Prompt: A little bit of Flick during the vacation 'rift.'

The sound of laughter mixed with scattered squeals of delight filled the early morning air, as a dozen teenagers chased each other through the shallow water of a beautiful mountain lake. A rather impromptu game of tag had come out of nowhere. When both water and super powers were added into the equation, even something like tag could quickly turn into something much more. Especially among this particular group, with Sands and Roxa acting as the ringleaders.

"See," Flick casually noted from her side of the small, three-person boat. A boat that was currently on the opposite side of the lake, far from where that group was. "I told you we'd need to put plenty of distance between us and them if we're actually gonna catch anything today." She gave a very slight tug on her fishing pole, just to watch the string bounce. "They're pretty loud."

The other two occupants of the boat, Abigail and Wyatt, looked at one another while lightly grasping their own poles. Abigail was the first to reply, "Are you really sure you don't want to be over there with them? Wyatt and I are more than capable of fishing for ourselves, you know?"

"Yes," Wyatt agreed, his head bobbing up and down quickly. "And if you want to go back to them, I can do another perimeter search. I'm still not completely certain that magpie was a--"

"It was a real magpie, Wyatt," Flick gently but firmly insisted. "I helped you interrogate it earlier, before we decided to let it go." She shifted a bit in the boat, reaching out to put one hand lightly against his. "Believe me, I know how hard this is to believe. It might've only been three days since you both got here, but I've been here for two and a half weeks now. We're safe here. This is a real vacation. I trust the Ankou. When they say that no one will find us here, they mean it."

Wyatt's pronounced Adam's apple bobbed almost as dramatically as his head had a moment before, as he made himself swallow back his instinctive suspicion. Well, most of it, anyway. "But they aren't here all the time. They don't control what everyone in the world does, you said that yourself. If the wrong group decides to do something different, something these Ankou didn't expect, they might come all the way out here. We shouldn't put our fates entirely in their hands."

"You're right," Flick agreed before Abigail could speak up. "Trust but verify. That's why we put up our own alarm spells and lookouts." She shifted her hand to interlace her fingers with his and gave a firm squeeze. "We're not being stupid about it, Wyatt, I promise. But we can be careful and still enjoy ourselves. It's okay for you to enjoy yourself."

Abigail nodded in agreement, her own hand moving to squeeze her long lost brother's shoulder. A brother she had only been able to get to know over this past year or so. "Exactly. We can let loose a little bit without leaving ourselves wide open. Why don't we keep fishing for a while, then we can take a walk together through the woods and do some birdwatching. On the way, we'll check on those alarms, just in case."

Flick grinned at that. "Sure, and after we make sure everything's intact, we can tell everyone about that exercise you wanted to run."

Wyatt's face brightened as he straightened up and quickly asked, "You mean the invasion test? You think they'll go for that?"

With an easy nod, Flick pointed out, "They've got as much interest as we do in making sure this place is safe. And they can be pretty competitive. Between all that and the way Avalon can motivate people to get off their butts, yeah, it'll be fine."

Abigail cleared her throat. "Are you talking about that competition idea I heard you two batting around yesterday?"

"Yup," Flick confirmed with a wink at her brother. "Wyatt does everything he can to secure this area and make sure nobody can get in. Then everyone else goes outside the line and tries to sneak through. If anyone can make it all the way to his bedroom in the Roundabout and touch the door without getting caught first, they win some sort of prize."

As she was saying that, Flick glanced over the edge of the boat and stared down into the water. "You know, I'm starting to think it might be easier to jump in and grab the fish ourselves." A dangerous, quick smile came then as she added, "Or, if we want to be as efficient as possible…"

Abigail rolled her eyes and gave her younger sister a poke in the shoulder. "We're not sending the sharks after them. That defeats the whole point of fishing. Actually, it defeats the intention and the result. If we send your sharks after the fish, you know they'll just eat them."

Snickering a little, Flick replied, "Well, sure, but at least they'd be happy. They like being helpful, and they like eating."

