Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 103 of the story!
And with this chapter, the fic much likely will surpass the 1M word count. Which...is quite insane. Like, how many fanfics are out there that surpass the 1M word mark? Definetly above hundred but I doubt it's even remotely close to a thousand either. And if we do keep it only contained to the Fate franchise fics in general, this fic might be one of the biggest in the fandom. I won't say it's the biggest because there's probably some others out there from years ago that might be like already over 1M words or bigger. But my fic is much probably be on top10 of the longest Fate fics, of that I must be certain.
But anyways, with that said, let's start it!
DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
Great Britain, 5th Century A.D
It was a grey day out there, clouds of woe and despondency fluttering above the almost dry and bleak meadows of the kingdom. This was a period where the people nor their king had motives to smile of joy, engulfed by a dark age full of adversity and tribulation. The crops would die, resulting in meager harvests. Towns and villages ravaged and burned, leading to countless dead and vagrants. Hope was but a mirage, running thin and out of time. With every bit of land taken by the invading and brutal white dragon and the traitor which led its forces, hope would become more scorched and fragile.
In such dire situation, there was nothing more that the king of the Britons could do but pray. Pray to the white stars in the night that his prayers for his kingdom salvation would be answered. That the prophecy of his mage and longterm friend would become true.
The awaited omen of a new heir to the throne. The birth of a bright star that would rekindle the hope of the kingdom, symbolized on the rise and arrival of a red dragon that was foretold to put an end to the white dragon's reign of terror. The king's successor that would haul the nation out of their dark desperate period and guide them to a new age of light and some prosperity.
And so the king abided for the birthing of his highly promised and anticipated child. The saviour of Britain and its people.
Now, on his lonesome bedroom, after months of speculation and orisons, the soft and small murmurs of a newborn filled the room, on a well crafted and detailed wodden cradle, right next to the king's bed. In contrast to the sound of the nation, the murmurs ringged joyfully and bright, like of a cheery swallow spreading its wings to the wind. The baby was young and innocent and yet with an heavy future already laid out ahead. Borned with a giant responsability above its infant body right before the eyes opened to the world.
Sadly, the message of the birth of the new promised heir was never announced nor made public.
"..." The king moved away from his bed, directing to the source of the energetic and liveful noise. Peeking inside, he saw his newborn child. The one the Magus of Flowers prophecised to save the kingdom. Britain's future and salvation, turning and moving on the blankets, the sunfull smile in the face and vivacious green eyes of a new spring. To see a smile of genuine glee in somebody had become a rare sight for the king during such dark times.
The baby lifted the arms, fanning them. The small hands yearning for the father's contact. The ruler in return slowly approached his hand, sticking out his thumb for his child to grab it. But as the finger was close to the small embrace of the infant's hands, the king hesitated. Altough the baby transborded with joy in that moment, the feeling wasn't reciprocated, as the father could not look with radiance to his child. Instead his eyes were of another emotion: dissapointment.
A chagrin in his heart as he stared down to the heir. The king had requested and expected for a son. Instead, destiny answered by delivering him a daughter. Someone that could never become a 'king' in the true meaning of the word. That wouldn't gather the same amount of respect, veneration, fear and aptitude he had. It was what the king thought. A delicate being that wasn't created for the bloody and relentless battlefield. Never would the people accept nor believe the nation would be saved and its enemies defeated by a girl who'd then be declared king. It sounded like pure mockery, a joke of bad taste.
The king couldn't stare at his daughter and deem she had the look of a fierce red dragon nor would ever have it even if older. She was more to a peaceful brown hare, resting and playing in her lair. Like that, any hopes the king had for the kingdom's future were dashed away. It wasn't her fault, he knew he couldn't blame it on his child for being born like that. Yet, frustration and sorrow was all he felt when looking at the daughter. How his death was nearing as the Saxons strided alongside it and he'd die without even having the tranquility of knowing his kingdom would be in save hands of the heir.
Was the mage wrong? Had the prophecy been misleading?
The daughter, not even sentient of her surroundings at that point, still waited eagerly for the warm touch if her father that never came. Even if the infant could not perceive what was exactly happening, her smile dissapeared as she stared to her father's face. The dead look of a defeated and exhausted man, who saw his last glimmer of faith being snatched away, happiness and any synonyms of it leaving his body altogether, as the king himself left his child behind, walking away.
That was the only time the daughter ever saw her father in her life, accompanied by a low whisper of the king's lips:
"Not good enough."
Twelve Years Later
Fate Stay Night OST- Kishi Ou no Hokori
"Agh!"
Urgh!"
"How do y-ergh!"
In a little improvised training camp, set to the side of a coursing creek, three boys were soundly defeated at an impressive time, their combined strength not being enough to bring down their smaller and younger opponent.
"Amazing! He defeated all three of them at once!"
"The fight was so fast I almost lost it by blinking my eyes!"
Watching near the camp, a small public of kids and adults alike have been spectating the battle so far.
"Sir Ector's son has really a talent for swordsmanship."
"And too think he's only twelve and is already beating down boys twice his size."
"There's no doubt he was born to become a great knight like his retired father."
Standing tall in front of the defeated and sulking boys, another 'boy' proudly flexed his wodden sword. "Hm hm, that wasn't a bad sparring match at all. You fought well." The boy speaked with a rough masculine tone, proceeding to smile kindly and sweetly to his opponents. "Up for another fight?"
"You're mocking us?!"
"We just got defeated in ten seconds!"
"There's no way we are a match for you!"
"Oi Arthur! I think they've got enough already!"
Looking around, the blonde haired 'boy' caught sight of the person who called him. "Big Bro Kay!" He exclaimed with happiness, seeing the older boy with light brown hair. His sibling.
"These three have long become mere living scarecrows for you to train with." Kay told to Arthur before giving a side glance to the other three. "No offense."
"Very uplifting of you, Kay..." One of the trio groaned, all of them getting up from the ground.
"Then what you propose me to train with, Kay?" Arthur asked to his older brother.
"Eh. Is that even worthy of an answer at this point?" Kay smiled to his younger sibling, picking up a used wodden sword from the ground. "With me of course!"
Hearing that, the young Arthur couldn't help but feel amused and a tad excited. "Almost too obvious eheh! I shall accept your challenge then!"
"Oh, Sir Ector's children will now fight between each other!"
"I never saw those two duel against one another. It will be difficult for the young lad to defeat Kay. He's the most promising knight's apprentice our village has."
"But I'd say Arthur doesn't stay that much behind him, even if he's three years younger than Kay."
As more people gathered to see the duel and their enthusiasm grew, both Arthur and Kay prepared themselves, positioning for the fight ahead.
"Ready?" Kay asked him.
Arthur put a firm grasp on the hilt of his wodden sword, arms well adjusted. "Ready!"
The fight lasted a couple of minutes, not being that long nor dragged out, the skills and experience of the two Sir Ector's boys entertaining and fascinating the local populace. Both were pretty good at the sword combat, timing well their attacks and clashes, advancing and dodging with efficiency. But a draw would not be on everyone's best interests, which was why the fight ended up having a winner.
"You're open!" Arthur exclaimed as he managed to take down Kay's defense with a single clash, leaving him exposed, resulting on a clean hit in his head.
