Vol 2. Chapter 9. Fallout.

Waving the two guests out, I gently closed the door behind them, before scurrying off to the garden.

I knew that dealing with the Church was going to be an uphill battle, so I thought of asking mom if there was anything I could do to help.

Poking my head out the garden door, I saw my mother impatiently tapping her foot, while pressing the phone into her ear.

"Mothe—" "No, you listen here, this situation is a far larger scandal than whatever priest has just been caught molesting another child! So stop trying to put me through to some useless lower management cretin!" Mother yelled into her receiver.

I could only openly gape at what I just heard. Mom was well and truly pissed, more than I had seen in a few years.

There was a momentary pause before she continued her yelling.

"Excuse you? Listen here, Rincoglionito, I need you to patch me through to whoever managed the Grail War, or at least Risei Kotomine's direct superior! This is an emergency, and I simply don't have time for your incessan— Pardon?"

I could hear the absolute venom lacing her tone, which was a bit shocking, as I've seen a lot of things annoy Mom, and few things have ever made her this annoyed.

So I am rather impressed at whoever is on the other end of that phone line, as they have successfully pissed off Mom, in the short time it took me to flag a cab down, and shove eight bags of clothes into its luggage compartment.

"Alright, I have had enough of this!" Mother snapped into the receiver, before huffing.

"Listen up, you can either go and shove that opinion of yours up one of your alter boys asses, as you and your ilk seem to be so good at doing, or alternatively you could put me through to someone actually useful, who can do their God damn job!" She yelled.

Holy shit… no, holy fuck. I didn't know that my Mom had it in her to speak like that… I feel so proud.

There was an audible pause, before Mom continued her yelling. "No, don't you dare! This is time sensitive, you can't just put me on hold! Just do your— hello? HELLO!" Mother started to frantically yell into her phone, before removing it from her ear, raising it in the air, as if she was about to throw it into the ground.

"Um… Mom?" I hesitantly spoke up, causing her to stiffen, before slowly turning her head to face me.

"How much did you hear?" She asked in a neutral tone.

Raising a brow, I gave her an amused look. "I'm fairly sure that most of the neighborhood heard that," at my words, she wrinkled her nose.

Pointing at her, I shot her an amused smile. "Don't be like that, you were very passionate, and your vocabulary was truly amazing," I said while nodding with appreciation.

"I'd still rather you pretend that you didn't hear anything, a mother shouldn't cuss like a sailor," she deflected, with a hint of shame.

Her words made me vehemently shake my head. "Nononono, please, that was amazing, I am all for such colorful language," I said sagely, before shooting her a thumbs up.

Taking in a deep breath, she raised a hand, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You had something to ask, I hope?" She asked tiredly.

"Right…" I grumbled while pulling out my phone. "I was thinking of calling Altrouge, and checking if she had any extra dirt we could use as leverage, should I go ahead?"

Mother fixed me with a pensive look, before glancing down at her phone and sighing. "Fine, if that gremlin can actually help, I see no reason to not try," she said reluctantly.

I gave her a thankful nod. "Cool, I'll be taking a walk, while I talk," I said, while turning around.

But before I could leave, Mom stopped me. "Just don't go too far, I might need that info!"

Stopping, I turned around, and flashed her a thumbs up. "I'll be in the area, I'll come back if I have something, and just give me a call, and I'll be home in a few minutes."

And with that, I left the garden, and closed the door behind me.

"Gremlin, huh?"

Jumping in surprise, I saw Morgan standing next to the door while ideally glancing at me.

"I might just need to steal that, it certainly fits the little girl," she said almost wistfully.

I shot Morgan a pointed look, before sighing. "The two of you are going to be the death of me," I grumbled.

At my words, Morgan sauntered over to me, and patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, dear, go and enjoy your chat with the Gremlin, I'll be in the house next door, pop by once you're done."

And just as she finished, she sunk into my shadow, and disappeared.

She's too dramatic, she'd have been a great theater kid.

Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through my short list of contacts, before calling the one aptly named: Shrimp.

Naturally, she was named as such for professional reasons only, as having her name there could put the two of us, or at least my family, in great danger, and the name Shrimp has no deeper meaning to it.

Placing the phone up against my ear, I ignored the ringing, while making my way out of the house.

As I opened the front door, I heard Altrouge pick up the call.

