Takes place about six months after the end of ToA.

A deep breath in. A dreamy sigh out. "Do you smell that, Lancelot?"

"Dying leaves and sulfur?"

Guinevere's smile didn't fade, even with her friend's sardonic tone. "You focus too much on the obstacles in front of you, Lance my dear. As for me, I smell treasure."

The knight behind her huffed, and even without turning around she could imagine him standing there with his arms crossed. "I think we should have a discussion about your gluttony one day."

"Is it really gluttony if I put in all this work to get my jewels?" she asked, sweetening her tone just to rile him up further, and the annoyed grunt she heard told her that she had been successful.

"You've dragged me out of bed at the crack of dawn to Crystal Cave to steal treasure from dragons, who are, might I remind you, very protective of their hoards. If you're going to claim you're putting in the work, at least remember that you're pushing that same work on your accomplices, putting them in danger, and we get no spoils-"

"You get to see me happy with my treasures, and alive. Isn't that reward enough?" At Lancelot's groan, she smirked. "Well, if you don't care if I live or die, then by all means, run home and jump back into my husband's bed if you miss it so much."

Lancelot spluttered loudly, and Guinevere couldn't stop herself from laughing and clutching at her middle. "D-Don't be crass!" the knight thundered back, and the bat laughed so hard she started snorting, clapping a hand against her mouth.

"Oh Lance," she got out as everything subsided to giggles, "you're far too easy to fluster."

"Then why do you do it?" The knight was now in front of her, looking away though his face remained covered by his visor, shoulders tense with residue embarrassment.

"Just because it's easy doesn't mean it isn't fun." Lancelot groaned, and Guinevere patted his shoulder. "Though I would have thought you would be used to this by now. It's not as though it's a big secret anymore."

And it was true. What was one of the most well-guarded secrets in Avalon and all the neighboring kingdoms was also the worst-kept secret in Camelot. Everyone in the castle knew, from the knights to the servants to the advisors.

The king has taken the Ultimate Knight as his lover.

Guinevere had no idea how the secret had come out, though she suspected it had to do with Sir Bors being too clever and too loudmouthed for his own good. Then again, she could hardly claim that Arthur and Lancelot had been very discreet at first, when everything was new and exciting and they could never come up with good excuses as to why they were spending even more time together than ever before. Either way, once the news had spread to Sirs Lamorak and Geraint, it became public knowledge that somehow never left the castle.

It wasn't all bad. The old-fashioned advisors expressed their displeasure far too often for her liking, but it was their own fault if they couldn't adapt to what should be the new normal. The knights were all fine with it, with only the occasional comment of nepotism to be had, most of the castle staff didn't mind at all, and above all, Arthur and Lancelot were happy. Plus, the all-around acceptance that they had gotten had led to a certain someone finally getting over himself and his reservations and-

Lancelot swatted her hand away. "And why didn't you ask your own man to join you today?"

"Gawain is still scouting out G.U.N's perimeter," she replied smoothly, smugness growing as Lancelot glowered at his failed attempt to fluster her back. He would need to do much better than that if he wanted to get a rise out of her! "At this point, we've collected all the emerald shards there are to find in Avalon; we've got to start expanding to the other kingdoms in the area."

"By 'we', I presume you mean 'him'."

Guinevere shrugged. "He's found that he rather enjoys solo missions. I'm not going to deny him that. And he has the excuse to check up on his village… but we didn't come here to discuss Gawain, now did we?"

She took Lancelot's grumbling as assent, patting him on the back. Grumpy as he might have been, she knew he loved her too much to really mind being taken on an early-morning adventure. Besides, he needed to get out of that castle. Get a change of scenery. Being Arthur's right-hand man didn't mean he literally had to spend all his time to his right.

The duo slid down the precarious slopes that led down to Crystal Cave, occasionally pausing to allow Guinevere to admire the lovely rock clusters that cropped up around them. Quartz, mostly, sometimes amber… beautiful, to be sure, but not what she was here for. She wanted a true treasure, one that came from a dragon's hoard, so rare and valuable that it deserved a pedestal in her growing collection. Her eyes glanced dreamily over the glittering interior of the cave, glossing over the stalagmites which sheltered the occasional group of fairies from view, over the multicolored refractions of light, painting the rocks around her in rainbow light.

What a gorgeous cave… a shame it was filled with the promise of mortal peril, otherwise she could spend hours here.

"You look as though you've never seen a cave before," Lancelot quipped as he came up beside her, his voice a low whisper.

