It's SUMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAA(*Olaf note*)
Okay, you guys have the liberty to go ahead and deck me, because right now, its been a long-ass time since I've really updated this story. I apologize to anyone who's picked it up and watched it mold in the corner... go ahead and flame me...
Please also understand that this might not even be a cohesive chapter, I typed this in 5-in-the-morning-long days... so if something need explaining please don't hesitate to ask. So enjoy the fluff and stuff...(I CANT REALLY ASK FOR FAVORS RIGHT NOW BUT PLZ)
So I understand the last chapter was somewhat confusing for a lot of you. Which I understand because it wasnt really a chapter of chapters.
I included it ,however, because the relationship between Calypso and Lancelot will become very impertinent later on. Later on because it's part of why and how Lancelot and Percival take the next leap forward.
Whether she's the instigator or the direct cause of such a leap will be revealed later; until then, stay tuned. (Shameless plug)
Anywho, I am absolutely positively ecstatic that people have decided to pick this fic up and favorite it.
I know that Shadaze isn't the most Popular ship in the whole Sonic universe; but damn you don't know what it feels like to have people actually liking and taking interest in my story. Thank you all so much. I know it's so difficult to have a really good fic just mold in the corner due to inactivity and I'm thanking you for continuing to read, even if it's 5 of you. 5 people is more people than any person has visited my other links in a long time. It's just fills up my heart to the brim.
Thanks so much.
~The Management
Now that Calypso was gone. Lancelot was alone again, very very alone at the darkest of the morning.
He was alone with his thoughts, which was maybe as dangerous as being with any of the other knights.
As he changed his seating on the shingles of Percival's roof he found it harder and harder to think strait. Lancelot's mind was running in circles. Running in every direction, jumping from memory to memory with no correlation. He himself was probably acquiring a headache as a result of trying to make sense of what his mind was doing. He was struggling to find peace right now, which was an antithetical struggle at this current point.
He sat there, for maybe an half an hour before he finally concentrated and had a memory to finally really latch onto and concentrate on... there...
tranquility...
...
harmony
...
Percival?
His eyes shot strait open.
"Percival?"
He heard his own voice and he was almost startled.
"Percival?" He was mystified by the feeling of her name on his tongue, "What the hell am I even thinking about? Talking about? Her?"
Lancelot clamped his hand over his mouth, scared by his own voice.
Lancelot slouched down on his perch on top of her roof. He was left in a speechless surprise at his own actions, shaken by his own sat in silence trying to make sense of what just happened.
"Percival? Since when did I make it a habit to start thinking about her?"
Lancelot thought about his own question, pensively, diligently, much like a geographer critically studying a map.
"Her name has been ringing a lot of bells lately," he muttered to himself.
He tried to distract the thoughts associated with those words, taking out the blade pack he had attached to his back. As his mind became disorderly again, he started sharpening a blade to a steady and and at a trained rhythm. His mind was calmed immediately; and his eyes drifted closed.
"Well I really cant remember," he was still sharpening the blade,"rather I don't know why people feel the need to pair us together."
His mind was instantly trained on Calypso,"Ugh."(He felt a disgusting contempt right now for her, and her face, and her voice, he was just done seeing her right now.)
He continued sharpening the blade across his thigh. He was still thinking silently.
"I really can't remember when I started thinking of Percival of more than what she is."
What she is?...
Lancelot stopped, immediately immersed in silence.
"A friend," he said resolutely.
He felt his knees buckle, and something in his soul cried out to him, something that he couldn't place.
His heart that completely broke at the sound of those two words.
Lancelot had never been the type to really feel this kind of vulnerability. He was conditioned not to. Lancelot was conditioned to keep his friends at arms length, his closer friends as close to him as possible, and his companion outside the wall of his heart. Lancelot was so hardened that he wasn't even vulnerable with himself and detached himself from his own feelings. Every time he tried to connect with the person that was Lancelot, he was met with horror, anger, pain, fear, and he didn't want to feel those things. He was honestly afraid of his own feelings.
Lancelot suffered because of this. His heart suffered because of this, and his mind was in turmoil and confused all the time because of this.
And that was what was happening right now. Turmoil.
He fell onto his front and he was struggling just to keep up. He felt his whole body feeling like he was struck, like he was being pressed. A dead numbness spread around him. His hand was clutched over his heart while he surrendered to all fours trying to catch his breath.
"What the hell?"he gasped.
The knife slid out his limp hand onto the palettes of the roof, and it fell to the floors below. Lancelot weakly pawed for it as he tried to beat over the knot that was gnawing at his heart. He was left completely and absolutely destroyed by the onslaught of the attack, and he was absolutely panicked.
