"Praetor! I have interesting news," Nero beams at me, in the late afternoon. I do wonder what would get her this excited, but then again, she is excited about anything that is not related to Tamamo. "You remember Arturia? The swordsgirl looking similar to me, though not quite catching my supreme beauty and charm." I smile. Nero's narcissism may be annoyingly arrogant for some, but I sort of admire it, in a way.
"Yes, I do remember her. She had left for some training, or something, right?" Nero nods.
"Umu! But, recently, she has been back. She wanted to remind us that we still owe to treat her to dinner and said to prepare our wallets." Ah, that brings back memories. Arturia eats about as much as ten people… who have been starving for weeks. And are giants.
"Could you please make sure a restaurant will be… prepared?" While both Nero and Tamamo would listen to my every order—not that I am giving many orders—I never really do much. Nero and Tamamo handle most duties, I am just here to make decisions and keep their fighting to the minimum of not destroying anything.
After the Umbral Star was destroyed, Neo Roma slowly got more crowded. Humans appeared, though I am sure they are in fact NPCs. Born from consciousnesses of real humans that once lived and still act like their original counterpart, and yet not truly real. At least, this is the only explanation. There is no way a mere human could come here, besides me, maybe.
But even I seem to be a special kind of anomaly, for some reason. Nero and Tamamo, both of their stories about being with me before this match when it comes to who I am, so I can be sure it is the truth. And yet, I cannot shake off the feeling of this being just not right. As kindly as I am treated here, this feeling just will not leave. Am I supposed to be somewhere else? I do not know, really. It makes no sense.
Before Nero can even make her way into the capital, Tamamo joins us in this throne room—which I think is really exaggerated, but Nero likes these sorts of things so I refrain from complaining. "Ojou-sama." Tamamo always calls out to me so cheerfully, it almost makes me forget what sort of… beast she can become in the intimacy of being alone with her, so to say.
"Ah, Ca—Tamamo." Calling my Servants by their True Names feels really awkward to me, like something I should not do… And from what I have been told, in an actual Grail War you would not do this. But with here being usually more than a single one for a class, it would be confusing to keep up with the class names. "Do you need anything?"
"I was planning to make yakisoba bread for dinner today. I wanted to ask if you would accompany me and Altera in buying groceries," she asks with puppy eyes that are really hard to refuse. Or at least I suppose they are meant to be hard to be refused.
"Why do you not go with Nero, then? She was headed to the capital now anyways." Both Servants look at me like I have three heads—or even more—and I could swear there are sparks of hatred exchanged along with their glares.
"If… Praetor deems this as necessary, I will accompany this fox," Nero agrees more for my sake than anything.
"Anything you say, beloved Ojou-sama," Tamamo tries to outsweet Nero and I have to admit that she really managed to do so.
They are leaving the throne room, and I do have some time to myself. At least until there may be a message delivered by an NPC that they are causing a ruckus with their fighting or something along the lines. That would not be the first time, but as time progresses, I have to give them credit for keeping themselves more in check. Maybe, if just a bit more time passes, the two of them will get along completely. I would really hope so.
"Mother is not here. It's boring," the white haired little girl pouts, poking a brick with a knife. "When will Mother come back? She promised to read me a story tonight."
"I dunno," answers a blonde annoyed, sitting on a cheap form of throne that felt more uncomfortable by every minute. "Why don't you go play with Nobu?" This just made the child stick her tongue out at the mere thought.
"She's mean! She always bullies me. Can't you play with me, Mordred-nee?" The blonde groans in frustration. This is nothing she would want to do, this is not what she is here for.
"Got no time for that, really," she says. If the situation was a different one and there was nothing more important on her mind, she would not mind playing with Jack the Ripper—with those little kitchen knives she would not be able to harm Mordred either way, especially not with her armour.
"Booo. Killjoy. I'll tell Mother," Jack sulks and moves away. Mordred knew this child would be up to no good, but this is nothing of her business—or at least she does not care as much. All that matters is, she would fight on her command. And this command could be coming soon, a skilled Assassin as Jack the Ripper is crucial for her plan.
Oda Nobunaga, on the other hand, has a lot of different qualities, but none of them were any needed for this moment. Though they will definitely prove to be important at a later time, Mordred is sure of that.
"How long till we head out?" A short haired girl asks, visibly impatient to move.
