Bring Forth The Guileless Son.

[Aozaki Touko]

ORANGE BEGINNINGS! Because I'm totally not ripping Miguel thread off, nope.

2 Days to Day 1, Midnight

Given Touko choice of place to live during this war, she did not had much of a choice for the time of the summoning other than after midnight when everyone else would had gone to sleep, preparations to make it invisible to the neighbors could be done but that would be wasted prana that shall be better spent at the summoning ritual and Touko need to be on her top form if she want to successfully summon a Saber class servant tonight. The rough work of preparing all the details for the ritual had been long done, with one of the two bedrooms of the apartment being completely occupied by the ritual, from the necessary circle, candles and the catalyst.

Catalyst that wasn't just any mere object that would allow fate to decide on Touko servant, no self-respecting magi would join the Grail War without choosing a heroic spirit that they deemed capable of winning this game and Touko was no exception, wielding a half ceiling crescent with 3 lines coming out the bottom points and the middle emblem carved in a piece of armor, that used to belong to a Knight of The Round, the symbol represented the knight that shall be brought back to life tonight.

Everything was in place and order and if the summoning went according to the plan, the only issue would be the bright light that the amount of prana used for the summoning make, there should be no sound that will disturb the calm and quiet of the night and considering that the war have yet to start, no surprise attacks or sudden fights should occur either.

Without further delay, Touko started the ritual chanting, leaving the catalyst in middle of the summoning circle as Touko channeled her prana from her circuits towards the ritual, opening the doors of the path to the Throne of Heroes that the Holy Grail make available to it chosen magi, albeit being the first time that Touko made use of such ritual of summoning, everything was going smoothly, this would be a perfect summoning . . .

But appearances can always deceive and only the final result shall tell such a thing, from a agglomeration of prana from the center of the circle, the result itself start to gain shape.

[Mordred]

Morded coughed out blood, the immense pain still cursing through his body, just as much as he cursed his own weakness. He had failed everyone, including his mother and yes.. even his father. Would he have accepted Arthur's respect, if he had just remained the faithful knight?

What was it that he had lacked to be chosen as king? He did not know, and the mind continued to get filled with 'what ifs' and further self-doubt. If a chance to redeem himself would appear, there were no doubts that he'd take it and so his life extinguished holding unto a feeble wish while his vision blurred away in shades of red.

a faint voice reached the ears... But what were they? It seemed that someone called, and Mordred began to awaken to a new life.

Finally! A summoning, the warrior of past times did not know how long it had taken to get summoned, time did not matter for this knight nor any other one who could call himself Heroic Spirit. Wondering about the past, he wondered how people would see his past efforts for a better world, but knew that winners were writing history.

There was no reason for being held in great aspects. He had lost, but now was the time to change the past and grow in character and fame. To protect! That was the duty of a knight, and Mordred answered the call.

The light grew anew in strength and the servant Saber began to materialize in the World of Flesh and Energy. Magic was hardly alive in those days, but the appearance of this powerful knight made this look like a lie, and only moments later a knight in red clothes and silver armor stood over the magic circle. Mordred's eyes flared open and intelligent green-blue eyes immediately locked with the gaze of the single person standing in this room. That one could only be the master. He did not appear like a king, but while the grail fed information to Saber's brain, it seemed understandable that a master did not need to be a great sorceror or king.

Mordred was only a stand-in for his father. Once again just supposed to fulfill a role of a double, but it was a chance to stand out of the big shadow of Arthur and start anew as none other than Mordred. Saber began to lift the hands slowly and checked if everything worked properly. The body was clearly hi...s? .....? Yes, something felt off. It was supposed to be the old body, but some things appeared to be slightly different. The armor looked quite different and remembered him off his father. Blue was replaced by Red, but this color looked quite good, when it was not the color of the own blood.

Still, the body frame appeared to be smaller in general, could it really be that Mordred was now closer to appearance like Arturia than before...? But what was this uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest? The chest itself....!? Mordred's face paled right off at the summoning in another aspect matching well his ..no, her great father, who had fought in the previous war. Of course the knight did not know some less commonly known facts about Arthur, and was quite shocked that the Grail was playing such an evil joke on her.

Would this punishment ever end!? ...But this was not the time to panic or fall in self pity. It was another chance, another gender did not mean anything. Man or Woman, more than anything else Mordred... Pendragon was a knight and warrior before anything else.

