It's all a Blur Last Night (Morgana)

[Arthur]

Arthur decided it was probably best if he just left the sunglasses on. Yes he had found the darkest corner of the restaurant, yes he had make sure it was a cafe with smallest amount of people in it and yes he now had his lovely warm coffee that was going to make everything better. But it was probably best he left the sunglasses on, it was still quite bright and for...other reasons, it was just probably best. He reached forwards to lift up his coffee and found that every part of his body seemed to disagree with him. Struggling through the ache he lifted up the coffee and took a sip, quickly putting it down again before his wrists gave way and he dropped the scalding drink on his lap.

It had been a great night, really really good, he was sure it had been. Pretty sure. Almost 85% sure. What he could remember of it, it had been a pretty successful night. After about midnight the images got a little hazy and then slowly faded into nothingness. All he knew was that when he woke up that morning he was lying on park bench, with a camera in one hand, a bottle of mouthwash in the other and a traffic cone on his head. After dragging himself home for a wash and a change of clothes he had decided that he was way too hungover to make himself breakfast. On the way he had stopped off to have whatever pictures there were on the camera developed, which he had waited for, and which now sat in front of him, unopened.

Before he could reach for them however he saw a familiar person come in to the cafe and despite the splitting headache threatening to crush his brain and despite the ache in every part of his body, he stood up and shouted, “GANA!”

Smiling, and sort of regretting his outburst from a hungover point of view, he rushed towards her and threw his arms around her, “How are you?”

[Deleted]

Apparently coffee wasn't enough to survive on, even for a powerful sorceress such as herself. It was for this reason that Morgana found herself outside the Lady of the Lake restaurant this bright morning, in need of a good breakfast. She was loathed to lower herself to eating on one of these common eateries, but with the lack of servants she currently had, she was left no other option. She was beginning to wish she'd followed Arthur's example, and brought a servant with her. It had to be pretty useful.

Then again, she couldn't think of a single servant in Camelot she could trust. Perhaps there was somewhere here she could advertise for someone helpful, and completely trustworthy. Morgana pondered this as she made her way into the restaurant, lifting the skirt of her white dress slightly to avoid it dragging too much on the floor.

She had barely made it through the door before she was accosted by some madman. She had a spell readied in her mind, her hand reaching for the dagger she had started wearing at her hip, hidden under her cloak. Fortunately for her attacker, she realised who he was before she plunged her dagger into his chest. Forcing a smile onto her face, she put her arms around him and hugged him.

"Arthur! I didn't expect to see you here... I've been looking for you since I arrived!" She lied as she pulled away, smiling at him.

"You look... awful! What have you been doing?!"

[Arthur]

As he pulled away from here he realised that most of the café were now looking at them and those looks were most definitely not friendly. Most of them appeared to be much in the same condition as him, minus the sunglasses, and had most definitely not appreciated that rather large shout that he had emitted. He smiled at Morgana deciding it was probably best just to ignore them all he pushed up the sunglasses a little more. If she thought he looked awful now it was probably a very good idea he kept the damn things on for just now. Most likely she would just think he was attempting to look cool, which, was only a little bit of the reason. He hadn’t spent all that money on aviator sunglasses for nothing you know.

“I uh, had a bit of a wild night,” he said motioning towards the table he had just been sitting at, “I don’t really remember much of it.”

He pulled out the chair for her and motioned with his head towards the photographs on the table, “I’m hoping they might shed some light on it, but how are you Gana? I haven’t seen you in ages? Is everything ok? Are you ok? Do you want a coffee? Tea?”

[Deleted]

She raised an eyebrow at her brother as she took the seat he offered her. "A wild night?" She repeated incredulously. "What on earth have you been up to since you arrived here? And what would your father say?" She asked with a small smirk. "You know, he asked me to check on you, make sure you weren't getting yourself into any trouble, when I left. I think he wanted a full report." She teased him as she removed her cloak and let it fall over the back of her chair, careful to make sure her dagger was concealed.

"Coffee, coffee would be wonderful." she said, looking up at Arthur properly for the first time, and smiling the first real smile since she had arrived. Sure, she was trying to destroy the man in front of her, but despite that, she cared for him, and she couldn't suppress the indulgent smile.

