Fate: Merlin's Apprentice

A Battle against Berserker

Ark casually walked into the Trace user's Manor and was slightly surprised to see Artoria standing at the entrance. But she wasn't tensed up or wearing her armor. The King of Knights was just looking at him with her hands clasped together. Both sides had a staredown; no hostility was sent towards each other. After a few seconds, Ark decided to speak first.

"Artoria."

"Ark."

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, which the male was used to thanks to his past life, so the Mage simply looked down at Sakura, who shuffled in his arms, trying to get comfortable.

He still needs to remove both the grail piece and crest worm; after that, his job is done. The Mage needed to expand his knowledge of Restoration Magic. And if there is one thing Ark never used throughout his many Skyrim Playthroughs was the restoration tree.

Sure, he knows the basic Restoration spells, but that's where his knowledge of the spells ends. He much prefers his destructive spells.

"I'm surprised to see you out here?" Ark said before walking towards the King of Camelot. "I wanted to leave unnoticed." Artoria looked at Sakura then back at her second son. "I wouldn't recommend asking what I did; all you need to know is I did this world a favor." The Mage said, seeing the familiar look in the Knight's eyes.

The False Knight held out the girl for the king to take. Artoria took note that Ark wasn't acting as hostile as he usual way. If anything, the young man looked tired and looked to be holding himself back from doing something.

"This girl is the same one Shirou talked about," Artoria stated. Ark rolled his eyes and shoved Sakura into the blond female's arms. "What did you do, my son?" The Mage just stared. The king was startled to see that his eyes were suddenly filled with pain.

"You should worry about your own Master then what I'm doing." Ark spun around, his hands balling in anger. "And why do you care? You never showed a sliver of care towards us, only your people?" The Mage spat, but his voice didn't match with his eyes.

Artoria went back to when Ark said what his wish was about and what he wanted the most of. The king blinked only to realize Ark was walking away, his body trembling.

The Mage was still not in the right state of mind, especially with his little debate on choosing Sakura's fate; he can figure out how to help her later. Right now, the Ex-Apprentice wanted nothing more than to hug Mordred and just let his emotions go free.

He didn't care what his sister would say; he needed some comfort right now. Ark didn't want to show Gray this side of him, not yet anyway. Mordred has seen this side of him a few times, Merlin included. His teacher understood why he was feeling the way he was, but Mordred would never understand.

Tears were building up in Ark's eyes, but he grits his teeth and quickly wiped them away. He wasn't a little kid; he was a grown man. God damn it! Taking a shaky breath, the Mage was about to continue walking but paused when two arms wrapped around him.

"Artoria, let go of me," Ark said, trying to make his voice stay flat. "I don't want to speak with you right now." His voice cracked slightly, which made him curse inside his head. "Just bring the girl to Shirou and leave me b-"

"Ssshhh," Artoria said. She remembered that during her time in Camelot, she saw a little boy crying and a woman rushing towards him. The possible mother ran up to the boy, hugged the little child, and started saying something to him.

This caused the child to calm down and hug the woman back. "Just... Let me hold you." Ark wanted to push her away; he wanted to scream and shout at her.

He wanted to tell her that she should direct this... loving attention towards Mordred, not him. The Mage doesn't want it... All of this was a lie; he missed being held by a loving mother who cared about him. "I understand you and Mordred are angry with me; no amount of forgiveness will ever fix what happened between us all... Please, Ark, I want to help you."