~Author's Note~
Hello everyone! Welcome back to Big Bro and Little Sis, I know that I suck at updating but I really tried to figure it out and was able to write this chapter. I REALLY hope you guys enjoy it as much as I liked writing it because it was very cute and fluffy for me :) I really do hope you guys love it and I am so happy for your support and Reviews :) Thank you so much! ^.^
Sincerely,
~Ms. AtomicBomb
She gripped her sword tighter in her small hands and rolled her shoulders a little bit to let her tiny muscles adjust to the weight of the wooden weapon. A grey-violet gaze burned into her with little to no emotion and that truly frightened her. She had never seen someone so stoic while panting slightly in her entire life. He was something she never thought she would come across. A silent boy with no emotion on his features.
The male in front of her—the one with no feelings—plunged the weapon forward with determination, she was able to jump back before the object caught her stomach. She sniffled and wiggled her tiny button nose before doing anything rash. Alright, she needed to be a little bit, okay, a lot quicker.
The next time that the male went to thrust his fake weapon forward, she was able to catch it with her own, having it swerve around them. She had watched knights before and that was about as much as she had picked up from the fights.
Since the male was not only older but stronger and more skilled than herself, he was able to push her back with his weapon while also taking his own step back. For a brief second, she witnessed something spark in his emotionless eyes as he began to circle her, his body low to the floor but his eyes keeping close attention to her small movements as she pivoted to not get out from his sight.
She could feel, not only his, but other judging eyes on her features and she had nearly forgotten that they were brawling because he had delivered no attack. It was not until he swung the sword to her right and hit her in the arm that she recalled the fight she was supposed to be engaged in. Arturia held her groan inside and jumped back once more, trying to get out of his sword's length; of course he only approached her, to be able to land at least a blow to her once more.
He swung again, but she was quick to dodge.
A thrust to the left by the male and a jump to the right by Arturia. He was able to catch her tunic, but it was not enough.
She was panting loudly by now, the running and the holding of the sword had tired her out, and as she stopped to take in a breath, he was able to knock the sword from her arms, making the wood fall to the dirt floor with a light 'thud'. Children cheered and she looked about a little disappointed that he was able to unarm her so quick into the battle—even though it had been a good ten minutes of the two children brawling.
The violet haired male slacked his shoulders and lowered his fake sword whilst he took a deep breath to even his breathing. Thinking that the fight was over and he could leave in order to drink some water,he turned on his heel and began to make his way past the crowd of children around them.
"Where are you leaving to?" She asked as she bent down and scooped up the weapon, "I retrieved my sword,"
He turned his head back to face her once again and then blinked as he saw that she, indeed, had her sword tightly in her right hand and dusting it off with her left, "I have defeated you, if we were in the battlefield, I would have defeated you when I had hurt your right arm." His voice was a low mumble.
"Then I will not use it," she gave a soft nod, determination evident in her vibrant green eyes.
After returning the gesture, he turned back to her completely and fell into a steady and ready position. He viewed her again with those judging grey orbs but tried to hide his curiosity and interest this time around, so that she would not be distracted and it would not be an unfair match.
Unlike before, she was the one to attack first and he then fell into a defensive pose. Her strikes were not as strong as he had endured before and they were rather mindless, as she was leaving many openings. He figured he would tap her with his sword where she was lacking defence and then finally had given her the last blow; to the back of her knees—to be exact.
She fell forward on her knees and hands as he tripped her and held the sword to her neck. Panting, she wiped beads of sweat from her forehead, "Okay, you win," she grinned as she tried her best to stand from the dusty floor.
Alexander chuckled loudly and clapped his hands enthusiastically, soon joined by the other young males that were onlookers. There was a small smile of pride on his strong features, "Well, look here, we have the best women warrior within our midst! Great work, little Arturia."
Arturia furrowed her brows and tilted her head to the right once she had dusted herself off, "But, I did not even win," she argued, "Lancelot won,"
"Lancelot, please tell her why we are congratulating her." The large man had cracked a brighter smile upon seeing the innocence of the young female.
The violet haired boy passed the sword to his friend, Gawain, and then looked over at the younger female, "You are one of the most skilled freshmen we have had for a while. Sir Alexander is congratulating you because you've done a great job in keeping up with my attacks and for your determination."
Artura blinked a couple of times and lifted her left eyebrow, she had not really understood what the boy meant with what he had said.
"He means to say that you are talented." Gawain chipped in, a proud look on his face as well.
"Oh," she nodded, "I understand now." By now all the other children had gone back to fighting with their own fake swords.
"You seem to be a bit...slow, yes?" Lancelot kept a monotone voice as he inquired.
Arturia kicked the sand in slight frustration that she did not understand what he meant once again, "What do you mean?"
"Oh, never mind. Of course, you are but the daughter of a lowborn peasant, I should have known." He waved it off as if it was nothing.
Blinking at him, she mumbled, "Excuse me?"
"I mean to say that you are not educated."
Crossing her arms over her chest and making a sound of disapproval, she began to whine, "Yes I am!"
She could see that Lancelot refrained from rolling his eyes, "Do you even know what educated means?"
"Are you starting a fight with me?" She quickly lifted her sword from the floor and furrowed her brows before thrusting it his way, but her speed had not alarmed him and he was able to grab the wooden object with his hand and stop her attack.
