She used to be slightly embarrassed at her scrapbook of Dragoon and the Swordsman - various newspaper cuttings all filed neatly by date - but now they came in incredibly useful. Her diary opened next to her, her notebook on all things Dragoon on the other side and a fresh piece of paper in front of her. In front, her laptop sat open, her browser opened to one of the most popular Dragoon forum sites on the Internet. If there was one thing that Gwen was good at, it was putting things together through meticulous research.

Her phone buzzed and she glanced at the message. It was Marilyn checking in on her. Again. Guilt tugged at her for calling in sick when she wasn't, but there was no way Gwen was going to be able to concentrate on work today, not when her head was full of suspicions and questions and her heart was heavy at the implications. In fact, sleep hadn't come easy last night and her eyes were feeling gritty and her brain slightly woolly. But she had to get to the bottom of this before she met up with Arthur, that lying, no-good, ex-best friend of hers. Her heart squeezed at that thought.

Pulling up a blank spreadsheet, Gwen began to key in various dates, cross-checking them with her diary, the forum and the newspaper articles. It took quite a while - they had been active for several years - but slowly, something like a pattern emerged on her screen. The pattern wasn't neat or conclusive but it did give strength to her own suspicions. Her stomach clenched, whether as a result of anger or hurt, Gwen wasn't sure. Getting up from her table, she walked to her kitchen, pulled open the freezer only to see a new tub of cookies and cream ice cream that Arthur had bought to replace the one they devoured that night she was attacked. She slammed the freezer close, her appetite disappearing.

Her mind drifted back to the brief phone call with Arthur earlier. As expected, he had been apologetic but he'd also been distracted, tension in his every word. Gwen squashed the instinctive concern that bubbled up in her as she turned from the refrigerator. She was angry with him - him and Merlin - and she needed to remember that. With a huff, Gwen walked back to her computer and stared at it again, as more questions bombarded her. But by far, the biggest one was how could her best friend of over 5 years lie to her like that? He had known about her interest in Dragoon and the Swordsman, had had several conversations with her speculating about them, had listened to her plans to write about them.

The buzz of her intercom jolted Gwen out from her increasingly aggravating thoughts. It was far too early for Arthur and Merlin.

"Hello?"

"It's me. Marilyn. Let me up."

Gwen unlocked the building's main door, then quickly shut down her laptop. She was just shoving some of the loose pieces of paper under her laptop when the knock came.

"Marilyn!" Gwen opened the door, gesturing for her to enter. "This is a surprise. How did you know where I lived?"

Marilyn walked in, handing Gwen a small box before shrugging off her deep green designer coat and passing it to Gwen, her eyes narrowing. "Pulled your address from the HR database. I was concerned about you, but apparently, I didn't need to be. You look perfectly fine. Brought you some chocolate from that shop near our office."

"Wow. Thank you. I'm feeling better now. This morning though -"

Red manicured nails waved in her face. "Don't bother lying, Gwen. I totally understand the need to take a day off every now and then. What is hurtful is that you didn't trust me with the truth."

Gwen blinked, then shut the door before turning back to see Marilyn walk over to her dining table, where all her things were. "Uh, how about you have a seat on the sofa and I'll get you something to drink. Tea? Coffee? I think I have some fruit juice."

"Tea would be nice. With honey."

Marilyn continued to stand, her eyes roaming around Gwen's small, messy apartment. Gwen tamped down her feelings of being judged

"Let me get your tea." Gwen gestured to the sofa again, waiting until Marilyn settled on it. "Be right back."

It was the fastest cup of tea Gwen had ever made, but even then, by the time she returned to the living room, Marilyn was standing at the dining table again, flipping through Gwen's file. It was only when Gwen cleared her throat did Marilyn look up, but it was obvious that she saw nothing wrong with what she had been doing, her hands still holding on to the file.

"It's research." Placing the cup of tea on the table, Gwen removed the file from Marilyn's hands, closing it firmly and pushing it far from her reach.

Marilyn arched an eyebrow and a smile played on her lips. "You played hooky to research Dragoon? You're a bigger fan than I thought."