I could hear screaming, yelling and cheering on the other end, which was a bit odd, not the screaming, but the cheering.

"Hello Alistair~, how is the war going?" came the melodic voice of Altrouge.

I felt a small smile make its way onto my face, before responding. "Yo, twerp, it's going about as expected, other than a few things," I paused before continuing, feeling the need to ask.

"I just need to know, where are you? I'm used to hearing the screaming from some poor soul from the other end of my calls with you, but this sounds different, what up?" I probed, while turning a corner, and walking out of my home's premise.

"Funny story, you see, Ortenrosse is having one of his children host a meeting, while using an underground cage match as entertainment for his guest. So I've decided to say hello, and have brought a few friends to help me," she explained haughtily.

"Friends? Really? As in more than one, or even one to begin with? I don't need to be Morgan to tell that you're lying, did you bring one of your lackeys?" I teased.

I was greeted with a huff and a grunt of annoyance. "Fine, you're not wrong, I brought Svelten with me," she spat, before regaining her happy mood.

"Anyways, the whole deathmatch cage fight thing is kinda fun, I suppose it is kind of like dog fights for you in a way, or if cows or pigs did it, you know, food fighting food?" she mused aloud.

Well that's disconcerting…

"But I'm sure that you didn't call me for my input on my soon to be raid and lunchtime, so what can I help you with?"

Taking in a deep breath, I glanced around, noting that no one was there, then spoke. "Yeah, remember the plan?" "Mhm?" "Yeah, it went to shit a bit, as in Mom is here," I said with a bit of reluctance.

There was a short pause, before Altrouge gave a disappointed sigh. "I thought her coming over was a given, especially when you said you'd be telling her about Arthur, so I thought it was implied that she'd be there…" Her tone was disappointed, causing me to sigh as well.

"Fuck you," "I wish you would," " but that is beside the point. We are currently grilling the church, and I thought to ask you if you had some extra dirt on them, and if you'd like me to air some of it, to get some better conditions, and to fuck with the church."

There was a small pause, before she poke up.

"Yes, yes I am more than willing to help, as long as you promise to drag out Meruem, piss all over his dignity, and spit in his face, then I am more than willing to help with a smidge of dirt," she said in an almost zealous tone.

Wow, that's a lot of baggage… might as well help her to alleviate some.

"Sure, I don't see why not, though I'd rather not drag him into Fuyuki, or anyone else to be perfectly honest," I replied quickly.

"Yes yes, I agree, I was more hoping that you, or more probably your mother, drag the church into some hearing, and get Meruem to be the face of the church for the trial," she explained.

Cocking a brow, I couldn't help but ask. "Are you sure that we can blow this up, enough for it to be taken to a trial with the clock tower? Isn't that a bit of wishful thinking?"

Altrouge gave a scoff. "Please, if the priest Master, Kirei, I think? Goes through with the whole betrayal thing, you spin it that it was on behalf of the church, and say that Gilgamesh went on a rampage, then I'm sure that Policies will find it impactful enough to drag a representative out from the Vatican," she explained smugly.

That… actually might work.

"Sure… we'll go with that. Soooo… can you give me some info?" I probed, causing the vampire to sigh.

"Not now, I have a meeting to crash in…" there was a slight pause. "Two minutes, so how about I just send you some info over mail, alright?"

I gave the proposal a thought, mulling it over for a bit before acquiescing.

"Sure, but please be quick about it, Mother is stuck with some incompetent employee of the church, and is cussing like a sailor," I said with a hint of amusement.

Altrouge gave a low whistle, before continuing. "I'll be damned, they must have really pissed off Mama-Pendragon, right?"

I gave a grunt in response. "Totally, anyways, I'll leave you to your lunch, or whatever."

"Awww, thank you! I'll ping you an email in not too long," she teased.

"Sounds good, I'll chat with you later!" I said before removing the phone from my ear.

"Tootles darling!~" Was the last I heard, before I pressed the end call button.

Putting my phone back into my pocket, I glanced at the surroundings, noticing that I had managed to complete a full circle around the block, and was right by my house.

Shrugging, I proceeded to walk past my house, and knocked on the almost identical one next to mine.

{It's unlocked.}

At the prompt of Morgan's voice, I opened the door and took a step in, closing it behind me.

