15 minutes later,
BAM
"Alright, who's ready for some sightseeing?" Ricky asked, kicking open the stairwell door with the brightest of smiles.
"Am I to assume all went well, Ricky?" Alexander mused, raising a furry eyebrow at the man strolling back into the dining hall.
"I came and then I conquered." Ricky said with a knowing smile, grabbing the gerbil and placing him on his shoulder.
"So, are you guys ready for the tour?"
"..."
At the question, the ebony artifacts remained oddly quiet, seemingly caught off guard by the fact that Ricky was actually asking them beforehand.
Rather than simply doing it and laughing in their collective faces while ignoring their complaints.
'It has been a while since I've seen this beautiful city.'
While the ebony artifacts were surprised, the ebony sword casually agreed, finding nothing strange about Ricky's question.
Which prompted all its siblings to turn away from Ricky and fix the sword with a weird look.
"Hey, did you know this place had griffons?" Ricky suddenly said, laughing arbitrarily as the ebony sword joined in.
'I am aware of-' the ebony sword began to ramble, the two humoring each other as they laughed all the way out of the dining hall.
'...' All while the ebony artifacts, including the chalice, looked on with their jaws dropped.
Soon after, Morgana finally returned to the hall, smoothing her hair and touching up her makeup with a practiced ease.
But the moment her eyes settled on a certain creature, she froze, realizing that not everyone in Ricky's group had left immediately.
"I told you," Alexander said calmly, lifting his gaze toward her with a smug smile that only fueled the queen's simmering fury.
"Where the f*ck-" Ricky muttered suddenly, striding off into the distance before stopping abruptly and turning back, suddenly remembering he was missing something.
"Alexander, hurry up!" Ricky called out, momentarily forgetting that Alexander wasn't with him.
Alexander didn't reply, only laughed at Morgana while scurrying after Ricky as the man bent down to give the gerbil a better angle to climb onto his shoulder.
"Jenkins." Morgana whispered in a deadly tone, her hawk-like gaze fixed on Alexander as he said something that made Ricky laugh.
"Yes, your majesty-"
"Follow him and act as his guide. I want to know everything he does." Morgana said, squinting and shooting a hateful glare at Alexander perched on Ricky's shoulder.
"As you wish-"
"Wait." Morgana said suddenly, catching herself as she clenched her hand and then slowly released it, turning her gaze from the gerbil to Ricky.
'But stop pushing me away. I don't want to always fight just to get a little closer to you.'
Ricky's words echoed in her mind, softening her squinted features as their weight drew her gaze downward to the floor.
"Your majesty?" Jenkins asked, watching Morgana rub her shoulder as she watched Ricky leave the dining hall.
"I want him to like me. How do I make him like me more?" Morgana genuinely asked the skeleton, watching the undead butler flinch before slowly showing a warm smile.
"The best advice I can offer is to treat him as your king, your majesty," Jenkins said warmly, watching his queen lift her gaze to him.
"You two are meant to rule together, and therefore, to share." Jenkins explained, bringing his hands together and shaking them gently to illustrate his meaning.
"Share things together, just the two of you," Jenkins said with quiet finality, walking after Ricky, who was about to leave the castle, while Morgana muttered the words to herself.
"Just the two of us."
5 minutes later,
"This is the mythical city of Camelot?" Ricky asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the withered city before him.
Stepping off the main castle grounds, Ricky finally set his sightseeing eyes on what he had imagined as the golden city he once sent aflame.
Instead, all he saw was ruins.
It was as if he had stumbled upon the final remnants of a lost civilization, the only true trace of the mythical city being the foundations the skeletons were uncovering.
The golden spires were gone.
The streets that had once been paved with literal silver were now nothing more than cracked earth tangled with overgrown roots.
However, the truth of it was simple.
Once it was freed, the spell that had once preserved the ancient city cracked like glass, and time, long denied, came rushing in.
All the years it had been suspended in that enchanted stillness, frozen like a fly in amber, now collapsed onto it at once.
What lay before Ricky wasn't the result of destruction, it merely aged.
"Yes, Your Majesty, this is Camelot." Jenkins said quietly beside Ricky, bowing slightly as if humbling himself before the weight of the title of king.
"Time is the cruelest enemy." Alexander whispered, his gaze fixed on the sun rising over the ruined city.
"Indeed." the Ebony Blade agreed, gazing at the city alongside the other ebony artifacts, all watching over what used to be their home.
"Your majesty, is there anywhere you want to go specifically-"
"Where are the stables where you keep all your crazy mythical pets?" Ricky asked, turning to the undead skeleton, who simply gestured to the left.
"This way, your majesty."
Following Jenkins, Ricky strolled casually through the streets, his gaze drifting from one ruined building to the next.
Despite signs of life, the city felt eerily deserted.
The few inhabitants he saw avoided the open streets, retreating instead into the darkest, most concealed parts of the ruins.
Their reluctance to appear in the open suggested fear not onto Ricky, but Jenkins as all eyes scanned the undead as if recognizing him.
However, Jenkins wasn't the only undead they avoided since scattered throughout the city were other worker undead.
Yet Ricky couldn't help but notice their scarcity; since after walking several blocks, only five crossed his path.
Until the reason suddenly appeared before his eyes.
"Holy sh*t!" Ricky suddenly laughed, finally walking over the horizon of the ruined city to see a massive expanding structure.
The reason for the low capacity of skeletons was simple.