Am I having a heart attack? What the hell is this?
Lancelot breathed for a few minutes, trying to let it leave he knew it, as soon as it came, it went and left him. As soon as he could really breathe again, he felt an even deader feeling in his heart. Sitting there and simmering there like an unabsolved deal with the coven.
"A friend?"
Lancelot had a moment of clarity, as he swallowed a dry lump in his throat. He sat down and he blinked a few times.
"A friend?" Lancelot chuckled at his own jaded tone. "{I don't know much about you Lancelot... but I think I know you way better than that.}"
There was something about the whole situation that made Lancelot giddy. Before he knew it he was giggling, and soon laughing...hard. Lancelot heartily laughed, laughed at himself, laughed until he fell onto his back. He probably laughed until he woke someone up at 4:32 in the unholy hour of the morning.
He didn't care, and when he finally calmed down, he just sat there smiling to himself. Drawing his legs to him, so close the metal caging his knee caps were touching his chin.
He just sat there. Smiling to himself in the night not made morning, as one name was whispered in his brain.
Like sweet,sweet litany.
The morning had come, and nature had awakened Percival from her sleep.
Percival squirmed in her bed and smiled as the stubborn recesses of sleep had slinked away from her body. And she yawned as the sun of the morning radiated its friendly heat onto her face.
"Oh good morning," Percival sighs as she stretches.
The sparrows outside tweet and sit on the ledges of her windows. She hears the wind blow through the trees and some small leaves slither into her open room. This is the time in the morning she feels absolute bliss; she feels unhindered morning radiance, an uninhibited state of ataraxia. So she sits in her bed upright and breathes in the fresh air wafting lazily through her open window.
She has a nice intimate moment with the symphony that was nature serenading her through her open window-
Wait open window?
Percival immediately springs up on guard, immediately wielding Laevatein* and assumes a fighting stance. Her mind switching onto 5 alarm panic. Percival was ready to kill the fool who had decided to take advantage of the night hours. To think that someone was so ready to to die and to sneak in through her room to break in was an ultimatum in Percival's mind. Whoever decided to commit suicide was about to answer to the demons of hell.
She starts stalking around her home; making the least noise anybody could humanly make. As she makes her way across the living room, slithering around her furniture ,Percival is quiet. Her steps lighter than the touch of a feather,even the peeps of the birds become thunderous in relativity. She drifts across her home like a ghost, with all the subtlety and finesse as a living one.
There is a pattering around the corner.
The sudden clattering and loud CLANG almost scares Percival as it comes from her kitchen, and her ears are almost forcefully revived up to the sound of it. So loud and overwhelming to her senses. As she moves closer the grip on her sword becomes firmer and firmer, until its a death-like grip; and she silently plans her ambush on her intruder.
She's ready now, and she comes around the kitchen cabinet and gets ready to strike.
Her arms prepare to slash her rapier across her shoulder and over her head. She is almost there and her sword almost makes contact almost slashing the stranger with Laevatein, until...
"{Ah fuck, I hope this shit doesn't get burnt.}" a voice curses under its breath.
Percival stops immediately in her tracks, and the air gets caught in her throat.
At her kitchen fireplace, she sees a familiar person, the same bed of black and red hair from the back. Percival is caught absolutely and totally off guard as she sees the Ultimate Knight adjusting the pots over an open flame and cracking 4 eggs over the pan. His blade belt and Arondight** proudly strapped onto his waist with his pants and armored shoes on.
No shirt...?
No shirt...
Percival could see every finite detail of his uncovered back, and the black tattoo that decorated the expanse of his nape and shoulders and tapered in the center of his back. And as Lancelot seemed to turn around in almost slower time, she could see the last lines of the ornament licking his closest shoulder and she was faced with his front. She reminded herself that this wasn't the first time that she seen Lancelot with no clothes on whatsoever; in fact she tried to remember that this wasn't the first time that she's see him half naked either. So early in the morning,however, she really couldn't properly put a lid on herself like usual. She had thought she was utterly alone, and she expected some foolhardy crook stuffing her silver teapot into his canvas bag. But no...So early from dream land; she didn't have the total and complete control she usually has over herself. And despite her mental efforts, Percival felt heat rise in her face, feeling her otherwise subliminal reserved Puritan rearing starting to kick in.
I need to leave, now. And you really don't know hard she tried, how she tried to move her body that seemed so much like solemn stone in this moment.
That would be possible, she thought, if my stubborn body could move.
It felt like an eternity that passed before Lancelot had actually noticed that Percival was standing there.
