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Percy widened his eyes, looking around in confusion, it was mere seconds ago that he witnessed his best friend die, now, he was enveloped in bright yellow light, his surroundings instantly changed, from flat plains turning into castle walls. Percy looked around, confusion evident, Merlin too was extremely shocked, finally, after a few minutes of confusion, the two snapped out of their dazes, shaking their heads and realizing the situation of it all, realizing what just happened, what had just transpired in the plains of Camlann, what they had just witness. The death of their friend, and their king.
Percy looked at his wrist, seeing a golden bracelet, it was Arthur's parting gift to him, Percy still couldn't comprehend what just happened, it was all too shocking, even though they knew they were about to die, that it would be their final moments, they still were shocked, they were living in a world without their best friend, it would be all well and good if they died together, but now, Merlin and Percy were here, coping with the death of their best friend. No, they weren't just best friends, they were family, all three of them were, and now, one of them passed, they had to deal with the loss of a loved one.
"You're back?" A feminine voice said, Percy turned towards the voice, seeing Guinevere standing at the front doors of Camelot with a raised eyebrow.
"How did it go?" Guinevere asked.
"Wait, where's Arthur?" Guinevere said, Percy stared towards her, shocked, wide eyed from everything, she clicked the pieces together, slowly widening her eyes.
"He-he's gone?" She asked, it wasn't a question, more like disbelief. The face of both Merlin and Percy confirmed it to her, she slowly had tears forming in her eyes, standing there, obviously in shock. He was her cousin, they were related and were as close to Arthur as the trio. Percy kept balling his fist, a few silent tears leaking from his eyes, his nails were digging into the palm of his hands, creating a white mark on his wrist. The three seemed to stand there, in shock, unable to comprehend that their best friend, is dead.
"Spread the word, we must honor his sacrifice, we must let the people know of what he has done, he gave his life for us to live, we mustn't forget that, it would've been in vain." Merlin stated, Percy raised his hand and slowly wiped away his tears, he must stay strong, for Arthur. The three nodded, as if on cue, every knight from he round table gathered around the Percy and Merlin, all of them with raised eyebrows, wondering what happened.
"Our king, is dead." Merlin said, silence, nothing but dead silence filled the room, no one was talking, not even one, if a needle were to be dropped, it could've been heard from all the deathly tension around the room, the silence was almost choking you, the room was filled with nothing but shock, silence, and disbelief.
"W-what?" Galahad asked looking at Merlin with wide eyes.
"Arthur is dead, he sacrificed his life, to save everyone here on Camelot." Merlin said, the Knights instantly grasped the whole situation, looking at the two in disbelief.
"Arthur, is really dead?" Tristan asked, Percy nodded, his hands still balled up in a fist.
"Spread the word, we must make a ceremony, to our fallen king." Galahad said looking at the ground in sadness, Galahad was a friend, to Arthur, to Percy, and to Merlin. Every knight was recruited by Arthur himself, only Galahad was the one that managed to become more than acquaintances to all three of them. Percy clutched the sword in his scabbard and pulled it out, extending the sword to the middle.
It was the thing that the Knights of the round table did whenever a meeting was finished, the Knights instantly understood, grabbing their own sword and extending it to the middle, joining Percy in it, slowly but surely, every knight joined in, forming a small circle of Knights, reenacting their weekly meetings. Merlin smiled a sad smile, looking at Guinevere who still had small tears in her eyes, he turned towards the Knights, nodding his head.
"To the king." Merlin said.
"To the king." Every knight repeated, except Percy.
The Knights went out of Camelot castle, ready to spread the word on each of their supervised areas, Bors going to the south of Camelot, Lancelot to the north, Bedivere to the east, etcetera. Percy though, was tasked for supervising the middle of Camelot, the whole heart of it, he couldn't announce it, so he head Merlin join with him to announce it. Each one of the Knights gathered all their respective townsfolk in a specific area, announcing the death of their fallen king.
The people were shocked, like the Knights, it was as if no one believed he would die, Arthur achieved so much in a span of a few years, Great Britain was once villages scattered all over the region, fending for themselves, now, they were all United, they stood as a single force, living as a group, living as a single unit. Arthur became the first king to unite all of Brittania, he became the first king overall, and he ruled Camelot with a righteous hand, he was neither greedy, nor evil, he only had good intentions for the kingdom.
