They found each other right away.

The coldness of the winter night blew her face as she approached the veranda. Mordred saw her father sitting on the platform, the bun-tied hair was let loose. She dragged herself through the wooden floor, her hold tightened on the blanket around her.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

Arturia lifted her head to see the other blonde, shifting from her position to give a space. "Speak for yourself," she said, not wanting to give a direct answer.

Mordred chuckled, knowing how her father never really responded to her questions straightaway. She herself could not sleep because of the freezing temperature. "It's chilly tonight," she commented as she sat. "Wanna' share?"

Arturia looked at the blanket and accepted it, realizing that she had actually been shivering. She thanked her before handing the younger girl a mug of hot chocolate she brewed a while ago. "It's not as good as Shirou's, but it will warm you up."

"Whoa…thanks."

"You're welcome."

Then, there was an awkward silence looming between the two. Mordred sipped on the drink, letting the heat emitted from the glass to warm her hands. It was delicious, much to her liking, she could taste the melted marshmallow and all that. Beside her, Arturia snuggled in the embrace of the blanket, drawing breath to herself.

"I had a dream," the former King of Britain confessed all of the sudden. "It was the Fourth Holy Grail War over and over again…"

"Whoa. Who did you encounter back then? The spirits?" Mordred turned in curiosity.

"Before that, who did you encounter during your war?"

Mordred hummed, thinking. "It was crazy— There were fourteen pairs— a complete wreck! There's this Siegfried guy, the priest guy, Aviceborn something, Chiron, Frankenstein that I defeated, that Semiramis hag that I defeated too, this pink-haired dude girl-look-alike, the ruler Jeanne d'Arc-"

"Wait," Arturia cut in. "You met her? The Holy Maiden Jeanne d'Arc?"

"Sure did! What's up with that?"

"I met her comrade Gilles de Rais in the fourth war," Arturia revealed. "He was one twisted man… He mistook me for her and almost half of the kids around the neighborhood went missing, tortured to death by him. He was later defeated by me and the others in Mion River."

"Oh, I've seen the shipwreck! It's Excalibur, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah," Arturia admitted shyly. "The bridge over it was also where the King of Conquerors and the King of Heroes battled each other."

"Iskandar and Gilgamesh?"

She nodded. "And there were the Hassans, the First Knight of Fianna, and…" she winced at the dreadful memory, "Sir Lancelot."

Mordred had her eyes widened as she noticed the change of the mood. "Lancelot?" she did not mean to gasp, but the surprise was real. "How?"

Arturia bit on her inner jaw. "He was summoned as Berserker by the Matou family under Mad Enhancement, so I honestly did not know it was him until our final confrontation."

"You…defeated him?"

"I did," her voice was strained, as if someone had hit her right in the gut and she was still recovering. After a long thought, she collected the guts to talk furthermore about the Knight of the Lake. "He had wished to be judged by me, he wished for atonement from his crimes and demanded penance. In the end, I couldn't save him. I failed everyone of you and I did not even get the Grail to restore everything back. I should have never been a king."

Tears started to gather in the corner of her eyes when unexpected arms wrapped around her. Arturia was surprised, but welcomed the comfort nonetheless. She looked down to her child, carefully began to run her fingers through the messy blond hair.

"And I simply want you to be happy," Mordred spoke ever so softly. "That's all, Father."

"Thank you."