They were being spread thin across the city in light of a much bigger project.
Three major divisions had formed within the ranks of Morgana's undead:
The restoration of the Castle Le Fey.
The reconstruction of the city.
And finally, the most heavily guarded and top priority: the internment camp Morgana had ordered into existence.
A sprawling structure of tents, watchtowers, and a perimeter wall so high that it towered over the original walls of Camelot.
"When did you guys build this?" Ricky asked, turning to Jenkins, who hesitated as he searched for the right words to explain what was happening.
"You see, Your Majesty, this is-" Jenkins tried to initially respond, but lost where he was going with that sentence of words.
"Is that an assembly line? Is this a slave factory?" Ricky laughed while continuously asking questions, pointing at the conveyor belt stretched across the camp, where hundreds of people were assembling parts.
"I wouldn't say slave factory-"
THWIP
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Before Jenkins could respond, a skeleton lashed its whip through the air at a man moving at too slow of a pace.
A deep gash split open across his flesh, blood soaking through his tattered shirt as he crumpled to his knees with a guttural groan.
However, instead of allowing the man a moment to catch his breath, the skeleton lashed him again and again, each crack of the whip carving fresh agony into his back.
Blood streaked down the man's skin as he trembled and gasped through clenched teeth, until at last he staggered to his feet and limped after the other slaves.
"It's only temporary." Jenkins said, unashamed of the reality before him and fully convinced it was reasonable given the circumstances of Camelot.
"After your valiant fight, Queen Morgana punished the traitors." Jenkins explained, his voice unnervingly formal as he gestured like a museum guide.
This was what Morgana had been up to all week, knowing the only way to expedite the city's rebuilding was by turning all the traitors of Camelot into her laboring slaves.
Anyone who had lived under the old city, breathed the air of the citadel, fought, or even simply lingered too long in the wrong place, were all processed as labor slaves.
"Every citizen, every enemy soldier, and every remnant of the citadel who stood against its rightful queen is to be punished with forced labor pending their trials," Jenkins continued, strolling along the outer fences of the camp and guiding Ricky around as if it were a historical site.
"Trials, huh?" Ricky asked, laughing hysterically at the absurdity of Jenkin's reasoning, especially since Morgana wasn't even trying to hide it.
"C'mon Jenkins, don't try to softball me in on it, I get it." Ricky said, patting the undead's shoulder as they walked toward the entrance.
"Now, let's see what Morgana's been up to." Ricky said as he finally reached the front entrance of the camp.
THWIP
THWIP
THWIP
Ricky's welcome to the camp was the fierce, sharp crack of whips slicing through the air like lightning.
Singing a brutal cadence that forced every prisoner into an obedient rhythm, they worked relentlessly, without pause.
Rows of people, bound together by glowing runic chains, marched in unison along the sides.
Some prisoners were tasked with harvesting raw materials, prying ancient stones from the ruins of the old city, their hands bloodied and blistered from the relentless labor.
They hauled the heavy remnants to massive furnaces, where the rocks were melted down and reshaped under the watchful eyes of undead overseers.
Others handled weapon parts, armor molds, and strange crystalline devices that pulsed faintly with magical energy.
What they were doing wasn't just mere reconstruction.
They were building a new city, an entirely new camelot, all in Morgana's image.
Each brick laid, each enchanted device crafted, and every inch of metal forged, it all fed back into her empire.
"Isn't this what Chores aspires to create, a factory?" Alexander asked, his voice laced with confusion, as the scene before him resembled all too well the project they had been building.
He wasn't wrong since that's exactly what the internment camp had become: a functioning slave factory, cloaked in the illusion that they would get a trial that never came.
And no one, not even the dead, was exempt from labor.
"Yeah, except, you know, ours doesn't have f*cking slaves," Ricky laughed, completely forgetting just how cruel Morgana could be.
"Any man who slaves away for mere money is a slave," Alexander retorted dryly, crossing his furry paws with quiet defiance.
"A little touchy about that, aren't you?" Ricky asked, watching the gerbil on his shoulder merely shake his head.
"Empires aren't built on ideals, they're built on bones and skulls." Alexander remarked flatly, simply leaving the thought hanging in the air.
He wasn't proud of slavery, but he never denied his deep involvement in the practice since after all, he technically had been one of the most notorious slave traders in history.
For example, after the siege of Tyre in 332 BCE, the male inhabitants were all massacred and the women and children were sold into slavery.
This practice was not unique to Alexander, as slavery was a common feature of warfare and society in ancient Greece.
That's why he found it strange how the world's approach to slavery had evolved.
Because, to Alexander, the ancient customs of conquest and servitude seemed straightforward and unambiguous, unlike the complex social and moral contradictions he observed here.
"Damn, she put them all in the camp?" Ricky suddenly stopped, smiling as he spotted the stables in the far reaches of the internment camp.
Remembering how many animals were detailed in the ledger, Ricky knew there should have been hundreds soaring in the skies above the city but so far, he hadn't seen a single one.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Jenkins said, clapping in awe at Ricky's ability to deduce the obvious.
"Uh huh." Ricky hummed, about to take a step forward before stopping himself.
'Is he f*cking with me, I honestly can't tell?' Ricky wondered inwardly, unable to decide if Jenkins was pretending not to be a prick or actually was one.
'Ricky, I don't think he's playing a ruse on you,' the Ebony Blade suggested, observing Jenkins' serious demeanor.