The servant was still reluctant of calling the own name though, and willing to accept the role of being Arturia, at least as long as the own name was clean. Nobody would enjoy to get the black card because of past mistakes and getting treated like a monster. Maybe the shame would remain a bit longer on the own name, or was Mordred just a coward, too scared to state the own name...?

She deemed this option as a suitable one and stopped dwelling in her own little world. It was time to do something to wash herself clean. The beginning already proved to be difficult, but only an idiot would summon a traitor knight, supposedly a villain, as the chances of getting back stabbed oneself were high. Would her master have summoned the great Arthur? This was quite possible, but a pity for him, he had only summoned a stand-in. Pondering about the best solution for this problem, Mordred chose the easiest way out.

"Servant Saber, answering your call. Are you my master?"

Only now, the blonde girl of small stature began to take a more thorough look at her surroundings. Nothing stood out too much and that was how it should be. A quiet, uneventful summoning and no enemies in sight. That brought some problems with it, as it was a bit difficult for Mordred to hold the own horses, but on the other hand most welcome to get used to this body before a harsh battle.

"......I see that you are not the typical magus," she stated calmly and not exactly pleased. Although Saber was in terms of frame and size no more than a small girl, her armor and stance made her much more impressive, than she was willing to give herself credit for. Somehow this person who summoned her was not one of the mana tanks, a Knight of her demand would need, but Wars were never fought under optimal conditions and she decided to make this slight discomfort the least visible as possible. A master was an important existence for a servant, no matter what or who they were.

Mordred's piercing glance tried to identify more of her master's thoughts, but she fell silent, waiting for the response in order to finalize their contract.

[Aozaki Touko]

Everything went according to the planned or so Touko would like for such a end, even if all the preparations had been made and Touko was confident in her attempt at the summoning, that does not make it secured against failures, the Grail itself is unstable by itself, by adding another flawed item to the sequence, like a human, it should come with no surprise that the chance of anything going wrong was there, still, Touko was baffled, the Traitor Mordred, King Arthur illegitimate son, who was supposed to be the servant that Touko summoned, was clearly a woman!

Be it that Touko ended up summoning someone else or that history depicted Mordred in a wrong manner, the servant was summoned and the contract had to be fulfilled.

"Yes, I, Aozaki Touko am your master Saber, I hereby declare our contract to be sealed."

Regardless of the clear gender difference, the Saber servant small stature was not a matter of worry to Touko, who knew not to judge a hero who made into the status of Heroic Spirit lightly yet the identity of this unknown woman sure made Touko curiosity tingle.

"Now that I have made my identity clear, I shall hear yours, servant Saber."

The first order for her newly summoned servant, considering that the servant herself already was trying to ascertain who her master was by examining her surroundings, it should not take much work to start a link of trust, even if just war-related, right away. Knowing your own servant identity is vital to know when to fight and when to run.

"I follow a path that not many others share the passion for it and partially thanks to that, I'm designed to be sealed like a rare animal."

"Normally that would have nothing to do with the Grail War but given the location we are in, the chances of we running into some magi hunters are high."

"Our enemies are more than just other teams, Saber."

It is not every day that you have a famous, or infamous hero protecting your back, it wouldn't hurt to have this servant scare some Enforcers away.

[Mordred]

"..........." Saber's glare intensified for a moment. She had clearly found a master who did not like the law. How befitting of a master for one of the greatest taints in written History. However, as hopeless as it may seem, she still had thought that fate would be nice enough to let her stand on the right side. The revelation to join hands with someone most would call evil would not be the best start to redeem herself, but there was no other way, no other start.

"Very well, Aozaki Touko, I confirm to be your sword, against whoever may turn into your opponent. I frankly did not expect someone breaking the laws of their very own organization to end up as my master, but I won't betray our contract regardless. However, I ask of you to behave accordingly, for I do not intend to slay the Innocent because of the whims of some woman. ...No, my apologies, master. A certainly talented woman as far as I can see."

Mordred closed her eyes and for the first time concentrated on breathing, calming herself down. She was certainly a bit hotheaded, always had been, but even then some Standards and Etiquette had to be displayed in front of the public, and needless to say, her master. Magi... she did not like them too much, but they were important. Hoping that no further problem might land in her path, she opened her eyes once again and took another glance at Touko.

"I will protect you and try not to harm them at the same time, but I can not make promises concerning their safety. If you wish to keep a low profile, I ask of you to plan well. Servant Saber.... Arthur Pendragon will be your support."