"How was work today?" It seemed rude to try and get Marilyn to leave when she'd made the effort to visit her, but the whole situation was uncomfortable. While the two of them generally got along well at work, their association outside the work place was limited. And there had to be something unethical about Marilyn using her position in the IT department to get her address.

"The usual. Rabiah called a meeting to discuss circulation numbers."

"Let me guess - sales going down?"

Marilyn's finally sat down, picked up her tea and lifted it. "You know it. Print can't survive in the digital age. Rabiah needs to accept that and put more resources into our digital brand. But enough about work. I want to hear what you've uncovered about Dragoon and the Swordsman."

"Nothing new really. You know how mysterious they are. I was feeling better so I thought I would work on some notes for my book."

"I thought that you would be working on Arthur Penn's book," said Marilyn. "The news said that there was another incident last night."

"Incident?"

"Don't play dumb, Gwen." Marilyn pointed to Gwen's file. "You have been keeping close tabs on the duo."

"You have to admit that they are fascinating. Who are they? Where did they come from? Why don't other people have their powers?" As Gwen said those words, the feelings of hurt and anger started to bubble up in her. Arthur and Merlin knew the answers to all those questions, and for years, they had kept her in the dark.

Ignorant of the swirling emotions battling in Gwen's stomach, Marilyn peppered Gwen with questions on Dragoon and the Swordsman. It took a lot of effort at first, for Gwen to focus on the conversation and to avoid giving away anything that she'd discovered earlier. And talking to Marilyn only made Gwen realise how much she wanted someone to discuss Dragoon and the Swordsman with. That used to be Arthur and Merlin, but now … Thankfully, the conversation soon moved to their jobs, the viability of the magazine and Marilyn's surprising news that she was thinking of leaving the magazine.

"You know things aren't looking good at the magazine and anyway, I have plans."

"What plans?" Gwen asked.

Marilyn pressed her red lips together, as if regretting telling Gwen about her plans. Then, she shook her head and smiled. "My Aunt has a new venture and she's asked me to come on board."

"New venture? Is it in publishing?"

"No. More like human resource management."

"Oh! Well, that's quite a change."

"Things can't always stay the same," said Marilyn. "Ah, I have to get home. Joanne is cooking dinner and she's a stickler for punctua - are you expecting visitors?"

Gwen stood. "Yeah. Arthur and Merlin actually. Let me buzz them up." She smiled at Marilyn. "You've always wanted to meet Arthur right? I guess now is your chance."

Marilyn's eyes widened. "Don't let them up. Not yet."

"What?" Gwen fingers hovered over the buttons of the intercom.

"I can't see Arthur like this. I'm too dishevelled." Marilyn stumbled over her words as she stood. She grabbed her handbag and her jacket. "I'll just go off now."

Gwen frowned. Marilyn was, as usual, impeccably put together. Not so much as a strand of hair was out of place. "But -"

"Seriously," said Marilyn. "No one wants to meet someone they are attracted to when they look less than perfect." She pulled open Gwen's door, then slipped out.

"Bye," called Gwen, but Marilyn had disappeared around the corner. It didn't make much sense to Gwen, since Marilyn was bound to run into Arthur and Merlin anyway.

Her intercom buzzed again. "Gwen. I know you're probably really pissed -"

Gwen hit the button, silencing the intercom and unlocking the main door.

Merlin hovered, Arthur perched and the three of them spent an uncomfortable amount of time in her small living room in silence. When Gwen opened her door earlier and came face to face with the two of them, both with suitably sheepish expressions on their faces, hurt and anger had rushed through her with an unexpected intensity and it was all she could do not to slam the door in their faces.

Merlin cleared his throat and he stepped away from the dining table. "Uh, pizza? It's getting cold."

"Yeah, we should eat." Arthur jumped from the sofa and strode to the kitchen. "We got your favourite, Gwen."

