Chapter Text
────── ༻⋅☼⋅༺ ──────
Eyes filled with lack of interest, sudden interest at the mentions of traveling to other worlds in the universe, fake smiles whenever somebody checked on him, trying to be reassuring but unknowingly failing..
The king of Camelot was getting bored of his role, missing the world he came from..
Atleast, that's the answer Lancelot received when he asked the crystal ball what was wrong with his superior.
Oh, Arthur.. if only I had known you never liked being king as much as the people thought you did..
The ruler was overfocused on something he had avoided to tell anyone about, hiding it, keeping secrets. He had turned more silent, socializing less.. Everyone was worried, nobody had seen him behave like that in the past. But no one wanted to bother with questions.
'He's probably stressed from all the paperwork, he needs some time alone.'
My King.. how easy it was for you to hide your feelings.. You had us all fooled.
It all first started when a female servant was noticed running around the whole palace.
Looking for something, or someone.
She seemed more than panicked.
Gawain had stopped her, asking what happened, what was wrong.
"Th-the king is missing! I-I haven't seen him everywhere!"
A kingdom without a king was a big deal. Chaos was always the result of it.
The poor girl, her eyes were wide, she had sweat all over her face, she was panting from running around..
Gawain put a hand gently on her shoulder, despite the cold feeling of his gauntlets, trying to reassure her, that everything would be alright. And then he went to look for the king, warning the knights about it if he found them while passing by.
When the news landed on Lancelot's ears, he paled and froze.
"Missing..?? I had thought he returned to his chambers a few hours ago.."
A kidnapping? It couldn't be. The castle was well protected. The security was in a very skilled and disciplined level. He knew that!
What happened then?
He wanted to help with the research, but he promised Arthur he was going to help him with paperwork until finishing atleast 60% of what was left to do, so the other could rest!! He can't break a promise, can't he!? He's too loyal for that.
Fuck.
But everyone was looking, outside, on floor 4, on the guest rooms area, on the kitchen, by the stables, on the training grounds..
No answer on where the king was yet??
Lancelot found it weird.
He chose to go look for the monarch himself. If you want it done right, you should just do it yourself, isn't it?
He walked around, checking room by room, closet by closet.. He got into a small storage room, on floor 2.
He hurriedly opened the door (he obviously was starting to panic along with the other search team.) And saw a blue spiraled portal, almost 2 meters (6'6 feet??) tall, in the middle of the room, with scattered books and discarded papers on the floor around it, along with some unknown liquids who seemed to be used for alchemy or potion brewing.
It seemed someone had opened it hours ago, and forgot to close it.
Last time he saw an open portal was when Lady Guinevere had to go somewhere (that she chose to keep the location as secret, curse her, he still wants to know where that place was!), but that portal was warm, recently opened.
This one, it emitted a cold breeze, and a visible weak strength, destabilized.
Portals couldn't last long before closing.
This one was about to close.
He had no time to warn anyone about this!
He ran into the portal seconds before it closed. Perfect timing.
And so, Lancelot was in Camelot no more.
🌀✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦🌀
"Ugh.."
He groggily regained his consciousness after the portal took him, rubbing his temples as he suddenly jolted at a loud beep coming from an angry driver inside a red car.
"Move it, freak!! You're in the middle of the damn road!"
The knight quickly ran off the pavement, avoiding getting a car run over him.
"Where am I.." He muttered, as he looked around.
Big tall buildings, lots of cars driving by, apartment buildings, hotels.. stores, stores, stores, stores..
Gosh, everywhere he saw there were.. stores!
He took some steps back, in shock, jaw dropped, almost tripping over his feet.
"This isn't Camelot.."
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
He followed the mass of people crossing a thick crosswalk. He had accidentally bumped into someone once he got onto the other way.
"Oof! Sorry. Didn't see you there." Said the Green-feathered Hawk he had found himself apologizing to.
"Hey, that's a nice cosplay you got in there. Are you going to a con or somethin'? Hah, anyway, I'm Jet. Jet the Hawk, leader of the Babylon Rogues" The bird offered a hand to shake.