The name stung, for a brief moment she felt like someone had stuck a hot lance through her body, reliving her last moments. That name, she hated and adored it at the same time. Longing after it she had as in her previous life decided to follow the path of becoming just like him, like her legendary father.

A strange step for someone who had wished for this restart to get her own name, but just as much as she realized the shame in her current lie, she was even more ashamed to be Mordred, the traitor, a daughter trying to take her father's place....

Yes, just a daughter. How much she hated that fact, even in her mind she was at times not sure if someone was just playing a trick on her, if she had not just been a man. Well, a knight was a knight and male or female played no role for that, as long as she managed to keep it hidden, but how would Aozaki Touko react to this? Judging from the knowledge from the Grail, modern times cared little about one's gender if not for specific Areas, and she knew that there had been British Queens.

"Any questions...?" Saber asked seriously to overplay her own nervousness in front of someone who seemed like she could see through her lies. She simply wanted to keep up the masquerade for now.

[Aozaki Touko]

There it was, right behind those beautiful green eyes, the reason why Command Seals existed, that divergence in opinions that could ruin any teamwork could only end terribly for the magus that is much weaker than the summoned servant of any class, specially against Sabers who are said to be the strongest and much to Touko dismay, her servant opinion of women was not a very favorable one as it seems.

"As expected of a Knight of the Round Table but don't worry, if I wanted a slaughter, I would have summoned a Berserker. Just your presence will be enough to keep most Enforcers away."

Most indeed as it is to be expected that braver Enforcers would show themselves at this city after having a plan on how to deal with the servants, as a specialized group to hunt other magi, this much preparations would be the usual for them, however, that hardly is Touko's first point of concern right now, clearing her servant doubts about her approach on said 'innocent people' was but the first step to assure a well-rounded teamwork between the two women in this apartment but the revelation of her servant name was a shock that Touko could not hide behind her usual cool facade. Not just the fact that this servant is clearly female but mainly by the fact that Touko aimed for Mordred, surely this accident was within the error margin considering both were knights of the same location, at the same time and that Mordred is Arthur's clone but believing in coincidences isn't what earned Touko her sealing designation.

"Arthur Pendragon . . . is a girl that could easily be my daughter . . ."

There shouldn't be a reason for Touko's servant to lie to her, that would only backfire at both of them, sooner or later, the servant surely was aware of that as well, not to mention that knights have their pride and honor to upkeep as well, however, before being knights, they all are human and humans do lie.

"Now this is a cultural shock, your life must have been a hard one, to hide your gender from everyone while still fulfilling your duties as a king."

Having regained her composure after the initial shock, Touko have no reason to believe her servant to be lying to her, certainly the summoning did not went as planned, that was clear from the moment that this girl presented herself in front of Touko, however, this was a welcomed mistake. Excalibur, Arthur's Noble Phantasm, is one of the most powerful ones in history, getting her hands on the sword of promised victory by accident was like a dream coming true but the question was for how long would this dream last.

"Show Excalibur to me."

More of a order than a question, the confirmation of the golden sword would not only confirm Touko's servant identity but also make a few changes on her battle plans for this war.

[Mordred]

That woman, Aozaki Touko would prove to be some trouble. She would not take Saber's words for the truth without verifying them herself. This was likely a natural side effect when a person spent a lot of time in research, which was the primary field of a magus. Enforcers were definitely the least of the Blonde's worries. Mordred knew that by sheer instinct alone, but life was not without troubles and she had learned this the very hard way. Still... within her were still remnants of that little child who was craving for attention, and easy solutions. There would be no doubt in the memories and hearts of men that she had in fact just taken the easy way in her previous life, no matter what her own 'pride' told her. Nevertheless this insatiable rage mixed with the desire to be right was simply a product of her doubt towards herself... and regret. But who could blame her for those feelings? The result of the final battle against King Arthur was just one of the many horrible incidents that would remain engraved in history with Mordred as no more than a blemish on the mostly clean reputation of 'The Knights of the Round'.

This internal rebellious attitude also caused her to flinch when this woman was declaring her to be a little girl. An insult to the pride of the Knights, her father and of course herself. All the stories of the past were about adventures of powerful men in heavy armor, how they were showing their gallantry and often saving damsels in distress. Women... and girls just had other roles and the distinct discrepancy of their roles forced people into positions that were definitely below their worth or forcing them into hiding. In a way being called a girl was quite insulting, as long as Saber was not able to overcome her own pitiful fears to be placed into a role that she wished to leave behind. Wasn't the fact that she was not a human being bad enough!?