When he did, it was hilarious to him.
Percival was standing there, her form flawless as always. Her sword raised, and her face beet red, in a lilac sleeping gown.
He put two and two together, and he swallowed a chortle.
"{Hello}," he said, his hand suppressing another laugh.
Percival said nothing and turned her face away from him.
There was something about all of that adding up and her face that really sold it to Lancelot. And pretty soon, thinking about it just made Lancelot burst into tears laughing.
Lancelot was so much rendered into a state of intense laughter that he tripped over his own feet and had to hold onto the pantry cabinet to keep from reeling over and crashing. He was absolutely deadened with laughter; and he was becoming numb from laughing so much.
Percival was embarrassed at a level that is unexplainable. And she almost felt like slapping Lancelot square in the face.
"L-Lancelot stop laughing! Stop it right now!"
Lancelot was on the floor and paralyzed, he couldn't even. He couldn't hear Percival over him who was clearly embarrassed, and absolutely adorably mad at him.
"I-I-I'm really sorry Percival but," Lancelot was trying to catch his breath,"that was too cute!"
Percival was so fed up that she fled to her bed room. Once she was there, she waited for Lancelot to stop laughing hysterically. After awhile, she heard him start whistling. Forgetting that any of that had just happened.
Perfect queue to get changed.
As quickly as she could blink, Percival was automotive and trained by routine. Percival rummaged through her drawers and brought the cloths to her chest and the drawers we closed strait behind her.
Once she is done with her undergarments and binding herself she moved to the more important things. She drapes a white finely crafted dress shirt with bell sleeved cuffed arms over her body. It was a men's shirt, but she didn't give a damn. If any indignant troglodyte would say anything, challenge her attempts to just blend in for a day, the asshat just wasn't worth her precious time. She buttoned herself up as she walked over to the mirror and took a white lace cravat from her scarf pole. She carefully secures the neck with the cravat, tying it with a routine and concise care. Once done, she slipped the cuffs of her shirt on her wrists firmly and buttons them. There, with her second half exposed, she smiled to herself and she chuckled happy with how she looked.
After her psych-up she proceeds on. She finds one of her black canvas pants and stumbles her way to put them on in search of her black boots. And when she found them, she tucked her pants into them and strapped them all the way up to her knee.
She now struggled to find her hair tie, which she found next to the stand to her bedroom entrance.
She didn't bother to put her hair up, she was in her own house. If she wasn't allowed to do that then she plainly didn't want to live there anymore.
She walked back to the table. Walking across her living space with her hair draped about her like a long lilac veil.
When Lancelot came out of the kitchen still whistling he stopped for a moment. He saw Percival's appearance, and on the outside he seemed affected by it on a miniscule level. That was what Percival saw anywho.
He silently puts the item he's carrying before Percival. "{Here, bread's done}," Lancelot put out a tray of the bread and some butter Percival had stocked.
Percival watched as he moved back into the kitchen and she cleared her modest circular dining table. She did the best she could because the table was designed only for one person; that only meant that they would have to squeeze a little bit to fit to it.
Percival took a chair to the table and sat down on it, she waited for Lancelot.
She could hear Lancelot whistling a very cheerful song, and she was perplexed by his mood.
What's going on? Why is he in such a good mood?
Can't be a damn promotion, he's all out of those, Percival thought. Maybe he had some friendly interaction last night or something, maybe it's a new girlfriend?
Percival laughed at that thought, chuckled a little bit in fact, "Okay Percival, that's a real good imagination you've got." Lancelot may be a catch, but even he couldn't string up a pair of drawers that quickly; that was Lamorak's department of expertise.
Lancelot emerges from Percival's kitchen with 2 plates filled with eggs, he comes over to the table with the both of them.
Percival remains mystified, Lancelot is still whistling cheerily to himself.
I'm really not used to someone being so happy this early in the morning, Percival thinks to herself.
Lancelot is gone again, before he finally joins her too. Percival is happy to find that Lancelot has also put on a shirt, a simple white dress shirt.
Thank god, this was going to be uncomfotable, Percival thought.
Lancelot has tea in hand, and he places it on the floor. No room remains on the table anyway.
He sits down, and he seems a little apprehensive at first. Its then when Percival sees that the table is so small that they are practically rubbing elbows.
Remembering Lancelot's bare chest, she feels a wave of embarrassment wash over her. Percival feels herself growing increasingly more bashful as this draws on. She tries to move a little farther from Lancelot to give him more air; but that is met with a chuckle from the other male.
