Look What You Made Me Do (Lancelot)

[Guinevere]

Guinevere slowly sat up, this time feeling a little less dizzy, she tried putting her feet on the floor again and this time they felt a little more steady. Standing up, she slowly started to cross to a door that had appeared when Lance spoke…a door that definitely had not been there before. Direct access…handy. The images from the vision were slowly starting to fade but that feeling of dread clung to her for, a sense of foreboding…all centred around Tristian. Her hand shook a little as she reached for the door handle, but forced it to steady as she opened the door.

As she stepped through Lance was already drinking from another glass.

She leaned against the door, still a little weakened from the drink and muttered, “I hope that’s better tasting than mine.”

As she watched him she noticed that the liquid contained in the glass seemed to glow a little. “Um…Todd…what?” she said, still struggling to find the right words.

‘Oh it’s standard procedure your Majesty for any security personal…that and it really looked like he could do with a drink’ said Todd cheerily.

Gwen frowned at that but pressed on, “and what will it do?”

‘Heightened senses primarily, an instinctive connection to our portal room, and the ability to identify those that may be hostile to the interests of yourself and the company. There may be a few latent abilities that could be awakened but that depends on the person. For example, magical lineage can sometimes be developed as a side effect, but as I said, that really depends on the person.’

Gwen crossed over to lance and placing a hand on his shoulder said, “dumb question I know but are you ok?”

[Lancelot du Lac]

Great. Magic.

Lance could feel it hitting him, almost as if trying to outright Todd's explanation. His already great senses heightening slightly; a small spark within getting slightly inflamed. He knew he had magic in his bloodline: that had been part of what had drawn his family to the side of magic users to begin with. He stared down at his veins now, wondering if his eyes were going to start going gold at any moment.

Tension rippled through him at Gwen's touch, the instinctive reaction kicking in. Something followed close, a tingling in the back of his neck, almost instantly reassuring. He looked over at her. "Not really," he admitted. "Magic's done nothing but fucked with me," he set the goblet down. He swore he could almost hear every one of Gwen's breaths. "But I've known since I saw you back then where I'd go. He turned to meet her gaze. "And I'm certain this is the best course for the most people. We'll help them if it fucking kills us," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hopefully it doesn't quite come to that."

[Guinevere]

She nodded sympathetically, keeping her hand on his shoulder as she looked him over. Thankfully he wasn’t fainting and again she felt a little foolish for having done so herself, but she stayed close just in case.

“I know, I know,” she said quietly, “but…if there’s one thing that Merlin’s been able to get through to me it’s that magic can be put to good purposes, so…if…that’s what comes of this then…well…I don’t think it could have found a better person to wield it than you.”

And what about herself? There was no way that drink had given her magic, what was it Todd had said, it awakens magic. The old Queens were said to have magic, but as far as she knew her mother and her grandmother had never displayed any signs or capabilities, surely it had long ago been diminished if there had even been any to begin with. No, the drink had merely connected her to the building and the corporation…that was all…

So…why did she feel a tingling in her finger tips…

She smiled at him and said, “Come on…I think we may have work to do…if we’re going to rebuild this town…there’s got to be something in here that can help us.”

[Lancelot du Lac]

Lance looked to Gwen as she quietly spoke. He knew what she spoke of; he'd had similar conversations with Merlin before, about magic as a force, magic as something that they could use. He still wasn't quite sure about it, but he knew that now wasn't the time to bring up that old wound. Let Gwen think what she needed to for now. They could discuss the difficulties somewhere else. Somewhen else, perhaps when Lance wasn't feeling uneasy, tingly, ill at ease.

"Yes," he said, walking forward and looking around for a moment, "actually," he looked back, "I'm willing to bet there are a few somethings in here. Starting with him," He pointed toward where they'd last seen Todd. "If we can get Todd working, helping, that would be something, right? And I want to know what happened to the people here," he looked back toward a window, considering. "Because there were people, Gwen," he looked back to her, "besides us. Where did they go?"

Though part of Lance was tempted to say fuck them. They were safe, why were they doing this? Because they apparently couldn't stop? He looked back toward Todd, indecision pulling at his face, tightening his muscles. He just wanted to be done with all this, to just spend time with Gwen, and he wasn't even going to get that relief here...

[Guinevere]

Lancelot made a good point, there had been other people here, would they start arriving as well? Had this been there home rather than somewhere to escape too? What had happened to them? She turned back to him and asked, “Todd, what happened to the-”

‘Many of the people that lived in this place were like you, people from other worlds, other lands that came to Tintagel. Some made this place their home and others went back and forth. They were all transported back to their respective worlds when the portals were shut down…but for a few…some of the people here have only ever lived in Tintagel…they were…kept in ‘stasis’…they were perfectly safe. Now that the portals have reopened the people will begin to return…and Grayle Corp will be ready to assist them.’

“Yes…it will,” said Gwen quietly, mulling over what Todd had said.

She turned back to Lance and holding out her hand she smiled a little weakly and said, “come on…let’s see what goodies they have in here…”

[Lancelot du Lac]

That first part didn't surprise Lance: they dragged most of the students and faculty here, why not the students as well? It was a little unnerving to hear, but it wasn't a surprise. The next bit was even more surprising... but it also made Lance wonder something, in that mulled silence:

"So what about the other employees here?" he gestured around them. "And the old boss?"

Because if they kept those people locked up somewhere, why couldn't they just take over? Why were Lance and Gwen necessary? Though at this point, Lance didn't think they could go back: they'd gone too far. He looked to Gwen, taking her hand all the same. That, that felt right, her touch in his. He gave it a squeeze, and found himself admitting something;

"There is one thing that makes me happy about being here."

Just one last squeeze of the hand, and the boy was ready to follow the girl.