Revamped.

I own nothing.

A Beast and A Girl

Akoya POV

The sounds around me didn't make sense. There was no rustling of leaves, sounds from birds or other creatures, sounds that one would expect in a forest. The only thing I heard was the crackling of a fire and creaking of floorboards. These weren't the sounds I was expecting when I woke up. I had definitely fallen asleep in the forest. I know I had.

My eyes refused to open, not wanting to confirm the conclusion that my ears had already come to. I had been found and moved. Normally this wouldn't have been concerning, but the reason for my slumber wasn't normal either. I had been attacked. The memory came rushing back to me as my eyes remained closed.

I had been meandering through the forest, not really doing anything other than reveling in my surroundings: nature in all its beautiful glory, the animals, the plants, the magic, especially the magic. It resonated with me greatly. It was as if the only time that I was complete was out in the forest, communing with nature as it were.

The only problem with this walking through the forest was the occasional encounter with beasts. It's not as if I couldn't take care of them myself, but the truth of the matter is, I didn't want to. The beasts didn't really deserve to die and although I could get rid of them without killing them, it would take a massive amount of energy. I only say this about the beasts because after wandering through the forest for more than 3 hours, I encountered one.

It was a Griffin; one of the more hostile beasts within this part of nature. It had obviously been hunting with no luck when it came across me, if anything could be told by the noises it made. I could hear exasperation and hunger. That may sound a bit odd, but I have seen many of these creatures during my wanderings.

When the Griffin noticed me its sounds changed from exasperation and hunger, to much more quiet noises of happiness. It was finally going to feed.

I stood there calmly, looking the griffin in its eyes, trying to convey the obvious fact that I was the predator here-that it should run. It didn't understand the message. It was starving. With all of the prey out in this forest I thought that was odd, but I didn't have time to ponder it. The griffin dismissed all of its senses, the senses I was manipulating to tell it that it was only going to be harmed if it tried to attack me; to do such a thing must mean that its hunger was great.

I raised my hand with a sigh, I didn't want to harm it but if it continued towards me I would have no other choice. Just then I heard voices getting closer, accompanied by the distinct noise of horses. Sure enough just as the griffin reached the 10 meter mark from me, knights appeared in the clearing that the griffin and I were in.

A knight noticed me, "Get away from it! Run!" he desperately called. I sighed at the voice; there was no way I would be able to out run it now. I lowered my hand and prepared for the fate that awaited me. I know it sounds like I gave up but in reality I couldn't do anything in front of these men. The clothing they deigned blatantly marked them as knights of Camelot; if I performed the magic that would save my life I would be killed—my action of self-defense becoming null. I had no fear of death, it was a natural occurrence and I had no family which would miss me. I had no obligations to this Earth and perhaps it was my destiny to leave at this moment.

I looked over at the knight who had called to me; his face was contorted into an expression of horror, his blue eyes shining and blonde hair falling in his face. I smiled at him as the creature took its first swipe at me.

I didn't scream, I felt no need to, the pain was excruciating but I was never one to let the pain win-if I screamed it would. My breath was coming out in short gasps as I looked down at my now maimed shoulder and chest. I laughed at all of the blood coming out of the wound. It was a bad reaction-mayhap I wasn't prepared to disembark from life just yet.

I heard the knights charging at the beast as it took another swipe at me…this time my stomach. Once more I did not scream. There would be no point, yet I couldn't help a grunt of agony from escaping my lips.

My breathing became erratic and my vision blurred and seemed to darken. The blood loss was getting to me. Then I heard the telling thud of the beast falling.

Apparently the knights had achieved killing it. I felt grief for the creature; it shouldn't have been killed just for trying to feed itself. As I thought this I laughed again; I was feeling pity for the beast that would've eaten me. Perhaps I should've listened to my parents when they teasingly told me I had some sort of mental affliction.

There were many bodies around me now, their voices filtering in and out of existence. I thought I heard, "It is okay, you're going to be okay", yet, I may have dreamt that.

Then there was pressure on my wounds and another grunt of agony escaped me; yet I wouldn't scream. Even though I didn't give myself the release of screaming it didn't matter, pain won, like it always did, and I fell into darkness.

The memory was rough and blurry, but I knew that most of it was true. So I must be somewhere in Camelot, this could be bad. If I had been unconscious my magic may have healed me without my permission. Hopefully I hadn't been in that much danger of dying for it to do that. Although, knowing my magic…it probably had.

Sometimes I felt as if my magic was another being entirely. It was obviously a part of me but it seemed to have a mind of its own when it came to these "near-death experiences". Yet, judging by the fact that I was still alive made me optimistic to the fact that perhaps my magic had decided to allow the knights to take care of me.

Warily I slowly opened my eyes. The image that flooded my vision was a bit of a shock, so much so that I startled backwards a bit.

