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Chapter 12 – Pledge (I)

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After witnessing the fight between the twin sisters (Arthuria and Mordred) with the Three Misfits, just like how the third princess Elizabeth Liones soo attached to Meliodas, Elizabeth attached to the twin sisters as well, much to Veronica's displeasure (she was just jealous) and Margaret's amusement (she thought it was cute).

Mostly it was only the twin with Elizabeth, or between sisters before they got along well and would play together. Just like this day, when the boys had their training session, the girls played together. Due to her study, Margaret didn't join them. Mordred, Arthuria, and Veronica were playing hide-and-seek with Elizabeth in the garden. In the halfway, when Elizabeth and Mordred tried to catch a cat, they fell from the fallen bridge. Both Veronica and Arthuria tried to protect them and as a result, they got injured, rather bad. When Mordred and Elizabeth got off of their sister's body, they found the gash on Veronica's leg and Arthuria groaned as she felt the hot sensation leaking from her back. Welp, it seems like she got injured on her back from how she couldn't move an inch.

She sighed and tried to call her guardian "...Bedivere...".

As if on a cue, Bedivere earned the signal and turned his back. Lancelot and Gawain who helped Lady Gwen to take care of Tristan and Mash realized his troubled visage.

Meliodas just finished the training for Three Misfits and was about to give his lesson for Bedivere "is there something wrong, Ollie?".

"...Lady?", Bedivere narrowed his eyes. What was it? Telepathy? But he never knew that Arthuria had telepathy beforehand "do I only imagine things?".

"no, you aren't. If you can hear me, can you come to gather us right away? I, Mordred, and princesses fell from the fallen bridge. Both I and princess Veronica got injured. I'm sure you can find us".

This time, Bedivere shouted "what!?".

Just when Meliodas wanted to ask Bedivere about what the hell happened to him, suddenly, Meliodas saw a vision on his mind. He had no idea who did this to him, but it seemed like someone had sent the image to his mind, where Meliodas saw the state of the injured Arthuria and Veronica, with the crying Elizabeth and Mordred by their side.

Meliodas cursed out loud "oh, shit!".

Mash suddenly stood and told them out loud "they are under the bridge, on the northwest of the castle. The bridge's fallen and they landed on the riverbank. Two of them injured!? Princess Veronica's got injured on her leg, only a little gash that will not endanger her life. Lady Alexandria got a rather bad gash on her back. Hurry up, save them!".

Both Lancelot and Gwen were shocked but before they could ask her something, Mash collapsed and lost her consciousness.

Lancelot caught her "Mash!".

Without wasting their time, Gawain ran after telling them that he would tell King Baltra or call Merlin or one of his uncles (Zaratras, Dreyfus, or Hendrickson). Bedivere and Meliodas quickly picked horses before they went to pick the princesses and the twin sisters. Meliodas and Bedivere mounted off of their horses and landed on the riverbank, only to find Arthuria and Veronica were alright, though Elizabeth and Mordred were crying mess.

"to be perfectly honest, I also have no idea about what happened", Arthuria admitted it was not her who healing herself or Veronica "though I have the familiar sensation like the one I've got when Oliver had healed me".

Mordred admitted, "it's not me either, though I indeed hoped Daddy was here to help us".

When they all went to check themselves on Merlin, Merlin told them that the healing work was princess Elizabeth's doing before she pulled Mordred. Merlin smirked in amusement "as I thought... Bellatrix, you did it without you know, but you were the one who sent the vision of what you see to your father".

Mordred gasped "sort of telepathy?".

"sort-of. The difference is, what you sent was the vision, not sound", Merlin pointedly glanced at the couple who sat on the side of the bed "your sister communicated with Oliver through telepathy with sound only".

Lady Gwen asked in worry "and how about my daughter, Lady Merlin?".

"I should say, congratulation, Lady Gwen. Your daughter has awakened her Clairvoyance", Merlin caressed the sleeping Mash's bangs "Clairvoyance is the ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. The ones who possess it are known as Clairvoyant. It can be divided roughly into three classes: precognition (an ability to perceive or predict future events), retrocognition (the ability to see past events), and remote viewing (perception of contemporary events happening outside of the range of normal perception). The one she used to save the princesses and the twin today is remote viewing. Due to her physical sensory limitation, she collapsed and lost consciousness after she used it. However, Clairvoyance is a strong ability. She needs to train herself to use it".

