(8/28/19)- I'm back!

Everyone who has been into this fanfic, I apologize at length for not updating in so long. I was going through some stuff in school, in life, and my career. The summer was…complicated, but I'm back at school early and have a much better head on my shoulders now. Really, thank you to everyone who's been into this fic; that includes Cautioushoney (I appreciate the review!), The Clownfather, Midnightgirl00, TheDoctor1963, Wonkie, VisionsAreReal, Somkeyallie, Halo99Elite, Broly Uzamaki, and ArturusMyrddin. Because from here on out, this story and all my other ones will be getting the love they deserve!

Onto chapter three!

The Waverider landed with a graceful thud upon an open space far off from any settlements, then went into Its camouflaged modest right after. All things considered, the systems were at peak efficiency. It was the inhabitants inside, however, that begged to differ.

"Oi!" Constantine moaned after tumbling from his seat straps, looking worse for wear. "Why do my insides feel like dragon blood? Think I might throw up…"

"Motion sickness, Mr. Constantine," Gideon whizzed electronically. "Time jumps while history is being rewritten never do well for travelers aboard the Waverider. Thankfully, that and other symptoms tend to fade away quickly."

Mick chortled heavily, getting up from his seat. "That's what you get for smoking too much, brit coat."

"Really?" dared back Constantine. "Don't worry, pal, I'll give you a motion sickness of your own quite soon."

Ray, nervous about the increasing tension and the duo's repeating feud, piped up awkwardly. "G-Gideon! Where are we, exactly?"

"Happy to answer, Doctor Palmer." In place of the A.I.'s avatar floating, a blinking 3-D map of the environment appeared instead. The Legends walked up, glancing towards both the land and the computer screens to get a good sense of it all. "By my calculations, we are located in western France in the year 415. The nearest settlement appears to be the land of Camelot, ruled with a stern hand by King Uther Pendragon."

"Hold up a sec," Sara stated, blinking her eyes. "Uther Pendragon? As in King Arthur's dad?"

"Correct, Captain."

Sara, Ray, and Mick looked at each other, their faces concerned about something unspoken.

"What's the fuss about?" Charlie demanded. "We got a problem here or what?"

Ray gulped. "It's…last time we traveled to Camelot, we met King Arthur. But if we're back before that, like years before-"

"-we're meeting the turd as a prince, right?" Mick finished for him. "Youth. Never a bad sight."

"That's not the point, dodo!" Sara exclaimed. "Whatever happens here stops Arthur from becoming king when we met him. Which means…"

"Oh no," Zari realized. "If we don't stop this, then your guys' personal history could get completely messed up."

"Exactly," surmised Sara.

"Great," concluded Constantine. "We get to Camelot, and the first thing you band of blokes do is start complaining about time travel. I'd rather we just find the monster and snag it."

"Yeah, about that…" noted Sara, "John, you and Ray need to stay on the ship. The rest of us are going to see about getting into the city."

The warlock chortled. "Did you forget who here is the magician, Lance?"

"I don't think she did," Ray chimed in, "but it would be good for us to make sure everything's in order. Oh! You could help me with my anti-magic gun we used on Mallus!"

"…Wonderful…" The sullen-looking magician turned to walk off. "But just so you know, Lance, don't forget to call me if you need help. Guess I should go research what creature we could be dealing with."

"And while he's off looking through dusty pages, we're going to have some rollicking fun!" Charlie added excitedly.

"During a time where witch burning was common?" Zari interrupted.

Charlie gulped, her spirits fizzled. "Oh. Right."

Trudging through the empty-looking woods, Sarah looked down at the dark blue dress Gideon has fashioned for her. It wasn't the first time she'd worn one to go undercover in historical settings, and the sight of the medieval markings inspired nostalgia for the storybook clothing she'd seen as a kid. Princes and princesses were worshipped by her and Laurel in their naivety, yet if time travel told her one thing, it was most of those misconceptions were as unreal as the supernatural. And then she'd found that was real.

