Before you start this be aware that if you see a character I've used in one of my other stories it has nothing to do with this one ok I just get really emotionally attached to characters and have a habit of recycling them in order to keep them around so ya if you see a character in here that you've seen already in AL/WMU don't think this is a sequel or anything ok that's all hope you enjoy
I don't like walking around this old and empty house
So hold my hand, I'll walk with you, my dear
The stairs creak as you sleep, it's keeping me awake
It's the house telling you to close your eyes
The sound of footsteps over sticks and leaves was quiet. The group of men creeped stealthily through the woods, swords drawn, breathing slow and quiet. Occasionally a stick would break, resulting in a glare at a skinny black-haired man from a taller, bulkier blonde man dressed in armor. The skinny man would just shrug, then nod his head forward as if to say focus on the task, not on me. The blonde would roll his eyes at this, but oblige anyway.
"Sire," a man with ear-length curly brown hair and a thin beard hisses under his breath, and the blonde man turns his head to look in the direction of the call.
"What is it, Leon?" The blonde asks, taking a few quiet steps in Leon's direction to look through an opening in the leaves blocking the view. The black haired man tries to get a view from behind the two, but to no avail. The blonde steps back and looks over the group quickly, with a solemn nod as if he knows what's going to happen.
How could he, though? Nobody could have predicted what would happen. If they did, they probably wouldn't have come.
The group of men unsheathes their swords, preparing to ambush the beast standing in the clearing. The black haired man, despite his seemingly endless hours of research, could not find a single thing on the creature. Not a name, not a weakness, nothing. So, having the disadvantage of not knowing the beast's weaknesses, the black-haired man could only hope for a decent ending to this situation.
"Merlin, stay here," the blonde man whispers at the black-haired one, who nods despite the fact that he has very little intention of doing what he's told. But then again, when does he?
The blonde takes a deep breath, then swings around the tree he was hiding behind and breaks through the bush line and into the clearing. The rest of the men dressed in armour follow him, and they all surround the rather shocked-looking beast.
Merlin watches helplessly as the thing easily bats away two men without even blinking a black eye, and he winces as one slams into a tree and the other hits the ground with a sickening thud. He keeps his eyes trained on the blonde, who continuously fails at trying to make a blow to the thing's heart. He feels his heart sink to his chest as he watches the thing raise a paw and gets prepared to squish the blonde like a fly.
He mutters a few words, which in turn knock the blonde out of the way just in time for the paw to slam into the ground. He doesn't have much time to be relieved, though, because the thing is slashing and clawing harder than before and he lands a blow on the blonde's leg which earns a cry of pain. Merlin's seen enough by this point and he rushes out into the scene, prepared to drag the blonde away and send the beast running.
Things don't exactly go according to plan, though. He makes it to the blonde, who yells at him to get back to the cover of the trees. "Shut up, Arthur," Merlin hisses back and the blonde blinks but doesn't say anything. Merlin grabs his arms and starts to pull him away, not putting any attention on the beast at all. It all seems to happen in slow motion, really. He's almost at the tree line, when he hears Arthur scream a desperate "MERLIN!" He looks up just in time to see the giant paw flying towards him. He doesn't even have enough time to react, because the thing's claws are already slashing far too deep into the warlock's side.
And after that, all he sees is black.
Merlin wakes up with a certain irritating pounding in his skull, and he pushes his hand on his forehead in an attempt to dull the pain. He looks around the room, feeling a sense of relief at the familiarity of Gaius' quarters. Where is Gaius, anyway? Merlin thinks to himself as he stands up from the bed.
Suddenly he remembers the fight with the beast and lifts his shirt to see he hasn't even been scratched. That'd be impossible, though, the thing slashed him almost to bits. Certainly his magic hadn't fixed the scars. What, though?
He looks up and drops his shirt as the door opens and Gaius walks in. He's a bit slow-moving today, Merlin observes, as he watches his mentor make his way across the room. The old man keeps his eyes trained on the ground as he moves about, and Merlin raises his eyebrows at him. Gaius picks up a few empty bottles and stares at them blankly, them sets them back down and sighs, closing his eyes dully.
"Are you okay, Gaius?" Merlin asks, taking a cautious step towards the man.
Gaius ignores him, though. He walks away from the bench and towards Merlin's own room, and Merlin follows him curiously.
He watches with his eyebrows raised as Gaius approaches his dresser and opens the top drawer. "What are you..." Merlin starts, but he drops the sentence as Gaius pulls the red neckerchief out of his drawer.
The same one that's tied around Merlin's neck.
He keeps his narrowed eyes trained on Gaius as he reaches up to his neck and grabs the neckerchief in his hand, a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stares at his mentor. "Okay, seriously, Gaius. This really isn't funny. What's going on?"
