The Silver Lining

AN: Check out the videos for The Silver Lining here: http://vimeo.com/user4287166/videos Hope you enjoy them.

recordkeeper: I had to shackle him. It was just way, way, way too tempting to resist at the time lol. :) Haha, you're welcome I love him in the movie too that is why he didn't get a name change like I'd originally intended. More is here, hope ya enjoy it.
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After a few moments, and half of the contents of the bowl gone, Sophia and the others all watched as Agravaine stayed unmoving, his eyes locked on Sophia before a large smirk came to his face and he spat the liquid to the ground.

"Vile stuff there little one!" he commented and chuckled. She sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping. They'd have to force it down his throat. "Wouldn't you prefer to know what I know?" Carl told Sophia to ignore him. "Keep your lips sealed, friar, or I'll sew them shut when I get out of these shackles! Helping the runt of the litter of those stupid gypsies when you could've been helping us."

"You hold your maker's memories, Zachariah's memories and those of his maker and back but you will not be let free into this world!" Carl shouted back, moving to hit Agravaine only to have Tristan step between them and push the smaller man back, scowling.

"Lay a hand on him and friend or not of Sophia, I'll kill you," he threatened.

Sophia watched them argue with one another before Carl finally gave up and moved back. She decided that there was only one way in order for Agravaine to take the cure and she was going to have to it in front of all the others. She looked at the stuff it was deep green and smelt of vomit; no wonder the werewolf had spat it out.

"You want to know why you are unaffected by our attacks?" he queried, raising an eyebrow at her, smirking as he leaned forward and Sophia questioned how humanly possibly it was to stay in the position he was in. "You want to know why they'd rather you dead? Your own brother and sister. Well- It is all up here." He motioned to his head and chuckled cruelly.

"Alright, I am listening," she replied, folding her arms across her chest.

"That is not how it works. You want answers; you set me free and then-"

She smiled and shook her head. "I am not foolish. I promised Agravaine I would let him free only once he was rid of you. I am keeping that promise."

He struggled against the shackles and Sophia took a step back. "Little one, if you don't let me go I'll make sure you scream for death!" he growled. Sophia glanced at Arthur who was watching her, his face grim.

Pulling a face at the liquid in the bowl, she glanced at Agravaine whose now silver eyes flashed dangerously at her. "I want to speak to Agravaine."

The silver eyes flickered between light and dark, leaving Sophia wondering just how strong the things hold on Agravaine was. "You- I-" He let out a large gasp suddenly and without warning brown eyes looked around in a daze. Sophia asked Agravaine if he trusted her.

A nod was the only reply she got and Carl stepped forward when she suddenly poured the rest of the liquid into her own mouth.

Stepping in close, she found his mouth and kissed him. He returned the kiss with as much force as his body could muster. The liquid finally going down but his teeth sunk into her lower lip as she pulled back, drawing blood from her. Sophia held the lapel of her coat over her lip to try and stop the bleeding. Agravaine licked his lips and groaned a little as the liquid slid down into his belly. It left a heavy feeling in him but when he regained his bearings and took in the group around him, most prominently Sophia and Tristan of the lot, Agravaine smiled sleepily letting out a large breath of relief. "Is someone going to let me down so I can get something to eat and some sleep?"

Laughter followed his words as Tristan and Arthur freed him and helped him out and down the hall to another room. Carl grabbed hold of Sophia's arm when she made to follow the last of them. "Sophia?"

"We can talk in the morning," she told him, "please Carl, it has been a long few days and I am exhausted."

"What is Agravaine to you?" he pressed. "You kissed him. You care for him. Only a few days after meeting him?"

She nodded silently. "I do. Carl I promise you that we can talk for as long as we need in the morning," she answered. He smiled and pulled her head towards him, kissing her forehead affectionately.

They followed after the knights and Sophia smiled at the tiny little fox which Galahad produced suddenly from a pocket hidden in his tunic. Taking him, Sophia moved to sit on the blankets and fur pile that was the makeshift bed for the group for the night. "Sophia, you have rooms ready," Carl announced when Agravaine finally had finished eating and was sitting beside her, still only clad in his breeches and watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Looking down, she shook her head. "I am staying in here."