Everyone respected him, even the thugs in Camelot respected him, the Knights of the round table more so, Percy, Merlin and Guinevere respected him immensely. No one expected him to die, no one was hoping for him to die, everyone lives in blissful ignorance, thinking their king would have lived forever, that was not how life works, everyone dies, no one lives forever, that's not how life works. Percy still kept thinking about how Arthur died as Merlin announced it to he whole crowd.
Arthur's face was pale, his body almost soulless, as if it was lifeless, his hands were freezing cold, his royal garb tainted with his own blood, a sword protruding from his heart, even the circumstances, he still smiled, even though he was about to die, he smiled. Percy still couldn't make sense of it all, Percy stared at his wrist, the gold bracelet still attached to his wrist, Arthur gave it to him, as a parting gift. Arthur said it was only for emergencies, once he used it, there was no going back.
Percy refrained from letting a silent tear fall, they were Knights, they had to refrain from showing any signs of weakness, their king died, they might feel unprotected and vulnerable because of that, Arthur assigned them to protect Camelot, and was what they will do, up until their dying breath. Before Percy knew it, the announcement was over, the people were going back to their taverns and houses, wide eyed from the shock and the sudden death of their leader.
Percy was going back to the castle, Merlin went on ahead, leaving Percy to think for a few moments, the castle was in view, like it always was, it was massive. Percy instantly stopped, there was something off, incredibly off, Percy slowly pulled out his sword, listening closely to his surroundings. Percy instantly widened his eyes, running off to a inhabited part of Camelot, indeed his instincts were right.
Guinevere was cornered by monsters, Percy was confused, how did the monsters manage to break into Camelot, Percy clutched his sword and instantly went into action, there was no time for confusion, for now, he had to do his duty. Percy clutched his sword and slides between Guinevere and the monsters, shielding her behind him.
"Thank god you came, I was walking around and a bunch of monsters ambushed me, I managed to take one down, but they were too many." Guinevere stated, pointing towards a pile of dust in the corner, Percy nodded, clutching his sword, his boots clinging to the dirt, Percy readying himself, the monsters charged with ferocity, aiming towards Percy in an instantly.
Percy dodged, grabbing his sword and slicing the monster in the back, turning him to dust, there were a dozen monsters around, he had to protect both Guinevere and himself, whilst also draining the heir numbers bit by bit, it was proven to be difficult as Percy dodged an dodged. The monsters themselves were pig like monsters, holding sickles in their hands, a pig monster managed to get under Percy's radar and sneak past him, the monster turned towards Guinevere and raised his sickle ready to slash.
In an instant, the sickle was tossed to the air, Percy disarming the monster and plunging his sword into the monsters chest in an instant, killing it with one blow, turning it into a pile of dust almost instantly. Percy shook his head, looking at the monsters with ferocity, his rage from the Saxons fueling the battle even more so, as Percy clutched his sword, ready to take all these monsters out.
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Percy went throughout the Camelot castle, he was escorting Guinevere to her room, the battle just ended, he disposed of them pretty quickly, Percy turned towards Guinevere who was leading up front. Percy shook his head and kept walking, he didn't need to escort her to her room, she could do it all by herself, but, with the loss of Arthur, he couldn't lose her too, she was the last line of royalty, she needed to live, she was by far the most important out of each knight, out of each inhabitant of Camelot.
"You can stop following me now, I can go to my room by myself." Guinevere said, turning towards Percy with a stern look, her brown hair tied into a braid behind her back. Percy raised an eyebrow whilst looking at her.
"You protected me, and the least I can do right now is to let you have your rest." Guinevere said softly, Percy sighed, he did need some sleep, he was feeling a extremely tired, yet, he still couldn't shake the death of his best friend.
"I can do this by myself, now go back to your kip." She said turning towards Percy, he ultimately sighed, going towards his room, Percy instantly widened his eyes, feeling a pain in his forearm.
"Your bleeding." Guinevere said in a slight shock, Percy turned towards his forearm, it was indeed bleeding, a small wound was in his forearm, it wasn't that big, but it was still big enough to cause bleeding, there were small droplets of blood in the wooden floorboards, trailing the path that Percy took, not only that, a small patch of blood was seen from Percy's shoulder, probably a stab from the sickle.