At least she was faring somewhat better than Charlie, Zari, and Mick. The former two women were draped in brown linen, passing themselves off as Sara's handmaidens (which Zari believed would help them blend in). Charlie, however, looked a bit offended at the circumstances. She said playing the queen was the role she preferred over hired help. Mick, sporting dungy wear, was going to be Sara's bodyguard, and hopefully, they would be able to pass off the flaming gun he carried that was not of this time.

Turning past a dried-up tree, Sara heard a clunk and glanced back to see Mick's gun held out. "Put the gun away!"

"Uh, why?" He asked.

"We're in a time where people believed in magic. You want them to think we're sorcerers or something?"

"Not like they were wrong," Zari surmised cheekily.

"Hey, hold on a sec!" Charlie interrupted, pointing to a clearing spot obscured by leaves just up ahead. "What's that?

Everyone saw what she was getting at, making even more sense when a shape passed behind it. Throwing caution to the wind, Mick aimed his gun to the spot. "If it's a bandit, then they're toast," he muttered, and let loose the flames.

Sarah's warning came too late as the geyser of fire seared into the direction and then evaporated, charring an abundance of leaves. General shock soon turned to relief as they all saw that the person who had been in the flame's way was unharmed He was a scrawny man dressed in brown rags, with a blue undershirt and a red scarf. His black hair frayed from the blast, he looked resilient. Which was…odd, but better in their case than crispy.

"You okay, kid?" Sara asked bluntly.

The boy's eyes got so wide that they looked close to popping. "Am I okay? You ask me that after nearly burning me? Of course not! Getting put in the stocks is bad enough, but being burned…in the woods?!..." His ragged breathing began to slow while he got closer, inspecting the four with his features. "Hold on…Is that a staff? You know that magic isn't allowed in these parts."

"Consider it my torch," Mick replied toughly.

"For what? Casting spells?"

"For being our bodyguard," Charlie said in Mick's defense, earning the boy's inquisitive glare.

"Come to think of it… who exactly are you that you'd need a bodyguard?"

The Legends looked to each other. At this point, their excuse for being here was still in the oven.

"We're here…" Zari began nervously.

"…on a visitation!" Charlie finished effortlessly. She walked up to him with her hands out for the con. "Sorry for the crispy introduction. We're a few miles off from our destination, Camelot, and needed directions. Make sense, mister…?"

"Merlin," the young man breathed, surveying the group with a hopeful and yet suspicious look (and not noticing some of their party's gaping at his name)."And…you're from a kingdom?"

"Yep! The kingdom of Starda!" Sara tried her hardest to sound natural and not at the same time demean this person. "We…wanted to go see Camelot for ourselves! Our king requested it!"

At that notion, the young man's face lightened up. "The kingdom of…Starda? Wow! So, uh…does your group need help to get to Camelot? I'm the manservant for Prince Arthur, actually, and I was just on my way back from an errand."

"That'd be much appreciated, mate," Charlie responded while locking eyes with Sara momentarily to confirm the juicy detail. "Lead the way!"

Slightly off-put by their behavior but thrilled at the opportunity, Merlin threw Gaius' task to the wind and turned into the closest bush. The Legends went after him, doing their best to not get poked by a tree and then some.

"Can I still burn something?" Mick whispered to Zari as they walked behind the young man.

"When we meet the monster? Feel free," Zari grimly mentioned, bringing a thick smile to her ally's lips.

At the edge of Camelot's gates, Arthur watched with worry. It was nice to be alone without guards watching over his shoulder, yet that didn't shake the feeling of why Merlin was missing. Sometimes, he wondered why he let Merlin stay on being his manservant if he was going to keep being…odd. No other servant he knew had survived as many encounters with invading knights or terrifying creatures and just brushed them off so easily.

That took real courage.

"What's wrong?" Arthur swerved as Morgana approached, looking curious. "Did you lose something?"

"Not funny, Morgana," he replied. "Merlin was supposed to get some herbs for Gaius, but, of course, he's taking longer than he should."

"He's your manservant," Morgana propositioned with carefully folded hands. "You don't need to worry this much about him. He can get back in one piece, surely."

