Trumpets heralded the return of the Queen of Dreamland and her escort, Sir Pendergast. The hooves of the pair of riders thundered across the castle's drawbridge before the horses were reined in to a stop in the bailey. Odval, Sorcerio, Bunty, and a few guardsmen stood in a line to greet the return of Queen Tiabeanie. Pendergast dismounted from his stallion and began to talk to one of the guards to begin to be caught up on anything of note that might have occurred while he was gone. Bean also got down from her bay gelding and handed off the reins to one of the guards. She was smiling and greeted everyone warmly, thanking them for coming out to meet her, which had mixed reviews. Bunty and Sorcerio were pleased to see the queen in such high spirits, while Odval found the woman's jovial demeanour to be a bit suspect.

"Welcome back from your trip, Queen Bean. How lovely it is to see that you have returned safely from… your destination."

Clearly Odval had discovered that Bean intentionally hid her and Pendergast's true destination from him after they left. If he was displeased with this realization, well that was just too bad. Bean smug smirk said as much when she turned to him.

"Why thank you, Odval! What a joy it is to be greeted by my loyal subjects," Bean stated, setting her hand upon her hip.

"Indeed," Odval replied through tight lips. "And, remind me again as to where you and Sir Pendergast rode off to?"

Bean just waved him off and walked past him. "Not important. Bunts! Walk with me down to the baths. I am in desperate need of one."

"Aye, ma'am!" replied the plump handmaid.

As Bean walked with Bunty, the queen looked over her shoulder and caught Pendergast's eye. "We'll talk later!" she called, before disappearing into the keep.

With Bean gone, Pendergast found a few sets of eyes falling on him and he matched their gazes with sternness. With authority did the knight approach Odval and Sorcerio, who slightly bowed their heads out of respect to the Leader of the Dreamland Knights.

"All is well, Odval?"

"Indeed, Sir Pendergast," the triclops replied curtly.

Pendergast nodded and glanced around, "Good," he said simply before walking off to head to the knights' locker room.

Odval glanced down at Sorcerio and under his breath he whispered, "One can only imagine why Her Majesty is in need of a bath..."

Sorcerio clapped a hand over his mouth and looked around in fear. Such a comment could very well spell his doom.

While they had played it cool, Bean and Pendergast had actually devised a plan as they had rode back towards the castle. Bean would meet with Luci to get any updates from the Trøgs and Pendergast was to meet them both up in Bean's room in about an hour. From there, they would figure out their next move. Until then, Pendergast planned to wash up and don his knight's attire and make sure the other knights of the kingdom were fulfilling their duties. Let's be honest: the majority of the Dreamland Knights were bumbling idiots and far too many of them had died simply by accidentally falling on their own weapons or some other nonsense. Admittedly, Pendergast wasn't that better than them… until he died, of course. Since he'd been revived, his wit had been sharpened as his body was strengthened. Or maybe death just forced a man to become wiser, that was also a very likely possibility.

Meanwhile... somewhere in the castle's depths.

Bean enjoyed a thorough soak in the castle's bathing room, with Bunty washing her hair. The kind handmaid to the queen prattled on and on about her life and what menial events Bean had missed. Bunty also tried commenting about the queen's newfound close relationship with a certain handsome knight. Because it was Bunty, Bean only half meant it when she told her to shut up, but the kindly woman caught how the young queen was blushing and smiling, and Bunty gave her some knowing advice: make the man work for it before you give it your all! That bit of information was a bit much for Bean, and she commented as such.

Freshly washed, Bean made her way up to her room. She had sent word ahead for Luci to be found and to meet her up there, so she hoped that the little scamp was up there waiting for her. Climbing the last staircase, Bean barged into her room and looked around. There seated on one of her purple-cushioned loveseats was Luci, lounging without a care in the world, puffing on a cigar.

"Hey, Beanieeeee! How was your trip? And please, don't spare any juicy details. I wanna hear allll about it!"

Bean smiled at her friend and came to sit in the other loveseat opposite from Luci. "Trip was good, went swimming, nothing else really to report," she said casually before leaning forward, clasping her hands together to continue, "But! Enough about that - so have the Trøgs discovered anything yet? Have you checked on Elfo recently? I meant to stop by the Orb Room and see, but I totally forgot until now."

Luci let Bean have her say, blinked at her with a bored expression, before he slowly sucked on his cigar. With his smokey exhale, Luci shook his head in disappointment.

"After all we've been through, after all I've done for you… you can just sit there and lie to my face." Luci tutted his tongue at her.

Bean just rolled her eyes at him and frowned; he was such a drama queen.

Luci sucked in more of his cigar before he shrugged and smirked up at her as he said, "Fine! Keep your secrets… you know that I'll just get them out of Pendergast. He's not as good of a liar as you and he'll break-"

"Okay!" Bean interjected suddenly with a heavy sigh, slumping back into her seat. "Okay… fine! So… there may have been a bit more than that…"

Luci just grinned wickedly at her and puffed his cigar. "Do go on…"

Bean frowned at him and now it was her turn to shake her head, "I really hope we get Elfo back soon. You need someone else to terrorize."

"Ugh, I know!" Luci lamented dramatically, before waving her to continue. "By the way, you're stalling!" he noted in a sing-song voice.