'You think?' Ricky thought, shooting Jenkins a suspicious look before turning his gaze forward.
"Whatever, let's go get my kids a present," Ricky said, dropping the matter and walking forward as Alexander watched thoughtfully.
"A griffon for the boys and horses for the girls?" Alexander asked, watching Ricky actually consider it before shrugging.
"Seems right," Ricky agreed with Alexander, rubbing the back of his neck since he wasn't exactly sure what little kids liked.
"But let's get them kid-sized versions of the animals." Ricky added, crunching his hands down to show Alexander how small.
"And speaking of childish animals, where's your f*cking horse?" Ricky suddenly remembered, looking at Alexander after realizing he hadn't seen that jerk of a horse.
However, instead of giving an immediate answer, the gerbil looked around before turning back to Ricky and giving him a light shrug.
"I don't know. I'm not accountable for Bucephalus's whereabouts," Alexander said shamelessly, refusing to take any responsibility as Ricky shook his head.
"Jenkins, just show me the baby animals." Ricky said, rolling his eyes away from Alexander and towards Jenkins who stepped forward, ready to lead the way.
"Of course your majesty, this way."
As Ricky stepped into the internment camp, his eyes instinctively rose to the watchful skeletal mages perched high in the towers, overseeing the vast number of slaves like sentinels.
Below, skeletal guards moved with relentless precision, herding the prisoners like cattle through the broken streets.
The workers' tired, haunted eyes flickered with surprise and suspicion as Ricky passed among them.
But it wasn't fear that graced their eyes upon seeing Ricky, rather, genuine surprise as whispers started to echo through the camp.
Though Ricky had wiped out half the population during his conquest, the remainder had still been submerged in the underground bunkers, hidden away from sight and the harshness of what he had done on the surface.
So when they finally emerged from the subterranean shadows, all that greeted them was the desolate expanse of ruins of what they used to call their home.
Now, after hearing the stories of how he killed their promised king, these slaves finally laid eyes on their new ruler.
"Bow before your king!" Jenkins shouted, his command sharp as a hiss, forcing all the slaves to instantly drop to their knees and lower their heads to the dirt.
Those who hesitated or resisted were swiftly beaten down, while the rest grovelled at Ricky's feet in reluctant submission.
"This way, Your Majesty." Jenkins gestured, as Ricky raised an eyebrow, surveying the slaves bowing before him.
"This is so freaky~" Ricky muttered, thinking he'd enjoy the feeling of being worshipped.
But as he studied their fearful faces, the novelty faded away since it was far from the reverence he had hoped for.
"Cherish the sight, Ricky, for this is what it feels like to walk into the city you've claimed." Alexander took a deep breath, savoring the strange, refreshing sensation of the population bowing before your strength.
BAM
BAM
BAM
As they neared what appeared to be the stables, a hard thumping echoed through the air, causing everyone to raise their eyebrows at the aggressive noise.
Ricky, especially curious, turned into the corridors and what he saw there provoked only one reaction.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ricky burst out, laughing hysterically, losing his balance and stumbling toward the wall at the side as he clutched his stomach.
"What is it, your majesty-"
"Oh." Jenkins's own words were abruptly cut off, replaced by a single exclamation that perfectly captured the absurdity of the scene before them.
Because there, unmistakably before all their eyes, stood Bucephalus perched atop a female horse in the stables.
After waking up in the familiar backyard where Danielle would brush him while he napped, Bucephalus somehow found his way back to the otherworld.
Already annoyed by what he assumed were Ricky's actions in displacing him, Bucephalus returned to the conquered city not just angry, but increasingly restless.
The lingering hangover left him agitated and on edge, and the horse sought to release that pent-up tension by unleashing all the raw energy simmering within his being.
The energy coursing through the stallion far exceeded that of any ordinary horse, a testament to his purebred lineage that descended from Poseidon's own legendary steeds.
So, to release it, Bucephalus found his way into Camelot's stables.
While Ricky was busy having his own fun, Bucephalus sought to satisfy his overwhelming urges with such ferocity that the surrounding female horses lay scattered and utterly spent.
"And you're ashamed of me?" Alexander scoffed, crossing his paws as Bucephalus turned his head back and squinted.
HUFF
"MY GAMBLING IS NOT A PROBLEM!" Alexander snapped, lashing out at the horse as it seemed to mock the gerbil's growing gambling habit.
"I-I can't breathe~"
Meanwhile, Ricky was rolling on the ground, laughing uncontrollably at how this so-called mighty steed had gotten caught up in the same situation he always ridiculed him for.
Bucephalus's eyes immediately locked onto Ricky, blazing with fury at the lecherous human mocking him.
SNORT
"Oh, shut up, you f*cking hypocrite! Look at yourself!" Ricky laughed, flicking his hand toward the steeds passed out at Bucephalus's hooves.
"All that high and mighty sh*t, yet, your just like me-"
HUFF
Bucephalus huffed furiously to dissuade the very thought, his eyes blazing with anger, but Alexander simply held up a hand to calm him.
"Enough, you two." Alexander said calmly, raising his paws toward Bucephalus just as the stallion prepared to unmount and charge at Ricky.
"Bucephalus, would you like to finish and continue with us?"
HUFF
2 minutes later,
BAM
BAM
The thuds finally died down as Ricky whistled outside the corridors, reaching to light a cigarette when suddenly, a loud neigh from a horse cut through the air.
