977Arieen cast a glance at the Sun King's domain. In all fairness, she hadn't expected much help from that end to begin with. She sighed, and took her glasses off long enough to clean them and rub her eyes.
Bedivere went stock still and stared at her, mostly out of shock. He wasn't the only one.
"Arieen...why do you look like the Lion King?" asked Ritsuka, slowly.
Arieen blinked.
"I don't wear these things because I need them to see," she snarked. "I didn't want to freak Bedivere out too much when I caught up to him, though now I'm glad I brought them seeing the mess we're now in."
Seeing she had the full attention of everyone there, especially Bedivere, she gave off a cocky grin. She summoned Clarent to her hand, which had Bedivere tense.
"Wait...so there's another Knight on our side?" said Ritsuka.
"They are no knight. They killed the king," said Bedivere tensely.
Arieen rolled her eyes.
"Your list of potential allies is running thin, and you honestly think it's a smart move to cast stones without knowing the full story?" she countered. Mash put her hand on Bedivere's arm, however he was clearly not happy. "Besides, just because I can't call for reinforcements doesn't mean I can't contact Merlin to yell at him."
"Merlin is trapped in Avalon," said Bedivere.
"Only because that damn Rapunzel is too lazy to break out," snarked Arieen. "But we can continue this situation once we've found a new base to work with, and actual allies."
It was a good thing Arieen tended to overpack when it came to supplies, because it made the trek through the desert a bit more bearable. Bedivere kept a close eye on her, mostly because of his memories of what happened, but was having trouble equating Arieen to Mordred.
Ritsuka gave her a weird Look when he realized that the 'water' Arieen was drinking was actually liquor.
Bedivere was giving her a side eye as well.
"Why are you drinking that?"
"Because otherwise I'd have to deal with this nonsense sober. Besides, I was among the most functional alcoholics in Camelot in my timeline after she told me how she knew for a fact Arturia was my father."
"Who is she?" asked Mash innocently.
Immediately, Arieen took a massive pull of her booze before biting out "My bitch of a mother, Morgana. Dammit, I did not pack enough booze to talk about her."
"Why would talking about your mother make you drink that heavily?" asked Caster.
Arieen had a pained look on her face as she said with a dead tone...
"Well how would you react if you learned your 'mother' decided to take advantage of the fact that their Magus friend had turned their king into a functioning hermaphrodite and raped them, and then proceed to experiment on the resulting child to insure that you could reclaim the throne at a later date?"
Dead silence, as even Bedivere looked ill at the thought.
"Wait...that's what Morgana did?" said Bedivere, looking horrified.
"Why do you think I drink? I made the mistake of asking her how she knew Arturia was my real dad and she decided I was being too 'willful' so she gave me the full details of how I was conceived," said Arieen, her expression haunted. "Any mention of her name sends me straight to the nearest tavern. If I hadn't converted into a fairy, I would have died centuries ago from alcohol poisoning."
Wisely, the group avoided the topic ever again, especially as Arieen would complain about having drained half her stock already.
Bedivere found himself setting next to Arieen after they reached the hidden village. He wasn't sure how to handle this version of Mordred, who was so much freer than he could remember, and at the same time calmer. Sure, she was an open drunk, but she looked and acted completely comfortable in her skin.
Arieen was drinking some water she had helped to draw from the small river that flowed in the village.
"It wasn't your fault, you know. Camlann."
Bedivere froze, before he relaxed.
"What do you mean?"
"The Battle of Camlann was a fixed point in time. Any attempts to deviate it from that set path was doomed to failure, or worse would lead to unimaginable consequences later. It was a shit deal for all involved, but her death was never your fault. Though I swear I am going to punch that bastard Lancelot for setting everything off in the first place," she said with a scowl.
It was his act of sleeping and later running away with the King's wife that had caused the cascade leading to Camlann in the first place.
"It might not have been my fault in particular, but the aftermath was... my sin has lead me to this point," said Bedivere.
Arieen stared at him.
"Your sin? You were a second-rate knight in skill, but your integrity was second to none," said Arieen. "I still remember the wail of despair you gave when you found the body after returning the sword to Nimue. You were absolutely heartbroken finding her."
Bedivere flinched at that. Arieen narrowed her eyes at him...specifically his right arm.
"Wait a damn minute," she said slowly. "Merlin told me you failed at something and were trying to rectify that mistake, but he never said what it was. And that arm of yours can't be normal, to be undamaged after taking Gawain's sword."
Bedivere looked like a cornered animal, ready to bolt.
Arieen groaned and now wished she had chosen a stronger drink.
"I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that the reason Arturia has gone off the deep end and created this farce of a Holy City is because you didn't throw the sword away?!" said Arieen irate.
Bedivere flinched at the tone.
Arieen looked at her water, then downed it and storing the cup. She then proceeded to stand up and grabbed Bedivere's right arm.
"What are you doing?" he asked, baffled.
"We're going to find Galahad's child. Her shield will make the transmission easier to send," said Arieen darkly. She planned to give Merlin one hell of an earful, but she also knew Bedivere needed to speak to her father.
Mash looked rather confused why they needed her shield, but agreed to let Arieen look at the enchantments.
"Shoddy. Really shoddy work," said Arieen, clicking her tongue. "However from what you lot have told me, this was a patch job at best."
Mash said nothing. It wasn't like they had the resources to improve upon it, and most of what they did have was to restore the base back to normal.
Arieen went to work, poking and prodding at the shield. Bedivere looked deeply confused about everything, as he was a knight not a Magus.
"There we go...let's see how the connection goes," said Arieen after a few hours.
A screen appeared above the shield, and at first the picture was extremely fuzzy. Then they heard voices on the other end of it.
"Arieen? Your connection is rather fuzzy! We can't see you at all!" said a voice.
