Clock Tower." Shirou nodded, also thinking about them.

"Huh, knowing Tohsaka, I would bet that she has become someone important there, already. I'm at least glad that she had chosen the field of academics…at least, I'd know that she won't be in any real danger out there."

Arturia smiled at her soon-to-be husband's concern.

"Yes, plus she's the one planning our wedding, so she'd better be there when we get back home or else…" One Rin Tohsaka, back at Zelretch's dimension, smiled deeply while observing the couple's interaction, though the occasional right eyebrow twitch was evident. It's like sweet little Arturia didn't know that Rin had already had everything planned by the time Shirou had even proposed. Huh, silly Saber…though I know that you'll be over the moon with what I had planned for you two.

Back to the Chaldea dimension, Shirou smiled at Arturia's comment, before shifting the subject. However, before he could branch the subject of the singularities, the couple was surprised by Boudica's appearance.

"Oh, there you two are…I was looking all over for you, miss Arturia!" The King of Knights looked over her shoulders and laughed at her Britannia predecessor.

"Why, what happened?" The smile on Boudica's face, however, was quite evident that something good happened as she took one of the chairs and joined them.

"Of course…I found out that the fourth singularity will take place in our place of birth." That piece of news sobered Arturia immediately, though Boudica was way too excited to notice. "And guess what, Shirou, giving the region, Ritsuka and the higher-ups decided to take me along, instead of Archer. You know, because of our legend, having British servants would increase our strength to deal with the singularity." Shirou wondered about that…well, come to think about it, he has never heard of such a thing. In their Grail War, none of the servants hailed from Japan, so of course, he wouldn't hear about it.

"Well, I can say for sure that having your company is way better than Archer, Boudica," Shirou commented with a smile as he drank some tea, before offering a cup for the Queen of Promised Victory.

Though his comment was met with a frown from the said woman.

"Quit it…I won't hear you bad-mouthing yourself, Shirou." Shirou backed off slightly as Boudica's motherly finger poked his nose.

"Where precisely in Britain is the singularity is taking place, Boudica?" After chiding Shirou, Boudica smiled and turned to her fellow compatriot.

"The singularity will occur in Londinium…no…wait, that's what it was called in my time."

Boudica turned pensive for a while as she remembered Romani's explanation. "Yeah, it's called London now and it's based on the year of 1888 A.D. It's quite exciting, right miss Arturia to see our home country practically two millennia after my time. Romani said that in this time when civilization truly began to flourish, the era was called the Industrial Revolution. Oh, how exciting it will be to see our nation flourishing just like we always wanted to see, right!" Shirou noticed that Arturia was vaguely nodding along and Boudica was still too excited to see that his fiancée was having inner thoughts about the whole thing.

"Oh, I forgot…we need to be ready when master and Mash call us…they are getting ray shifted as we speak. So, shall we…"

Boudica was looking at Shirou and Arturia, expecting both to share in her excitement.

"Ah Boudica, could you give us a second." The Rider Britain servant blinked a couple of times at Shirou before she looked at the now clear distressed look in Arturia's expression.

"Okay then, but please hurry up…master may call us any second now." Shirou nodded in appreciation as he saw Boudica walk away from them. He, then, looked towards his fiancée.

"What's wrong?" Arturia looked up with a sigh as she pondered out aloud.

"In every singularity, we've been so far, we have come across servants that hailed from the singularity's location." Shirou nodded, wondering about that. "And considering that this one is in my home country, then chances are that…"

"You think one of your knights will appear…?" Arturia's sobered expression returned and Shirou understood. Shirou had long conversations with Arturia to know the history of every knight that belonged to the Round Table. Despite Arturia no longer being weighed down by her previous need for the Grail, the possibility of seeing one of her knights once more made everything come back full force. Not only her memories of what happened but the memories of the Arturia Pendragon whose body she had possessed…quite frankly, she didn't know which set of memories was the worst. In both scenarios, one by one, she had lost her knights…the only difference was that in her original memory, outside circumstances forced them apart…in the second, it was the tyrant Arturia Pendragon's decisions alone, responsible for it.

