Avalon is Real

So this was the reported castle-island-fortress-thing that had supposedly belonged to Merlin's enemy, Morgan le Fay, his evil half sister. One of Jack's team at the Ministry, Bernice, had reported that she had just spent a weekend visiting Avalon with her fiancee, and they had had a magnificent time. So when it turned out that there was no paperwork awaiting her today, Wheezes shifts were full, and there were no emergencies Jack decided to splurge.

She sent a note off to Poe to let him know that she had not disappeared or died, before changing into comfier clothes and apparating off to the island. She arrived at a small toll booth- apparently tourism had reached even this far. After she paid the few sickles that were due, she stepped onto the island, to see it overrun by witches and wizards exploring the ancient fortress.

Jack hated being one of a crowd, so she turned and veered towards the beach, kicking her shoes off and throwing them in her bag. She paused to roll up her pants and strolled across the beach barefoot, enjoying the spray of water and the feeling of sand. After all the chaos and pandemonium that had come about as of late, it felt nice to be away.

*

Matt was essentially homeless. And he didn't really have a steady job, pretty much broke. He couldn't go to his family, that would just be insane. And to top it all off he was still technically a "missing person". So what on earth was he supposed to do? Go on vacation of course! A vacation from reality because it sucked balls. It had always been a pain in his ass, his entire life. He tried running from it but that never worked. He could only escape it for brief periods of time here and there, this was one of them.

So as Matt strolled through the ticket booth, paying the toll, a faint smile appeared on his face. He smelled the sea air and headed directly towards the beach. Taking off his sneakers and pulling off his shirt he walked onto the sand. It felt wonderful between his toes. There wasn't many people at the beach, and they were all being respectfully quiet. He closed his eyes as he walked towards the water, stopping when he felt it on his feet.

Listening to the waves crash, the seagulls...make their noise, and feel the water on his feet. He was at peace, as much peace as can be had considering his predicament. His shirt "folded" up into a ball he pulled his wand out of his shorts and tapped his shoes and shirt. They shrunk and he put them in his other pocket. "I love magic." he muttered quietly to himself. He didn't want to disturb the peace but he couldn't help but notice a familiar head of red hair. He couldn't help but walk up behind her.

"Well hello Jack!" he said smirking.

#

Jack flexed her toes and feet until she had dug her toes into the hot sand until the grains became wet and cool. She let the tension in her shoulders melt from her and then withdrew her feet, putting one out against the waves that lapped against the sandy shore, allowing her foot to hover against the water, allowing space and time to stretch before her.

And then a voice interrupted her peace and her foot broke the surface and crashed into the water, pressing deep into the squishier sand. With her right foot in front of her, and both feet stuck deep into the sand, she twisted to see who had addressed her. The sight that met her eyes was of an acquaintance of hers, a man by the name of Matthew Lestrange.

"Hey, Matt!" Jack said, greeting him as though he had not dragged her down from Cloud Nine. "Did the baddies chase you here?" she smirked.

Matt sensed something in her response. She had looked pretty peaceful when he went up to her. Maybe he should have given her some more time. He didn't want to interrupt her peace and quiet. He wouldn't have wanted his peace and quiet interrupted. But the shot had been fired already, so he returned her greeting with a nervous smile. But when she smirked he feel a bit more at ease. He always liked Jack, he always had high opinions about her. She was one of the few people stationed at the Ministry that wasn't corrupt in any way. At least any way that he knew about.

Jack was a worthy companion, he was always willing to spend some time with her. Of the few times they've actually hung out he enjoyed most of them. Scratching the being chased by freaks in cloaks a few times. Apparently that was a theme with them. His smile grew from nervous to a very confident smile. Cloud nine was a good place to be, but Jack would return there shortly he was sure. "Always do." he responded with a joke of his own. Keep the joke running. he thought to himself.

He put his hands in his pocket and walked to stand beside her. Feeling the cold salt water touch his toes he gave a small sigh of pleasure. The beach was such a wonderful place to be. Especially on a Sunday when things are boring and nobodies ever there. Saturdays are the worst, always busy and bustling everywhere. But he looked at her and smiled again. "I'm escaping reality, this is where I decided to go." he told her. "What brings the fiery Jack Dyllan to a wizard beach when she 'never has time to leave the office'" he asked her; quoting her as he did.

She grinned as he continued the joke and, now that she had regained her composure, she stepped her other foot into the water. The water pushed and pulled against her legs, lapping her ankles like an eager puppy trying to get the full attention of its owner. She momentarily crouched, her knees touching the water, and placed her hands atop the surface, enjoying the sensation.

Matt spoke on about escaping reality, and after a moment, she raised herself, shaking her hands and sending water droplets flinging everywhere, returning to the mass of droplets known as sea. She glanced over at Matt, mulling on his words. Matt had seemed like a person in need of escape.

He asked why she was here and she shrugged, taking another step into the sea, wetting her shins now. "One of my employees raved about it and I came in to find a free afternoon. Probably the only one I will get all year, and I was too restless to go relax at home. Besides, the water is supposed to be therapeutic." She took another step in, the water reaching a few inches below her knees.

