Note: The first time I tried writing this down, it was set in England, but then I realized that I know next to nothing about the culture, dialect, etc. there, and I didn't want to embarrass myself. Thus, we have an American setting. Sorry; maybe I'll come back and do some major edits if I ever take a trip there.
Also, what to you guys think of my cover? Too spoiler-y in regards to characters? Should I take it down?
Chapter 1
Like I said, I wish I owned these characters. Most of them are just so cool! But, unfortunately, I don't. :|
Silently, the bubbles drifted up toward the surface of the water, leaving the woman that watched them from below.
She didn't know what it was, but she could not tear her eyes from their tiny round forms that kept on drifting farther and farther upward, toward a surface that she could feel didn't even exist. She didn't know why, but... it made her sad, somehow, that they would never be able to make it to the top. They would always keep going and going, striving for an end that they would never find. Meanwhile, she was safe from within the depths of the water, merely watching from afar.
Suddenly, her eyes caught something. A pale white light, reflecting off of the edges of one of the bubbles.
Her breath was caught in her throat.
It...
She reached out a hand, outstretching it to catch the tiny flicker of light.
It was so beautiful.
But she was too far. She was left, stranded in water, reaching for something that she could not catch.
Gently, she smiled, and wished it the best of luck.
"Hey, Arturia..."
Arturia's eyes tightened close at the sound of the voice. She could tell that his face was right in front of hers. He always woke her up like this. First, it would be gently calling her name, and then it would be some other odd measure of waking her up that typically ranged from kisses, to hugs, or poking her face. It always did put her in a light mood, and so she usually played under the pretense of sleep, urging him to wake her using another method.
But, oddly enough, she didn't feel like that right now. Her dream had left her with an odd sense of peace, and she wished to preserve it as long as possible.
So, she rolled over as he called her name again. "Not right now, Diarmuid," her voice was calm and light, yet still held the undertones of doziness. "I want to sleep some more."
"Awe, come on, 'Turia." His tone was unusually chipper this morning. True, Diarmuid always had been a morning person, but he wasn't typically this bright.
Arturia simply moaned at him and pulled the covers up to her neck.
It was silent for a moment. And then-
Suddenly, the covers were thrown off of her and, before she had time to react, there was a pair of arms thrown around her waist, pulling her off of the bed in the lone white dress shirt she had worn as a night gown.
Suddenly jolted awake, Arturia struggled in his arms. "Diarmuid!" She cried, pushing at his arms while laughing. "Put me down!"
"Not until you promise to keep me company for breakfast!" He declared so, nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck.
Arturia laughed and finally stopped pushing his arms away. "Oh, fine, fine! I'm awake now, anyway." She craned her neck around to see the top of his head. He looked up to her, eyes alight and joyful, and finally placed her down on her feet. Arturia crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the man. "Now, why are you so energetic this morning?"
Diarmuid beamed at Arturia and took her hand, leading her out of the bedroom and into their small kitchen. "Oh, come, 'Turia; I thought it was supposed to be the guys that forgot about this stuff."
Arturia looked at the table in confusion. He had made breakfast this morning; a rare occurrence, indeed. As if that wasn't unusual enough, it was full of all her favorite breakfast foods- bacon, omelets, and fresh fruits. The fact that he actually cooked was enough of a surprise, but he even prepared her favorite tea and set out a small vase of flowers in the center of the table.
Suddenly, it struck her.
"Diarmuid, you-"
She squeaked in surprise as Diarmuid's arms were suddenly around her waist, hugging her closely against his chest. After the initial shock had left, she tilted her head upward to look at him, smiling, only to find his lips on hers.
After a moment, Diarmuid withdrew, bringing up a hand to cup Arturia's face. "Happy anniversary, baby."
"Oh, stop that!" The woman's cheeks heated into a rosy color, but she still suppressed a smile and swatted at the man. He knew she hated it when he called her that, but it never did anything to stop him from doing so.
