themainframe | ♔ 003; [voice]

['Partners don't keep secrets. Shouldn't we know more about each other?']

[Palmon had said as much to him early last month, but in the immediately following confusion of her turning into Yokomon. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to talk or even confide in others if he could, but given the sudden circumstances of being shoved into this world he'd been hesitant to speak up or even really get to know the strangers pushed into the same situation. But today Waver felt a little more talkative for some odd reason ~~like an event or something, go figure~~ and his partner was right, wasn't she? They should've been able to trust each other if nobody else.]

[So he'd offered to tell his partner a story. She'd been playing around with the D-Terminal at the time, and asked to record it--why not, really? Waver didn't have anything to hide.]

I've never really done this sort of thing before, but I guess if you want to hear it I can try.

Sure I do, Waver! It's about time you actually started talking to me, so I'll listen.

Well...once there was a king of a place called Macedonia. He was loud, overbearing, impulsive, and stubborn, but incredibly popular. In fact, he had an entire army of devoted followers that looked up to him.

Sounds like kind of a pain in the neck. How'd he get that many people to like him?

It's a little hard to describe. I guess...he was like a force of nature in that he absolutely refused to compromise or give an inch of ground to anyone else, but at the same time managed to be more human than anyone. Since he was the king he made sure to want, feel, and even dream more than any of his subjects. He wanted to conquer the world, and for the time he lived in, he practically did. But it was never really enough; he dreamed of finding the ocean at the ends of the world--Ōkeanós--and his army shared that dream.

[Palmon had fallen mostly silent, listening to the revering tone Waver had adopted. It wasn't one she had yet heard from her partner, and she wasn't even sure what to think. After a pause she ashed hesitantly:]

Did they...ever find it?

[Waver didn't answer for a moment; the silence that fell was a heavy one that gave the question it followed some considerable significance.]

Was he a friend of yours or something? You sound kind of-...

...Not quite; it was more than just friendship. Ride- [A pause, as thought he'd tripped over the word.] --Iskander is my king, and I'm his follower. I want to reach that shoreline he dreamed of...I want to be able to live to the fullest as he did. I don't know if I can, but I could never call myself his follower at all if..i-if I didn't try.

Waver? Are you...

I'm not crying, don't be stupid.

I didn't even ask that yet.

W-well I'm not, so forget about asking!

[And there he was right back to the weird, overreacting Waver his partner knew. Still, the open display of emotion and reminiscence struck the plant Digimon as something very unusual and even a little concerning.]

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She was loud, dramatic, short-tempered... [She smiles, a soft, somewhat sad smile.] But also very compassionate and supportive when she wanted to be. She's, well... one of the people I cared about most in this world.

[Hakuno laughs.] Would you believe me if I told you that all records of her throughout history remembered her as a man?

[Excalibur came to mind almost immediately, and Waver had to make a conscious effort not to laugh.]

I'm probably going to sound crazy, but I'd absolutely believe that. She doesn't sound like the Saber from my war as far as I can tell, though...there must've been more than one Servant with a situation like that.

Kind of makes you wonder just how often that mix-up happens. Saber told me once she knew of a Heroic Spirit who had to disguise her gender so that she could become a king.

[Hahaha Hakuno if you only knew...]

... But in Saber's case it sort of just seems like the historians were lazy. She outright told me the reason she dressed as a man was because she "liked the outfits", not because she had to hide who she really was to rule.

I might have heard of that one.

[h a...]

Maybe they just thought the stories would sound better if she was male? I couldn't really guess why they'd change it if it didn't matter.

Really? Who do you think it was?

[Can't be any stranger than an Emperor being a girl, right?]

Or maybe they did it as a way of insulting her. [At that, her expression falls. She sort of had a feeling that was the case, but with the way Saber was huffing and puffing over the mistake, she had wisely decided not to bring that up.] She... isn't exactly remembered well, in the history of her empire.

If I had to guess, King Arthur. Judging by her Noble Phantasm, that was the Saber in my war, and she was definitely a girl.

[He shrugged, thinking over his response again. This was a delicate matter and Waver of all people knew that, so he was trying to approach with some level of tact.]

Is it okay if I ask who she was? I won't take it personally if you'd rather not answer, but there's not too much to secrecy at this point if you ask me.

King Arthur?

[Well... she wasn't really expecting that. She wasn't sure what to expect, really, but the iconic king of countless stories certainly wasn't it. Her surprise doesn't last long, though, once he asks that question.]

... I guess there's no point in hiding it. She's probably gone now... [She was trying not to think about it the whole time she was here in this new digital world, but now that she finally said it out loud... it hurts. A lot. But she can't dwell on that pain, can't let it take over and turn her into a moping mess... so she takes a slow, steadying deep breath]

Saber's true identity was Emperor Nero, the fifth Emperor of Rome.

Emperor Nero?

[rrrright back at you.]

Rider didn't really hide it, himself; in fact he interrupted a fight between two other Servants as loudly as possible to shout his name at literally everyone listening.

Edited 2013-06-06 02:11 (UTC)

[She totally understands you, bro.] I know, it surprised me too. She even hid the truth from me right up until we were forced to use her Noble Phantasm.

[She frowns a little.] It's a bit sad. The way she acted, I wouldn't have been surprised if she was like your Rider. Unafraid to say her real name... she certainly didn't hide the fact that she was an emperor, and it was pretty obvious she was Roman. But I guess that sort of reputation would make anyone think twice about throwing their name around.

[Waver sighed, leaning his head on his hand.]

I was practically livid when he went and announced himself like an idiot. Rider wouldn't have known 'secrecy' if it bashed him on the head with the baseball bat--actually, it'd probably just break the bat.

But there really wasn't much I could do. He barely listened t-...no, that's not really right. He listened to me, he just didn't follow orders at all. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

[Hakuno manages to laugh at that.]

He's that stubborn, huh? I understand what you must have felt, trying to deal with that. I doubt a herd of stampeding bulls would be able to get Saber to step down. Once I had to physically restrain her to stop her from charging after one of our enemies and likely getting killed.

♔ 003; [voice]

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