Bean crossed her arms and looked away from him. "I don't know… I guess you can say that…" Bean paused to roll her eyes but that didn't stop the faint blush from rising in her cheeks, "Pendergast is… my boyfriend…"

Luci burst out laughing, which quickly evolved into a whoopin' and a' hollerin'. Bean looked away, sinking into her loveseat and into the heat in her cheeks. The small former-demon slapped the couch before he leaned forward with devilish glee.

"Oh my- well, holy shit, dude! You totally banged him, didn't you?! Ha! That's my loose Beanie!"

"Shhh!" Bean's eyes went wide and she leaned forward to try and quiet her cackling friend. "Dude! Keep it down!"

Luci sudden;y stilled and stared up at her wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open. "Ho-ly shit… you actually did bang Pendergast?" Nodding slowly, Luci lifted his cigar as he commented, "Wow, way to go Pendergast," before he shrugged and added, "but then again, is it that surprising? Not that hard to get in your pants, or so people say."

Bean groaned and simply sat there with an unimpressed expression.

Luci smiled and chuckled, "Anyway... Do I get details?"

Bean scoffed and arched her brow at him, "Luci… come on, man."

"Agh!" Luci waved her off, puffing on his cigar. "You'll tell me later when we get drunk." With that said, Luci puffed out more smoke before he changed the subject, "Alright, so… I got some good news and I guess I got some bad news. I don't know, maybe it's good news to you. I personally don't care-"

"Just-!" Bean began, sighing and gesturing for him to get on with it, "Okay… tell me the bad news first."

"Well… our favourite diggin' dudes did find some interesting shit as they lurked around these castle walls. Besides the bodies, I mean."

Bean's expression brightened. "And?! What did they find?"

Luci smirked and lounged back, being his drama-whore self. "Do you… remember when your dreamy boy-toy Pendergast was tragically killed and we asked Orby who done it? Do you remember when the ball said?"

Bean blinked and frowned. "Ah… well… let's see." The queen didn't know what Luci was playing at, but she'd play along with his winding game… for now. She vaguely recalled what Luci was talking about, but was honestly drawing a blank. "I… I don't know, Luci. Please, enlighten me," she admitted dryly, reaching between the cushions of the loveseat to reveal a bottle of wine without even looking.

"Well, Miss Grumpy-Pants," Luci chided, "you asked Orby 'Who killed Pendergast?' and Orby answered rather cryptically with a 'Walls Have Eyes' message? You remember that now?"

Bean popped the top of her wine bottle and glanced over at Luci, thinking. "Ah, yeah, I guess? Somewhat?"

Now it was Luci's turn to roll his large eyes. "What do I look like? Your secretary. Ugh, well from that juicy tidbit of information, you figured out where the gun was hidden, and yada, yada, yada, you almost got shot, blah, blah, blah, Odval is an ass. Whatever, right?"

Bean smirked at her friend, her memory catching up with her. "Okay… yeah, I remember that now," before her expression fell just as she was about to drink some wine. "Wait… is it really Odval? Again? Is that the bad news? Because, let's be real here... it's not that surprising."

"Naw!" Luci waved her off, "that creepy triclops is innocent… ish. No, who else did we talk to that day? Who else knew about the gun?"

Bean didn't like how Luci was smirking at her, literally waiting on her to remember. When she did, Bean's eyes went wide and she lowered her bottle of wine. "Oh my… that sonofa-... that bitch!"

Luci nodded slowly. "Looks like little Miss Moonpence was on Steamland's payroll with the Arch-Druidess. The Trøgs found letters stashed away addressed to Moonpence from that creepy religious witch, and a promise of payment from that Gunderson guy that tried to kidnap you. They were in cahoots, all of them."

"And I bet Miss Moonpence purposely told us where the gun was to throw us off her trail!"

"And point all the fingers towards Odval," Luci added as he watched Bean become more and more angry.

Indeed, the Queen of Dreamland was glaring at the air and drinking down her wine with vigour. Slamming down the bottle on the tea table between the loveseats.

"Gunderson… Alva-fucking-Gunderson…" Bean growled, looking up with dangerous eyes at Luci. "Miss Moonpence tipped off that Devil-looking bastard and that's why I was almost kidnapped?"

Luci shrugged before he nodded. "It looks like it, Beanie. She must've been listening in on Odval's conversations this entire time and feeding Steamland information about you. How exactly? Not sure. The letters were half eaten by rats."

Bean gulped down some more wine before she roared out in fury just as a knock came at the door. She turned and threw the bottle at the wood, the glass shattering upon it, with remnants of wine staining the wooden surface. Pendergast slowly opened the door with a wide-eye, glancing at the wine's murder, before he closed the door behind him. Bean stood and pointed at the man, who immediately stood at attention.

"Perfect timing! Sir Pendergast?!"

"Yes, my queen?"

"Round up the guards! I want the immediate arrest of one Sally Moonpence done immediately!"

Pendergast narrowed his eye at the angered order before he asked, "On what charge, Your Majesty?"

Bean smiled at him, a dark and furious smile. "Treason."

Pendergast bowed towards Bean and immediately turned and exited the room, his barked orders at the guards stationed outside revealed his dutiful obedience to do just as Bean ordered.