"I'm fine, Arthur. I've been wrapped in cotton wool in Camelot since you left. And now I'm here, and I'm free!" She joked. "It's you I'm worried about. And what's in those... what are they called? Photographs? I don't even know what they are, but they worry me." She smirked. "Actually, I am starving... can we get food? Your treat, of course."

[Arthur]

Of course his father wanted her to check up on him, ever since his recent visit to Avalon he could hardly be surprised by that. His father’s reasoning must be that Tintagel would be no different with all the magic affecting Arthur’s way of thinking, it couldn’t be that he was just thinking for himself these days. He had made the decision to ignore his father’s protests and wouldn’t argue with him until the man was literally attempting to drag him from the place. There was too much he still wanted to learn and do here…certain things he knew he would never be able too if he went back home. It was good to know however that he had an ally in Morgana…surely she would stand up for him and give him a good report to his father.
 
“I haven’t been doping anything I wouldn’t be doing if I was at home,” he said grinning, “I mean let’s be honest here, all I did back in Camelot was drink, have argument and fight. Not much has changed.”
 
It was so good to see her smile and sitting down he motioned to the waitress to bring another coffee over to the table. So much had happened to Morgana and he was sure his father had given her a hard time when she was back, she must be so happy to be home. Wrapped in cotton wool sounds about right, although what she said after did not, and why hadn’t she mentioned Mordred yet? Most of the time you couldn’t get her to shut up about it, no that he minded he was quite fond of the little toddler.
 
“Yes…photographs, did you get a knock on the head when you were home or something? You’ve not been away that long, they’re pictures, you know, portraits…taken with a camera so its like someone drawing a really fast portrait really quickly,” he said watching her expression, this was weird, but he smiled anyway and standing up continued, “And fine, my treat, since I haven’t seen you in a bit. Have your eating habits returned to normal now or do I need to go and somehow find you salmon flavoured ice cream…again.”

[Deleted]

Morgana couldn't help but laugh at Arthur's claims he wasn't doing anything worse here than he would in Camelot. "Yes, alright, I'll let you have that. You were a drunken imbecile at home, I imagine there's nothing different about you here." She smirked, teasing him as the waitress brought over her strong, black coffee. She sipped it carefully, inhaling the rich smell of the brown liquid. She couldn't work out how she'd ever lived without this stuff in Camelot. It was truly amazing.

She put the cup down as Arthur explained the concept of photographs. She didn't understand a word he was saying. And then something about salmon ice cream... what on earth was ice cream? She stared at Arthur, completely confused. He was talking to her like she knew all about the new, futuristic technology of Camelot, like she'd been here before, and the speed he was telling her things was making her head spin. She raised a hand to her temple, worried his rambling was going to give her a headache.

"Arthur... slow down... Please bear in mind I have only been here a few days, and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." She frowned reproachfully at him, taking another sip of her coffee. "And I clearly haven't had enough coffee to take in everything you're telling me. Start again, slowly, from the beginning." She took a deep breath, looking at him. "Photographs. Cameras. Explain those to me first." She offered him a small smile. "I do want to know all about these things, but just take it slowly!"

[Arthur]

Arthur would probably taken offence to being called a drunken imbecile if wasn’t completely true. Thinking of himself back home and the way he was now…he liked to think he had grown up a bit more and wasn’t as bad as he was…even before he left for Avalon he had been taking on a lot more responsibility. He seemed to spent more nights looking over his books and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer than actually going out and getting drunk. The fact his friends appeared to have gone missing, Robin had got married and Dimitri appeared to be currently MIA might have had something to do with it as well. However when he was drunk, he was very drunk. The alcohol here was so different, there were so many different ones and it took less to get one completely wasted compared to a few tankards of mead.
 
Then, without the aid of alcohol, she was able to completely derail him. Yes she had only been here a few days and yet…she hadn’t been away that long. Why was she acting like all of this was new to her? Like she had never heard of what he was talking about? And the salmon ice cream, she had to remember the salmon ice cream, he had told her he would never, ever let her forget it…and yet…Maybe she was having a laugh but there was something about her expression that looked far too serious.
 