"Arthur even told them to put on extra cheese and pineapples. Sal's Place was crowded as usual and -"

Gwen tuned out Merlin's inane chatter and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stem the sudden wetness she could feel. Seeing the two of them - her best friends - chatting about pizza while casually standing in her living room, like it was just any other day, like they hadn't been lying to her for years. Despite her best efforts, a tear escaped and she sniffed. Immediately, a pair of arms wrapped around her and her face was buried in a hard chest. A familiar scent filled her nose and Arthur's hot breath tickled her ear as he muttered a litany of sorries. Slowly, she was guided back to the sofa and gently pressed into it. When she opened her eyes, Merlin was offering her a handkerchief while Arthur knelt in front of her, his eyes pools of concern and worry. He took the handkerchief from Merlin and dabbed at her eyes.

"I'm sorry," murmured Arthur. He dropped the handkerchief, then threaded his fingers through hers, his thumb rubbing across her knuckles. "I'm so, so sorry."

Merlin continued to hover around the pizza.

"Tell me," she rasped. "I want to know. Everything."

Arthur glanced at Merlin, then back at her. Lifting one hand, he cupped her face and sighed. "Ok."

Both of them were terrible story tellers. They jumped from idea to idea, and in many places, failed to provide any context and for the first ten minutes, Gwen simply stared at them as they talked about dragons and swords and a veil of some kind. Then, Arthur mentioned reincarnation.

"Reincarnation? Like being reborn in a different time? Over and over again?" She frowned. At the back of her mind, Gwen couldn't help but wonder if both Arthur and Merlin were perhaps a little mentally unsound.

"More or less," said Merlin, before launching into a long explanation, interrupted every now and then by Arthur.

Slowly, the pieces fell into place, even the most outlandish sounding claims started to sound possible, and Gwen found her anger and hurt morphing into utter fascination and curiosity as she got drawn into their story. When did her oh-so-ordinary life take this turn? At some point, her stomach rumbled and Merlin passed her a slice of lukewarm pizza which she bit into as Arthur continued talking. Merlin eased himself onto the sofa next to her, his bony hips nudging her closer to where Arthur was sitting. Arthur didn't move, so Gwen ended up pressed against his side. It wasn't anything new - goodness knows the two of them had snuggled on the sofa before, stuffed with ice cream with some action movie playing on the TV - yet, it was enough to distract Gwen from the stories. Instead, her attention shifted for a moment to Arthur's warm thigh against hers, to the subtle scent of that cologne that he always wore. To her annoyance, Arthur continued talking, something about some man called Lance who couldn't deal with the truth, obviously completely unaffected by her. She took a large bite of her pizza.

It was then she realised that Arthur had fallen silent.

"What is it?"

"I'm - We're sorry we never told you," said Arthur quietly. His hand drifted to hers, his fingers sliding between hers. "I'm so sorry."

Hurt bubbled up in her again at his words and the and she yanked her hand away from Arthur's. "Didn't you trust me?"

"It's not that," said Arthur. "We didn't want to burden you with this."

"Burden?" Gwen couldn't understand what he meant. "I talked to you -" She turned to look at Merlin, who stared into the cup he was holding. "- about Dragoon and the Swordsman so many times."

"Gwen."

Twisting so that she faced Arthur, Gwen jabbed his chest all the feelings of humiliation and betrayal returning to her in waves. "I told you my ideas, my feelings - did you laugh with Merlin about my crush on the Swordsman? Did you -"

"Gwen." Arthur wrapped his hand over hers, loosening her grip and flattening her hand over his chest. Under her palm, Gwen could feel his thumping heart. "Gwen, we would never have laughed at you. Never."

"So why didn't you tell me?"

Arthur's eyes darted to Merlin, who shrugged.

"I would have kept your secret," said Gwen.

"It's not that." He swallowed and darted another glance at Merlin.

It was clear there were more secrets between them that she wasn't privy to. And it didn't seem like they were going to tell her. Pulling her hand from Arthur's, she stood, wiping the feel of Arthur on her thighs. "Maybe you should go. Thanks for the stories and the pizza."

Merlin stood as well. "Gwen, the thing is -"

"Don't feel like you have to tell me anything," she muttered as she crossed to her door. "After all, I'm just Gwen."

"You're reincarnated too," blurted Merlin.

Her hand stilled on the door knob. "What?"

"You're reincarnated. You were my wife."

Gwen opened her mouth, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

Arthur ran a hand through his hair and glanced sheepishly at her. "I guess there's more we need to tell you."