Musicalocet: Yeah, there always had be a problem or the story wouldn't be so dramatic! Lancelot has a teenage girl! Heehee...

Random Person: Yes, it is possible. I'm in love with Shadow, but I'm not in love with him. You get it? But I do believe in ShadowXOC. I just think he would be with someone other then the original characters because they're already taken. How do you relate to Elizabeth? Just curious. And what'll happen when Lancelot discovers a sudden spark between the two teens? I can't wait to type that chapter up! Oh, and I love responding to reviews. Anytime.

Disclaimer: Lancelot and anyone related belongs to Sega. All OCs belong to me.

Chapter 11: On Cloud Nine

The two ebony hedgehogs walked inside the castle in silence. Occasionally, Lancelot would glance from the corner of his eye towards his daughter, Elizabeth. Each time he caught her in sight he would just put avert his eyes back in front of him. It took over ten times for this to happen until Elizabeth sighed. She slowed her walk to slow pace, having her behind her father. Lancelot hummed in confusion before slowing down to match her pace.

"Elizabeth?" he questioned, worriedly. Ever since their leave for the castle the young girl had returned to her stone attitude, keeping to herself. Except, this time, she held a certain type of air around her. As if she was….anxious.

Elizabeth glanced towards him, eyes swirling with overwhelming emotion, and at a light purple. To see her father look at her with such worry caused her irises to look away. She rubbed her arms, holding them against herself. The ebon female sighed feeling tears fill her lids. Just being under the same roof as that bear brought a devastating amount of pain. She hadn't forgotten about how he looked at her, stared into her soul with such disgust. As if she were somebody who was an unknown rogue species. As if she were some lifeless thing that shouldn't exist. It brought her heart to her stomach.

How could someone seem to hate her so much when they hadn't even met before? Were her eyes that disgusting, terrifying, awful? Did they bring terror and revolt to anyone who saw? Why hadn't she realized this before? Did she already know they were horrifying but she didn't want to accept it? Or maybe it was the fact that she did accept it but didn't acknowledge it. She didn't know and she never would know. But what she did know was that her eyes were never worthy to be seen. They were disgusting. They probably scared anyone who saw or heard about them. And how does someone fix this problem. Well it's pretty simple.

Keep your head down.

Don't look up.

Stay away from others.

It was as simple as one-two-three, yet she stupidly raised her head as Lancelot gently unfolded her arms. He smiled reassuringly at her and as if reading her thoughts he whispered.

"My dear," he cupped her cheek smoothing a finger over it, "keep your head up. I want people to see your beautiful eyes, understood? I beg of you, don't be so down."

It wasn't as simple as it sounded. Now that the sudden awareness of her eyes had been brought to her, looking at anyone besides her father was rather difficult.

"Father," she started lowly, "I-I can't…..my eyes are-"

"You keep saying 'your eyes' but I can't help you unless you tell me what the problem is." The knight's eyes hardened turning cold as he embraced her. "I know someone said something about them," Lancelot sternly said, "I'm not giving you a choice anymore. Tell me what happened. Now." His firm voice had a few tears spill from her lids. As she wiped them away she was about to confess and tell everything, but someone had interrupted.

"Lancelot?"

Elizabeth had pulled away earning a tug from her father. He glared at her silently telling her to speak up, but she ignored him. As the azure hedgehog came walking towards the two, who bowed, he smiled brightly.

"I'm delighted that you both have received the message," King Arthur said. He peered over to Elizabeth, eyeing her carefully before returning to Lancelot.

"You have called for us, king?" Lancelot said.

"Yes, I have something important to give to Elizabeth."

At that moment, Elizabeth broke into a sweat. She clenched her jaw and her fingers started to shake. This was it. Her father was going to discover her plans of sword training. Once the king gives back her armor it'll go downhill from there. Not only will she have to bear the weight of her eyes but the constant death glares she would be given on the way home. She wouldn't be able to see or do anything for the rest of her life if her father found out she went behind his back to learn how to use the very thing he forbid her to touch. Was this some kind of punishment for doing such a thing? Elizabeth understood what she was doing was wrong, but she really wanted to do it. It was her happiness to study the ways of a blade. And if it was her happiness, she thought she deserved it no matter what.

Planning the event out in her head, Elizabeth prepared herself for the worst. She stood firm waiting for the cerulean king to pull out the black as night armor. Her adrenaline spiked as her heart pumped at rapid speeds. King Arthur lifted his cape and she held her breath. And when he was retracting from it she wimped out. She didn't want to do this anymore. Those 45 seconds of courage were just feelings. She wasn't strong enough to face raised eyebrows and harsh tones. Especially not today. Maybe if she could just steer them away from-

"I wanted to hand this to you personally. I didn't want to risk anyone peaking inside." The king handed the note to her which was neatly placed in a white envelope.

