Clarissant couldn't stand to watch her twin brother die for her. She hid her head in her hands. Tears streamed down her face leaving streaks in the dust on her cheeks. This was not how she had imagined the last time she saw her brother to be.
All of the arguments and strife between them seemed to fall away. Just knowing he was actually here for her, despite their previous parting, was enough to rekindle her faith in him.
"WAIT!" Gwaine called out suddenly, interrupting Bran's swing.
The man brought his axe up short and gave a questioningly look to the knight.
Gwaine turned to his sister. "Promise me something, Clare. You get out of here and find a good man...not like that waste of life you had before. Find someone who treats you decently, or by the Gods, I will come back from the Beyond and haunt your scrawny ass. Got it?...And trust in Merlin and Arthur. They'll help you out and make sure you don't end up on the streets, or anything."
Clarissant sniffled and looked up, her bottom lip trembled. She nodded, "I promise."
His faith in his friends made her think she might be okay after this. Silently, she swore that if she did make it out, she would try to heed his advice...maybe just avoid any romantic entanglements altogether.
Gwaine pinched his lips together and returned her nod solemnly. "Sorry about that," he said to Bran.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and placed his head back on the sword.
Bran raised his axe again. He found himself admiring the man before him, and feeling regret for what had to be done in this game of honor and bloodshed. He steeled himself for the blow when an odd sound caught his attention. It took him a moment to realize it was Gwaine and he noticed the man's head twitching oddly.
Gwaine was blowing out sharp little breaths from his nose and mouth. When he realized Bran had yet to strike, he held out his hand and glanced up. "Sorry, hair tickling my nose."
He brushed the offending strand out of his face. Then he paused, set his sword aside, and began running his fingers through his brown locks - fluffing it away from his scalp. After a few moments of that, he picked up his sword and admired his reflection.
"If these are my last moments," he explained, "I want to look my best."
He quickly hid a smile, as he noticed his sister pulling out of her shell to stare at him in disbelief. He could almost feel her fighting not to roll her eyes at her idiot brother.
Bran felt a growl forming in the back of his throat, as the vain knight repositioned himself.
For the third time, he raised his weapon. He felt certain that this would be the swing that would bring him closer freedom. Three hundred years of pained existence looking out a window, and then a witch whose twisted words only seemed to be more of an imprisonment.
The Prince of Corbenic could hear the halting breath of Clarissant in his ears. He wanted this done and over with - for her sake as much as for his own. The axe began to fall again when Gwaine's head shot up and to the side, gracing Bran with a pleading smile.
It was all Bran could do in his shock to stop the blade; managing to halt it just as it nicked the edge of Gwaine's neck. "What is it this time?" He bit out between clenched teeth.
Gwaine's hand covered the wound. "Ow! Oh, um...I don't suppose you have anything to drink? Ale, mead, wine? It would make this whole deal a lot smoother if I had something to help kill the pain and take the edge off my nerves."
"Oh, for Fuck's sake, Bran! Give me your axe. I'll do it myself!" Clarissant growled. Her tears were replaced with anger.
"Hey! Don't you be using that kind of language! I can't believe you used to kiss our mother with that mouth. By the Gods, woman!" Gwaine spat back, pointing a threatening finger at his sister. "Here I am, trying to be honorable and all I'm asking for is a little liquid courage to help get me through it, so I can get your ugly ass out of this mess you got yourself into."
Clarissant shot towards him as far as the chains would let her. "So help me, if I wasn't chained to this wall...I would strangle you right here and now!"
"Put a sock in it, Clare!"
"If it was one of yours, then at least I would be comfortably unconscious from the noxious fumes," she hissed.
Bran stepped back. In the weeks he'd spent with the nobleman's wife, he had only seen small glimpses of the fire behind her eyes. Although, it was nothing compared to the spectacle he witnessed now.
He almost laughed. Although he and Branwen had not been twins, he could recall how the simplest things could spark an argument between them. Fights between siblings had obviously not changed over the centuries, and it made him suddenly miss his sister deeply.
"You do realize, while we're up here wasting time, your friends are possibly facing their demise?" He reminded Gwaine.
Gwaine waved him off. "Eh, Merlin's with them. They'll be fine. Can we get on with this now?" He glared at his twin sister, secretly pleased to see some life in her.
Biting his bottom lip, Bran angrily moved towards Clarissant and raised the weapon, roaring as he swung.
She shrieked and ducked. Her hands covering her head in fear, while Gwaine screamed in protest...his eyes were wide with shock.
When the axe hit the wall, it smashed through the chains holding the brunette, freeing her from the corner.
Bran turned and stalked furiously to the door. He reached into a pocket, and turned long enough to throw the key to the shackles at Gwaine. There had been no sane reason to dull his axe against the wall, but it had made him feel better to have hit something.
He couldn't begin to imagine the hell their mother must have gone through and he wondered if his own parents had ever felt the same.
"I will resist the witch as long as I can, but I make no promises that I still won't take your head this day for other reasons."
AN: So, that's my personal twisting of Gwaine and the Green Knight.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight summery of the historical literature- Green knight shows up in Camelot on New Year's and makes a challenge anyone can strike him with his axe, but he must be able to return the same blow the following year. Gawain picks up the axe and chops off the Green Knight's head. The green knight, picks his head up, puts it back on (after teasing Guinevere with it) and says for Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel in a year.
Gawain arrives at a lord's house 2 miles from the chapel, 4 days before his scheduled meeting. Each day the lord goes out hunting and tells Gawain he will give him what he hunted in exchange for anything Gawain won during the day. First day the lady of the house tries to seduce Gawain and only manages a kiss. So Gawain kisses the lord on his return. 2nd day – two kisses, 3rd day- 3 kisses. But on the third day the lady also gave Gawain a sash of green and gold telling him it will keep him safe from harm. Gawain fails to tell the lord about the sash, because he thinks it will protect him from the Green Knight. Fourth day Gawain goes and meets the Green Knight in the chapel and kneels before him ready to have his head taken. He realizes that the Green Knght is the lord he has been staying with.
Translation by Jessie L. Weston: "First I menaced thee with a feigned one, and hurt thee not for the covenant that we made in the first night, and which thou didst hold truly. All the gain didst thou give me as a true man should. The other feint I proffered thee for the morrow: my fair wife kissed thee, and thou didst give me her kisses-for both those days I gave thee two blows without scathe-true man, true return. But the third time thou didst fail, and therefore hadst thou that blow. For 'tis my weed thou wearest, that same woven girdle, my own wife wrought it, that do I wot for sooth."
