Love me like you do (Gwaine x Lancelot | Lancelot/Gwaine)

Chapter 4

Lancelot didn't end up seeing Gwaine for training, though he had desperately wanted to. There was something different about how Gwaine fought, it lit a fire in his chest, made the passion for being a knight reignite. 

He'd decided he would wait for Gwaine to ask him about training again, he didn't want to rush what could be a possible friendship. Lancelot already felt bad for judging Gwaine so quickly. The happy go lucky knight was a nice guy and Lancelot guessed that was the reason he had wanted to dislike him, he was jealous of how he could live his life so easily without a care in the world and not be afraid to take a risk whereas Lancelot would hang back, not tell people about how he felt and not fight for the things he loved. He'd let Gwen go so easily, he could have had her but he was to afraid to fight. To afraid of failure.

He'd nodded at Gwaine during a meeting the morning after they had trained , the knight was chirpy as usual, laughing at something Elyan had said and nodded happily to Lancelot in return.

He finished talking and leaned over towards Lancelot

'Good morning Lance, I was thinking we could-'

Gwaine was cut short when Leon burst through the doors, chest heaving as he fought for breath.
'Sire, Morgana's men have been found in Camelot borders' He puffed, holding a hand against his heart.

'Assemble the knights. ' Arthur ordered and the knights at the table got up and began to depart.

'Leon come and tell me what happened' He added and the curly haired knight stumbled forward.

'You four stay as well' Arthur gestured at Lancelot, Gwaine, Elyan and Percival who made their way over to their Prince and Leon.

'Now Leon, explain what happened' Arthur said gently and Leon took a ragged breath before speaking.

'There was about fifteen of us, we were just patrolling the main borders as usual and they just jumped out at us, thirty at least. We were outnumbered, we fought as hard as we could but it was hopeless. They slaughtered nearly everyone, only me and Sir Isen escaped. I'm sorry Sire, I shouldn't have fled, but I was terrified for the safety of the Kingdom. I had to warn you before they could attack anyone else. They were so vicious- they were tearing people apart, slicing people so many times I... I couldn't stand the screams' His head fell into his hands and he was shaking violently. 'I can still hear it' He whimpered and Arthur put an arm round his shoulder in a comforting manor.

'It's okay Leon. We're going to sort this. Morgana and those men will pay for what they did.'

Lancelot could feel himself shaking a little, Leon was usually so composed and to see him shaken up was frankly a terrifying thing. Arthur stood up and signalled for the others to leave while he tried to comfort Leon who was covering his ears and whispering to himself.

'Be prepared for anything, don't hesitate to retreat if there aren't enough of you to handle a situation, I don't want to lose any of you.' Arthur told them as they filed out of the room. With one last look back at Arthur and Leon the knights exited the room and headed to the horses.

***

No patrols found any of Morgana's men anywhere that day, the searches continued and after two weeks still nothing was found and the knights were exhausted. They rode out everyday, searching dawn til dusk for any sign that they had been there, but to no avail. 

Lancelot had hardly had a moment to relax, let alone talk to Gwaine. They were put on separate patrols most days and even when they were together they could hardly hear themselves think let alone talk to each other. Heavy rain and Strong winds had increased the difficulty of the searches and Lancelot had wondered if Morgana's magic had something to do with the weather. He wasn't sure if she was that powerful but it seemed comforting to be able to blame their misfortune on her.