"{Percival we've been acquainted for almost a decade, there's no need to be so shy so suddenly.}"
"{Oh no}," Percival clears her throat,"{I'm just used to being alone in the morning. I'm not really even pieced together right now. If I do things that don't make sense, I apologize in advance.}"
Lancelot wordlessly shrugged,"{There's nothing to apologize about Percival. How much can I really judge you?}"
Percival then remembered how she bound her chest that morning and how most women were exsanguinating themselves with a tourniquet made of whale bone and white satin. With that morbid thought,Percival took a bite of the eggs,"{Well, you probably don't really need to do judge me that much to affect me. But you could give that word of wisdom to a little Christian boy I know.}"
"{Heh},"Lancelot has a bite of bread in his mouth,"{see I probably would... Except the purity named Galahad isn't really gracing us right now with his presence.}"
"{Oh by the grace of god, he would kill me.}" Percival laughs(thank you to Lost and Forgotten Memories who pointed this out).
Lancelot sweetly smiles as he chews his bite of bread, his elbows hoisted on the table.
Percival was confused by this, "{Lancelot?}"
"{What is it?}"
"{Did you sleep funny?}"
"{Percival I don't sleep.}"he chuckled.
"{Excuse me}," Percival perched her head on her two hands. "{Looked at the red and auburn orange brick wall in a forlorn contentedness.}"
"{I'm completely fine Percival. I am so flattered that you decided to ask},"with a swig of tea in him, Lancelot sarcastically said,"{your level of kindness just ever fails to amaze me.}"
Percival laughed at his sarcastic tone, bumping him on the shoulder and lightly shaking the table. Lancelot was wearing this unusually wide grin on his face while he laughed at Percival's little love tap.
Percival collected herself, she took a sip of tea from her quaint cup. She looks back up at the man opposite her tone still remaining pretty playful,"{Seriously though Lancelot... you sure you're feeling okay? I'm actually pretty worried.}"
Lancelot scoffs at that,and turns to her with a smug smirk on his face, "{Oh what? I'm not allowed to be in a good mood?}"
Percival seems almost skeptic of his words, "{Well I'm sorry to enlighten you... but every time you happen to be in a 'good mood' you also happen to be in a VERY GOOD mood***. I don't know if I'm just making that correlation on my own either.}"
"Hey," Lancelot points at her with the tea in hand, "{don't use my mental fragility as an excuse for every time you feel uncomfortable, you of all people should know how that bothers me.}" Lancelot put his cup down,"{Besides. As far as I can see the problem is with everyone else not me.}"
"{Must be pretty damn nice.}" Percival says while drinking her tea.
Percival watches as Lancelot shakes his head in amusement as he digs into the food.
Percival thinks about what's happening, why Lancelot is even in her house. Why he even bothered to make food for either of them. Why was he was half naked in her kitchen about 15 minutes ago.
Then something so big practically assaults Percival's thoughts that it almost physically shakes her in her seat. She feels every part of her being clench together as there is a resounding voice in her head.
How did he get into my house? Why is he being so friendly with me right now?
Why can't I remember what happened last night?
WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!
Percival was absolutely panicked, her every sense overwhelmed with a tenseness, and she felt every part of her tremor and clench together until it suffocated the air in her throat. She didn't feel the plate on the side of her grasp slide and didn't hear as it fell and shattered on the floor. And she didn't feel the tea fall over and spill over the floor.
Lancelot immediately came to her aid as she turned opposite of him on her chair and started shuddering almost violently.
He rose and strides over as he puts his hand on her closest shoulder.
"Percival?"he somehow asks,"Are you-"
"{Please don't hurt me},"a shuddering breath came from Percival. Her voice breaks and almost breaks apart in the air,"{I'll do anything just please,p-please don't hurt me.}"
It was apparent to Lancelot at this point she was having a sporadically inspired panic attack,and he had no way of knowing where it had been inspired. He concluded that he didn't care. Silently, without knowing what force on earth inspires him to do so, his arms wrap chastely around the woman's waist.
He also concludes that the same force was watching over him, because he almost doesn't feel himself saying the next words:
"{Percival, breathe, let yourself breathe}," his hands were soothingly holding her.
It was a minute before Percival came down from her panic attack and Lancelot felt the coil under his hand unfurl itself out. He felt the whimpers from the female in his grasp finally with agonizingly slow speed leave and never come back. And he holds her even closer as she begins to breath evenly.
He thinks about where that possibly could've come from, and he thinks about when that traumatizing event had happened.
With Lancelot silent with thought, Percival had become alot calmer and she finally found the courage to speak up in his arms.
"{I'm sorry... I didn't know that you were here}," Percival said in a broken voice.
