Charles Patricius

A prophecy dictated that between Charlemagne and Father An, one had to die. He hadn't given that much consideration, but the entire topic of an absorption made it quite obvious in a way. From the sound of things, he was still wholly incapable of emerging victorious. Jeanne could kill the god in question, but even Charlemagne could see how much of a problem that would be. That outcome simply couldn't be allowed, he thought. "So the how is still in question," he muttered. Gilgamesh's retort was immediate. "It is no question. The how does not exist. Your only fate is to be consumed by Anu. The only one with the ability to succeed, is the Dragon Witch," he reiterated.

No. No, that could never happen. Surely Jeanne wanted that exact outcome in her current state, but that would lock her into place. Two years, he had. In two years, Charlemagne had to become powerful enough to avoid absorption, and powerful enough to succeed in defeating Anu. What a tall order. Whether it worked or not, only time would tell. For now, all he could do was hope. "That doesn't help at all, but... it also does. Thanks, both of you. I have no more questions," he said. Gilgamesh scoffed. "Hmph. To think, I adorned myself for this to be the outcome. For that, Artoria Pendragon, I hold you responsible. Come now, before we miss the best part of the show~"

It seemed things had become rather interesting wherever these two were before appearing here. Charlemagne would leave them to their business, but there was one more thing he now needed to do in the Nexus. His body was half-frozen. Up to this point, the idea of failure hadn't properly settled in his mind. He had to start considering contingencies. If his life and existence had to end, he should at least ensure promises were kept. Angelica and the others had to be freed of Aincrad's clutches, and Jeanne had to be spared a life of bitterness. Could he manage that? Well... he didn't have much choice but to try. Even so, there were some who had to be informed of the possibilities.

The how was in question, this was something that Artoria had been considering. Though she knew not the fine intricacies of the sorts of powers and abilities, she knew that a lad like Charlemagne technically had to come with everything he needed to defeat his opponent. It was simply a matter of figuring out exactly what all it was. Gilgamesh in this case would be of little help, he claimed the only one who could beat this father god was, the Dragon Witch, but for the sake of preserving her original self letting her actually go through with it wasn't something which could be allowed. 'That thinking of yours is still quite inflexible,' Artoria said of Gilgamesh. His words might have been the truth, but there was always hope, and as a person whose fate rested on hope she wouldn't discount the lad and his very earnest oath. She'd seen his conviction and she understood his logic, even if he could not do everything what he did would be magnificent.

There was a moment where Artoria should have replied to Charlemagne but instead the words of Gilgamesh graced her ears. He'd adorned himself for this outcome and apparently she was to blame. And what was more they would be missing the show... "I did not tell you to change, decisions you make on your own are your problem," she said to King Gilgamesh. "You are welcome, Charlemagne..." she offered the lad those words. Artoria reached for her grail and grabbed hold of her sword. Back to bearing witness to battles she went. Even so, the lad's plight wouldn't be far from her mind. They'd both go back from whence they came leaving the lad to his thoughts and his newfound reality. Likely this wouldn't the best possible news, but heroes needed adversity and those who walked the path of savior had to simply continue on their paths. That was how Artoria saw it anyway. She had faith that lad wouldn't find himself in too much trouble, at the very least the sword in his hand would be an apt companion...

This was going to be the most hectic two years of Charlemagne's lives. He'd be left to it, as those he called upon were also going to be quite busy. He had two years before the Holy Grail appeared, and oddly, Gilgamesh would be keeping that two years in mind. Little did Charlemagne know, it would be made possible for Jeanne d'Arc to join the journey before its end. If nothing else, Gilgamesh would ensure as much. Left ignorant, Charlemagne could only bow as the pair took their leave of the Nexus.

Once he was alone in the blank white space, Charlemagne held his grail once more. He wondered if it would be possible to summon Angelica without the help of Albertus. Summoning others who possessed Holy Grails was one thing, but she was brought out previously due to the weak remaining connection between them. Could he manage something of that caliber? Well, the only way to find out was by trying. Once more, the grail filled. Once more, he poured out that glowing golden liquid within. Once more... reality itself opened. All Charlemagne had to do then, was find out if he could reach the right person. "Angie?" he called out, curious. The ripples reacted as if a drop of water had fallen into the pool, but there was nothing. "Angie!" he called again. For the second time, nothing happened for several seconds. Charlemagne stopped to think, visualizing the Holy Princess as vividly as he could. The portal had spawned; he just needed to reach the princess. Maybe he had to enhance the link between them? He did know of one way to ensure she could hear his call. With that in mind, Charlemagne took a deep breath and... "Luviagelita Angelica Edelfelt! Hurry up, or I'll be gone for sixty years!" he yelled into the portal.

In the mind of Artoria Pendragon, Charlemagne simply had to endure. The paths walked by those who tangled with gods, were never easy, but... a bit of skill and some hope, could go quite a long way. He'd be left, bowing as he was, as the pair of sovereigns exited the Nexus. Things in this world were set in motion a dance of fate was only a little farther off. And though it likely wasn't obvious, Charlemagne had quite a few people on his side, even if they would not directly interfere with his journey.

