63. The Seventh Servant
===Unknown- Somewhere on a coast in ancient England near the north===
"Y-Yes Mistress, I understand. Are you sure that he will appear in this exact spot though?" A man nervously asked as he wrung his hands together.
"Are you doubting me Alvin?" The woman standing next to the man said.
"No, I wouldn't dare Mistress. I just want to be sure!" The man frantically said to the woman.
He was at least two heads taller than her, but this woman dressed in a long black cloak, with her long platinum hair hanging from her hood, inspired the utmost fear in the man.
He was just a simple fisherman, but there were whispers that this woman in front of him was a sorceress.
He gulped audibly, drawing the woman's attention.
"Do not fret, I'll make sure you are compensated double what I usually pay you. Will that be enough?" She said soothingly.
"Aye, that will do. I'm just nervous, my Lady. Ever since the Warlord has taken over, outlawed and put a bounty on your head, I grow increasingly nervous about my dealings with you. N- no offense my Lady." He said, stuttering at the end of his sentence.
"Don't worry. I understand you are nervous about your family. Rest assured that I will take all necessary precautions with them, and have set up alternatives for them in the worst cases." The hooded woman said.
The man's eyes filled with tears at the thought of his family losing him, but he also took comfort in the fact they would be safe if he was caught.
"Thank you, my Lady." He said, kneeling in the mud before the woman. He quickly stood back up, and walked off, focusing on the task he had been given.
"I used to be one of the most powerful sorceresses in all the land. Maybe the world. And now, I'm stuck in a fishing village." The woman mocked herself.
"How fitting."
===Godrick===
The first thing he noticed after opening his eyes was how fresh the air felt here. He took a deep breath before letting it out.
"This definitely isn't modern day like the other Holy Grail Wars we've been a part of." He said to his companion next to him.
"It definitely feels better. And this weather!" Jeanne nodded and added her thoughts as she looked up to the sky and inhaled deeply.
The sky was a mass of dark clouds preparing to dump the water held in them.
"It's my favorite!" Jeanne said as she spun in place.
"Really? You like it when it rains?" Godrick asked her.
"Well yes, but my favorite is just before it rains. The air has an earthy smell to it, and I just.. " She paused before wrapping her arms around herself and shivered in delight.
"I just love it." She finished before turning around to look at her Juggernaut before her eyes went wide and looked behind him.
Godrick saw her eyes go wide and looked behind him at the small group that was gathered.
Heracles, Cu-Chulainn, Artoria, and Mordred were all standing around each other before one of them started speaking
"What's happening right now!" Came a routey voice as a blade hissed as it was drawn from its scabbard.
Mordred looked at another person in the group who stood not far from her, a complicated expression on her face.
"Wh- Wh- What's going on!?!" She continued shouting.
Godrick quickly intervened before things could escalate farther, and the moment Mordred met his eyes she turned her baffled semi enragement on him.
"Godrick you better start doing your finger explaining right now!" She shouted holding her blade by her side.
'CHOP'
"Son of a bitch" Mordred whispered, dropping her sword before crouching down and holding the top of her head with both hands.
"That really hurt!" She said with tears in her eyes, looking back up to Godrick, who had just delivered a chop to the top of her head.
"You wanted me to help you make things right, remember?" He asked her.
Her face shot up to look at him, and she shook her head a little bit in exasperation.
"Your voice. You got it back?" She asked.
He materialized Caliburn on his left hip and slapped the sword enthusiastically.
"I was able to get a few things back on my journeys." He said, looking over to Jeanne with a slight smile before looking back to his sister.
"I told you once that when I learned about what had happened, I was angry. I still am. I am so upset at what you did to our people. Our country. Our family." He said in a pain voice.
"But I also told you that I would help you fix things, and you asked me to help you. You remember?" He asked.
She nodded her head, a slight frown coming to her face.
"Well, now is the time I make good on my words. And you, make good on yours." He said, gesturing towards his mother.
Mordred looked past him at their mother, who regarded them with a complicated expression.
"I- I don't know if I can do this Godrick…" She said nervously.
"Do you want me to hit you with a tree again? I'm also good at hiting people with tombstones and cars as well. Take your pick." He said coldly.
"Sheesh, I get it, I get it." She said leaning over and picking up Clarent from the grass beneath her.
As she started to walk over to Artoria, but Godrick reached out and gripped her arm, causing her to look up at him.
"Give me the sword." He said.
She said nothing as she stared up at him, but a moment later she held her blade out for him to take, which he did.
Now unburdened by the sword, Mordred walked over with Godrick to Artoria, who placed her hand on Excaliburs hilt.
Godrick moved over to his mother's side and asked for Excalibur, and after a moment of hesitation, she relented, and removed it from her waist before handing it over to him.
"Now, bury the hatchet." He said, backing up a few steps.
"That seems like a waist of a perfectly good hatchet, why would I do that?" Artoria replied.
"See, I said the same thing when he said that to me!" Mordred said in exasperation.
An awkward silence filled the air between the two of them as Artoria looked Mordred in her eyes before Mordred lowered hers in shame and looked at the grass between them.
"I am… so sorry for what I did." Mordred said in a whisper.
"Sorry?" Artoria asked incredulously.
"Sorry?" She repeated.
"You betrayed us not once, but twice, and you think sorry is going to be enough? What of the country men you slaughtered in pursuit of the Throne? The men, women, and children your army slaughtered so you could ascend?" Artoria said, her temper flaring.
