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Officially, King David knew nothing.
It was the official version, which suited him very well. It ensured that he didn't have to meddle in what he thought could be quite a headache.
It made it possible for him to stroll the corridors of Chaldea in peace. It allowed him to be himself, talking to everyone he saw without restraint. Life after death - or being summoned as one of the many Servants of the Last Master of Humanity - could be really interesting.
The aforementioned life after death got a bit more complicated after Queen of Sheba appeared in Chaldea.
David, it should be noted right away, never met her in his life. Queen of Sheba arrived in Israel when Solomon was already king - which happened after David's death. This meant that, purely theoretically, David owed her nothing. He didn't have to see her, he didn't have to talk to her, he didn't have to think about her.
But, well, being the king of Israel - even a dead one - obligated him to do something.
A day or so after Sheba was recalled to Chaldea, David decided that he would meet the woman.
It wasn't hard to find the woman.
Queen of Sheba was beautiful.
Each Heroic Spirit took on a form that showed them in their full power. Queen of Sheba looked like a young woman, with fluffy ears and a tail. Her clothes revealed a bit too much flesh, however, the woman did not seem to care about this; on the contrary, she seemed to exude confidence, as if she was proud of her appearance and her clothes.
The doctor she was talking to seemed to be concerned about this.
David knew Doctor Romani; anyone who had spent some time in Chaldea knew him. The Doctor was like a friend to everyone - you could meet him at any time, practically anywhere, and talk about anything. David did not talk to him face to face; the Doctor was not interested in talking to him. Given his duties in Chaldea, it made sense, hence David didn't press him.
And that would have been fine, if it weren't for the fact that Queen of Sheba was constantly sitting next to him, making it hard for David to talk to her.
He tried.
He did try to talk to her at least a couple of times. Each time the woman stayed in the presence of the Doctor. They exchanged riddles; apparently this was her hobby. David overheard one or two and concluded that it was just a game, a form of entertainment.
David didn't quite know why he didn't feel like coming to see Queen of Sheba when she was in the Doctor's presence. Was it a matter of David not even being officially introduced to the Doctor? Or was it a matter of the fact that it irritated him that such a beautiful woman was interested in such an ordinary person when David was in the area?
Either way, he wasn't about to approach Sheba at a time when she was close to the Doctor.
The opportunity arose a few days after Sheba's appearance in Chaldea. The woman stopped staying so close to the Doctor. Apparently, they were having another riddle duel between them and Sheba was trying to find out something. She spent most of her time looking through books and talking to other Servants or members of Chaldea.
David found her in the cafeteria, bent over a book. She was probably only here because she wanted to give herself the opportunity to talk to other people; as a Servant, she didn't really need to eat, as evidenced by the very fact that David had never seen her eat any kind of meal.
(Something that could not be said of Leonardo Da Vinci. The woman who held the unofficial position of Deputy Director of Chaldea seemed to want to match Doctor Romani in terms of the amount of coffee she consumed. This couldn't end well, and David really didn't want to see them the moment the coffee supply ran out).
“Your Majesty,” Sheba raised her head when she realized she was not alone.
“Am I allowed to steal a moment of your time?” David sent her one of his friendlier smiles. In the past, these kinds of smiles were more than enough to steal the hearts of women.
“Of course,” said Queen of Sheba. “It is an honor to meet you officially, o great King of Israel.”
“David alone is enough,” he said, deciding not to create artificial barriers between them. “What is a beautiful woman like you doing here, Queen of Sheba, who doesn't want to reveal her real name to anyone?”
“My real name is not so much of a secret,” the woman smiled at him, but there was something in that smile that gave David the impression that she wanted to create distance between them. “I'm sure you will know it soon, Father.”
Ah.
Yeah. Solomon's wife.
David would have forgotten about it.
But was it his fault? Queen of Sheba appeared in Jerusalem after his death. David never really met her; which is a shame, because from what he managed to figure out, he was dealing not only with a beautiful, but also a wise woman.
“In that case, I will look forward to that day,” David sat down on the vacant chair in front of the woman. Queen of Sheba put her book aside. “We haven't had a chance to talk before.”
“Yes, Father. However, I have heard a lot about you, both from my subjects and from my husband.”
“I hope they were good words.”