Luci puffed on his cigar until he casually commented, "Wow. So is that like foreplay between you two?"

Bean turned on her heel to glare down at Luci, who didn't even flinch. Reeling and angry, the white-haired queen began to pace, muttering to herself, until she went over to her bookcase and pulled out yet another bottle of alcohol and began to drink that down. She was just so… mad! There really had been a traitor right under her nose, or rather just in the walls! Coming back to sit down on her loveseat, Bean chugged down more alcohol before she set down the bottle with a loud thud.

Luci met her eyes and after a moment he said, "You… ready for some more news?"

"Yeah… sure…" Bean replied dryly. "And it better be good news."

Luci smirked. "Depends on how you look at it, I guess."

Bean blinked slowly at him, looking very done with the day, and she sighed when she realized that Luci was dragging this out. What a brat.

The former-demon cackled with glee. "Let's just say… that even as we speak, the Trøgs are off to infiltrate enemy territory to rescue our little green damsel in distress."

"Elfo!?" Bean exclaimed, her mood improving slightly.

Luci scoffed. "Who else? And, if everything goes well, that fruity freak will be back home trying to embrace your bosom by nightfall."

"I'll drink to that!" Bean declared, grabbing her bottle to drink more down. Finishing off the bottle, she tossed it aside (someone would clean it up) and stood up. "Okay! Let's go down to the dungeons. I want to be there when Pendergast drags that- umm… wow, to be honest, I don't even know what Miss Moonpence looks like."

Luci shrugged. "Nothing special," he stated and hopped down from the couch and followed Bean out the door.

The pair descended down, down, down flights of stairs towards the dungeons. Bean was still pretty heated and spent the majority of the journey fuming and rattling off a string of curses and indignations. Luci would comment here and there, but really he just walked beside her and revelled in the Dreamland Queen's rage, noting that an execution was a sure thing. Oh boy, would he be correct, just not in the way he imagined... or the right person, for that matter. Coming down the last flight of stairs, Bean put on her mean-queen face as she entered the dungeons. She fully expected to see Pendergast and some other guards or something standing there with Miss Moonpence. However, instead she suddenly stopped in her tracks and Luci ran into the back of her calf.

As it turned out, Pendergast wasn't there yet, but the main dungeon torturing space wasn't vacant. What caused her to freeze with icy cold fear that pierced her heart was seeing Stan the Royal Executioner standing there next to a rack with… with… with…

"Holy fucking shit..."

Luci's already big round eyes became bigger when he realized what Bean was staring at: even he felt the cold grasp of panic take hold of his tiny heart. Not because he was scared or anything, but because he knew that Bean was about two seconds from completely losing her shit.

"Dude… Bean? Are you-?"

"What the FUCK is he doing here?!" Bean screamed pointing at the strung up pitiful form of a man on the rack next to the large executioner. Even though his head was slumped forward and his body was beaten and dirty, Bean knew who exactly it was: Alva Gunderson.

Stan turned and finally noticed Bean and Luci standing there. The man blinked and gestured nonchalantly towards the pitiful form of the maybe-leader of Steamland.

"Oh, 'im? Yeah, I'm just tweakin' some stuff here, before-"

"Stan," Bean spoke darkly, walking forward with her eyes narrowed and face reddening with pure, unadulterated fury and PTSD until she stood directly before him. "What… is…. HE… doing… here?!"

Stan was unaffected by her rage because, let's be honest: he was pretty much immune to royal anger after Zøg. He blinked at her as he reached up to scratch his hooded head, a bit confused.

"Y'mean t'tell me that Sir Pendergast never got around to tellin' you? Well, apparently the knights found this fiend out in th'woods after he'd gone and dropped from the sky. Since then, I've been diligently wearing him down on Sir Pendergast's orders." Stand then offered Bean a sympathetic look as he added, "I'm sorry there, Bean. I thought you'd know by now! But! No time like the present," he said, grabbing a pair of pliers and offering them to her, "he still has some nails left. Wanna have a go?"

Bean ignored him and stepped closer to Alva, who had yet to stir or move. Clenching her fists with outrage, confusion, and a sense of betrayal, the Queen of Dreamland raised her chin and glared at the unconscious man.

"Raise his head," she ordered, to which Stan wordlessly reached over and pulled back Alva's head by his curly brown hair that was matted with grime and blood.

At the motion, Alva groaned as his face was revealed. His eyes were almost swollen shut. His cheeks had hollowed from a prisoner's meager diet and were purple from bruises, new and old. His lower lip was swollen and cut, and with the Steamlander's pathetic groans the cut reopened to allow a small trial of blood to trickle from the wound. The man's faux mustache was nowhere to be seen, so he looked more like the beaten up form of one Gordy Stewson. For a moment, Bean almost felt pity for the man… until she remembered all that he had done to her. Of course, there was also the main reason why she felt the cold icicle of fear withstanding the heat of her anger. Even all beaten and bruised up, Alva Gunderson still looked so much like… like Him. He who had haunted her nightmares for nights on end, the reason why Bean hadn't asked Pendergast to let her sleep alone (aside from the whole boyfriend thing). Bean could put on a brave face and she could face her fears, but the Devil… with his red-handed clutches and smooth-talking voice that still made her shiver and blood run cold.

