Camelot

March, 509 AD

My heart pounded against my chest while my eyes darted around the large room, the bright coloured lights coming from the ceiling almost blinding me as the cheers from the faceless audience caused a slight ringing in my ears.

I realised that I was standing on a stage, which was decorated with red banners with undecipherable letters upon them. There was a big screen behind me, which showed my admittedly terrified face on a larger scale, presumably so that the audience could see me with more clarity; and towards a corner of the platform stood a stoic Arthur.

Gulping, I turned to look to my other side and found a tall lanky man with short white hair, glasses, and a tuxedo staring at me with a smirk. He was holding a small red card in his right hand and a microphone in his left.

As the cheering ceased, the man addressed me in a clear and amicable tone that was amplified by the microphone, "The following is a simple 'yes or no' answer. Think carefully."

I nodded, now understanding that I'm in some sort of game show.

"Pinocchio states that his nose will grow. Will it, or will it not?" the man inquired. I recoiled and tilted my head. How the fork is that a simple 'yes' or 'no'? "You have a minute," he added with a wink.

"Trick question – it's a paradox," I replied. "Both answers are simultaneously right and wrong."

"Yes or no?" the man pressed.

I looked behind me at a miniature version of the Big Ben that suddenly appeared on the stage and swallowed thickly when I noticed that the minute was halfway gone as it ticked loudly, causing my heart-beat to accelerate.

"Neither and both!" I repeated.

"Yes or no!?" the man roared.

"Yes and no!"

"Yes or no?!"

"I don't know what you want me to say!"

"Yes or no?!"

"Yes or no!"

"Time is up," a robotic female voice said, and that was instantly followed by a gurgling sound.

My gaze shot towards Arthur and I felt as if the tower of Pisa had suddenly fallen on top of me. The tip of a sword was sticking out of his abdomen. A pool of blood formed over his entire torso as he collapsed to his knees in slow motion.

"No!" I screamed and rushed to his side.

"Astra," he croaked out. His complexion rapidly began losing colour and his irises gradually turned grey.

My lungs struggled to function properly as my eyes darted around the audience restlessly. "I need a doctor!" I called out. Suddenly, they were all mannequins and there was not a single human around. "Please! I can't lose him!"

"Astraea!"

I jolted awake and sat up. The dark room spun as I panted heavily. My body trembled.

"Hey, you are all right, it was only a nightmare," I heard Arthur's soft voice as a pair of strong arms surrounded me. My senses instantly became flooded by his natural warmth, and his manly scent, and the feeling of his chest inflating and deflating against my own.

I quickly wrapped my arms around him, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

"Y-you're okay," I noted in a whisper.

"Yes, my love. I am not going anywhere," he promised. I tightened my grip on him and sighed in relief.

He carefully lay back down, keeping me on top of him and not loosening his hold as he rubbed gentle circles on my back. I moved a leg to rest in between his, wanting to feel as close to him as possible while I still fought to regulate my oxygen intake.

"This is becoming a recurrent thing again, Astra," he mentioned softly after a few minutes. "Will you tell me what is wrong?"

My stomach churned at the question and I gulped before stuttering my way through a half-truth, "I-it's nothing. I-I just... the Disir creeped me out a bit too much, I-I think."

"You know..." Arthur started as he flipped me onto my back, hovering above me as one hand moved to trace my ribs on one side, a mischievous grin forming on his lips, "...my nanny used to say that laughter and a smile are best weapons against nightmares."

My heart-rate sped up once again in fear of what might come next as I warned, "Arthur Pendragon, if you even think about tickling me, I will kick you in the nuts – and I'm in a favourable position to do so."

He went completely still and his eyes widened as he gulped. "You would not dare."

"Wanna risk it n' find out?" I challenged.

"Not really," he mumbled before moving off me and lying beside me again. I smirked in triumph and moved to cuddle once more, resuming our earlier position. He let out a soft chuckle while wrapping me in his arms again and I pressed a kiss to his shoulder.

Arthur sighed. "All right, then. Tell me a story – a memory that makes you smile."

My heart warmed at the fact that he's trying hard to make me feel better and I tightened my grip on him. I might as well humour him. "Did I ever tell you 'bout the time Dallas n' I got pulled into a friendly match race?"

"I do not believe so."

I grinned to myself and moved to sit criss-cross beside him before beginning the tale – "Well, my uncle had this friend, Jamie, who trained racehorses. I respected him a lot 'cause he truly cared about his horses and gave them species-appropriate lifestyles, unlike the majority of the people in that industry...