"Come on, follow me, I'll help you." Guinevere said in her English accent, Percy sighed, following her, she couldn't be persuasive at times, it was better to give in, Percy learned that the hard way. Percy followed Guinevere to her room, she opened her door, beckoning Percy to go in, Percy obliged, he didn't want to be in this situation, he could've asked for Merlin to heal him up, but Guinevere was extremely persuasive.
"Now, sit." Guinevere ordered, Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at Guinevere with a look of confusion, he wasn't a dog.
"You heard me, sit." Guinevere said, pointing at a small wooden chair, Percy sighed, sitting on the chair. Guinevere ruffled through some of her shelves, grabbing a small vial from it.
"Merlin helped make this for me, we managed to make a healing potion of sort, it doesn't fully heal, but it heals some of the minor injuries." She stated, she slowly kneeled over to Percy, looking at Percy's forearm and gently applying the liquid over the wound, Percy winced a little, feeling a slight stinging sensation in his forearm, a minute passed, the pain going away as if it wasn't even there. Percy slowly turned towards his forearm, seeing not even a scar, Merlin works miracles.
"Now, um." Guinevere said, a slight pink dusting in her cheeks.
"Take off your shirt." She said softly, a blush in her cheeks. Percy choked on air, looking at her with wide eyes, his expression showing bewilderment, she cleared her throat.
"Do you want to do it yourself or do you want me to do it?" Guinevere asked with a raised eyebrow. Percy contemplated, unable to hide the small red in his cheeks, Percy sighed in defeat, he didn't want to, it felt, wrong. Guinevere sighed, rolling her eyes, she grabbed a small cloth, applying the healing vial onto the cloth and lifting Percy's shirt up much to his dismay. She averted her eyes from him and focused on the wound on his shoulder.
Guinevere slowly leaned in, dabbing the small cloth onto the wound, it was a pretty big stab wound, the cloth and healing liquid healed up the stab in almost an instant, though they still couldn't crack the formula, there was still a small wound on Percy's shoulder. Guinevere grabbed another long piece of cloth and wrapped it around his wound, acting as a sort of makeshift bandage, Guinevere grabbed the vial and poured the rest of it over Percy's wound, making him wince a little.
"Be a little bit more careful next time, you're not invincible." She said sighing, Percy nodded, bringing his shirt back down, the red on his cheeks disappearing. Percy nodded, sighing a little, Percy walked up to the door, he hadn't realized he had been sleep deprived the past few days, he instantly passed out, falling to the floor with a small thud. Percy had no sleep for a whole week, he was too busy managing everything, he whole guard duty and all, being part of the Royal guard.
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Percy awoke, looking around in a groggy state, his eyes still not adjusting to the light, Percy looked around, he still hadn't recognized anything, this wasn't his room. Percy rubbed the sleep from his eyes, looking around the room, he remembered a little bit of what happened yesterday, but everything was still a little blurry. He spotted Guinevere at her balcony, holding a small porcelain cup in her hand, drinking small sips from the cup, Percy's guess was that it was tea, like most of Camelot, a lot of people liked tea.
"Oh, so you're finally awake." Guinevere said, looking at Percy, placing her porcelain cup on a nearby coffee table. Percy shook his head, looking around the room, bookshelves were line around the room, a large bed that could've fit two people.
"I was wondering when you'd be awake, you slept for twelve whole hours, never mind, you slept for seventeen!" Guinevere said with a small chuckle.
"Anyways, Merlin came to remind me that you have a knight meeting, like, right now." Guinevere said, Percy widened his eyes and instantly jumped off the bed, bolting out towards the door.
"Also, Percival, don't get hurt this time." Guinevere said with a small smile.
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Over the course of a few months, Guinevere and Percy's relationship grew steadily and steadily, not that they were already close friends, but now, they were extremely close, their relationship at first was rocky, it began to get better and better as time goes on, Percy couldn't admit it, but he had a feeling that he had some warm emotions towards her, he didn't know why, or when, but all he knew is that he had it, and it was tearing him up, it comepletely made his demeanor change every time he was around him, Merlin had taken a notice too, but didn't say a word about it.
Percy sighed, shaking his head, he was daydreaming again, the kingdom was still in shambles, the death of Arthur still hasn't been accepted, many were still mourning, Percy was still mourning, he didn't even want to talk about it to anyone but Merlin and Guinevere. Percy shook his head, he just accomplished a few tasks from Merlin, nothing to special, a meeting was held again, though it isn't the same anymore, the happiness and joy was completely wiped out, it was tense, nothing but full on tension, apart from Galahad, Merlin, and Percival.