"I'm a knight above anything else. Gender has no meaning. I hope you will refrain from undermining my abilities because of the misassumption that I could be your.... daughter."

Mordred was the splitting image of King Arthur. How this woman could so easily tell that Saber was female was beyond her. It was in a sense scary, worse than a beast as you could not easily use a sword to cut through concepts or words. It was also the truth and no matter how much she intended to keep this fact hidden, that woman in front of her would probably have her stripped entirely to ascertain the content of Mordred's statement. Equivocation was pointless. For a brief moment she also began to dwell on the past, several frustrating moments and also pondered about eventual meetings with other Knights of that Era, or even more extreme: The very summoning of King Arthur in person. She was not sure how much she would actually like one of those and only the knowledge about the Grail War prevented her from breaking out in cold sweat.

There could be only one Saber in a War, and that Role had already been taken by none other than Mordred Pendragon. She would turn history and even if she could only change one Story in the endless appearing set of multiverses, she'd be glad to do so. However, there was something she lacked... something that was the reason why her father had denied her the crown and something that she was also clearly not able to obtain while standing around. Actually without time traveling she would never be able to get her hands on weapons that had been returned to their initial owner centuries ago, or were broken in combat equally long ago. Even disregarding that a sword was not something for show, Mordred saw no way nor reason to abide Touko's request. She did not hold Excalibur in her possession and as far as history was concerned Saber believed the same to be true for her deceased father.

It was a bit problematic and tiresome, but this request had to remain unfulfilled. "Master, you will see my sword when the need arises. However I don't intend to parade it and lose a precious advantage in this War, which is the secret of my Identity. Even if the sword is drawn I won't reveal its true form until the day I have no other choice."

Mordred remained calm on the surface, but her inner feelings were in turmoil. Why did she even hide her Identity? Was she so ashamed of herself? That thought kept nagging on the inside of her head, but even without feeling a greater desire to be perfectly honest with this magus it felt unpleasant to keep walking on this path, a path she had wandered for years, even if the 'pavement' was a different one. At least Saber could claim to be one of the few people who had quite some knowledge about the True Excalibur and also knew about its ability to remain hidden from the eyes of men. That Clarent would be Excalibur's shroud was a rather big step away from 'Invisible Air', albeit none that bothered her at the moment.

"You can leave everything that concerns battle to me. The grail has given me some information, but I still find this knowledge very foreign to me. Those memories are just not my own and it will take some time to absorb them as such. I will refrain from getting active tonight without your Orders because you must be exhausted from the summoning, but I ask of you to involve me in your plans. What is the next intended step?"

[Aozaki Touko]

This concludes that this is a terrible start for this master-servant relationship, Saber clearly hide evidences of her identity towards her own master, while it is hard to think that King Arthur would resort to such methods, Touko have no way to confirm this theory when she does not know Arthur's personality outside of speculations based on what is written about Arthur and in the very same way of thinking, this servant could be Mordred lying about her identity for either fear of her own reputation or some other personal reason. Given how defensive Saber is being at the moment, Touko cannot confirm either now.

"Right, my apologies Saber, that mistake won't happen again. As you said, your gender have no relation with your results, as long as this stays true, I won't object to this."

It was interesting to see these statements that are made to recognize the identity of the being in front of you, for both the servant and the magus, spark this basic reaction at the 'King of Knights', for one that was so distant and void of human emotions, this Saber sure knew how to make her blood boil when poked where it hurts, like a spoiled princess. A reaction that could bring a smirk to Touko's expression if her servant wasn't this sensitive about this, forcing the magus to control herself and keep her collected and cool mood unchanged as to not bend the frail bridge between them that is called trust even more.

"........."

A long and thick cloud of smoke fills the air between the two after Touko lit up one of her favorite dragon smoke cigarettes, Saber answer to her request to see the sword was disappointing, although all of the circumstantial evidence points out for this servant to be Mordred instead of Arthur, this mistake would be an welcomed one especially when Touko would be able to land her eyes on the famous golden sword, Excalibur, an artifact that any magi would love to study at least once, but alas, life rarely go along with one whims and while Touko still have that childish hope inside her heart, her mind is mature enough to know better.