She pulled away from him and crossed her arms over her chest before looking back with a smile, teasing.
Out of the ten years that the two of them had been dating, they had been living together for five, only three of which had been spent in their current home in the northern area of California. And every morning, Arturia would wake up to the same smiling face, that same, beautiful Irish accent, and those same welcoming arms. It had seemed to put a lightness in her step that had only been there back in the days where she and her sisters actually got along and she didn't have a certain someone breathing down her neck every summer. Diarmuid was something to keep her alight and, most of all, he was someone that she could count on to bring reassurance to her when she needed it most. Perhaps that's the reason that this routine always kept her lighthearted.
After a little banter, they were both seated, and Diarmuid slid a few envelopes across the table to Arturia. "Picked up the mail while you were sleeping; you got something from your sister."
Curiously, Arturia took the envelopes while sipping at her tea. "Which one?"
"Morgan."
Now there was a surprise. While she wasn't exactly on good terms with Morgause or Elaine, Morgan, her oldest sister, very clearly detested Arturia to no end. In addition, the last time she had checked, Morgan was on a trip in Germany.
She also always found it odd that Morgan would send a letter rather than text her, or something of that sort. She also imagined the shipping would be incredibly expensive, considering she lived a whole country over.
Whatever the reason, Arturia was curious as to what was in the letter, so, cautious, she tore the envelope with her sister's name on it and slid out its contents, finding a single photo and note scribbled onto a piece of torn paper.
We've finally returned to England, and Mordred wanted me to send these pictures. She also wants you to call us sometimes soon.
Morgan
Arturia blinked and then took a look at the photograph. There was her niece, smiling at the camera with a missing tooth, gleaming green eyes, and a rosy red dress. Smiling, Arturia leaned over the table and handed it to Diarmuid. "Look at her! She's grown so much!"
Diarmuid smiled at the picture. "She looks more and more like you every time I see her."
Arturia snorted. "I keep telling you: she looks more like my mum. If you had ever set eyes on the woman, you'd be able to see that Mordred is like her clone."
The man smiled humorously and stood to hang it on the fridge. After moving shoving a few things aside and making more room amongst all the drawings and small two-dimensional gifts, he finally had the photo share a magnet with a drawing of a blonde green-eyed stick-figure holding hands with a smaller version of itself. "That girl really does adore you." Diarmuid shook his head and sat back to the table. "And we're running out of magnets. Maybe we can get some more while we're out today."
"Sure." Arturia nodded and bit down on a strawberry that had been sitting in a bright blue plastic bowl. "You did make sure to put someone else in charge of the dojo for today, right?"
Diarmuid ran a small dojo out of town, and often offered lessons for children wishing to learn how to fence.
"Of course," he nodded and took an apple from the same bowl. "You?"
Arturia nodded. It had taken a little coaxing, but Lancelot had finally relented and taken her shift at the sheriff's department for the day. It wasn't as if they ever did much in a town as small as theirs in the first place, anyway. "I got the day off, but I may be called back in case of an emergency, so I have to leave my uniform and other supplies in the car."
Diarmuid smiled. "So we're all set, then!" He looked down at the red fruit that rested in his hands and was about to take a bite before hesitating and wiping at it with his sleeve. "Funny," he muttered. "I thought I washed all of these." After a moment, he turned it around to show a big black spot in the middle. Arturia grimaced and made sure to look over her own half-eaten fruit as Diarmuid went to throw his spoiled one into the trash.
The Renaissance fair came to town every January, and was always a big event in an otherwise suburban area. People from Sacramento, Carson City, and San Francisco all flocked around to see the performers as they danced, sung, and told tales of long ago. Even more, people all craved to look at the stores full of vibrant clothing and odd artifacts that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. More than anything, it was a lively event that no one wanted to miss, and Arturia and Diarmuid were no exceptions. In fact, the fair had been the first thought that came to mind when coming up with ideas for their ten-year anniversary date.
