Overdue Talk.

Mordred...she didn't know what to say, what to think, how to act. When her father..., she panicked and ran away.

So many emotions flashed through her mind. She was angry that he ignored her attempts to fight, saddened that he couldn't even speak to her and then she was….happy? A moment of brief respite in her otherwise turbulent existence. Her father, the one who she killed with her own blade had apologize to her. He even refused to hurt her again. In any other circumstance she would have scoffed at such an accusation, yet her normal haughty attitude refused to come out as the words kept echoing in her mind.

All she ever wanted was for him to even look at her. Of course she got attention when she joined the round table, but that was the Knight Mordred....not the child of Arthur Pendragon. She could always remember the emotionless eyes he showed to her, and the other knights for that matter, when he interacted with them.

Even when he executed his wife, there was never any emotion present. When she finally worked up the courage to reveal herself, hoping for any kind of acknowledgement...she finally received it. But all she was hate. Hate, anger, betrayal.

Maybe that was what prompted her to lash out in the way she did? Reciprocating the only emotional response from the person she wanted recognition from.

After all the time she spent on the rebellion, and the years she spent isolated in the throne….thats all she came to know. She was the knight of rebellion. She was the one who ended her father's perfect story.

It was her way of latching onto anything that was apart of him. That didn't mean she ever gave up on her dreams, her wish was for a chance to pull Caliburn from the stone and prove she was indeed worthy.

Yes, to prove she was worthy...of being his child.

Under all the anger, the hatred, she…..just wanted his affection. Something she never received in her life. Her mother was a witch. Yes, she was a magus and earned the title of witch, but it was more so in the vein of being a horrible person. She...hated her mother. To Morgan Le fay, Mordred was nothing more than a disposable product. A weapon to be pointed at her father in the witch's insane plots for revenge. Her mother never even faked loved towards her. Morgan made it clear early on what Mordred's role in life would be.

She heard the stories of her father when she was 'growing up'. For the couple years that she was a child that is. Her being a homunculus meant she was actually only about 8 years old when she joined the round table.

She was inspired by the stories. She wanted to emulate them to get closer to her supposed father. She became a knight that was worthy of the title. Sure, she knew that she was more aggressive than most would have liked. But she never broke the rules. Even the other knights that absolutely hated her, they would never dare call her unworthy of the title.

After all of this, to see her father finally look at her without the masks he wore previously, without the hate….she didn't know what to do.

Eventually she returned to her little hideout where her master was waiting.

He knew what happened, he could feel the drain on his prana as she activated her noble phantasm. And he saw her as she entered, the look on her face.

She felt luck to have a master like him. Someone who was able to understand her a bit, someone who treated her more than just how her legend describes her, someone who treated her like a person. She knew what was coming when she agreed to the summons, it was just nice to not be completely treated like a tool like she had been most of her life.

She did calm down a bit after her master was finally able to pry some information about what happened from her. There was an insistence on her part that it was some kind of trick. Though those thoughts were easily squashed when her master asked if she thought her father was the type of person to employ such things.

This is what led her to her current situation. She needed time to think, some breathing room as her little hideout became some-what cramped.

It was during the day so neither her nor her master were really worried about an attack.

She just wandered around a bit, still taking in the modern sights as she tried to take her mind off the previous encounter. She found her little kitty in the same alley, it looked like someone was actually feeding her.

With her new companion in tow, she ventured through the less traveled streets. Outside of all the war and personal matters, she did find the current era really interesting. Even with her downloaded knowledge, there was so much she was discovering that she didn't know. She 'understood' it thanks to the modern knowledge, but she didn't 'know' it until she actually saw the sights.

There was something that caught her attention. A rather weak bounded field a few streets over, something amateurish. While she was no magus, she did learn a thing or two from that witch while she was 'growing up'. Her interest piqued, she went to investigate.

To her surprise...she found her father in the middle of the bounded field. Apparently the one who set it up, but that made no sense to her. He had a dragon's core and had a ridiculous amount of prana available…..but he should have absolutely no knowledge of magecraft.

It only took a moment for both of their eyes to meet. Surprise flashed between them as no words needed to be spoken.

