DISCLAIMER!

The Septimus Heap series belongs to Angie Sage. Not me. If i did... holy crap. That would be awesome. BUT HEY!

I was looking through this site and I was horrified to see that there were barely any (like, 1) Merrin Fanfic. And it's not even for him! So, like the fangirl for the misunderstood characters i am, i decided to write one.

This story contains JennaXBeetle, AltherXAlice, MerrinXOC.

So if you don't like MAGYK, you're in the WRONG PLACE!

Please rate/review!

It was a beautiful afternoon in the middle of summer, a perfect time to explore. The sun was just passed its zenith and was descending, letting the afternoon light give the Forest and warm, comforting glow. Two teenagers walked quietly through the thick underbrush, saying little, but there was really no need to.

"Why'd you bring me out here anyway?" one of them, a tall, lanky boy with dark hair and a brooding expression, demanded of the other, a lithe girl with a wild look about her.

She laughed lightly, twirling on the forest floor, her long patched skirt billowing out around her. Her long brown hair flowed out behind her, the sunlight highlighting the light streaks of blonde. She looked to the boy as though she had spent her whole life in this forest, and the beads and feathers in her hair and skirt only confirmed this. She was what most people in the Castle would call a "Wendron Witch", a troupe of girls who practiced White Witch Lore and Earth Magyk. They were shunned, even feared, by the Castle dwellers, but the dark haired boy had no fear as he followed her through the underbrush.

"The forest is beautiful at this time of the afternoon." The girl commented, smiling distantly up at the trees as if that answered his previous question.

The boy frowned slightly at her, he didn't like being dismissed. He opened his mouth to remark that a place that could possibly mean the end of your existence was, in no way, beautiful. But then he looked up and his mouth slowly closed. The sun was shining through the trees, illuminating their path. Dragonflies zoomed past, chasing a number of small insects while butterflies flapped their gorgeous wings. The path was smooth and comfortable to walk on, with no stray roots to trip on, and the rustle of the trees sounded more like a comforting whisper than anything else. There was Magyk in the air, but not the type of Wizard Magyk that he had grown accustomed to. It was old Magyk, far more ancient than anything he'd experienced.

His frown faded, and a look of awe replaced it. He'd never seen the forest this way before. It was... beautiful. The boy hadn't seen much beauty in his life, and this to him was like biting into his first licorice snake at Ma Custard's. Sweet and Delicious. Except, he thought, without the stickiness. He didn't realize that his mouth was hanging open until the girl giggled.

"Yeah…" he coughed, covering up quick. "You're right." He was blushing though.

The wild looking girl grinned her crooked grin, the one that always made the boy think that she was mocking him.

"See? What did I tell you? You can just lose yourself in some place like this." She smiled at the trees and did another small twirl while the dark haired boy studied her. Her bare feet glided across the Forest floor noiselessly, and she moved with a light step, weightlessly, almost like she was dancing and the only thing that kept her rooted were the clothes she wore. She laughed lightly as she moved, she looked... happy. And, he thought, blushing, beautiful.

"You can lose yourself in a place like this..." her words echoed in the dark boy's mind as he followed, gazing at her. She wasn't like anyone he'd seen in the Castle. Ever.

"Or someone…" he whispered quietly, following her.

They kept walking for a while, he wasn't sure for how long. She was right, he thought, you can lose yourself in the Forest. Even time, he found, seemed to be slowing down around them. He could've been walking for days, weeks, months even, he didn't know. But he didn't panic. He was calm. Eventually the forest thinned out and they reached a clearing overlooking a cliff. Mist surrounded the clearing, giving it a mysterious and Magykal look. It would have been beautiful if it hadn't felt so... malevolent. The boy bristled; he'd been here before. Something was wrong.

He jumped at a scuffling in the bushes, and cursed himself. He didn't want to seem like a sissy around the wild girl. But he couldn't get rid of the terrible feeling. He looked at the girl, who hadn't noticed. She was simply staring out over the cliff in a trance. He frowned, then heard another sound. A sound like marching. It was getting louder.

Quickly, he ran over to the girl, who had gained a considerable distance on him, and stood next to her protectively.

"Did you hear that?" he muttered, urgency in his voice.

The girl was still in a trance, her strange eyes- one bright blue, the other green- were glazed over as she stared out. She was humming softly. The boy stepped back. There was something in the girl's face...

Then he heard a horn.

Suddenly, with what seemed to be a great effort, the girl snapped out of her trance and rounded on him, her face had lost it's carefree grin and her mismatched eyes were filled with terror.

"They're here!" she hissed, pushing him to the forest with surprising strength for once who he thought so light. "Go! Quickly! Get out of here before-"

She was cut off when a flash of Darke light struck her, sending her sprawling across the clearing. She crashed into a tree and crumpled to the ground, motionless, a crumpled heap of brown, green, and russet red.

"NO!" The boy yelled, running over to her, but then a second flash sent him crashing into the underbrush, dazed.

His vision went fuzzy, but he managed to drag himself to his feet. He had to get back to her. He began to run back to where he assumed the clearing was, but he couldn't find the path. The marching noise was getting louder. The beautiful Forest that they had walked through was gone, replaced with one filled with Darknesse and foreboding. The sun was no longer lighting his way, in fact, the it seemed to have disappeared completely.