"Agh!" Kay stumbled backwards and kneeled, having taken damage altough not very violent, Arthur not wanting to make his brother bleed.
"Looks like I win this one! Finally!" Arthur said victorious, having brought Kay to his knees.
The crowd was euphoric.
"Incredible! Arthur managed to defeat Kay!"
"There's no way! The boy must be truly gifted!"
But as it all seemed closed with Arthur as the winner, Kay begun on his usual excuses. "Not bad at all, Arthur. Except for the part you cheated."
"Uh? Cheated?" Arthur stared with indignation to his older brother. "Come on now, Kay! What was it this time? The weather?"
"Your hands." Kay answered, much to Arthur's confusion.
"My hands?"
"Yeah. Holding your sword with both of them makes handling the weapon easier and more pratical when wanting to define the trajectory of a blade's swing or withstand the impact of a clash." Kay pointed out and explained why Arthur had exactly 'cheated'. "On top of that, it also gives you slight advantage on the speed of your attacks. And that's not all. You see..."
As his brother dwelved deep and deeper on the justification, using more rare terms and words of the vocabulary, Arthur begun to sweat, his face hardly comprehending majority of what Kay was even saying.
Even the bystanders could tell the older sibling was just babbling random things out of the gate.
"Therefore, in legal terms of this battle's condition, you have unknowingly breaking the rules by the utilization of your two hands in the sword's handling, pratically deeming you as the loser by default." Kay finished up his explanation, talking his way to reclaim the win.
"He's so disingenuous."
Everybody in the crowd said in unison in their minds, disgusted by the way Kay made a huge elaborate, complex and long argument in order to say Arthur had actually lost.
However, Arthur himself didn't took it badly. "Eh, I suppose. Looks like you win another one, Big Bro!" He smiled.
"AND HE JUST ACCEPTS IT!?"
The crowd yelled in shock, baffled at how Arthur didn't seemed bothered at all by the way he lost.
"And the score keeps increasing." Kay said with a smug before walking torwards Arthur. "But you did fought well once again. I really have to get better or one day you'll really end up defeating me." He gave a genuine smile to Arthur, admitting and acknowledging well his younger brother's sword combat.
"Then you better watch out. Because it will arrive sooner than you expected!" Arthur said with confidence, looking forward to the day where he would finally make Kay attribute the victory to Arthur without excuses.
"Uh, as if I wasn't wary enough already.." Kay laughed a bit. "Anyways, grab your things and pack them up. We're heading back home."
Arthur nodded. "Understood!" And so he begun to grab his items near the training camp entrance and of Kay's as well, packing them all together before exiting the camp alongside his older brother and waving at the other kids and adults nearby. "Thank you all for coming! See you next time!"
"Bye Arthur! You performed great again!"
"Next time fight me! Me!"
"Take care young Arthur and young Kay! Say hello to Sir Ector for me!"
Joining Kay a bit more ahead after saying goodbye to the small crowd, Arthur and him begun on their walk torwards home, passing through their small village of simple stone houses with small farms containing chicken, cows, oxen and every other domesticated animal seen roaming around, being the every day life of this remote and peaceful location, still distant from the main chaos and terror the white dragon spread across the land of Albion. In here, the pastoralism prospered with green and good harvests, the inhabitants being hard working enough to produce a good quantity of resources in order to survive to the most harshest of seasons.
Thankfully it was a midsummer's day, where the trees still stood tall and imposing with all their leaves and the sun rays graced the soil by gifting it with healthy and fresh vegetables. Little to no commotion happened here, everyone living their lives free of trouble. It surely could be felt mundane and repetitive, but the village population would prefer to a monotonous quiet life to one full of tragedy and destruction.
Reaching to their home on the village's periphery, Arthur and Kay entered the small stable that was also part of their father's property, with Arthur laying down their items in the entrance. It was that time of their biweekly schedule to take care of the family's horses.
"Here, take the sponge." Kay told to Arthur, handing him a piece of sponge and a bucket of water. "Today you will be washing Gwyneu. It's my horse, so be sure to be super gentle with him."
"I bet Gwyneu likes me more than he likes you." Arthur replied with a cheeky smile, his voice suddenly sounding a lot more feminine. "What about Sir Gobaith?"
"Hm? Father's horse? You already know the answer to that, Artoria." Kay replied to his sibling. Correct, that was indeed the true name of the 'boy' who wasn't even a boy in the first place, but a girl having to pretend to be one. A girl by the actual name of Artoria.
"Aaah! You're such a stickler by the rules, Big Bro!" Artoria complained, pouting and dropping entirely her boy act now that they were no longer in the village. "Why can't I groom Sir Gobaith just this once?"
"Because a no is a no. A negative and refusal to your demand." Kay responded, crossing his arms. "Hereby, you are not allowed to."
"Hmph!" And then Artoria used her alternative weapon: emotional manipulation. Sulking, she begun to stare at Kay with a pouty expression.
"No." Kay told her.
"Hmmmmm..." Artoria approached her face to Kay, sulking even more, her eyes getting teary.
"I already told you. Stop it." Kay said a bit nervously, trying to ignore his sister's face.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm..." Artoria didn't gave up, still persisting.
"You're making this uncomfortable..." Kay said, the pressure beggining to make him sweat.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm-"
"Fine! You win dang it!" Kay almost shouted, peeved at Artoria's insistence. "I'll let you wash Sir Gobaith."
"Yay!" Artoria said happly with gleam, clapping her hands together. "You're the best sibling in the world, Big Bro!"
"Using tactics like that to get what you want is really low blow..." Kay muttered.
"As if you have any right to say it whatsoever with your 'wins' against me." Artoria replied, still maintaining her cheerful smile.
"Okay. You had me there..." Kay sighed after his sister brought that up. "But you better finish treating Gwyneu in half a hour if you want to brush Sir Gobaith."
"Aye aye!" Artoria accepted the condition, grabbing both the bucket of water and sponge. "I'll get it started then!"
Artoria was a competent and working girl, always doing the tasks her brother Kay and Sir Ector would request of her. Being at the stable and taking care of the horses wasn't anything new for her, being as basic as breathing to that point. In no time, she was done with washing, scrubbing and cleaning Kay's horse while performing it with such gentility in her hands. With it done, her brother gave Artoria the permission to treat Sir Gobaith, their father's old veteran horse. Normally, only his owner, Sir Ector, would be the one grooming him, with Kay having given some few opportunities here and there. But it would be a first for Artoria.
Approaching the big senior horse with caution, the girl caressed him kindly, beggining to wash him. Artoria couldn't help but notice how the elder horse had some scars and other former injuries across his body, the animal's eyes having witnessed many battles alongside his lord.
"You've been through a lot, haven't you, Sir Gobaith?" Artoria murmured while washing the horse's forhead and muzzle.
"More than you can imagine."
A man's voice speaked, coming from the stable's entrance, getting both Artoria and Kay's attention. In there, a middle-aged man stood, with simple peasent clothes, short brown hair and an equally brown mustache.
"Father!" Artoria exclaimed, surprised in seeing her father, Sir Ector, present.