Taking off my shoes, I entered our 'real' base of operations.

Walking into the living room, I saw Medea's body floating in the air, with tens of Fey runes surrounding her.

Her lower torso looked to have gone through a grinder, as flesh was torn and blood coated her lower half.

Morgan could be seen sitting on the sofa studying the severed arm.

Walking over to her, I sat myself down next to her, and leaned over to glance at the arm. "How many Command Seals are there?" I probed.

Morgan tilted her head to look at me, before tapping the severed limb.

Slowly, the seals twisted and turned, forming into four rows with three Command Seals in each line.

"Twelve… which isn't an insignificant amount," Morgan mentioned with interest, before grabbing my hand.

Slowly, red Command Seals appeared on the back of my hand, before three more formed, further up on my arm, similar to the shape of a sword.

"There, that should allow us some more leeway later on down the line," she explained, calmly, before reluctantly letting go of my hand.

Glancing back at the damaged puppet, I spoke up. "Are you sure that you'll be able to use 'Caster' for the attack tonight? It looks kinda wrecked."

Morgan gave a small sigh, before snapping her fingers, causing one of the Command Seals on the arm to disappear.

Red light encompassed the homunculus, and it suddenly looked good as new.

Removing my gaze away from it, I looked at Morgan, who gave an impressed hum, while looking at 'Caster'.

"Why did you waste a Command Seal on healing her, when you could do so yourself?" I asked without a hint of reproach.

"Archer used some nasty blades on my puppet, and any normal healing would take too long, especially with how cursed a few of the cuts were," she said with a hint of annoyance.

"I was lucky that it only took a single Command Seal to heal it up. As I estimated that it should have taken two, if it wasn't for the runes aiding the recovery," she explained.

I felt my lips purse at the information, before sighing. "Fine, as long as we get an estimate on how much juice we can draw from a single command from Caster's upcoming expedition, then it's fine," I commented.

Morgan gave a nod. "Indeed," she said, before sprawling on the sofa, with a contented sigh.

Glancing down at the sprawled queen, I rose a brow. "You seem rather… lax, is suppose? Did something good happen?"

The witch gave a happy hum. "Today has been rather fruitful, I got the blood for the Grail's vessel, watched Artoria being miserable for an hour or two, stole a bunch of Command Seals, and will hopefully soon test a Command Seal powered spell on either Artoria or Lancer."

At her words, she seemed to relax even more. "All in all, I'm rather happy with the day so far, and I fe–" her speech was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell being rung.

Morgan clicked her tongue, and pushed herself up from the couch. "I'll get it," she said with a huff.

The air around Morgan shimmered a dark blue, momentarily blinding me.

Blinking rapidly, I watched as Morgan had disappeared, only for a slightly shorter woman to have taken her place, with the same white hair, but her face was uncovered. She had blue eyes, and she now wore a small black dress and hairband.

Morgan glanced at me, and shot me a wink. "Not my face, by the way," she said offhandedly, before walking out of the room.

Well… that answered my unasked question.

Lounging on the couch, I waited for a bit, assuming that Morgan was just mind wiping some poor sou— "ALISTAIR!"

I instantly jumped out of my seat, and stood up.

That was the unmistakable sound of my mother, how the fuck did she kn– {Your mother spotted your shoes, follow my lead, I'll handle this.}

Fuck.

I quickly scrambled over to the entrance.

'Morgan' was leaning against the wall, glancing at my mother with amusement, while Mom looked at 'Morgan' with… happiness?

"Mom?" I said hesitantly, which caused Mother's neck to snap in my direction.

Her face became neutral, but the slightest upturn of her lips. "Alistair…" her voice trailed off a bit, before looking at 'Morgan'.

"Um, sorry for shouting," she said nervously, to which Morgan merely shook her head. "No problem, Miss, Al tends to be hard of hearing from time to time," she said with a shrug.

Mom's eyes seemed to glow with approval, before Mom leaned over and latched onto my arm. "Sorry, but could I borrow my son for a bit? We seem to have a lot, to talk about," she said with a smile.

'Morgan ' covered her face with a dainty hand, while shooting me a conspiratorial look, before looking at my Mother.

"No need to worry, I'm sure Al needs to smooth a few things over, so just have your little talk," she said before giving a shooing motion. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a wink directed at me.