Their current tactic had been to go around the area, finding events and attractions that had caught their eyes. Thus far, they had gotten a portrait painted of themselves together (it had turned out rather silly, as the artist had seen Diarmuid playfully tug on a piece of her hair and had demanded that they stay in that position the entire time), had watched a performance of women playing instruments and telling stories, and had watched a jousting event, which Diarmuid, in particular, had found himself completely engrossed in. Eventually, they had moved on to simple games to see who could best each other at what. For a while, they had been evenly matched, with Arturia standing her ground with physical competitions and Diarmuid taking the lead in any skill-based games there were.
Eventually, their need for a tie-breaker had lead them into a small archery hut where a man with a smile wide enough to make the Cheshire cat groan was letting customers shoot a set of arrows for a price that was twice as high as it should have been.
But they had been desperate for a tie-breaker. Both Arturia and Diarmuid were extremely competitive, especially with each other, so they bought a ten-arrow pack and decided to split the shots.
Eventually, however, they had run out of shots and neither of them had hit a single target. They both took a moment to admire their work: arrow ends littered around the ground, some sticking with their point in the dirt while others laid on their sides.
Eventually, the two of them broke into laughter. Arturia leaned onto Diarmuid's shoulder and laughed out, "We would make some for very disgraceful archers!"
The man chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "'We'? Last time I checked, I was at least close to hitting one of those targets!"
As Diarmuid began to lead her out of the hut, Arturia merely snorted and lightly elbowed him in the ribs. "That was my shot, and you know it!"
The two were just about to round the corner, still making playful jabs at one another, when someone else entered the small space.
As soon as she had spotted the golden hair, red eyes, and the arrogant manner in which the man held himself, Arturia had instinctively known exactly who it was, and had tried to turn around, perhaps slid behind her boyfriend in hopes of hiding from the man's sight.
Just as she was in the process of making a u-turn, however, it seemed as if the man's eyes had been drawn to her by some unknown force, and she found herself trapped under his gaze in less than a heartbeat. A wide grin broke across the man's face in recognition, and he walked toward the couple with a few brisk strides.
"Deputy Pendragon! It seems that fate has brought you to me once more!" The man greeted Arturia with open arms and watched in mirth as she crossed her arms with a deep, unamused frown.
"Gilgamesh," she greeted disdainfully in return as Diarmuid pushed up to her side. "I wasn't aware that you were in town."
Gilgamesh was a wealthy man with multiple seasonal homes that he traveled between every three months. He only ever took residence in America during the summer (during which time period he never failed to pester her for days on end), so he should have been back in his home country of Iraq by now. What could he have possibly been doing here?
At the hostile statement that Arturia made, Gilgamesh simply grinned down at her. He made a movement as if to come closer, but instead stopped and glared at Diarmuid, who put an arm around her shoulders. "Go on," the Irish man provoked. "Explain what you're doing here."
Gilgamesh frowned. "Yes, well, I had business here with an acquaintance of mine, so I decided that I may as well be gracious enough to accompany her."
Just as he was saying this, two women entered the hut. Or, to be exact, two teenage girls entered the hut. One of the girls looked down at Arturia (as embarrassing as it was to admit, Arturia had always been at a small stature of five feet) with a pair of wide gray eyes before turning to do the same with Diarmuid, lightly colored green hair tumbling around her head and shoulders like a wild waterfall. The other girl, however, merely gave them a solemn nod of the head as acknowledgment. Arturia couldn't help but find the second girl's bright blue eyes stunning, as they almost seemed to glow in the dim light of the hut.
Gilgamesh extended his hand toward to the green haired girl, who curtsied in her naturally flowing cream-colored dress. "Arturia, this is Enkidu. As of recently, I have become her temporary caretaker." He stopped speaking for a moment and turned to the girl, making sure to put more emphasis on his next two words. "Enkidu, Arturia." He didn't even bother to look towards Diarmuid, who seemed perfectly content with this.
