The Will of a Pendragon

Premonitions

    Rose asked Leon to let me stay with her tonight. I made her take a bath and brush her teeth before I tucked her into bed. Meerlyn assured us that Rose was finally able to tap into the Grail's circuits. It's only a matter of time until she's able to see where it is. 

    My biggest concern is what it's going to show her. Power boosts from something like that can be dangerous for someone as young as she is. I can't help but think about the other realities I had been shown when my powers finally set in when we were back on Primal. The Rose from that reality had become everything everyone expected me to be. Did she have visions the way my Rose does? 

    It was a little past four in the morning when my sight flared. Rose's mana is pulsing brightly. I've never seen anything so bright before. Her mana is gold and it's centered in her head. She's dreaming. Her pulse is steady, that's enough to let me know what she's seeing doesn't scare her. I moved out of her way when her body slowly lifted off the bed. I can see them. Images in her head. They're chaotic, she doesn't understand what she's seeing which is why she isn't afraid. 

    I had already tried to see into someone's mind before this and failed. But it makes sense that I would be able to see Rose's visions. They're part of her mana. It's the way the mana manifests in her. The same way it does in the rest of us and our familiars. Should her mana every leave her, she'd be normal. Released from the burdens of her visions.  

    Leon rushed into the room to see Rose levitating in the center of the room. Her body slightly turned towards the door. The two of us let her hover out of the room and followed her outside. I prepared to go after her no matter where she goes. Rose stopped in the center of the main deck. Her body straightened up to where her feet were slightly off the floor. She opened her eyes and pointed Southeast.

    "Redirect the boat," I whispered to him. He rushed over to Talia who prefers to navigate at night.

    The others joined us, I put my index finger to my lips to keep them all quiet. I can see something pulse in the distance. It's bright. Brighter than Rose. Almost like a sunrise. Hundreds of magical circuits are feeding it. Including the knights. Rose, Young, and I are the only ones who aren't attached to it. What does that mean? 

    "What do you see?" my dad asked me. I looked down at his steady flow of magic moving towards what Rose is pointing at. 

    "I think I can see it," I answered unsurely. 

    The light is pulsing as if it has a beating heart. A-part of me wants to point out how unnatural this is. How something like this shouldn't exist. But the bigger part, the one that has come to accept all of this knows that there had to be something that made all of this what it is. There is no way that it naturally came this way. Something made this planet become what it is and I think that's the source of it. 

    -It's in your grasp- I jumped at the sound of his voice. Durendal isn't one to approach me like this. Excalibur is usually the talkative one. 

    "What am I supposed to do with it?" I whispered. 

    -Make sure no one ever gets their hands on it. The grail isn't something that is earned. It's something that is taken. No one is worthy and everyone is worthy. All you have to do is take what you believe is yours and it will be yours. You have no real wish. You have more than you can ever want. Taking it means that no one else can ever touch it so as long as you have it-

    His form disappeared and the light buzz he always leaves behind sent chills over my body. Excalibur has tried to steer me away from dangerous things since I pulled it out of that stone. He's preached of Durendal's evil but none of his actions have ever proven to have any sense of malice in it. Durendal has saved my life countless times. He's enhanced my darker abilities to ensure that I choose what's right for me and I've often neglected to acknowledge his thoughts. They're so similar to mine. He stood in front of me. Something he's never done before.

    "Li?" Young's voice snapped me out of it. 

    "Have Leon take Rose away from here. Dad, you and Lance go with them," I ordered. 

    "Do you know what you're doing?" my dad asked. 

    "She's a kid, Arthur. She shouldn't be the one to take it," Lance shook his head. 

    "You can both try and stop me. It won't make a difference. Take my sister and get her the hell away from here because if anything happens to her, I will make sure my mother knows who's responsible," 

    "Let's go," my dad didn't argue. I doubt it was because of my threat. 

    "Sir," Lance tried to reason with him. 

    "This is no longer our time, Lance. Our priorities have changed," 

    "Your priorities have changed. The rest of us follow," Lance's glare remains on me. I don't have to see to feel how angry he is. "She's going to reach it and no one is ever going to see it again," 

    "What would you do if you could get your hands on the grail?" my dad turned to him. "Force Guen to come back? Change the path we walk on? What would that accomplish?" 

    "Nothing," Sir Lancelot sighed. "We accomplish nothing," 

    "My King. We're ready," Leon interrupted their argument. I turned away. My eyes landed on the glow of the grail. My powers, even as strong as they are now, can't scan that thing. The same way I can't scan my weapons if I'm not holding them. 

    "Keep her on the move. Don't stay in place too long," I ordered. 

    "My lady," he agreed. "Come with me," he motioned my dad to follow. "I have our first location," 

    "Do you agree with your father?" Lucy asked. "Do you think it wouldn't change a thing?" 

    "Luc, I don't know. What I do know is that we're changing things ourselves. Wishing to change something that happened already is pointless. You taught me that or is it do as I say not as I do?" 