Frowning he said, “Gana…I know you’ve been away for a bit and…this place is a little different from Avalon but…come on, you couldn’t have forgotten all this…”
 
Something else struck him and it sent a cold chill right through him as he looked at her, as the fear began to slip into his expression. He sat back in his seat and stared at her for a very long time before saying in a low quiet voice, “Morgana…where is Mordred?”

[Deleted]

This whole situation was ludicrous. She knew he had been drunk the previous night, but he couldn't still be drunk now, could he? That was the only explanation for the rambling that was coming from his mouth at the moment. Avalon... what on earth was Avalon? And she'd only been away a few months? This was ridiculous. She had never been here before... she'd only been away from home for a couple of days...

Then she suddenly realised. Arthur was trying to freak her out, trying to confuse her. Of course he was, this was one of his stupid tricks. She pursed her lips, placing her coffee carefully on the table, folding her arms and scowling at the Prince. "If you're trying to wind me up, it's not funny." She said coldly. "Just stop it, grow up, Arthur."

She turned away from him and picked up her coffee cup. Before spinning around and staring at Arthur again. What was wrong with him?! "Who?" She asked, thoroughly bewildered. "Mordred? I don't know even know who that is... wait... you mean the Druid boy that we freed from Camelot? Why on earth do you care about him?" Morgana was getting more confused and annoyed with every word that left Arthur's mouth. Putting her cup down, she stood up. "I don't know where he is, Arthur. What is wrong with you? If you're not going to stop this stupid game you're playing, I'm just going to go."

[Arthur]

There was a horrible tightening in his chest and it felt that his entire stomach had dropped. Where was Mordred? The look on her face, the way she looked at him with a mixture of anger and confusion, as if this was all some sort of horrible trick that was being played on her. If this was some trick being played on her part then she was crueller than he thought. She knew how much he doted on that little boy, how much he cared for him and here she was thinking that he was talking about some druid boy they had met once.
 
However there was something more to this, something in the way she was looking at him that was completely honest. She honestly didn’t know who he was talking about. Was it another memory thing? Another spell that had confused her? “No, not him, your Mordred, your boy,” he said seriously, desperately trying to get her to understand.
 
An idea springing to mind he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, fumbling with the wallet almost dropping it, he opened it and held up a bit for her to see. Inside the clear plastic window was a picture. It was of him and her. She was lying in a hospital bed, after they had managed to get her out of the shop where she had given birth, and he was sitting on it beside her, one arm around her shoulders the other looking at what was cradled in her arms. A baby.
 
“Mordred,” he said softly, “…where is he Gana? Where’s my nephew?”

[Deleted]

Between Arthur and Kay, Morgana was getting seriously close to losing her temper in a way she had never done before. She narrowed her eyes at Arthur, her gaze icy cold and hostile. "So you and Kay are in on this 'joke' together?" She said coldly. "This is sick, Arthur. I thought better of you." She stood up, placing her coffee cup calmly on the table and picking up her cloak from the back of the chair where she had placed it. "You know full well you do not have a nephew, Arthur. Unless, Gods forbid, Kay has gone and gotten some wench with child. But we should all pray that never happens."

She turned and walked away from the table, her hands shaking with a mixture of silent anger and slight fear. If both Arthur and Kay were saying the same thing, and both seemed so serious about it... perhaps it wasn't a joke? But this was ridiculous; Morgana shook the thought from her head. She would know if she had given birth to a child. Wouldn't she?

As she reached the door, Morgana turned back to glare at Arthur. "I think you and Kay should keep away from me for a while, Arthur. This prank is just... it's sick Arthur. I didn't think you would lower yourself to Kay's standard of humour, but clearly I was wrong."

[Arthur]

She thought it was a joke?! She was losing her temper and at this precise moment she wasn’t the only one but something was holding him back. He wanted to stand up and shout at her, he had a few sarcastic remarks that would cut her straight to the bone already lined up and whizzing around his head, but something held him back. It was the fact she looked genuinely confused, annoyed, whatever she wanted to call it. This was real, she really didn’t know who Mordred was, didn’t know she had a child, and now he was nowhere to be found.

