Morgana rose an eyebrow at the woman in front of her, her black hair neatly tied up, brown eyes puffy from crying and her hands closely knit together after she stood straight. She had already bowed as curtesy dictated but now she was standing as a child wanting to ask permission from her parents.

"I don't understand why you came to me" Morgana said after a few seconds of silence. She wasn't close in any way to Pelles and his interactions with him had hardly gone beyond the pleasantries required from members of different highborn families. She couldn't recall having any meaningful conversation with his daughter Elaine "I don't know what gave you the idea that I had the power to help you, your father as far as I know is quite powerful and has gathered his very own set of powerful allies, everyone in that council is ready to help each other, what help can I give you that none of them can?" Morgana tilted her head, a line forming in between her eyebrows.

Morgana saw Elaine's hands shake. The girl trying to focus anywhere else, from the banner hanging behind Morgana's back to the windows from which the sun got in, before a sob escaped her lips.

"Please, have mercy with me... I... I didn't know where else to go... my family they... they just can't know" She cried. Morgana stood up from her throne and rushed to her, putting a hand in her shoulder, trying to be as empathetic as she could with what little she knew.

"What can't they know?" Morgana questioned, taking her hand away. Elaine's cheeks got red, and her hands travelled to her stomach, diverting her eyes away from Morgana's. Her blue eyes grew wide open, and her heart sunk a little in her chest.

"What happened?" Morgana tried, giving a signal to the servants in the room to leave them alone. Elaine tried to clean the tears off her eyes.

"I thought he loved me" Elaine mumbled, her eyebrows knit together, the sadness in her eyes as clear as it could be "He... he swore he did, he said such pretty things about me being the most beautiful maiden in the entire tournament, and we laughed and he swore he had always admired me from afar and... he's so handsome, and he is a knight" A soft smile escaped Elaine's lips and Morgana thought she looked much younger than what she really was.

That brief sensation of happiness was apparently gone from her face, because the initial sadness returned just as quickly as it had left "...but by the morning he was gone and I felt oh, so stupid" Elaine broke down, Morgana's heart sinking a little bit further "Of course he couldn't have meant those things, yet they were everything I ever wanted to hear, because I've always admired him, me and all of my friends did, how could we not? It was Lancelot, the greatest knight of Arthur's court" Elaine laughed bitterly, looking up. Morgana felt her blood boil, her fists tightly pressed "and then the nausea began, I thought it was bad food at first, a little too much wine. It never went away Mor... your majesty, I didn't tell anyone, we both know how fast rumors spread. I spent nights were I couldn't sleep at all, trying to think what I was going to do, I couldn't just have a son out of marriage, with no potential husband, my family will be so disappointed, they could shun me out, and where would I go? And then I heard people talking about how Urien had gotten married and his wife was Morgana, Arthur's sister, a sorceress. I didn't know who else to go to, I could use a little magic to help me solve this problem"

Morgana nodded silent. She was aware that the people weren't always kind when talking about people like her. Many times she had heard people talk poorly of Arthur due to the fact that he kept her and Emrys near his court. King Pelles' son in particular didn't seem to even try to pretend friendliness towards her and Emrys during the tournament, staying as far as possible from where they were. She and Emrys would usually laugh at things like that, but now it felt more like a distant memory that pressed a hole in her heart.

She knew there were many things ladies did when they found themselves in the same circumstances that Elaine did. Unfortunately, it more often than not, it ended in tragedy for the potential mother.

"Do you want to... not have go through this?" Morgana's voice came as soft as she could, tilting her head, her eyes barely glancing downwards trying to as tactful as possible. Giving Elaine the opportunity to make a choice. She could be by her side, stand by her and make sure she lived through it.

Elaine's eyes opened wide when she realized what Morgana meant.

"No! no" She quickly shook her head, silence befalling her as she got lost in thought "... maybe? No, but I don't want my family to live in shame, I don't want to be under everyone's eyes and have everyone talk about it"

Morgana nodded. She looked at her again, and at first, she thought she saw desperate blue eyes cleaning off their tears and promising her everything would be fine after throwing up early in the morning.

But Elaine's eyes were brown, not blue.

Her hair was black, not blonde.

