Author’s Note: It has been a long time…and for personal reasons I can’t explain except to say that my thoughts, my dreams, and my entire being have been occupied by someone that makes me smile. And while I play out my own Marguerite/Roxton-type love affair, I have put my writing aside. I am both sorry and not because I have never been this happy, or this miserable, or this in love with someone…it really is a curse and a blessing…just like the near ending of this fanfiction.

Ep13: And then there were three…

Ch6

Avalon

It had been a long time…well, not that long. It had really only been a couple of weeks, but to Malone, it had felt like an eternity. He sat down by the edge of one of the streams of Avalon, his paper on his lap and a pencil tapping nervously against the pages. He wasn’t really eyeing the pages at all…just staring into space. He was remembering so many things of the past, things that had changed. How had he come to be in this place? Not the plateau but rather the state of mind that he was in now.

So much had happened over the past four years that he had never been able to explain, write about properly, connect together, or understand. But they had all been brought to the Plateau for a reason – except him. He was the only one whose destiny no one understood. He was the only one not involved in the reporting of stolen iridium or at the police station when Challenger, Roxton, and Marguerite were all questioned for their roles in the war effort. He was the one that had left his group and had not been missed. He was the one that didn’t have a definition, and that bothered Ned Malone more than life itself on this particular day.

He had watched over the course of a couple weeks as Marguerite and Veronica had been put through a type of training. Abigail had started instructing them on ways to defend themselves when Mordren’s line appeared for their revenge. They were supposed to be protected by the walls of Avalon, but a constant threat was weakening the bindings every day. And even Malone was starting to feel it. He was even starting to see the change among the two women. They were both drifting in such opposite ways even though their ideals were the same. Marguerite was there to protect Veronica now but her selfishness (somewhat now enhanced by the presence of the amulet around her neck) made it hard for her to often forget about herself in harmful situations. She had before – she had risked her life for Malone recently. And all of the explorers knew that she would risk her life for Veronica too but something had changed within her.

Malone was one of the only explorers she talked to and even their conversations were brief. Roxton would look over at her with respect, but they never confronted one another, neither rather to back down from their opposing views on the way things had come about. She had hurt him – hurt him in ways that Malone could easily understand. She had brushed their entire relationship aside as though it were meaningless and had said it was all a mistake. But how could loving someone possibly be a mistake when it often felt so right?

Malone had tried to comfort both Roxton and Marguerite but as Marguerite became even more self-centered and more dedicated to perfectly her new craft, Roxton had become more closed-off, less helpful to the greater good, and more irritable. Instead of engaging in conversation with anyone, Roxton had often retreated to reading and whittling wood with his knife by the fire. Summerlee however had noticed his quiet solitude, and feeling the need to help his former favorite hunter, he had joined Roxton by the fireside each night, not saying a word but offering a quiet companionship.

Marguerite’s transformation is what had Malone really worried all of the time. That amulet around her neck had led her to smiling more, but it was always this eerie grim smile of satisfaction. Abigail had been teaching her and Veronica small spells, defense charms, and other enchantments that aided them. While Marguerite often excelled, her charms and such went one step further than they were meant to. One day, they had been told to try and throw a line around a stuffed man, pretending it was an attacker. Both were successful in throwing the line without actually touching it, but Marguerite’s words had caused the line to wrap so tightly around the dolls neck that it was instantly decapitated. Her words were also become more fierce as she said them, her confidence growing, her stature rising higher reminding Malone much of what Morrighan had looked like. It was true that the amulet was transforming her.

That was not the only instance that had worried him about her. One night, as he walked along the pond’s edge, he had seen her talking allowed almost as though there were a person standing beside her. She often argued allowed and this led Malone to believe she was becoming delusional. He had often followed her to the pond’s edge and most nights, she would continue to argue with nothing, although it seemed like she could hear something he could not. She even looked as though she didn’t know where the voice came from as she paced back and forth, but her arguments were getting more intense every night and more than once, her eyes had flashed black in the moonlight.

While Marguerite’s amulet pushed her beyond the limits and caused her to become more powerful, Veronica had also become more irritable and angered at Marguerite’s progress. Meanwhile, the members of Avalon were starting to fear Marguerite and what was to come and often worried that Veronica would not be strong enough to overtake Mar-kel and his forces. Yes, things had been going so well on the plateau. And the one that was often the corrector – the one that often rectified these problems when they had arisen before, was often nowhere to be found. Even Challenger had succumbed to his solitude as he worked with the Avalon members to decipher the map. He often stayed locked away with them for days on end, pouring over old literature, mythology, legends, and debating about what it all means. Things had taken a turn and Malone was one of the only ones unsure of where he was supposed to go from here.