Lancelot felt guilty for being here, "{Should I be here? I should make myself scarce.}"
"{No please don't}," she immediately says. She takes a deep breath, "{I wouldn't feel right and just if I let you go now.}"
"{I'm sorry I should've told you I was here.}"
Percival seems to absorb what he says, and without a sound from her Lancelot watches her turn around in his arms.
Their eyes meet and Percival stares at him with an unfounded intensity that almost scares Lancelot with its fire.
"{Lancelot}," she says,"{what did we do?}"
Lancelot sighs and he releases the grasp he has on her. He stands above her now. Percival looks over herself a strand of her hair slunk over the bridge of her nose.
"{Percival}," he says solemnly and resolutely,"{we did nothing.}"
There is a sincerity in his voice,a deadness in his words that have the honesty of exposed entrails. He wasn't hiding anything.
So Percival believed him.
"{Fine then}," Percival gets up from the table, "{I will choose to believe you.}"
Lancelot watches as she gets up from the table and back into another room in her chamber, he feels this dead worry wash over him.
Damn I'm an idiot, Lancelot practically hits himself on his forehead.
Lancelot squats down and starts picking up the pieces of porcelain that were broken on the floor, and he's beating himself up.
Percival emerges from the room and she has a pail and a rag accompanying her. She looks down and sees Lancelot and immediately jumps on him.
"{Lancelot what are you doing?}"
Lancelot's head whips over to Percival's confused face and back to the floor,"{Helping you.}"
Percival joined him and started wicking up the tea off the floor with the rag,"{Lancelot there really isn't any need.}"
Lancelot wasn't getting up,"{Oh no, I'm helping you whether you like it or not.}"
Percival nudged him,"{Look there seriously isn't a need... Its my house after all... you're a guest."
"{Percival}," Lancelot called,"{just let me help you.}"
There was a gentleness in his voice that just made Percival immediately comply, and she stopped trying to be stubborn. She let Lancelot do what he wanted.
Percival and Lancelot cleaned again in silence. After long they were both sitting at the table again, with Lancelot sitting there eating in silence.
Percival didn't like how quiet it was, it was actually bothering her.
"{Lancelot.}"
Lancelot stopped, he looked up to Percival.
"{I'm sorry.}"
Lancelot stopped and put his fork down, "{Again Percival, there is nothing to apologize about.}"
"{No, I actually feel guilty, like a burden. I feel like I just pushed the world onto you; like I just gave you all my problems to deal with.}"
"{Don't worry about it}," Lancelot smiled,"{Percival. This is as close as we can get without marrying each other and having kids. So as far as I care, you shouldn't feel guilty at all.}"
Percival felt her head get light and her cheeks light up with fire, and she hid her face with her hands.
Lancelot laughed at the reaction that it induced in her, and he was about to dig himself a grave a second time by laughing too damn hard.
Percival rose from the table as Lancelot laughed his way to washing his own dish.
As Lancelot was in the kitchen behind her laughing like a manic hyena, she ties her hair up ad walks to the exit of her chamber. Percival checked the time, still an early 7:30, plenty of time to get to the knight's den even with the slowest route they could take.
Percival watched Lancelot put on the remainder of his armor on his shoulders and strapped everything he needed to onto his body. She strapped her sacred sword lithely and high onto her waist tucking the tails of her shirt under the brown belt. She had enough time to watch Lancelot finish strapping on and placing his armor on his body.
After a long 3 minutes, Lancelot walked next to her, and he was as ready to go as much as she was.
They both stared at the door and sighed, thinking about what happened this entire morning. Lancelot looked at Percival, while she continues to stare pensively at the exit before her.
"{Lancelot, I need to you to understand something.}"
Lancelot was intent.
"{Nobody will know that this has happened.}"
Lancelot nodded, "{Of course.}"
Percival smiled sweetly, and she opened the door for them.
Nobody would know.
No one.
The lion's den was practically waiting for Percival and Lancelot. The Round Table was assembled there in the main hull, waiting to finish the most threatening task of all.
PAPERWORK...
Lamorak was occupying himself biting into an apple, while Gawain was throwing a knife up into the air and catching the handle, to only throw it up again.
"Jesus Christ," Lamorak sat back in the seat,"you would think they would've made it to the den by now."
"Dare say our saviour's name in vain?" Galahad chided.
"High and Mighty," Gawain turned around in his chair,"if you haven't noticed we're all abominations against god. So I don't think that one 'Jesus' will hurt us much. We're all going to the fiery depths of hell."
"You have accepted him into your heart have you not?"