Shirou somewhat understood the inner struggle, though he couldn't do much to ease her worries, except to do what he always did.

"No matter what happens, or who for that matter, we always face this together, so you're not alone in this, Arturia."

Arturia had woken up from her self-isolation and looked up to meet Shirou's confident eyes.

"I guess you're right, though I have a bad feeling about this." After that, the couple got up and walked together, towards the base's summoning system.


===With Mash and Ritsuka===

As soon as master and servant ray shifted towards the singularity, they came into contact with a rather thick fog that kept them from seeing much of the scenario around them. As they knew they would be coming to 19th century London, Mash recognized the relatively modern architecture of the city they were in. Whereas before they were sent to the early ages of mankind, now they were in modern times. That meant no more open lands, no more travel by foot, horses, or even sailboats like the last singularity they were in.

"Mash, can you see anything?" The shield servant turned to Ritsuka and negated.

"Nothing so far, senpai. Well, the same circle of light is visible up in the sky, but other than that, nothing much. All this fog and pollution, it's quite obscured. Is this London looks like?" Romani communicated through Ritsuka's intercom.

"Fog and pollution are fairly common for the Industrial Revolution's time in London, Mash. Nowadays, it would be much clearer than this, although usually, the sky is normally cloudy." Ritsuka and Mash accepted that as they continued to look around, though Mash was feeling something unease in this atmosphere before Romani cleared it for her. "This doesn't look like your typical fog or smoke…I'm picking massive amounts of magical energy…it's quite dense indeed. I gather that this fog is quite poisonous to life forms. How are you two feeling?"

"I'm not feeling any different, doctor, but that's because I'm a Servant. How are you feeling, Senpai?" Ritsuka looked at his hand and his breathing.

"Same as always, I think. But, perhaps this is why this area seems deserted. Perhaps this fog is endangering the locals?" Mash felt better knowing that he was alright, but then she began to wonder about what Ritsuka said. Indeed, according to Romani, this is the era when humanity began to thrive in development. So, the area they were in right now should be packed with men and women going about their merry way, happy and booming. But, the dense fog appeared to have sucked out all life in this city.

"Wait…" Romani's voice started again. "I have the analysis of the fog here in my hand and it's truly dangerous to organisms. I understand that Mash is fine because she is a servant, but how is Ritsuka not harmed by it?"

"Perhaps, his link with Mash is enabling him to have the same protection. Maybe, the spirit Mash fused with has high resistance skill and because of the bond between Master and Servant, it's protecting Ritsuka as well." Ritsuka and Mash heard Da Vinci's explanation. Though Mash felt better that she was protecting Ritsuka. Still, they were in quite a pickle now as they still needed to deal with this poisonous fog, while in search for the Grail.

As Ritsuka said, they were no one around this place. Still, they needed to summon the other servants fast…who knows when they will be attacked in this place, and because of the fog, Mash felt insecure about her ability to protect Ritsuka from danger all by herself. Looking around some more, Mash turned tense with the intercom.

"Doctor, we need to summon the servants as fast as possible. Is there anywhere nearby for me to use the shield?"

"Hold on…" Romani responded and Mash could hear him pressing his keyboard furiously. "Yes, London is a city blessed by a strong leyline. There is a reason the Clock Tower has chosen this city for its headquarters. There is a hotel by your right, suitable for the summoning. Shirou, Arturia, and Boudica are ready and waiting, Mash. Plus, both Arturia and Boudica shall benefit from the region, so they should pack extra power against whatever servant or enemy that surges through the fog." To that, Ritsuka and Mash turned and saw a rather abandoned-looking hotel sign, before walking inside. Inside, they could see the old abandoned reception and spider webs decorating the few pieces of furniture that remained in this place. At least, Mash and Ritsuka were glad that the fog didn't follow them inside.

"Even if the fog isn't inside, it's still quite eerie in here, Mash. " Ritsuka said as he walked around, while Mash placed the shield on the ground to begin the process.

The shield became alive, establishing the link with Chaldea and the direct path towards the singularity for the servants.