"Never one this lovely," she whispered back, taking a moment to stretch her wings before leaping into the air to take a wider look around. Unfortunately, a cave had much tougher visibility than an open sky, and the highs and lows of the cave's ceiling meant that scanning her surroundings from above gave her about as much information as down below. Guinevere frowned, diving back to the cave floor, but wasn't deterred; it just meant putting in a bit more effort than usual to find what she wanted. That was fine. A great treasure earned all the effort that was put in to collect it.

"Change of plans," she whispered as she passed by Lancelot. "We'll both be going on foot."

"I figured."

They went slowly, doing their best to not attract the attention of any creatures who wished to defend their territory, with Guinevere in the lead. Though she didn't have the instincts that Gawain possessed, she still could pick out gems of high value with her eyes closed, and the deeper they got into the cave, the more the feeling that something incredible lay ahead swelled within her.

There. Right beyond that bend. There was something there.

Guinevere held up a hand to slow Lancelot down before creeping forward, sliding both hands along the cave wall, inching her face around the bend…

...and a pair of large red eyes stared right back at her.

The queen let out a soft gasp, and before her, a red dragon let out a roar, breathing in, flames flickering around its jaws, and she barely had time to blink before an arm hooked around her waist and pulled her out of the way before the dragon shot a small spluttering of flames where she had been standing just a moment before.

Lancelot slid in front of her, sword drawn and in a defensive stance. "What were you thinking?!" he demanded, followed immediately by an "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied, heaving a cough from the smoke. That had been… odd. Usually dragons who could produce flame used much more destructive amounts, but that had been incredibly lacking. She looked back over to the dragon crouched before them; it was smaller than most she had seen, so perhaps it was young, but that didn't explain it. Young dragons had explosive amounts of power, capable of untold feats of destruction, so why…

Lancelot dashed forward to scare it off, and the dragon reared upwards, trying to look larger, but it barely made it a couple feet off the ground before it let out another shriek, sounding pained, and that was when she saw it.

"Lancelot, stop! Step away!"

Within a second, the hedgehog was back beside her, still holding his sword aloft as Guinevere pointed over it at the dragon's right wing. Lancelot's grip on Arondight wavered as he saw what she had seen.

A large boulder sat firmly on the dragon's wing, crushing it and pinning it to the ground.

"It's hurt," Guinevere whispered, and Lancelot lowered his sword entirely. "Put your weapon away, don't make it think we're here to attack it."

Though he seemed loath to do it, Lancelot backed away from the dragon, setting his sword against the cavern wall, walking back forth with his hands open and empty before him, and slowly, the creature seemed to relax… at least, as much as it could with a boulder on its wing.

"How long do you think it's been trapped here?" Guinevere wondered, taking a step forward. Immediately, the dragon was on the defensive again, baring its teeth and conjuring smoke, but Guinevere raised her hands into the air, showing that they were empty as she continued her slow travel forward.

"Guin!" Lancelot hissed behind her. "What are you doing?!"

She heeded him no mind. In truth, she wasn't entirely sure why she was approaching the beast as she was. She had never seen a dragon up close like this before, so perhaps the opportunity called to her. Maybe it was her instincts calling to her, telling her that treasures beyond her wildest dreams lay just beyond the dragon's body, and this was the obstacle she had to face. Perhaps, if she freed the dragon, it would be so grateful it would allow her to choose from its hoard?

But as she approached, and she saw the bright red eyes widen in fear and uncertainty as it tried desperately to discern whether she was friend or foe, she wondered if it might be something beyond that.

Her hand reached forth as she came into range of the dragon's talons, and no one in the cavern seemed to draw breath as it delicately lowered onto the the large claws, stroking softly as the bat looked up at the beast.

"It's okay," she murmured, voice soft. "We won't hurt you."

For what seemed like an eternity, there was no movement, save for her hand petting the dragon's claws, until the beast let out a pained whine and lowered its head to the ground.

"Lancelot. Come over here, but leave your sword."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I don't care if it's a good idea. It's an order. Come now, slowly."

She heard her friend's soft growl, but his footsteps sounded as he made his approach. One she heard that he was close enough behind her, Guinevere fumbled behind her until she took a hold of his hand, and brought it forth. The dragon and the knight tensed up once more, but Guinevere placed Lancelot's hand on the dragon's talon, covering both with her hand on top.

"You see?" she soothed them both. "We're all okay. Relax."

And somehow, the dragon relaxed again, lowering its head, and Lancelot let out a breath, pushing up his visor to wipe at his forehead. "Leave it to you to pull a stunt like that, Guin."

"It's not over yet," she said brightly, and Lancelot's eyes widened in apprehension. "Now we've got to move that boulder."

"And by 'we' you mean-"

"You, yes. Set it free, I'll keep it calm." Lancelot glared at her and Guinevere raised her free hand in a sign of defense. "I'm not the one with monstrous strength, you know."

"You're unbelievable."

"Thank you, darling. I try."