    "This is different. This thing can grant any wish," 

    "Sitting here talking about it isn't going to get us anywhere. We have to get to the grail before it moves again. Take your positions," Young stopped her from saying anything else. 

    I can feel him staring at the back of my head. He's not going to go anywhere until I tell him what our next move is and for that, I need everyone to be distracted. I can't believe this is where Will is taking us. After a while, he finally approached me the way he always does. 

    "What?" I asked. 

    "You shouldn't have told them. One of the reasons why I agreed not to tell them is because I knew the way they would react. I didn't stay on primal just because of what I did to my mother. I stayed because I was excluded from everything. What I am. Mortals want this. They don't think like us and they don't die like us. Jealousy- it's something they can't help," he's upset.

    "Rose showed me something. She wanted me to stay with her tonight for a reason. There are two choices. Two outcomes. In one, Will gets his hands on the grail before I do. He reverses the timeline. Pendragons are crucified and Mordreds are the saviors. On the other, I take the grail and a lot of people die coming after it. Your parents, mine, the knights, the neos all die. Rose rises to my failure and banishes us from this realm," 

    "Li," he whispered worriedly. His hands gripped my shoulders.

    "We're going to take the long way around so they can pin point the location,"

    "Baby, I get what you're saying. We can't let Will win just because you're afraid-" 

    "I'm not," I cut him off. I turned to face him, reaching up to feel his face. "I'm not afraid of being the bad guy. Are you? If it means, keeping the people safe, would you become everything you swore to destroy for them? I don't want to lose everyone. I just got them. I want more time. All of the time I can get. Even if they are mad at me,"

    "Don't cry," he put his forehead against mine. "I will be anything you need to be," 

    "I know," I nodded. "Can you get Meer and Lucille?" 

    "Yeah, don't move," he tightened his hold on me before he stepped away. 

    "My dad was really upset," is the first thing that came out of Lucille's mouth. 

    "And?" I asked her. The darkness is back. Now that I'm calm and made a decision, my mana has settled. "Whatever Lance's problems are. They have nothing to do with me. Like you said. My father failed him. Not me. So if he left with his f*****g feelings in a knot. I don't care," 

    "What is your problem?" she shot back. 

    "Right now or in general? I don't know if you f*****g know this Lucille, but the world doesn't revolve around your father. We've done everything that we can to help him. You're letting your emotions guide you and if you keep going, you're going to end up in the place your mother," 

    "f**k you," she shouted. 

    "Enough," Meer and Young shouted at her as they struggled to keep her back. 

    "Let her go," I ordered them. "You want to hit me?" 

    "I do," she cried out angrily. 

    "Hit me," I extended my arms out when they let her go. 

    Everything lit up again as she came at me. Her mana flared a brilliant and mesmerizing silver as she prepared to hit me with all of the strength she can muster. It's a little of an out of body experience or maybe, time slows. But as she pushed three strides towards me, I stepped away, using my right arm to take her left wrist, I twisted her arm back and kicked her feet out from under her. Her face smacked against the hardwood with the impact of her mana and cracked the floorboards. Young and Meer stumbled back almost falling over from the push back of her failed attack. 

    "How did you do that?" she panted under me. I'm surprised she didn't knock herself out.

    "I'm only going to tell you this one time. I'm not my father. I love and respect you but it does not cloud my judgment to how I treat you when we are on a mission. You're my best friend and I love you, Luc. But you don't get special treatment when you stand with the others. If you do this again in front of anyone. No matter who it is, I will embarrass you just like this if not worse. Do you understand?" 

    "I understand," she nodded. I let her go and stood up. It took her a few seconds to get roll over on her back and finally sit up. "You've been training with my father,"

    "Yeah, he likes to be around my dad and they both taught me a few things," I confirmed. "His anger comes from our acomplishments. They failed where we haven't yet. Remember that," 

    "What's going on? Change of plan?" Meer asked. Young went over to Lucille to help her up. 

    "I need the three of you to stay with me. This entire trip. If you stray, I won't be able to keep your memories the way they are. There has been a change of plans. It's going to take a little longer than we expected to get things back to normal. I won't have enough mana to keep everyone with me," 

    "f**k," Young complained "Us four? Against what? Everyone? The red and the blues?" 

    "Reds and the blues? I thought we were the blues?" Lucille asked. 

    "Will is going to make it to the grail before we do," I started. "He's going to reverse the timeline. The reds take lead. We have to make sure that he succeeds," 

    "No," Meer let out. "There has to be another way. Do you know what that will do to all of us?" 

    "If his wish works the way it should, my mother and I will be on the red's side. It'll be all Mordreds against my father. Against the knights and the Mordres are all alive. It can change everything but if we stay this way. We can still salvage our timeline. We can turn things back to the way they are and once Alyssa is gone, we track the Reds and reprogram them to what they were before she infected them," 

    "You can do that?" Lucille asked. 

    "We can try," Young answered before I did.