Diane took a deep breath as she walked into the courtroom.

It was the first day of Arthur and Guinevere's custody battle and Jericho was already sitting with their client at the table. Guinevere had apparently not yet arrived, but the rest of the Boar Hat gang had. Ban gave her a thumbs-up from where he was seated next to Elaine and King. Meliodas was talking over the half-wall that separated them from Arthur, consoling his red-haired friend and reassuring him like a good buddy did.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"Simple—we're here for support," Merlin replied, crossing her arms. "Guinevere is an expert liar and you'll need all the help you can get."

"Thanks. But remember, you need to be quiet while we're going through the proceedings." She looked directly at Ban. "No matter how much Guinevere lies through her teeth."

Almost as if on cue, another lawyer walked into the room, followed by Guinevere. She was dressed like it was a goddamn fashion show instead of a custody hearing for her child, strutting into the courtroom like it was a catwalk. Diane rolled her eyes and tried to remember why Arthur had even married her in the first place.

Luckily, the judge was someone she knew.

Dreyfus banged his gavel as Lancelot entered the courtroom and sat down with Guinevere, the two making a big show as they showed open affection. Arthur didn't even looked bothered by it. He'd told Diane that he was completely over Guinevere now and that she'd more than likely try to shove her relationship with Lancelot into their faces to try and make them lose their cool.

"Today is the custody hearing between Arthur Pendragon and Guinevere and Lancelot du Lac," Dreyfus announced. There were a lot of people in the courtroom. Despite Arthur's desire to keep their legal battle, you know, private and between two adults concerning the welfare of a little girl like they were supposed to, Guinevere had been posting about it online and turning it into a situation where she was a woman who'd been forced away from her little girl and Arthur was the monster who tore them apart.

How anyone believed her bullshit was beyond Diane's understanding.

"As I understand it, Arthur Pendragon has had custody of the child for a year now following your divorce. Mrs. Du Lac, why are you now seeking custody?"

Guinevere's eyes filled with crocodile tears and Diane had to fight the desire to once again roll her eyes at how manipulative this woman was. Scratch that; she knew exactly how Arthur had been tricked into marrying that banshee.

"Arthur was neglectful to me as a husband. Lancelot was nothing but a good friend of mine who comforted me in times of need. I was an exemplary mother and Arthur took my baby away from me. I'm only seeking custody now because my life has stabilized enough to bring my little girl back into it."

"Bullshit…" Diane heard Ban mutter behind her. She silently motioned for him to shut up.

"I see. And Mr. Pendragon, what say you?"

"I admit that while I was married to Guinevere, I wasn't the most attentive I could have been. I had a business to run and I was often away setting up new locations once it really took off. However, I have never once mistreated either Guinevere or our daughter and I have been our daughter's primary caretaker for the past five years. I'm willing to let Guinevere have visitation or even partial custody, but not full custody. I simply do not trust her with our child."

Guinevere's lawyer—a slimeball by the name of Galand that Diane remembered from before her departure—stood up to make his case for Guinevere in more legal language than the harpy could manage on her own.

"Your Honor, Mr. and Mrs. Du Lac have far more to offer the child in terms of her best interest. Mr. Pendragon spends a fair amount of time hanging around a bar which he also brings the child to fairly often. He also spends much of his time working, whereas Mrs. Du Lac can spend all of her time and energy devoted to her daughter. There is also the matter of paternity…"

"Objection," sighed Jericho, standing up. "Mr. Truth is bringing up a matter that was contested and disproven by tests."

"The test was disproven when it was readministered," Galand explained. "However, the first test showed that the child was indeed Mr. Du Lac's rather than Mr. Pendragon's."

"And I would also like to remind Mr. Galand that a passing knowledge of genetics will entirely disprove any semblance of that fact holding weight in this court."

"Enough," Dreyfus sighed. "The objection is sustained. Mr. Truth, you may continue." Jericho sat down while Galand looked slightly shaken before he finished.

"As I was saying, Mr. Pendragon has a number of things that make him unfit as the parent to the child. Therefore, custody should be awarded to the mother as is done in most cases."

"Thank you. Now, Miss Glacies?"

