The Queen of Shadows

Chapter 5: Departure

Chaldea's quarters were expansive; capable of providing residence for over 300 employees and servants. They provided much needed privacy for each servant to sleep and do whatever they wanted. For this reason, each room had a sliding door, one window to outside, and was equipped with soundproofing in the walls.

"ALL ABOARD! HA HA HA HA HAHAHA...!"

If it weren't for that last feature, many residents would complain about the noise coming from this particular room.

Dressed in a tube-top, red leather jacket, and denim shorts, Mordred was sitting on a stool playing an electric guitar hooked up to an amplifier. She was playing along to an 80's metal song being blasted on her portable speaker, powering through the intro with remarkable dexterity.

Mordred hit all the notes on her instrument with flawless timing and accuracy. After entering the verse, she started to sing along and lose herself in the music. Right now, she wasn't a knight or a servant.

She was a rock star.

By the time Mordred hit the chorus, she failed to hear a buzzing at the door of her quarters. She finally noticed when the buzzing was replaced by knocking. Annoyed at the interruption, she set her guitar on a stand and walked over to open it. Henry Jekyll was standing in front of the doorway about to greet her when the loud music assaulted his ears.

"Argh! Mordred!" Jekyll yells while covering his ears. "Can you turn that down and let me in?!"

Mordred is amused at the sight of the doctor distressed and decides to play with him a little bit.

"What's that?" She puts a hand to her ear as if trying to hear him. "I can't hear you over the awesome music!"

"Turn, off, the music!"

"What?!"

"Oh, for the love of-!"

Jekyll walks past Mordred and heads straight for the speaker, switching it off. Jekyll breathes in a sigh of relief for the peaceful silence. He then turns to Mordred, looking at the knight sternly.

"Are you trying to make me go deaf?"

"Oh you're fine Beansprout... you just don't know great music when you hear it, like all the other pop-normies out there."

Mordred walked back and took her seat beside her amp and fiddled with her guitar, switching her amp to a clean channel.

"I find it difficult to like it when it's used as noise pollution." Jekyll said as his eyes wandered, scrutinizing the Saber's quarters. "You shouldn't be playing when we're just about to leave soon. And what on earth is going on with this room? It's a mess!"

"I was packing..." Mordred says nonchalantly as she re-tunes her guitar.

Jekyll had the urge to roll his eyes at Mordred's uncaring tone, but being the dignified doctor he was, he relented. Looking around the room, the Assassin noted how the drawers were left open with some clothes hanging off and all of her used laundry was piled up on a chair across from her bed. The walls were littered with posters of Mordred's favorite bands; mostly consisting of Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Queen among others. Besides her guitar and amp, the other eye-catching feature of her room was the display for her armor and Clarent, displayed menacingly for all to see. The Saber didn't even have the decency to make her bed this morning, and it was left disheveled with a suitcase on top. Speaking of which, the case was left open with a bunch of clothes and other essentials just thrown inside.

"Errr yes, I can see that... you know that cluttering is a sign of a troubled mind right?"

Here he goes...