And with that, Mother dragged me out of the front door, without allowing me to put on my shoes.

What the fuck is she doing?

{Morgan?! What the fuck was that?}

I turned my head around while being dragged by mom, and I could see her giving us a small wave, all with an infuriatingly smug look on her face.

{Morgan? Answer me?!}

I watched as the smile on her face only grew, before slowly closing the door.

{Traitor!}

Not twenty seconds had passed, before Mom had dragged me into the house, seated into the sofa, dragged a chair in front of it, and sat herself down on it.

I couldn't meet Mother's expecting eyes.

Like what the fuck was I suppose to say?

"It's 'Al' now, is it," Mom intoned in a sly tone.

Of fucking course she came up with a nickname.

"Alistair, look at me," Mom said gently, causing me to slowly turn my head to look at her.

Mom had a big smile, and I could see tears building at the edge of her eyes. Before she suddenly flung herself at me.

"Thank God you found yourself a girl!" She squealed into my ear, while hugging me tightly.

"I was so scared that you were into Altrouge, I was scared that I raised a necrophiliac!"

I quickly started struggling against Mother's embrace, shoving her arms off me, and looking her square in the eyes.

"No, mom, this is a misunderstan—" "Don't worry, I won't grill you for not telling me sooner, I'm just happy you found someone… even if Lorelei will be heartbroken," Mom interrupted me, while spouting pure garbage.

"Lorelei has the emotional capacity of an AI, so don't go spouting about her heart being broken," I countered, causing Mom to pout.

"She isn't that bad," she rebuked, earning a dead pan from me.

"Alright… maybe she is," she mumbled, before going back to her overexcited mood.

"So, tell me about Vivian? Where did you meet her? How long have you been dating? When are the kids com—" "STOP!" I blurted out, before standing up. "Nope, big fucking nope, I'm going to bed," I declared, causing Mom to try to grab at me.

"No, you're not leaving so quickly, young man! I have questions that need answering!" She said in protest.

Quickly, I dodged her grab at me, and sprung out of the room. "I'm going to bed, good night!" I said, before slamming the living room door behind me, placing a few runes on it, locking it.

Quickly bangs echoed on the door. "I need this! Don't you dare deprive me of grandkids!" Her manic yell rang through the door, causing me to shiver.

Damn you Morgan! What the hell has she released!

Quickly, I ran into my room, reinforced the door, walls, floor and ceiling, before erecting a shit ton of temporary bounded fields.

God damn it, why the fuck did Mom go to a neighbor's house? And how did she sniff me out so quickly?! It was like she knew I was there…

Grunting, I threw off my clothes and jumped into bed.

Might as well get some shut eye, Mom practically ruined my chance to watch 'Caster' testing out the limits of Command Seal spells against Saber or Lancer…

Closing my eyes together, I felt dread overcome me.

Shit… Mom is still going to grill me tomorrow… won't she?

~~Fate/False Order~~

The culmination of almost a decade's worth of time, eight years, three months, and ten days, only for Uther to die like a dog, and all but force me out of the line of succession.

I was standing in a dark alley in Londinium while looking at the farce in front of me.

I watched on as tens of people walked up to the sword, which they all failed to pull out.

Besides the blade, stood a cloaked man, who's purple eyes were staring straight into my very own.

Merlin.

The man behind this farce.

He had been glued to Uther's side for many moons, causing all my information to Vortigern to become moot. As the damn incubus kept on moving Uther to safety, just in the knick of time.

It was only when he stopped appearing by the Fool's side that we were met with success in slaying Uther.

But then this happened.

'Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone is rightwise king born of all England!'

Merlin had spit out another dubious prophecy, or rather promise.

And with it, a sword manifested itself, plunged in stone, close to a church…

I had naturally gone and studied it, not even bothering to try to pull it out, as I discovered that it had stringent requirements to pull it out, like a magic core…

There was no testing of lineage, or blood, as then I would have been able to pull it out, but instead, it was something tailor made for some puppet Merlin had made.

As I watched people try their luck, day swiftly turned to night, and the last rays of day were kissing the landscape, I watched as the now almost deserted area had one last person walk up to the sword.

Merlin, for once, finally removed his gaze from me, only to whisper something into the… boy's ear?

I felt something messing with my mind when I looked at the child, almost as if something was forcing me to think of them as a man.