Percy sighed, walking around Camelot, he was patrolling the borders, he didn't need to do it, but he felt like he had to, it was Lancelot's job of guarding the borders, but Percy wanted to, maybe it was just an excuse vent out on some monsters, Percy didn't know. Percy walked along the walls, the stone as cold as ever, there were no signs of enemies or monsters, nothing but silence, the usual hum of Camelot had died down, though some people already accepted Arthur's death in a few months, some were still shocked, including Percy.
Slowly, Percy heard a few noises, laughter, Percy raised an eyebrow, clutching his sword. Percy shook his head, it was just laughter, Percy released his grip on his sword, it was night out, even though it was already night, monsters still weren't sighted, Percy shook his head, seeing a few monsters a few miles from Camelot, not that big of a deal. Percy's ears perked up again, laughter, and some whispers.
Percy decided to investigate, patrolling the walls, the chuckling slowly getting louder and louder, it was faint, but you could hear it. The chuckles were followed by voices, by the sounds of it, there were two people. Percy saw a weird section of the wall he hasn't seen before, it was shrouded with vines, covering the entrance, it was a cave of sorts. Percy took a small peak through the vines, peeking his head over.
Percy widened his eyes, his jaw dropping, it was Guinevere, and Lancelot. The two were grinning, laughing at each other, talking about random stuff, the two slowly leaned towards each other, their lips connecting, interlocking with each other in a passionate make out session. Percy couldn't believe it, tears started to form in his eyes, the two being highlighted by torch light, as if mocking Percy
He couldn't do anything, he had no voice, literally, and figuratively, he couldn't. He thought Guinevere would be the one, he thought she would be the one he could settle down with, yet, here she was, kissing Lancelot, his fellow knight. Percy couldn't take it, he opened his mouth up, trying to speak, nothing came out, nothing but silence. Percy reeled back, his back faced up against the wall, Percy sobbed, being as quite as to not let the couple hear. If this was what made her happy, Percy didn't have the right to take it away. It was never about him, the world never revolved around him, Guinevere was his world, and it didn't belong to him.
Percy made one last look at Guinevere, how her eyes showed passion, how her smile brightens everyone up, how she moves, how she gracefully does everything, how she was kind and compassionate, how she was so gentle and happy. Percy didn't want to take that away, he shook the tears away, prying his head away from her and staring at the monsters who were approaching.
Percy slowly walked towards them, tears flowing down his cheeks, landing on the green grass, the night giving a glow in the silent dark. The monsters slowly noticed Percy walking, Percy didn't care, he didn't care, he had nothing, he was nothing, he couldn't do anything to stop it. She loved Lancelot, not him, it was hopeless from the start, Percy was just having false hopes, it was his own fault for believing, for hoping, that he would somehow live a happy life, he didn't.
He didn't say a word, nothing passed his lips but sobs. If she loved Lancelot, then Percy wouldn't intrude. He wouldn't interrupt. She chose him, not Percy. He was going to let it play out like it should. It was times like these, that made Percy want to curl up in a corner.
The monsters slowly approached Percy, weapons on hands. He however didn't care. He stared at the ground blankly, hot tears dropping from his cheeks.
The monsters turned towards Percy, looking at him with a malicious grin. He didn't care, he was going to die by choice. He had nothing. It wasn't worth it. The monsters approached rather slowly for his liking. He wanted it to be over. The monster made a cautious slash at his cheek. Percy didn't flinch, he let the pain hit him, he deserved it. Percy kept chanting the phrase over and over in his head.
The monsters grabbed their sword and made a deep cut on his shoulder. He deserved it, Percy kept saying in his head.
Until finally, Percy dropped to the ground. His body limp. Blood stained the grass, a sword impaled straight through his chest. He laid on the ground, limp and pale, his body unmoving. Percy could feel the moment his soul leave his body as death beckoned him forward.
Percy slowly closed his eyes, a single lone tear sliding down his cheek onto the grass. A single sorrowful tear amidst the puddle of his blood.
It was at that moment that Percival the knight, the first Royal guard, the first person to ever be knighted, the best of all the Knights, had fallen.
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