Fate/Claws Out

(A/N JUST A QUICK NOTE MY DEAR READERS TO PLAY THE SADDEST ANIME THEME SONG YOU KNOW BECAUSE IT WILL REALLY ENHANCE THE FEELINGS YOU'LL GET FROM READING THIS CHAPTER OR YOU CAN SIMPLY PLAY NARUTO OST: DESPAIR)

Normal POV

Logan would normally take his cycle to work but today he decided to just walk to work enjoying the early misty morning of Fuyuki. 

The events of last night were still on his mind Setanta...Herakles....Artoria all former friends that he never thought he would ever see again since their deaths. 

His thoughts lingered on Artoria. 

Thinking of his former King always left a bitter like feeling in his mouth because unlike the other knights of the round table who constantly doubted and spoke behind her back. He had outright abandoned her, left her behind to save Morgan from her own self but in the process, Logan damned everyone else. 

To save one person he had left the others to suffer. 

Tristan planted the seed of doubt in everyone by openly claiming that Artoria "does not understand the hearts of men" and leaving the round table to return back to Cornwall. 

Lancelot's affair with the queen was exposed and in his foolishness, killed Agravaine, Gaheris, and Gareth. 

Guinevere was eventually executed for her affair and 'betrayal' of Artoria. 

The seeds of doubt and greed slowly grew within the people of Camelot. 

Then there was Sir Mordred the kid who faithfully served Artoria despite all of the bias, unfairness and distrust she received from her fellow knights of the round. 

That is until she received the news of being Artoria's son from Morgana (Morgan's dark personality) and was then promptly rejected by her. 

She had come that very night to his quarters rageful, hurt, and crying "why doesn't 'he' want me!" Mordred scream echoed in his mind.

At the time he simply held her in his arms until she cried herself to sleep before going to confront Artoria herself who at the time dismissed his concern.

He had stood there in her chambers that night jaw tight, anger simmering beneath the surface. Logan wanted to argue to make her see that Mordred didn't want the throne she was just a child desperate for her parent's acknowledgement of her but Artoria, in her ever-stoic nature refused to waver.

"Mordred was born of treachery," she had said voice firm yet distant "even if I do not hate her, I cannot recognize her as my successor to the throne simply because she does not possess the compacity to be the ideal King."

When he returned to check up on the kid she was gone, the only sign that she had been there were the broken furniture that she broke in her anger. 

However, he did pick up the faint familiar scent of Morgan in the room and it was then he had made his hasty decision to leave and hunt Morgan down for answers.

Answers he never got to report back to neither Mordred nor Artoria due to getting captured by Morgana (Morgan's darker half). 

Escaping from the dungeons was a difficult task since Morgana booby trapped her castle with dragon tooth warriors, beast warriors, and homunculi.

By the time he finally escaped everything had already gone to hell. 

Logan suddenly paused when he saw a familiar figure through the morning mist tossing stone on top of a campfire. 

The figure had green eyes and messy blonde hair tied up with a red string.

She wore a red leather jacket, white crop top, short jeans, and a pair of leather boots. 

He stood still for a moment before walking towards her

Mordred grunted placing another stone on top of the fire she stopped looking up at Logan "heh this is kind of nostalgic aye old man?" she said gesturing to the campfire.

Logan let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, his steps slow and deliberate as he neared the fire. The warmth flickered against the morning mist casting shadows that danced across Mordred's features.

She looked just as he remembered wild untamed but with that same sharpness in her gaze. The kid had always carried herself like she had something to prove.

"Nostalgic, huh?" Logan muttered settling down on the other side of the fire. 

He ran a hand through his hair letting out a dry chuckle "yeah... I guess it is."

Mordred grinned tossing another stone onto the pile "remember when we used to camp out in the woods after training? Just you, me, and the stars?" her voice held an odd lightness, as if the weight of everything Camelot, the war, and the betrayal had never happened "you'd sneak me extra rations while pretending it was some grand knightly lesson."

Logan huffed "it was a lesson 'A knight must always be prepared,' I told you."

"Bullshit," Mordred shot back, laughing "you just didn't want me going to bed hungry."

Logan didn't deny it he had done a lot of things for her back then not as a knight, not as a soldier of the Round Table, but as someone who had seen her for what she really was.

 Not an outsider just a kid.

 A kid who never got the chance to be one.

The fire crackled between them and for a moment neither of them spoke the morning mist swirled lazily around them as if time itself had slowed to a crawl.

Then Mordred broke the silence.

"You came back," she murmured.

Logan tensed.

"You came back that night," she continued her voice unreadable "I was gone by then wasn't I?"

Logan exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his face "yeah… you were."

"I lost control again," Mordred muttered her green eyes fixed on the fire "woke up, got angry, trashed the place, and then left to go start a rebellion" she let out a bitter laugh "typical of me right?"

Logan's jaw tightened "I searched for you," he admitted "as soon as I saw you were gone, I looked everywhere before I came after Morgan" his hands curled into fists "I was too damn late though."

"By the time you did I was already on the battlefield," Mordred finished for him her smile bitter now "by the time you did I had already killed the one person I loved most in this world and so had you."

Logan closed his eyes forcing down the lump in his throat.

Damn it, kid...

"I didn't want the throne," she murmured her green eyes flickering down to the fire "I just... wanted to be his, to be acknowledged, to be something more than just a mistake."

Logan's breath hitched.

Mordred turned her eyes back to him, and for the first time since he sat down, that cocky, mischievous fire in her eyes had dimmed, replaced by something far more fragile.

"I miss you a lot old man," she said. 

Simple. 

Honest.

Logan exhaled shakily the weight of a thousand regrets pressing down on him. 

His vision blurred for just a moment, but he didn't wipe away the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"I miss you too, kid."

Mordred gave him a lopsided smile one he had seen countless times before but just as he reached out, the mist thickened, the fire flickering—

Then she was gone.

Logan sat there staring at the empty space where she had been the false warmth of the fire already fading. The streets of Fuyuki slowly came back into focus the quiet hum of the city returning.

Yet the hollow ache in his chest remained as he slowly walked away heading towards Homurahara Academy. 

-end of chapter thirteen-

This chapter was actually inspired from a Batman v Superman scene where Clark is climbing up a snowy mountain in Antarctica where he sort of just has a moment with his father even if he was a just a figment of his imagination.