He was sitting beside the water’s edge on this particular day wondering what to write about. When he returned to London, if he returned to London, what was it that he was returning to? He had left it in the hope of proving his worth to a woman that did not love him. And yet here he was, dedicated to a woman that didn’t give him much attention at all, friends with a woman that would easily sell him out to protect her own life, the companion of a mad scientist that would go to any length for the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and the apparent great-great grandfather of a woman from the future that recently died because he didn’t help provide her enough attention. For some reason his mind suddenly drifted to Aleera. The Princess of the Plateau was the one person he wished to see right now, the one that had enjoyed his company without any expectations. He would have been lucky to love her, but she was devoted to him in the way that a sister is to a brother. But that’s what had made their relationship so nice. And at times like these, he missed her presence

The short time he had spent away with the Princess and her entourage, he had felt a change within himself. He felt stronger, freer, and as though he didn’t need a purpose. He was just a drifter, writing his story along the way, marking on the page what he wanted and the rest be damned. Where had that feeling gone? Malone looked up at the sky and noticed how far the sun had drifted across it. He had been sitting by the water’s edge for such a long time and yet no one had come looking. Typical, he thought. There was no doubt about it that he felt alone and extremely forgotten.

As he threw his pencil against his paper, his book with partially marked pages fell off his lap and to his side. Huffing in anger and disappointment at himself, he let out a deep sigh and hung his head. A quick movement to his right caught his eye though and made him turn his head. He saw the brush move as Marguerite made her way to the pond’s edge. He suddenly ducked and hid as she paced back and forth along the water’s edge.

“Alright, I’m here. What do you want?” Marguerite beckoned, unafraid to let her voice carry because of how secluded it often was by the water. Malone listened but didn’t hear a sound, however he noticed Marguerite’s expression changing as she stared at the water’s surface.

“No!” Marguerite yelled. “I don’t know what you want.”

“You do, Marguerite,” the male voice whispered to her ears, but undetected by Malone’s.

“I – I can’t,” she said, her voice starting to falter. “You don’t know what you’re asking me to do. You want me to condemn them to death and I won’t do it!”

“That’s not what I’m telling you,” his voice answered. “This is an agreement, Marguerite. As long as you keep your end of the bargain, I will keep mine.” Marguerite stared at the water’s edge, confusion and emotions crossing her face while Malone was still lost, unsure what voice Marguerite was hearing. Whatever it was, it definitely had an effect on her and it sounded as though it wanted to make a bargain that Marguerite was not going for.

“How is agreeing to that a bargain?” Marguerite asked.

“Because if you do not agree, I will murder ALL of the members of Avalon instead of sparing the lives I am and instead of clearing your name,” the voice answered.

“If I agree to this, there are too many lives that are going to change!” Marguerite answered. “You’re asking me to take the Protector’s daughter out of the only place that she is safe and come meet you so that the three of us can make a bargain. Don’t you think that sounds a little suspicious?”

“Abigail knows this meeting is bound to happen sooner or later,” the voice replied. “She just wants it to occur when she is there so that she can persuade you to make the right decision.”

“I won’t need help in my decision,” Marguerite answered.

“But you will,” he answered. “And that is why I am offering you this agreement. Now take it or leave it!”

“I don’t know!” Marguerite yelled into the air as Malone witnessed her continual arguing with herself. “He’ll never stay here and none of them will understand my reasoning. You’re just setting me up for failure.”

“I’m giving you the best chance you have,” the man yelled so loudly than Marguerite was suddenly taken aback at his aggression. She stared forward at the stream with a heartbreaking look. “See, my dear. You have already made your decision. Face it, this is the only way.”

“No!” Marguerite uttered back. “There has to be another way.”

“Trust me, there is not,” he said, this time in a much softer way. “Do we have a deal?”

“Not until I see you in person,” Marguerite stated.

“Soon, Marguerite. Very soon,” he answered. And with that, the male presence was gone and Marguerite’s shoulders slumped. She stared at the ground in utter defeat as her world spun around her.

“I won’t do it, I won’t do it, I won’t do it,” she muttered to herself as she dropped her head.

“Do what, Marguerite?” Malone interrupted as he stepped out from behind the brush, scaring an already shaking Marguerite. “Sell us all off to the highest bidder?” She just stared back up at him in surprise as worry and fear crossed over her face before her eyes flashed black once again and the amulet pushed deep against her chest.

In the next chapter: Marguerite may be making a deal with the male voice, but who is he? And what sort of deal is it? Will Malone trust her enough to keep her secret? And Mar-kel may finally make an appearance, but when the others discover he may have been beckoned by Marguerite, will it the break the “rules” of her contract?