"Do not act on emotions; it is only a suggestion," he sighed as he saw that she glared at him.
"Why do you care?" She hissed back in a harsh response, trying to make him understand that he had been mean to her.
"I was only trying to provoke you, I do not mean what I said. I am sure that you are a good person and a rather smart one as well. Arturia, was it? I hope that we'll be good fellow knights one day." He gave her a soft smile, showing a much more kinder side to his emotionless demeanour.
She lifted the corner of her lips and nodded, "I hope so too, Lancelot,"
The day had gone on rather smoothly, and she had finally made two friends; Gawain and Lancelot. They might have been older than her, but they all got along nicely. She had noticed that class and gender did not matter when she was in the training grounds. She liked that, the fact that they not look down at her as others had done before. She might have been parentless and poor, but she finally felt accepted by other children, maybe even accepted by older people. She preferred the training grounds from then on—it was somewhere that she found to be safe and calming. No one asked questions that did not matter or questions that she did not know how to answer because it would be social taboo.
By the time that the sun had begun to sink, she saw her big brother by the gates. Merlin stood next to him, and they were speaking about something that she could not quite hear, but she did not mind at all—Diarmuid would tell her later.
"Can I go talk to him too! He's so cool! I want to be like him." Gawain was beyond hyper, his hands moving in all kinds of motions as he pretended he was a knight.
"Gawain has a wild imagination," Lancelot pointed it out, speaking to her in a hushed whisper, "he thinks that he'll be the best knight Camelot will ever see."
Arturia shook her head rapidly, "Wayne, I am sorry but big brother is going to be that best knight ever, right Lancey?" She looked beyond the boy next to her in order to see the violet head bob in agreement.
"But, Turia, I am going to be like him!" He cheered, "Let's go!" He extended his hands out, like a bird extending it's wings, and ran towards the two males, followed by Arturia and Lancelot.
"Brother! Brother!" Arturia waved enthusiastically, a bright smile on her face.
Diarmuid looked over at her and returned the soft gesture, "Artie, who are these fine gentlemen?" He asked as they had all had stopped in front of him.
"They're my new friends!" She giggled.
"Oh," he smiled, "Really?"
"Hello sir," Lancelot bowed, "I am Lancelot Du Lac."
Gawain smiled up at him and Diarmuid could tell that the little boy's neck was starting to hurt, "Sir, are you a Knight?"
Diarmuid grinned, "I was and now I am hoping to be one again."
"Introduce yourself," Lancelot hit the boy in the stomach with his elbow.
"Ow!" Gawain whined, "Oh right! Hello sir! I'm Gawain." Instead of bowing, as the quieter boy had done, he extended a hand out to Diarmuid.
Merlin chuckled, "I like this one," he was rather amused by the little blond's energy and charisma, "He will be very trustworthy, I can tell."
"Nice to meet you Gawain," he shook the little boy's hand, who's eyes grew double their size and a goofy smile came upon his lips as he had touched his hand, "And you as well, Lancelot," he looked over at the little boy, "You could call me 'Sir', but my name is Diarmuid."
"Can we call you Big Brother too?" Gawain asked and there was another nudge on his stomach, "Lancelot, stop that," he hushed the other boy's way, earning a look of disappointment from him.
Diarmuid nodded, "Well, of course."
"No!" Arturia objected, "He's only my big brother!"
"Now, Artie, you cannot be selfish," he shook his head and a frown appeared on her mouth.
"But it's not fair!" She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Diarmuid leaned onto the fence and tilted his head. "I do not think so; You get to have me whenever you want, but Gawain and Lancelot only see me when I drop you off and pick you up, it is fair, right Merlin?"
The young wizard next to him nodded, "Diarmuid is right, Princess, you have to be a good knight and share the good things that you have."
Looking up at Merlin, she fluttered her eyelashes, "Do knights really do that?" Diarmuid and Merlin both nodded at the same time and a groan came from the space between her lips, "Ookaay,"
Gawain began to cheer and then smiled, "Thank you Turia! You are a great knight already, right Big Brother!"
"Yes," the Irishman smiled at the kids and as Arturia and Gawain continued to talk, he felt a tug on his pant leg. Upon looking down, he noticed the boy with lavender hair patiently looking up at him; wide-eyed and cheeks a bit pink. "Yes?"
"You are really tall," he blinked.
"Thank you?"
"Umm..." the boy's cheeks darkened, "c-can you lift me up? On your shoulders? I mean father does it to me but he's not nearly as tall as you and—"
"Yes, of course!" Diarmuid had stopped him from embarrassing himself even more and lifted the male once he had reached out to him, then propped him upon his shoulders, "When are you parents coming to pick you up?"
"Gawain and I walk home together all the time, we live next to each other and so our parents are fine with us coming home a little bit late since there are two of us." Lancelot replied, returning to a mature tone—that was what he was; Mature.
"Come on, Let's get going. You are probably getting hungry then, right?"
Lancelot nodded—not that Diarmuid could see—and hummed in approval.
"Hey! Not fair!" Gawain complained upon seeing Lancelot on the Irishman's shoulders, "I want to be up there too!"
"Tomorrow!" Arturia giggled, "We'll take turns!"
"B-but—Okay!"