***

Alex stared dumbly at his daughter down the street.

He seemed to open his mouth to speak without even realizing it. "Would you....like to join me?" The words not very loud, and even with the bounded field present, she was able to hear them from where she stood.

She hesitantly walked over, each step feeling like an eternity until she finally took a seat opposite of him.

The atmosphere was awkward as neither of them spoke and both kept taking quick glances at one another.

The silence was broken as one of the servers at the café walked over. While the bounded field around the building kept others away, the ones inside were not effected, and the smaller one around Alex had basically been shattered merely by Mordred walking through it.

"Need a refill?" The woman asked towards Alex.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"What about anything for your sister?" She said with a smile as she turned towards Mordred.

Mordred looked like she was about to blurt something out at the comment until Alex interrupted.

"Actually....she is my Daughter."

The waitress was a little surprised. Alex didn't look very old, around 18ish while Mordred looked rather close to him in in age. Her response wasn't that odd all things considered.

"I apologize, is there anything I can get for you, miss?"

"I'm fine." Mordred barely squeaked out. Holding back her usual response to someone referring to her as a female.

She still wasn't quite over that. Her mother deemed it necessary for her to hide her gender as she didn't think anyone would accept her as a girl. She was essentially indoctrinated at a young age to act as a male and never reveal herself in public.

The silence resumed after that. Mordred couldn't help but stare at her father with confusion.

"What did you mean by that….." She said, barely a whisper.

"I meant exactly what I said."

"But I'm-"

"You're my Daughter and nothing else matters." Alex quickly cut her off. He wasn't oblivious to her own self-doubt regarding her origins. "I want you to understand this, Mordred. I do not care who your mother is, I don't care what you are. You did not have a say in any of that and I was wrong to push my hatred on to you when you did nothing to deserve it."

"But I killed you, I rebelled, I....." Further words didn't seem to come out as she choked them back, her eyes somewhat-red.

"You did nothing worse than I did."

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" she shouted. "I'm a monster, I ended your kingdom. You....you're perfect, you're the king of knights and even people today still look up to you."

It was equal parts heartwarming and sad to hear her say that. To know that she thought so highly of him but to also know that she thought of herself so lowly.

"Mordred, stop. You are not a monster and I am far from perfect. I've made so many mistakes throughout my life I can't even count them. At the top of that very long list, is you. I regret how I treated you when I found out, I don't know if I deserve it…..but I want to be your father."

She wanted to rebuttal, shout something, tell him he's wrong, but…..she couldn't say it. Those eyes that finally looked at her, not as the knight or the spawn of Morgan, but just as Mordred. "We're servants….we won't even remember this if we get summoned again." She said quietly.

Servants that get summoned tend not to have past summons in their memories to avoid any unfair advantages.

"About that....i'm not a servant." Alex replied.

"What?"

"I'm actually….alive."

"But I thought i..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"You did kill me, its just….someone interfered."

She looked at him in confusion.

"It's a long story, and I would like to tell you it." He finally said, a small smile on his face.

So, he began. When he laid dying and his wish. His second life as he just went through it normally and even until he died a second time.

He explained his current job, leaving out any explicit details that he wasn't supposed to share. And he finally got to Percy. He was happy to share with her that she had a new cousin. He also gave her some info about that world, him being a demi-god and those shitty Greek gods going about.

Then he moved on to 'her'. It was a bittersweet feeling to talk about his lover to his daughter. To know that he still won't see her for awhile but it was nice to reminisce about they spent together.

Mordred, took it in stride. Several emotions flashed across her face. He did explain to her that his original marriage to Guinevere was a sham, something that not many people actually knew.

Finally he got to her new Aunt.

She refused to believe that there was a version of him that was female. He even said that she had a Mordred identical to her as well.

He happily showed the pictures he took. The other worlds he just barely glossed over until he ended up in his current assignment.

"Why are you telling me all of this, I won't remember it if I get summoned again...I'm still a servant." She said, the last part rather quietly as she was a bit jealous that he was alive still.

"If…..if I could take you away from the throne, would you like to come with me?"