This one is kind of along the same lines as In Arthur's Head- it's 2.09 The Lady of the Lake but from Arthur's POV. I changed the ending to fit the way I think it should have ended. I hope it's OC enough. :)
It's certainly been an odd few days. And somehow, like he always is, Merlin seemed to be at the center of it. Does he naturally attract trouble?
It all started one morning when Merlin had brought me a rotten apple and stale bread for breakfast.
"Breakfast!" He yelled. I sat straight up, startled awake. Then I saw what was sitting on the plate at the foot of my bed. Not appetizing. He headed for the door.
"Oi! Where's the meat? Cheese?" In other words, my normal breakfast. He stopped, ha.
"That's the new breakfast menu." Say what?
"This isn't adequate."
"We, we've got to keep you in shape." He doubts my fitness? Idiot!
"I'm fighting fit!" I train more than any other knight I know!
"But we want you to stay that way." He turned to leave.
"Merlin!" I threw the rotten apple at him. It was the nearest object at hand. "Is there somewhere you have to be?" He looked anxious to be someplace else.
"Of course not!"
"Good. 'Cause I've got some work for you to do." I sent him off to collect water for a bath. I needed one today.
It took him a while to collect all the water, of course, and I was impatient to get in. "Make certain it's hot enough!"
At last I heard the pouring stop and walked out from behind the screen. "Is it ready?"
"Yep. Newly heated."
I walked over and stuck my foot in, only to withdraw it immediately, scalded. "Ah! You bumpkin! It's boiling!"
"Boiling?" He looked and sounded totally confused.
"You are half asleep today!" First that poor excuse of a breakfast, now this?
"I'm sorry, Sire. Erm, I'll get you some cold." Ohhh noooo.
"No, I'll get you some." I grabbed the pitcher off the table next to me and splashed the water onto him. With great relish.
"That wake you up?" Ha!
"Raring to go, Sire," he replied then walked off to find a towel.
I should have taken note then how something seemed off about him that morning. More than usual anyway. He may bring breakfast late sometimes, but he never brought rotten food. And the bath water—who doesn't pay attention to the fact that the water he pours in the tub is boiling? It made even less sense than usual. I chalked it up to Merlin being Merlin and put it out of my head and went about my day.
After training, I was summoned to my father. He told me about Halig, the bounty hunter, and the girl who'd escaped his cage. He also mentioned that she was cursed. What was that supposed to mean? The knights had been directed to help Halig find her, so I'd have to be on the lookout.
xxxXxxx
By the time dinner rolled around I was good and ready for it. Nothing was odd about it and Merlin had even brought it on time.
"Do you want some water with that?" he asked.
"Mmm." My mouth was full, but that was a "yes." He poured water into my cup then stood there waiting. My knife suddenly fell on the floor and I bent over to pick it up. When I sat back up I noticed a drumstick missing from my plate.
"I had two drumsticks."
"No you didn't." What? I can count.
"Merlin, I had two drumsticks."
"Perhaps it dropped on the floor." Wouldn't I have seen it when I was picking up my knife? I leaned over to look anyway. Nope, no drumstick. This time when I sat back up, my sausages had disappeared.
"I had sausages!" I knew that for sure!
"You sure? They must've fallen under the table." Again? Really? Ahhh!
"Merlin!" Something was going on here.
"What? You can search me, I don't have them." He didn't look innocent, but he didn't look guilty either.
"Well, where are they?"
"Odd." You're telling me, idiot.
"Very."
"Sure you didn't eat them?"
"I haven't had the chance!" he looked at me like he thought I was losing my mind. Would I be asking about the sausages if I'd eaten them? Maybe I was losing my mind, but he wasn't exactly above suspicion either. Frustrated, I finished what was left, dismissed him and went about my business.
It wasn't long until my business led right back to Merlin. Sir Leon had notified me that Halig had Merlin in a dungeon cell. I didn't particularly like the guy—he was smelly and treated his bounties like animals. So down I went to the dungeon to see what Merlin had supposedly done.
I got there in time to hear Halig say, "I don't believe you," and pull his arm back, presumably to punch my poor servant who was sitting in front of him.
"Halig! What do you think you're doing?" I yelled at him then walked into the cell.
"We found the boy acting suspiciously, Sire." Oh yeah, Merlin never acts suspiciously.
"Merlin?" I feigned disbelief.
"He could be hiding the girl, and he's gonna tell us where." Merlin hiding a girl? Seriously? How could he even "get" a girl to hide? I looked past Halig to Merlin. He'd closed his eyes in anticipation of the punch. I shoved Halig's arm down and pulled Merlin out of the chair to the cell door.
"Leave him be. Merlin is my servant. He has my complete trust. If you have a question about him, you speak to me. Do you understand?" Intimidation; add a crown and it works every time.
"Sire." He understood all right. He bowed then left with a parting shot, "Goodnight, Merlin. Don't forget your dinner." He stared menacingly at him on his way out.