"Galahad,"Lamorak took his feet off the table in the middle of the room,"do you know how many men we've killed?"
"..."
"There is no way in hell god will ever find a way to forgive us, not ever. No way, no how, no matter how big his heart is there is no way he's going to forgive us for bathing in blood,"Lamorak says.
Gawain shakes his head, "I have a chance, but I think I have absolutely exhausted it."
"You can bet your spaniard ass on it,"Lamorak winks.
Galahad sighs and shrugs, "I understand the urgency... but they usually come pretty early. Let them come on time for once you know."
Gawain turned opposite of Galahad, and he continued to throw the knife into the air. And Lamorak had finally finished the apple, and was left with a sheer boredom that couldn't otherwise be resolved.
With that,an eternal 5 minutes later; Percival and Lancelot come through the door with a parade of laughs.
This sight might've been positive, and yes, it was if anything. However, that would be so with any other two known reserved people. The both of them were so seemingly pulled out of their shells and they had presently become completely different personalities in front of the knights. Percival was being friendly and casually playful,all her professional guise completely Lancelot...the sight of him would make a dead boulder gasp... Lancelot wasn't being usually downcast and solemn as usual, a big 5 mile smile bright on his face.
As the both of them conversing in a steady stream of French, the knights became even more fixated on body language and their laughing.
To Lamorak,the only french-speaking one in the 2nd party, this was absolutely astounding. Here he was seeing his sister clutching onto Lancelot and laughing so unlike the sister that he thought that he had. It perplexed him and it raised a few questions in his mind.
What the hell happened last night?
"Uhm, lovebirds,"Gawain seemed to joke for Lamorak,"we're here."
The both of them scrambled to gain composure, trying to forget that any of them were ever watching. Galahad sighs, and he moved way for Lancelot to sit next to him at his usual position.
The rest of the table watches as Percival takes her seat, and everyone takes a deep breath.
"Wait," Gawain says,"where is Calypso?"
"She's with the blacksmith getting her armor fitted,"Percival starts her paperwork already,"besides, she hasn't been here yet to get enough paperwork or letters that are substantial enough. She'd be wasting her time here."
Galahad smiles,"Gawain put it away."
"Hush puritan,"Gawain shot,"you were staring too."
Lamorak laughs,"No he wasn't."
Gawain sighed, "Oh what Lamorak?"
"Trust me, we may be going to hell for killing a whole lot of people... But Galahad is coming for an entirely different reason all together," Lamorak smiles,"I think Galahad isn't the honest little Christian boy we know. He's harboring something-"
"Trust me Lamorak, insinuating wont get you anywhere," Percival cut him off,"and even if he was you're not necessarily making it easier for him."
Galahad, on the surface was unaffected by this, but on the inside he was almost disturbed that Lamorak could jump to that type of conclusion so fast.
With no lead and no real evidence.
"Galahad, are you okay?" Percival cut through his thoughts.
"No, its completely fine. Just thinking very hard."
Percival nodded and everyone started to work diligently on their paperwork.
And a very calm silence befell the group. It wasn't half an hour before Lamorak finally spoke for a short break.
"Seriously though, what the hell happened?"Lamorak asked Lancelot. Lancelot looked up from across the green knight. "You two are way too friendly with each other for comfort. There's something different going on."
Gawain sighed as he prepared for the liquid ice that was going to spew from his right.
"Lamorak, nothing happened, Lancelot just happened to be in a good mood," Percival said.
Mild, unusually mild for her, Gawain thought.
"You sure?"Lamorak asked. "I mean, we're not exactly complacent towards Lancelot, but I'm honestly somewhat suspicious."
"I'm sitting across from you Lamorak, and what you're insinuating is absolutely sinister,"Lancelot said,"how long have I known you both?"
"Nothing happened,"Galahad silenced everyone.
"How do you know?"Lamorak snapped.
Gawain slapped the back of his head,"Galahad is an A-class psychic you fool. He knows because he reads minds."
Lamorak felt guilty for snapping on Galahad,"Excuse me Galahad. I just really care about my sister."
"As do I Lamorak. Trust me, if there was something amiss I would readily tell you. Nothing happened, Lancelot watched Percival to make sure that she was okay into the night, and he just happened to be in a good mood like Percival said. Nothing happened."
Gawain chuckled,"That would've been real funny and sad."
The whole table stared Gawain down.
"Well bugger,"Gawain said,"I at least thought it would be funny."
Lamorak laughed,"Bad timing Gawain."
They all laugh, and they begin working again. Gawain seems to be concentrating the hardest out of them.