"What are you doing here this early, father?" Kay asked to the man, also surprised. "I thought father would still take some time to return from the village."
"It is called being efficient on the tasks, Kay. Concluding them with anticipation gives more space to your schedule." Sir Ector replied, entering the stable. "And so, I decided to use that free time I obtain by seeing how Sir Gobaith was doing." He said, a face of reprimand when he walked torwards Artoria. "Yet, here I see someone else already doing that job for me."
Seeing the slight discontent of her father, Artoria stared sadly on the ground, knowing Sir Ector didn't like to have others taking care of his horse. "I'm sorry, father."
Feeling pity for his sister, Kay intervened. "Do not be mad at her, father! It was I who-"
"Did he bowed his head to you?" Sir Ector asked to Artoria, interrupting his son, ignoring what he was saying.
"H-huh?" Artoria looked up to her father, a bit muddled by the unexpected question. "Y-Yes, he did."
Sir Ector procceded to give a simple smile, patting Sir Gobaith's forhead. "It means you did well. He is more docile than it looks, doesn't he?"
Upon seeing that her father wasn't that angry with her, Artoria smiled back to Sir Ector. "He looks very majestic up close!"
"Indeed. Me and Sir Gobaith have faced and defeated many foes together. Like me, he also hoped to go a bit further to help our king, but alas, elderness gets to everyone." Sir Ector told while still patting his horse. "Now, Sir Gobaith and I spend what is left of our lives in the small peace we have."
Artoria enjoyed when Sir Ector would briefly recount his stories of when he used to be a knight under Uther Pendragon's court. Albeit he wasn't the most famous of knights of his time, never having gathered as much as a sinlge ounce of fame, with only the inhabitants of the village and family aware of Sir Ector's previous status. Outside of it, the long reformed knight was basically a nobody with no name for himself. Yet, Artoria never stopped to admire his deeds because of it, loving the way how Sir Ector championed courage above all else, never having been a knight soughting for fame.
"Artoria, go pick up your equipment." Sir Ector told her suddenly. "Let's have a spar."
"Oh? Y-yes!" Nodding, Artoria went to the small wodden cabin next to the stable, picking up her training armour and sword.
While that was happening, Sir Ector already had his own equipment by the stable's entrance, wearing it while Kay stood by his side. "How was her fights in the village today?" He asked to his son.
"Splendid. She defeated three boys my age in a matter of seconds." Kay reported to his father. "Her technique with the sword improves with each passing day."
"Hmm, it appears to be so." Sir Ector replied, reflective as he lifted his head and stared at the cabin where Artoria was equipping herself up. "At this rate, soon there won't be much more left that I can teach her."
"Already here!" Artoria exclaimed, exiting from the cabin with her training leather armour and wodden sword.
"Alright. Let us begin the lesson of today." Sir Ector replied, walking torwards the center of the their small stable yard, his eyes locked onto his daughter in front of him.
Initially, as a man and veteran knight, the idea of trainning and raising a girl to become a knight sounded absurd and a ludicrous fantasy, such scenario having never crossed through his mind before. However, that had changed some years ago, when he was tasked with such order by the enigmatic mage in the white robe, telling him right there with a straight and serious voice, that the young girl he was giving to the former knight was in fact the youngest child of the king he served before, Uther Pendragon, and chosen heir to the throne. The promised saviour of Britain.
Sir Ector at the time he heard that was baffled beyond all believes, thinking the mage was trying to play a trick on him or something. But it was indeed true. That young girl of blonde hair and green eyes that was offered to him, was indeed the future king of Britain, having been given the tall order to take care of her as if she was her own daughter and train her every week for the next upcoming years, with the objective to mold the young Artoria into a warrior knight capable enough to one day expell all of Britain's biggest nightmares and bring prosperity as its new rightful king.
A drivel, was what Sir Ector thought at first. He'd hardly be convinced that such sweet and seemingly innofensive young girl would ever grow to become a powerful and bellicose ruler to save and command a nation. But once he'd saw the glint on Artoria's eyes, the veteran knight felt a spark of the same distinguished sensation he had when around his king. She was really Uther Pendragon's child. And it was with that feeling, that Sir Ector accepted to adopt the very young Artoria, still skeptic of the mage's prophecy, but certain that the young girl had indeed the potential to become one of Britain's greatest knights in the future.
"Ghg!" Artoria yelped as she fell with her back on the ground after failling to stop a strike from Sir Ector's sword.
"Heedless and haphazard. You cannot let the enemy come and take chance of your blind spot, Artoria." Sir Ector rebuked her after having easily finding an opening through her defense. "That is the area where you have to be the most cautious about for possible attacks, always."
"I-I understand, father." Artoria replied, getting her back off the ground.
"Yet you ended up being hit there, with no proper reaction in order to repel it." Sir Ector told her as he approached Artoria. "Get it in your head that this was just training." Standing in front of her, the former knight lowered himself to stare at Artoria in the eyes. "In a real fight, you'd be bleeding out and dying already. If you truly aspire to become a knight, remember this, the battlefield has no room for mistakes."
Silently, Artoria nodded, taking her 'father's words very seriously. She always had much difficulty when going up against Sir Ector. One thing was going up against knight apprentices like Kay and the boys at the village, very different from fighting an actual seasoned knight with years if experience. Every time she fought him, Artoria could see for herself that there was still things that she needed to better up and improve.
"We shall be ending the training here. Hope you reflect about today's lesson." Sir Ector told her, putting a closure on her training for today. Even if she had made a mistake and never had beat him so far, he couldn't deny that Artoria was clearly getting better at combat, deep down feeling a bit proud of her.
"I do think you were almost well today sister." Kay speaked to Artoria, coming to help her get up. "No need to get that upset."
"But what father said was right. In an actual battle, the error I made would be fatal." Artoria replied, slightly demoralized by the mistake she commited.
"However, you weren't in a real fight, were you?" Kay said back, in an attempt of cheering her up. "Besides if it was a real one, I bet you wouldn't let yourself get hit that easily!"
"You believe that?" Artoria asked genuinely, looking at her brother.
"Of course I do! When your own life is at risk, you make sure to be more cautious and attentive in a true battle. In it, your guard would never be as down as it was now." Kay told her with a smile. "On top of that, not even I have been able to beat father in a fight so far. If anything, I think you came more closer to it than I." He chuckled a bit out of embaressment but still trying to make her sister happy. "So do not be sad, Artoria. I am sure you will become a great knight one day."
Artoria giggled in return. Kay was the best brother she could ever ask for. "If you say so then I believe it, Big Bro Kay!"
Three Months Later.
"..."
It was a day of awful rain and storm outside. The winds violently blowing off against the trees, limitless rain drops collapsing from cloud filled sky. Such was the relentless stormy night of that autumn. And to make matters worse, Artoria was sick that day. Having catched a terrible cold, the ill girl's body was aching everywhere full of chills, unable to get out of bed to do anything. Her head was also warm, throbbing non-stop. Such terrible sickness that was haunting her.
She wondered when would all the pain and nausea stop, moving around on her sheets to try and get comfortable and sleep, but to no avail as the sound of the rain continued to pour outside while remaining inside the warm of her house. So sick that the poor girl was beggining to hallucinate things inside her head.