The girl simply rose from her curtsy and silently gave the two of them one of the most brilliant smiles that Arturia had ever seen.
Arturia nodded to the silent girl in astonishment. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Enkidu." The girl showed no indication of hearing- or understanding- the words, but her face still held that bright smile. Arturia turned her head to look at the blue-eyed girl who stood just behind her. It seemed odd that Gilgamesh would not introduce her, as well. And, as much as she wished to have nothing to do with the man, it would be rude to simply ignore his company. "And this would be...?"
"Someone who should be of no concern to you." Gilgamesh dismissed the girl, who showed no sign of offense from the statement, with the wave of a hand. "She is merely accompanying us; pay no mind."
Arturia frowned, and she could tell that Diarmuid felt equally discomforted by the fact that the man refused to give a name, judging by how tightly his lips were pressed together.
"Ahem!"
Suddenly, everyone turned in the direction of the man that stood at the counter of the archery range. His over-exaggerated smile had completely vanished from sight and was now replaced with a ferocious scowl. "If you're not going to shoot any more arrows, than get the hell out of my archery range!"
Gilgamesh shot a look at the man, and, at receiving the stare of narrowed, blood-red eyes, the sweat that began pouring down his neck became painfully obvious.
The blonde aristocrat merely huffed in disgust and turned to his company before ushering them out. "Come, Enkidu; we mustn't waste our time in this filthy shack." Enkidu nodded vigorously and followed instructions, tugging the sleeve of the other girl, who still remained stone-faced.
When he reached the exit of the hut, Gilgamesh took one final look back to Arturia. "I insist that you do the same, my golden goddess. It would be a shame for such beauty to be tainted by such ill company." At this, Diarmuid's grip on Arturia's shoulder tightened. "Farewell for now; I'll be sure to pay you another visit before my departure from this country." With that, the unpleasant man left with a simple lift of the hand.
After finally deeming it safe to let go, Diarmuid removed himself from his girlfriend, who seemed rather annoyed with the events that had just occurred, and sighed. "Alright, let's get out of here before we get yelled at again." He looked back to the man that ran the archery hut- he still seemed a bit shaken after that look that Gilgamesh had sent him- and led Arturia out the door after receiving affirmation that this was an acceptable course of action.
"'My golden goddess'!" Diarmuid doubled over the table in laughter. "I haven't heard that one before!"
At the prompt time of six in the evening, Arturia and Diarmuid had left the fair for dinner at their favorite restaurant, a small little cafe that took a twenty-minute drive from their town to get to: Ahnenerbe. It was one of those small places with quirky waiters that always remembered your name and acted like you were the best of friends because it was never busy for some odd reason.
And, yet, this had to have been the busiest day that either of them had ever seen Ahnenerbe in either of their lives. The two waiters were fumbling to pick up orders, and they could both barely make out screaming in the kitchen over the roar of customers. The best guess either of them had to this phenomenon would have been that the fair had brought in more tourists than anyone cared to count.
Even so, they had gotten seated relatively quickly, and Diarmuid had not wasted time in ordering a few drinks, which had eventually resulted in some tipsy behavior. Namely, it had resulted in him bringing up a subject on which Arturia hadn't wanted to touch ground on: Gilgamesh was back in town. And her boyfriend had wasted no time in taking joy from the other man's profoundly stupid attempts at flattering her.
As the man continued to laugh, rosy cheeks pressed against the cold wood, Arturia merely huffed. "I really don't see what's so funny," she muttered, propping her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her fist. "That man is an embarrassment to all of mankind."
Diarmuid looked up at her from behind his curl of black hair with a wide grin. "Oh, lighten up! I personally think think that he can actually be quite entertaining in his idiocy."
