บท 6: The Past haunts everyone

After leaving the round table and trying to ignore the hysterical feeling Artie could feel building inside of herself, looming behind a wall she wasn't aware she had up, she found herself wandering the main, large hallways. Artie found herself moving to her own beat, trying to avoid stairs to the best of her abilities because of her wound, but eventually she had to descend. Whatever way she had wandered led her to a narrow, newer appearing hallway. There were large, stone windows that opened up the space on the left hand side, showing off a beautiful garden. She could see from the angle that she was at that the hallway snaked around what appeared to be a courtyard of sorts. It seemed newer in construction since the shade of the stone wasn't as worn as other parts of the castle. Descending the stairs would give her an access point into the courtyard since she didn't see any stairs into it from this level, but could see some on the left hand side between some pillars that looked similar to the stairs before her.

Glancing around, she found that the stairs had a handrail, and for some reason she really wanted to go explore the courtyard. A feeling drew her towards it, and so, lifting up the edge of the long dress so she didn't trip down the stairs, and holding onto the handrail for dear life, she descended. Each step sent a jolt of molten hot pain into her wound, and she grit her teeth and continued. Artie was struggling, and had to take a break halfway down the stairs to catch her breath. She knew she must have reopened her wound again, but for some reason she was determined to enter that courtyard. Setting her foot down on the stone floor at the bottom and looking out around her, short of breath, made it worth it.

The courtyard was much larger than she thought. There was a reason she could only see the left hand side of the courtyard from the windows because it continued on for at least a football length to the left and right, making it a huge space full of flowers, birds, butterflies and other critters. Several large, ancient trees dotted the area, and beautiful stone pathways were carved into the garden itself. The pillars around the area supported the pathways above, and provided some shade if someone wanted to take a stroll around the circumference of the gardens. The tightness that Artie hadn't even been aware of in her chest, relaxed, and she sighed as she stared and took in the beautiful surroundings around her. It was a stunning place. With hesitant steps, she followed along a pathway into the garden itself until she came across a bench. Cursing, she maneuvered herself onto it, sitting in a slightly weird way so that her wound wasn't in constant strain, and sighed, closing her eyes.

The soft breeze, the quiet and the soft chatter of birdsong and animals around her soothed her. It didn't matter if this was a dream or final moment, at least animals and nature remained the same. This reminded her of a park near her work that she would go to sometimes when she needed a break from everything. Staring at paper and screens only hurt her head after a while, so she'd made a habit of going and feeding the birds there when it got to be too much. Her superior, the Captain, would sometimes join her. They wouldn't say anything, and instead sit in silence, enjoying the fresh air and the simplicity of the park. She was happy to be reminded of them, even as the soft voices of humans carried on the wind. People were using the hallways above to travel around the giant castle, but the voices faded quickly.

Artie was coming to terms with some things as she relaxed into the sunlight and the moment. If this wasn't a dream, or a final moment, where ever the fuck she was, there was likely no way for her to get back home. It wasn't as if she was unfamiliar with the concept of time travel, or even dimension hopping. It was all the rage on Earth. Whether it be television, books, comics, what have you. Hell, even Ginnie had forced her to read a couple of books in the genre, but it had never interested her. So, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility, she just didn't think it was that viable. But as time went on, she was getting more concerned. If she was stuck here, she'd royally fucked up her first meeting with several of the very important players of this world. They probably wanted to kick her out onto the streets, but just like Lancelot had said, probably feared to do so because she knew too much. That was unfortunate, since Artie didn't like causing trouble for others. It was one of her greatest fears. All she had ever wanted was living a quiet, normal life as a part of society. She had just begun to feel like she had achieved that back home. She had taken a step back from most cases, not taking on any personally and being the hands that helped the others. She liked doing the research side of things, and she was good at it. She didn't need the full credit that others craved, and instead liked being a footnote thanks. Only those who knew Artie knew how hard she worked, and she liked it that way.

As always, when pondering her life, her thoughts went to her birth parents. Artie had complicated feelings when it came to them. They had brought her into the world, but hadn't stayed around long enough to see her grow up. In fact, the moment Artie was born, and then when she could finally comprehend them, they made sure that she knew they had a suicide pact with each other. They had decided that Artie would be well enough and mature enough at the age of 15 that she would not need them anymore, and that was when they were going to do it. On her birthday. It had been over a decade since it had happened, and Artie had eventually forgiven them, but it had been a sore spot for a long time.