The figure of a red dragon. A giant red dragon facing her. A giant red dragon facing her in a hot place, full of flames. What did it meant? Artoria did not know as she was too sick to properly form a coherent tought about it.
"Artoria...Artoria..."
Hearing a faint voice, Artoria slowly opened her eyes from the darkness to see Kay standing besides her.
"K-Kay..."
"Need anything? Feel better?" Kay asked with a concerned voice, obviously worried with the health of his sister. Their father, Sir Ector, was off to do a task a resident from the village requested him to, and the mother had also left to do some business in town, leaving only Kay to take care of his bedridden sibling.
"N-No..." Artoria answered weakly, the hurt and fatigue in her still not going away.
"Tsk! Lucky me..." Kay hissed lowly, scratching his head while looking to the window on the side. "It would be troublesome if I let you die now." He said with an embittered voice, knowing of the importance and significance Artoria's life had not only for him and the family, but also to the entire land of Britain. Being her sole caretaker available at the moment, he couldn't let his sister get worse on his watch. "Oi, Artoria. Let's make a promise."
"A p-promise..?" She asked, not understanding what Kay was meaning by that.
Fate Stay Night OST- Fuyu no Yousei
"Yes. It will be like this: Order me to do something that I'll do it. And in return, you promise me to get better as fast as possible!" Kay explained it to her, laying out the conditions of the promise.
"But why...What kind of promise is that Kay?" Artoria asked, confused and not quite getting it.
"You can order me anything! Literally anything that I shall do it for you! If it means you get well soon, then I'll have no hesitation to oblige your order!" Kay persisted and insisted for his sister to give him an order, not caring if Artoria wasn't understanding.
"O-Okay..." Not having the capacity and energy to currently use much of her imagination, Artoria's mind randomly tought of something that would make her comfortable. "I want...I want to dream of a lion...A lion running across plains. Could you do it for me, Kay?" She gave her order to Kay, having been so desultory and random that Artoria was sure there would be no way for her brother to make such fortuitous order come reality.
Nevertheless, Kay really meant what he said. "Got it!" And so, he immediatly dashed out of the house and into the hellish rain outside.
Artoria didn't said a word. Instead, she only wondered what exactly her brother had gone to do by leaving the house and continuing to lay on her bed, she awaited patiently for the return of her sibling to the sound of the rain. Waited and waited until the minutes begun to become hours. And as Artoria was starting to ponder if anything bad happened to Kay, he was back.
"Eh, good thing you didn't hop out of bed to come look for me" Kay said as he opened the door, smilling despite having his whole body soaking with water. "But then again, it isn't like you could pull that off right now."
"..." Artoria wanted to ask him where exactly he had gone to and what he had been doing for getting back in such state. Instead, she opted to just stare at her brother as he approached her, the illness making her even weak to speak much.
"Anyways, you wanted a lion in your dream, didn't you?" Kay told to Artoria, reminding her of the order she gave to him. "Well...Oi sis, look at what big brother got here for you!" He then approached his closed hand to her and opened it, revealing the object he was holding.
"That's..." Artoria looked at it. It was a small statue of a wodden carved animal. She just couldn't figure out what animal exactly. It was so poorly made and defined that it seemed more of a mixture between a cat and a dog. So amateurish and unskilled, a very flawed work by the looks of it. However, Artoria could still see how much effort Kay put into it. She imagined the odd creature in the dream, running alongside her in the plains and smiled.
"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Kay asked her, noticing the smile of hers.
Artoria nodded in response. "Yes. This is...a very funny cat-dog you made, Big Bro..."
"A-A cat-dog?!" Kay exclaimed, shocked.
"Hum? Yeah...Isn't what this animal is supposed to be..?" Artoria questioned, not comprehending Kay's reaction.
"Is my carving skill that bad?" Kay said, even more shocked before timidly scratching the back of his head. "Well it's that...the animal there is actually a lion. Or supposed to be one." He revealed.
"A lion?" Artoria said before looking at the wodden animal in her hands again.
"Yeah. I was aiming to do a sick and old lion. One so week that it wouldn't be even able to hurt a mouse nor harm you in the dream." Kay confessed, blushing a bit. "Yet, seems like I blew it."
Hearing that, Artoria didn't got dissatisfied by the end result. Quite the contrary, it made her love it even more, resulting in a short laughter from her.
"Hm? Is it that laughable?" Kay asked to his sister.
"None of that..." Artoria replied, stopping the laughter but still smilling. She knew Kay wasn't her real brother the same way Kay knew Artoria had been adopted by Sir Ector and her true background as Uther Pendragon's daughter and prophecised king and saviour of Britain. It had been a year since she knew all of it. Yet, despite the truth, the bond between the two had become so deep and strong throughout these years that they still continued to perceive each other as actual siblings. The worridness, love, playfulness and care Kay gave to Artoria was proof of that. That to him, she was a real sister. "It's that...I love your work so much, Big Bro Kay!"
A bit surprised by the response, Kay stared at Artoria with a stupified face before coming to smile as well. "Eh...ehehe. I'm happy you loved it, sis."
Three Years Later.
"Ah, so you ended up pulling the sword out of the stone." An older and novice knight Kay speaked, looking at the sword her sister had in her hands in the distance.
Artoria, now fifteen, had become more mature and experient with her sword combat. Not even Sir Ector being a challenge to her anymore. And so, it meant her training was complete and that shortly after, the mythical and fabled sword in the stone just outside the village, the one no resident and knight alike could pull it off from its rock, had finally been reclaimed by its new owner. The one which description on its golden hilt paraphrased: "Whosoe'er pulleth out this sword of this stone is rightwise king of all Britain."
Caliburn, the sword everyone craved for, in Artoria's hands, now deeming her as the king of the Britons.
"Given the fact you were the former king's child and promised heir, I think it wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knew it." Kay said in his own mind, stating his sister's true lineage and heritage. He couldn't help but feel there was something off with her. That something had changed in her overall being once Artoria came back with Caliburm
"Artoria Pendragon is no longer human." A man next to him speaked, also observing Artoria. A mage in white robe. "Or better put it, she answered the sword's calling and now has the duty of saving Britain from the white dragon's impending doom. In return, she accepted and willingly decided to cast away her humanity. As of right now, the effects haven't barely begun, but with the passage of time, she will gradually lose grasp of human emotions and their complexity, becoming oblivious to them, as of a foreigner species interacting with humanity for the first time. Concepts such as anger, sadness and frustration will stop having meaning to her. To be a king, one must kill without pity or remorse. Having an empathetic heart wouldn't be helpful in this situation. Britain needs a king to save it. Either male or female, it won't matter as no one will notice as long as she fulfills her duty. Her body also stopped aging the moment Caliburn was pulled, locking her in that teen form eternaly."
"..." Kay silently heard to it all. How Artoria would slowly lose grasp of the human rationality.
"It were consequences she was warned about and still choosed to suffer them once her hands took out the sword. After these ten years, Artoria will stop being your sister and forget the notion of what a sibling bond feels like." The mage continued to explain. "The best for you to do here is to spend the most time you can with her while the effects have yet to take a tool on her psyche and her king persona fully replaces the beloved sister you once knew. With that said and done..." The mage stared to Kay's face, his glistening lavender eye peeking behind the hood. "Are you consenting to swear aid and followship to Artoria Pendragon as your king or your sister?"