"Alva," Bean spoke sternly, poking the man harshly in his bruised chest. "Wake up, asshole!"

Gunderson stirred and weakly opened his right eye, which was admittedly only slightly less swollen then his. Bean remained firm with her narrowed gaze and queenly stature, even when the man's weak stare met hers. Recognition briefly brightened Alva's features, before he moaned pitifully in pain.

"Bean?" he whispered weakly.

Bean responded by punching him in the gut, much to Stan's approval and Luci's quiet observation.

"That's Queen Tiabeanie to you, you lying, queen-napping, piece of shit, asshole!"

At that moment, the metallic clatter of armour and footsteps descended down the dungeon steps to reveal Sir Pendergast leading a squad of guards who held a detained Sally Moonpence amongst their manly bodies. The knight paused when he saw the scene taking place before him, and he gestured for his men to move along and throw the traitor into a cell. Hesitantly, the Leader of the Knights of the Tiabeanie Table came forward and flinched when Bean delivered another punch into the Steamlander's gut.

"Say my name!" the queen screamed in anger.

"Q-Queen T-Tiabeanie! My ap-apologies!" Alva cried with a sob.

Bean scoffed and shook her head in disgust. From her peripheral Bean caught sight of Pendergast and the man mustered all of his nightly courage to not back away when she turned to face him. He saw how she shook with barely contained anger. The man achieved another feat of bravery when he stood his ground as she stormed towards him and slapped him hard across the face.

Luci uttered a small "Ouch" but made no other comment.

"You bastard! What?! You didn't think to tell me that, I don't know, you had the goddamn sonofabitch that nearly killed me down here in the dungeons?! Why not, Pendergast?! Don't you think that I would probably want to know a tiny little detail like that, because I'm, oh yeah, the queen?!"

Pendergast looked at her with a remorseful expression, his cheek reddening from her well-deserved slap. He knelt before her with his head bowed in shame.

"Your Majesty… I meant to, you must believe me, but I-"

"But-but, what, Pendergast?" Bean retorted, narrowing her eyes down at him. It looked as though Bean wanted to keep yelling at the knight, but stopped when she heard a weak sound behind her. Turning back around, Bean saw Alva struggling to remain conscious and speak.

"I-I… Q-Queen Tiabeanie! P-please! Have m-mercy! We can t-talk 'bout this, yeah? I only wa-wanted t'talk…"

"Talk, huh?" Bean repeated with a scoff, shaking her head and walking back up to her prisoner. "What the hell happened to writing a letter or something, huh? What?! You think that everyone here in Dreamland are illiterate morons?! Because, well… a lot of them are, but I'm not! Asshole!"

Grunting with frustration, Bean angrily punched Alva right in the dick, causing not only him but some of the other men in the dungeon, like Stan, a couple guards, and even Big Jo, to wince and utter a soft "ooo." Alva squeaked in pain, stuttering out pained breaths, before he softly began to cry. Shaking her head, Bean grumbled under her breath as she looked over to see her guardsmen watching.

"Out! I want everyone out!" she declared, pointing at the guards.

The man hastily bowed and scurried back towards and up the stairs. Pendergast also stood and bowed, intending to leave.

"Oh, no! Not you, Pendergast!" Bean spat out. "Or you, Luci. Yeah, you can stay, and, oh, Stan, you don't have to go either," she added in a slightly softer tone.

Stan just shrugged. "Honestly? I wasn't gunna go. I work here, y'know?"

Bean shrugged and nodded. She couldn't argue about that.

Pendergast, on the other hand, sank back into a kneel and dropped his head once more. Staring down at the floor, his conscience was being throttled with guilt. He had brought this upon himself. He knew it. It should've told Bean about the Steamlander days ago, but… he kept pushing it off and then sex of all things caused him to forget completely. Shame filled him and he deserved every ounce of it.

Luci had made his way up onto a table with various torture tolls laid upon it and was idly examining the tools, making soft comments about the ones that were used in Hell and those that he appreciated. However, he very much was invested in Bean's current mental breakdown. However, he paused, frowned, and sniffed the air.

"Hey, does… anyone else smell sulfur?"

Bean didn't hear her small friend. Her ears were ringing from how hard her heart was pumping with anger. Returning to sneer at the pathetic form of a whimpering and busted Alva Gunderson, Bean stormed back over to the man and reached up to grab him by the hair to lift his head back up.

"And you! I can't believe-!"

For the second time that day, Bean froze, though this time it was out of pure terror rather than shock. Her eyes went wide and her hand that held him by his hair began to shake. The queen's breath caught in her throat as her mouth went dry. She knew that she was looking at the leader of Steamland, but in that brief moment she saw the face of Nick Scratch looking back at her. He was smiling that creepy, self-assured smile, and then he winked at her. The queen of Dreamled jerked her hand back and took an unsteady step back, before she began to scream in bloody terror.

Luci bolted forward while Stan took a shocked step back. Pendergast shot up from his kneel of self-loathing to take hold of Bean, who continued to scream and point at Alva.

