Remaining Days: 1
"Master. Master, time to get up!"
For once, it is Saber who wakes me. I wonder what time it is, since usually I am not the one to sleep longer. Checking the time reveals it is noon. "I overslept," I notice. This is a first time. Saber seems quite amused that our places have been switching this 'morning'.
"Yeah, you've been in pretty deep slumber," she teases. "I could poke you all I want, no reaction." I am not sure if she really means that. Has she seriously been poking me for who knows how long while I have been asleep? To be fair, I kissed her when she slept so maybe we are even. Maybe.
But I doubt it, and teasing Saber is something I feel I could always do. "Meanie," I say, as I softly poke her side just below the ribs, eliciting a surprised squeal from her. For a few seconds, I do not know how to react. I never really expected Saber to be this sensitive, but her eyes show a murderous glare while she covers her mouth.
"You're dead," she says, obviously a bit mad at me. I jump off the bed, running away from Saber.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't know you're so ticklish!" It is a weak excuse, but it is true. Though, even if I did know, I would have poked her anyways. I am sure Saber knows, because she keeps chasing me all around our room until she pins me down on our bed.
"What about you?" She says, grinning victoriously—that smile that I am sure is one of the reasons I fell for her. I knew running away was nothing but a joke, Saber is faster as well as stronger than me anyways. If she really wanted to, I am helpless to her.
"Nooo, please," I beg jokingly. I expect her to pay me back any second, but instead she just gets off me.
"I'll save that for tonight," she says, not realising that she implied something really embarrassing. Or maybe she actually intended to do so, I would not know.
"So, what's our plan?" I ask, as I sit up. "Do we go train some more or are you fine?" Saber shakes her head. So, no training for today. Before I can ask or say anything else, Saber sits down on the bed, facing me.
"I need to tell you something," Saber says, and I can see it is bothering her and she is afraid of telling me. Not in the embarrassing way as I was about the confession, but like someone who confesses to be a murderer. I am sure this can only be one thing.
"You mean your True Name ?" It cannot be anything else and despite the fact that I am sure I would love Saber either way, I cannot help but feel anxious. Maybe she has been a really bad person? But I cannot imagine her to do something really cruel, or bad. There is just no way. Saber bites her bottom lip and nods.
"Go ahead," I say, holding her hand. Maybe that will assure her that I would not hate her, no matter what she would tell me now—but from her hand's grip tightening I can feel that she is not so sure of that.
"My name is Mordred Pendragon, son of Arthuria Pendragon, the king of Britain. The… Knight of Treachery," Saber starts, before she goes in depth about her life.
"I wasn't really a legitimate child. My mother, Morgan le Fay, had raised me and she wanted me to take the throne. For the most part I didn't even know I was the king's son. She only told me later and… you wouldn't believe how happy I was. I mean, I was the perfect king's son?
I was one of the Knights of the Round Table, because of my skill with the sword. And at that time, I realised why mother told me to wear my full armour at all times, including the helmet. The king didn't know about me… so, in my happiness I told her. That I'm her son and heir to the throne."
Mordred, the Knight of Treachery… who was killed by the holy spear Rhongomyniad, by King Arthur's—or rather, Athuria's?— own hands. So, in the first week, when I saw Saber's last moments, I saw…
"She didn't accept me. She wouldn't acknowledge me as her son and told me I don't have the qualities of a king. I was enraged and… well, you know how it ended up. I died, she died, Britain was ruined. I destroyed a whole country, just because my father wouldn't accept me," Saber concludes bitterly.
I wrap my arms around her and hug her tightly. "It's okay," I say, though my words hardly mean anything. "What's done is done… you can't change that and…" But I am lacking words to comfort her. I am a failure as Master, friend and lover.
Saber shakes her head. "It was selfish, I was a brat. I think I know that now. I thought father deserved it, though." I feel the wetness of her tears soaking my uniform and wetting my shoulder underneath. I am so close to crying as well.
"I don't mind. Everyone makes mistakes, you're not selfish or a brat anymore. I love you, just the way you are," I tell her truthfully. It may be hard for her to believe, but I am serious about that. What she did back then, maybe it was a mistake. Maybe the kind had it coming. Who am I to judge? I was not present. I am sure her mother also deserves part of the blame, it seems she raised Saber to end up in that path, after all. It is not completely her fault.
"Then, in the first week… The girl I saw?" But before I can finish my question, Saber answers.
"Yes, that was my father… King Arthuria." This makes even less sense. I have read about Excalibur, and its effect to halt the aging of the wielder, but no parent would look like almost an identic copy of their child… or rather, the other way around.
"Then why do you look almost the same?" Saber takes a deep breath before answering me, like this will be even worse for her to admit than what she already told me.
"I'm not a real human, haven't been. I've been a homunculus, to look exactly like father. Something like that," Saber says. So, in a way, both of us are a special kind of anomaly. Maybe that is why she became my Servant and partner.
"I don't mind," I repeat. "I still love you, Saber. The past is the past, you're with me now." I can only hope this lightens the burden on her shoulders, though I can imagine it takes a while to leave that behind. I am not going to voice my concern now, because I do not want to bring Saber more down, but I remember about Leo's Servant now.
Gawain.
Another Knight of the Round Table.