"That was fast," Ricky joked, turning the corner to see Bucephalus having just unmounted from a female horse that promptly collapsed from exhaustion.
HUFF
Bucephalus huffed angrily, dismissing Ricky as he strode past him, completely unashamed of his lecherous behavior since after all, he was Greek.
"Whatever, listen, help me pick out a horse for my baby girls-"
SNORT
Bucephalus snorted arrogantly, raising his head high into the air at the mere fact that none of these horses were worthy of even a moment of Danielle's attention.
He had already grown attached to the small human child named Danielle, appreciating the rare respect she showed to a creature often regarded as beneath humans.
Yet, Bucephalus guarded his time with her fiercely; he would never share those moments, for Danielle alone knew how to make his coat gleam like polished obsidian.
"What the f*ck do you mean by that?" Ricky asked, spreading his arms toward Bucephalus in clear disbelief.
"This is for my daughters-"
SNORT
Bucephalus snorted even harder, gesturing with his hoof toward the horses sprawled unconscious nearby, using their pitiful state as his example.
"Wait, are you jealous?" Ricky asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise as Bucephalus simply walked past him.
"That's usually what he does when he's jealous." Alexander added, his words causing Bucephalus to pause.
Bam
Bucephalus slammed his hoof into the ground, creating a sizable crater as if to threaten Alexander, but the gerbil merely nodded in response.
"Correction, very jealous."
HUFF
Bucephalus didn't want to deal with either of them and stubbornly marched away, deliberately avoiding helping Ricky shorten his brush time.
"Jenkins, get the griffins ready while we check out the horses," Ricky said, as the undead butler bowed and he turned toward the long row of stables.
"Alright, let's do some searching."
1 hour later,
For an entire hour, Ricky moved through the stables, with Alexander and the ebony artifacts assisting him in sorting through the options.
However, they all faced the same problem as they could never agree on a single choice, leading to the stalemate they found themselves in now.
"No, Ricky, your daughters could never ride that into the fires of hell!" Alexander yelled, glaring at the baby horse timidly hiding in the corner.
"I can see it in her eyes, that glaring weakness." Alexander hissed, squinting as he detected the cowardice lurking beneath the innocence this baby horse projected.
'Ricky, this horse is exactly what your daughters need, a small and gentle companion!' the Ebony Blade said, knowingly appealing to Ricky's desire to infuriate Bucephalus.
"Ricky, the horse that will suit the girls best is that mighty steed!" Alexander said quickly, gesturing with his paw toward another baby horse.
"Look at that posture, that confidence!" Alexander boasted, praising the infant who held its head ever higher.
'What the girls need is a horse to nurture, not to ride into battle,' the Ebony Blade scoffed, warning Ricky, who pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
SIGH
"I'm just going to give them both to the girls. Maybe it'll give them something to bond over," Ricky sighed at the decision before a slow smile spread across his face at the thought.
He imagined their excited faces as they ran into his arms, showering him with gratitude, before picturing them growing closer through their shared love for the animals.
"Alright, who's ready for the griffons?" Ricky asked, silently commanding Chuck to come back for the babies later as he turned around.
Walking toward the stables opposite to the horses, Ricky immediately saw Jenkins's handiwork upon entering the corridor: a neat line of baby griffons stretched out before him.
"And here I thought they went extinct in my generation," Alexander laughed heartily, delighted to see the beautiful creatures still alive.
Reaching down, Ricky carefully lifted one of the baby griffons into his arms.
If Ricky had to describe what a baby griffon looked like, he'd say its body was surprisingly feline, covered in the soft fur that was gently to the touch.
The griffon's wings were still in their infancy, lacking the muscle needed for flight; instead, they were slender with pristine white feathers that resembled the delicate wings of angels.
However, its sharp beak contrasted with the softness of its fur, and while atop its head, two cat-like ears twitched and lifted in alert surprise at the unfamiliar touch of a human.
The creature's intelligent eyes flickered with curiosity and awareness when they looked at Ricky, reflecting a sharp mind beneath its youthful innocence.
Because these mythical beings were no mere animals; even at this tender age, they displayed a keen intelligence and an instinctive understanding of their surroundings.
"Ra~" the baby griffon squawked, reaching its tiny talons toward Ricky, who smiled at the adorable creature.
"What do you think Alexander-"
"Not vicious enough, next!" Alexander promptly said, scowling at the cuteness that lacked even a hint of killing intent.
In Alexander's mind, there was no way he would let such an innocent creature be given to his godchildren.
It needed to be fierce, it needed to be slightly wild so that the boys could have the pride of taming one themselves.
It was why Ricky continued down the line, walking past the bundle of baby griffons.
Hearing the cute squawks of the baby griffons, rolling around in the vast line, until suddenly Ricky stopped.
Unlike the other small griffons, the next baby Ricky came across in the long line was unusually tall.
So large, in fact, that it barely fit inside the stable, its massive head ducking low to avoid the ceiling.
It was Dragon Man or Draconus, the very mount King Britain had ridden into battle against him.
"Jenkins." Ricky called, glancing to the side as the undead butler stepped into view.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"What the f*ck is that?"
"Ah, I apologize," Jenkins said with mild surprise, noting the clear anomaly in his otherwise impeccable line of baby griffons.
"That is the former mount of King Britain, Draconus. He's a rather mischievous creature," Jenkins commented, waving his hand dismissively as if the massive beast posed no threat.