"Bean! Bean, what's-?! It's okay! I'm here! I'm here! I got you…"

Pendergast wrapped his arms around his hysterical queen, trying to calm her down, but to no avail. She pushed him away and stepped forward. Her screams of terror changed to ones of fury and she held her hand up at Alva Gunderson's as sparks of electricity began to dance around her fingers.

"Woah! Woah! Woah, Bean! Wait!" Luci cried, but he was too late.

A bolt of lightning erupted from Bean's hand and struck Alva directly in the chest. Stan dove for cover and Pendergast lifted his hand to shield his eye from the brightness of the lightning; amazement and shock consumed his expression. While prisoners hid away in their cells, but Big Jo watched from his in earnest. Alva's body shook violently from the surge of electricity. Small tendrils of smoke drifted upwards from wherever his skin met metal. Bean ripped her hand away after a couple of intense seconds, cutting the lightning off; however, Alva's body went limp, still smoking and even sizzling slightly. Bean staggered backwards, while her eyelids fluttered and her skin paled. Pendergast quickly overcame his own sense of fear and disbelief at what had just occurred and flung himself forward in time to catch a collapsing Bean.

"Bean? Bean!" he cried, shifting the unconscious queen in his arms, and slightly shaking her to try to wake her.

Luci hopped up onto Bean's shoulder to look down at her face, before meeting Pendergast's worried gaze and he shook his head. "Forget it, Pendergast. Magic like that? Bean probably used all of her energy to do it."

"Wh-what? You mean… she's done that before?" Pendergast asked incredulously, glancing up at Luci, before slowly caressing Bean's sleeping face.

Luci just shrugged and held up his hands, "Meh." sighing, Luci looked back at Bean's fac as he stated, "Look, buddy, you're gunna just have to accept that your girlfriend has some shit going on, so if you're plan on stickin' around, you better get used to this kind of stuff."

Pendergast looked up at Luci, frowning with concern (and slightly annoyed that the former-demon so openly referred to Bean as his girlfriend), but he gave his friend bod regardless. He was committed to being by Bean's side, as he rknight or otherwise.

Stan also recovered from his fearful retreat and came up to stand by the smoldering Steamdlander. Whistling out his respect, apparently not phased by the show of magic, before Stan examined his prisoner. After a moment, he back back to look over at Pendergast.

"Blimey, he's dead," the executioner declared simply.

Pendergast looked up in a panic, before his expression hardened. "Stan. Not a word shall be spoken about what happened here," he said through clenched teeth. "Is that understood?"

Stan only nodded, before he gestured towards the prisoners in the other cells, namely Big Jo. "Yeah, and what 'bout them?"

Pendergast lifted Bean up into his arms and stood, Luci standing on his shoulder, and the knight gave Big Jo a hard look. "Many never leave the dungeons of Dreamland, isn't that right, Stan? Why should that change anytime soon?" His words were for the Royal Executioner, but the knight made sure that his threat could be heard by the prisoners.

Stan only nodded in understanding and watched as Pendergast took their queen and climbed the stairs to leave the dungeon. As the knight's footsteps faded away, in their wake the dungeon was oddly silent and the stench of ozone and burnt flesh hung heavily in the air.

Pendergast only stopped once to issue an order that none shall enter the dungeons, aside from Stan, without his knowledge. Failure to comply will be dealt with... severely.

Ignoring the curious and concerned eyes of the guards and servants he passed, Pendergast did not stop until he climbed all the way back up to Bean's room. Hopefully, most would just assume that their queen had passed out drunk, which was completely believable. The guards stationed outside her room barely had time to open the door for him and their queen before he pushed past them, barking out an order for the door to be closed behind him. Coming to Bean's bed, Pendergast tenderly laid her down and looked her over with worry and guilt. Falling to his knees at her bedside, Pendergast bowed his head and Luci came to stand on the bed, looking at the knight with sympathy.

"This is all my fault, Luci," Pendergast admitted sorrowfully, looking up at the former-demon with tears in his lone eye. "If I had told Bean before that the Steamlander survived, she wouldn't have reacted so."

Luci shook his head. "No, Pendergast. Well, I mean yeah you probably should've told her, but how she reacted like that? No… that wasn't your fault. That wasn't your fault at all."

Pendergast narrowed his eye at his friend, confusion bleeding into his disgrace. "Then, who-?"

Luci narrowed his eyes and looked aside, before casting Bean a regretful look. "I think... Old Nick Scratch had another trick up his sleeve for our Beanie. You see... the Devil's specialties are trauma and pain... and anger, and Bean displayed all of those. That's how he prayed upon Bean's fears even when she was awake, forcing her to reveal her powers out of sheer terror." Luci scoffed and pet Bean's hand, "That clever bastard."

"Clever?" Pendergast spat out, though guilt tempered his anger. "So much for the protection of a living angel..." he muttered quietly.

Hours passed and Pendergast disallowed anyone from entering Bean's chambers. Not long before dusk, Luci excused himself and left, stating that he had something he needed to oversee, but that he'd be back. Pendergast never left Bean's bedside. He knelt there and held her hand: hoping that his angelic touch was strong enough to keep Bean safe as she slept. Only once night was darkening the sky did Bean finally begin to stir. Pendergast lifted his head and slowly came to sit lightly upon the side of the bed, holding her hand between his.