"Amongst all of them?" he inquired of her. She nodded and wrapped her arm around Galahad's neck from where he sat on the opposite side of her to Agravaine. Despite not understanding his friend at the present time, he sighed heavily and nodded. "If you need anything you can find me behind the door on the left at the end of this hall."

"Thank you friar," Arthur said from where he sat in a chair near the fireplace as though he was a father watching over his playful children.

"Its Carl, never liked formalities between friends of which I know we shall become," Carl told Arthur and the older man nodded in reply before Carl shut the door in his wake.
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Sophia was laying between Galahad and Agravaine. She was being kept awake by the knights and their rather loud snoring. Groaned lightly, she sat up and crawled from the pile of furs and men, making her way out the door on tippy toe so as not to wake up Tristan. "Where do you think you're going?" She gasped and spun round as the door shutting silenced all the loud snores and occasional incoherent mumble.

Tristan was sitting in one of the window frames, petting his bird and bouncing his outstretched leg to which Sophia noticed was the current resting place of her pet. "Their snores were keeping me awake," she answered. He chuckled.

She bent down and scratched her little companion affectionately. "What have you decided to call him?"

"I never thought about it. I could always just call him fox but that sounds like I put no effort into it," she replied and he glanced at her before letting his bird go and reaching down to pick up the small red ball of fluff.

"Call him Loop. After all you found him while hunting a werewolf and they have also been coined in legends as being referred to as Lupine. Give him a name signifying the way in which you first found him," Tristan told her as he stood up, the fox tucked in close to his chest.

"Loop it shall be. What is your birds name?" Sophia was curious about the scout because he seemed quite protective of those he cared for, even though he did not necessarily show it openly.

"Her name is Iseult," he answered looking after where the bird had flown.

"Why Iseult?" she pressed.

He sighed heavily. "Because she saved me when I was first made a knight and lay dying on a beach after a Woad ambush. Isolde. The bird was also injured and found by her. Isolde likened me to the bird and how I was like a caged animal," he explained and Sophia didn't fail to realize the sadness in the normally placid knight's eyes. "And I know you are going to ask it so I will spar you any great detail here when I tell you that Isolde was a lover to me and one of the few women I have cared for in this world, she however was duty bound and was sent to Rome not long after I was better and returned to my brothers. She married a senator there and I was left with nothing more than memories and my pet who has refused to leave my side since that time."

Sophia smiled and looked at the ground. "You might meet her again one day."

"Sophia- Isolde and I were lovers, but that was all. I am not deserving of a wife. I would rather just my memories," he stated simply and after telling her Loop would be in safe hands, bid her goodnight and walked back into the room of snoring men.

Sighing, Sophia turned and headed down the hallways and corridors until she eventually came to a small indoor garden. The roof of this part of the monastery was missing, letting the moon and stars light the small space and she crouched down, running her fingers over a dying white rose. Yesterday she hadn't even believed herself that The Order would be here and now she didn't know what to think. They were here as was Carl and her brother and sister were still out there somewhere. She could stay in the monastery with Carl but that would mean leaving the knights and she didn't quite feel up to doing that not after everything they'd done for her and how she felt.

"Arthur would not expect you to stay, now that you have found someone you know." Spinning round as she stood up, Sophia nearly fell over only strong hands caught her, steadying her. "Easy little one."

"'Agravaine, you should be asleep," she told him pointedly.

He chuckled and shook his head. "I was. Until the warmth at my side disappeared and Galahad kicked me in his sleep," he replied and smiled as she blushed. "I wondered where you were going when I saw you sneaking out the door."

"Just for a walk," she answered and looked down at where his hands held her fast by the waist. "The snores of men are not an enjoyable lullaby for a woman when she wishes to sleep."

Agravaine grinned and stepped in closer, turning a little as Sophia grabbed his arms to brace herself when she nearly lost her footing for the second time in under ten minutes. She felt clumsier than ever before and she couldn't understand why. "Sophia, thank you."