For a second, she could see a small girl bowing by Elaine's side, her head down trying to greet a man she had only seen once before and whose name had only heard in passing words, not all of them favorable.

Morgana put an encouraging smile, taking Elaine's hands between hers. The young woman tensed at the contact.

"I'm going to tell the maids to get a room and a fresh bath ready for you" she said softly, passing a hand over Elain's hair and pressing it backwards "That journey couldn't have been good, less of all with all that stress"

"Will you help me?" she asked with hesitance, and Morgana knew a part of Elaine, no matter how desperate expected Morgana to kick her out of her castle.

"I promise" Morgana assured. She would worry about explaining things to Urien later, he probably wouldn't mind. A hopeful smile rose in Elaine's face.

"I can't thank you enough" she said with new tears brimming at the edge of her eyes.

"We can talk about that in the morning. Now, all you have to do is rest, if you get hungry you can call one of the maids and they'll help you, and you can call me anytime, you're officially my guest" Morgana squeezed Elaine's arms, with softness.

-.-.-.-.-

Valerie walked down the stairs almost jumping in each step. Her fencing bag crossed her chest resting on her right side. She had to adjust the strap to make sure it wouldn't fall off her shoulder.

She was surprised by the sound of the television in the living room that could be heard to the end of the staircase. Valerie stepped towards it as silently as she could leaning against the door frame. Her aunt laughed out loud. Valerie could see the back of Morgana's and Merlin's head from above the couch.

"Ana, I just can't believe it how is it even possible, they got everything wrong," Merlin's voice resonated, Valerie saw him point furiously at the screen.

"You can't nitpick all of them, Emrys," Morgana laughed again. Valerie leaned forward, watching credits roll in the screen.

"You can't stop me," Merlin fumed "just look at her, fine, maybe you did like Lancelot"

"Ugh, don't remind me" Morgana said with disgust.

"But that woman doesn't even look like you"

"You're right, they should have done a better job finding an actress who has my nose" Valerie could hear the smile in her aunt's voice "Now, don't give that face"

Merlin looked at her, eyebrows furrowed "What..."

"I'm going to practice!" Valerie said as loud as she could, turning her eyes away from the two adults that were getting closer to each other.

"Send me a message when you get there," Morgana's voice resonated. Valerie closed the house's door behind herself shutting her eyes tight, thankful she hadn't stayed long enough to see what would happen after. Standing straight, she shook her head and began walking towards the bus stop.

-.-.-

Valerie slashed her sabre across Adam's chest. The boy took a step back and lowering his saber, removed his helmet immediately after.

"Wanna go again?" Valerie questioned, taking her own helmet off, a hopeful smile in her face. Adam gave her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry Pendleton, I have a big project and I have to go home to finish it." He turned his back on her. Making his way to where everyone's bags were put Adam picked his bag from the floor, taking his gloves off, letting them rest on top of his bag.

"Why did you come, then?" Valerie mumbled, tilting her head, her mouth turning into a line.

"I don't know" Adam shrugged. Valerie let out a sigh.

"Good luck with your project," she said, turning her back on him walking to her own bag, removing her gloves to take a bottle of water.

"And just like that, you're alone, it doesn't surprise me, of course," Michael's voice resonated, Valerie glanced at her side noticing the red hair laying on a bench, she rolled her eyes, twisting her mouth.

"For fuck's sake, you're still here. I thought you had left already, I guess I can't be that lucky" Valerie spat, playing with the bottle in her hands, tempted to just throw it at his head. She sat in the bench making sure her bag was in between her and Michael who was sitting up.

While everyone else had someone to fence with in the time being, Valerie didn't. With Adam gone, the only other option was Michael, and if there ever was a day when didn't want to deal with the redhead, it was that one. The coach was trying to train a twelve-year old girl who had just signed up a couple of days ago, a good addition to the grand total of four girls in the center, five on the days Mary decided to visit them.

On one hand, Valerie cursed her luck of being left with Bailey as her only option. On the other, she also understood them. She would also do anything to get rid of Michael if possible.

"You'd be lucky to go against me Pendleton, you'd learn a thing or two," Michael smiled with newfound pride. Valerie rolled her eyes, the temptation of throwing her water bottle at him grew stronger.

"Like how to lose?"

Michael shrugged. "I'd figure you'd know all about that, don't you?"