The marching suddenly stopped.

He heard a scream, a girl's scream. His heart froze.

"NO!" he yelled again, running blindly through the forest towards the sound. Everywhere he ran, trees blocked his path, everything seemed the same.

The girl's screams were all around him, fading into the distance.

The marching had begun anew.

But the boy still ran. He had to find her before…

He tripped on a branch and sprawled on the forest floor.

"NO!" he yelled and-

Woke up.

Merrin Meredith lurched from his small bed in his attic room in the Palace and ran out into the corridor in a panic, his bed sheets tangled about his long legs. He was sweating and breathing hard, the screams of the wild girl still ringing in his ears. He looked urgently around him, the Darke Forest of his dreams still lingering in the corners of his eyes. Merrin put his hand on the wall, panting as if he had just run a marathon. Anger and despair rose up in his chest, and he punched the wall in front of him. Then cursed.

"Ouch." Merrin shook feeling back into his hand and slumped against the wall, sliding down to the floor, holding his head miserably.

Why did it always have to end that way?

It started so beautifully, and then…

Merrin shuddered, his dream still lingering in his mind.

"Goddammit, Merrin" he hissed to himself.

It had been almost seven years since his apprenticeship with DomDaniel had been revoked. And here he was, almost 17 (he gathered anyway) and still suffering from bad dreams. But this one was different, he knew.

He let his mind wander, depressed, back to the the first time this dream had visited him, a year and a half ago. At 15, Merrin was just beginning to be interested in girls. But no matter what, they wouldn't even look at him. Not that he wasn't attractive, he was. He was tall and dark looking, with a permanent brooding expression and a guarded look in his eyes. He was the perfect bad boy, and when he walked past, he did get some looks. But they were fearful, not flirtatious. No one could see past his mistakes. It wasn't his fault he had been Apprenticed to DomDaniel! He had been barely six months when he was taken in a case of mistaken identity, called Septimus Heap, and instructed in Darke Magyk. Then, 10 years later, he'd had his life wrenched from him and given a new name- Merrin Meredith. Really? Merrin Meredith?

Then a guy with curly hair and, though he'd never admit it, actual Magykal talent, appears and takes his name, AND his spot as Apprentice to Extra Ordinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Not only that, at 15, he was getting flirtatious giggles and waves whenever he walked by, which was more than Merrin ever got. As if he didn't have enough to be jealous of!

But when he'd fallen asleep one night, he was greeted warmly by the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen- he though anyway. And she was all his. His Dream Girl. Not anyone else's. Merrin had tried in vain to get her name, but she'd always giggled and danced away. Slowly at first, he began to trust her. He began to tell this dream girl all his hopes and dreams, while she actually listened! They had explored the dream Forest together every night, and every morning Merrin regretted waking up. Then suddenly, one morning as he watched Septimus Heap walking down Wizard Way and getting waved at and cooed over, he realized- He didn't care. He had his dream girl, he didn't need anyone else.

He was in love.

But he wouldn't admit it, even to himself. Merrin Meredith, in love with a girl he'd never met? Only dreamed about? Never even gotten her name. Pfft. Right.

Imagine that.

But he couldn't escape it. And then the nightmare came, taking the girl away and leaving her screams ringing in his ears every night.

No matter what he did, he couldn't change the dream. He'd tried. God, he'd tried. But he couldn't. Night after night, he would spend those precious hours with his dream girl, only to have her taken away and wake in a cold sweat. It was like some cruel joke.

Merrin took a shuddering breath and pushed himself off the ground before someone saw him. He ducked through the door way to his room- for he had grown again and was outgrowing his door post- and pushed open his grubby window, feeling the early morning air. He took a few deep breaths and ordered himself to calm down, watching the goings on of the early risers in the Castle.

"C'mon, Merrin. You're almost 17. Relax. Breathe. Forget about it."

But he couldn't. And he wouldn't. He knew that, and as long as he was in the the Castle he would be haunted by the dreams.

He needed to get out.

Now.

Or soon. He just needed to leave, get a hold of himself.

He looked at the clock along Wizard Way. Almost 7 o 'clock. Great.

Merrin sighed and pulled on his Manuscriptorium robes, not bothering to brush his hair, and left his room, absorbed in his thoughts. He was so lost in them that had the Princess walked past, he wouldn't have noticed. Not that he would've cared, he would be gone soon anyway. Gone from everything, the Castle, the people, the lifestyle, and hopefully, from the dreams.

He couldn't handle losing this girl anymore. It gave him pains in his chest just thinking about it.

"That's it." He muttered decisively, "Tomorrow, I'm gone."

But little did he know that he wouldn't go tomorrow. Nor the next day, nor the next. Something kept him at the Castle, almost as if some Magykal force wanted him to find something… or someone.

Ooooh! What's gonna happen? What will Merrin find? Find out in the next chapter!

Thanks so much for reading guys!

Please Rate/Review! Or Message me! I won't bite!

Hahaha! Until the next!