I felt ice enter my veins when I studied the face of the one touching the hilt of the blade.

This was the person Merlin had chosen, I simply knew.

As he gently tugged at the blade, I watched as it emitted a slight golden glow, before smoothly sliding out of the stone.

The boy raised the blade up, and pointed its tip to the sky.

The glowing blade and sunset made for a scene worthy of a painting, but I felt nothing.

Fixing my eyes on the boy, I pushed my eyes to their limit.

And then I saw it.

His face looked just a hint more soft, his lashes a smidge longer, his lips a bit more red…

"All hail Arthur [Lies] Pendragon, King of the Britains!" Merlin said while raising his staff, while subtly sending me a subtle shake of his head.

That… that bastard!

I gritted my teeth while looking at the incubus.

He… he had my sister this whole time…

Suddenly my brain went into overtime.

Merlin had been experimenting on my sister… and probably had been doing it since she was in my mothers womb… which would explain the magic core…

He had been hiding her in the shadows, crafting her into his perfect little puppet, his perfect little king.

Uther had been a distraction this entire time. A pawn destined to be sacrificed, for another one to promote at the end of the board.

Slowly, I turned my gaze to look at my sister, and my heart nearly broke.

I saw Uther.

A female Uther, but Uther nonetheless.

The same emotionless eyes, hard expression, the same inhumane aura.

I might have had Uther killed, but he had lived on in his child…

I fixed my gaze with Merlin once more, and I'm not sure how he could see through my veil, but he flinched once our eyes met.

As I held his gaze, I slowly sunk into the alley's shadows, not once breaking eye contact with the monster that had created another Uther.

As soon as I fully entered the shadow, I transported myself back to the castle, and reappeared into my room.

As I reappeared, I fell into my chair, my legs failing to support me.

Shakingly, I reached out for a glass of wine, before knocking it over, spilling its contents over the table.

Cursing under my breath, I leaned into my chair, and dazedly looked at the adjacent wall.

In the span of a single day, I had what little I had left ripped out of my hands.

The right to the throne, and my little sister… no… Arthur…

I felt the chair's arms rest burst, as I had gripped it too hard.

Glancing down, I saw how a few splinters had pierced my hand, not that I felt it.

A soft knock on my door sounded, before it slowly swung open.

"Morgan?" came a nervous voice from the door behind me.

There were only a handful who dared to call me that, without including my titles, and that voice was definitely my 'son'.

"Gawain," I intoned calmly, and I could hear his nervous fidgeting.

I had made my opinion on Lot's bastards known, meaning I tolerated them, as I'd rather one of them take over after him, since I refuse to have Lot's child.

"Are… you alright?" He asked with concern.

I didn't bother to turn around, I was not in the mood to deal with the boy.

He was useless, only good to be a future soldi—

My back straightened at the thought.

I knew that Arthur didn't have any proper supporters, as the nobility were all vying for the blade, so they won't take to some newcomer who stole the title from them.

Meaning that he was in need of confidants… people he could trust…

And who better than being given a loyal knight from your estranged sister, who is loved by her people…

Wait, no I have four meatheads that wish to be knights, so I might as well throw them at 'Arthur', gain some leverage, and bide my time…

Yes.

That could work.

Slowly, I turned my head, just barely enough to glance at the blonde boy, who stiffened at my sudden attention.

"You wish to make your father proud, right?" I probed in an enticing tone.

The meek boy seemed to perk up at my words, and urgency seemed to bloom in his blue eyes.

"Yes! I'd love nothing more!" He said fervently.

I felt a smile spread across my lips.

Standing up from my chair, I sauntered over to him, before crouching down to his height.

I gently cupped his face with my bleeding hand, and rubbed his cheek with my thumb, creating a small trail of blood.

"Good, I'll mold you into a great knight, Gawain."

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A/N

Welcome back, my reader Overlords, please add this to your library and give me some comments, stones and Reviews, as it would be much appreciated.

A bit late on the update, I know... just be happy, please >.<

Now, give me your thoughts on the chapter, and tell me what you'd like to see!

Next chapter is another dream loop thing, so spit out your ideas, while I have the time to implement them!

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https://discord.gg/Z2meVadH

Now I'm tired, so have a nice day, and send me some stones or some shit, I need motivation, or some shit like that.