"Fuck off Bailey," Valerie spat.

"Wanna go, Pendleton?" He rose an eyebrow, his eyes travelled to the sabre Valerie left over her bag. Her mouth twisted.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you, your face is particularly irritable this time, it's giving me a stomachache instead of the regular nausea." Valerie wrinkled her nose, looking at him down-up, before turning her eyes to two boys going against each other.

"Why so sore, Pendleton? Did your boyfriend dump you?" Valerie's eyes opened wide. She could see the proud smile in his face out of the corner of her eye.

"Maybe" Valerie shrugged, trying her best not to give any importance to his words. "At least that means I had a boyfriend that wanted to be with me in the first place, the only way you can aspire to be with another person is with fencing and that person and you are both covered from head to toe and they have to touch you with a stick, I'm sure they disinfect it later, I know I do"

"So the boy who comes to each of your competitions broke up with you? It was only a matter of time, really" Michael continued, raising his eyebrows.

Valerie tilted her head, slightly confused, a smile almost making way to her lips, almost. "Excuse me? You think that..." her voice rang with amusement. Michael didn't seem to have picked up on it.

"I mean, having a girlfriend who does nothing but lose must be pretty pathetic," he shrugged, sighing.

"Right" Valerie gave him a brief nod, standing up. He repeated her gesture standing in front of her, stopping her in her path. She didn't have anywhere to go and he seemed to have realized this.

"He must have gotten tired of wasting his time." There was a singing tune of pity in his voice, that made Valerie want to smack the lights out of him.

"Better than the waste of money your parents are making by bringing you here and raising you." She gave him the best attempt she had of a fake empathetic smile turning her back on him.

"Or maybe he realized you were just not worthy" Valerie froze, slowly turning to him. Watching him smile.

"I beg your pardon?" She tilted her head. Her mouth turning into a tense line as she closed her fists tightly at each of her sides.

"Hey, Michael, I think you're overstepping a bit there" One of the fencers that stood close enough to them to overhear the conversation tried. Michael lift a finger; Valerie felt her blood boil.

"Oh, I'm right then," his voice sounded as if he had discovered the most important secret of the universe "That guy finally realized what a waste of time you were, he went to try and find something better, of course, everything after you must be an improvement"

"Shut up Bailey" Valerie managed to say in between her teeth, her eyebrows knitting closely together. She felt her heartbeat raise and a lump form in her throat

"He dumped you for someone else, didn't he? He did! I bet she's prettier than you, then again? Why would anyone date you?"

Poor Michael, really, most days Valerie pitied him. And his parents for carrying the burden of having brought a son like that to the world.

That was not one of those days. For an instant, Valerie's heartbeat rose and her vision got clouded by a bright red before her fist collided with Michael's face. He stumbled backwards, his eyes shooting wide open. A silence reigned over the class, their eyes focused on them. Valerie tried to even her breath as she slowly lowered her fist. The teacher was nowhere in sight.

As soon as Michael regained his balance, he pushed Valerie, the girl barely took a step backwards, but remained standing "What the fuck was that for Pendleton?" he spat. A few students approached them, seemingly unsure of who they were supposed to stop from hitting the other.

"Fuck you Bailey!" Venomous rage came out of Valerie's voice. She glared at him, breathing as deep as she could "What the fuck can you know? Shove your comments right up your ass, maybe that's the way that you end up spitting such bullshit"

"What's wrong with you? You can't take it?" he took a step closer to her, Valerie repeated the action.

"Fight me and you'll see how much I can take" she said, pushing him.

"Bailey! Pendleton! End this right now!" Their coach's voice boomed, and the small crowd of curious students returned to their positions. The coach stood in between both teenagers.

"All this because of a stupid fight, because I told you the truth, that you're..."

"Don't you dare," Valerie spat, her eyes brimming with tears she refused to let fall "I'm not unlovable, fuck you Bailey, I'm going home" she packed her bag as quick as she could and threw it over her shoulder.

"Pendleton!" the coach said, Valerie hesitated in the entrance before continuing her step as if nothing had happened.