"JAlter? I thought you're still asleep." Mordred rubs her temple. She never liked being that in charge much. Becoming king is one thing she always wanted to, but now that she had troublesome Heroic Spirits under her command, she realised this is too annoying. Telling people what to do, just to have them not listen too much. She could only hope that they would at least carry out their missions well enough.
"Can you not call me that?! I'm Jeanne , damnit, Jeanne d'Arc!" In a fit of anger, she points her sword at Mordred, her supposed-to-be-leader.
"Jeanne d'Arc is, as far as we know, still on the other side. You are her Alter, aren't you? Don't sweat details like nicknames," a lecturing voice cut in, and a woman with long, silky purple hair jumps down from a window from higher above, landing graciously on her feet.
" Scáthach… " JAlter grumbles, gritting her teeth. She cannot say she gets along with anyone on her very own side, but the other side would be no better. But Scáthach was one of the worse Servants to get along with, mostly for her haughty attitude, believing herself to be in charge of giving lectures.
The detested Lancer, however, merely ignores the dragon witch—for good reason. Picking senseless fights is not something she is fond of, especially with such—in her eyes—stubborn, immature people. Seeing Mordred above her is almost as bad, if it would not be for the fact that she was summoned by someone else. And in the end, she cannot deny that Mordred seems like a brat on the outside but definitely holds the potential of a strong will and leading qualities on the inside.
This very reason is enough for Scáthach to not question her rulership, as long as she would not outright disagree with decisions or orders.
"They have not noticed me, too carefree and gullible with their peaceful country. They have not seemed to notice this castle or us either," the purple-haired reported, as it is her job. While Jack as an Assassin would be a safer option to send for gaining intel, she lacked the experience and rationalism of Scáthach. And Jack is just not as trustworthy when it comes to sticking to a plan or orders.
"Good," Mordred comments. "But that can't be the reason you hurried back, right?" JAlter turned her attention towards the two girls, and Scáthach nods.
"All three Servants just left the palace. The target is by herself for a certain time period, approximately an hour. Possibly a bit less." While JAlter grins in anticipation, Mordred takes a deep breath.
"You mean to say, this is the perfect chance, right?" Scáthach nods again. Mordred turns to JAlter. "Get Jack here, now . Don't you dare waste time." JAlter would rather spit into Mordred's face than to do whatever her ruler pleases, but this would just delay her getting out of this castle. Neither of them are allowed to show themselves too near the capital, after all, or they would be discovered. And that would have blown their cover and called for trouble.
As soon as JAlter has disappeared into the halls of the dark castle—heading for wherever Jack went, which is hard enough for her Presence Concealment skill—Scáthach buried a gaze of her blood red eyes into Mordred.
"Are you sure this is how you want to proceed?" Mordred nods, determined to go through with this.
"There's not much of another way. They're the one who keep her imprisoned in their palace, acting like a happy family." She clenches her fists, not really able to control her anger, and the hint of frustration that mixes into her emotions.
"Then I have no objections. Am I to assume I will lead the operation?"
"Yeah. I can't trust either of them to get her here safe. Don't you dare to allow anyone to lay a finger on her, understood?" Mordred seems much more serious than she wants to be, but this situation calls for seriousness.
"I do not exactly understand what is going on between the two of you, but I will not fail. I will take the other two and we will take our leave, then."
"Report back as soon as possible," Mordred bids Scáthach, her most trustworthy ally, farewell. But even this Lancer is not in her party because she would support Mordred or her decisions, but because she was summoned to join this party. And there is not much other options, and it is not like she would mind fighting.
Of course you don't understand. Who would? Mordred thinks, bitterly. No one knew about what happened before they came to this place, no one from her party at least.
She was Haru Kishinami's Servant, and fell in love with her. They dated and decided to spend the eternity in the Moon Cell's simulation of a school, away from everyone else and the whole world. Not an idea any of them would have outright liked, but it was much better than to face the pain of saying goodbye, for forever.
And yet… Haru, the girl she loved so dearly, abandoned her. She trusted Haru to stay with her, to love and need her just the same, but when the occasion was there, she ran off into the Moon Cell's core. Even went as far as to use two Command Seals to make sure Mordred would not be able to follow her. However, she managed to get into the Moon Cell's core herself, despite that, is still a mystery to herself.