"Bean?" he said softly, worry creasing his brow.

The Queen of Dreamland groaned slightly, her expression wincing from hidden soreness, as her eyelids half-opened. It took a few more seconds for the woman to slowly blink her eyes mostly open, searching around until they found Pendergast. Bean smiled softly.

"Hey," she said weakly.

"Hi," Pendergast replied, grinning wide with pleasure brightening his expression. "I'm so glad to see that you're alright, Bean."

Bean licked her lips and Pendergast reached over to grab the glass of water he'd been waiting to give her. When the young woman began to shift herself upwards, she grunted and winced from the soreness in her body. Lifting up her hands, she touched her fingers together and frowned.

"My hand feels numb," she commented dryly before taking the glass and gulping down a couple mouthfuls.

Pendergast offered her a sympathetic smile. "Do you… remember what happened?"

Passing him her cup, Bean looked ahead and narrowed her eyes as she tried to remember. "Umm… Luci and I were in the dungeons, and then… I don't know. Something about Alva being alive? Which…" Bean paused to look at him with a frown, "which I guess I'm still mad at you about."

The knight only nodded in acceptance.

"But then…" Bean continued, trailing off and frowning more. "I don't know. Things just kinda get fuzzy." Turning to look back up at him, Bean arched a brow at him and asked, "Did me and Luci take Snake Root again?"

Pendergast shook his head. Even in that moment he wanted to shield her from the pain of what happened, but he had to tell her. He had already screwed up majorly by not informing her in the first place, his queen, of important information.

"No, Bean. What happened was…" Pendergast sighed, his expression turning hard. "You started screaming in fear and in your panic, you… used magic on the Steamlander, and... he's dead."

Bean stared at Pendergast and watched him slowly look up and met her eyes. She continued to rub her fingers together until she settled her hand on her stomach and turned her eyes to stare above. She wore a tired expression, but there was sadness there as well.

"Oh… right…" she said lamely, but whether or not she truly remembered was up for debate. Sighing aloud, Bean began to sit up and Pendergast reached over to initially stop her, before he paused and then moved to assist her. She lightly slapped his hands away and Pendergast took them back with an ashamed look.

"Bean… I cannot express how sorry I am. I only wanted to protect you."

The white-haired woman sighed again and looked up at him to meet his pathetic expression with a tired and bored look of her own. "You really should've told me about Alva Gunderson, Pendergast," she stated, watching as the man dropped his head more in shame. Bean rolled her eyes and reached under her pillow to reveal a half-full bottle of whiskey. "But," she continued, pausing to take a hearty swig. Smacking her lips, she gave him a small smile, "I know why you did it, and… I appreciate that."

Pendergast looked up at her and searched her eyes, before he tried to match her smile.

"Just don't do it again!" she warned, before she drank down the rest of her whiskey and haphazardly tossing the bottle aside onto the floor by her bedside. With the fire of the whiskey burning her throat, Bean settled against her pillows and looked ahead, her smile fading.

"I… I'm starting to remember what happened. I was so angry, Pendergast, so fucking angry when I saw Alva. Like... jeez, man. The guy wanted to marry me, or make a union or whatever, and then he tries to kidnap me! He was a jerk, no doubt about that, but… I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't… didn't want to. Well, okay, I wanted to kill him… but not like that." Bean stared at her fingers and looked over at him with a slight pout. "I don't know how my powers work. ONe of the few gifts my mom gave me, I guess."

Pendergast blinked and began to nod. "Right… that's right. Down in Hell, she used such magic trying to stop you."

Bean just shrugged.

"Yeah, well… I only reacted the way I did because…" Bean looked aside and began to tug at her hair. Pendergast dared to offer her his hand, to which she slowly took and when she met his eyes, they were bright with unwanted tears. "I saw Him, Pendergast. One moment it was Alva's smashed up face, then the next... it was the Devil's. Nick Scratch was right there, right in front of me." Bean's lower lip began to tremble, but she managed to finish. "He… he winked at me." Bean sighed and shook her head, letting her sad gaze dropped. "I'd get it if you didn't believe me."

Pendergast moved and without words he came and sat beside her and embraced knight held his queen in silence with her leaning softly into him.

"I believe you, Bean. You know I do," Pendergast admitted softly, before he exhaled softly. "Actually, Luci thinks that the Devil may have affected you in some way, feeding off your anger and fear. That's why you were able to see him." Tightening his hold on her, the knight whispered into her hair, "It's not your fault, Bean, and I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from the Devil this time."

Now, it's up to debate whether or not Bean wept softly as Pendergast held her. Believe what you want to believe, because for of them would admit such a thing even if it did happen. At some point Bean ordered Pendergast to retrieve various bottles of liquor hidden around the room. She wanted to get right drunk and she was forcing Pendergast to join her. Over the next hour or so, the pair lounged on Bean's bed as the number of empty bottles quickly grew around them. Bean was laughing and seemed to forgive Pendergast for keeping secrets from her, but once in a while she'd remind him and bust his balls a bit.

"Y'know... I could just order you t'go on a quest as a punishment," Bean siad, only slightly slurring, as she smirked over at him.