In no time, the three warriors morphed around the shield relic of Mash Kyrielight. The shielder servant breathed a lot easier as she and Ritsuka opened up a smile at seeing their entourage now with them, while Romani communicated through the intercom, the linking success. As soon as Shirou, Arturia and Boudica appeared inside the singularity, all three servants felt the rather dense fog outside, loaded with magical energy. Boudica appeared overly eager to meet the London of today, whereas Arturia had already been there with Shirou and Rin in their respective dimension. Still, just like Mash, Arturia felt uneasy as they stepped out of the hotel and into the fog once more.

"I take it you two haven't figured out what's going on yet." Mash and Ritsuka turned to Shirou as he used his magical circuits to feel its reaction to the fog.

"Not yet…Mash figured that bringing you along would be a first, before investigating." Arturia hummed in understanding while Boudica was itching to reach her sword and shield in this place as her eyes no longer admired the city architecture.

"It's strange to see London so deserted." Shirou approached Arturia as she commented.

"It is indeed…the city we know is always quite crowded with lots of movement. It looks to be in the middle of the afternoon, but we don't see a single soul in sight…nor even the sounds of a carriage."

The servants and Ritsuka had also noticed that the doors and windows of the buildings were shut tight, presumably to keep the harmful fog from entering. Whoever did this must have already collected a good number of the city's residents as victims. Those who survived did so by locking themselves inside the city's houses and buildings. But that didn't mean they were out of harm's way and Ritsuka had instilled in everyone the necessity of solving this problem, or else the victim's numbers would not stop rising.

The four servants plus one human then started walking through the eerie streets, trying to find some lead that could help them.

A couple of minutes passed before they heard a raspy girl's voice calling up to them throughout the fog.

"Oi! Who the hell are you and why aren't you affected by the fog?" The voice alerted Shirou, Boudica, and Mash who stood in front of Ritsuka, however, Arturia had practically frozen in place upon realizing that her deepest fear had come to light. They could barely see the silhouette and shape of this person, but Arturia could very well recognize the shape of her silvery armor. "Well, if you aren't going to attack me, then I will…prepare yourselves." The foe dashed forward with impressive speed, clearing the fog in her path until her appearance became visible. A short blonde girl wearing ancient silver armor and carrying a strong-looking sword, about to skewer the group in half. Shirou took one second to analyze the sword by her hand and received the entire sword's history.

Looking at his fiancée through the corner of his eyes, he realized why Arturia was like that.

Mash soon got into position in front of the attacker and the sword smashed with the shield, forcing Mash to skid back a few meters. Shirou and Boudica followed with the assault, while they saw the look of surprise from this foe upon gazing at the shield who had just blocked her sword. Her daze was short-lived when she saw the two enemies, both with red hair, advance at her, both carrying a different sword. Realizing that she was outnumbered, this foe took advantage of the fog and ran into some dark alley as if she knew where to go. Meanwhile, with the threat now gone, Shirou, Mash, and Boudica looked around, to prevent this foe from attacking them once more.

Arturia, though, was still catatonic and Ritsuka caught on to that as he approached.

"Miss Arturia, are you alright? What has happened?" Ritsuka had to even shake her for the King of Knights to awake from her nightmare.

"She's gone for now." Shirou, Mash, and Boudica arrived together with Ritsuka and Arturia when Mash had noticed the look of surprise still evident on Arturia's face.

"Ah taichou, what is going on? Do you know who she was?"

Shirou had to release a sigh in dismay at their predicament right now. And his soon-to-be wife did say before that she was concerned that someone from her time and legend would appear. But Shirou was seriously hoping it would be someone else…not her of all people. Seeing that Arturia wouldn't answer Mash's question, Shirou felt the need to do so, though he had to stop a second at the lingering pain in his chest from seeing the sword Clarent's last use piercing through the still alive King Arthur's side stomach. To this day, Shirou had the images of Arturia's side of how history went in the Battle of Camlann, but looking at the sword Clarent, now he had the full picture.

"It's Mordred." Mash and Ritsuka both looked at Shirou in surprise and then Mash looked straight at Arturia. Romani, though, was less subtle.