Before long the sun has hung low in the sky, and the world is becoming more orange. The whole table was done with their office duty.
Now officially or not, they were on break and they decided to utilize it.
The table was going to talk amongst themselves, like they always did.
"Percival,"Lamorak said,"why'd you bind today?"
Percival was confused, but then she remembered what she did that morning,"Oh. Well because I'm seeing the Wind King today. And I happen to be having an installment after this."
"I hate to say this,"Gawain chuckled,"but Percival you look like a man."
Percival smiled and she shrugged,"Well Gawain. That's the point is it not."
Galahad shook his head,"So many men are being mislead tonight."
"So many men are going to be made jealous tonight,"Lancelot pointed.
"Jealous?"Lamorak asked looked at Lancelot,"Are you self-projecting?"
Gawain immediately laughed,"Lamorak don't be a weasel." Gawain pointed to Lamorak with his free hand,"She looks damn good and you know it. You're just being irritating by trying to pick a fight."
"Well poo,"Lamorak was annoyed by Gawain,"I'm just doing what best friends do to each other. Messing with them."
Percival put her ankles on the table and she sighed,"Play nice boys, this isn't the playground."
The men laughed within themselves, then a calm was there for 1 second.
"But, all jokes aside, you're giving me an inferiority complex,"Galahad said.
"Everyone gives you an inferiority complex Galahad, even my mother,"Lamorak interjected.
The both of them start bickering and Percival seems to be amused by this, laughing along with them. They all were extending this tender moment.
During so, Lancelot was spacing out, not concentrating on any of the conversation that was happening around him. He was thinking to himself, about the morning before he got there. Lancelot shook that out of his head, finding it detrimental to himself, trying to deny and forget that it happened at all. He decided to think about something else, but there was something that caught his attention.
Gawain was silent too, thinking to himself. Utterly not like Gawain, the usually cheerful and chipper mood was gone from him, he was pensive...deflated.
Lancelot was concerned for a lack of better words.
"Gawain? Are you okay? You seem pretty quiet right now, did you drink again?"
Gawain's eyebrows were knitted, his hands around his head. "You know Lancelot I wish I did."
Lamorak was actually concerned for a moment,"Gawain? What happened?"
Percival's ankles were off the table and she immediately keyed into what was happening;even Galahad whipped his head around. Attentive as either could be.
They all watched as Gawain drew in a heavy breath, and he tried to seem as artificially chipper as he could. Gawain sighed,"Galahad."
"Yes?"
"Can you help me out? I don't think I can say it without...breaking in half. I just can't say it myself."
Galahad immediately saw the height and the heaviness that the situation was presenting. He turned to Gawain and he concentrated on him and the task singularly. Galahad put out his hands and offered them to Gawain.
"Just concentrate."
Gawain was hesitant for a moment, almost staggering a guilt for maybe violating an intimacy he and his other shared;but it was a guilt that existed only for a moment. Gawain relaxed himself, tried to clear his mind as much as he could, and he gave Galahad his hand.
From any normal person's point of view, it would look like they were just sitting in silence. While the table around the two were preying upon a forbidden intimate moment like vultures. That wasn't it though, Galahad was just working his magic. Meanwhile, The room was almost folding in half waiting in anticipation for Galahad to say something,anything.
When Galahad finally put Gawain's hands back, he backed away in his chair appalled by what he might've saw. Galahad seemed absolutely distressed, and he looked to everyone with this unreadable expression.
"Do you know Vanity?"
"Angelica?"the name shot out of Lamorak's mouth.
"She doesn't live to us."
The room had grown darker; they all understood what that meant.
Lamorak immediately hugged his friend,"Oh Gawain, that's some cruel shit."
Lancelot had to step back for a moment, he had to think for a moment to comprehend what was happening. They were done, Vanity and Gawain were done.
There was a cynical part of everyone that was just waiting for this to , the cynical part was also the sensible part out of everyone. Lancelot probably felt this sentiment exponentially more so than anyone. The sardonic and notoriously cold Lancelot was struggling right now to bite his tongue and not say any potentially damaging words. The man just finally decided to not make a peep and only sighed, trying hard to be as empathetic as he possibly could.
Meanwhile, Percival was speechless. She just couldn't find any words to provide consolation or soothe Gawain. As much as she might have been anticipating this, it still shocked her rendering her wordless.
With Lamorak's hand on his back, Gawain seemed almost too solid. Not a tear, not a word, not a sound,nothing on his face or in his voice. He was just an empty shell right now.
The whole room crowded around him, and was almost hugged around him. They were trying to console him, trying to give the shell that was Gawain some sort of comfort.
