[1] WEEPING MONK // you're not what I was looking for

27| New Beginnings {Part One}

═ 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘽𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 ═

[TW// referenced self harm, grief. Minor wounds]

Emotions run on high as secrets and lies are uncovered

❖

I can't love you in the dark,
it feels like we're oceans apart

❖

Ari did not believe what she was seeing, it was the Hidden playing tricks on her. She was rooted to the ground in a paralytic shock, her features not being able to get any wider even if she tried. Everything around her just, stopped. Her father is alive.

"Arianne," the older man breathed out in a sad delight.

Her feet moved themselves slowly across the ground and then built up momentum. She ran into her father's arms and pressed her wet cheek to his chest, hearing his heart beating alive and well beneath his weathered green coat. She felt his strong arms coming around her, one around her waist whilst the other crossed over her shoulders like he always did when she was young. He was so warm, no traces of the cold that comes with death. She wrapped her arms beneath his cloak and held on tightly like he might disappear if she let go.

Gawain smiled at them and ducked back out of the tent, leaving Lancelot just inside the entrance as the veil closed back down. The sunlight pushed through the fabric above and shone down on the two Sunborn Fey.

Lancelot didn't know how to react. The last time that he had met the man, Lancelot had been more than a little defensive. Their conversation had left him with a guilt so strong that it gave him a bitter taste on his tongue each time he thought of it. Lancelot turned to leave to give them privacy but was stopped.

"Lancelot," the old king called, loosening his arms from around his daughter. Ari looked up at her father, not understanding why he was pulling away, she had barely registered that he had spoken never mind what he had said. She twisted as he walked away from her and over towards Lancelot, her wide eyes never leaving him. Ari couldn't move, stuck in her place again with shock.

Lancelot met the golden eyes of the old king as the Sunborn stepped closer. His feet shifted him to stand before the man who stopped just at his feet, an arm's length away. Lancelot stiffened more than he wanted to. His opinions of this man were not black or white. Her father had abandoned Ari but he had also saved his life and watched over him, so he did not know how he was supposed to feel.

"You kept your word," her father nodded to him, "thank you." His voice was lighter than the last time, strong and with all the makings of a king and yet soft all the same, just like Ari.

Lancelot had indeed kept this secret that had caused a great amount of turmoil within his mind, as well as his silent promise to keep his daughter safe. He was still bitter, it did not matter the reason for his departure, the old king had still left his child without warning or explanation and Lancelot did not think that he could ever let that go. And now he was here which suggested he wanted to be in her life again, and knowing how Lancelot knew Ari, how she had this vast capacity to understand, he therefore knew that she would let him. He wants her to be happy, more than anything, but he did not feel that the old king deserved his daughter.