Hey, guys!
It's been way too long since I last wrote anything for Arthur and Gwen. I've decided to start this new story, which is a little different than what I've written before. I plan to write short little scenes, or one-shots, or sometimes whole story arcs that will take up several chapters, all in random order, expanding on things seen in the show-or, most importantly, not seen in the show. That's why I decided to name this Arthur and Guinevere: Missing Moments.
It won't have any order, as I said, it will be random: a moment from an episode I think should've been written in one chapter, a chapter with some new characters the next. This story will include Gaius, all the knights, Merlin, the guards, Catherine/Kate-Gwen's maid-and Shayla, Arthur and Gwen's infant daughter. You can read my first A/G story, Arthur and Guinevere: A Love Which Brings Light to read about her, if you want. They'll have other children too, who will also be featured in these chapters.
Some moments will be from their honeymoon/newly married period that we didn't get to see with the time jump, some from seasons 1-5, and some from beyond season 5 (because, as the version in my head goes, Arthur is saved in the last five minutes of 5x13, and he and Merlin return home to Camelot safely). Just a random mishmash of all things Arthur and Guinevere.
I hope this makes some kind of sense and I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter, scenes I think would've been written in to 4x05 if there had been time.
Oh, and disclaimer: don't own Merlin, obviously. If I did, season 5 would've had WAY more A/G scenes! But that's what this story is for. Hope you guys enjoy it!
Arthur and Guinevere: Missing Moments
Chapter 1
(Referencing 4x05):
"Gwen? Are you all right? You haven't been yourself these past few days," Merlin says. He'd happened to see her out in the lower town when he was on his way to the woods for herbs for Gaius, and had been halted by his friend's saddened expression.
"I'm fine, Merlin, everything's...fine."
"It isn't. That's plain as day all over your face."
"Gee, thanks," Gwen says sourly, and then realizes to her horror that she is actually about to cry. She looks down at her blue dress.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it," Merlin says gently, putting a hand on her arm, making her look at him. "I just wanted to make sure you were OK. Are you sure you can't tell me what happened?"
Gwen looks as if she's about to shake her head no again, but something in Merlin's face tells her to tell him, so after a moment she finally says, "Arthur...has decided that we can't be together. Him and me."
"I'll kill him," Merlin says threateningly. It's an immediate response.
"Don't," Gwen says wearily, shaking her head. "It's-
"Fine? Gwen, it isn't," Merlin says, already walking away from her.
"Merlin! Where are you going?"
"To knock some sense into our king," Merlin calls back.
A/G * A/G
"Arthur! Are you crazy?" Merlin bellows, marching into the council chambers uninvited. "What could have possibly possessed you to break up with Gwen? She is the best thing to ever happen to you and you know it." Merlin only feels allowed to yell at the King because he happened to barge into the council chambers when Arthur was by himself. Although, come to think of if, he very well would have yelled at the King no matter his location, no matter if he was with other people or not. This was too important. This was about Arthur and Gwen, the one relationship Merlin could count on as a lasting, shining example of true love. Except of course, in cases when the King happened to be behaving particularly idiotically. Well, like now, for instance. "And the fact that she's being so...gracious about it just kills me-
"Merlin, stay out of this," Arthur says shortly. "How do you know about it, anyway?"
"I just talked to Gwen."
"Oh," Arthur says. This makes him look down at the paper he was pretending to write on, the possibility of Gwen hurt-with himself as the causer of that hurt-too much for him to acknowledge directly. "Well, you two have been friends for years. It's only natural that you would-
"Arthur, seriously," says Merlin, frustrated. "What on earth could've made you end things with Gwen? In all the upheaval in your life lately, she's the most dependable person you know." Suddenly, Merlin realizes and his eyes narrow and he says, "you've been talked into this, haven't you?"
Arthur's hand clenches into a fist subconsciously, a show of unconscious upset over hearing that accusatory phrase having been said once already by Gwen, and now repeated by Merlin. Or maybe it was the truth of the phrase that gnawed at him. Maybe both. Probably both.
"I haven't been talked into anything."
"Oh, please. Arthur, it's obvious what an influence your uncle has on you. If you only could realize that-
"I thought you were here to yell at me about Guinevere, not about my uncle."
"Don't you see how they're connected? Arthur, if Agravaine's the one who told you to end it with Gwen-for the sake of 'appearances' or whatever-then, frankly, he's crueler than I thought. Oh, and also: you're an idiot for following his orders."
"Merlin-
"No, Arthur, I'm not going to let you ruin this."
"You can go now," Arthur says loudly, to be heard over his servant.
"Fine, I will, but one more thing: Gwen is my best friend, and I'll be the last one to let you hurt her like this."
And with that, Merlin leaves the room.
A/G * A/G
Later that evening, Merlin goes looking for Arthur. He felt a little guilty, yelling at him like that, even if the things he said were true. He wasn't King, he had no business being King at all, but Merlin knew how alone Arthur felt in his new role, especially without Gwen there beside him. He didn't want to make him feel more alone than he already did.
Merlin doesn't have to do much searching to find him; he finds the King at his desk in his chambers. "Look," Merlin says, only to have Arthur glance up tiredly at him in a "what is it now?" sort of way. Merlin fully ignores his expression. "I know there are all these new pressures on you since becoming King," Merlin continues, in a much quieter voice than he had used when he'd shouted at him earlier in the day. "But, Arthur, how you could end things with Gwen is beyond me. You love her."
"That's right, I do," Arthur says looking up at the magician now, his voice harsh. "I love her more than anything else in the world."
"And yet you still broke it off-
"I hated it, Merlin. Do you understand that? I hated every second of that conversation. I almost didn't go. I left my chambers three different times. And when she opened the door of her house to let me in and I saw her face, I nearly turned around and walked home. I hated-HATED-to have to watch her face in reaction to my words to her. And the worst part was, she wasn't even angry. She looked so...disappointed in me, after."
But you still went is the thought that hangs in the air between them. Still, Merlin chooses to ignore it, for Arthur's sake, seeing the very genuine pain in his face as he talks about it.
"You can't find as good a person anywhere as there is in Gwen," is what he says.
"I know, I know that," Arthur says, sighing. "She's the best thing to ever happen to me."
Merlin looks at him pointedly. "So what are you going to do about that?" He asks.
And enter: the purple flower apology scene.