For Elizabeth, Merlin said she needed to talk about her with King Baltra and Zaratras. Arthuria realized Meliodas' discomfort and wondered why her father was so overprotective over Elizabeth's well-being. Though, she had her answer not too long afterward.

That day, when she just went back from the library with Bedivere as usual, Arthuria accidentally saw the conversation between her father, Meliodas with Elizabeth, the third princess of Liones.

Meliodas patted Elizabeth's head "I promise, no matter where I am, I'll always come back to you alive. So, can you wait for me?".

Elizabeth smiled broadly "Uhm, I'll be waiting for you, always!".

With her magic eyes, 'Truth', Arthuria could see the 'hidden truth' beneath people's hearts. From her father's heart, she saw the fact that her father knew, this third princess Elizabeth Liones was no one other than the reincarnation of 'Liz', his late wife. Her mother "it's her... so, here you are, mother".

Bedivere was startled when Arthuria blinked away her tears and crouched beside her with those concerns on his eyes "Lady, are you okay?".

"...yeah", Arthuria hastily wiped her tears before she swore, the pledge she took from her deepest heart "I promise as well... this time, I will always protect you and I will never betray you, even if it will cost my life, mother".

Arthuria wondered why would her father not tell them, his children, about this despite knowing the fact that her mother had reincarnated? Perhaps, because she and Mordred were still too young? She would just ask him later. After his mission on Isthar, they would need to talk about this with her twin sister and her father, regards their mother.

...though they had a long way to go before they could do it.

Time Skip to the day of National Foundation Festival...|

Mash 6 years old, Tristan 7 years old, Arthuria & Mordred 10 years old, Bedivere 15 years old, Lancelot & Gawain 16 years old...|

"on the National Foundation Festival, I prefer to spend my time with Lady Alexandria because my little brother, Gilthunder said he wanted to spend his time on the Festival with princess Margaret", Bedivere kept his poker face as he was cornered on the wall by twin brothers (Lancelot and Gawain) and Mordred (undoubtedly, she was the boss) "so what I have done, that makes me deserve to be cornered here by the three of you?".

"oh, don't worry, my sister is busy with princess Elizabeth and princess Veronica right now, so we can talk as long as we want", Mordred scoffed "and let's stop pretending to be a fool. I'm tired of playing hide-and-seek, Bedivere".

Bedivere sighed and crossed his hands before his chest "oh, finally. I've been waiting until you talk to me first, Lady Bellatrix, or should I say... Sir Mordred".

"Lady Mordred Pendragon", Gawain clarified "like it or not, she's still true heir and a direct descendant of Lady Arthuria Pendragon".

"yeah, until what happened on the battle of Camlann", Bedivere sent cold glare that enough to make Lancelot, Gawain, and Mordred flinched "I'm surprised it took such a long time for you to talk about it to me. Why so sudden?".

"there's a chance we have to leave this place right away", Gawain pointed his thumb to Lancelot "from what Lancelot heard, that is".

Lancelot explained that he heard it from Lady Gwen when he helped her to take care of Tristan and Mash "Sir Hendrickson and Sir Dreyfus have planned something fishy behind Sir Zaratras, but Lady Gwen is too afraid to talk with anyone about it because she's thinking about Mash. I have a plan to just bring her and Mash away from this Kingdom, at first".

Bedivere rolled his eyes "oh, like the one you had when you brought Queen Guinevere?".

Earning Lancelot flinched, Gawain stepped forward "look, I understand you must have held the grudge against us, for what we've done, for causing our King's demise but we have cleared everything up in between us".

"and what do you expect me to do now?", Bedivere pulled Gawain's collar "you are not the ones who witnessed her death!".

"and you are not the only ones who have been feeling guilty! I personally have had a pledge from my deepest heart, if I were given the second chance, this time I would do everything to serve my King as you have! Not only me, but also Lancelot, Galahad, Tristan, and even Mordred", Gawain squeezed his shoulders "you've done an excellent job, either in this lifetime or in our previous life, to serve her and to protect her. You put the weight of the world, all the responsibility, and the burdens on your shoulders alone. Now, allow us to make up everything for you and our King".

"...I've been waiting for you all to come back to me and our King, but it surely took so long for you all to come", Bedivere smiled bittersweetly "comrades".

Lancelot and Gawain hugged Bedivere on three-ways hug before Gawain waved his hand, gesturing Mordred to join them.