Arthur watched her as she stood up and grabbed her cloak, still holding the photo in his hands and an utterly devastated look on his face. However, in what he hoped was an almost reasonable voice he said, “You’re right, it’s a sick joke, but Gana I only wish that‘s what it was. This isn’t a joke. Why would I have this if it wasn’t true?”

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair, “I’m going to prove to you that it’s not. If you wont look for him, I will.”

[Deleted]

"Then look for him." She replied, her voice like ice. "Look for this child you seem to think I have borne without even knowing it. Look for the son have no recollection of giving birth to." She moved towards him, taking the photo he held in his hands from him, and looking at it, her face expressionless and her eyes cold. "This child has never existed, Arthur." She said coldly, ripping the photo into four pieces, and handing them back to her brother.

"I don't know why you are so certain I have had a child, Arthur. Is this really what you think of me? That I would risk my future, and Uther's wrath by having a child out of wedlock?" She glared at him. "I would suggest, Arthur, that someone is trying to fool you. Perhaps they are using sorcery to addle your brains."

[Arthur]

Her coldness sent a chill down his own spine, the way she looked at the picture, the way she spoke, it just wasn’t her, it wasn’t her at all. As cold as she was beginning he could feel his own temper begin to flare up in him. Something was wrong, something had happened to her and Mordred and he should stay calm, he should try to be logical about this but it was provoking him. When she ripped up the photograph he stood up to snatch it out of her hands but it was too late and she was handing it back, he clutched the pieces in his hand and looked down at them, not daring to look at her.
 
Waiting until she had finished he desperately tried to regain his composure but the more she said, the colder she was the more he couldn’t contain it any more and still looking at the pieces of photograph he said in a dangerously low tone, “No Morgana, I think it is you that has been fooled. You are the one under a spell because I have held this child in my arms and loved him as if he were my own!”
 
The customers were now all looking round at them as his voice had raised at the end. He finally looked up at her and said, “You didn’t care about my father, what he said, what he thought. Not that you couldn’t have got him wrapped around your little finger in minutes like you always do. You loved Mordred’s father, Cazaril, and he was going to marry you. He asked my permission, he gave you the damn ring!”
 
He walked around the table so that he was close to her now, not caring that half the café was now watching them with avid interest, “Cant you remember any of that?! Cant you remember taking Mordred to the tournament, coming to my house to tell me about you and Cazaril, shouting at me when you found out I already knew, talking till mid night because you knew something was wrong with me but I was too damn stubborn to tell you….. you…you really don’t remember?”

[Deleted]

Morgana was getting so frustrated and angry - not just with Arthur, but with the whole situation. Arthur was the second person to tell her all this, yet she refused to believe it - she couldn't believe it - how could she be a mother!? How could she have been in love, been pregnant, given birth, and held a child in her arms, loved him, raised him - and remember nothing?! It was ludicrous.

Yet... at the back of her mind, flashes crossed her mind. A child... a man... love... love like she had never known in her life... and a need to love, to protect, to care for something so small and vulnerable. Morgana shook her head. This was ridiculous. These were not real memories, they were images being planted in her mind by the incessant stupidity of her two brothers. Morgana shook her head at Arthur, refusing to believe what he said, not allowing his words to penetrate her mind.

But then... "Wait, what? Cazaril?" Morgana looked at Arthur in confusion and disbelief. "The old tutor, Cazaril?" She laughed slightly in disbelief. "So now you're trying to tell me that my lover, the father of my child, was the old tutor Cazaril? The man who taught us as children?" She laughed. "Oh, Arthur, you almost had me!"

[Arthur]

He was an idiot for mentioning Cazaril, he shouldn’t have said anything, she didn’t remember Modred, why would she remember the love of her life. Or so he thought. Cazaril had become such a part of their lives here that it was strange to think there was ever a time when he wasn’t more than their old tutor. He was Morgana’s fiance, Mordred’s father, he was so much more than just an old tutor, and she didn’t remember.

Arthur took a step back shaking his head and said, “sit down Morgana.”

He walked back to his seat and slumped down in to it, motioning to the other one for her, “Tell me about everything I’ve missed back home. Tell me about Camelot.”