"Huh, Mordred, the Knight of Treachery…the son of Arturia Pendragon and the one responsible for Camelot's fall?"

The Doctor soon stopped talking, as both Da Vinci and Olga berated the Doctor's known lack of tact.

"Shirou-taichou, are you sure it's her?" Shirou was focusing on trying to ease his fiancée's troubles when he turned to Mash.

"Do you remember my tracing skill, Mash?" The shielder servant nodded. "The moment I look at a sword, I understand its history and its wielder. The sword is named Clarent and Mordred had stolen from King Arthur's Vault, before using it against Arturia in the famous Battle of Camlann." The news sobered everyone up instantly, though Shirou wondered about the reason why Mordred chose to evade, instead of fighting them.


===Arturia's mind===

While Shirou explained the identity of their attacker, Arturia's mind was a blur of motion, trying to make sense of what just happened. She was struggling in vain to get past what happened to her at the hands of her son. Soon, her mind took her back to the famed Battle of Camlann as the Mordred of back then murdered her entire army and then challenged her for one last fight. The pain in Mordred's voice was quite palpable and Arturia, despite wanting to reach out to her back then, couldn't because of her duty as King of Camelot.

"You need to wake up, my king." Another voice reached the King of Knights and the landscape soon morphed into another more clear landscape. When Arturia blinked once more, she was face to face with Sir Galahad.

"Sir Galahad…what…" The knight didn't allow his king to finish her question.

"I understand that the circumstances back then made you believe Mordred to be the enemy in this singularity, but it's not the case." Arturia frowned in dismay and looked towards the ground, not wanting to believe her knight's words.

"How can you tell?" Galahad narrowed his eyes as Arturia continued. "The Kingdom, our kingdom, fell at her hands, Sir Galahad."

"That may be the case back then, your highness…" Galahad conceded with his eyes closed. "But, not right now…above all else, the Mordred of back then would not have fled the scene, if she was filled by madness, she wouldn't back away."

"That was what I was thinking too, Sir Galahad." Both knights turned to the cross-armed Shirou who appeared in their shared mental realm. Galahad bowed in respect to his King's consort and being the Japanese man that Shirou is, he bowed even lower in respect. "It's good to see you once more, Sir Galahad and I appreciate you showing up and helping her." The King of Knights observed the two talking and got introspective. With her mind more at ease about the situation, Arturia managed to recognize discrepancies between the Mordred of her lifetime and this servant Mordred. It became clear, indeed, that her son wasn't summoned as a Berserker servant, but as a Saber instead.

"It appears that you were convinced, my king." Arturia breathed deeply with her eyes closed and then showed her more relaxed eyes at her knight and her fiancée.

"Yes, I appreciate your assistance, Sir Galahad."

The Knight of the Shield bowed in reverence. Arturia then turned to Shirou and nodded at him resolutely, earning a smile from the redhead.


===Back at the Singularity===

Back at the Singularity, Shirou was together with Arturia as everyone's eyes were on her.

"I apologize, everyone…Mash, Ritsuka, for my actions or lack thereof. It shall not happen again." Both Mash and Ritsuka looked at each other and the master scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Ah don't need to apologize Miss Arturia…I understand that this is a touchy subject for you."

Arturia nodded in acceptance at their master's words as she remembered Shirou's words about him. While her knight standards are tough to reach, Ritsuka Fujimaru was indeed a good person overall.

"Well, now that's settled, I guess we should follow Mordred's path to see if she knows something…perhaps she could aid us in gathering information." Arturia turned to Boudica and accepted her directive. In Galahad and Shirou's opinion, Mordred's actions don't paint her as the enemy of this singularity. However, despite not being overly bothered anymore about her son's presence, Arturia still felt unease about the situation. Aside from her actions against the Kingdom, Mordred was always rash and prone to wrong decisions.

With nothing more to do, except to follow Mordred's steps, the group walked towards the hidden alley, while Arturia and Boudica quietly observed the buildings surrounding them.

