Memory Jar

Chapter 1

He didn't know why. This wasn't about the glory. This wasn't about honor or pride. This was about a girl whose bravery admired but also worried about. Arthur sometimes taught her how to read - though he didn't remember where he had learned it himself.
She was his friend in almost the same way that Lance was. He couldn't let the shadow get to her!
Where were her parents?
Safe at home? Were they worried? Did they even know what she was doing?

Arthur didn't make it in time. There was a man already with her. Dressed all in bluish black tunics. Not too different from the ones that Arthur had to throw away a couple of weeks ago. (He didn't really throw them away. He gave them to Gwen to mend it. Because Arthur was a lost cause when it came to sewing.)
The man wore no sword as he bent down to the girl who threw a small fireball at him.

He merely blinked and soon the fireball was gone.

It was only then that the girl seemed to realize what kind of man stood in her way.

Arthur, too, was instantly afraid. He, himself, had no weapon either. He had simply forgotten.
The knights however, had grabbed for their own immediately.

"Let her go!", Arthur exclaimed. Breathing heavily as he approached the man. Who was crouching down to the girl and cupped her hands in his. He ignored Arthur, like he was a nosy fly.

"Blosdme.", the man said. And Arthur feared for the worst as he returned to sprinting to shield her from the impact of whatever spell this man had just used.

But the girl was unharmed. Nothing ever hit her. But her eyes were wide like plates as she stared at what the man held between her hands.
She looked up, the fear momentarily forgotten. The man smiled, before he spoke.

"You shouldn't be out here, milady.", he said in the softest voice Arthur had ever heard. And yet, it sounded familiar. Arthur froze once more, breath burning like ice in his lungs.
It was a flower. She held a flower in her hands. A blue, single small flower.
The man ruffled her hair. "I think your father is worried about you.", he said and nodded in Arthur's direction.

She turned around. Only now noticing Arthur standing there.
She blinked. "He's not my father. Arthur is my friend.", she said. Her fighting spirit was gone now.
Like it had never been there.
"Arthur?", the man frowned. And then he stood up and turned around.

Arthur stopped breathing. To just stare.
Never in his life had he seen someone so - beautiful.
How that was the first word that came to mind, he didn't know. The next were: "Do I know you?"

The man tilted his head. "Your name is Arthur?", he asked, instead of answering. And Arthur cursed. Why - oh why had he chosen that blasted name?
"Yes.", Arthur nodded.

The man nodded, as he send off the girl with a ruffle through her hair. She beamed at him, flower still in her hands as she run over to be shielded by Arthur, as he picked her up.

"You're not the prince, are you?", the man asked. He was pale. Incredibly pale. With dark shaggy hair and cheekbones sharp as knifes.
His dark outfit only contrasted the paleness of his skin and made him look sad. Almost painfully so. There were dark shadows under his eyes.
Arthur blinked. 'Shadows?', he wondered and then he realized who this was.

"Not that I knew, no.", Arthur responded honestly. What idiot just asked people who they were and simply believed it? The man walked closer, holding his hand up as a signal. For the knights to put their weapons down.

His eyes flashed gold for just a second. Then he nodded. Oh - so he was checking his intentions with magic. Good. Very good. Not creepy at all.
"He speaks the truth.", the man said to the knights. But he looked at Arthur strangely anyway.
"There is something about you, Arthur -", he said and tilted his head, like something was nudging at him. A faint memory perhaps. "You look familiar."