But moving on from those topics, it would seem that Charlemagne wasn't quite done even at the exit of the sovereigns. He would be waiting around and then calling upon another. A call would go out, for Angie? Well whoever that was supposed to be, they didn't show up immediately. Another would happen but it would have similar results regardless of his concentration. Something about the way that the Nexus worked, made it so requests had to be very specific especially for those who could not be called 'Grail Holders'. Ah, but that last one, with a full name, would have a semi armored young woman with long blonde hair that curled in blue, appearing within the Nexus. And what was more that thinly veiled threat would only get him a pretty aggressive greeting. "YOU WOULDN'T DARE, CHUCK!" was the exclamation of a greeting. Ah, but with just the two of them being within this space, she immediately wrapped her arms around the young man. She'd had quite the busy day, and it was good to see him well...

Once, twice, thrice did Charlemagne call upon the Holy Princess of Aincrad. Two failures were counted, but that final outburst caused some changes. Perhaps it was the emotion. Perhaps it was the full name used. Perhaps it was neither of those, and could simply be blamed on keeping a natural state that played to the bond between them. Ah, and it was so very natural. Angelica emerged in the most notable and familiar way possible: yelling. In addition to yelling about how he wouldn't dare, she captured him in a hug. The grail he held wound up pressed against Angelica's back as his arms ensnared her as well.

"Of course I wouldn't," he said as their embrace solidified. "Well... not if I could help it," he added. It had only been a day or so since their last meeting, but that was a very hectic encounter with a few others present. Now, it was only the pair of them ─ just as it had been the day before everything went south. He wasn't sure if things were looking better or worse now. All he could say, in fact, was... things were moving forward. "So... there's a lot happening. You doing well out there? How's the hiding going?" he wondered. Before delving into all the craziness on his side, there was still the problem of Angelica being hunted in Aincrad. Her current status was much more volatile than Charlemagne's side of the journey.

Not if it could help it. "You better help it!" Angelica mentioned. She found herself easily ensnared within Charlemagne's arms and felt quite comfortable there. She'd been on the run for the last couple of days but her adventure so far hadn't been completely negative. In fact, she had new and sort of happy things to share. She wasn't having a bad time or anything currently. Actually, after getting over the shock of her 'father' trying to marry her... she was actually having a pretty good time exploring the labyrinth. She continued to hold Charlemagne the way she was for a few moments longer as she explained her current situation to him.

"Hiding is going fine. And I'm also doing fine. Actually, I met my real dad, and he's with me... so it's not so bad and I'm not too lonely," she explained of the present situation. It would likely take some real explaining in just a few minutes. But for just these few moments she was happy to fall back into comfortable arms without anything weird happening. "And you? Are you feeling better, is your group okay? How's Sakura?" she asked wanting to make sure they weren't having a bad time either.

There was so much happening, but things between Angelica and himself hadn't changed at all. She remained the same bossy, somewhat bratty individual that managed to make such behavior endearing. "Right. Well... I guess I'm helping it, huh?" Charlemagne replied. It seemed he was easily finding himself in high spirits after that summoning finally worked. It also seemed the pair wouldn't be letting go of one another. Charlemagne certainly wasn't going to, knowing two long years were ahead of them.

Apparently, Angelica was still managing to hide from Father An's followers. That was one sigh of relief out of the way, followed by immediate confusion. She met, and was currently with, her 'real' father. Given the number of things Charlemagne heard recently, he could hardly be surprised finding out that Father An wasn't Angelica's legitimate father. In fact, he couldn't be surprised if she said there were multiple 'real' dads, after meeting Sakura. "Oh. That's weird... and random. But you know what? That's good. I hope he's better for you than the one that tried to unexist me," he said. Angelica went on to ask questions of her own, regarding his wellbeing, that of the group, and... Sakura specifically. "Uh... yeah, about that. Everything's fine. I'm fine, they're fine... Sakura's... fine," he said, realizing there was a matter of great importance they didn't previously address. "So uh... did I mention how Sakura kept me from breaking apart when we met? By, what was it... mana transfer? Because that happened. Y'know, before uh... another mana transfer for general purposes. And another. And... a few more since then. And... a couple of hours ago. And probably again later, and... yeah. . ."

He was helping it. Well, yes, that was very true. Still, even that knowledge wouldn't have stopped Angelica for giving that sort aggressive retort. Even as she relaxed in the lad's arms. "Yeah, you are... this is nice," she murmured. In truth, she'd missed Charlemagne long before any of this happened. She'd just thought they'd be getting to spend some real time together and they were thrown this rather intense curve ball. This was fine though, she was actually still seeing him far more consistently now, than she had since he'd completed the labyrinth. And so, she'd take comfort in the contact, together they stood, with her explaining meeting her real dad, and meeting him, and Charlemagne for his part in this seemed to encourage it. Hoping this one was better than her previously assumed father. "He's definitely way cooler. I'm sure you'll like him!" she said seeming to understand that whole situation. "Also you took that a lot better than I expected," she said seeming pleased.

