A Warning

It was too late to do anything except sleep by the time the pair of them got back to the castle, as they took their time wandering through the streets, stopping to help people move things out of the way sometimes, but mostly they just talked. They had a lot to talk about.

Since his so called 'death', Ben had seemed to have accumulated the power of Will, though how and why were a complete mystery to the Queen of Albion, and so she asked him a steady stream of questions.

How long have you known? How did it happen? How could it have happened? Why did it happen?

And for each question, she received an answer. Or at least as much of an answer that he could give.

He'd known ever since Scythe told him while he was asleep. It happened the way he had described it in his story. It happened because he'd always had the power inside him, but it hadn't awakened due to his circumstances, plus he was the descendant of their ambiguous legend. And it happened so that he could help protect the kingdom from a threat known only to him as the Shadow Court.

When he'd mentioned it, Milena briefly remembered the stories her mother had told her about when Reaver had asked her to do him a favour, which ended up costing the young Sparrow her youth for a time. It was in this story that the Shadow Court and Judges had been mentioned.

If this was the threat that was to be prevented, she didn't want to know what they were planning, but she knew she would have to, otherwise she would never be able to keep her people safe.

As they reached the main doors, Ben made to remove his hand from hers, though they had been practically glued to each other since the camp, but she stopped him.

"I don't care what everyone will say," she said, smiling at his confusion, "I love you, and I think it's about time that they knew that."

Squeezing her fingers, he nodded, returning her smile, and they entered the castle together.

Once the pair were stood on the carpeted floors of the entrance hall, hands still firmly connected, the passing servants glancing at the strange spectacle, they made their way up the stairs and headed towards the royal bed chamber. By the time they had reached it, at least twenty people had noticed then, and it was clear that they knew exactly what she had wanted them to know.

The curtains were still open when they closed the door closed behind them, so the room was lit by the light of the stars and moon, making everything look like it was covered in pixie dust.

"The royal bedchambers," Ben mused, looking around at the furnishings and the like, "Never thought I'd find myself here."

"Mm," Milena replied with a yawn, eyes resting on the bed when she opened them again, the lids drooping.

Looking at his love, Ben smiled. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Hm, what?" She blinked. Was it that obvious? "I don't know. Um… the night before the battle? I don't know."

He nodded.

Suddenly, Milena found herself in his arms, floating across the room until she landed softly on her bed.

"I think it's high time you got some beauty sleep, Princess," the Major said, pulling her boots off, "It wouldn't do for the Queen of Albion to fall asleep in the middle of some important discussion in court, would it."

She moaned. "But court is so boring!"

He laughed, "Well, that's because I'm not there!"

"So true!" she replied, trying, and failing, to keep her eyes open as another yawn escaped her lips.

"But right now I think you should be off to dream land."

Nodding into her pillow, she curled up into a ball, letting the world melt around her. "I love you Ben."

"I love you too, Milena."

Folding a thin blanket over her curved form, the Major smiled as she pulled it around her, her breathing settling into a steady rhythm.

After making sure she was asleep, he crept across the room, opening and closing the door as quietly as possible. Once he was safely outside, he sighed.

"I see you have finally decided to come out of hiding."

Ben nearly jumped out of his skin when Scythe suddenly appeared in front of him, holding a hand over his heart as it jumped wildly about in his chest.

"Don't do that!" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down.

The Hero just smirked, or at least did something that resembled a smirk, and turned around, walking back along the corridor. Huffing, Ben took the hint and followed.

No one was in the hallways, or on the stairs… or anywhere they went for that matter, which was far from usual. But then this was Scythe, so he'd probably used some spell or something to make sure he wasn't seen… or something…

The War room was empty when they arrived, and, like in Milena's room, the surfaces were covered in that light that could only be called magical.

"I notice that you haven't yet told anyone other than the Queen of the situation that the kingdom is in," Scythe said, stopping to look out of the window.

"I haven't had a chance to yet," he replied, looking over the map.

"We both know that is a lie."

We do?

"You've had almost a day, and still there are only two people to know of this danger that threatens this land!"

Ben jumped back from the table as the luscious greens and blues of the land and its lakes melted away into dark reds and browns, the cities becoming black and vacant, the forests disappearing and the mountains collapsing under their own weight.