Still, Gaius ignores him. He sighs again, putting the thing back in the drawer and closing it slowly. He then turns and walks back to the door, and Merlin watches as he walks away.
"That was strange..." Merlin says to nobody in particular, and follows Gaius out the door.
He gets out just in time to see Gaius leave the chambers, and he follows behind, but by the time he gets out Gaius is nowhere to be seen. Merlin huffs a sigh, and decides to make a stop by Arthur's chambers. The prat hasn't come to check on him yet, so he may as well let him know that he's alive and well. He walks through the halls, staring at everyone curiously as they all seem to look straight past him, not even trying to walk around him. Merlin has to dodge almost everyone since none of them make any attempts to not crash straight into him, and by the time he makes it to the door of Arthur's room, he's a bit winded.
The door is open, so Merlin just walks in. "Well, despite being clawed to bits, I think you'll be glad to find that I'm still fully functional," Merlin says in a light tone as he walks up to Arthur's desk.
The prince, like Gaius, doesn't answer. He sits at his desk, fingers pressed to his lips in concentration as he stares off into space. Merlin takes a few more steps until he's standing directly in front of Arthur and he waves his hand testingly in front of his friend's face. Arthur doesn't even react.
"Oh, this is making me sad just watching," a voice with an odd accent says from behind Merlin, making him jump.
He whips around, meeting the eyes of a tall, black haired boy who's standing with his weight on one foot and his arms crossed. "You're not supposed to be in here," Merlin tells him, and he just shrugs.
"Who's gonna make me leave?" He asks in a somewhat challenging tone, and Merlin doesn't answer right away, which is apparently funny to the boy. "Not you, then."
Merlin narrows his eyes at the boy. How can he just stroll into the prince's chambers as if he lives here and make casual conversation? And why, why isn't Arthur saying anything about it? Merlin casts a glance at the prince over his shoulder, who's staring with the same blank look as Gaius at the paper in front of him. "He can't see you," the boy says and Merlin whips his head around to see if he's joking.
"Of course he can," Merlin scoffs, though a small feeling of denial is forming in his stomach that he can't seem to get rid of.
"No, he really can't. You're dead, man. Sorry to be the one to break it to you."
Merlin can physically feel his heart sink to his feet. "Can you repeat that? I think I heard you wrong."
The boy shakes his head, almost sadly. "No, you heard me right. Dead as a doornail. They buried you yesterday."
Merlin clenches his fists, shaking his head stubbornly. "I think i'd know if I was dead."
"You are dead. Names Michael."
"Merlin," Merlin whispers, looking back at Arthur a bit helplessly.
"I know that. Merlin the magician. That's got a nice ring to it, you know. You should use that more often."
Merlin feels his heart drop even further as his eyes widen. "Shh!" He rushes forward, holding his hand over Michael's mouth only to have it shoved away. "How do you know-"
"I've been here a while, it's not that hard to work out. You're pretty interesting, I'd say. Got a whole destiny, a pet dragon, an entire legend following you. It's kinda mind-blowing, if you think about it."
Merlin looks down at the ground and shuffles his feet awkwardly. "Please, please tell me you're lying to me about this."
"Wish I was," Michael says with a shake of his head. "You wouldn't know, I guess. Not with everyone leaving every single door open in this place," he says, looking over his shoulder at the still-open door at the other side of Arthur's room.
Merlin, with a stubborn look of determination, stalks off toward the door. He goes to slam it closed to prove that he is not, in fact, dead, but instead of slamming, his hand flies right through it.
He stands there with a look of shock painted across his features, and he whips around when he hears a loud, almost cackling laughter from behind him. "Dude, you're dead!" Merlin, with every intention of throwing this boy across the room, pushes his hand outwards towards Michael. But instead of flying into the air, Michael lazily puts up a hand and gives Merlin a tired smirk. "That the best you can do?"
"What-" Merlin starts, but the boy just rolls his eyes and pulls his sleeve up his arm, revealing the familiar symbol. "You're a Druid," Merlin breathes, and the boy nods and pulls his sleeve back down his arm.
"Yeah. So, Merlin, I guess now that we've got the basis of the situation down, I should probably tell you all the complicated things."
kinda a shitty first chapter i know but i did the best i could with the idea i had i made the entire story in my mind but forgot to make a beginning so this is what y'all get ok
no but i do quite like this and yes michael is back but it's not the same michael as in al/wmu hes not mordred or anything like that promise hes a different michael same name and looks and stuff but different guy
also theres a few oc's in this i think theres about 4 or 5 and dont worry im not gonna exclude the merlin characters they'll be there
idk if you take the time to read my ridiculously messy unorganized writing then i love you
thats about all im jenna hope you enjoy this
-notreallymagical