The ebony hedgehog's brows raised and so did her father's. "Who is it from?" Elizabeth asked observing the envelope. She flipped over to the open it and as she was ready to tear it King Arthur's eyes bugged out. "Stop!" he exclaimed leaping forward, shaking his hands. The hedgehogs before him jumped back, startled at the sudden outburst.

The young king's eyes widened more realizing his actions. He stepped back clearing his throat and found his composure. "I mean," he started keeping his eyes on the envelope, "The letter is from Cream. She wanted me to give it to you. She only wanted you to see it."

Elizabeth tilted her head in curiosity. What could've been so secretive that she couldn't tell it to her face to face? Was it because she couldn't risk anyone hearing? Was the secret that big? Maybe it was embarrassing but she still wanted to tell her. They were basically sisters. The teenage girl just shrugged it off. She would find out later. She peered over to her father to see him frowning at the letter. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. She knew he wasn't going to say anything, but he wanted to read it. If it was one thing she was sure of it was that his curiosity was a powerful one. Her purple orbs rested on emerald ones.

"Ok, I'll open later then. If that is what Cream wishes," Elizabeth said.

"It would give her great pleasure," the king replied, happily and a bit…relieved?

Lancelot, who still stared at the letter, only sighed. Once Cream wanted to keep something a secret, it would stay a secret. This wasn't the first time this has happened, maybe not through this form, but many others. Unfortunately, for his high curiosity, he will never know what that letter contains. He might as well just forget about it. The sooner the better. He turned to the azure hedgehog who was staring at Elizabeth. He quirked an eyebrow at his gaze. It was kind of…happy, relaxed, loving? It was as if he wasn't in the room anymore. As his daughter kept looking, eagerly, at the envelope, he just…stared, sort of in a daydream even. It was peculiar, but it was nothing he stayed on top of.

"Is that all, your majesty?" Lancelot asked, splitting King Arthur from his trance.

King Arthur blinked and shook his head. "Oh, yes. Yes, that is all. I apologize from keeping you so late at night. Thank you for coming."

He bowed and then they bowed. All of them went their separate ways.

(0…)

This explained why the armor wasn't mentioned.

It was all in the letter. A rather surprising letter at that. Elizabeth sat on the edge of her bed, brows scrunched together, eyes glued to the letter on the note. The black ink words written on the paper stated something she would've never thought of in her life. Something so bizarre, she didn't even know what to think of it.

The king, King Arthur, himself, wanted to train her.

This was not something she expected at all. What Elizabeth anticipated was a letter from Cream stating how she liked some boy or she started her period, something she expected. Not this.

It wasn't as if she wasn't going to take the opportunity to train with one of the most gifted Mobians, a king even, but it was just confusing. She was still wondering why Sonic had even made armor for her in the first place. Why would he do something like that for her? Yes, she was indeed the daughter of one of his dearest friends, but she knew that he knew she wasn't allowed to go near swords. Nonetheless learn how to use one. Even so, he was a king. A king wouldn't, normally, spend his time on someone of lower class and keep it a secret. It just wasn't so. And because of this, Elizabeth just sat there thinking of all things till her head hurt. She fell back on the mattress and sighed. According to this paper she was supposed to meet with him at her first training session in two days. She was lucky that her uncle's training was on a different day.

What would training be like? Of course it was going to be challenging, but would King Arthur go easy on her? Will he be mean and strict? What if she embarrassed herself in front of him? What would he think of her? Would the blue king think of her as unfit to teach and reveal her secret? For some reason her thought raked over to the negative side. It was nerve-racking. Her heart was beating rapidly with fear and worry while her adrenaline spiked with excitement. Elizabeth couldn't wait to tell Tyrone about this. She would tell Cream tomorrow night, after dinner with the king.

This was going to be exhilarating.

(0…)

"I don't think this will end well."

Elizabeth gaped at him, disbelievingly. "What do you mean by that!" she exclaimed.

Tyrone shrugged biting into the meat in front of him. He swallowed before saying, "It's just that your father's going to find out soon. You know he will."

"Not if I keep it a secret, he won't," she shot back.

"Lizzy, everyone knows that keeping a secret is not your strong point. Especially if you're confronted about it," he said nonchalantly.

Elizabeth's eyes popped open as her mouth hung agape, larger than last. She hit the boy on the shoulder earning a pained gasp from him.

"I'm good at keeping secrets!" she exclaimed, angry.

"You didn't have to hit me. Geez, don't be so angry," he huffed rubbing his sore arm.

"I'm not angry!"