Seriously, as far as awe was concerned, Boudica wasn't as much as she thought she would be. The fog added by the gray colors and identical buildings gave her the impression that her successors didn't much care for creativity, opting for pragmatism. She couldn't say she liked it, but she didn't hate it as well. Arturia observed her fellow Britannia legend friend and laughed, remembering their conversation back in Chaldea. Boudica was seriously expecting to see her homeland thriving and full of life…not this…

"It's nothing much, isn't it?" The Queen of Promised Victory turned to the King of Knights and sighed.

"You could have said it was like this before we arrived." Arturia just shrugged her shoulders as she looked at the filthy alleyway with plenty of garbage on the ground and little mice passing by their feet.

"Well, in Shirou's time, the city has cleaned up quite a bit, though there are still some areas that it's still like this, particularly the areas close to the river Thames." The mention of the river made Arturia smile in nostalgia when Shirou first took her to London. How they walked by the river next to Sakura and Rin as they visited many of the city's main buildings and monuments. Come to think about it, perhaps many of those monuments are still due to fully being constructed. She remembered that most of the monuments' construction started many years ago, but it took a long time to finish.

Her musings were cut short when the group sensed the ground shaking and Romani's voice through Ritsuka's intercom.

"Beware, everyone! Multiple forms are approaching. I'm not picking vital signs, but I just can't get a good enough reading because of this fog." Shirou and Ritsuka were more familiarized with the strange noises as they were familiarized with science fiction movies, though the fog was far too thick for them to see anything, even with Shirou's improved vision. Based on the number of noises, Shirou and Ritsuka estimated it to be close to ten of them. It didn't' take more than a minute before gigantic rock golems surrounded the group.

"Doctor, what are those things?" Mash contacted Chaldea, but as per the usual, received no usual response from the good Doctor. "Okay, they are attacking. Senpai, stay close to me." Ritsuka nodded as Mash advanced towards the Golems that were in front of her, slamming her shield and sending it flying. Shirou and Arturia vanished from their position and all everyone could see were two different beams, one red and one yellow, slashing through the golems like they were nothing. Boudica took care of the two behind her back, summoning her chariot to give her the impulse necessary to slash them in half, using her sword. The entire fight took no less than a minute, as the rock parts all fell on the ground before the last golem was dealt with.

Mash kneeled next to the first and grabbed a lilac purple jewel that possessed magical energy.

"Doctor, this appears to be the one responsible for giving these creatures life."

Through the servant known as Mask Kyrielight, Chaldea received intel regarding the stone Mash recovered.

"Indeed, Mash, it appears so…but who knew something like that would be lurking in the fog?" Romani stated as he eyed Da Vinci studying the data sent by Mash just now. "Still, this fog is making my magical detection readings meaningless. All I can do, right now, is to detect something close by, but I can't give you all a detailed analysis." Mash, Ritsuka, and the servants soon joined together and looked around. From what Romani just said, they were practically in the dark in this city. So, they would have to go by intuition on this one, at least until this fog is dealt with.

The group started moving once more and had to deal with more golems along the way.

After dealing with the last batch, however, the four servants started sensing a different presence in the area. Arturia gripped her sword, wondering if Mordred would appear once more. Even if she may not be the enemy, it doesn't mean that the Knight of Treachery wouldn't attack them, thinking them to be the enemy. But, this new presence felt quite different from Mordred. It was mixed with the fog, so neither of them could pinpoint where this presence is located. Neither managed to see when a small shadow appeared behind Mash until Boudica spotted and screamed for her to look behind.

"Mash, move." The shielder servant turned too late to receive a slash on her arm before Shirou and Arturia attacked the sudden appearance.

However, it turned out to be quite agile, and even managed to dodge all of Shirou's arrows by jumping through the walls of the alleyway. Arturia's sword glowed yellow and sent an energy slash close to the place where this enemy would jump, forcing this foe to drop to the ground, haphazardly. Using quick evasion to stand up, the group from Chaldea saw this little girl with lilac hair holding two small daggers in a reverse grip. Arturia, Boudica, and Shirou could attest to this girl's prowess with her battle stance.

