Chapter 20: Kings and Queens

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Arturia laid flat on her bed and staring up at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. She was unable to stop thinking about everything that had happened today; especially her argument with Mordred after Scathach's brutal training session. Turning on her side, she tries in vain to silence the negative thoughts weighing on her mind, not able to help but recall Mordred's hurtful words:

"Remind me who has most angered the people... who turned a blind eye to their needs, and made Camelot believe that their trust was squandered. Many of Camelot were glad to be rid of you!"

Arturia lets a tear escape her eye and she curls-up in her bed. Emiya's earlier words of encouragement were lost on her as she falls into an all too familiar state of regret and self-loathing. Mordred may have caused the rebellion that tore apart Camelot, but deep down Arturia thought Mordred may have been right in the fact that her people were angry at the king, and her detachment and objective approach to rule may have made the people eager to turn against her.

She thought she'd done everything right; everything that the ideal king of Britain would do as per Merlin's words:

"To be a king is to no longer be human. A king must act and rule as he alone sees fit, and not show weakness or emotion."

The half-incubus who would serve as her mage told her these words before Arturia pulled Caliburn from the stone; the act that gave her the right to be king. She'd previously lived as a peasant girl, raised by a retired knight and forced to watch as foreign invaders raided and desecrated her country as order waned after the fall of Rome, plunging Britannia into a dark age. The moment she realized that she learned her true origin as heir to the late King Uther Pendragon, Arturia wanted more than anything than to pull Britain out of decades of darkness. Whether Merlin's words said to her were meant as either instruction or warning, Arturia attempted to pull the sword, believing wholeheartedly in the ideals behind her actions.

 Whether Merlin's words said to her were meant as either instruction or warning, Arturia attempted to pull the sword, believing wholeheartedly in the ideals behind her actions

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And where many have failed, she succeeded...

Arturia recalled everything that happened since reintroducing herself as King Arthur: Establishing her base of operations in Camelot, forming the Knights of the Round, defeating Vortigern, and driving back the Saxon raiders over her lifetime

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Arturia recalled everything that happened since reintroducing herself as King Arthur: Establishing her base of operations in Camelot, forming the Knights of the Round, defeating Vortigern, and driving back the Saxon raiders over her lifetime. Even with all of those triumphs and so much more, it was all for naught after Mordred rebelled. She became a servant for the Fourth Holy Grail War to give her kingdom another chance to prosper. Yet, after Iskandar's criticism and seeing the state of Sir Lancelot, plagued by madness by her hand, Arturia thought that she may have been the problem, and someone other than herself should have pulled Caliburn and become king instead. If she wished for it, then just maybe Camelot would have endured past Camlann, and Britain would prosper for just a little while longer.

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