Pendergast, who was standing by the fireplace to stoke up the fire, smiled over at her and chuckled. "If you did that, Bean, then I would go! But… I have a feeling that you'd miss me."

"Y'think so, huh?" Bean asked, arching her brow at him.

"Yes, I do," Pendergast declared confidently, walking back towards the bed and only stumbling a bit.

Bean shifted to sit on her knees and held up her hand at him, "Stop!"

Pendergast stopped mid-step and smirked at his queen and girlfriend.

Biting her lower lip, Bean took the moment to slowly scan the knight's body down and up. Twisting her hair around her finger, Bean spoke in a sultry voice, "Take off your shirt."

The man's brow raised as he obediently gripped the bottom of his knight's tunic and paused. "Do you just mean my tunic… or my shirt as well?"

"What do you think?" Bean asked, matching his expression.

Chuckling softly, Pendergast quickly lifted and removed his knight's tunic to reveal his white shirt. A bit slowly did he grab the bottom of his shirt and began to lift it, tantalizingly revealing his deliciously toned stomach. Bean giggled gayly and bit her lower lip, falling to her stomach and forearms to enjoy the show. Pendergast smiled wider and blushed a bit as he pulled his shirt up higher to uncover his broad and muscular chest. Raising his arms, the man pulled his shirt up and over his head until he finally pulled it completely off. Now shirtless, Pendergast swept back his brown hair before setting his hands upon his hips cockily. He always knew that he had a sexy body, but the way Bean was practically drooling over his strapping figure was really stroking his pride... and the growing heat in his pants.

That is, until Bean pointed at him and exclaimed, "Hey! You're still wearing your pendant!"

Pendergast looked down at his chest to see the teardrop-shaped, strange, black, woodlike medallion. Its warmth had been a comfort to him and it was true that he had forgotten that he still wore it. Bean wiggled off of the bed, bottle in hand, and staggered over to him until she practically fell upon him (not that Pendergast minded). He set his hands upon her waist while Bean smoothed her hands upon his chest, her fingers playing with his pendant.

Pendergast looked between her and the pendant as he asked, "Does it… feel warm to you?"

Bean flipped the pendant around to reveal its opal-like side and shrugged. "I mean, not really, aside from you wearing it, I guess." Taking a swig from her bottle, she offered some to him and he took a hearty swig, much to her approval. "Why do you ask?" Bean inquired, taking back the nearly empty bottle.

Pendergast opened his mouth to answer and paused. Had he not learned his lesson? Had what happened earlier not been enough for him to know that he couldn't, and shouldn't, keep secrets from her? Sighing through his nostrils, Pendergast reached up to take hold of her hands and Bean looked up at him.

"What? Something wrong?" Bean asked, her smile weakening slightly. "You're gettin' pretty handsy."

"Bean…" Pendergast began, meeting her eyes, "I… there's something that I need to tell you… and, forgive me, I'm drunk."

Bean frowned and sighed. "What now?" she asked dryly, taking back her hands and stepping back from him.

Pendergast let his head drop a bit, but he maintained his smile. Reaching up to take hold of the pendant, he looked up and met her gaze. "I… misled you to think that I did not know this pendant. I apologize."

Bean blinked at him, clearly not expecting that. Shaking her head a bit, she stepped closer to him again as she said, "What? Wait… so the pendant is yours?"

"Looks to be," Pendergast admitted softly, before he shrugged. "I, ah… turns out that I actually can read the language."

"Holy shit, really?!" Bean exclaimed with a smile, picking up the pendant and looking at the stranger characters. Confusion clouded her elation, however, and she looked up at him with questioning eyes. "Wait… then, why did you lie? What does it say?"

Pendergast reached up to cup her face and subtly forced Bean to look at him. "I lied because… it doesn't matter what it says."

"Pendergast. What does it say?" Bean asked, using his queen's voice, though she didn't pull away from him.

The knight licked his lips. "It reads… 'Pendergast, return safely to Scaleton'."

Bean blinked and frowned. "Scaleton? What the fuck is that? Or is that someone's name?"

"Exactly my point!" Pendergast replied, moving his hands from her cheeks to her shoulders. "I know what any of it means. I don't remember anything about… where I came from or why I can read these words… or why this pendant is warm to my touch, for that matter."

"Wait, what?" Bean managed, but Pendergast kept talking.

"All I care about is you and Dreamland, Bean. Why does my origins matter?"

Bean searched his eye and face, considering his words.

"Don't you want to find your family? Your home?"

Pendergast blinked before he smiled softer. "I got my mom, remember? Even if she thinks the kingdom is ruled by ducks. As for my home… Well, that's right here. I'm a Knight of Dreamland, now and forever!" The man arched his brow at her, before adding a bit softer, "At least… if you'll allow me."

Bean didn't say anything, not at first. Her eyes fell and see caught sight of the faint red line that encircled his neck and she reached up to trail her nail along the line. A reminder of his beheading. Then she slid her her finger down to his chest to cover the red circle. A reminder of his gunshot. The man had already given his life for his kingdom, and then voluntarily gave up his eternal soul to save her. Only by the grace of God Themself was Bean allowed to have Pendergast standing there before her, smiling at her... knowing he loved her.