That prompted me to look down at the floor. I saw something that looked suspiciously like sausages.
"Thank you," Merlin said to me. Then he looked where I was looking. "Ah."
"Are those my sausages?" Sheepish. That's how I'd describe him at that moment.
He nodded vaguely. "Mmm."
"You stole them?" How? Why?
"To keep you fit." So he lied. He bent over and picked up the sausages.
"Are you telling me I'm fat?" Hopefully he noticed my tone of warning.
"No. Well, not yet." Nope, he did not hear that warning.
"I am not fat!" Oh, I can definitely see the stocks in his future.
"You see? It's working." He turned and left with the food, obviously in a hurry. Again.
Something was wrong with his reasoning, but why would Merlin steal my food? As far as I knew he and Gaius ate well enough. He's never taken my food like this before. Sure, he probably ate some of my leftovers but he didn't need to take them home, did he?
xxxXxxx
The next morning I was summoned down to the lower town, where I met Father and Gaius. Two people, a man and a woman, had been killed, but there was some debate as to what killed them.
Gaius thought a wild animal, like a bear or wolf, had attacked them, but there were no tracks even though the ground was soft. So there was no animal trail to follow. But there were human footprints leading away from the dead couple. That indicated that someone could have been able to flee the attack, but no one had come forward. Surely a survivor would report the attack to someone?
Father had another theory. He thought that the owner of the footprints had been the one responsible for the attack. Gaius quickly refuted him; whatever had done this had to be huge enough to take down two people at once. So Father drew the next logical (for him) conclusion that he could—since neither man nor beast had done this, it had to be the work of a magical creature.
I was glad he was finally admitting to such a possibility (griffin, questing beast anyone?) but I didn't want to rule the other possibilities out. The evidence seemed to contradict itself and Gaius didn't have any theories. We had our work cut out for us. The strangeness continued.
xxxXxxx
Apparently Merlin wasn't finished acting oddly. I ran into him later in the day walking down a corridor. That wasn't odd. What was odd is that he was carrying a dress—one of Morgana's, if I'm not mistaken. This was just too good an opportunity to pass up. I paused and gave him a good long look then walked past him before saying, "What are you doing?"
"Er, doing a chore for Gaius." Sure he was.
"For Gaius?" That brings up soooo many questions.
"Yes."
Okay, I'll play along. "Weird."
"Oh, I don't believe it's for him."
Okay, time for some fun, "As long as you do a proper day's work, Merlin, that's all I'm concerned with." I turned and made as if to walk away.
"No, no. It isn't for me." Oh, that look of horror. Priceless!
"What a man does with his extra time is totally up to him." I was laughing uncontrollably on the inside.
"No, you- you've got this wrong." Did I? One last jibe.
"Color agrees with you, Merlin." And I walked away. Luckily for me I made it to my chambers before the laughter burst out of my chest. At least I could get amusement out of all this strange behavior. All jokes aside though, what was he doing with a dress? Distraction, stolen food and a dress—maybe he was hiding a girl. Ha!
xxxXxxx
The very next morning another attack was discovered. Luckily there was a witness this time, and I'd spoken to him. I met Father and Gaius again down in the lower town. The injuries looked the same as the other victims. Gaius confirmed that.
I told them how the witness had seen a giant black cat with wings. Father took some pride in the fact that he'd been right about a magical creature. I fought the impulse to roll my eyes.
Despite the witness, there were no tracks of any kind, just human footprints again. Father pushed Gaius for a firm conclusion, but Gaius refused to give one. I knew he wanted to gather evidence and research more before he made a conclusion. He finally told us he'd report his findings before the end of the day.
xxxXxxx
Hours later, Gaius reported back to the court about the creature behind the attacks. It turned out that the creature wasn't a creature all the time. She was the Druid girl, Halig's bounty, during the day and a giant black cat with wings at night. That was the nature of her curse. When she was the beast, she had no choice but to kill. All knights and guards were put on alert and actively searching for her.
It wasn't until near midnight that she was spotted and the warning bells sounded. A guard yelled out in warning and gave chase. Finally she was chased into a corner and we blocked her only escape. She looked totally terrified. She begged us to let her go, but Halig denied her, citing the fact that no one escapes from him. Arrogant pig.
Then the clock chimed and all hell broke loose in front of us. The girl started screaming, but it was nothing like I'd heard before. I shuddered at the horrible sounds she made as she transformed—shrieks that resembled neither man nor beast. Everyone readied their weapons. When she was fully transformed, she reared up and killed the bounty hunter before I slashed her in the upper chest.
Then she ran out, but the knights backed her into a corner in the courtyard. She growled and hissed at her attackers, until Merlin ran toward them. She stopped moving and growling to look at him. I ran up then and noticed him—that was odd; what was he doing there? He distracted us enough that we didn't notice the falling statue until it was almost too late. That gave the beast enough time and room to fly away. Of course Merlin took off after her. Maybe he had a death wish. I'll have to ask him.
xxxXxxx
Late the next day, I entered my chambers and saw Merlin sitting there polishing what looked like every boot I owned. I was surprised to see him actually doing as he was told for once
"Ah, Merlin," I turned to close the door. "I've been looking for you."
