#VEGITO POV#
"So this is Avalon," I remark seeing Avalon for the first time with my own eyes
"It's beautiful, but that's not why we are here," I say shaking my head as Artoria stands next to me looking at the tower in the distance
"You said he was trapped in a tower right?" I ask Artoria as she begins to fly over to the tower
"Yes, Vivian trapped him inside and it resulted in my sister taking advantage of his disappearance to interfere in the battle of Camlann,"
"In the final moments of my life, I was rescued by someone and brought me over to Avalon, during the travel, I made a deal with the Counterforce..." She says emotionlessly as she talks about it
"Which resulted in you participating in the Holy Grail War and it ended with you being 'corrupted', then I met you a while later," I summarize the events
"Indeed," She says smiling as we arrive at the tower
"Vegito," She calls out and I wordlessly create a barrier around the tower to prevent its prisoner from escaping
Getting inside we walk around a bit until we finally come across the door and Artoria breaks it open without even trying
I blink as I look at the man inside
Well, not exactly a man
From here, I can tell that he is actually something more than that
According to Artoria, Merlin is half human half-incubus
"You know why I am here Merlin," Says Artoria looking at Merlin emotionlessly
"I have no idea...gah," Merlin stops as Artoria lifts him effortlessly by the throat
"My birth, my life everything, I DEMAND YOU TO TELL ME EVERYTHING," Artoria shouts getting angrier by the moment
I wordlessly get near her and place my hand on her arm and she turns to look at me
"He won't tell you everything like this," I tell her as she keeps looking at me before letting Merling fall to the ground
"Oh my, rather aggressive there..." Artoria cuts him off with a backhand sending him toward a wall
Merlin then falls to his hands and knees as he tries to recover
"Why did Morgana hate me even before my birth?" Asks Artoria as we had talked about this before and compared notes with the versions of King Arthur from Connor, Percy, and Danny's reality
For all of them to have hated Arthur for something beyond their control seems incredibly stupid, even if in Connor's world that Morgan was just a bitch, but one thing remains
Morgana or Morgan never really hated their worlds, Arthur, for simply being born
In their cases, it was just because Arthur kept in getting in her way for world domination
Once I told Artoria about this, she formed her own conclusions and asked me for a favor
To help her find out the truth about her birth
"Because you were chosen..." Artoria slaps Merlin again
"By who?" She asks with anger in her voice
"Alaya," He answers downtrodden as a defeated look on his face comes over him
He looks defeated and tired
I stare at Merlin for a bit before I just shake my head and stay out of this
"What does she have anything to do with this?" She asks as I look on
"The dragon Albion had fused himself with the land in an attempt to keep the Age Of Gods going, once you slew him after he began to dig deep into the ground, Vortigern had already obtained his Dragon Core from it and tried to obtain the Lance you now wield in order to return the world back to the Age Of Gods,"
"What does this have to do with my birth?" Artoria asks tired of the history lesson
Merlin lets out a self-depreciating chuckle which nearly makes Artoria snap
I let out a sigh as the decision to not wait for Artoria to calm down a bit before we came over is making me regret coming here right now
"Everything," Says Merlin
"Your father was a very jealous and power-hungry man, he knew that with his brother's physical as well as magical prowess plus his right of birth..."
"No," Artoria whispers as its easy to know what Merlin is going to say next
"Yes, Uther was the heir-second to the throne, Vortigern was the real heir of the kingdom," Says Merlin my mouth drops a bit before I shake it off and look at Artoria as she looks at Merlin
"My mother, what happened to her? I was always told that she died due to complications, you know what happened to her"
"Your father was so desperate for an heir that he turned to magic at the same time, he was born," Says Merlin
"Who?" I ask instead of Artoria as I can tell that she is restraining herself from beating the crap out of Merlin
"Vortigern's son, the true incarnation of the White Dragon was born a year before you were," He answers and Artoria blinks numerous times at the same time that I do
"Once Uther learned of his nephew's true nature, he knew that he would never get the throne so he forced me to bring about the incarnation of the red dragon,"
"But on the day of your birth, 2 children were born, you and your...brother," He says as Artoria freezes in place as she goes over what she just learned
"After you were born, everything froze in place," He continues a bit fast after seeing Artoria raise her fist
"Alaya contacted me and ordered me to..."