Mordred waved her hands "ah, no... I'm not too fond of the physical—".

"you're a bad liar as usual", Gawain chuckled and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to join their bear hug, ignoring her yelp in protest "I know how touch-starving you can be, especially from Lady Arthuria and Sir Meliodas".

Mordred grumbled under her breath, but truth to be told, she could have cried. Now, with the four of them had had their reconciliation (Tristan and Mash would join them later), they discussed how the six of them could make up everything for their King.

"though, I could imagine what she will say", Bedivere sighed in defeat, rubbing his temple "and in this term, I will need your help. Even till now, I can't forget it, when she cried and she told me how she had regretted everything because—".

"I'm at fault for everything".

"True, we have a lot to do, to make up everything but for now, let's do what we should do first", Mordred beckoned Lancelot to continue "actually, what Sir Hendrickson and Sir Dreyfus have plotted behind Sir Zaratras?".

"I don't know. Lady Gwen didn't tell me the details, only telling me that both you and your sister need to leave this Kingdom", Lancelot shrugged "oh, she also mentioned something will happen today when the Seven Deadly Sins and Sir Zaratras hold the meeting on the—".

That was when they heard some people rushing to them. Dreyfus, Hendrickson, along with Lady Gwen who carried Mash and Tristan. Tristan cried as he hugged Mordred, and it was Lady Gwen who asked them to calm down and listen to them "Bella, your older sister is...".

Mordred turned deadly pale as she screamed "OLDER SISTER!".

Flashback

It was the usual game for them. Veronica would find them as Margaret and Elizabeth hid. Margaret had one motive to join their hide-and-seek this time, she agreed to meet with Gilthunder here and she wanted to surprise her. As for Elizabeth, she had promised to meet with Arthuria here, on the old Castle because they heard Zaratras had an important meeting with the Seven Deadly Sins who just came back from their mission.

However, Arthuria had a hunch feeling that this wouldn't be going well "princess, are you sure this is gonna be fine?".

Elizabeth beamed delightfully, holding her hand "come on, Alexa! What's the point of playing hide and seek if you hide somewhere you can easily be found? I bet no one can find us here!".

Well, it was true, but still...

Speaking of which, Arthuria wondered why the Holy Knights held an important here when usually, they held the meeting on the Castle. Strange. It was so quiet here. The uneasiness crawled her throat, nervous squeezed her stomach. It kinda reminded her of her Castle on the Camelot Kingdom, but this time, she remembered when she would feel this way.

When something bad was gonna happen.

Arthuria and Elizabeth could hear the muffled sounds (or shouts?) from the corner. When Elizabeth excitedly wanted to go there because she believed Meliodas and the others were there, Arthuria once again felt something just wasn't right. She activated her magic eyes, this time to see through the wall and there, she saw the Seven Deadly Sins standing front of—

Elizabeth turned her back and shouted in surprise when she saw Arthuria dropped to her knees "hey, are you okay? What's wrong?".

Arthuria didn't hear her, she was too shocked by what she saw. Who could have killed Zaratras like this? It was gruesome and to think Zaratras died like this... she felt suffocating as dread filled her heart. Again, Arthuria heard her own voice was talking with something, someone, somebody else within her mind.

How would Bedivere and Gilthunder feel? Who did it to him? The Sins? No, they wouldn't have...

The venomous voice asked, "but what if they did?".

Arthuria thought "no, it was impossible!".

Again, the sweet but venomous voice whispered to her mind "nothing was impossible. Remember what happened to you in your previous life, honey? Remember how your comrades and friends left you behind and betrayed you? Remember how your beloved daughter betrayed and killed you? Who's else to say that your father and his comrades wouldn't do the same? After all, as long as they live, humans keep betraying each other. Like what happened before, they will betray you or leave you behind in the end".

Arthuria felt her breath hitched "but even so—".

At the moment, Elizabeth lifted her head and called her name out loud, patting her cheek "where does it hurt? Why are you crying? Talk to me".

Arthuria remembered Meliodas, her father, and Elizabeth, her mother's reincarnation. Liz, her mother that she failed. Arthuria remembered the resolve she had made with Bedivere. Even if people betrayed and left her behind, she couldn't help but love them, so she would do her best.