"Anyway, he went to the farm one day, and Gus and Kelly got it into their heads that I needed some hype, so they started tellin' Jamie all about the work I was doing with Dal...

"I'm pretty sure Gus was a bit drunk, 'cause he suddenly blurted out that we could probably beat one of Jamie's racehorses... I was so embarrassed because, yeah, Dal is awesome, but he doesn't have the bloodlines one looks for in a racehorse, y'know? He was bred by some sketchy dude in the backroads of New Braunfels who was experimenting with colour genetics.

"They ignored my protests, they set a date, they placed bets, they blew it way out of proportion... I was dragged to Jamie's ranch against my will two weeks later, he invited a bunch of people, and then he put us up against whom he claimed to be his best horse – Storm Brewer, he was actually such a sweetheart – and, uh, we had the race..."

"Did you win?" Arthur asked.

I smiled widely. "Yeah, actually. Jamie was so pissed. But that race was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done. So, uh, I guess that the moral of the story is that maybe it's not a terrible idea to let a drunk uncle run the show every once in a while."

"And there is that smile that I love so much," my King stated.

"Yeah," I realised, my smile growing as my face got warm. I leaned down to kiss his cheek before curling up beside him and nuzzling into the crook of his neck. "Thanks, Artie. I love you."

"I love you, too, my girl."


The screen flashed red again when another skeleton hit my unarmed character as she ran through the woods, my noble and loyal wolf-dog 'Alvin' running beside me while zombies, spiders, creepers and skeletons attacked from all fronts. Perhaps it was a bad idea to play with 'hard' settings. And an even worse idea to try to get more coal during the night. But I really wanna complete my set of iron armour!

I sang softly along to 'Home Sweet Home' by Mötley Crüe playing on the gramophone, which sat atop my dining table.

At last, I saw some torches in the distance and I sighed in relief, knowing that I finally reached my small wooden cottage with half-a-heart left. I rushed inside and ran to get a bow from one of the many chests in the storage room before going upstairs and starting to shoot at the monsters that remained outside from a window.

"It is a good thing it is just me," I jolted at the unexpected sound of Gwen's voice, "otherwise you would have a lot of explaining to do."

I blinked rapidly, my gaze alternating between her figure at the doorway and the Nintendo Switch in my hands as I continued to kill 'Minecraft' enemies.

"Dude, don't sneak up on me like that!" I scolded. "I just had a traumatic Snow White moment!"

"You left the door unlocked," she stated with a pointed look. I heard some shuffling and figured that she was putting on the lock.

"Oops," I said while shooting her a sheepish look.

My friend moved to sit beside me on the bed and I walked away from the window, now that there were no more monsters in sight, before going to put the coal I'd gathered into the furnace so that I could finally make some iron ingots.

"What game is this?" Gwen asked as she moved closer.

"Minecraft," I responded with a proud grin. "It's my favourite... though you should probably stay away considering that you still get dizzy playin' Mario Kart."

"You are right, that is much worse," she stated while moving away, sitting at my desk instead. "What is the purpose of it, anyway?"

I sighed and paused my game before straightening up so that I could address my friend properly as I answered, "That's the best part – the purpose is whatever I want the purpose to be! I have a world where I built a kingdom; in another, I built a bunch of wild racecourses for horses; there's one where I built a whole city in the sky... This one's a survival game... I'm not sure what I wanna do with it yet..."

"Are you still shaken by what Merlin told you?" Gwen asked gently.

That's a change of topic, but okay.

"Me? Shaken?" I scoffed. "Please, I'm nothing if not unshakeable." All she did was raise an eyebrow and I averted my gaze as I relented, "Fine, yes, I'm shaken."

"Everything will be all right, Astra," she affirmed.

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled and returned my focus to my game.

The room fell silent for a couple of minutes and I continued to sing in sync with the gramophone, smiling to myself when I finally got my full set of iron armour. I promptly put it on and I equipped my sword before grabbing a bunch of iron tools and heading over to the door. It's time to see if I can find a saddle so that I can get a horse!

"Astra?" Gwen spoke again, causing me to pause my game once more and look at her, raising an expectant eyebrow. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did," I dead-panned, trying to remain stoic while fighting a smile. Then I giggled at the unimpressed glare I got in response and gave a real answer, "Yeah, you can ask anything."

"My father would have turned sixty-five years old tomorrow... so Elyan and I were wondering if we could have the day off duty to visit his grave."

