*GRASP*
*HUFF*
*HUFF*
"KING!" Someone was screaming.
Who was it?
…
Why was Bedivore cradling King Arthur?
Red…It was everywhere on her body…Why was she dying?
I reached out towards Father, yet something weighed down my arms. I glanced down to see Excalibur wrapped around my fingers. Fresh blood dripped from its blade, dying dirt a shade of red.
"Wha-t-t happened?" I deeply wished for an answer that I already knew…Praying for an affirmation that I was under an illusion, for my mistakes to disappear.
Bedivere faced me, his face strained red with hateful tears. "You did it." He exclaimed. "You inhuman abomination!"
The blade fell from my hand. I really did do it.
This wasn't what we/I wanted.
This wasn't supposed to happen. / 'What I planned.'
'We were supposed to talk it out.' / Father was supposed to be alive.
Our/my redemption.
All we/I wanted was her affection.
We/I just wanted recognition/love.
These arms of mine trembled. My entire being shook as I grasped my face. My armored fingers dug into my skin, mixing my tears with blood of both my own and hers.
"It's everything I ever wanted."
'It's what I will ever need.'
The tips of my fingers ran down my cheeks, ripping wounds down my face. The stinging raw flesh didn't register, nothing really did. Nothing in this life mattered.
"Perhaps I could be of service." A hooded figure revealed himself from behind a tree.
Where did the tree come from?
I dropped my arms down to my sides and looked around my surroundings. The battlefield was gone. The screams, the corpses, and my crime were replaced by boundless trees of a forest. The bloodied dirt of which I knelt was now the green grass on the shores of a lake.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Who I am is of no importance." The stranger rummaged through his cloak and brought out a golden cup. "What I provide is."
In his hands was the Holy Grail. The miracle treasure that could grant any wish.
"I will give this to you." He happily continued. "All you have to do is make a wish?"
A wish…Yes…I wanted to change our fate; Father to live; Lena to be alive.
I wanted everything to be BETTER.
Thoughts of endless possibilities roamed through my head. I needed the grail to make everything better. The grail would make my despair, all of my sorrow, disappear. Slowly, I began reaching for it. The hooded man extended it towards me, begging me to take it. His every exposed feature was smiling. I did not bother to care for his intentions. Everything will be resolved with the grail.
*Snap*
A shining stone dropped to the ground. My motion towards the grail stopped as I looked at the gemstone upon the grass surface. Steadily, I picked up the gem I had turned into a necklace. It was Lena's gift at our first meeting. A smirk unconsciously spread upon my face when I remembered our first interaction. My, Mordred's and ) # $&$'s, was changed at that moment.
"What are you waiting for? Take the Holy Grail and make your dreams come true. Take it and sit on the throne as a god!" The stranger's words grew more demanding by the sentence. "Your father would be proud of what you have achieved. It is your DESTINY! Isn't that what you wanted!"
"It won't be the same." I answered. "I promised Lena to protect her and she passed. I wanted to prove myself worthy of my father's attention and I killed him. I killed so many for my selfish goals and I didn't have the resolve to finish them."
I stood up, my back straighter than before. On my palm was Lena's gift, glowing brightly like the stars we gazed upon at our little nightly gatherings.
"They are my guilt to experience. The sins I must carry to atone for my actions." I clenched my fist. "It is mine alone to bear."
"You are a FOOL, homunculus!" He angrily screamed. "You can have everything! Anything! Instead, you throw it all away for petty excuses of humility!"
"Indeed, I am a fool. A foolish thing with ideals of giving everyone I cared for a happy ending… And failed." I saw Excalibur's blade sticking upward from the ground. I gripped its hilt and readied the sword for a swing. "However, my story will not end here with a coward's escape to fantasy. I will do things my way."
I raised the sword and a bright light swarmed it. "My destiny is my own to decide! Not Merlin's prophecy; not the expectations of Morgan; and especially not YOURS!"
I swung the blade down and unleashed its power. "GO F*CKING EXCALIBUR YOURSELF!"
When the light and explosion subsided, what led before me was an empty field of scorch marks. The man was gone, taking his grail with him.
I stared at the glowing Excalibur within my grip and felt disgusted. "My destiny is not yours to guide either."
I arched my body and slammed it into the lake. "So F*ck You Too!"
A pillar of light caught the attention of the soldiers skirmishing on the battlefield. The fighting had died down significantly after the news of King Arthur's death was announced. The light fully stopped all conflicts between the army of Mordred and King Arthur. Everyone was mystified by the holy light, excluding the Knights of the Round Table. They had witnessed the power of Excalibur. Seeing it being used in the absence of their king shook their very soul. Some feared for the worst, while others cheered for their new ruler.
Swiftly, the knights rode their horses towards the source. The group included Lancelot, the bandaged Gawain, and Gareth. What they saw in front of them was Mordred inside the enchanted forest Brocéliande. This was the home of the Lady of the Lake, a place Lancelot was very familiar with.
Scorched earth at his front and the Lake of Diana to his back. Mordred's helmet was gone and everyone immediately realized her resemblance to King Arthur. Then their minds wandered to the non existent source of the light. Excalibur was nowhere to be seen.
"You guys are late to the show." Mordred noticed their presence and faced them. His…No, without Mordred's helmet, she was definitely a girl…Her face was smeared with blood and dirt. The wounds on her body should be painful but no sign of it was expressed on her face.
"How's the battle going?" She asked.
"The battle has ended. You have won, Mordred. King Mordred." Lancelot stepped forward. He had stayed neutral throughout the conflict as he was still loyal to his king, while also being thankful for Mordred in stopping his rampage during the execution of his lover Guinevere. Even so, the damage was done and Gawain held a deep hatred towards him. That hatred was not shown here as it was overwhelmed by the shock of seeing Excaliburs power after King Arthur's death and at Mordred's location.
Now that the battle had concluded. Lancelot with the encouragement of his colleagues chose to support the crowning of Mordred. If not for her, than for the betterment of the people of Britain. He kneeled and bowed his head. His fellow knights followed his lead. Some did so reluctantly; Gawain being the last knight to do so. He was enraged by his King's death at the hands of Mordred, but a nudge by his sister Gareth reminded him of her possible fate without Mordred's interventions. Then, he too knelt down in submission.
"Never thought it'd be this quick for you guys to accept me as king." Mordred gently spoke. "I guess we are all tired of seeing bloodshed on a minutely basis."
"I promise I won't fail your expectations!" *Slam*
A hilt of a blade shot out of the lake and smashed into the back side of Mordred's head. The newly crowned king fell face first onto the grass surface. She was still from her position, though her chest was still moving to signal her survival. The knights were stupefied by the scene and gathered around their downed king. The projectile was in fact an Excalibur that had been previously thrown into the lake by Mordred.
A single parchment note was attached to the blade of the sword. It simply read:
*Deal with it.
- Lady of the Lake*
"Though it pains me to say this, I am now partially convinced that Mordred should be King." Gawain stated.