"Is this not the steed that rode against me in our bout?" Alexander asked, recognizing the creature, which promptly lowered its head under the weight of the gerbil's mere gaze.
"Yes, but the creature is harmless. Evidently, Merlyn had forced it to assist King Britain and when the king died, the beast was freed from the chains that bound its will." Jenkins explained, gesturing toward the creature, which now curiously stared at Ricky with its huge eyes.
"Can he understand us?" Ricky asked, glancing up at the massive head towering above him as the creature slowly turned its gaze downward to meet him.
"I'm afraid not in the way you mean, Your Majesty. Draconus has the relative intelligence of a dog," Jenkins warned, just as the creature leaned down and gave Ricky a wet, affectionate lick.
"Aye, whoa!" Ricky shouted, stumbling back and pushing the creature away as Draconus grew excited, nudging him playfully with his massive snout.
"Draconus, down!"
BAM
However, before he could charge at Ricky, Jenkins calmly ordered the creature to sit.
Without hesitation, Draconus slammed himself down onto the floor, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
The baby griffons nearby let out startled whines, scurrying away in panic though many of them tumbled over themselves in a flurry of feathers and limbs.
"Dammit, bad dog!" Ricky snapped, watching the baby griffons whine and bump into each other in a panicked scramble as he yelled at Draconus.
Draconus flinched, backing up with his head lowered in shame at the familiar scolding.
"Look what you did! Now these goddamn baby griffons are all over the place!" Ricky shouted, gesturing wildly like an angry Italian uncle as the massive creature retreated further.
BAM
Until Draconus had backed up too fast and his momentum caused him to crash through the wall, tumbling backward amid splinters and dust.
Ricky stood with his arms crossed, staring down the neanderthal creature in sheer disbelief.
"Jenkins, round up the griffons," Ricky sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as Jenkins began gathering the restless creatures.
"Ra~" A baby griffon cawed, scratching at Ricky's leg as he looked down and bent to give it a gentle pat.
"Look at this guy." Ricky chuckled, picking up the griffon that started snuggling into his arms, revealing it to be the very first one he had come across.
"Ugh, not this one," Alexander muttered, frowning and crossing his arms in disapproval.
"Your Majesty, I've retrieved the ones Alexander accepted earlier." Jenkins said quickly, holding six whining baby griffins in his skeletal arms.
"Give this one and the others to Chuck. Tell him to look after them until we leave," Ricky instructed, handing the griffin in his arms to Jenkins, who nodded in acknowledgment.
"And you, sir?"
"I'm gonna continue my stroll."
'Great idea.'
Ricky and the ebony blade conversation then started as they talked while walking through the ruined city.
However, a palpable anxiety started to build onto this conversation since Merlyn could be ready at any moment.
Forcing Ricky and the ebony blade deeper into their words until the others had all become spectators in the conversation.
It started as idle chatter, a back-and-forth of simple small talk.
Until gradually, their conversation began to drift toward the past.
"Oh don't give me that-"
'Ricky, I didn't hate you exactly, I hated the idea of you-'
"Bullsh*t, you totally hated me from the very first second I grabbed your handle." Ricky laughed, kicking a stone toward a nearby wall as it slammed into it, erupting into a cloud of dust.
'In my defense, you didn't exactly welcome me into your mind.' the Ebony Blade replied, its tone dry but not without humor.
"Who would?" Ricky shot back, grinning as he heard the ebony blade chuckle along with him.
They began to playfully bicker over their old grudges, each memory bringing up past tensions with a new layer of humor.
What was once genuine hatred had dulled into sarcasm and banter, their animosity completely softened by time and survival.
Until the conversation took a strange little detour, one that had the Ebony Blade recalling the bizarre habits of the past Black Knights.
And Ricky couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, hanging on every word.
The Ebony Blade spared no mercy in dragging his former wielders through the dirt, recounting their absurd quirks and borderline crazy rituals.
Ricky nearly doubled over with laughter when he heard how Percival, the original ancestor, used to sniff his own feet for good luck before battle.
"You're f*cking kidding~" Ricky wheezed, losing his breath while holding his stomach.
"I wish I were. Your bloodline is as powerful as it is profoundly strange." the Ebony Blade replied, the smirk in its voice unmistakable until it realized something.
For once, it wasn't just sarcasm or snarky commentary.
The Ebony Blade had realized that it was enjoying Ricky's company, genuinely.
There was real warmth to this moment, buried under all the humor and generational stories, as if the centuries-old weapon had finally found a wielder it didn't just tolerate but liked.
Then the conversation veered back on track, steamrolling through the countless battles they'd endured.
Each scar, each victory, and every misstep from Sicily to the bitter defeat at the hands of Dracula.
'I don't think I ever gave my condolences, for Henry I mean.' the Ebony Blade said quietly, the usual sharpness in its tone softening for the first time in their long walk.
'It's not something I like to talk about, mostly because of how hard it was for Alexander.' Ricky admitted silently, sneaking a glance at the gerbil, who was casually munching on a sunflower seed he had somehow managed to stash away.
No one mourned Henry's death as deeply as Alexander did.
The loss haunted the gerbil, keeping him awake through countless nights they had spent in isolation.
The battle against Dracula hadn't been Ricky's alone as Alexander had played his part too, tirelessly analyzing Dracula's fighting style, searching for any weakness that might turn the tide in their favor.