The green hedgehog looked over to her with a dead pan stare. "Yes you are. Your eyes are red," he pointed out. Tyrone then blinked, surprised as his friend's mood…..darkened. Her eyes changed to a light purple almost instantly and her shoulders and ears drooped considerably. Elizabeth looked to her lap as she twiddled with thumbs and sighed. Tyrone arched a brow.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did I say something-"

Elizabeth shook her head, still avoiding his worried gaze. She just took her lunch and started to eat quietly after saying, "Nothing's wrong."

He didn't believe her, of course. This only urged him to find the reason for her dampness. Saying that phrase wasn't believable if the expression didn't match it. Tyrone took his hand and placed gently on her arm. He tugged on it causing her to let go of whatever was in her hand. Elizabeth's body faced him but her eyes still avoided his gaze.

"Tell me what the issue is. Maybe I can do something," he stated adding a smile just to lighten the mood.

"There is nothing you can do about this. It's something that is irreversible and absolute."

His smile dropped. Tyrone scrunched his brows together and the two sat in silence for a bit. He really did not like her like this. Although those purple orbs of hers were still so beautiful, he did not like what they represented. After a few years of being so close, he sort of had an idea of what each color meant. And so it wasn't so hard to tell that something was bugging his dear friend, and for that he wanted to know. Because, in a way, when she was down, he was down. Tyrone never liked the pang in his chest when he could see tears bubble up in her eyes. It hurt even worse when he asked about it and she would try to cover it up.

So acting on impulse he took his hand and placed it on her cheek. Tyrone was never bothered by her startled gasp. He was too deep in concentration. He cupped it, turning her head over to him, forcing her to look at him.

Elizabeth grabbed his wrist in question. "What are you doing Tyrone?" Her cheeks flushed with red and she whimpered silently as he scowled. She looked to the floor.

"Look at me Elizabeth."

She had no choice but too. His voice took a stern edge to it. It held so much authority and demand that she couldn't resist to.

Right when their eyes made contact, his blue orbs widened. A small, almost inaudible, gasp left his mouth. What was he doing? Where was he planning to go with this? He wanted to try to get her to cheer up, but how was he going to do it like this? No way, in his right mind, would he ever grab her face like this. It was off limits. It was just kind of an unspoken rule between them. But he was doing it right now, and admittedly, he enjoyed it. The touch of her cheeks were soft, like cotton, and just to have her so close made his heart bubble. From his position he could make out every detail about her; from her full lips, to her flushed cheeks and her luminescent eyes. Each time he looked into them they just seemed to glow brighter and brighter, and in just a second flat they fell dull and he didn't like it.

But did they have to be so close? Why was he not letting go? Tyrone was very uncomfortable with how close their faces were but he found a bit of pleasure in it. That tiny bit of pleasure heated up his cheeks to a bright red tint. Again, what was he going to do? He had a plan, laid out and ready to launch. But all of a sudden, it left; vanished into thin air. All, he knew was that the words he said were not supposed to come out. And as they came out, and as she gasped, and as they came closer to each other, well, he didn't know what he knew anymore. His other hand cupped the other cheek and his eyelids fell half closed. Hers were shut softly, waiting for what was yet to come. Tyrone could feel her steady breath upon his lips as they came closer together.

And he shut his eyes and went closer and closer.

But their lips never met.

"Okay, time for class!"

(0…)

You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.

It was as if he knew what the problem was.

It never occurred to Elizabeth how much she loved those words, especially from his mouth. Each syllable that escaped was like honey, sweet honey. It made her stomach tickle with childish glee and warmth. She didn't know what this was, or how he did it but, Tyrone just made her happy. Truly happy. She was still trying to solve her eye problem but her heart wasn't heavy anymore. Her father had said these particular words several times to her, but it was different coming out from him, Tyrone. It was more…..assuring. Elizabeth knew her father truthfully meant what he said, but she couldn't help but think: Weren't father's supposed to think their child is beautiful? So if she were really a freak, to him, she was beautiful. It was kind of like they were blinded by their own opinions and for that, she didn't really take it in. But to hear that come from someone else's mouth really boosted her confidence.

To hear that from Tyrone made her heart flutter.

Speaking of heart fluttering, what happened earlier….

She wasn't up to think about it too deeply. In fact, if she did she was sure to faint. The amount of backflips her stomach did during those three minutes was unbelievable. They almost kissed, like, lip to lip kiss. Sometimes she would kiss his cheek, but they almost touched mouths. Technically, she was of age to marry, but usually the man was at least older than 20. Tyrone was the same age as her, and for anybody to be in a relationship with someone of close age was considered weird. It wasn't looked down upon but it was certainly out of place.