"You'll have to boost the signal on your end," said Arieen calmly. "The connection I have is half-assed at best and I don't have the supplies to fix it."
"Hold on... add some extra... Just do it, you damn Rapunzel!"
Arieen didn't sweatdrop, as she was more inclined to laugh her ass off. Scathach could be a slave driver, and she probably sensed Merlin had pulled another one over them again.
Merlin looked haggard, but well enough.
"Arieen, how are things on your end?" he asked pleasantly.
"Oh, just great," she said sarcastically. Scathach, hearing that tone readied her usual method of disciplining idiots. She mostly reserved it for Merlin these days though. "After all, it's not like you dropped me in a deranged alternate where Arturia has lost her gods-damned mind!"
Merlin blinked, before yelping as Scathach nicked him.
"You damn Rapunzel, why the fuck didn't you warn me about the fact Arturia has set up a fake holy city using Rhongomyniad as it's basis?! Do you have any idea how annoying it is having to fight shitty copies of the Round who have fallen so far they were openly killing civilians?!"
"Wait, what?!" said Bedivere in shock.
Arieen had a scowl on her face.
"That so-called Holy City isn't a city at all. It's Rhongomyniad masquerading as one," said Arieen flatly. "I recognized the energy it was giving off pretty damn quick."
Bedivere was properly horrified and for good reason.
Merlin winced openly, and it wasn't just because Scathach was trying to murder him in as violent a manner as possible.
"What's this about Rhongomyniad?" said another voice.
"Hey dad," said Arieen. "The 'mess' that Merlin's alternate told us was severely understated."
Bedivere's brain seemed to short circuit, seeing his king in casual clothing (slightly older no less) looking more human than he could ever remember. Arturia's expression became openly shocked when she saw him too.
"Bedivere?" she said in surprise. Her face warmed with delight seeing him.
"My king?" he said in confusion.
Arieen looked ready to cackle.
"Did I forget to mention that in my alternate, I faked my death and the death of the king? The battle of Camlann might have been a fixed point, but nothing stated that the king had to actually die for real. I dosed her with a potion to fake it until enough time had passed," said Arieen smugly. She looked at Arturia with a lewd grin on her face. "So dad, you're looking particularly relaxed today. Did you finally get laid by that fanboy of yours?"
Arturia looked more annoyed than embarrassed. She had a few years to get used to Arieen's comments by this point.
"What I do in the bedroom is none of your concern," she said flatly.
"I'll take that as a yes," she cackled. Bedivere stared at Arieen like she had grown a second head.
"Hey Ari, it looks like someone is listening in on this transmission," commented Scathach. A beaten and bloodied Merlin was on the floor, having been 'disciplined' by the irate red head.
He honestly deserved worse, but Arieen was confident Scathach was simply waiting to come up with something creative that Merlin absolutely wouldn't enjoy.
"Where's the signal located?" asked Arieen.
"There's a lot of interference, but it looks like...that can't be right. Who would be stupid enough to build that deep in Antarctica of all places?"
"Ah...that might be Doctor Romani and the others," said Mash. Arieen looked at her. "Chaldea is located in Antarctica."
"In that case... Scathach can you trace the signal and send a supply package that way? From what I heard, the 'unknown third party' who caused this mess to get so out of hand is the same one who cut them off from their support."
"On it, Ari," said Scathach. "How bad are we talking about?"
"Um...are you really going to send supplies to Chaldea?" asked Ritsuka.
"Yeah? I mean we've got plenty of supplies in Tenebrae, and we're about ready to host the Grail Games, which are sure to be a major hit once the Magus realize what it actually is," said Arieen.
"Grail Games?" said Mash and Ritsuka.
"So my personal Squire and his friends stole the Grail from Fuyuki, but we had a hell of a time purging the damn thing of the broken servant that got absorbed. Why some idiot thought it was a bright idea to summon Angra Mainyu as a Servant of all things I'll never understand..." said Arieen, shaking her head. "Once we cleansed the thing, we set it up on a partially abandoned island on the furthest end of the island chain connected to Tenebrae so it could absorb the magic of the Yggdrasil we have planted on the main island."
"Why?" asked Ritsuka.
"It takes sixty years for that thing to become useable in a suburban city, on a mostly unused leyline. So what do you think would happen if it were placed in an area with a much, much higher magical density to draw from?" said Arieen as if it were obvious.
"It would fill up faster?" said Ritsuka.
"Exactly! No one's won the damn thing since it was made, so why not make a spectacle of the stupid thing and turn it into entertainment? The Mages Association was annoyed with us, but we were openly letting them try their luck and giving them a chance to reach the Root within their lifetime, once they signed the waiver. Besides, it's not like we were broadcasting the show to mundanes. Only those who could pay for the special clearance can even view the feeds, and this way they don't have to skulk about only at night," said Arieen enthusiastically. "We called it the Grail Games as a joke, mostly because it's a lot like the Hunger Games series, except without the blatant child sacrifices."
"How are you going to send supplies to Chaldea?" asked Mash.
"Same way they dropped me off here. From what you told me, the place was cut off from humans, but faeries operate under a different set of rules. Just because humanity was wiped out doesn't mean the same for the fae, who exist outside humanity on a good day. So exactly how bad are things at this base of yours anyway?"
Ritsuka and Mash looked at each other, then at Arieen. Ritsuka told her.
Arieen blinked. That was a headache, being the only survivors of the initial attack. No wonder they were having such trouble restoring the place.
"Right...might be easier to connect your boss with my consort and let them sort out the details..." she mused.
"Your consort?" said Bedivere. He looked so lost she almost wanted to pat his head.
"Scathach. She's my queen and enabler after all," said Arieen proudly. Bedivere choked.