In the end, this action only added more weight to the pile of evidence that Touko's summoning went as planned, contrary to what Saber states but that is the extent of how much according to the plan things went, when aiming for Mordred, Touko expected to have a difficult time with her servant's personality even without knowing it since it goes without saying that a homunculus raised in order to enact revenge would have some issues but gender and personality conflicts are a bit more than expected, perhaps forming a bond may be out of question but a literal master and servant relationship is still possible to an extent, Saber . . . Mordred is here because she have a wish that she want to see granted, one that may be somewhat obvious considering her backstory but not something Touko will touch at the moment.

"Don't worry, my workshop is safe and you can relax a bit while in here. It is a pity that I won't be able to see it brilliance until we are out of options but I will respect your decision, Saber."

Without knowing why Mordred was lying about her identity, Touko will not risk calling Mordred by name, be it either her real one or Arthur, until she can prove to Mordred that she knows for certain that the servant in front of her is indeed Mordred Pendragon. To have Mordred listen to Touko orders without having to rely on the Command Seals Touko will have to show to Mordred that unlike everyone else, that they are on the same boat.

"Hearing that is a relief, while I can provide support for you, direct confrontation is not my forte and I have to keep this body intact until this war ends, at the very least. As for our next step, we will make you caught up with all the info you have borrowed from the Holy Grail and I will fill in the gaps that may arise. If you have any questions about me as well, feel free to ask."

[Mordred]

Mordred briefly raised an eyebrow upon hearing Touko's final comments, because not many people would disregard their body as anything but a tool, even when the blonde knight shared the sentiment that it was no more than a vessel. The magus seemed to be one of many words, a trait that Saber did not like to dwell on too much. Words could deal a lot of damage, even when they were not bound to rules or magical spells, and she hated the pain they were able to produce. She certainly would rather step into battle than get into some profound psychological analysis of herself.

"I'm not certain why you decide to eventually cast your body away after this War, but whatever path you may take after the end of our contract is not for me to criticize. Still, I admit that it feels strange to protect something that will be lost at the end .... There are no further questions. I will consider further inquiries whenever they might surface. There is no need to waste more time on words, but know this, there were bigger fortresses that fell. There is no such place where we could relax until all opponents are defeated."

It would be practical to have some kind of alternative headquarters if they ever had to give up on it, but for now Mordred decided to defend it properly.

"Please continue with your explanation and then rest up. Proceeding with the next step is of uttermost importance."

She didn't wish to drag this dialogue on any longer than absolutely necessary and grew increasingly impatient, just like any child of her actual age would get when faced with never-ending stories of the past or ridiculously large plans. There were enemies that needed attention and a sword that thirsted for blood. Mordred preferred to hold on to the initiative rather than trying to defend their headquarters against possibly multiple assailants. This also allowed her to worry less about unpleasant questions from the side of her master.

[Aozaki Touko]

Clearing some points between master and servant is the first step in order to keep this partnership moving towards victory, even though the partner in question isn't exactly the most helpful when it comes to sharing information, Touko knows better than to leave the one that can save her life in the dark and ironically, such is the first inquire of the servant in red.

"To put it simply, this is not the only body I possess but this is the only body that you are linked to, Saber. I can go into more details about this if you are interested."

A half truth, even if Touko were to die and change bodies as usual, she would not lose her rights as a master since those are linked to her soul but the same can't be said about the contract that have been realized just a few minutes ago and there is a very small chance that Mordred would survive without a master long enough for Touko to meet with her again in that case, it is not impossible but Touko does not wish to try that possibility.

"We won't be using this place as a base for attack or defense but as a place to fall back to in case of need and hope that it don't get discovered, as long as we can keep this tree hidden in the forest that won't be a problem."

"Right now there is no problem but whenever we return here, you are to stay in spirit form during the time spent in this place as to not give away our location."

Remaining hidden is something that Touko managed to do quite well for some years while escaping the watchful eyes of the Association but that was when she had no reason to stick her neck out like now, making this current hideout less safe than any other before but still needed as a contingency plan.

"Now for the attack plan, we will use your superior abilities to hunt and snuff the other pairs out of their own hideouts, we will force them to reveal their cards to us and with that try to deduct the identity of our enemies and gain the upper hand."

The air kept on being filled with smoke as Touko drifted into her explanations and her habit automatically made itself visible in the form of a thick fog as more cigarettes are consumed, however, Touko red eyes remain quite visible to her servant as she becomes more serious now that introductions are over.

"We won't be able to keep a low profile as you suggested when we attack so be ready to fend off third parties as well but leave the civilians to me."