“Miri, please no, I'm not worth it.” Lancelot said, grasping Nikita's arm. Nikita dropped Lancelot to the ground.
“Sasha, what is it?” Gwaine said, rushing to my side.
“It's not Lancelot.” She said coldly. Her voice hollow. “Or if he is, Lancelot is not the man you'd be talking to.”
Arthur walked up to her, his hands clutching his sword. “What is wrong with you Sasha?”
“It's not Lancelot. He's a copy...an imposter.”
“Well, you're smarter than I gave you credit for.” The man said his voice suddenly deep and gravelly. With one hand he pushed Nikita...Sasha into the air, she fell to the ground with a soft thud.
“Remind me to stop doubting her.” Arthur whispered to me. He faced the...imposter. “What do you want here?”
“I am here to take either your crown or her life. Either will suffice.”
“Morganna's choice.”
Gwaine and Arthur both looked at me. “Morganna believes that without Sasha here to help us, Camelot would soon fall to her sword. That she and I are the ones who keep you strong. “It's a demand of your defeat or her life' because without her to protect you, your defeat would soon follow.” Gwaine reasoned it out.
“Well, I can't say she's wrong.” Arthur began. “How it finally came into her head...”
“Is a discussion for another time.” Sasha finished, her voice regaining some resolution.
Nikita, or Sasha as most of us knew her stared at the monster in front of her. Her face was white, her eyes were wide with shock and if possible, with pain. Arthur, Gwaine and I stared at her. Lancelot, the real Lancelot lay wounded at her side.
“Please tell me,” The monster seethed in his silky voice. “How did you discover the truth. we went to great lengths to copy our test subject exactly.
“And you did an impressive job.” Nikita admitted. “You copied his mannerisms, voice even his personality convincingly...but not his word choice.” There was a bitterness to her tone that I could not have believed belonged there. Someone this monster had managed to wound her and in the exact same stroke...enrage her. I found myself thanking whatever God might exist that I was not on the other end of her attention.
He doesn't know me by that name. None of them do. But unlike everyone else here, he knows what it means to me... and would NEVER call me by it.”
“Is it that insulting?” Arthur asked blindly. He was the only person who wouldn't let the tenseness of the situation stop him from learning more about our friend.
“Not insulting, it's an honored name. Miri was my name when I was little. But the name barely exists for me anymore except as part of a memorable honor. Remembering a time and era long passed. It's a name I haven't felt worthy of since I was 13 years old.”
“Miri's Table...” I breathed. “It really is a time of remembrance. But not just for your friends.”
“Kris-taan, you and your friends will need a very, very long list of drinks as they 'fill you in' on what happened the evening before Morganna was once again brought down.”
Sasha smiled faintly as more memories seemed to catch up with her. “But for now, I'm going to find a way to prevent this thing from breeding.”
“Sasha, you don't kill.”
Sasha walked up to the creature, held her hand in front of its face and pulled down. It collapsed in pain, it's legs bent inward.
Gwaine laughed. “Breeding, not breathing.”
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