And they all heard Gawain bring in a shuddering breath.
"I really should've seen this happening," Gawain sighed his hands on his head,"God, I'm such an idiot."
Lamorak rubbed his back soothingly,"Gawain you shouldn't blame yourself for this, you're not being fair to yourself."
"If anything, it's Angelica's reckless behavior. That has nothing to do with you,"Lancelot snidely said.
Percival was almost offended by the tone of Lancelot's voice.
"I really don't think that we should be blaming anyone right now Lancelot, it's not productive to anyone."
Lancelot chuckles standoffishly at that,looking at Percival dead in the eyes.
"Tell me Percival, tell me that it isn't her fault. Exclusively."
Percival is not shaken by his gaze, but she doesn't say anything. There is a sick truth in his words, she knows it. There is a frown that finds itself on her mouth,"Lancelot. Whether it's her fault or not its over. It doesn't matter presently, Gawain needs all the help he can get."
Lancelot chooses his battles, and he decides to not begin a tirade. In silent agreement, they both return to Gawain.
Galahad takes Gawain's hand again, and encouraging words flow from out of his is still stone cold, not saying anything.
Lamorak decides to say something,preparing himself.
"Gawain."
"Yes?"the man answers under his hand.
"I hate to ask this, but I hope you know I'm only asking for your sake,"Lamorak adds and swallows,"how exactly did it end?"
Gawain breathed in, he tried to find the most easy way to say it. All the the images that flew into his head that physically broke him, he found easy way to block them out and digest them cohesively. But there was no easy way to say it, he had a real difficulty trying to piece this together.
"When I finished scolding you last night and Galahad left me and Calypso to talk alone, I had finally decided to go home."
The whole room listened, even the walls seemed to listen to him.
"I decided last night to take the short way home and buy a few goods in Camelot. And I got home early."
Gawain was shaking, as he felt all the feeling gathering into his eyes. The whole room shaking with him.
"I just remember walking into my chamber and seeing a man on top of Angelica,undoing her...,"Gawain's voice broke,"...undoing her..."
Lamorak hugged him again, holding him closer.
"I just remember the pot in my hand breaking in half on the floor and the look on Vanity's face as she...she writhed to get up from laying down on the dresser cabinet."
Gawain just cries in Lamorak's arms and even Lancelot's heart breaks.
The Forceful had just been rendered into sputtering and crying, endlessly, not even able to produce a coherent sentence..
"I just remember running all the way to the knight's den, and not even visiting my chamber before I got here...Just running and crying."
Galahad seemed really angry,"It's not your fault."
Gawain retracted himself from the man hug he was in, and he looked at Galahad. Gawain forced a smile on his face,"Really Galahad. There's no need."
"No,"Galahad seemed really angry,"that was absolutely disgusting what she did. As long as this has been going on that is absolutely impermissible. There's no words that could possibly excuse her from abusing your kindness. She didn't value the sanctity of your relationship, and I'm glad that you've finally become free of that and I'm glad because you'll be so much far better off." Galahad stood up and his hands were placed on the others shoulders,he was towering over the other male,"By god Gawain,you are so much stronger than I am." Galahad's voice drew to a dead whisper,"I would've killed her by now."
Everyone was drawn speechless dumbfounded. In all their years knowing Galahad, never had he become so frightening and threatening in any given moment. He was almost a different person in their eyes. They were totally stunned.
"There's going to be hell to pay,I hope she can answer for the things that she has done."
"Jesus,"Percival curses,"who the hell is this?"
The whole room looks at her.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave," Percival walks away from the gathering in the room,"Galahad..."
Galahad looks up at his partner.
"Don't make me regret knowing you as a friend."
Percival left that room, and she closed the door behind her. She walked out of the lion's den making her way to the heart of Camelot to meet the king.
She remembered then, everything what happened in the den.
She couldn't quite piece it together.
But that could wait.
Because the king was waiting for her.
*Laevetein and **Arondight: the sacred swords found around the time Excaliburn was pulled from the stone by King Arthur.
***"manic mood":Percival is alluding to the manic part of Lancelot's condition. A highly elated and frenzied state which makes its beholders feel highly energetic and invincible,like they are on top of the world;both in the mind and the flesh. While in this state, its feelers will have higher energy thresholds,sex drive and often make highly reckless decisions.
Almost 8000 words...
My eyes and my fingers are crying out in a bloody symphony.
You know how close that is to 10000?
Fucking Hell, I hope you enjoyed the fluff?
Not even typing coherently right now 5 in the morning
Ehhh...I probably deserve it.
R&R please, for more hours of sleep...
~Blu