-.-.-.-.-.-

She cursed her luck when it started drizzling when she left her fencing school. She usually took an umbrella. This time, however, she had left it at home. It was fortunate enough that the heaviest part of the rain had happened while she was on the bus. Now she was using her bag to cover herself of the last bits of rain. That didn't stop her from getting the bottom of her white uniform wet.

The closer she was to her house, it became easier to see a figure standing in front of it, holding an umbrella over their head. Valerie furrowed her eyes, until she recognized Gabriel's features. Her heart skipped a beat, but instead of the usual warmth it caused when she saw him, she felt it was as if it refused to keep beating. She hesitated, wondering if it was better to cross the street and go to Jonathan's house and hide in there until Gabriel was gone.

Before she could cross the street, Gabriel's eyes turned to her. She muttered a series of insults that would have Merlin trying to give her a lesson in what is proper language. Realizing her plan to outright avoid him had failed, Valerie stood as straight as she could, keeping her head up as if she had barely spared him a glance.

"Hey" Gabriel spoke when she walked past him on her way to her door, lowering the bag that covered her head to begin looking for her keys.

When she didn't feel the rain over her anymore, she looked at her side, realizing Gabriel had put the umbrella above her so neither of them got wet.

"What are you doing here?" She muttered, furrowing her eyebrows when she couldn't feel her keys in the part of her bag where she usually put them.

"I was waiting for you," he mumbled, a shy smile making way to his face, Valerie's heart squeezed, her mouth turning into a line "We need to talk"

"We're talking, we've already talked, you can leave now," she spat, avoiding his eyes.

"I'm going on a camping trip with my dad this weekend..."

She already knew that; he had talked about it a few times already. It was something him and his dad did every year before his parent's divorce and after that kept going after it happened. He had mentioned it being one of his favorite memories.

"I don't care," she shrugged

"I couldn't leave knowing I had hurt a friend," Gabriel tilted his head and tried to take a step closer to her. Valerie took a step away from him. Upon his words she froze, unable to find her key in her purse.

"They say there's a first time for everything, don't they?" She spat.

His eyebrows furrowed, his face dropping "Valerie, if you could let me explain myself..."

"And what then, you, Audrey, Jonathan and I can be friends and skip happily on a fucking field of dandelions?" Valerie lifted an eyebrow, a mocking smile in her face. She took the set of keys out of her bag, going through them until she found the one that belonged to her house.

"That's not..." Gabriel hesitated.

"Why the fuck is this key not working?" Valerie interrupted, taking the key out and trying to get it inside again.

"Valerie..."

"Gabriel, I really don't want to listen to you, or your explanations"

"Just hear me out..." he tried, Valerie sighed.

"No, you and Audrey made me look like a fucking idiot while you two were dating behind my back. I thought you asked me for my help in Spanish because you appreciated me and you thought I was smart..." Valerie began, turning to him, her eyes in equal eyes burning with hurt and fury, tears accumulating in them.

His eyes opened wide, and when they returned to normal, they looked at her with empathy and guilt. "I do appreciate you; I know you're smart." A ghost of a smile attempted to make way in his lips. Any other day, that smile, or even the faint resemblance of it would have made it seem like if the clouds had suddenly vanished. Instead, the clouds felt thicker and darker and the rain fell a little harder, but Valerie knew that was in her mind.

"And yet, you still hid something like that from me, did you know I liked you?" Valerie questioned, her eyes now avoiding his.

"I... I did." He hesitated, clearing his throat. This time, it was him who avoided her eyes, his shoulders dropping, his mouth turning into a line.

"Then why didn't you say anything? Why couldn't you at least have told me you had a girlfriend?" her voice breaking slightly. He stared at her; eyes full of guilty curiosity. When the door finally opened, Valerie let out a sigh of relief.

"Goodbye" Valerie said, lookingat Gabriel one last time, the guilt clear in his eyes, he seemed as if therewas something left to say stuck in his throat, his eyebrows were closely knittogether and he kept looking back and fort from Valerie to his shoes. Valerieclosed the door behind her. Without letting waiting to let her aunt know shewas home already she ran to her bedroom dropping her bag on the floor at thefirst opportunity and throwing herself to her bed, her eyes filled with tearsthat she finally allowed to let fall.

A.N.

I'm really really sorry for how long this chapter took. I really hope you like it and if you did, please don't hesitate to leave a small comment or a vote. Have a lovely day!