One of the few things she hadn't forgiven, but also hadn't changed, involved her name. Her parents, but specifically her Mom, had been obsessed with a specific tale. Two guesses at who that story involved. Either way, they had been set on the name Arthur when her parents were waiting for her arrival. They hadn't come up with a backup name if Artie had been a girl, like she was. So, they had named her the feminine version of Arthur. Arthurette. A very clever and smart name. No one called her that unless they wanted to get on her bad side. Sometimes they called her Art, but for the most part, everyone called her Artie. She hadn't changed her name because despite everything, it was the one gift her parents gave her that was made solely for her, and she had wanted to honour that.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, relaxed, suppressing all of her feelings until a soft, but annoying sound filled her ears. It sounded like a mosquito, but when she slapped the air near her head, the sound didn't go away. She was actually able to tell it came from a certain direction. At first, she tried to ignore it, and it worked for a while. But eventually it got too much for her, and she stumbled to her feet, cursing more as she was finally on her feet. Moving slowly through the garden, she followed the noise. She saw some beautiful sights, like a giant willow tree with a rope swing seat, and several types of butterflies she'd never seen before, but the noise persisted. She was very confused as to why until she came to a large green space. Off in the distance she could see the end of the courtyard, with the pillars and stone windows on the upper level. But before all that, was a smaller body of water, like a pond in size, and to the right of the pond was a stone building. She wasn't able to pick it out right away, but there was a stone statue of a man with a crown on his head, flowing hair and beard, holding a sword pointing down. At the base was a plaque and lots and lots of flowers on the plaque as well as growing around the building. It had to be a memorial piece of some kind, or the mausoleum itself. There was another large willow tree nearby, with a bench underneath it for viewing purposes. She was taking in all the surrounding area because she was avoiding what was in the middle of the clearing. But now, she had to address it. Especially as the humming sound went quiet as soon as her gaze landed on it.

The sword in stone itself. The sword of legend. The holy sword. Excalibur.

She spun on her heel as soon as she realised what it was. She exhaled hotly, taking in the relaxing view of the gardens around her and put her hands on her hips. She huffed again as the humming began to slowly build up again, and the sound of birdsong and other animals faded.

"Are you fucking kidding me? No. No! This is not happening. I am not touching that thing! So help me, spirits aren't real, ghosts aren't real, you are not real and you cannot make me!" As if to incite her further, the hum picked up and became an indistinct loud noise. It was awful, and hurt her ears. She wanted to cover them, and in her distress, she glanced at the sword again. Silence filled her ears as she made eye contact with it. She looked away and the noise was deafening. She almost fell to her knees in pain. "No. No! I am not going to do it! Fuck off!" She yelled out, to no one in particular. She hadn't been a spiritual person before this, and hadn't believed in anything either, so this was a strange, unusual situation for her.

Unable to handle the awful noise, she looked towards the sword again, but found no relief this time. Frustrated, and tears in her eyes from the pain, she marched over to the sword, tentatively touching the handle. Relief washed through her as the noise went away and she could breathe easier. Sighing, she glared at the surrounding area. "Are you fucking happy? I'm touching the damn thing. I'm not pulling it out though." As if on cue, she began to hear soft whispers fill her ears. They repeated over and over, getting louder and louder until she could actually pick out the words. On repeat were the words, "Chosen" "Loyal" "Power" "Regret" "Justice" "Peace" "Responsibility" "Leader". It got louder and louder until it was crippling. Artie would have fallen to her knees if she didn't begin holding onto the sword like a cane, holding her up. "What do you want from me?" She cried helplessly. What did they want from her? They had already taken her from her home, from her peaceful death. What more could they want from her? "Just leave me alone! Why couldn't you do that? I don't want to be responsible for people again, I just want to have a normal life! I'm not going to pull this sword out! Leave that King Arthur!" The voices got louder and louder, and Artie knew she had tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, the voices stopped, and she thought she was in the clear until the voices of her coworkers filled her ears.

"Hey Artie, you got that file for the perp?"

"You know it, have at 'er Sebastian, but look it over before you get in there."

"If you weren't married to your work, I'd marry you Artie."

"Hey Artie! Thanks for checking in on me. It wasn't the police's fault."

"Yes it was, and we'll take full responsibility for it. Our job is to make sure innocents are not harmed, and you're proof we're liars."

"Arie, we always have to be aware of the power we hold and be careful not to let it get to our heads."

"Yeah, I'm aware, so why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you be telling the newer guys, Captain?"

Oi Artie! We need your help. You're the best shot this side of the rockies. The perp is running and has taken some hostages. You are the only one I trust to shoot, and not to kill. Everyone else wants his blood."

"Oh I don't know if you should pick me. You might regret your choice."

"Your opinions never influence your work. I trust you."

"You know, we have the boss, but you're the shadow leader that everyone respects. You never take any of the fame for yourself and we all respect you for that. If you said you thought someone was guilty, we'd all think that too."

"Gee, I'm glad to know that. Now I won't use that as a joke."

"Artie! You know what I'm saying, right? We all respect you and if anything ever happened to you we'd all be in mourning for a long time."