After a few quiet moments more, Bean gave him her answer: she reached up to press her lips upon his. Pendergast's eye went wide before he closed it and slid his hands down her shoulders to the sides of her arms. Bean took this opportunity to smooth her hands over the skin of his bare abdomen up to his broad pectorals. The knight slightly jerked back and broke their kiss with his contained chuckle, his smile wide.

"Ticklish?" Bean asked softly, her eyes still closed with a playful smile upon her lips. She scratched her nails lightly upon his chest, tickling him more.

Pendergast laughed and flinched away again. Bean wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him harder.

"You… are not going anywhere," she whispered against his lips, before turning to their liplock.

The knight moaned into her kiss and clasped her sides, embracing her closer. The alcohol made his brain light and his blood hot, but the feel of Bean's body, the softness of her skin, and the deliciously sweet scent of her hair was making him hard. It stirred a primal desire within him that he hadn't known to exist before their little swim in those magical blue waters. As their kissing intensified, he moved his hands from her hands to her ass and squeezed, rousing a gasp from her and ending their kiss.

"Mmm, do that again…" Bean moaned, tightening her hold around his neck.

Pendergast smirked and did as he was commanded, gripping her ass until he lifted her up. Lightly jostling her slightly as he readjusted to grip the back of her thighs, the knight's fingers came to rest upon the underside of her perfect butt cheeks. Bean responded by wrapping her legs around his waist and smiling hotly down at him, slightly biting her lower lip. Pendergast proceeded to kiss along her jawline, coaxing her to lift her neck, so that he could nuzzle and kiss her there. He knew that was her sweet spot, and sure enough… Bean moaned loudly and leaned down to bite down on his shoulder. Pendergast grunted but kissed through the pain. Those beautiful teeth of hers… he still had marks from their forest dalliance. He didn't mind, though. In fact, the spice of pain only intensified his desire.

Pendergast took a step towards the bed. He was already thinking of all the sexy fantasies he was about to fulfill, especially some new ones that had been coaxing at his crotch since he had started sleeping next to Bean. The man took another step towards his lady's bed, his lips having found her lips again, and he wasn't really paying attention to anything else save for her. His mind was fuzzy from drinking and his knightly sense was consumed by lust.

That's a lot of words to say that neither of them noticed when the bedroom door suddenly opened ajar.

"BEAN! Hi, it's Elfo! I'm-! I'm… oh… Bean? Wh-what are you two, umm, doing?"

Pendergast and Bean froze mid-kiss and slowly turned to look down at the small green man standing in the slightly open door.

There stood the Mr. Marshmallow on Legs himself, Elfo.

Luci stepped in also and closed the door, looking at his nails, before saying in a dry, bored voice, "Oh no… I tried to stop him… How embarrassing…" The lil' bastard didn't even try to hide the sarcasm from his voice, or how he glanced up at the entwined couple with a wicked look of devilish glee.

Elfo laughed awkwardly and looked at the scene in front of him: shirtless Pendergast holding Bean, who had her legs and arms wrapped around him. That is until he blinked and gasped pointing at Pendergast in alarm.

"Quick, Luci! Zombie Pendergast is attacking Bean! And he looks sexy doing it!"

With a roar of shrimpish bravery, Elfo produced a small dagger and charged forward to try and stab Pendergast in his leg.

Bean scrambled out of Pendergast's embrace and nearly fell to the floor as she hustled over to scoop up Elfo, forcing him to drop his dagger, to give him a hug.

"Elfo! You're back! I missed you, man!"

Elfo, who was quite frankly happy with being smushed into Bean's chest from her embrace, blinked in confusion up at Pendergast who was quietly retrieving his shirt to slip back on. The small elf man narrowed his eyes up at the blushing knight.

"Yeah… Missed you too, Bean…" Elfo said slowly as Bean set him back down on the ground. "But, umm... why aren't you freaking out that Pendergast's dead body is in your room? And walking around? And... has his head on again?"

Bean blushed a deep red, as did Pendergast behind her. However, as embarrassing and awkward as the situation was, and as happy as she was to see Elfo back, Bean couldn't help but think to herself, 'Jeez… couldn't he have waited to return for like… an hour or so?'

Talk about your case of blue balls.

Luci came up to stand by his green-skinned buddy and slapped him on his shoulder, causing Elfo to look over at him. "Elfo... finally you can stop bragging about being brought back from the dead. Turns out that's not really special or hard to do."

A/N:

Hello everyone!

What's this? Another chapter? Oh baby, I have been on a roll! After over a year of silence, I got the bug for this story and the words have just been flowing outta me!

This chapter is a bit shorter than what I usually write, but the last chapter was a beefy boy, so it's alright to me.

And lo and behold, Elfo is back in the picture! I'm actually interested to see how I fair with his character as I've already pictured myself struggling to characterize himself respectfully. We'll just have to see going forward.

As for when you can expect the next chapter... it's possible I may slow down a bit with the next one, or maybe not. I'm not sure, but if the writing bug still has me tightly in its grips, then I'll continue to ride this train!

As always, I welcome all comments and critiques, just remember to be kind: this is a fan's labour of love.

Stay tuned and stay classy, folks!

Cheers!

~Sheik