Arthuria hastily wiped her tears that fell unconsciously. Heck, she really should strengthen her heart into her iron-cladded one like she had when she was a King, again. She felt like she had turned into the crybaby mess after she arrived here. Well, but a child was crying a lot, right?

Without looking back, she did what she should do this time. She grabbed Elizabeth's wrist, pulling her and telling her to run. They barely made it out of the old Castle when they felt the earthquake and they fell forward.

Arthuria saw it from the corner of her eyes, the fallen debris was about to crush them so she pulled and pushed Elizabeth "princess, run!".

"Alexandria!", Elizabeth cried out when she saw Arthuria was buried under the fallen debris. She tried to pull her out but no avail. She hoped she was strong enough to lift the rocks that buried her friends' body but it just didn't move. Elizabeth cried harder, asking her to survive it as she saw how much blood came out of her body when Margaret, Veronica, and Griamore found them "Alexandria, get yourself together! Stay with me!".

Arthuria reached out her hand and smiled weakly, her pupils seemed unfocused as she coughed blood "...mother, you came... to pick me? but why... it's so dark... here...".

When Hendrickson and Dreyfus arrived there, they were shocked to see what happened. Blood pooling out of her body as she closed her eyes slowly. At first, her sight only blurred but then everything turned into the pitch-black void, even before she lost her consciousness.

Flashback End

Mordred and Tristan cried at the bedside. Bedivere froze and turned deadly pale as he stared down to the unmoving, bandage-cladded figure lying unconscious on the bed in front of him. Both Lancelot and Gawain tried their best to calm down Tristan, Mordred, and Mash who were crying mess, even if it was clear that they were in distraught as well.

Lady Gwen explained to her diagnosis "the damage on her body is too severe. Several of her bones cracked and she's got the septic-shock due to her severe bleeding. Even if she regains back her consciousness, we're afraid she will be blind from what the princesses recited".

Mordred shouted "no way! You have to save her!".

Elizabeth hiccupped as she tugged Mordred's sleeve "forgive me, Bella... it's my fault... she's injured... because of protecting me... she warned me to get out... but I ignored her...".

Margaret squeezed Elizabeth's shoulders "no, it's not your fault, Ellie".

"that's right. My sister won't blame you, because it's just how the kind of a woman she is", Mordred put the brave face and smiled as she patted Elizabeth's head "don't worry, princess. She's strong and she's gonna survive. That's why stop crying".

"she has to. Otherwise, I'm not gonna forgive myself", Bedivere stood and turned to leave. Outside, he saw Dreyfus, Hendrickson, and Lady Gwen discussed with King Baltra and Denzel with all members from the Pleiades Of the Azure Sky. They discussed who was the next Great Holy Knight. Bedivere could have replaced his father's but he was still too young, they said. Bedivere gritted his teeth, how could they talk about it at the time like this? But it was needed. He felt like he could hear Arthuria's voice whispering to him. He could have sworn, he would go insane in no time, it seemed if this went on. Bedivere sauntered to them and made his presence clear to them "uncle, where is Gilthunder?".

Dreyfus told him that his wife took him and Griamore to their home, Howzer with them as well "he's so shocked... no wonder, this happened to your father, my brother... and to think the main culprit is...".

Bedivere walked closer with steady steps "Sir Dreyfus, please watch your words. We don't know if it's really the Seven Deadly Sins or particular parties who killed my father, yet".

Hendrickson asked incredulously "Are you telling us that they aren't the main culprit? Oliver, are you trying to defend those criminals who killed your father? What's the proof?".

Bedivere shouted and pointed to the closed door "Alexandria is dying inside there because she protected princess Elizabeth. Just the same with her, Sir Meliodas is an honorable man so I don't believe that Sir Meliodas and the Seven Deadly Sins are the ones who kill my father!".

Dreyfus growled "but it doesn't change the fact that her father and his comrades disappear now! They are still under the suspicion and they have been known as the evilest criminals! Her father is a criminal, and who's to say that his children wouldn't be the—".

"she is my fiancé!", panting, Bedivere glared coldly and lifted his chin up. It was not the blazing fury like the destructive fire but more like the calm, deep-sea that swallowed everything "not a word... or I will not doubt to fight for her, even if it means I have to fight against you, uncle".

While everyone here lost at words, too shocked to say anything, Mordred stepped out along with Tristan, Mash, and Gawain before they (only Mordred and Gawain) shouted in unison "YOU ARE WHAT?!".