But it was the little things, those subtle details that supported Ricky from the sidelines, that had made him truly appreciate the people around him.
At first, he recalled how much of an asshole he had been to Alexander when they first met, and now, he couldn't imagine feeling anything less than the deep respect he held for him.
Because in the end, it was the people at his side who had enabled his success.
And it was in that realization, one where he was about to give up a vital piece of his power, that made him quickly switch the conversation.
"So, do you remember-"
Hours slipped by unnoticed as their conversation gradually softened, the sharp edges of their memories dulling until talk of the past ceased altogether.
Their exchange shifted into a sporadic chain of reflections, funny insults, and rare moments of understanding from their shared history.
"And-" Ricky was about to continue when he suddenly glanced behind him and spotted a figure that had been trailing them persistently.
Throughout their talk, Draconus had been trailing them in the most blatant way possible.
All while remaining completely oblivious to how unmistakably obvious his presence was, given his towering size.
It was as if the massive creature simply didn't grasp just how huge he was.
That's why, when Ricky finally turned back and caught sight of him, Draconus immediately dove to the side, trying to hide behind a nearby structure.
But his enormous head still stuck out in plain view, betraying his failed attempt at stealth.
'And he's still following us,' the Ebony Blade finished, sighing alongside Ricky, who glanced at the poor excuse for stealth.
"Aye, big brain, learn how to blend into the shadows like the rest of us!" Ricky shouted and yet, even when caught, Draconus kept ducking behind the structure, as if pretending to disappear would somehow make him less noticeable.
SIGH
'It is better to simply ignore him.' The Ebony Blade said plainly, knowing the creature posed no real threat and would fade away if left unnoticed.
"Whatever, I guess you're right." Ricky muttered absentmindedly, turning his gaze back to the burned city block of Camelot.
Meanwhile, the Ebony Artifacts exchanged glances though each of them bore a different shade of skepticism.
Until finally, unable to keep their thoughts to themselves any longer, one of them spoke up, their collective silence breaking as the weight of observation became too much to hold back.
'Ricky-'
"I have finished."
The voice of Merlyn cut through the air, silencing whatever the Ebony Crown was about to say as a swirling portal slowly bloomed open before them, revealing a vast amount of ritualistic mechanisms.
Using a nearby field to inscribe the full scale of the ritual circle, the runes stretched outward in a meticulous, sprawling pattern.
The air reeked of metal, coming from the burning incense and casting a thick haze that shimmered with glowing glyphs.
And at the center of it all, rested a single pair of scissors.
"I thought you said it would take the whole f*cking day?" Ricky asked, standing at the edge of the portal and peering through it instead of stepping inside.
"It does, however, the process is what constitutes so much time-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Ricky waved his hand dismissively, cutting Merlyn off mid-sentence as the undead mage's brows furrowed in mild irritation.
"Would you care to come through?" Merlyn asked, gesturing toward the carefully constructed arrangement, one that he had scoured the entirety of Otherworld to assemble.
"Yeah," Ricky muttered absentmindedly, his gaze fixed on the swirling portal as his foot hovered just inches from stepping through.
'It's a shame we didn't get to see more of Camelot,' the Ebony Blade muttered, its gaze also fixed on the entrance of the portal rather than the swirling scene within.
SIGH
The Ebony Crown let out a weary sigh, sitting at the edge of Ricky's consciousness with its patience thinning as it silently endured the unfolding exchange.
'If it is so much of a bother then why don't you two simply stop-"
"Y'know what? Let's take another quick stroll around the block," Ricky said suddenly, stepping back as Merlyn's brows knitted even tighter in frustration.
"What?" Merlyn asked, disbelief thick in his voice since he had literally forced him to do all of this.
'A very intriguing idea, I agree.' The Ebony Blade chimed in and once it did, Ricky completely turned around to walk around the city.
15 minutes later,
At the still-open portal, Merlyn sat with a visibly annoyed expression, watching as Ricky once again hesitated and slowly stepped toward it.
"Are you finished-"
"One more lap, really quick."
Another 15 minutes later,
"...." Merlyn sat in silence, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on Ricky as he inched closer once more.
'Ricky, what's that over there?' The Ebony Blade interrupted, shifting his wielder's attention toward a distant object that caught its sharp eye.
"No idea but let's find out."
Yet another 15 minutes later,
Their procrastination was on full display wtihRicky was doing everything but actually breaking the blood bond, and the Ebony Blade egging him on.
They moved in perfect sync, each dodging the truth just enough to avoid admitting they didn't really want to sever the bond, even though it was painfully obvious to everyone watching.
"Alright, that's it!" Ricky suddenly said, seemingly stopping himself just before he was about to get psych-tracked, making the mage exhale in relief, thinking it was finally over.
"I gotta feed that f*cking dragon thing over there!" Ricky declared, turning toward Draconus, who was poorly hiding behind a ruined structure, then marching off to tend to it.
'A very sound idea.'
SIGH
A heavy sigh escaped everyone but Ricky and the Ebony Blade as even Alexander, clearly fed up, started making his way toward the portal.
Sitting before it, the gerbil fixed his gaze on Merlyn, who finally acknowledged him after lowering his own eyes.
"How did you know?"
These were the first words Merlyn had spoken to Alexander since the battle, and though sudden, the gerbil slowly lifted a smile toward the undead.
"What are you-"
"Do not patronize me, Alexander. How did you know I was under the rubble?" Merlyn asked genuinely, raising an eyebrow at the gerbil, who simply stared back.