Arthur shook his head and huffed. "I know, I know…but lately, I've been getting this feeling that Camelot isn't as safe as we make it out to be. It's like…we're some sort of nexus that all kinds of sorcerers and witches flock to." He blinked, believing that maybe he wasn't thinking right. "Does that make sense to you?"

Keeping her inside thoughts contained, Morgana nodded subtly. "Yes. It's unfortunate, but at least Merlin's still with us. You just shouldn't have to keep your brain racked about it, especially with the tournament coming up."

Just as he tried thinking of a clever comeback to that, Arthur heard rustling in the distance and looked even more than before. Merlin, to his relief, had come out of the shrubbery and onto the road but was closely flanked by around four people he didn't know. At least three women and a man dressed in dirty clothes, and they weren't wearing a sigil of any kind. Maybe they were neighboring royalty? He needed to be sure.

"Merlin! Where in blazes were you? And," he added while taking in the newcomers, "who are all of these people?"

The manservant grinned humorously. "These, dopplehead, are the princess of the kingdom of Starda, her bodyguard, and lady maids. They've come to visit our fair city."

"Starda?" Arthur looked to the blonde woman in the blue dress. He never heard of it before but decided that logics could wait and immediately dispensed with the formalities. "Welcome to Camelot, Princess-"

"-Sara, "she replied, bowing to the prince with the best curtesy she could manage. "It's an honor, your grace."

Morgana cast a suspicious look at the newcomers. Their garb had a peculiarity to it, and she doubted Uther wouldn't wait to inspect them about their customs. Her eyes flickered to the pale-skinned maid. Something about her honed in on Morgana's mystical side, attracting her like a hornet. These visitors weren't normal…but why get a ruffle started about something she could easily press upon later?

"As my brother mentioned, welcome. I will have the servants draw up some rooms for your company," Morgana dispensed before turning up the stairs, gaining all of their gazes.

"Is she okay?" Sara asked with no concern for being subtle.

"Yes," Arthur said. "She…was rescued from a witch some time ago. I don't think she's been the same since, but at least she's with us again." He turned to gaze momentarily into the distance, and Sara got the idea that it wasn't just Morgana who was feeling off. So far, this version of Arthur seemed more human that when she'd met him before.

And then an instant later, his smiling personality was back in full effect. "Would you dine with us tonight? Maybe my father would be kind enough to give your party seats to the tournament." As he finished with the invitation, a couple of lightly-dressed servants appeared to usher them away.

"Totally," Sara responded in an attempted at grace. "I shall see you later, my lord." She started up the steps to follow the servants, her party in tow and Arthur utterly agape at her response.

"Intriguing crowd, eh?" Merlin mentioned to Arthur while watching the four be escorted by a collection of servants up the castle steps.

"Merlin, one of these days, I'm going to have to figure out how you keep running into peculiar people.

"Trade secret, dopplehead."

Hidden underneath a weave of trees and branches, a lithe woman in a battered cloak carefully made her way down a hidden road. Her eyes surveyed the scene in front of her: a gang of men scattered on the ground, and very much dead. They had been ravaged, clearly by a creature capable of blood-gushing wounds. As she knelt to inspect one of the said victims, her hand reached out and released a quick gust of magic. Her mind could sense the kind of harm that had been visited upon them. Flashes of pain, cuts, and a searing presence lingered before she blinked back to the living world.

"As I suspected. It's headed to Camelot…where Morgana is."

Morgause stood up, her disguise falling behind her hair. She's heard stories of this monster from the high priestesses, but even they pictured it as a myth. Now she had the proof it was real, and the magic path she was sensing pointed to Camelot. An even worse coincidence to the witch tournament, she supposed. But her sister would need to know. It would ruin their plans of revenge if it got to her.

And no demon was going to take the kingdom from them; that belonged to the two sisters. Morgause reaffirmed this notion in her head as she took off.

N/A: Round one of meetings is over! The Legends are about to meet the entire Merlin supporting cast, and the interactions may vary between calm to outright bad. But no need to spoil what happens here, including some nice cameos and maybe a certain DC character that I've been hinting at for a while.

Until next time!