"To do what?" Artoria asks sharply with barely restrained fury
"To kill the male and that you grew up taking his place,"
"After I broke the child's neck, I replaced your heart with his along with his Dragon Core, with Alaya's help I succeeded and I erased the memories of everyone there," He explains and I watch as Artoria just looks at Merlin with a dead look in her eyes and I watch as her eyes turn a ghastly yellow color as her hair becomes a pale blonde for a moment before they go back to normal
"Uther was going to kill you, he was furious that you came out a worthless female and ordered me to take you away, not long after he began to turn everyone against your uncle,"
"What happened to my cousin Vortigern's son?" She asks to which Merlin just shifts his position as he leans his back against the wall
"As you know the Age of Gods was ending, some gods were still around, diminished and weakened as they were, they attempted to reach the land and do everything they could to prevent the fall of the Age Of Gods,"
"Your cousin kept them away, he fought them and became an unknown God Slayer, the last God Slayer," Answers Merlin
"Why didn't he take the throne? It was his by right of birth,"
"He believed in you,"
"What?" Asks Artoria confused
"Your cousin believed in your ideals and thought that you would accomplish your dream so he stepped back and allowed you to take the throne and entrusted the task of leading the people over to you," Merlin answers and I watch as Artoria flinches back and regret fills her eyes
Artoria takes a deep breath before asking another question despite how much she is hurting right now
"Why did Alaya want my brother dead?" She asks
"He was too dangerous to be allowed to live,"
"How? he was a baby,"
"Your brother would have grown interested in magic, having a Dragon Core and me as a teacher, he would have surpassed me and possibly even rivaled the King Of Magecraft, especially since with his mere presence for however short it was, was causing Mystery to return to the world," He explains and while I am confused, I do wonder what kind of person her brother would have been before I shake my head
"Why me?" Artoria asks
"You were easier to mold and take your brother's place and to prevent you from fully taking over your brother's destiny, I was ordered to traumatize you away from Magecraft, which succeded and you hid behind the idea that a knight doesn't use Magecraft," he explains while Artoria looked furious at that
"I was so interested in it and you...you took my adopted father's life because he began to teach me what little he knew about it, you...YOU BLEW HIM UP DIDN'T YOU,? Artoria drew out her lance and pointed it at Merlin
"Yes, as he began to teach you the basics of it, I interfered in one of his lessons causing himself to blow up in front of you, and then I taught you, Mana Burst, myself which you then decided for some reason was the limit of what you were going to learn," Merlin chuckles at that and I get a pretty good idea as to why that was the limit of what she wanted to learn
"Why did my sister hate me so much?"
"In order for you and your brother to be born Uther was willing to sacrifice his 'wife' in order to get his own heir. Your sister was punished one day to watch as your father kept forcing himself on your mother hurting all the while after she spoke against him. That was the day your mother was pregnant with you," He answers
"Knowing that for the 2 of you to be born, a sacrifice needed to be made, which your mother was,"
I watch as Artoria pierces Merlin's heart and I quickly move and grab his soul as I sense something trying to retrieve it
Artoria pulls her lance back as she falls to her knees with tears coming out of her eyes
I destroy Merlin's soulless body before getting close to Artoria and hugging her
She hugs me back as she cries in my arms
A few moments later she is wailing in pain as she finally knows the truth
Minutes later, I use my motherbox to take us back home
I hold her in my arms as stops crying
"Vegito," She calls out to me as I look down to see her looking at me
She leans up and kisses me
She stops kissing me a moment later as I don't react
"Don't worry, I already talked about this to the rest of the girls, so just make me forget about this for a moment," She almost begs and I lean down to kiss her...