Arturia looked down at him, the way that his cheeks were flushed with drink and his amber eyes nearly appeared to sparkle at her, and cracked a small smile. "Oh? And what of me, then?" She teased her boyfriend, removing her head from her fist and letting the hand fall to the table's surface. "The last time I checked, if another man so much as looks at another's woman, he should expect to have his head impaled on a stick by the morning. So why ever would you allow Gilgamesh to go about saying such things to your girlfriend, Diarmuid? Are you saying that I'm not worth it?"
"Of course not." Diarmuid finally lifted his head and leaned forward, over the table. "The thing is, I have such a beautiful, loyal, and strong girlfriend that I know I will never need to worry about some love-struck dolt coming along, trying to win her over." He reached over and grabbed her hand in his. The lighthearted and sincere expression in his face never ceased to put a little bit of warmth in Arturia's heart. Diarmuid chuckled under his breath before adding on, "And I know that you would be angry and embarrassed if I did anything. So," he leaned back again, letting go of her hand and sighing. "Until he does anything noteworthy, I'll try not to hurt your pride too much."
Arturia rolled her eyes. "What a considerate boyfriend I have."
Diarmuid smiled cheekily. "Only for you, baby."
He couldn't help but burst into laughter at the look at crossed her face.
Diarmuid sat in the passenger seat of the car, nearly unconscious and lids pulling down heavily on his eyes. Although he hadn't drunk too much, the beer had left him inept enough that Arturia had blatantly refused to allow him to drive them back home, despite his efforts. And seeing how drowsy he was at the moment, she knew that she had made the right decision.
The woman sighed as she glanced over at him, head rolled over so that he was staring at her with a goofy smile.
Quickly, she looked back to the road and glanced back at the man. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Diarmuid replied. "Just thinking of how meaningless my life would be without you."
Arturia snorted in laughter at the statement. "That has to be one of the cheesiest things you've ever said to me."
"Oh, really?" The man questioned, shifting slightly in his seat. "What was the cheesiest?"
"It was last year, and if I remember correctly, you said, and I quote..." Arturia stole another glance at her boyfriend between driving and mustered up an exaggerated, poor Irish accent before continuing in a deep voice. "'Arturia, I feel like I've won the lottery every single time I take a look at your gorgeous face!'"
"But its the truth!"
The two of them laughed together quietly.
There was a pause of silence afterward, with Arturia keeping her eyes on the road, carefully steering her way through the dark back to their home. Diarmuid sighed contently and leaned his head back against the headrest, eyes turned to the roof of the car.
Arturia had become quite content and relaxed when it suddenly came without warning:
"When will you finally agree to marry me?"
Arturia tightened her grip around the steering wheel and exhaled a deep breath. "Haven't we already had this conversation?"
She was able to catch the small nod of his head from the corner of her eye. "You know I love you right?"
"Of course; I love you, too."
"Then I don't understand why you don't want to get married."
Arturia sighed as his eyes turned back to look at her pleadingly. "You know exactly why, Diarmuid; I've told you before. You're just drunk."
His head lifted, and Diarmuid looked at her with a hurt expression. "I'm sober enough to know that we won't end up like your mom and sisters."
Suddenly, she pulled the car out to the nearest parking lot, at the park located only five minutes from their home. Pulling the key from the ignition, Arturia leaned back into her seat and exhaled a shaky breath in an attempt to calm herself. This did little to help, though, since Diarmuid was still watching her expectantly.
She looked off to the side, out the window. It calmed her a bit, not having to look directly at him, but she still found herself looking at him through the side mirror. After a moment, she looked down. "You're looking pretty tired, Diarmuid; why don't you get a nap?" She opened the car door and looked back toward his sullen face. "I'm going to take a quick walk around the park; the air in here is stifling."
Before he could say or do anything in response, Arturia unhooked her seat belt and slipped out of the car, shutting the door with an unintentionally loud noise. She made haste in making it around the first bend of trees before her slightly incapacitated boyfriend could get out as well.