"Right." Jericho stood back up while Galand sat back down. "Mr. Pendragon has a steady and profitable business that he runs largely from his home over the past five years, all done in the name of spending more time with his daughter. His time spent in the Boar Hat bar is largely because of the fact that the owner of the establishment is a friend of his whose wife babysits the child in question while Mr. Pendragon is unable to watch her. I have at least a dozen character witnesses all willing to testify as to Mr. Pendragon's ability as a parent and Mrs. Du Lac's inability to care for their child."

"Thank you, Miss Glacies. Before that, however, we must hear testimony from the parents. Mrs. Du Lac, you are first."

Guinevere stood up and fluffed out her hair, her freshly-done nails glittering in the fluorescent lights of the courtroom as she sashayed up to the stand and stood while the bailiff brought her the Bible. She held up her right hand with her left hand on the book.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

"I do."

"You may be seated."

She sat down and began her testimony.

"I've loved Eris from the day she was born. She was a premature baby, and I was so scared that bad things would happen to her. Arthur was away so much. He didn't help out with her at all, so I began to spend even more time with Lancelot than I already had been when I wasn't devoting time to my one and only child. It led to a romance between us, yes, but I never meant to hurt Arthur. And when he left me, I had next to nothing. I waited to get custody until I was financially stable and my life was back on track so that Eris would want for nothing while living with me and have all the love and attention that a little girl deserves."

"I have no questions," Galand announced. "She has answered any I might have asked."

"Well, good. Because I have several," Diane whispered to Jericho. She was nodded to by Dreyfus.

"Good luck, Diane!" whispered King.

"Mrs. Du Lac—"

"Please, call me Guinevere. We've known each other for years now."

"I'd prefer not to. Mrs. Du Lac, is it true that your affair with Mr. Du Lac was going on long before the birth of your child?"

"Of course not."

"All right, then. When you and Mr. Pendragon divorced, you took a quarter of his assets—a share that at the time was close to half a million dollars. What happened to this money to make you claim you had an unstable life with next to nothing?"

Guinevere's mouth dropped open and she began sputtering. Ban smirked at the back of Diane's head; she might've been a jock in high school but she had a head for numbers.

"Objection! Relevance!" Galand called.

"Overruled. I would like Mrs. Du Lac to answer Ms. Terrae."

"Um… could you repeat the question?" Guinevere requested.

"In your divorce, you gained half a million dollars. Yet today you claimed your reasoning for not filing for custody in said divorce was because you were financially unstable and your life was not in order. How were you financially unstable?"

"That money was not in cash. It was not accessible to me."

"Really. Because, according to several department stores around the city, you were in their establishments every day to purchase new clothing, shoes, or jewelry over the past year. And while Mr. Du Lac's employment may be stable, his financial reports do not state the kind of money that would be required to make such purchases on a regular basis."

Guinevere balked.

"Do you have a job, Mrs. Du Lac?"

"No. I don't need one."

"Then where did this money come from, if not from your ex-husband?"

She didn't answer, instead glaring a hole into Arthur's head. Then she turned her attention back to Diane.

"Ms. Terrae, you have two daughters of your own, correct?"

"This is in regards to your child, Mrs—"

"Then you must understand how difficult it is to be a single parent. I didn't want to be in that situation. I only married Lancelot about a month ago and that is when I began seeking custody to make my family more complete. Would you rather I have forced my daughter to go without for that time?"

"Mrs. Du Lac—"

"As unfortunate as the situation was, I had to allow Arthur to take full custody while I worked everything out. He was far more able to care for Eris than I was at the time but I am ready to have my child back. And who are you to allow him to rip my child away from me again?"

Diane knew she wouldn't get anywhere further question Guinevere.

"No further questions, Your Honor."

Short update for y'all to make sure the new title works. I just changed it last night.

The custody battle of Guinevere and Arthur (and Lancelot) begins! As a side note, I did more research into Arthurian mythology and weirdly enough, Lancelot's parents were named Ban and Elaine. That's obviously not the case here but it does make one wonder.

Next time, we'll see Arthur's testimony and more King and Diane!

So long and thanks for all the fish!