“Who knows, Father?”
Did she really need to emphasize what kind of relationship she wanted between them? David understood the first time. He knew how to accept rejection when he saw it.
Besides, he had not yet fallen so low as to desire his son's woman. Even if said son was already dead.
Yet, David was able to bet on it, Sheba could not be Solomon's only wife. The fate of his son didn't interest him enough that he should spend his leisure time reading about what happened after David's death, but a man didn't have to be a genius to know that Solomon certainly had his harem. It was required of the king.
“Well, no matter what you've heard about me, I hope we'll have more opportunities to talk to each other from now on,” David said.
These were words that could just as well have meant “I'm not interested in the fact that you are my son's ex-wife” as “let's remain friends as two Servants coming from the same age” or “I don't like to be ignored, and you have ignored me since you arrived in Chaldea.”
Sheba only smiled.
“Oh, I hope so as well,” she said. “I look forward to a successful cooperation, Father.”
Queen of Sheba and Chaldea’s Doctor were dating, of this David was sure.
It wasn't hard to come to these conclusions. It was hard not to see them together. Sheba even seemed to have an unhealthy attachment to a man. It even got to the point where Da Vinci would kick her out of her workshop, stating that the woman was interfering with her plans. Plans in the making of which Doctor Romani was involved, of course.
Queen of Sheba and Chaldea’s Doctor were dating, but the woman persisted in calling David her father all the time, reminding him of her connection to his son.
And it was incredibly annoying.
David was able to figure out that the woman wanted to keep him at arm's length, but she didn't have to do it that way. Sometimes he had the impression that Sheba would glance at him, as if just waiting for him to bring up the issue of her husband (ex-husband?) and current lover.
David did not give her that satisfaction.
Whatever the woman wanted to do, let her do. She had her life, David had his. That’s all.
Queen of Sheba came to see him occasionally.
They talked mostly about the past. Queen of Sheba was curious about David's life, his sons - especially Solomon.
“Solomon was my only love,” she confessed one day. “I don't think I would have been able to love anyone else in the same way.”
A day later, David saw her staring at Chaldea’s Doctor with those dreamy eyes, as if she could not see the world beyond him. Fortunately, Da Vinci showed up and took Doctor with her, claiming she needed his help. In what, she no longer concretized.
David would like to be able to say that he was surprised to learn that Solomon was responsible for trying to destroy the world.
He wasn't.
Solomon had always been a bit of an odd child. David had many sons, many daughters. Solomon was one of his younger children, the son of Bathsheba - the woman David loved so much.
But there was always something wrong with Solomon.
His face was too calm. He seemed to know more than others. He could smile, of course he could, but sometimes, when David looked at him, he had the impression that he was not dealing with a child, but a grown man who had seen too much. Solomon sometimes said strange things or suggested acts that at first glance seemed crazy. Later it turned out that it all made sense.
If Solomon was doing something, it had to have a purpose.
So if Solomon was trying to destroy humanity, he must have had some purpose, some reasons. They probably weren't understandable at first glance, but in time they would come to light.
So there was no reason for David to be concerned about this.
It was Queen of Sheba who should be concerned.
David knew that the woman spent quite a lot of time talking to Doctor Romani - and they probably talked about Solomon. Often Da Vinci would join them, and the three of them would make some plans. They were plotting something, but they didn't tell anyone about it.
David some part of himself expected them to invite him to plot these plans - after all, he was the father of their main enemy - but that invitation never came.
Well, apparently it was meant to be.
But that's not what made David look at the woman with suspicion.
Sheba was calm.
Too calm.
Her behavior was not that of a woman who had just learned that her husband wanted her destroyed.
Of course, David did not know exactly what her relationship with Solomon was. Perhaps the woman once loved him, but stopped, realizing that she was just one of many for him. Or perhaps her feelings no longer mattered, not now that she had been summoned as a Servant. Perhaps for her, her new Master was more important than the past.
It wasn't that David didn't understand this. That's what the existence of the Servant was all about. Their past lives didn't matter so much; what mattered was why they were summoned now. Their job was to cooperate with their Master. Besides, most Servants did not desire the destruction of this world and humanity.