Taking nothing more but some seconds to think about it, Kay didn't answered with words. Instead, the young knight proceeded to walk torwards Artoria. "What kind of crap question is that?" He marched forward to her, his hands into fists. Merlin smilling on his back. "This what she was fated to do, right? If anything, it is her rightful destiny to become Britain's new ruler. My father pledged his loyalty to his king. Now I shall do the same to mine."
Hearing the footsteps behind her, Artoria took her gaze out of the village to look at her brother walking torwards her. "Kay."
He could see in her eyes, how much she had changed by just having Caliburn for a few hours. How more serious and responsible she looked to be, the image of the innocent and sweet sister he had now seeming like a far cry. "And even then, who am I to interfere on all of this? This is the purpose for why she was born. Artoria will lose her emotions? Become a numbing king uncapable of understanding others? To save Britain, so be it! Because..."
Standing on top of the plain with his king next to a tree, Kay bowed in that moment, being the first knight to grant his allegiance to Artoria on the very beggining of her journey as the king who would rescue the nation.
"As her brother, I'll remind her of those emotions as many times as necessary!"
And so, the very own journey of Artoria Pendragon as the young upcoming king of Britain begun, initially only accompained on her travel by the very first Knight of the Round Table, Sir Kay, and her counsellor and mage, Merlin.
The trio would roam around various locations of the island of Albion, going through many challenged and adventures. Many of which Kay would have to be the one pulling them out due to the other two's nature.
Be it from an angry crowd of villagers.
"Dammit, you stupid wizard! Did you really had to transform their well into a bouquet of flowers!?"
"Hehe, they asked for something beautiful on its decoration, didn't they?"
Be it from a planned ambush of a thief guild.
"It was too stupidly obvious that they were setting us up, Artoria!"
"Sorry! It won't happen again!"
And even close encounters with death.
"Shit! You're bleeding a lot! Why did you tried to play hero by fighting those bandits!?"
"Kay..."
"Oi Merlin! Come quick! She's losing blood!"
But never once, he stopped standing by his king, his sister's side. For as a knight, that was now his duty.
One he hoped to carry out until the very end.
"Sir Kay."
"What is it, my king?"
"Thanks for everything you have done for me so far, brother."
.
.
.
.
.
.
Waking up from her nap, the Lion King found herself in the Throne Room, having gone on her short slumber while no one was present to see her. The dream she had and such memories she saw just now. Were those even hers? She could not be sure.
Being all alone, Artoria Pendragon's eyes diverted to the small wodden lion statue on the armchair of her throne. Ever since it had fell from Young Finsternis pocket, the Lion King would always kept it close to her for some reason. A reason that she didn't knew and couldn't explain why. Just the mere sight of the toy made her mind shake with turbulence.
Grabbing the small statue, the Lion King gave a look again at the smaller and fragile lion made of wood. How it almost felt addictive to her.
"I'm happy you loved it s-"
*CRUNCH*
With a loud sound, the Lion King crushed the statue into bits with her bare hands, the pieces all crumbling down on the floor. She didn't expressed any annoyance or satisfaction over it. Artoria Pendragon just deemed it as a nuisance and something to distract her from the main goal, perceiving it to have no correlation to her whatsoever. Whatever meaning it could have, the Lion King made sure to erase it.
"Your Majesty."
Lifting up her head, Artoria Pendragon saw a soldier knight in front of her with the Young Finsternis by his side, having silently observed her. The Lion King not becoming aware of their presence till now.
"Young Finsternis is here, just as Your Majesty requested. I-Is it not the best time?" He asked a bit nervous, having watched the king destroy the lion statue without warning.
"..." Even Peko had no words to express how suddenly the Lion King decided to crush the wodden animal, only now noticing him and the soldier knight in the throne room.
"...Nay. Leave Young Finsternis here." Artoria Pendragon responded, not losing her composure despite the 'surprise'.
Obeying, the soldier knight nodded and left Peko alone with the Lion King, exiting the room.
"What does Your Majesty want to discuss with me?" Peko asked with some apprehension. Yesterday, he had attempted and failed to escape from the Holy City, having all that incident with the invading assassin in the middle before ending up being taken to his cell again. Despite of what Agravain said that such occurence wouldn't be reported to the king, he dreaded that someone else had told her of his failed escape and that was the reason the Lion King requested his presence.
Getting up from her throne, Artoria Pendragon climbed down the stairs, not once taking her gaze out of Peko while doing it. Once she reached at the end of it, the Lion King turned her body to the right. "Follow me."
Making no objections, Peko only nodded as he walked next to the Lion King, accompanying her as the two headed to a balcony just some meters behind the throne. Reaching there, the boy got amazed by the incredible panoramic view of Camelot in front of them alongside the Blight contaminated mountains in the east. Peko wondered why exactly she was showing him this view.
"Young Finsternis, were thoust ever a king?" Artoria Pendragon asked him suddenly.
That was an odd question to make. "H-humm...no?" Peko replied. How he could be sure if he was or not if he couldn't remember of anything before joining Chaldea?
"And what if Young Finsternis were a king? What would thee consider the most important thing to do as one?" The Lion King made another question. One where Peko could answer with more objectivity.
"Well..." Peko took the question in consideration, having some time to think. "If I was a king, my uttermost priority would be having the people happy of course."
"Very honest." Artoria Pendragon commented. "However, how would Young Finsternis achieve that?"
"...By doing my best as a sincere, comprehensive and just king I suppose." Peko answered, thinking on how he could make it happen, unsure if that was the response the Lion King was looking for.
"And what if the population is not yet satisfied and the problems keep occuring? What Young Finsternis does then?" Artoria Pendragon put him on another question, keeping the interrogation going. She did not seemed surprised by the boy's answers, almost deeming them as predictable.
"I...I try to meet with their demands."
"How exactly?"
"...I do not know."
"You don't because thoust are not a perfect king." Artoria Pendragon replied, as if she waited until this part to prove a point. "A benevolent and empathetic king can be ideal at the beggining, but when the situation turns dire, it will not be through compassion, diplomacy and understanding that a kingdom's problems will be resolved. A king also needs to be ruthless, Young Finsternis. Cold and unfeeling to the cruelty that it takes to carry out some decisions in name of thy nation. A ruler's joy should only be synonimous with his people's joy."
"W-Why? Why would you actually think that?" Peko questioned the Lion King, not understanding her thought process.
"Because, Young Finsternis, a king is nothing more but a slave to his people." Artoria Pendragon responded bluntly, almost coldly. "Whether it is making wars, killing thousands or even destroying buildings, a king must do anything to guarantee the safety of his kingdom's citizens. Perfect kings are those that have the capacity to be relentless in order to grant their people endless elation while also having the capacity to cast doubt and remorse aside . If a king puts his own interests and well-being in front of the people first than the otherway around, that king is unfit to govern. Would you not agree with me, Young Finsternis?"