"I cannot show myself – cannot be seen by any other than the Heroes of this land, and yet you sit here and tell stories around camp fires whilst the lives of the many thousands are steadily being stolen from them by beings worse than that dreaded darkness that haunted you!"

The sight of the transformed landscape before him has him transfixed, unable to blink or move.

"Already, they have started to move," Scythe continued, "The Shadow Court have taken the lives away from a small handful of innocents already," Ben could hear the screams of young men and women and began to cover his ears, "but it won't be long before they venture out again."

As the screams stopped, Ben turned to face the man that had been one of his idols when he was a child, his cold eyes glaring at him in hatred and disappointment.

"How… What can we do?" he asked, his voice small and uncertain.

Inclining his head, Scythe studied him, the anger draining out of those all seeing eyes.

"Before you are able to do anything to help the people of this kingdom, it will be necessary for both you and the Queen to learn how to control your Will," he explained, "For her, it will be just getting her used to using it without the help of her gauntlets, but you… You will require training. Training requires time. And time – time is a luxury, and something we do not have."

Milena woke to the familiar feeling of a wet tongue sliding across her cheek.

"Ah! Tyson!" she exclaimed, sitting up suddenly and wiping her face with her sleeve, "What did I tell you about doing that?"

The dog just jumped off of her bed and barked cheerfully at her, completely oblivious to her foul mood.

Sighing, she pulled herself off of her bed, the blanket that had been covering her falling uselessly to the ground and began to search for her boots.

Wait… when did she take off her boots? In fact, when did she get under the bed covers?

Racking her brain, she tried to remember exactly what had happened that previous night.

She could remember sitting with the soldiers, and then Ben had lit the fire with…

Her eyes widened as she recalled the conversation they had on the way back.

Ben was a Hero! A real Hero! And a descendant of Scythe no less!

Dragging the blanket off of her and leaving it in a pile on the bed (no doubt Ben had been the one to cover her after walking her here) she pulled on her boots that had been placed by the chair next to one of the wings and made her way out of the room, the excitable canine following with a short 'yip'.

Walking through the corridors, she couldn't help but notice the looks that were being thrown her way, though they disappeared when she went looking for them. No doubt they originated from the rumours that had more than likely spread through the halls since that show she had given them the previous night, but she didn't pay them much attention. She needed to find Ben.

"Your majesty!"

For Avo's sake! Would this man ever leave her alone?

"Yes, Hobson," she sighed, turning around to find the man in question running up the stairs, though it didn't look like he would be able to make it to the top without some help.

Against all odds, the butler made it, wheezing and puffing, but he was still there all the same.

"Your… your majesty!" he repeated, making her roll her eyes at him, "Sir Wal… Sir Walter Beck reque… requests that you… meet him in… in the kitchen… hoo…" He bent over double as he tried to catch his breath.

"Thank you Hobson," she replied, patting him on the shoulder, "I think you should have a little lie down."

He nodded as she passed him, and she headed down towards the back of the palace.

Why would Walter want to meet her back there?

As she entered the busy work room, she made sure to keep out of the way of the maids and chefs that were moving around the various tables and work spaces, their heads down in concentration. It was only when she got to the other side of the room that she saw the old knight, munching on what looked like a slice of toast as he stared out of the back door.

Looking over his shoulder, Milena could see Ben staring up at the great monument in the centre of the gardens, arms folded across his chest.

"You wanted to see me?"

AN - I decided to keep this chapter short (don't ask why, it just seemed like the right thing to do), so I'm sorry if it's not long enough for you. And I'm sorry it took so long to get this up! I've been looking at my other stories and Summer's finally started, so it got a little... relaxed on my part.

Oh! I have some great news as well! I discovered I got into the University I wanted to go to! WHOOP! :D I should be starting my VFX course this coming September!

Also, I joined tumblr and a site called hitRECord this week, so if you want to find me, I have the same username on both of the websites as this one.

I listened to Inception (Junkie XL Remix) by Hans Zimmer (from Inception... duh) during the majority of this.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to upload soon! (though considering it's the summer holidays, I have no idea when that will be... sorry :P)