In Sheba's case... well, the woman was concerned as nothing that they knew who their enemy was. However, she did not react with as much panic as David would have expected. Of the two of them, it was Doctor Romani who seemed more shocked to hear Solomon's declaration.
Which made a bit of sense, because from what David had heard, the Doctor seemed to be a fan of Solomon. Perhaps Sheba was to blame, who probably told him far too much. David surmised that many of her stories were far from the truth. Sheba had a bad habit of coloring various historical situations.
(Because really - summoning 72 demon kings? Even Solomon wouldn't do something so stupid and contrary to the Lord's will.
...David would not think of the demons they saw in the Singularities.)
But. Back to the main problem.
Sheba's behavior was too contradictory.
She was a woman in love with his son - which she emphasized at every turn, addressing David as “Father” - which did not prevent her from romancing on the side and acting against Solomon's will.
Something was very wrong here.
David wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly what.
The lights in Chaldea have never went out.
Oh, of course, Chaldea was full of the living who needed sleep. Many Servants chose to sleep, mainly to maintain the impression that they were still alive - even though it was only an appearance. However, there were still some Servants who decided that sleep was for the weak and engaged in... well, various activities. David didn't even want to know.
One evening, his feet carried him toward the command room - the same room from which Ritsuka and Mash's activities were observed when the two of them traveled back in time to fix the Singularities. David didn't exactly want to enter that room - if he were to be accurate, he only wanted to pass it - but the ajar door and the lights coming from it caught his attention.
He stopped, hearing hushed voices.
Almost immediately he realized that he was looking at something he shouldn't be looking at - the scene seemed a bit too intimate, a bit too private, not for the eyes of outsiders.
Doctor Romani and Sheba were in a room just the two of them. A monitor screen glowed in front of them; what exactly was displayed on it, David could not see very well. They were sitting across from each other, holding hands and whispering something to each other. Their faces were close together, but David was unable to see them; the room was too dark.
It wasn't as if they were doing something scandalous. It wasn't that they were overstepping any boundaries (not that David minded; after all, he was a man with many beautiful women by his side and had seen and experienced a lot). On the contrary, by the very tone they were using, David got the impression as if one of them was on the verge of a breakdown, destruction - or one of them, perhaps both of them, was just breaking. It wouldn't have surprised him if one of them had cried earlier - or was about to.
He didn't know what they could have been about. He had no idea why they were just here; whether they were supportive of each other, or whether the state they were in was due to some kind of quarrel.
Carefully, very carefully, he closed the door so that no one else would be able to see them.
David didn't even know how it happened that the next night he found himself in the vicinity of the command room again. Just like the night before, the door was now ajar and a pale light shone through the crack.
This time no one was talking.
David waited a while, but still heard no voices.
He looked around. Emptiness. There was only him in the corridor.
He opened the door slightly. Silence. No one reacted to his presence.
He opened the door even wider and entered the command room. Silence reigned in it. The light David saw came from the computer screen that was on.
David moved in that direction. The world may be coming to an end, but when it's all over, one day they'll get enormous electricity bills if they treat their equipment this way.
As it turned out, there was a man in front of the computer. David stopped, seeing Doctor Romani. The young man had fallen asleep in a chair, surrounded by papers and research. The computer in front of him was still lit up, which probably meant that he had fallen asleep recently. His hair was loose - something unusual, as David had always seen him in a ponytail.
What time was it? David guessed it was getting to two or three in the morning. Something told him that this was not the only time the Doctor worked at such hours.
Solomon was like that, too. David sometimes found him working late into the night. The one and only time Solomon realized that David was looking at him, his son put on that very fake smile on his face - a smile that never came from inside his heart, but rather was a mask, an attempt to pretend that Solomon cared about others - and then apologized to him, completely as if Solomon was the one who bothered David, not the other way around.
David blinked his eyes.
Where did his thoughts about Solomon come from? It wasn't that he was particularly close with one of his younger sons. Solomon was his heir, and David had decided that he would declare him king, but they hadn't really spent particularly much time together.
They might as well have been strangers to each other.
Besides, the Doctor and Solomon were very different. Solomon was always calm, composed, passive. He did not get involved in conflicts, and if he had to do so, he spoke with confidence. Doctor Romani, on the other hand, was an impulsive person, prone to showing his emotions and was sometimes cowardly. David heard that some Servants accused him of being too passive, of procrastinating on important decisions.