"..." Peko was a bit speechless and flabbergasted by the Lion King's view on what made a perfect king. That it sounded so wrong and right at the same time. So conflicting. "That's..." Having the courage enough to say it, Peko told her what he thought of it. "That's plain absurd!"
"Hm?" Artoria Pendragon just gave a simple glance at him.
"I'm...I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I just can't fully agree on what you said." Peko explained, this time more calmly, a feeling inside him speaking. "I do think indeed that a good king but also be prepared to serve his people and do some more drastic things when a situation cannot be resolved peacefully and calls for confront. However, a king should also never be a slave! There is nothing wrong with having time for yourself even if a little! A king is a person too, and no person can be perfect." The boy put his hand close to his heart, scattered memories in his mind. "A king can't be perfect, but a great one acknowleges that and accepts his own limits while doing what is in his reach for the best outcome to his people."
"..." The Lion King listened the entirety of the answer patiently, still gazing at the Holy City of Camelot. Perhaps she thought Peko's answer was a foolishness not worth commenting about. Or maybe she found it curiously endearing. Nobody could know how Artoria Pendragon decided to interpret Peko's answer. If she liked to hear it or not. "A sturdy opinion Young Finsternis has there." She speaked, staring down on the boy by her side. "Our worldviews could not be any different. You can leave to your cell now."
"..." Peko just stricted his stare in front of Artoria Pendragon's stoic glare.
"Greetings Your Majesty!" Gawain appeared in the balcony's entrance, having gone to meet his king. "The king has called my presence on the throne room earlier. I hope I am not interfering in something."
"No. You came right in time, Gawain." The Lion King replied. "I require thee to lead Young Finsternis back to his cell."
Gawain obeyed without waiting. "Understood, Your Majesty." The Knight of the Sun then approached Peko. "Let's go, Young Prince."
But before he walked with Gawain, Peko still had something to say to Artoria Pendragon. "And one more thing. It may not look like it, but Mordred actually admires you, Your Majesty." The boy said to the Lion King, remembering of the old Mordred he had met. "Giving how she seems to do her best in trying to desperatly get Your Majesty's approval, the king could also try and acknowledge her in return."
Artoria Pendragon did not respond at all. No side glances, no subtile head turns or movement. Not even a 'hmm'. Just dead silence from the Lion King as she continued to stare at her Holy City of Camelot, as if she was a deaf who didn't heard what Peko had just said, purposefully ignoring him. To her, Mordred meant little to nothing.
"That was enough." Gawain told to Peko, displeased and putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I shall not allow the prisoner to disturb the king as a knight of the Round Table. Now come with me."
Seeing that Artoria Pendragon didn't even bother to react to his words, Peko just sighed and lowered his head. "...Okay."
And so Peko and Gawain left the throne room, now in the halls and heading to the boy's cell.
"I don't get it...I just don't get it..." Peko murmured on his way to the bedroom, still visibly upset.
"What you don't get it, Young Prince?" Gawain asked to Peko.
"That a parent can neglect a child this much." Peko replied. "I'm aware of the past troubles Mordred and the king had with each other. But now that Mordred seems to try and make up for it, His Majesty still seems to treat her with disdain."
"Well, what Mordred did before isn't something that the king and even a father could easily forgive." Gawain replied, remembering of the tragedy that spelled Camelot's fall in their previous lives. "Mordred could try and atone for it during her entire life that His Majesty would still probably won't forget her. The Young Prince has to understand that some things go way beyond a simple family disagreement."
"Maybe..." Peko replied, understanding Gawain's point. "It's just...it seems so wrong for a parent to hate their children."
"A world were fathers and sons kill each other was never right." Gawain stated sadly. "Which is why we want to obtain paradise. To stop such horrific scenarios like this from ever happening again."
"You truly believe in that, Gawain?" Peko asked to the Knight of the Sun.
"I shall always believe on my king's aspirations. That's what means to be a knight." Gawain responded, touching his own sword. "I swore it with my Galatine's blade."
"Galatine huh?" Peko muttered, giving a look at the Knight of the Sun's weapon. "Is it your Noble Phantasm, isn't it?"
"That would be correct, Young Prince." Gawain chuckled. "Galatine is indeed my Noble Phantasm, why do you ask?"
"I was wondering how exactly an Heroic Spirit, or even a mage if possible, attains a Noble Phantasm. Like, it is something that his heavily tied to the core of a servant's lore, right?"
Gawain nodded. "Pretty much that. Noble Phantasms are the epitome of an Heroic Spirit's legend and life, their greatest achivement or power materialized. Either in form of weapons such as my Galatine, the sister-sword of the famous Excalibur which once used to be our king's former weapon. And also in form of gand magic spells, curses, even concepts. Basically, a Noble Phantasm is not only a special power but also an essential part of your being." The Knight of the Sun explained it, before finding it a weird question for Peko to ask him. "Hey...why exactly you asked me that?"
"Oh! For no purpose at all!" Peko lied immediatly with a nervous face. "Just...curiosity, you know." He said with an innocent smile and tone, tipping his handcuffs onto each other.
"You're trying to see if you're able to have your own Noble Phantasm as well?" Gawain went straight to the point.
"...Yes. You got me." Peko admitted a bit embaressed, having no point in lying.
"May I know to what end exactly?" Gawain questioned the boy, the two now standing in front of the door to Peko's cell.
"I feel like it would help me a lot if I ever went up a really strong adversary." Peko responded with some honesty, occulting the other factors from Gawain. "I need to train and better myself up. To enhance my skills and combat. If I attain my own Noble Phantasm, I feel I will be a step closer to improvement." He said deeply from his heart, proceeding to stare at Gawain in the eye. "I know it will sound ridiculous but, Gawain...will you accept to do some training with me?"
"You already know the answer to that." Gawain said with some harshness but also perceptive. "It is forbidden unless the king requests me to do so."
"But, not even for just an hour?" Peko replied with sorrow. "I promise I won't use that as an opportunity to escape again. I'm aware of the consequences I'll suffer if I try a second time. So please, just this once, accept to train me Gawain. There's no harm if we do without the king's knowing." He begged to the Knight of the Sun.
Gawain couldn't help but feel an ambition and desire to train from Peko. How his young and bit stubborn-ish attitude reminded him of someone that was once dear to the Knight of the Sun. In the end, he sighed. "I would have to at least ask Agravain permission for that." He lamented, before sneaking a smile on his lips. "However, he probably won't be back for a day or two, will he?"
Peko's face shinned up as he heard that. "So it means..."
"Yes. I will gladly accept to train you." Gawain announced, thinking there was no harm to it if Peko maintained his word, his kind heart trusting the boy to keep it.
"Thank you Gawain!" Peko exclaimed in joy.
"Hm! Ssh, keep it down Young Prince." Gawain told to Peko to make few noise, not wanting them to be heard by any possible soldier knights passing by.
"Oh! Sorry." Peko chuckled a bit.
"Anyways, we will start training in a few hours at the small arena." Gawain told to him, taking out his hancuffs and opening the cell's door. "I will be coming back here for it and hope you will be ready by then." He smiled cheerfuly to Peko. "See you later, Young Prince!"
