Destiny and Doom
"It's time for this madness to end," said his soft but determined voice.
"NO!" came her strangled cry.
"I only blame myself for what you've become." Two pair of eyes glared intently at each other. "E-5!" He shouted triumphantly.
"Emrys!" she screamed defeat. "You sank my battleship!" Everyone in the room started to cheer.
"I told you, Morgana. Emrys is your destiny and your doom." The elderly lady smirked. She had her gray hair in a loose bun with wisp of strands hanging around her pale face and faded blue eyes. Those eyes could look really sad sometimes; but today they held the merriment and mirth like all the young people around her.
Young men were jumping of the sofa and dancing around in victory; whooping and hollering in joy. The tiny apartment was filled with the chaos; an opponent that was finally defeated. Two weeks of torture; over.
One voice broke out over the noise and chaos. "I swear to God, Merlin, if you ever teach Morgana another game, I'll crash your computer." Arthur Pendragon had not been a happy camper for the last couple of weeks. Not since his best friend and roommate, Merlin, taught Arthur's sister, Morgana; also known as Merlin's girlfriend, how to play the board game 'Battleship'.
Morgana was ruthless in victory and never let her opponents defeat go unnoticed, carrying it over until the next day. Even the gentle giant Percival slammed his massive fist on the table and swore when Morgana defeated him. Now Percival was taking up about ninety-percent of the small living room space by doing a victory dance; stepping over the sofa, chairs and people.
"Sour grapes, Arthur." Morgana called sneeringly.
At the small dining room table, Morgan had her head in her hands and moaned. She felt a small hand pat her on her shoulder. "Do unto others, Morgana…" The older lady said trying to comfort her.
"I would never try to humiliate Morgana in her moment of defeat, Mrs. Calleach." Merlin said with a smirk. He gave a small laugh as Morgana groaned into her hands again. He bumped his juice glass in a 'cheers' fashion with Leon. The tall blond man gave a small chuckle and sipped his drink.
Lancelot and Percival walked over to the older lady and each taking a side and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Mom. We really appreciate you allowing us to host game night here." Lancelot said gratefully. Percy nodded in agreement.
Mrs. Calleach smiled at her boys. She enjoyed time with her boys and their friends and girlfriends. Lancelot and Percival were the last children in the long list of foster children she helped raise. Both the boys were orphaned with no family to claim them and neither had been adopted because people had considered them too old. Everyone wanted babies or very young children not young teenagers. But when they were 'aged out of the system' both boys stayed. They considered her their mother and she considered them her sons; the blessing she and her late husband had always prayed for. They were both gracious and kind and so were all of their friends. If any one of them had a problem; all got involved to help out. It didn't escape her notice, of course, that most of them had the legendary Arthurian names.
"Yes, Mrs. Calleach, thank you for having all of here." Said Arthur. "If we were at my house my father would have put Merlin in a dungeon for making Morgana cry." Arthur's girlfriend Gwen swatted him on the arm.
"Hey!" Morgana protested. "I do not cry. And I am not ruthless."
Everyone scoffed and groaned at her statement and she shot Gwen a dirty look. Gwen was shy and sweet but she did not back down from unpleasant situations. "Well, Morgana, sometimes you can be…"
"Whatever happened to 'we girls stick together'?" Morgana asked.
"I think that went out the window when you posted my defeat on FaceBook and went on for about ten minutes boasting of your conquest." Gwen derided.
When things were about to get out of hand Gwaine stepped in to stop it. "Ladies, ladies, let's all get a drink and cool down."
Merlin wrapped his arms around Morgana and kissed her on the neck. "Forgive me?" he looked at her with puppy dog eyes and gave her a tiny frown. "Please?"
"Oooh, that is so unfair, Merlin." Morgana said. Knowing that she could never hold a grudge against Merlin, she smiled and kissed his chin. "Of course."
"Aaaaw, that's just too sweet," Arthur and his 'knights' all said mockingly.
"Shut up," Morgana demanded scathingly. The group just laughed at her good naturedly.
Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Game night was actually becoming their favorite past time. Once or twice a week the gang would hang out at different house; one that could actually put up with a large rambunctious gang when things get out of hand. Gwaine still bemoaned the lack of pub time but since drinking less, he was able to hang on to his women a lot longer. Vivienne liked this Gwaine better so she decided to hang around him more often.
Everyone convened to the living room and Morgana went to the cupboards where the games were held. Since she was the champion-for the longest time, too- it was her choice as to what the next game would be. She was looking over the large selection of board games, cards, dice and even some electronic game and spotted one that suited her mood and competitive and dominating spirit.
"Hey, Merlin." She held up the box with the game she was interested in, "How about teaching to play 'Risk'?"
"NO!" Everyone shouted.
Oh well, at least things will never be dull.
The end.
Dedicated for Family Game nights and togetherness everywhere. Because no fights have ever broken out while playing board games…right?
a/n: I make no claims to Merlin or any Copy-righted games that may be named in this story.