So where did this comparison come from?
Was it the fault of Queen of Sheba's presence? No, it must have been her fault - because given her ties to Solomon, it was...
The Doctor moved. His head turned to the side.
And then he looked at David.
He has green eyes, David realized. My eyes.
Solomon had golden eyes and white hair, which he almost never tied up, leaving it loose. Romani's eyes were David's eyes, and his hair resembled his mother's in color. Now that Romani had loosened his hair, and tiredness and the remnants of sleep were visible on his face, it would be so easy to tell they were related. If David didn't know better, he would have said that he was looking at one of his brothers - yet, as he looked more closely, he had the impression that he saw something like Bathsheba's shadow in his facial features.
The optical illusion disappeared when Romani twitched suddenly and leaned back - violently enough that he fell off his chair, and with him fell the documents he was working on as well.
The doctor didn't seem to care - no, his eyes never stopped staring at David. His green eyes. David's eyes.
“Are you all right?” spoke up David, realizing that too much time had passed and that neither of them had said anything.
This was getting strange, even by David's standards. After all, he was a man who was famous for his ability to get on well with everyone, right?
“I... Yes,” Romani said, stopping to look at him. He began to collect the scattered pieces of paper. “I apologize. I didn't mean to disturb you.”
Strange choice of words, stated David. It was as if he was the one who had no right to be here.
That's exactly what Solomon had told him, years earlier. For some reason that moment, those words stuck in David's head, refusing to disappear from his memories.
“You're not bothering me,” David knelt down, picking up the scattered documents. “I'm the one who woke you up.”
“I shouldn't have fallen asleep here in the first place,” the Doctor no longer looked at him, busying himself with collecting the sheets of paper. An expression of annoyance flashed across his face when he realized that he would have to sort them again; the annoyance disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
When he wanted to, he was good at controlling his feelings. Exactly like Solomon.
“I'd like to disagree, but I'm afraid I have to agree,” David handed him the pieces of paper he had collected. Romani muttered a silent thank you under his breath. “This is not a good place to sleep. And a bad hour for work.”
“I am aware.”
Romani counted his cards. He gathered all the nearby documents, turned off the computer. The room was engulfed in darkness, something the Doctor clearly didn't anticipate, as he started looking for some other source of light. He found his phone. He turned on the flashlight.
“I apologize,” he said again. “I didn't plan this.”
“Nothing happened,” David assured him.
For a while they stood like that, in silence. Romani looked everywhere but at him.
“We should go from here,” he said after a while. “It's already late.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Romani passed him by, again avoiding his gaze. David followed him, satisfied that the Doctor did not ask him why he was staying here. David wouldn't have a good explanation for that.
They left the room. Romani closed the door.
“Well... Em...” for a moment he was unable to find good words. “I'll go to my place.”
“Yes. That's a good idea. Get some sleep, Doctor.”
Romani nodded and moved away quickly, as if not wanting to stay close to David.
David felt like saying something. Perhaps to call out to him. Perhaps to ask him something. He had the feeling that there was something important; something he should say - but the words did not want to come to him.
He said nothing, looking at the distant silhouette of the Doctor with his eyes.
The next night the command room was empty.
No lights were on in it, no one was talking in it.
David silently hoped that this time the Doctor was able to fall asleep and gain more than three or four hours of sleep.
Officially, David knew nothing.
He was satisfied with this unofficial version. It gave him the opportunity not to meddle in problems that were not his own, and to keep an appropriate distance from those who clearly did not want to know him.
Unofficially, David had his suspicions.
He knew it was foolish, somewhat naive thinking. The doctor with his eyes and Solomon were completely different people. There was no reason for David to link them together or make up some crazy story just because... why exactly? Because some part of him didn't want to accept Solomon as the one who wanted to destroy humanity? It didn't make sense; David had long ago stopped trying to understand his son and was simply accepting what the man was doing.
So why was he having some strange sensation this time, looking at the Doctor?
It must have been an optical illusion. His eyesight was playing tricks on him.
It had to be that way.
Because if David wasn't wrong.. if his suspicions were to be true...
He didn't want to think about what it really meant.
He preferred not to know anything.
And he didn't know.
Officially.