"See ya, Gawain!" Peko smiled back, seeing Gawain close and lock the door, leaving Peko alone in his bedroom. The boy was happy he convinced the Knight of the Sun to train him. Not because he was thinking of using that to escape but because he was legitimately looking forward to train with Gawain. A knight like him would be a good training companion in order to refine his skills and fighting abilities and possibly even obtain and grasp his own Noble Phantasm.
But now that he was alone in his cell, Peko went to other matters. "Hope it's still there." Grabbing a book from the shelf, Peko sat on his chair and laid the book on his desk, right at a specific page, finding the mysterious disk dispositive that was still in there. "Great! No one found it yet!"
Grabbing it, Peko analyzed the futuristic looking object once again. He had already spent almost an entire night trying to activate it, touching every centimeter of it, in hopes to activate some sort of mechanism by chance that would end up turning on the dispositive. Yet so far and still nothing. "What exactly am I supposed to do with this?" Giving with a bored tone, Peko turned the disk upside down again, seeing if there was something escaping from him.
And indeed there was. "Hmm? Wait..." Checking the bottom part of the disk, right on its center, Peko noticed a very small milimetric dark hole. Touching it, the boy sensed it was really a hole with depth. With his mind already sparking up, Peko tried to find a small but pointy object to insert in the hole. Looking at anything in front of him, the boy grabbed a quill pen, giving a look to its tip. It was quite sharp and small to insert it.
"This sould do." Peko said, hoping it would work as he inserted the tip of the quill into the disk's hole.
*CLICK*
"Ah!" Hearing it, Peko immediaty laid the disk on the table as it didn't took long until its silver lines lightened up and the disk begun to spin, dividing itself in three layers, the middle one spinning on the opposite direction of the other two. Then, once it was over, the blue lightbulb on top of it shinned, making a sound.
"Congratulations! You have activated System Program-"
"Oh!" Immediatly, Peko covered the disk with his hands, muffling its sounds to not alert anybody that could be passing by his cell on the outside. "That's so loud!" He said, his hear racing a bit from the sudden scare of the disk's robotic voice.
"Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?"
"Huh? This voice-" Taking his hands out of the dispositive, Peko saw a small holographic image being transmited from the blue lightbulb. The hologram of Da Vinci.
"Da Vinci!" Peko said, relieved to see one of his friends again. "It's so good to see you! I-"
"I hope it is or else I won't have the energy to do this again. You're all sleeping so cutely and soundly now." The hologramic Da Vinci responded, not reacting at all to Peko's presence.
"Eh?" Peko found it weird.
"Anyways, I hope you are in a save place and not in the middle of a dire situation when seeing this message, Peko."
"...It's a recording." Peko said with let down, now seeing why Da Vinci wasn't interacting with him at all.
"Also, in case you discovered and activated the disk in my absence, I am sorry for not telling about it to you. I was originally planning to present my newest invention to you on the workshop but our trip to the current Singularity ended up happening sooner than I expected so I ended up sneaking it into your pockets right before the Rayshift. Sorry about that." Da Vinci blinked her eye, apologizing.
"Hum. So that at least explains why I had this thing in my pocket in the first place." Peko commented, now seeing how he had the disk in his pants all this time without even knowing.
"Okay. That should be good for the 'apology' recording part. Now we shall skip it to the actual introduction!" Da Vinci said before her hologram reseted. "Greetings, Peko! It is with great pleasure that I, the genious Leonardo Da Vinci, introduces to you, her latest invention in the form of this advanced magi-tech disk! I had the honour to name it: Special Program: Árma Hermes!"
"Sounds cool!" Peko said with a smile, admiting to himself he was wanting to know what this Da Vinci's new invention was all about.
"Sounds cool, right? I bet that will be your first reaction to it." Da Vinci's hologram giggled, foreseeing what would be the Peko's reaction to it. "Boy's like you and Fujimaru are so fascinated by these things that it becomes way obvious. I can already see you blushing and everything."
And altough it was just another recording, that Da Vinci was right. Peko was blushing at how she guessed what would be his reaction to it and even the blush itself. "Eh, even as an hologram, Da Vinci continues to be well observant." He thought. Despite not being the actual inventor, Peko was still happy to have her recorded presence here with him, hoping to reunite with Da Vinci and the rest of the group again...Unaware of what happened to the italian inventor.
"Well, let's see what this Árma Hermes is all about." Peko said, leaning closer to the disk and Da Vinci's tiny hologram, hoping that within this new dispositive, was the key to finally escape from the Holy City.
"Done! The monster was finally slained."
"That was quite the adversity. Really lived up to the name of the Giant of Mont-Saint Michel."
"I...I..."
"Hum? What's wrong, Bedivere?"
"Princess Helena...She's...she is dead..."
"You tried your best, Bedivere. It was all too sudden. There was nothing you could have done."
"No...no! It was all my fault...All of it..."
"...Bedive-"
"I'M A COWARD! A COWARD WHO WAS TOO AFRAID TO SAVE THE PRINCESS FROM THE GIANT! ALL THE EFFORT MEANT NOTHING! NOTHING, BECAUSE OF ME!"
"..."
"..."
"Sir Kay...My king...I'm sorry..! I'm sorry for being useless...I'm sorry my king...I'm sorry..."
"...I...I'm sorry my king...I'm not...I'm not worthy of being a knight...Forgive me.."
Being trapped on a nightmarish memory, Bedivere rumbled and grumbled words out while in his fainted state, agonizing and lamenting as his body and head would move non stop in bed from the huge discomfort.
"..." Arash stood by the door's entrance, looking at the poor knight with a distressing expression. The persian archer could tell Bedivere was currently going through a though time in his head, opting to leave the house and pray that he could soon recover and his condition get better.
"How is Bedivere-san?" Mash asked to Arash, standing in front of the servant alongside the rest of the party. After saving the Western Village from an enraged Mordred, they put the unconscious Bedivere to rest while still staying in the village, some hours having passed.
"Not feeling all too well." Arash replied. "He keeps stuttering and muttering in his sleep for his king to forgive him."
"His king? Arthur Pendragon?" Nala thought, feeling bad for Bedivere. "He must be having a very bad dream then."
"Yeah. It's like he his being tormented by a vision. Or maybe even a past memory perhaps. Something he regrets?" Arash pondered on what the knight could be dreaming of that made him fret on his own sleep.
"Perhaps Bedivere-san is feeling guilty of having to betray his own king." Mash thought, basing it on her own shared emotions with the Round Table knight inside of her. "If going up against former companions is already painful, being against your king must be even worse."
"If he his the Knight of Loyalty, it surely must hurt his own sense of self by going up against the person he swore his loyalty to." Ritsuka speaked. "I think it would make Bedivere perceive himself as disloyal."
"Speaking about it, it wouldn't be the first time Bedivere ended up betraying his king's trust." Romani speaked, appearing on his hologram.
"Hm? He has been disloyal before?" Nala asked to the doctor.
"Yes. At the very end of King Arthur's tale." Romani replied.
"The return of Excaliburn to the lake." Mash said, knowing what part of the arthurian tale Romani was talking about.
"It only involves Bedivere and the king right?" Ritsuka asked, not knowing much about it. "What exactly happens in it?"
