The King of the Storm

  This is an Arthur who did not draw Caliburn from the stone as a teenager. 

Arthur instead remained in Wales, in the lands ruled by Ector as Kay's squire out of his lack of interest in playing tug-of-war with a sword rammed into a rock. Or so he would put it. Living a quiet life with his beloved pet dog, the people he loved, and his family was enough for him. Though naturally the young man would write many letters to his dearest friend Bedivere once the older youth was sent to Camelot in place of his own father to be a knight under the rule of the aging King Uther. 

Just another name in the pile of names, in Arthur's opinion. 

An opinion he made clear to Bedivere in his letters. 

Years passed and the letters eventually became letters of love, and then upon Bedivere's return the two came together and were soon married in a handfasting ceremony. And so they lived happily, with Arthur continuing his duties serving Kay once his older brother took Ector's place at their father's urging and Bedivere occasionally returning to Camelot for his own duties. 

Then came the day the news broke across the land: King Uther Pendragon had died without any heir, the sole crown prince long lost some twenty years past when he'd been stolen away in the night.

Of course the news meant little more to Arthur than concern for Bedivere when his husband explained the added stress it placed on the Knights. Very little to worry about besides that, until a knock came at their door. A mage stood there, by the name of Merlin, who insisted that Arthur was the long-lost son of Uther. A terrible argument broke out, eventually leading to the very same Sword in the Stone that Arthur had snubbed so long ago as Wart. 

"I'll try to draw this sword, then, but when it turns out I'm right and you're wrong about me... I want you to leave!"

So Arthur declared before giving the sword a pull...and it effortlessly slid from the stone and ivy, leaving him speechless. 

Not long after came the coronation of King Arthur, and the threat of Vortigern grew once again in the north.

In need of a weapon greater than Caliburn after the first and disastrous encounter with the monstrous tyrant where the Sword of Selection broke on the man's spear, Arthur was guided by his half-sister Morgan le Fae to the divine spear, Rhongomyniad. 

For only its light could pierce Vortigern's magic. 

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Monster after monster was slain. 

Camelot had the ideal king in Arthur, who wielded the divine lance and the holy sword together. Always at the side of Bedivere, the King and his husband were beloved across the kingdom.

But there was a threat that could not be so easily quashed. 

Rome declared war, led by the young Emperor Lucius Tiberius who bore ambitions and desires of world conquest. And in the final fated clash between Arthur and Lucius, the two dealt each other mortal blows. Arthur begged Bedivere to bring him to the lake where Excalibur had been granted to him, and there he told his beloved to take up the sword and cast it into the waters.

Three times Bedivere was sent to the waters, each time failing to return the sword. 

And on the third Arthur was gone...