Of course, that newfound sense of understanding the lad had, seemed to fall short of true understanding. This of course, would be made obvious by his weird way of broaching the topic of Sakura and his group. Everyone was fine and so was Sakura. But his explanation of his apparent changes as they concerned Sakura were... rambling and sounded crazy to Angelica. In fact, the lad sounded like he was confessing to something he'd done wrong. He spoke of mana transfers being how his body was fixed and then his continued, several times over. He even prefaced that it would be happening in the future. "Charles, calm down," she asserted pulling back from this deep hug to look at the lad's face. "I really want to know, how you think my senses work... No, how bad yours are if you think you have to confess to something like that. Or you think I didn't notice," she said in a slightly bratty fashion. "Really, I know she's pregnant too. And compatible people should want to do that sort of thing... and she helped you and she's great so you should like her. I hope you haven't been being human weird about this to her. Have you really been freaking out about this?" she asked seeming not to realize that she was inadvertantly hinting at being pregnant herself.

Angelica asserted that this new, or rather original father, was... cool. She actually managed to use that word correctly as well, somewhat to Charlemagne's surprise. As for how well he took the information, that wouldn't have been the case a few days prior. After all he'd learned recently however, it was easy to accept a lot of things. "Yeah, I've seen a lot of crazy stuff lately. Five biological dads wouldn't surprise me anymore," he specified.

Moving on to his rant about recent developments with Sakura, Angelica responded with a name she used only under very specific circumstances: Charles. Calm down, she said upon loosing their embrace. In the following moments, Angelica shared words that Charlemagne expected only in his wildest imaginings of the current confessions. In fact, she seemed disturbed by the thought that she didn't already know what was happening. That was something Charlemagne hadn't given any consideration to before. "Huh? Firstly, who the hell is Charles?!" he corrected. "Secondly, no way was I going to think about all that sensory junk while having the week I've had. I was never a sensor type in the first place, Luviagelita!" he added afterwards. Ah, and Angelica knew of the other goddess's pregnancy as well. It all sounded like Charlemagne's degenerate thoughts about his own relationship status were coming to fruition. Maybe karma was working in his favor after the Father An debacle? "Alright, so... you're telling me I didn't have to explain any of that? That's fine. Not changing the fact that I was going to do it anyway. Vows are vows for a reason, and I still stepped outside of that. Not cool. Where do we go from here? When I reincarnated into this world, the last thing I expected was to become an actual French nobleman with the whole polygamy thing."

Apparently, Charlemagne was being more acclimated to the more magical side of the world. He'd come to understand even the five biological fathers of Sakura in the time he'd been gone. That was good, "Well, it's nothing like that... it's more like putting frosting on cake. My actual dad and mom made all the cake and that guy that tried to un-real you, added the decoration and took me under the pretense of letting me out of Celestia, only to lock me in Aincrad instead," she explained of the situation. Angelica came with slightly better to understand metaphors for the way her life worked out and it would seem that she was a bit different now than she had been but it didn't matter.

Moving on from that, the small tirade of Angelica seemed to be something that Charlemagne wasn't ready for. The first response was about what she expected when calling his legitimate name. "Obviously, the name of someone who was having some kind of issue," she said in typically bratty fashion. The second however, was him not using his senses and like given the week he'd been having, "I understand that you've been through a lot. Not denying that at all... but maybe consider figuring out how that sort of thing works. You're an adventurer after all... having a more passive use of that sort of thing would definitely help. Given my current experiences I can say that... and you will be able to be calmer about things. Also given your new existence you probably have or could develop a fairly good one," she offered the lad. She was willing to give him a bit of a pass since he'd been so human but thinking like that wouldn't help him adjust to his new existence at all. "And I don't know who, hmphf!" she said crossing her arms over her chest.

But it seemed that Charlemagne wasn't fully prepared for what it would mean to have two goddesses interested in him. He seemed to think that he was still in the wrong and he was going to explain it anyways because what he did was uncool. Angelica sighed and took hold of Charlemagne's face in both her hands. "You explaining all that was not necessary though. It is very human of you to feel bad about life-saving procedures or natural inclinations. And just because you think you did something wrong doesn't mean you did," she said seeming to have a very goddess way of thinking about things, even after coming to understand that such things were partially done for fun. Knowing about the fun part made her boundaries more specific but that didn't necessary apply to the idea of monogamy. After expressing that very honest truth, her body relaxed and she relaxed her arms against his shoulders holding him as such. "As for where we go from here. We are missing a person for that conversation, yes? And if this sort of thing is normal in France why was it ever something you felt guilty about?" she questioned directly. She didn't understand what Charlemagne was finding so bad about potentially having two wives or picking two of them within a short time span. Humans were confusing.