But why was she even thinking about marriage and Tyrone? Those two things caused her nose to scrunch up. Being a teenager, she hadn't really thought about marriage. It just wasn't one of the things she found important. But now that she had brought Tyrone into the subject, she kind of had a funny feeling. Elizabeth didn't know what it was, but she wasn't planning on telling anyone. Just thinking about the emerald green hedgehog brought a heavy blush on. So heavy in fact her trainer asked about it.

"Are you alright Elizabeth?" the azure hedgehog in front of her asked.

Elizabeth blinked at the situation. She pulled her hands away from her cheeks (how did they get there?) and nodded. From her usual daydreaming she had forgotten that she was in training with the king. Shaking her head to rid of any distracting thoughts, Elizabeth stood straight. She needed to be respectful and focus. She was lucky that King Arthur took time out of his day and trained her. She needed to be grateful and concentrate.

"My apologies, Sonic. I seemed to have begun daydreaming." She took out the sword placed in the scabbard, placed in the hold of her armor, and held it tight. "I'm ready now."

The cerulean king nodded his head skeptically before shrugging. "Alright," he nodded. "I know we haven't gone over this, but show me your stance."

Elizabeth fumbled. She stared wide eyed at her king. She blushed in embarrassment as he smirked.

"Do you know what a battle stance is?" he chuckled as she scowled and crossed her arms.

"I'm not stupid! Of course I know what a battle stance is," she exclaimed offended by the remark. A second later she gasped uncrossing her arms and bowing. "Uh umm, I'm sorry my king. I didn't mean to be rude, honest! Please forgive me."

It was only her first time with him and she was already acting out.

King Arthur laughed. He waved his hand and smiled brightly. "No, no. It's quite alright. I apologize for my choice of words."

"But I-"

"Elizabeth, I have said it is alright."

She stopped and stood in her place, knees shaking, face red. Her head bowed and she gripped the blade he gave her for training. "I'm sorry," she whispered bashfully.

The blue king nodded and changed the subject. "Alright, since I am assuming you don't have one, why don't I show you how to create one." He smiled as the younger ebony hedgehog's ears perked up. King Arthur walked towards her and stopped on her right side.

"Now to have a battle stance is mostly up to the creator because each one is unique. A stance should come natural and you should feel ready to take on whatever is coming for you, understand?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"Alright. I will guide you on the basis of it, but feel free to adjust anywhere you would like. Now spread your legs apart and bend your knees to where you feel most stable."

Following his instructions she did just that. Her arms were limp, one holding the weapon, waiting for the next instruction.

"Perfect, now this part is kind of tricky. Hold you sword up and make sure it is at a place where when you swing it is sure to defend you."

She placed both hand on the handle on the sword and looked at it funnily. She didn't want to do something to make herself look like a fool so this was hard. Elizabeth looked at the king in need. King Arthur, getting the message said, "It's alright. I'll help you." He went up behind her and put his hands around hers, which held the sword. In so doing this he felt a funny feeling in his stomach. One that caused his cheeks to form a tint of pink.

"W-well," he cleared his throat, "are you comfortable with it being here?" He moved the sword to where her right arm was.

"No my arm is uncomfortable. And I don't like twisting to the side too much."

"What about here?"

He moved the weapon to her front, right where it was close to her chest and face. She nodded gleefully and turned her head. Elizabeth smiled at him and he smiled back, loving every bit of her grin. King Arthur just stayed there, his arms wrapped around hers and staring at her. Elizabeth had turned back to the sword ready for the next step. When a few seconds had passed she hummed in confusion.

"Sonic?" she questioned.

The navy king blinked and jumped back shaking his head. He laughed nervously before clearing his throat again. "I am sorry. I just…never mind." Elizabeth just shrugged, waiting for his command.

"Now that you have found your battle stance, I want to see your swing."

She thought this part would be exhilarating, exciting, fun, but instead it was hard. Each time she swung, cutting the open air, the blue hedgehog would make a comment. Elizabeth knew that he was just trying to help her, and that she should be more grateful but geez, did he have to comment on each swing? She at least swung 100 different times but no, not one was good enough. There was always something she could improve or work on. By the end of this exercise, she was sure her arms would be sore.

No translations in this one... Before I forget, the reason why I didn't type responses and a review is because while I was typing my computer went bazooka on me and only saved the story. Weird, but what could I do? It took sometime to get it back on its normal pace. But now that I have I will review! So I bet it's obvious what's going on with the king's head, huh? Now, before any of view call me sick pervert, I have something to say. Way back then, females were wedded at about 13 and up (depended on where you lived) to guys who were two times their age. For example; Edgar Allen Poe wedded Virginia who was about 14 I believe. if I'm wrong correct me. Most had children around 14, and that was considered normal as to nowadays.

But, I have a twist to this so catch it while it's coming to you!

That's all for now!

Thank You. R&R
~God Bless You~