"Oh, you seem to be moving unhindered within the magical fog and you seem just fine within our fog as well." Her tiny girl voice spooked Ritsuka…to see a small girl with such a bloodthirsty disposition. "I guess you are all just like us, huh?"

"So you're a servant, then," Mash questioned as she got into position with her shield.

"Yep, we are Jack the Ripper." That last word was spoken within the heavy fog that once more engulfed her, hiding her from view. Mash, Shirou, Boudica, and Arturia all worked hard in blocking this new servant's swift attacks, but neither managed to hit the tiny murderer servant. Come to think about it, this is precisely the area of the mass murderer of women in the 19th century that eluded the Scotland Yard. Though, in Mash's mind, history described this perpetrator quite differently.

Arturia looked around and then to Shirou, who nodded.

"Mash, Boudica, and Ritsuka, please stay close to me." The entire group huddled close to the redhead servant as he began to summon a large array of swords positioned around them. As soon as his ears heard the subtle noise of the girl's steps on the wall, Shirou hurled one of the swords to that location and Jack managed to move, despite its surprise of being caught. Jack noticed, through the fog, that the swords were positioned in a way to stop her from attacking and she smiled in excitement.

"This is so exciting…seeing you all trying so hard only to meet your end by my blade later on. Well, please watch yourself…hehehe….you never know when someone's behind you." The little girl's hollow laughter only made Ritsuka's skin crawl.

"That is quite a dangerous servant, perhaps even more dangerous than Hassan, because of her small size," Arturia commented as the group relaxed their stance.

"Well…well, that was quite the skill you have, red…" Arturia tensed as Mordred's voice echoed in the clearing, before she appeared, without her helmet and Clarent was not visible. "I was watching your fight those useless pieces of rock and metal before and now you have beaten that annoying piece of shit. Perhaps, you are not my enemy, after all." Arturia managed to hide her face from view, though she found it strange to see Mordred's visibly goofy smile. "Hello there, the name's Mordred, a Heroic Spirit and you are…"

One by one, the group from Chaldea introduced themselves, leaving Arturia last. When she turned to see her son, Mordred's frown was quite evident, as though she knew who this person was, all along.

"Hello Mordred, it has been a long time, hasn't it." It didn't take one second for the Knight of Betrayal to see the resemblance…sword…armor…blonde hair…dark green eyes…suddenly, Mordred's entire disposition morphed into anger and fury. Arturia saw it all and knew that such a standoff would happen anyway. Before Shirou could stand in her way, Mordred advanced with Clarent in hand and Arturia only watched her son approach, before seeing Clarent descend on her. Ritsuka and Mash and everyone from Chaldea observed the metal clash between Excalibur and Clarent, while Mordred observed in madness, while Arturia looked down at her son with her usual look, but filled with remorse over what happened in the past.

"Hello Father, it truly has been a while, alright!" Arturia, though, forced her stance and pushed Mordred back a few steps, forcing her son to step back.

Before she could follow on the attack, Mordred had to stop her advance as Shirou blocked her Clarent with a Clarent of his own.

"Please stand down, Sir Mordred, and allow us to explain." The red knight snarled at Shirou, but try as she want, this man's stance just didn't budge. Plus, his projected swords started hovering above her, threateningly.

"Fine, whatever! I shall listen to you, red…now, come to think about it, you look like one of those bloody Saxons. Huh, can't imagine that father of all people would fraternize with the enemy." Shirou didn't much understand the comparison and Arturia, despite the sudden confrontation just now, couldn't help but see the humor of Mordred's comparison. So, two things happened at once that had truly thrown Mordred for a loop. One was the fact that her father was laughing…her father…was laughing. And the second one…

"No…Mordred, Shirou is not a Saxon abd he happens to be my consort."

So, Mordred, the son of King Arthur and responsible for the Camelot Kingdom's downfall, looked nonplussed at her father, then at Shirou, and then at her father once more, before giving the only answer she could think of right now.

"Ehhhh!"


Author Note

Please tell me your thoughts.

Now, this story gets even more interesting as we get to see the interaction between Mordred, Shirou, and Arturia from here on out.

It's quite exciting, indeed.

Next update: Cursed Eyes