And though Lancelot glared at her, there was no real anger behind his look. His hand slid from between hers and the dragon's claw, and as the dragon lifted its head to see where her companion was going, Guinevere stepped toward its snout, redirecting its attention to herself. She lifted one hand, looking up to the beast's glowing eyes.

"May I?"

Her hand approached the dragon's snout, and though the beast reared its head backwards as it realized her intention, a moment of reflection led to it lowering its head back to the ground, watching her warily as she neared, but as soon as she started petting the rough flesh of the dragon's face, it closed its eyes in pleasure.

"Step back," came Lancelot's warning, and Guinevere jumped back as she heard a loud grunt and the sound of gravel falling and a loud roar of pain. The dragon thrashed, turning to growl at Lancelot, before its eyes focused on the boulder and it came to the realization that it could now move. The dragon looked from its crumpled, mangled wing, over to Lancelot as he tossed the boulder far away. The knight stayed in a stance, prepared to resort to hand to hand combat if needed, but Guinevere saw his expression morph into one of stunned confusion as the dragon lowered its head to him as well. Guinevere rushed forth to stand by them once more, and she saw that the dragon was looking at Lancelot very differently from before indeed.

"I think we've made a friend," she remarked, and no sooner had the words left her mouth, the dragon nudged Lancelot with its snout, and Guinevere laughed at the bewildered look on her best friend's face.

"Come on, just pet it like this."

She demonstrated, stroking the beast's face, and Lancelot followed suit, looking no less stunned. "This was not what I had expected from today."

"Me neither." Guinevere looked back to the dragon as its eyes closed in delight and its tail thumped once against the ground in approval. "Though I can't say that I mind."

Even though Lancelot only hummed in reply, Guinevere saw his gaze soften by the second as he pet the beast.

The beast… calling it that wouldn't do.

"We should name it. What do you think?"

"I think we should check it for any other injuries," Lancelot replied, eyes already scanning the dragon's form.

"Go ahead," Guinevere said with a nod, watching as the dragon opened one red eye when Lancelot stepped away. "Let's see here… Red dragon, red eyes… Perhaps something to do with red? Crimson? Ruby? Or maybe red in another language? Goch? Rouge?" She cocked her head to one side, looking into the dragon's eye. "Do you like that one? Rouge?"

"The other wing is fine," Lancelot reported from the other side. "Some bruising but nothing I've never seen on a dragon before."

The dragon raised its head to look over toward Lancelot's voice, and Guinevere noted how the spikes around its face resembled her friend's spines. "He looks a bit like you," she remarked. "How about Lancelot Jr?"

"I think we have more important things to worry about," came the snappy reply, causing Guinevere to laugh.

"Fine, fine, not that one. But let's see… If he is your draconic doppelgänger… Doppel? Or maybe he's your shadow? How about Shadow for a name?"

"A couple of cuts on his tail," Lancelot continued in his report, paying her no mind at all. "Still nothing that would be threatening."

Guinevere sighed. "You're no fun today." She turned her gaze back to the dragon, pursing her lips. "Let's see… Maybe something after your title. The Ultimate Dragon to back up the Ultimate Knight. Ultima? Paragon? Or maybe, since 'ultimate' also means 'final'..."

"Just the wing has any injuries worth worrying over," Lancelot announced, coming back in front, attracting the dragon's attention once more.

"How about Omega as a name? The final letter of the Greek alphabet?"

Lancelot blinked. "How did you get… Never mind. I'll never understand your thought process."

Guinevere rolled her eyes, redirecting her attention back to their dragon. "Do you like that name? Omega? Oh-meh-gah?"

The dragon tilted its head and thumped its tail once more.

The bat grinned. "I think he likes it."

"Fantastic," Lancelot deadpanned. "Now what are we going to do about his wing?"

"I don't know," Guinevere said, frowning as she started to pet Omega's snout again. "I can handle smaller injuries, but setting a wing? We would need a doctor for that."

Lancelot was silent for a moment. "You mean, like Arthur's mother?"

Guinevere's hand stopped mid-stroke. "Do you think she knows how to help dragons?"

"I'm not sure, but… we could also call upon Lady Merlina. She's been studying a great deal of healing magic, since…"

Lancelot's voice trailed off at the memory of the incident, and Guinevere was quick to bring the focus away from it; the last thing Lancelot needed was to dwell any longer on that awful time. "That's a brilliant idea, Lance. Is there any way to bring them both over here as quickly as possible?"

Lancelot rubbed at his chin. "I do have one idea…"

Guinevere kept patting Omega's snout as the dragon wiggled, anxious at Lancelot's disappearance. "It's okay," she murmured, and the dragon nuzzled at her hand, eyes closing. To his left, one wing stretched, but the right wing remained a broken heap on the ground. Guinevere winced, stretching out her own wings in empathy; broken wings were no laughing matter.