They all fell silent for a minute or two then, simply sitting in the boat together holding their fishing poles. In truth, none of them actually cared if they caught anything. There were much easier and faster ways to do that, as they already said. This was about spending time together, just the three of them. What they were actually doing through that time was almost immaterial. They had been separated from each other, especially the twins, for so much of their lives. Even now that they had finally been brought together, the three often had other things keeping their attention. Flick's time in the past, going through all the rifts, was only the latest example.

The point was, they weren't going to waste this opportunity. And, being entirely honest, fear of this time being interrupted was a major reason for Wyatt's increased anxiety about being infiltrated or attacked. He wanted everything to be perfect.

Finally, after those few minutes of quiet contemplation, Abigail asked, "What kind of reward were you thinking of? You know it'll have to be something special if they actually get past Wyatt's defenses."

Flick met the question with a purposefully blank stare. "You've met Wyatt, right? Why should we bother actually coming up with a prize for something that's never gonna happen? The only way any of them are getting through his defenses is if he lets it happen."

Before the other two could respond at all, a small, gray-furred lump that had been curled up in the bottom of the boat straightened and gave flick a soft, yet very commanding, "Meow."

Wyatt nodded in agreement. "Sergeant Kickwhiskers is right. You should never assume anything like that. People can surprise you. Always prepare for disaster. Always be ready for the person you least expect to suddenly become a much greater threat." He held up a hand before the girls could protest. "Yes, yes, not that sort of threat. You're right. They're friends. I… ahhh, understand." From the way he rubbed the back of his neck, the man still felt awkward about that whole concept. "But you never know what might happen. And… well, what I really mean is, people are capable of surprising you. They might think of something I didn't. That's the whole point behind this test. I'm only one person. I want to see what everyone else thinks of, what they do to get past me. I'm not good at… ahhh, knowing how other people think."

Abigail and Flick exchanged another look before the latter spoke up gently. "I'm pretty sure you're better than you think at that. But you're right, we shouldn't assume failure, for plenty of reasons. Besides, we should probably make the prize go to whoever gets the furthest anyway." As she said that, her hand reached out to gently scratch the cat under the chin. "I'm surprised he's this comfortable out in the middle of the water."

Wyatt gave a pointed harumph at that, head shaking. "Do you truly think I'd allow my cat to hold onto a weakness like fear of water? That's something our enemies could take advantage of. Ahem, Sergeant? Torpedo time."

No sooner had he said that, than Kickwhiskers promptly hopped up and dove out of the boat. Both women gasped in surprise as the cat went right into the water and disappeared from sight. All they could make out, as both leaned over and stared that way, was a small, dark shape swimming deeper into the lake.

After a moment, they turned to Wyatt, who held up a hand for them to wait. Gradually, he lowered one finger after another, counting down from five. Just as he finished turning his raised hand into a fist, there was another splash, and the cat hopped back into the boat. He wasn't alone either. There was a small trout in his mouth, which he dropped down and immediately began to feast on.

In response to the briefly stunned silence, Wyatt proudly announced, "You see? Your pets aren't the only ones who could make fishing poles redundant."

Abigail and Flick stared at the proudly munching cat, then at Wyatt, and finally at one another. Then they both laughed easily. Flick waved a hand in acceptance. "Sure, sure, and just like the sharks, it seems your little buddy has decided to keep the spoils for himself too. So I guess we'll just have to keep doing this the long way. At least now we know there's really fish down there that we could be catching. I was starting to wonder."

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"I don't suppose your cat knows any other good tricks?" Abigail asked. "Like, for example, coming up with a good prize for this game of yours?"

Wyatt shook his head after giving the feline an appraising look. "Kickwhiskers has many good qualities, but sharing isn't one of them. If he had anything that could be considered a prize, we wouldn't be able to pry it out of his paws. I'm afraid we'll just have to come up with something ourselves."

Together, the three of them sat back in the boat and continued to fish like that while batting around ideas. In the end, the cat wasn't the only one who managed to get something out of the lake. They went back to shore with a cooler full of nine fish when they were done. Three had been caught by Abigail, four by Wyatt, and two by Flick.

Nor had they come up empty when it came to a decent prize. Between the three of them, they had decided what the best thing to offer would be.