Tristan and Mash said in unison "well, he's telling the truth".

Lady Gwen crouched behind her daughter "honey, how could you have known it?".

"because we overheard the conversation between Sir Zaratras and Sir Meliodas with Lady Merlin as the witnesses", Mash turned to Tristan "right, Triss?".

Tristan bowed, his shoulder-length red hair swiftly moved around his shoulders (he had refused to cut it and preferred to grow it long) "uncle Zaratras said 'considering how close my son with your daughter and how attached they are to each other, how about we arrange the engagement between them?', then my father said 'okay, only my daughter agreed. I admit I quite like your son because he is so devoted to my daughter, not to mention he is also so honest and a good man'. They decided to keep it as a secret though, but they have planned to talk about it properly to older sisters when Oliver turns into 16 years old next year and they will settle everything after older sister Alexandria turns into 16 years old".

Mordred grabbed Tristan by his collar and shook his body "why did you never tell me about it?!".

Tristan deadpanned "Aunt Merlin gave the advice to keep it as a secret which father and uncle Zaratras easily agreed before they asked me and Mash to keep it as a secret because they were afraid if you'd try to kill Oliver before our sister's marriage with him".

Dreyfus sternly stated, "which is not gonna happen, considering what happened to my brother".

"so bold. I think it's not your decision to be made, Sir", Gawain bit back "it's Lady Alexandria's and Oliver's. Besides, who knows if the Seven Deadly Sins are really the ones who killed uncle Zaratras or they are only framed by someone?".

Mordred nodded her head furiously "that's right. My father is not a criminal!".

Dreyfus snapped "and how could you say—".

"where are you when Sir Zaratras was killed?", Mash cut them off, the aura surrounding her body only got stronger "Sir Dreyfus, Sir Hendrickson, we challenge you... if you dare to say that the Seven Deadly Sins are the ones who killed Great Holy Knight Zaratras, then where were you when Sir Zaratras was killed?".

Her eyes were void of emotions as she demanded an answer from Dreyfus and Hendrickson.

As Dreyfus and Hendrickson backed away, Mash walked forward and smiled with the way that sending chills on their nape "well? I guess it's an easy question, Sir. Why don't you answer me? Unless... you can't answer me, or you don't have an answer to my question. You can laugh as much as you can now, but the divine punishment will surely befall on you".

Tristan grabbed her hand to hold her back "Mash? What are you talking about?".

Bedivere touched her shoulders "no, it's not Mash. She's possessed. Who are you?".

Mash looked up and gave a peck on his cheek, much to their shock. When Bedivere stepped backward and touched his cheek, they saw Mash smiled with a tint on sadness.

"I believe you are the only one who can save me. I'm waiting for you", for a second, Mash's image looked like mixed with Arthuria as she smiled "let's meet again on my resting place, my Knight".

Mordred, Gawain, Tristan, Lancelot, and Bedivere's eyes widened.

Unconsciously, Bedivere breathed "...Lady?".

Mash collapsed backward and Tristan caught her, though it didn't need a long time for her to regain her consciousness.

When she regained her consciousness, Mash confirmed "right, it's Lady Alexandria. She possessed me just now and she tried to tell us who was the killer but it's so foggy... I can't remember who killed uncle Zaratras. One thing for sure, Sir Zaratras had passed away already when the Seven Deadly Sins arrived there. Also, she said there are the witnesses".

Hendrickson asked, "who is the witnesses?".

Mash shook her head "I can see her spirit but I can't hear her. I only can hear her when she possessed me just now".

"kinda the opposite with me, then", Tristan sighed heavily before he admitted out loud "I can hear her but I can't see her".

Lady Gwen concluded "her body is severely damaged to the point she's in a comatose state. At this point, her spirit unconsciously can get out of her body and if she can't come into her body back, it means her body is too weak. It seems like she also doesn't fully aware of where she is now. We can assume she is somewhere between death and life. Just if Lady Merlin is here...".

Denzel and King Baltra in the end handled the situation at their hands. Under Denzel's intense watch, the Pleiades of the Azure Sky and Holy Knights would watch over Arthuria, Mordred, and Tristan on the Castle. The princesses, mostly Elizabeth would visit them every day. Hendrickson and Dreyfus had agreed to lock Bedivere, Gawain, and Lancelot in Zaratras' home to make him 'behave' after Gilthunder was brought to Dreyfus' home.