The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the cavern, and both Guinevere and Omega looked eagerly towards the bend, the dragon's tail tapping excitedly against the floor, then halting as they both registered not one, but two sets of rapid footfalls.

Around the bend came Lancelot, carrying Merlina in his arms, and right behind him appeared Arthur, similarly holding his mother. Both women looked windswept and dazed, but once their feet hit the ground, they regained their bearings and the group looked in amazement at the dragon. Omega tensed up at the sight of the newcomers, creeping backwards and growling, but once Lancelot walked forward, he paused, still uncertain.

"They are here to help you," Lancelot said slowly and clearly, and though the words didn't seem to reach Omega's understanding, the tone did, and the dragon hesitantly lowered his head and body to the ground, looking warily on. To soothe him, both Lancelot and Guinevere started stroking his head and neck, and the queen jerked her head in the direction of the injured wing, holding a finger to her lips to indicate silence.

Igraine Pendragon nodded, gesturing to Merlina to follow her, and the two women began looking over Omega's wing. Their whispers bounced off of the walls, filled with terms that Guinevere, even with her years of study, couldn't begin to decipher.

Arthur, meanwhile, was staring at Omega with wide, starry eyes, hopping from foot to foot with glee.

"I can't believe you've tamed a real dragon!" he whispered, zooming up to them. He slid one arm over Guinevere's shoulders with a grin. "I have the coolest wife in the world."

Lancelot's displeased clearing of the throat brought a grin to Guinevere's own face. Even now, Lancelot was far too easy to rile up, and it seemed as though Arthur thought the same as he turned his attention to his lover.

"Hm? Oh, right. I suppose you're pretty cool too, Lance."

Lancelot sent him a look that could have frozen water, and Arthur laughed, taking his arm away from Guinevere, sliding up to Lancelot and wrapping his other arm around the knight's waist, pulling him in close. "Come on now, Lance, don't be like that."

Lancelot huffed, taking his hand away from Omega's snout, leaning into Arthur's hold. "Then perhaps you shouldn't make fun of me."

"Oh, but where's the fun in that?" Arthur teased with a wink, leaning in to rest their heads together, and Guinevere chose to turn her full attention back to Omega.

"I'm sorry about that," she apologized to him. "They're in love."

Omega only exhaled, a bit of smoke coming out of his nostrils, as he looked at Arthur in suspicion.

"Say," Arthur spoke up, looking back at the dragon, "you don't suppose either of you will be able to ride him, do you?"

"He needs to recover first," Lancelot reminded him, and as though in agreement, Omega let out a whine; Merlina, with Igraine's guidance, had begun the healing process.

"Yes, but after that! Ha! Imagine riding into battle on a dragon! You might even steal Lamorak's title from him with a feat like that!"

"I don't need that title, I have my own." Lancelot looked back to the dragon, his eyes softening. "The Ultimate Knight… for the Ultimate Dragon, Omega."

The dragon's tail started thudding on the ground, over and over once Lancelot said his name, and Guinevere smiled with a bright warmth that ignited all over. This hadn't been the treasure hunt she had anticipated, but it certainly wasn't without reward.

"Then I suppose that makes us a team."

Now they all really can dance in fire!

Fun fact, I realized that Omega would be a dragon around chapter 17 or 18 of ToA and by that point I had no room to fit him in, and I knew that, at the very least, this piece would be happening. Since science and technology and robots are more or less replaced with magic and dragons in this universe (see: King Ælle), that makes Omega a dragon. Please imagine Guin and Lancelot riding him into battle, it's a great thought and it brings a smile to my face.

And another fun fact for you! I decided a while ago that Guinevere's coat of arms is a red dragon. It's a reference to how Lady Guinevere of Arthurian legends was a Welsh woman, and the Welsh flag is a red dragon. Not only that, but that red dragon is called 'Ddraig Goch' (literally 'Red Dragon' in Welsh), which also happens to be the name of Lancelot's most powerful sword. Now here's Omega, who is a red dragon. Even in medieval times, Guinevere is the leader of Team Dark (doubly so, as she's the queen!) and the glue that holds them together.

Expect Omega in the sequel. He'll be back to full health and ready to cause immense destruction.

I sure do love writing about Lancelot and his friends who love him. *looks pointedly at SEGA*

I'm planning on releasing the first 'episode' of Dark Boom fairly soon... I just want to finish watching all the episodes first. Then I'll be writing it on and off as I work on the next bonus piece for this series (which will be longer, and will also introduce a new character), so look out for those!

And as always, thank you for reading! Catch you next time!

~Smash 50