"It was a lucky guess."
Merlyn immediately scoffed at the weak excuse, fully aware it was a lie.
As if to dismiss the answer, he turned away, but Alexander's gaze remained locked on him.
Even though Merlyn was Ricky's undead, Alexander still didn't trust him for a second.
He was always on guard around the lich, knowing that out of all the undead Ricky had brought under his control, Merlyn was the one most likely to find a way to break free of servitude.
Which was why Alexander never let his guard down around him, remaining vigilant at all times.
"You were a respectable figure once, Alexander. It's a shame what you've become," Merlyn scoffed, staring ahead as if Alexander was beneath his notice.
"And yet, it's better than what you've turned into," Alexander chuckled, holding up his tiny feet to Merlyn, who hovered in the air without any of his own, immediately scowling at the poor joke.
"Guys, it eats carrots!" Ricky laughed from the side, holding out a huge carrot to Draconus, who eagerly began munching on it.
Look, another fifteen minutes later,
"Okay, it's official, the dragon thing is growing on me," Ricky said suddenly, holding up an apple to Draconus, who gently nibbled at it from his hand.
"CAN WE PLEASE GET ON WITH THIS SPELL ALREADY?!" Merlyn snapped impatiently, his frustration boiling over after Ricky had wasted a full hour just hanging around the portal.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ricky said, holding up his hand to Merlyn, whose barely contained fury was starting to make the air around him tremble.
"Why the hostility?" Ricky asked simply, raising an eyebrow in genuine confusion at how Merlyn was growing increasingly furious over what seemed like nothing.
"Why?"
"WHY!"
"YOU ASKED ME TO DELIVER THE SPELL THAT LIFTS THE BLOOD CURSE ON BOTH OF YOU, AND YET YOU'VE BEEN STANDING OUTSIDE THE PORTAL FOR AN HOUR!" Merlyn shouted, his voice cracking with frustration as he clawed at the remnants of his hair, tearing handfuls away in exasperation.
'Has it really been an hour-'
'YES!' the other Ebony Artifacts shouted at the Ebony Blade, clearly fed up with the hesitation as they all just wanted this blood bond broken already, tired of the endless stalling.
Ricky sat quietly for a moment, fingers resting on the ebony blade's handle as his eyes stayed fixed on the swirling portal before him.
"I guess, if you're ready, then we can start." Ricky muttered, glancing down at the blade with a painfully obvious hesitance.
The Ebony Blade remained silent for a long time before finally responding, its voice matching Ricky's as it literally seethed with hesitation.
'I-I suppose I am.'
But beneath that reluctant acceptance lingered an unspoken truth: a part of it didn't truly want to break away from this bloodline, from Ricky.
Not after finally reaching a place in its existence that the Ebony Blade could actually enjoy.
"Finally," Merlyn whispered, swiftly turning his hovering form toward the ritual, determined to leave no room for further delay.
"Wait," Ricky suddenly interrupted, halting everyone in their tracks as a heavy, collective sigh filled the air as all eyes snapped back to him.
"Shouldn't we wait for Bucepahlus-"
"NO!"
'NO!'
Merlyn and the ebony artifacts shouted in unison, their voices sharp and urgent, but instead of irritation, Ricky let out a hearty laugh.
Though this time, it carried a trace of anxiousness beneath his usual mocking tone.
With a forced grin, he finally stepped through the portal, Alexander scurrying right behind him.
Alexander settled quietly to the side, curling up and watching the scene unfold as Ricky, now joined by the ebony artifacts, walked toward the center of a single, massive rune inscribed on the field.
"The spell is straightforward on paper," Merlyn explained quickly, a slight scoff betraying his impatience since he was eager to get this over before Ricky could back out again.
"First, Ricky must slather the rope with his own blood, then wrap it around the ebony blade—"
"Ew~" Ricky grimaced, making a face at the strange condition, while the ebony blade seemed equally disgusted by the ritual.
"Do I really have to-"
"YES-"
BAM
Merlyn's hateful reply was almost immediately interrupted as his head was violently slammed against a nearby rock.
"You better f*ckin' relax with that tone, Merlyn, or I'm getting the tutu back out," Ricky chuckled, warning him as the undead had grown a little too comfortable with his screaming.
"Can we please continue?" Merlyn said through gritted teeth, wiping the blood that leaked from his nose.
"See? Was that so hard?" Ricky smirked, his tone dripping with condescension as he watched Merlyn shake visibly with barely contained rage.
Ricky grabbed the ebony blade, frowning slightly but carefully pressed the blade against his palm as black blood began to seep from the contact.
He then took the rope and started smearing his own blood onto it.
As the black soaked in, the rope's color shifted, deepening and darkening to match the hue.
Slowly, Ricky wrapped the bloodied rope tightly around the ebony blade, the material pulsing faintly with an eerie energy.
Finally, he picked up the small scissors, their delicate size barely fitting in his palm as he immediately frowned at them.
"Was there nothing smaller than this Merlyn?" Ricky sarcasticaly joked, waving the small scissors at Merlyn.
"Was there nothing smaller than this, Merlyn?" Ricky joked sarcastically, waving the tiny scissors in the air.
"They're the perfect size." Merlyn muttered from the side, flipping through the spellbook for the next step with a faster urgency.
"This is like only-"
"It's the perfect size!" Merlyn snapped sharply at Ricky, then immediately realized he'd spoken out of turn and quickly ducked his head to glance back at the book.