The knight shook the other's hand.
"Lancelot." He forced his name out of his mouth.
He had always been very introverted, struggling with social interactions with people he didn't know. It was usually Arthur who brought his confidence up, who got him a bit more social during new encounters. But the monarch wasn't here, he silently hoped he was..
"That's a nice name. Never heard it from anyone here. You're not from here, are you? You doin' some tourism??"
The Hawk put a hand on his hip.
"I believe I might be lost. Where am I?" Lancelot tried to say what he needed to say.. Remember Arthur's socializing advice and technique! Who cares if the monarch runned his mouth a bit too much back in Camelot! Follow the trick, Lance!
"Lost? Hm. Well, you're in luck, I know this place like the palm of my hand, better than everyone! I could take you to my hotel until you find where you're going."
"I appreciate your help."
Lancelot had followed Jet to the so called hotel.
He must admit, it was a decently good room. There was a window big enough the size of the wall, with a view to the city. Two separate beds, a tv infront of them with a large desk under, and a built-in bathroom besides the entrance, Jet probably had a guest with him already, noticing the beds.
"Do you live here?" He murmured, he actually had thought he was speaking in a normal tone.
"Ah, I was born in this city." The bird copied the knight's low tone. "But no, I live elsewhere, with my girl."
The knight noticed the mimicry, and corrected his tone.
"Then, what might you be doing here?"
"I had some affairs to do back here, my girlfriend came with me but she had to return before I."
That explained the two beds.
"Stay as long as you want to. I'm staying for one or two weeks still." Jet continued. "..Not that I feel lonely in this room without anyone staying." He muttered under his breath.
"Hmm." The knight was already infatuated by the landscape, he was almost glued to the window.
You didn't see stuff like these back in Camelot.
"Right! Do you have a phone??" The green Hawk joined the knight by the window.
"Uh.. I believe not." He didn't know what a phone was, but didn't really ask what was it.
"Oh. Well, if you need help finding your destinations I could lend ya my phone, and my maps!"
Maps?? He knew how to use those! He's used maps and compasses before to get to where he's going.
"I'd like that."
Lancelot accepted the offer.
꩜── 𖣠⋅𖦹⋅𖣠 ──꩜
What. Was he. Looking at.
That's not a map! Those are just lines in a rectangle box!! What is that weird shaped arrow there, it covered the view! What are those weird circles around the rectangle, it made no sense!! How could anyone use THAT to navigate themselves?! That's absurd!
"Oh. You've.. never used Google maps before?? Pft. Let me teach ya."
Jet broke the silence.
"You zoom out to look at more areas.. you use both fingers and slide to move the camera.. the search bar is at the upper part, you just type *what* you're looking for. And.. here's where you press so you start the program."
He felt so stupid. He usually was the one teaching, now he's the one being teached, by someone who seems to be teaching him like if he was a toddler?!
He knew how to 'slide' and how to 'type', he didn't need his help! He always finds a way to self-teach himself if he didn't know something anyway!
The Hawk showed him an exemple, typing up a cafe and pressing the button on the right corner..
"ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛɪɴɢ ɴᴀᴠɪɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ"
The rectangle.. talked?!
Was someone stuck inside that flat thing?!
A spell?! A curse?!
"And.. that's how you use Google maps. Tutorial for dummies. Your turn."
Jet gave Lancelot full control of the rectangle screen.
He typed down.. very, very slowly, 'King Arthur'
ɴᴏ ʀᴇꜱᴜʟᴛꜱ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ.
The magical box couldn't find who he was looking for?! Ridiculous! Jet had told him minutes ago it could find whatever he looked for!
"Oh yeah, that's... not how it works. It can only find places." The Hawk corrected
Oh..
Well..
He had to figure out where he's going then..
"It's.. getting late. Do you want to catch something to eat outside, or stay here?" Jet asked him. Wondering if the other was hungry or wanted to go for a walk in the meantime.
"However you'd like, I shall follow you."
Lancelot answered
"Great! I'll show you around, maybe you'd find something that you'd like outside."