"I can explain." Mash replied to her master. At the terrific Battle of Camlann, King Arthur was fatally injured by his own son right before delivering the killing blow. Once it was over, he knew Camelot had been plunged into a chaotic state that would hardly be brought back to its original state, with many knights of the Original Round Table having perished. And knowing he most likely would never recover from the wound nor be able to save Camelot, King Arthur accepted his fate and decided to die."
"But for that, the sword that granted him pseudo-immortality, Excalibur, needed to be returned back to the person who bestowed it to him in the first place: The Lady of the Lake." Romani continued the tell of king Arthur's death. "And so, sitting moribund on a tree, he gave his final order to the only knight that was by his side in the final moments, to return the sword to the lake. That knight being Bedivere."
"The moment the sword would go back to the lake, king Arthur would die. And that's where Bedivere-san hesitated." Mash informed.
"Too afraid to let his king go?" Arash asked to the shielder who nodded.
"The fear of letting go the king who he had been serving for majority of his life was such that Bedivere-san couldn't bring himself to do it in the first attempt and neither the second one, always coming back with the lie that the sword had been plunged into the lake." Mash continued the story. "However, king Arthur could see clearly through the knight's deception and ordered him to return Excalibur a third time. Bedivere-san's dithering and disobedience to return the sword being his only act of disloyalty to the king."
"And so, by the third time, he finally accepted his king's decision to perish and mustering enough courage, dwelved Excalibur back into the lake, king Arthur finally passing away." Romani concluded the sad ending of the tale.
"I see it..." Nala replied after hearing all of it. "Having to accept that people you love will die but not wanting to let them go...I cannot blame him for that. It must have been painful." She commented with some pity and understanding, imagining the deep suffering that Bedivere must have felt during that.
"..." Mash gave a silent stare to the girl with some sorrow.
"It's one of those things that someone can hardly can come to terms with." Ritsuka speaked, reflective. "Moving on from someone's death is never that easy."
"Now you said it all." Arash replied to him.
"Whatever is happening to the knight, I wish and pray for his recovery." Cursed Arm speaked, approaching the rest of the group. "But for now, there is somebody that wants to thank you for saving the Western Village from its enemies." Gesturing, the assassin let the other Hassan, Hundred Personas, walk past him.
"Yes. You have my-eh? Wait a-..." Giving now a better look at who her villahe saviours were exactly, the assassin look with an huge incredulous expression on her face. "EEEEEH!? YOU GUYS AGAIN!?"
"Humm...I?" Ritsuka gave a shy smile to Hundred Personas, remembering of the first encounter the group had with her, not ending so well.
"You're telling me these were the ones who fought againt that knight?!" Hundred Personas stared at the other assassin with anger. "You have to check those eyes of yours, Cursed Arm!"
"Fought against them before?" Cursed Arm asked to Hundred Personas, guessing where her hate for the group came from.
"Yes!" She shouted. "Those bastards were the ones who ruined our plans from forcing the Sun King to make a deal with us while we were travessing the desert!"
"In our defense, we still weren't up to date with what was really happening." Ritsuka justified.
"Disagreements and misunderstandings happen. What's in the past stays in the past." Arash said with a smile, giving some taps on Hundred Personas back. "Cheer up and give them a chance! I sware to you they are good people who're here to help us!"
"'Help us' my ass!" Hundred Personas replied, angrily putting Arash into a tight headlock. "I'm not trsuting them!"
"Aagh!...C-Calm...down...I'ts...t-tight..!" Arash said, being painfuly suffocated.
"You'll end up killing him this way..." Cursed Arm told to his fellow asassin, a drop of sweat falling from his face.
"We saved your village. You could at least give us a chance to get your trust." Nala argued with the assassin.
"Sorry not sorry. I refuse to help people that ended up going against us at one point!" Hundred Personas replied stubbornly, letting Arash go, not willing to cooperate with the chaldeans.
"Hmm, perhaps there is a way for you to get your trust just like they got mine, Hundred Personas." Cursed Arm said, remembering of something.
"How exactly, Cursed Arm-san?" Mash asked to the assassin, wanting to know how they could get Hundred Personas cooperation.
Cursed Arm responded. "A day ago, I received news that one of our own, a younger Hassan, ended up being captured and taken captive to a base of the knights of the Holy Ci-"
"Boss Hundred Personas! Boss Hundred Personas!" A normal assassin interrupted Cursed Arm, coming into the group in a hurry.
"What is it? If its another attack on the village, I'll cut your tongue." Hundred Personas said, not really wanting to have to defend the village again shortly after being attacked.
"H-Hum? Not really. I-It's just a single person appearing at the village's entrance now. A lady who proclaims herself to be a monk."
"A lady monk?" Ritsuka found it odd. "That sounds like a-"
"Yep! A servant nearb." Romani confirmed, looking at his monitor. "My sensors are detecting an Heroic Spirit's signal a few meters away from you."
"Better go see what she's doing here then!" Cursed Arm told to the rest of the party before they all headed quickly torwards the village's entrance.
"Blow in...and out. Blow in...and out. Blow in..."
Reaching to the entrance, the party all saw the mentioned lady monk, sat on the ground and doing some sort of yoga.
"Hm? Is she the servant?" Ritsuka questioned as they all laid their eyes on her.
Hearing his words, the monk lady got taken out from her meditation, opening one of her eyes. "Hm? Oh! My prayers have been answered! Blessed be Shakyamuni almighty!"
"Eh? Shakyamuni?" Having seen that name somewhere before and analyzing the woman's clothing, Mash's mind immediatly came to a conclusion to who she was. "Ah! You are-"
"Your wise and reliable travel companion, Xuanzang Sanzang!" The monk lady introduced herself to them with a happy smile, positioning her left arm and hand in a prayer. "And with that out of the way..." Immediatly dropping her smile, Sanzang bowed abrutply to the ground in front of them, comically crying. "PLEASE HELP ME!"
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 103!
You can say it. You weren't expecting for the chapter to start like that and half of it be a flashback. But ever since the beggining, I saw an opportunity and decided to take it. Like, I know that Artoria (Saber) as a character already had her full development in the original FSN, wich is why she participates in FGO very rarely, with Nasu himself stating that her own arc was concluded hence why the small usage, but damn, damn if Saber doesn't have a lot more other aspects and things that can be explored from her lore and myths.
So yeah, here you have it, a bit of a peek to her childhood as a knight's apprentice with Kay and Sir Ector. And no joke, but looking at the only oficial image and appearence Sir Ector has (not talking about his Lostbelt version) dude looks like a JoJo character. Like you could show me his face without me knowing who he was, ask me from which series he is from, and I would be fully convinced he was from JoJo.
So this was basically a bit of a dive into the arthurian legend, Bedivere's small section included.
And Peko also got to finally activate the disk and the party has met with Sanzang.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 104! Peace!
P.S:
Nala: Hm Hm! These pancakes taste so great Abby!
Abigail: Thanks! The're really good aren't they?
Nala: Yep! And the sauce...where did you get that?
Abigail: Oh, it was just in some random place y'know, called ŸGNøRWHÍLLŜHTAINĶLUř
Nala: Erm, care to write the name down?