She just would not allow anything, not even almighty Command Seals, to separate her from Haru. And now, she came to here, in this strange place, existing within the Moon Cell's core. There seemed to have been a fight going on, and Haru was the one who saved the whole universe—something like that. At least, that is what she has been told.
But never did Haru seem to miss her, or ask anyone about her. She was with new Servants, living a happy life. Mordred all but forgotten. It hurts, and Mordred wants answers.
"Why did you leave me behind? What's it for?!" She has to hold back tears, but it is not as hard as it was at first. Mordred is hurt badly, and the pain just will not leave but at the same time she is angry. She thought she knows Haru well, and Haru would not do such a thing without a good reason. But if she cared about Mordred, why? Why could she not just talk to Mordred about whatever her plan was?
"But I'm still here," a smaller girl with black hair said, grinning as if she just caught Mordred in a prank.
"Nobu? Don't you have better things to do than spy on me?" Mordred is visibly annoyed at another ally of hers sneaking into the throne room, more so because she has just been talking to herself.
"You thought about that girl you sent the others to kidnap again?" As much of a weirdo as this Heroic Spirit is for sure, she seems a bit too observant.
"Yeah," Mordred admits. There is not much reason to hide it, after all.
"What's the plan if she really rejected you?" That is indeed a possibility that Mordred prefers not to consider. But, as things stand, it is likely enough to be the truth.
"I dunno."
"Are you going to give up on her then, and go for someone else? Maybe JAlter, you seem like a great match. Both of you are so tsun." Mordred would need to take care to not let Nobunaga read as many manga anymore, it just messed her up even more. What does "tsun" even mean?
"No way in hell I'd give up." Mordred's determination is strong, and she has never been one to give up. In the end, this is probably why Nobunaga has no complaints about following her, even though she also does not mind having her free time to sneak out to Neo Roma to get her grip on the latest form of entertainment. For now, she sticks to manga.
"Then what else? Force her to be with you? Enslave her?" Either Nobunaga reads really weird things or this is her true self. Either way, these suggestions are just wrong on so many levels.
"I dunno, damnit! Go bother someone else," Mordred snaps. She really is in a more than bad mood, and it gets worse every day. Every single of uncertainty about why Haru left her alone and if she even cared just makes her hurt more. And she cannot wait for the results of the operation she entrusted Scáthach with—they will not fail.
If they do, there is still the way to simply use force to take Haru back. She could not care less about those other Servants, even if her father of all people was one of the very few Heroic Spirits still lingering in Neo Roma. She hopes Arturia would not get into her way, but she would not be the one to deal with her father this time around.
"Jeanne! You are back from your trip?" I smile happily at the blonde-braided girl who invites herself into the palace's throne room. Jeanne d'Arc has become a rather close friend of mine, partially for the reason that we share very similar ideals. And Jeanne is the personification of understanding and always has an open ear for any trouble someone has, no matter how miniscule. I really appreciate this Heroic Spirit so much, she just has this reliable big sister feeling to her.
"Yes, I have just returned and decided to stop by to check on you. How have things been?" I shrug, not really sure what to tell her. I am sure she can imagine how it has been around here either way.
"Nero and Tamamo got a bit…calmer lately. Still, it is not exactly peaceful yet." Jeanne would be a great mediator between them, but I doubt even the holy maiden could really help this.
"I see. And how have you been? How about your memory?" Jeanne's expression turns worried, and I just shake my head. Of course, I would not remember more all of a sudden. Why would I? "I'm sorry to hear that, Harucchi."
Harucchi—somehow, Jeanne is the only one to call me by this nickname. I would not mind being called by this nickname more often, but by who?
"Ah, Arturia takes me up on my offer to treat her to dinner. Nero is currently scheduling it, would you like to join us?" I am sure Jeanne must have missed the cuisine of the capital on her journey through… wherever. Honestly, where can you even go within the Moon Cell's core? How far does it go?
"Thanks for your invitation, but is this not an inconvenience?" This girl really is too kind for this world. Maybe this is why she had found an early end in her life…
"No worries about that. If there is any inconvenience for restaurants, it would be Arturia. Compared to her, you barely make a difference." We share a chuckle over this, as if it has been a joke. But actually, it is serious.
Not that it matters. I do enjoy life in the Moon Cell's core for the most part, despite there being things that do not add up.
Suddenly, Jeanne pulls me behind her, the suddenness of her action making me lose balance and falling to the floor.
"Show yourselves!" She raises her white flag, ready to attack.