Or, more to the point, Wyatt and Flick had completely bombed out in coming up with something, only for Abigail to come to the rescue. It seemed that as part of being the principal of the Fusion School, Athena had gifted her with a special crystal. The crystal could transform itself into any Earth-based vehicle it scanned. Cars, trucks, planes, anything that humans could build, the crystal could turn into and completely function as. Abigail had already informed the other woman that she would probably find someone who needed it more than her, and Athena had agreed. So that would be the prize. Whoever managed to get the furthest in sneaking past Wyatt's defenses would get that crystal.

But something that special obviously required giving the contestants a bit more of a chance. Instead of giving them only a few hours to plan their attack, it had been decided to give several days. It was Wednesday now, and on Sunday, anyone who wanted to try could have the entire evening to find a way through.

As they tied up the boat at the dock, Abigail looked at the other two. "Well, that was a worthwhile morning, don't you think?"

Flick smiled easily. "Abs, to be honest, I never really cared what we were doing today.

"I'm just glad I had a chance to spend time with you guys."

***********

Prompt: Gwen goes to collect some members of Avalon (the organization of former Camelot people) who have gone off on their own in an attempt to save Gaia because they think she doesn't want to do so.

At one time, a number of years earlier, the three-story structure had been a thriving mall, full of throngs of noisy, busy shoppers. Hundreds of teens and adults had filled the space all day long. Somewhat more recently, the structure had served as a nice home for the Alters of Wonderland. But that had ended some time ago as well, as the group moved on to their next hiding place.

So, after being thoroughly searched by Boschers who were just slightly too far behind their quarry, the place had stood empty for some time. Most would have thought it was still empty even now. Most would have believed no one with any ties to the supernatural world would choose to hide in a place that had already become known to Boschers. But then, most weren't the woman who had just walked inside.

Guinevere, Gwen to her friends, strode through the main entrance. Her long blonde hair was tied into a pair of braids, which bounced as she walked. The ends of the braids were dyed an almost shockingly bright pink. She wore white overalls with a rainbow pattern over them, and a pink tee-shirt. Her feet were adorned with simple light blue sneakers. All together, anyone who didn't know who she was would assume the person who walked into that empty mall was a very ordinary young woman, barely in her twenties, if that, whose only concerns were dating and school. Even many of those who did technically know her identity would likely question it a bit.

Walking through the main foyer until she reached the center, Gwen glanced toward the empty store spaces all around her, then to the still escalator before speaking in a casual tone, voice not rising above that of a face-to-face conversation. Even then, it echoed somewhat given the utter silence that had completely filled this space before. "I'd like to have a talk, if you're not too busy."

When no response came in the few long seconds that followed, she smiled before adding, still casually, "Please don't make me use the queen voice. I really don't like using the queen voice."

Still, the quiet emptiness remained for another moment or two, until a man appeared at the top of the escalator. He wasn't exactly tall by human standards, standing only four feet, one inch in height, with rather long red hair (relatively speaking) and a matching beard that was neatly trimmed. He wore a nice black suit, and stared down that way before speaking up. "If you've come to tell us what a mistake we're making, your majesty, you've wasted a trip." Even while saying that, the man still gave a very deferential bow.

"Well," Gwen replied smoothly, "then I suppose I'll just have to accept the waste. Because you are making a mistake. You all are. You've come out here, left the rest of our people behind, for what?" She took a step forward and gave a simple little hop. A hop that, with her flight power and speed, carried her almost instantly up to the second floor where she landed a few feet away from the man. All while continuing to speak. "You're trying to rescue her, aren't you, Bilis?"

The short man turned that way to keep facing her, inclining his head in acknowledgement. He respected, and cared about, Queen Guinevere too much to ever lie to her. "Yes. And we will continue to do so, no matter what arguments you make about how untrustworthy and dangerous she is, your majesty. I am sorry for the bluntness, and should you demand my expulsion, even strip me of titles and authority, I accept your judgment. But it is my judgment that Gaia is not the same person she was when she betrayed Camelot all those years ago. She has changed. And I will not see her languish in the Crossroads prison any longer. I will do all it takes to get her out."