"Of course! You don't even have to ask," I told her, shooting her a grin. She smiled and sighed in what I presumed to be relief. I hate that she gets so worked up when asking Arthur and I for stuff. Uther must've really traumatised his workers. "Where's the grave?" I wondered.

"Longstead. That is where my father was born," Gwen responded.

I paused the game again and sat up, my smile fading. "There have been a few robberies around there," I noted. "Maybe you should take some of the guys with you. I'll ask Arthur if he might be able to spare the team for a day."

"Oh, no, I would not want to trouble you–"

"I'll be more troubled if something happens to you or El, so shut it and take the back-up," I told her while pointing a stern finger.

"All right. Thank you, Astra."

"Anything for you, bestie."


"We'll put a lid on it next time," I nonchalantly told my brother and we shared a laugh that was cut short by an exasperated Gaius.

"Next time?! You two should be lucky if I let you near my kitchen ever again!"

"It was an honest accident, Pops!" I defended. "Where would humanity be without accidents? Penicillin, x-rays, dynamite– wait, maybe scratch that one..."

"No, it was poor judgement," the physician shot back.

Any potential attempt at a reply on behalf of Merlin and I was interrupted by a bunch of popcorn falling off the ceiling – where they've been stuck for the past ten minutes thanks to a smear of butter that somehow ended up there.

If you haven't guessed by now, we made a mess in the kitchen when attempting to make popcorn on the stove.

"Looks like it's cloudy with a chance of popcorn!" I chirped with a smirk. I got an unimpressed look from Gaius and a confused one from my brother. "It's from a movie, never mind," I mumbled.

Merlin and I finished cleaning the kitchen and I was about to exit the physician's apartment when I spotted a bunch of sombre-looking knights heading this way; with Gwaine and Elyan leading them.

"What happened?!" I asked, my heart-beat rising in my chest.

My gaze connected with my best friend's and he sped up, pulling me into a tight hug when he reached me. "You're a sight for sore eyes, kid," he whispered.

"It's great to see you, too; but what happened?" I repeated, pushing away from the hug after a few moments.

The rest of the knights reached us and my stomach dropped when I saw that they were carrying a pair of unconscious peers – Leon and Percival.

"We were attacked by some big snakes," Gwaine responded, looking increasingly mortified as he breathed unevenly. "I would bet that Morgana was behind it all."

"Where's Gwen?" Merlin and I asked at the same time. He and Gaius had since moved closer to us and the physician was quick to start throwing orders at the knights so that he could inspect the injured pair.

Elyan appeared horribly pale as he replied, "I told her to get away... She fled."

"Sh*t!" spewed past my mouth before I could filter it as my heart was thrown into a pit of piranhas and I began to pace. If Morgana somehow got to Gwen... I don't even want to think about the messed up things he could do to her... Or how she could extract dooming information"... "Damn it!"

As Gaius called out for Merlin's help, I realised that I probably should be doing something to, y'know, also help the cause; rather than have a breakdown. So the first thing I did was place a hand on Elyan's arm and I promised in a strained voice, "We'll move land and sea to bring her home safe, all right?"

"Thank you, Astra," he responded, giving a grimace that I'm sure was supposed to be a grin.

"I'll get Arthur," I announced to anyone listening before taking off sprinting towards the royal apartments.

I must've tripped at least seven times as I climbed the stairs, my legs feeling like cheap jelly as they trembled while being crushed by my heavy lungs, which were finding it harder and harder to breathe as I fought to keep running.

Finally, I crashed into Arthur and I's room, barely able to hold myself up as I gasped for air.

"Astra! What is wrong?!" Arthur was beside me in a flash and steadying me in his strong, comforting arms.

I fisted his shirt, not allowing myself to get lost in his presence as I struggled to explain in between laboured breaths, "Gwen... attack..."

"Is Gwen hurt?" he questioned softly.

I shook my head, "Missing." I really didn't want to break down crying, but the word seemed to serve as a trigger and my body gave up the fight and fell against my King, trembling with vicious sobs that were probably reminiscent of 'the wailing woman'.

"Come on, let us sit down for a minute," Arthur said softly while moving to pick me up, but I pushed away from him.

Swimming black spots clouded my vision as I opened my eyes.

I kept struggling to speak, still focusing mostly on trying to keep my lungs alive, "There's... no time... we have to..."

"We will find her, Astra, I promise," he cut me off and swooped me up in his arms against weakening protests, then he moved towards the bed. "I need you to breathe first."