Matt smiled as he looked down at Jack. She was so young, so interesting. He could never label her or even come to a solid conclusion about anything about her. She was interested in the tiniest things. That was a very good quality to have. And he knew she probably wanted to escape reality about as much as he did. What with the Ministry going down the tubes and the whole world going to the dogs. He looked around, the beach was practically empty now, odd. But it didn't bother him too much, the water felt so good. He looked down at the sand under the water, there were some flat stones under there. He heard Jack speak but he didn't say much. It was too peaceful to say anything.

He picked up a few rocks and walked out to match Jack's distance in the water. He didn't want to hit her as he began to skip rocks across the water. A muggle "game" he had learned to do during one of his summers he had spent in the local muggle town-much to his father's disapproval. He couldn't stay away, and he loved to steal from the local shop. He chuckled softly at the thought of the hours wasted playing tricks on that shopkeeper with a few simple spells. The world was turning into a horrible place, and he wanted to escape from it as often as possible. Children had it so easy.

"This is so peaceful. Why can't the whole world be this peaceful?" he asked her. He meant every word of that question. He wanted to know her opinion on the world today.

Matt entered the water and stood next to her, skipping rocks across the water. A muggleborn herself, Jack knew the trick from the times her parents had taken the family camping to lakes and beaches. Her mother and father usually got in some sort of argument, most of the time with her, while they were there and she and her brother Riley would run off to the water and challenge themselves to a rock skipping session, keeping track of the hops across the water. When the total sum of one of their hops equaled one hundred, hours had passed, and it was safe to return.

It was with a pain shew remembered this, for Riley did not leave with her to skip rocks anymore when evil struck them. She knew if he was ever in dire trouble, she would be there. But she was fairly sure he had ended his run with her. Her own brother thought her to deep into a culture he did not approve of to want to ever see her again.

She stooped and felt around beneath the water for a rock. Her hands came to a small formation of them and she uprooted them, holding them all in her hand as she stood. She dropped the ones that were too round and began skipping those that remained. Matt spoke and Jack contemplated it, thinking of Riley. Where had his peace gone? Just about as he became an adult, he became unforgiving.

After a long, comfortable pause, Jack said, "People forget." She skipped a rock and clarified, "People forget what it's like to be children."

Matt noticed Jack pick up a few rocks. She was a muggle born, so she was probably skilled in the art of rock skipping. He smiled when she got a fair amount of distance on one of them. Looking at the sun's reflection off the water and then being able to see where the Rock landed; the water was so clear. The water was magical, literally and figuratively. He skipped another one, outmatching Jack's previous one by quite a bit. He heard her speak and he stopped skipping rocks so he could soak her words in. They were true words. Children weren't even children these days. These days were dark, and they were being forced to mature quickly.

"These days are only going to get darker." he told her. "The Order's corrupt, the Ministry's corrupt, hell I'm pretty sure the Death Eater's are corrupt." he continued. He skipped another rock and began to search for more under the water. The really smooth ones were deep under the sand so he began to dig. He got on his knees and practically buried his arm under the sand. His hand came into contact with something slimy and he quickly jerked his hand out. He chuckled, "Ew." he laughed.

He didn't want to dampen anyone's spirits today. They were supposed to be escaping reality no talking about it. He could think of a few things to do but he doubted she would want to spend her entire day with him. He grinned as he got back up with a handful of smooth rocks. "So, what is there to do around here besides skipping rocks?" he said as he skipped another rock. "Not that I'm complaining. It's actually quite peaceful."

Matt listed off of the corruption that surrounded all of the magical institutions that Jack and all of the other wizards and witches had become so familiar with. Jack had been realizing for a very long time how corrupt they all were. She saw how the Death Eaters could not even be loyal to each; she saw how the Order compromised their values when passion was involved; she witnessed the Ministry focusing more on politics than with the betterment of society.

Jack was very aware, but she didn't think it had anything to do with the days. "They've always been corrupt," she responded. She skipped a rock, watching it skid over the surface of the water for a moment, before she said, "They're just getting worse at hiding it." Matt stooped to find a few more rocks to skip, while she threw a few more over the water.

He stood, skipped another rock, and changed the subject. She shrugged. "I dunno. I just got here and I headed here. Too tourist-y, really."

Matt smiled and then chuckled a bit. He looked down at the water and watched a few tiny fish swim away from them. He wondered why she had chosen to come to the water other than the magical freaking castle. Although Matt was a sucker for castles he had been there before, a few times in fact. His aunt had told him wonderful stories about Morgan Le Fay. So naturally the visited from time to time. He skipped his last rock then clapped his hands together. "What's say we check out this old castle?" he said to her as he turned to look on the shore. The peace was going to be disturbed, people were beginning to set up on the beach.

The castle was a wondrous and magical place. Matt loved it, he still did. And writers block is kicking in so it's time for some filler. I always do this, I break the fourth wall all the time. Jack, you know this above all people. I do it most often in our threads. Don't you just love it. And now back to our main story. Matt began to slowly move back to shore. "Unless of course you'd rather stay." he called back to her.