"Yeah, right, er, you want me to polish your armor and to, er, wash your clothes and clean your room."
I sat down on the floor next to him. I waited for him to make some snide comment about how I expected too much of him, but nothing. I frowned and changed tactics. We'd have to discuss feelings after all. "Something's been distressing you, hasn't it?"
"Maybe." He just kept polishing. This is hard.
"Was it when I flung water over you?" I tried. He paused, looked at me and chuckled. Polishing resumed.
"It wasn't very nice."
"It was a little unfair." I let him polish for a few more seconds then said, "But that's not the real problem, is it?" Despite what some people think, I can be very perceptive. I don't get enough credit for that.
He stopped polishing and stared down at the floor. "No," he said so quietly I barely heard him.
"Then what it is it?" I tried to say it gently, so he'd know he could trust me. But nothing; he just stared at the floor. I am not known for my empathy. Showing or talking about feelings makes me cringe—I'd rather face a dozen bandits alone. "I know I'm not the most compassionate guy, but you can trust me, you know?"
He turned to look at me and I saw watery eyes. Oh boy. Gulp. "Yeah, I- I know that, but you probably won't like it."
What could possibly be that bad? I blew out a sigh. "Okay, what if I promise that I won't get upset?"
He thought for a bit, "All right. So I met this girl one night; she was so beautiful."
"Good on you! That doesn't sound bad at all."
"That's not the 'bad' bit. She was the Druid girl that Halig captured. I broke her out of her cage and hid her in the catacombs under the city . . ."
"Merlin! What on earth . . ."
"You promised you wouldn't get upset!" Oh yeah, I did. But those were two illegal things . . .
"Okay okay, I'm calm."
"Anyway, I didn't know about her curse, I just thought she was a girl in trouble and I didn't want to see her die like every other magical person around here."
"All right. Then what?"
"I helped her. Brought her food and candles. Promised to look after her." Now I see the source of his odd behavior.
"So that's why you've been so distracted lately. I think I know where this is going."
He flushed and looked down again then said quietly, "Yeah. We fell in love." If I was him, I would give him a hug. But since I'm me, I put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up again.
"Oh . . . wow. I don't even know what to say. You finally get a girlfriend, and I hurt her. I am so sorry. If I'd known, I . . ."
"Would have done the same thing. She was killing innocent people and you did your duty. She couldn't help killing- that was her curse. She never wanted this. We were going to run away together, but she died." I had to suppress the shock from showing on my face—he was getting worked up; I had to calm him a bit.
"Merlin, whoa. I believe you. Gaius told us about the curse." He took a deep breath and settled down, to my relief. "I am sorry I killed her. I noticed you ran after her when she flew away. Did she suffer long?"
"Not too long. I took her to the lake of—a lake. She told me that I'd saved her . . . then s-she passed. By dying she was set free. I-I laid her in a boat a-and set it on fire . . ." he paused to swipe at his eyes, trying to keep a stoic front. ". . . Before I committed her to the lake."
"Oh Merlin, I'm so sor . . ."
"If you say 'I'm so sorry' one more time, I'm gonna give you a hug." Huh? I dropped my hand and scooted backwards a bit. "I know you're sorry, and I'm strangely not mad at you. Freya is free from her curse and living a better life. It's just going to take me a while to get used to that."
"Freya was her name? Pretty name."
"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He took a deep breath. "She had the most beautiful brown eyes, lovely brown hair . . ."
"I wish I could have met her, you know, when she wasn't trying to shred me." Oops. "I mean, during the day, when she was a girl." Luckily he was smiling ironically, not like he wanted to punch me. Which I would have understood. Completely. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're still here, though I'm sad you had to suffer so much."
"Yeah, me too." A sigh and a long pause, then his mood seemed to shift. "At least you have Gwen."
I glared at him. "We're not talking about that, remember?"
"Oh that's right. Still, she's alive. And available. How unfair!" He sighed melodramatically.
"Like when you called me fat."
"Why was that unfair?" There's the old Merlin I know and . . .
"Because I am not f . . ." He stopped and grinned at me. Oh, he is not getting away with that. I wrestled him into a headlock and rubbed his hair with my knuckles.
"Ow! Ah!" Sweet, sweet payback.
"Still believe I have to get in shape?"
"No! No! No, no, no, no!" I stopped and let him go.
"That's better." I wasn't referring to the fat joke. I finally smiled at him.
"Thanks."
"You are correct, though. You need to polish my armor, wash my clothes and clean my room." I got up and let him get on with it. Hopefully he was making up new insults and would be back to himself soon.
A/N- Thanks for reading! Any thoughts? Please let me know! :)