SNORT
Ricky burst out laughing, snorting as he clutched his face, watching Merlyn's entire body shake violently at his own slip-up.
"Now, we chant the spell-" Merlyn started, trying desperately to move the conversation forward, but Ricky wasn't about to let this go anytime soon now that he'd gotten hold of the joke.
"Wait, wait, are we sure the rope is right?" Ricky asked between laughs, waving the ebony blade in the air.
"I mean, it's nowhere near the perfect size and I'm just wondering-"
"Ricky."
"Oh, you're right. It's not the size of the scissors that cuts the rope, but the motion of the cut," Ricky said, spreading a cheeky smile all the way across his face at his own joke, watching Merlyn pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.
SNORT
"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Ricky cackled, rolling around in the center of the circle, clearly mocking Merlyn.
Even Alexander and the ebony artifacts couldn't hold in their laughter.
Soon, everyone was laughing, except Merlyn, who stood on the sidelines, utterly exasperated.
"Are you finished-"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" Ricky laughed loudly, pointing directly at Merlyn and really driving home the fact that they weren't laughing with him, they were laughing at him.
15 minutes later,
"Ha~" Ricky's laughter simmered, lowering it down as Merlyn simply sat at the side with a deadpan expression.
Finally, the laughter seemed to quiet down and as it did, Merlyn tried to continue on with this spell.
"Now-"
"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"
"REALLY?!"
Another fifteen minutes later,
"Alright, I'm done, I swear." Ricky said, holding up his hands like he was surrendering to his own joke.
"Just close your eyes and repeat after me," Merlyn said flatly, clearly just wanting this to be over while Ricky let out a faint chuckle, still amused, before closing his eyes.
In one hand, he held the perfectly sized scissors; in the other, the Ebony Blade wrapped tightly in the blood-soaked black rope.
"Ancient blood, bound in chains."
"Ancient blood, bound in chains," Ricky repeated, his voice quieter this time as something unseen tugged deep within his psyche.
With each syllable, it was as if part of himself was being pulled forward, inward, until he felt as if his own body was collapsing in on itself.
The rune beneath his feet flared to life, a crimson glow pulsing with unnatural energy as the smoke billowing in the air began to twist and coil around him like a living thing.
"I, the heir, now wish to break the pact."
"I, the heir, now wish to break the pact."
However, the moment those words left his lips, Ricky felt his eyes open but not in the physical sense, but within the farthest, most hidden corner of his own blood.
He found himself standing in a darkened chamber, black and boundless, carved from the deepest part of his being.
Across from him stood the Ebony Blade though not in his sword form, but as a looming presence that reflected Ricky's current appearance.
Between them stretched a rope, pulsing faintly, as if alive.
It connected the two of them, rooted into Ricky's stomach like an umbilical cord and bound them by the blood that had run through this world for generations.
"Freaky~" Ricky muttered, reaching out and brushing his fingers along the rope.
The first reaction from the touch was how unnervingly warm it was, like a living thing pulsing with his heartbeat.
"Shield, Crown?" the Ebony Blade asked, seeing its siblings adjusting to their surroundings except one.
"Hiya!" the Ebony Chalice excitedly said, appearing right next to Ricky and waving his hand directly in his face.
"Hey-........what's up with the haircut?" Ricky muttered, squinting at the Ebony Chalice instead of returning the greeting, his eyebrows raising at the oddly stylish parting of hair at the side.
"Now Ricky, do you see the rope binding the Ebony Blade to you?" Merlyn's voice echoed faintly through the strange, blood-soaked chamber, as if coming from just outside the walls of Ricky's own mind.
"Uh yeah, it's the same color as the rope on the outside-"
"They are not the same. The rope you see outside was merely a way to make the true tether physical, what you see in this room is the real one." Merlyn calmly instructed, clarifying the distinction between the symbolic and the actual bond.
"Once the blood pact is broken, the rope outside will split in two, signaling your separation," Merlyn revealed before his tone grew more hurried.
"Now, use the pair of scissors to cut the rope and hurry-"
"I get it." Ricky said, sensing Merlyn's impatience urging him forward.
His eyes locked onto the Ebony Blade across the room, the ancient sword silently meeting his gaze with a presence that was almost human.
The truth was undeniable at this point, Ricky didn't want to sever this blood pact.
He wanted this sword, this all-cutting sentient blade, and especially wanted it bound to his family alone.
However, despite that selfish desire to keep the blade tethered and obedient, Ricky lowered the scissors.
Because Ricky knew breaking the pact wouldn't mean the end of their alliance; no matter what, he'd find a way, or any excuse at all, to keep the Ebony Blade close.
It was that unshakable confidence that steadied his hand as the scissors edged toward the rope.
Though he hated the idea, he understood the value of the agreement they'd made.
With all the Ebony Blade's trust issues and deep resentment toward humans, Ricky knew that the moment he tried to back out of their agreement, the sword would never forgive him.
And he wouldn't blame it since after all, he was the one who gained the most from their arrangement.
This deal had granted him everything, from slaying Dracula to toppling Arthur, and the Ebony Blade had held up its side every time.
And every good deal required good faith.
The same faith Ricky now offered, as the Ebony Blade stood anxiously, watching him open the scissors, ready to cut the rope.
"STOP, WAIT!"
Author's Note: put the rest in the next chap cuase Im tired.