He sat down, keeping me on his lap as he held me firmly while gently pressing my torso against his chest.

"Match my breathing," he instructed in a soft whisper. I nodded against his shoulder and focused all of my energy on just that, gradually starting to find it easier to draw in air while he kept whispering reassurances. "Good girl."

Some two or three minutes passed where I allowed myself to simply sit there and recover from the dumb panic attack, but I know that I can't stay in Arthur's safe arms forever. Not if I want to get my friend back. So I reluctantly moved away from him. "C-can we go down, now?" I asked, my voice still somewhat shaky.

He seemed to hesitate as he went to respond.

Merlin suddenly peeked into the room. His eyes were bloodshot and it was clear that he's been crying as well. Or maybe holding back.

"Merlin, great timing!" my King exclaimed. "Stay with your sister."

"But–" I went to protest, but was quickly cut off by a stern Arthur.

"Stay here."

I gulped and watched as he left the room in a hurry.

Merlin promptly entered fully and he moved towards me. No words were needed as we quickly clung to each other in a tight embrace.

"I'm so sorry, Merls. I shouldn't have–"

"Do not even think about blaming yourself," he cut me off. "You had no way of knowing. You did everything you could to keep her safe."

"We're gonna find her. I won't rest until we do," I promised again.

"I know we will," he replied. I let out a shaky sigh and nodded.

"I do hope you get some rest, though. Sleep-deprived!Astra is a pain in the butt," he added in a jokey tone after a few moments. I could tell he was being serious, though.

"I'll try."


I'm embarrassed to report that I cried the entire time I spent packing my duffel bag after Arthur announced that we'll be riding out at dawn. I got rid of the evidence, not wanting to worry him more, and then I shuffled over to our room, finding him looking over a map on his desk.

I let the bag drop on the floor while letting out a sigh.

Arthur started and his head snapped my way, then he grinned a little before asking softly, "How are you feeling, my love?"

"Like I was dropped off a cliff and then got run over by a stampede of wildebeests," I responded in a mumble. Then I moved to the bed and let myself face-plant onto it.

The room fell silent for a couple of minutes. My King continued to do whatever he was doing on his desk while I remained in place, wishing that someone would hit me in the head so that I would fall asleep and then wake up tomorrow when we can leave and actually do something to find Gwen.

I felt the bed dip and I turned my head to find Arthur now lying beside me. His lips parted as his eyes scanned my face. "You look pale," he stated in a low voice.

"That's what happens when one's skin doesn't produce much melanin," I retorted.

He tilted his head and frowned. "What?"

"Nothing."

Arthur placed a hand on the side of my face, his thumb gently rubbing against my cheek. "What are you thinking about?" he inquired.

I let out a sigh before answering, "This is the second time that Morgana has messed with Gwen to get leverage on us."

"I suppose it is," he responded while giving me a sad look.

"How can we protect a whole kingdom when we can't even protect our friends?" I questioned in a whisper, my voice breaking as I felt my eyes tear up again.

"We are very lucky to have such loyal and devoted friends," Arthur pointed out in a gentle tone. "They know the risks that come with it, yet they still choose to stand by our side. So it is our duty to honour them by ensuring we do everything in our power to show them that same loyalty,"

"I'm not sure I'm worth all that loyalty," I whispered.

He carefully wiped away the tears that escaped me as he stated, "Gwen certainly thinks that you are."

I felt a pang in my chest at the mention.

"Maybe she needs her head checked," I mumbled.

Arthur frowned with a look of disapproval. "What about me, then? Am I worthy of their loyalty?" he questioned.

"Well, duh, but you're you!" I quickly answered. "I'm just... me."

"I think you are the one who needs her head checked, Astraea," he responded softly. "I really hope that you will one day come to see yourself the way I see you."

I squeezed my eyes shut and moved to shield my face against his chest, no longer feeling able to withstand his intense stare. He gently wrapped his arms around my torso and kissed the top of my head.

"I know that you are scared, darling, but you cannot start doubting yourself now. Gwen needs you," he stated.

"Y'know, you're wise when ya' wanna be, Arthur Pendragon," I commented.

He let out a soft chuckle and moved me to lie fully on top of him. Like I tend to do, I nuzzled into his neck and moved a leg between his. He gave me a gentle squeeze and used one arm to pull the bed covers over us, then he kissed the top of my head again.

"Go to sleep, my love. Everything will be all right. I promise."

I pressed a kiss to his warm skin. "I love you, Artie."

"I love you, too."