"He means we will, your majesty." The new voice came from just a bit further down that upper level walkway, where two dozen more figures of all shapes and sizes, half of them human and half Alters, had appeared. Well, Gwen had always known they were there, but she had politely ignored them until they showed themselves. Just as she knew there were others who were still invisible. These twenty-four came closer, giving brief, polite bows before one of them, a cat-like Rakshasa, continued, "Sir Bilis is not alone here. Not physically, and certainly not in his determination. We wish to save Morgan-- Gaia. We know her history with you and all that she did in those days. We know you have very good reasons for disliking and distrusting her. But we believe she has changed too much to be judged by those actions anymore. And, to be entirely frank," the gray and tan-furred woman added somewhat pointedly, "the world needs her now."

A long, uncomfortable silence followed, as they all nervously watched and waited for the queen's reaction. They were anxious, but none would back down. Finally, Gwen took in a long, deep breath before letting it out slowly. When she spoke, the words were, if not the single last thing these people expected to hear, at least within the top ten. "I owe each of you an apology."

The red-bearded man, Bilis, blinked in bewilderment at that, exchanging a look with the others, none of whom seemed to understand any more than he did, before offering a hesitant, "I'm sorry?"

"No, as I said, I'm the one who's sorry," Gwen informed him. She hesitated just slightly before pushing on. "I'm sorry that I made you all think you had to go this far, that you had to leave the safety of our home, that you had to keep this secret from me. I'm sorry that I made you think you had to choose between doing the right thing and being cast out of Avalon, or staying with me and abandoning your principles. No matter how I feel about Gaia, no matter what history we may have had, I never should have made you believe that you had to make that sort of choice.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way, I'm sorry I made you think you had to go that far," she continued, head slowly turning to meet all of their gazes, even the ones who were still invisible. "You should always be able to come to me with your arguments, and you certainly shouldn't have to leave our people and put yourselves in danger out here alone, just to do what you see as the right thing. You shouldn't have to feel abandoned like that. The fact that you did means I failed to be the person you needed me to be. I'm sorry, and I will try to be better in the future."

Interlocking her hands behind her back as she straightened up, Gwen continued carefully, yet sincerely. "You are all correct, I have had my problems with the woman who now goes by Gaia. She betrayed her brother, my husband, your king. She betrayed our people. She… made bad choices. And I've held onto my anger about that for a long time. The truth is, I went undercover to Crossroads last year for a number of reasons, but one of them was to prove that she had not changed, to prove that she would always be the same person she was when she called herself Morgan Le Fey. I wanted to prove I was right to never trust her, and to never let her join us."

She fell silent once more for a long few seconds before adding, "I wanted to prove I was right to never tell her about the Seosten themselves. I thought knowing about them would only give her ways to make things worse. Whatever other justification I gave, that was what I truly believed."

Another slow exhale followed, as she made sure they were listening. "I was wrong. Gaia is not the same person she was as Morgan. She has grown, she has changed. But here is the most important part. Even if she hadn't, even if she was still as impulsive and angry as ever, even if she was still the same Morgan Le Fey we knew, saving her would still be the right thing to do. She is one of us. She is our king's sister. She is family. Whatever else she is, whatever else she may be capable of, she is also part of Avalon, part of Camelot. And she absolutely should not be imprisoned by those people."

Her hand extended toward the small man, but the gesture was meant for them all. "So come back. Let us put our efforts together. You have my word, we will save Gaia. And we'll do it together, with all of our resources."

The man took her offered hand. He didn't look back to the others, there was no need to. Even those who had been invisible had revealed themselves by that point. And he spoke for all of them when he replied, "As you wish, my queen."

"Actually," she reminded him, "as we wish. Now, let's go. It's about time we brought Gaia home."

No sooner had she finished saying that, than another figure came through the entrance of the mall. Percival, former Knight of the Round Table and current Crossroads Committee member, though everyone here knew better than to fear him. His voice boomed out. "Sorry for interrupting the party." His voice magically shifted so that only Gwen could hear him. "Crossroads has a problem with the Edge."

"You mean the lighthouse?" Gwen's voice shifted to be magically private as well. "What sort of problem?"

There was a brief pause before the man replied, "The sort of problem where it's not there anymore.

"The lighthouse is gone."

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