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "You're welcome. I'm glad you're back to normal."

He smiled and leaned down, bumping his forehead against hers in a gesture that Sophia would have classed as affection. "Sorry for biting your lip, that wasn't entirely me," he remarked and Sophia shut her eyes as he tightened his grip round her waist. "Can I-"

"Agravaine-" she started. He stopped her by covering her mouth with his in a soft and quick kiss. When he pulled back, Sophia smiled, glancing to see if anyone was coming to them before sliding her arms around his neck and tugging him down into another kiss. Agravaine stepped forward, forcing Sophia back into the wall, off the small stone path and onto the dirt of the garden, their bare feet sinking into the soft cool dirt. His hands slid up her sides, now stripped of her corset from much earlier, and lifted her up the wall with surprising ease just before someone cleared their throat.

The pair pulled apart to find Silvanus standing before them, his hands folded behind him and a stern look on his face. Sophia ducked her head, blushing heavily as Agravaine scowled at the father.

Unlike Sophia he held no faith in Rome's God and he was not particularly fond of many of those who did. He was Pagan. He didn't believe in only one holy deity. He believed in a mother goddess and her children. He believed in what he could touch, smell, taste and hear. Even as a child he had.

"I believe Lady, that Carl had rooms prepared for you. I think, given the present scenario, it would be wise for you to go and stay in them and not sleep among men," Silvanus told Sophia who glanced up at Agravaine a little. He wasn't looking at her.

"Sophia," he growled out. "She has a name. Use it when you address her." Strong arms tightened around her and she wondered if a lingering side of the wolf was still in him. He was acting very different as to what Agravaine normally did. Maybe it was just a side effect. Either way she did not mind. In fact, she liked that he had come and found her though she did find it odd; his first words to her. How had he known what she was thinking?

Silvanus did not seem phased by Agravaine until the knight stepped toward him. Sophia watched as his muscles tensed and his hand clenched into a fist. He was angry. "Thank you father, but I feel much safer among them than I do in a room on my own."

"It would be in the best interest of respecting your faith Sophia to take the rooms," he replied, clearing not happy with her response.

Agravaine took another step forward and Sophia took hold of his forearm. "Sophia's faith?" Agravaine asked. "Or her virtue? If you're worried about such things happening among these walls, you do not have to. I may hate your God but my commander taught me respect for not only faith and religion but also women."

Silvanus looked at the knight in clear shock. "I never!"

"You don't have to!" he snapped back. "Your face tells it all." Agravaine smirked before stepping past the father. "What did you fear more father; what I was to become or what I am?" Sophia looked at the father, noticing the way he moved back from Agravaine. He was afraid of him. Agravaine's appearance probably had a great role to play in why the father feared him and Sophia didn't feel one bit sorry for Silvanus.

"Sophia?" the father questioned.

"Come on Sophia," Agravaine said, holding his hand out to her as he watched them. Moving forward, she took hold of Agravaine's hand and allowed him to lead her down the hallways and corridors. "If that gets you into any trouble-"

"Do not worry Agravaine, I don't always share the opinions of my faith," she mused and saw him grin a little.

He stopped suddenly and eased her back into the door that lead to their bed for the rest of the night. "Oh really?" he inquired, tucking her hair back behind her ears. She nodded a little, her eyes watching his face intently. He chuckled softly and Sophia found his smile, despite everything else, to be genuine whenever he gave her one. "I think we should get some sleep, knowing our luck, the moment we return to the wall, Arthur will have another mission crossing his desk."

Sophia nodded again and as she made to step inside when he opened the door, Agravaine caught her hand and pulled her slowly back toward him, kiss her knuckles before leaning in further and kissing her lips gently. "Goodnight little one," he murmured against her before letting her go inside, not missing that she was blushing heavily.

When he shut the door and returned to his place on the makeshift pile of furs and rugs, Agravaine felt her hand grip his own and smiled into the dark, tightening his grip on the small fingers before they were gone.