Once sure that she was completely out of his line of sight, the woman sighed and leaned against the bark of a tree. She swept her eyes back in the direction of the car a few times before staring off at the sky directly over her head and sliding to the ground, not caring that she would dirty her skirt.
He mother had been miserable during both of her marriages, Elaine and Morgause constantly complained about their own spouses, and Morgan was particularly vicious about her ex-husband. But all of them had gotten married claiming that it was true love. It was a silly fear of Arturia's, but she truly didn't want to end up divorcing and arguing with Diarmuid every chance they saw one another. She didn't think she had the heart to lose him, especially to something hat was supposed to bind them closer together like marriage.
Wrapping her arms around her legs, she sighed once more and buried her face into her knees, breathing in the fresh smell of pine needles around her and taking in the sight of clouds swirling in front of the moon. The quiet was beginning to calm her nerves, and she was just about ready to head back into the car and continue talking with Diarmuid when it had felt as if something suddenly struck her in the chest, knocking the wind from her lungs.
Arturia bent over the ground with a hand over her ribs, eyes wide with terror at whatever had just happened. After finally managing to get a gulp of air, she breathlessly attempted to survey her surroundings, only to find nothing. She lifted her hand to her face. Dry.
Still panting, she stood cautiously, ready to run back to the car. Her mind flashed to the bag in the back set. Among other things, it contained her pistol and a taser, so if she was under attack, all she would need to do was safely make it back to Diarmuid...
But as time went on, nothing happened, and she slowly lowered her guard. Looking from side to side, she turned back to the path to the car, almost certain that she had simply imagined the strange attack she had experience.
When she looked down, however, she found a small book lying in her path. She found it strange, as she was certain that it hadn't been there when she walked out there. What in the world was it doing out in the middle of the park now?
Suddenly curious, she knelt down and squinted, trying her best to see what was on the cover. She was able to see a tint of pink through the darkness, and maybe some odd sort of symbols with dragons, or fish of some sort. She couldn't exactly be sure, what with the lack of lighting.
Should she pick it up? Arturia took her time in pondering the question. After all, she couldn't just take it; it had to belong to someone. On the other hand, she wouldn't feel comfortable with keeping it there; what if the owner of the book came back, only to find it on the ground? Then the least that she could do was find a bench to lay it down on top of, lest it be trampled on by screaming children when the sun rose again.
In addition, there was just... something about that book that drew her to it. Maybe it was drowsiness and relationship stress cramming in on her brain at once, but for some reason, she just felt this sense of warmth and comfort with every inch she came closer to it.
Almost without thinking of it, Arturia lifted a single gloved hand and brushed it across the surface of the book's cover. She didn't even have the time to contemplate how cool and leathery the texture of the cover was, because at that very next instant, there was a flash of white light, and she had to draw back and bring her eyes to a close.
The light faded almost instantaneously, and yet she was left in a temporary state of blindness, so she was left squinting at the dark space in front of her, blinking away blotches of yellow and purple.
Suddenly, there was a voice rising out into the air, but she couldn't tell what was being said. A whole other language was being spoken to her in the sweet and charming voice of a child.
Finally, she was able to regain a bit of sight. She could see a small form, covered almost completely in shadows. The figure was holding itself up on the toes of its round-shaped shoes, and seemed to be bouncing up in down- in impatience or excitement, she couldn't be sure- as it continued to drone on in a foreign language that could have possibly been Asian- perhaps Chinese or Japanese; she couldn't say.
Up above her head, clouds began to mix and swirl, dancing to almost the exact same rhythm as the child that was currently standing in front of her. As they shifted, a moon began to shed its silver light onto the plane around the two, and Arturia was able to make out the pink hair that extended to the child's chin in a charming bob, and the small black dress with an upside down peach on the cream-colored turtle neck that was worn beneath it.
Even more, it revealed the pair of shining amber eyes and the kind smile that accompanied the only words that Arturia was able to distinguish that night:
"Konichiwa, Master Arturia!"