Mordreds seemed to as well, and she retorted in her anger.
"Well, if maybe you had just given me the Throne." She said before Godrick cleared his throat, drawing her gaze.
He gave her a 'No talking back' look before Mordred looked back up at Artoria, giving a heavy sigh before shaking her head.
"I'm sorry." She said plainly.
"How can you ever make things right?" Artoria asked.
Mordred opened her mouth to answer before freezing and shaking her head, blinking rapidly.
She looked back at Godrick, but he gave no advice, so she quietly looked down at the ground, deep in thought for a full minute before she began to speak again.
"I will never be able to make it right. I did horrible things. Things I'll never be able to take back." She closed her eyes as she continued to speak.
"Everytime I close my eyes I see the faces of the people ive killed. The innocent ive wronged. The undeserving i've punished. I see them every time I sleep in my dreams and nightmares. That will be my punishment." She finished.
"Punishment?" Arotira almost scoffed.
"We are Heroic Spirits. We are ecentualy immortal. I will be haunted by their faces, and by the guilt that i hold for the rest of my existence. Seeking forgiveness that will never come." She said, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
"That's why I seek your forgiveness." She said, kneeling before her mother.
"I have been given the opportunity to make things right with one of the many souls I've wronged. And I will do anything to gain your forgiveness." Mordred said bowing her head.
Godrick was in shock seeing his sister kneel to his mother. His sister, who was as headstrong, prideful and stubborn as he was strong, submitting herself to her King's justice.
"I know I can never make things right. But I ask for you to forgive me… M- Mother." She said a stray tear running down her cheek before she bowed her head to Artoria once more.
Artoria looked to Godrick with a mix of emotions before she too had a tear leave her eye. She quickly wiped it away before grabbing her daughter by the shoulders and raising her up to stand before her.
"I- I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you Mordred." Artoria said, causing Mordred to bow her head in shame before nodding in understanding.
"But like you, I made your brother a promise that I would try. So how about we start there?" Artoria finished. Mordred's head shot up and looked her mother in the eyes.
"I would like that very much." She said before the two embraced, the sound of their armor rubbing together.
"Oh, it's so sweet I might actually throw up." A new voice said.
The group turned their heads to look at the last servant who had been summoned into their group, and Godrick's jaw almost hit the ground.
"You!?!" Mordred said, practically throwing herself from her mother towards Godrick as she tried to tug her sword from his grip.
In front of them stood a woman in black armor, her white hair flowing from the back of her helmet. Her armor was battle scarred, with knicks and dents all over it, telling of the wars she had been in.
She reached up with one taloned hand before dragging her fingers down her faceplate, leaving faint scratches before she planted her sword firmly into the ground before reaching up with both hands and removing her helmet, shaking her hair free once her head was free.
"Now if only your father and sister were here, we could have a big family reunion before I would place his head on a pike." The Warlord Igraine Pendragon said.
"M- Mother?" Artoria asked, shocked at the revelation.
"Daughter." Igraine said blandly, seeming disgusted at the word.
"You were the Warlord all along?" She asked in utter disbelief.
"Do you really have to ask? I'm here aren't I? A Heroic Spirit? Would I be here if I wasn't actually the Warlord?" Igraine said in a voice she would use as if speaking to a child.
Mordred was still on the verge of going berserk. The only thing holding her back was Godrick, but for all his strength, he had a hard time keeping a hold of her.
"Calm that child down before I do it for you!" Igraine said to Artoria before looking over to Godrick.
"My, it feels like it was only yesterday that we killed each other. Though I see you have all your extremities that I took from you, though they're different now ." She said mockingly as she stared at his left arm.
"Though, I hope you still have the scars and brand on your back?" She said with a hint of amusement.
Godrick was about to let Mordred go and let her do her thing, but another person blitzed from his side, appearing right next to Igraine.
Jeanne used all her strength to bury the shaft of her lance into the stomach of Igraine, bending her over it before sending her crashing into the treeline behind the Warlord.
Quickly following after her she darted into the treeline, and the sound of clashing weapons could be heard as the small group saw trees falling one after the other.
"Well I mean… "Talk shit, get hit," I always say." Cu-Chulainn said.
===Unknown, in the west most part of Wales, now known as St. Davids===
A man sat on a stone Throne overlooking the sea where he had once died. He opened his eyes to reveal pure golden irises with a faint blue ring inside of them.
He took a deep breath before standing from his throne, prompting the woman that sat on his lap to get up as well.
The man was massive. Standing at least eight feet in height. He wore black armor with gold accents, and had multiple blood red gems fitted to his armor. But one feature made him look a bit odd, as his right arm was bare up to the shoulder. Its skin was black as midnight, and had amethyst veins running the length of it.
His tattered shoulder cape and long platinum hair flowed through the wind as he stood on the stone balcony that overlooked the sea before taking a deep breath.
"What is it, my love?" The woman said, prompting the man to turn around and look at her.
She was dressed in black armor as well with a fur lined cloak around her shoulders. She too had platinum colored hair that hung to just below her long slender neck as well as golden eyes.
By her side, leaning against the Throne was her long lance with its flag at the end of it, as well as her sword.
On the other, lay the man's massive halberd, as well as his sword.
"I can sense it. The other half of Ruin has arrived. And by the feel of things, my Alter has no idea how to use it properly." The man said with an evil grin.
"I will be free yet."
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