A year had passed by after meeting Lena. A knight's duty was filled with bloodied battlefields, social unrest, and the worst of all…paperwork.

Oh how we detested those endless piles of complaints and tax reports. Wrestling a pack of wolves was more appealing than the back pains caused by prolonged durations of hunching over a desk. Let me tell you…scribing letters in full body armor was a hellish endeavor.

We did everything to escape our new torment, many times taking secret vacations to Lena's village.

Our antics deviated from the original lore. Even then, violence frequented the lands of Britain. King Arthur proved herself to be a great leader in certain aspects, but the issues were increasingly visible. The people, though they respected the strong divine king of Britain, were filled with disdain. No matter how they praised the glory of their nation, such prayers and the news of victory could not fill their stomachs and lower the taxes.

As the knight assigned to examine Britain's finances, we saw the atrocious tax rates and petitions for change by many settlements. Many knights of the Round Table assisted us in providing short term aid to lessen the suffering of our people.

In the same year, my personality had become so scrambled with Mordred's that we were nearly one existence. Not completely one; I still viewed myself as an outsider. Together, we contributed to the livelihood of the citizens rather than seeking glory through combat like the original version of ourselves in the Fate lore.

Our efforts bore fruit in many regions within Britain. As we progressed, so did the apathy of King Arthur. Arthur Pendragon, like the original in Fate lore, desired to be the perfect king. A king void of emotions and entirely different from humans. She became indifferent and confused about the varying troubles of the common people. The knights and advisors around King Arthur knew this and silently left her side.

Only a few stood by the King's side, us included. The events I had known from my past life would soon come into play; the when was a mystery; the how was vivid because I never bothered with the in depth details of Fate lore. Mordred still didn't know her true heritage and I was reluctant in sending ideas of it to her.

King Arthur perceived her failings. However, she refused to take notice of the core problems of her ideology. The King made frequent ventures into the battlefield, leaving the ruling of Camelot and other government affairs to her associates and knights. Evidently, one such knight was us. We held an unyielding presence in gatherings and the king's trust, but everyone knew the true reason we were forced behind was because we were the sole knight personally assigned to partake in deskwork by our king.

Even now, the King and my fellow knights were waging battles with rebels and barbarians. It had been a month since the last departure of the king from Camelot and an hour after his return.

Gawain walked towards us, parchment in hand. "Knight Mordred, this is the list of spoils obtained and death tolls. Do what you must to rejuvenate the army's morale."

"I work in finance and taxes." Mordred complained as she snatched the document. "Not this sh*t."

The listed casualties were in the thousands, most from infected wounds. Alas, still successful as the battle was won and the enemy pushed back.

"It saddens me that we were forced to conscript untrained villagers to fight our battles." Gawain recounted as Mordred scanned through the parchment. "Though a warrior named Egbert held the qualities of a knight. It saddens me that his talent was wasted."

'What?'

"What?" Mordred dropped the parchment and stared at Gawain. "What did you say?"

"Oh, a conscripted villager of the name Egbert led his fellow villagers to battle. The knights needed energy and the king did not wish to send them to battle without rest. He ordered us to find willing people to fight in the knights' stead. I saw to the recruitment myself" He continued, only noticing our bursting bloodlust when Mordred pushed Gawain away and raced down the halls of the castle towards the horse stables.

We moved as one to grab a healthy stallion, pushed open the gates, and rode towards Lena's village. The returning knights were struck with confusion and our King raised an eyebrow at our distress. We didn't care for their thoughts and stares; only Lena and Egbert were on our minds.

We rode on the dirt road, never stopping and never resting. We feared for the worst and desperately wished it had not come to pass. They were the only ones who brought color into our life besides the joy of serving under our king.

"Oof!" Our horse tripped over his own weight and crashed onto the ground. It had lost all of its strength in the hours of continuous running. I…Mordred…We tumbled to the group with our steed. The pain was nothing compared to our distress and we picked ourselves up. We discarded our armor and sword to increase our mobility as we ran towards the village.

We did not know how long we traveled, but we reached it nonetheless. The sight of the ruined village worsened our fears.

"Huff…Huff…LENA!...Huff." In between breaths, we called for her. In our search, we found corpses. Many bodies littered the village grounds; the people whom we had grown to recognize throughout our visits to Lena. The sight only increased our pace towards Lena's cottage.

The bloodied path opened up to the village plaza. Upon the dirt floor, laid the man I wished had lived. Egberts body was covered in arrows and deep wounds. He died with his eyes open, those eyes filled with fury and determination. He knew what he was fighting for and even in death, he wished to achieve it. I knelt down before his body and placed my palm open his eyes, closing them and laying him to rest. His body was cold, but his blood was still liquid.

For all we knew, Lena could still be alive. We raced towards the cottage and kicked the wooden door open.

As I did so, I saw her. She was bleeding, but her chest was moving…Lena was alive.

"AAARRGH". A man screamed from behind us. We immediately brought our grip upon his swing arm. The anger and adrenaline pushed us to greater strengths. His limb was crushed without remorse.

*Snap* The barbarian never had a chance to scream as we brought our other hand towards his neck. The body went limp and dropped to the ground. Seeing the deed done, we ran towards Lena.

"Lena! Stay with me! Lena." We pleaded.

"I can fix this! I can heal you!" We brought forth pieces of cloth to try to stop the bleeding.

"Mister Knight?" Lena slowly opened her eyes. Her breath was quick and shallow.

"Don't worry Lena! I can make everything better." We reasoned. Wet streams flowed down our faces.

Her eyes met ours; we could see the relief washing over her body. "Mister Knight, you came."

"Of course I did. I promised, didn't I?"

"I am so happy right now." She meekly replied. Her body was getting weaker. We desperately looked around the cottage, scrambling to find anything that could save her. Anything would do!

We felt a hand caressing our face, redirecting our focus back to Lena. Small tears and blood dripped from her cheeks.

"Mister Knight I'm scared." She slowly said. "I'm scared, but I am a big girl now. Big girls shouldn't be afraid so I won't be." Her hand wiped away our tears, only for new ones to replace them.

"Please…Please don't leave me." We begged.

"Don't be sad, Mister Knight." She continued. "Can I…Can I get a hug?"

We didn't reply and embraced our dying friend. We could feel her chest slowly stilling; her breath was getting silent. "Mister Knight…I am sleepy…Can you tell me a story?...The story of a knight?"

"Don't leave, Lena." We continued to plead. We begged her to stay as if a miracle could happen and change fate.

"Please?" Lena's grip on our body was getting weaker.

"Alright." We gave in and murmured.

"Does it have a happy ending?"

"Yes…Yes it does."

"Thank you…Mister Knight."

With one deep breath to hold in our tears, we began our tale. "The story of The Knight of the Round Table; The Knight of Treachery."