Right in front of me was a young man, around my age, with raven black hair and the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen.

Merlin

I looked down at the girl who had only a few hours ago stood before a griffin with no fear; she looked more serene if anything. There were bandages wrapping around almost every portion of her upper body. I winced as I saw that the white of the linen was still slightly stained with red.

She was very beautiful. Nothing like anything I had ever seen. She had auburn hair which seemed to have strands of gold, which shined brilliantly in the fire light. Her face was heart shaped; yet her cheekbones seemed pronounced. Her impossibly long eyelashes licked her cheeks. Although her eyes were closed I knew that the color of those eyes was a brilliant emerald swirling with ocean blue. Her frame was slight but strong, the body of someone who knew labor. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

I shook my head trying to dispel the thoughts; just because she was beautiful didn't mean I had to stare at her like some sort of pervert. Glancing at her wounds again I winced, remembering how she hadn't even seemed the least bit frightened as the Griffin descended upon her.

We had been chasing the Griffin for hours. How hard could it be to find something that big and vicious? All they really had to do was follow the screams. I winced at the thought as the image of dead knights lying in pools of blood filled my mind. I shook the image away from me-no time for those types of thoughts.

"Come on Merlin! You're complaining about how we haven't found the Griffin and yet you're still lagging behind." Arthur jibed at me.

"I am not 'lagging behind'" I retorted, my voice slipping into the easy banter that Arthur and I always seemed to have, "I am right beside you, so if anyone is lagging behind… it's you."

"I'm just back here to make sure you don't fall off of your horse; you're so clumsy it's a wonder you can walk, let alone ride a horse."

"I can walk! Plus, riding a horse is just sitting down." I paused for a moment looking down at the horse I always rode, "Anyways, the only reason I'm back here is to protect your royal backside if anything happens."

"Riiight, because if anything happened you'd obviously be able to prevent it with your clumsiness."

"Well, anything's better than being a clotpole."

"Merlin…shut up."

"Clotpole," I voice once more.

"Idiot," Arthur shot back, his tone friendly and happy despite the word.

Suddenly I felt the Griffin much more strongly. Its magic had been in my range of senses for a while, but now it was as if we were right on top of it. I looked nervously towards Arthur and the other knights who seemed oblivious to the change. Of course they would be it's not like they have magic to tell them when the Griffin was getting closer.

Arthur seemed to notice my change in demeanor for he turned to look at me questioningly. I just shrugged non-committedly; they would realize that the beast was near soon enough.

Just then there was the sound of rustling in the bushes and a fast form took off towards a clearing that was just a couple meters in front of us.

"Follow it!" Arthur ordered.

All of us quickly took after the Griffin, entering the clearing moments later. What we saw was unexpected, to say the least.

There was a girl standing right next to the Griffin, it couldn't have been more than 10 meters away from her. She had the most beautiful hair I had ever seen, red and golden. She was wearing a flowing, light green dress that seemed to fit her perfectly. It was almost as if the dress had been made from magic, it seemed to embody nature. Her hand was raised towards the Griffin as if she was going to stop it with just her thoughts.

All of us stared at the girl for a moment, entranced by her in a way. Not only because of her beauty but because of how the beast seemed to be closing in on her and she made no motion to move; Arthur was the first to break out of the trance.

"Get away from it! Run!" Arthur yelled pleadingly to the girl.

The only response that was given to his plea was a sigh and the lowering of the girl's arm. She turned to look at Arthur, with eyes which swirled electric green and blue. Still facing Arthur she smiled as the Griffin descended upon her and took its first swing, piercing her flesh across her shoulder and chest, tearing the fabric of her dress.

We all cringed for the scream that never came. Instead there came the sound of laughter as the girl looked down at her wounds and saw the blood. She never screamed, she only laughed; yet if I listened closely I could tell her breathing was labored. I cringed once more when I heard how shallow and pained her breaths were becoming.

Just as the beast was going to swipe again Arthur snapped out of the shock, "Don't just stand there! Kill it! Charge," his voice seemed panicked and I couldn't blame him. To see someone so brutally maimed right in front of you was difficult. Especially when the person didn't even scream; it made it seem as though it was all an illusion.

As the knights charged I snapped out of my own mind and got off of my horse. I would help the girl but first I had to help destroy the Griffin. It could only be killed with magic; luckily the magic I was going to use wouldn't stand out.

As the beast took another swipe at the girl, who once again didn't scream, Arthur threw his spear directly towards the Griffin's heart. As it flew through the air I felt my eyes burn gold and time slowed, giving me enough time to whisper the spell that would allow the spear to kill. My eyes burning an even brighter gold as I said the incantation, "treiddio drwy'r hud a dinistrio," the words flew off my tongue easily. The language of the Old Religion had become more and more natural to me as of late; almost more natural than the language I had learned from birth.

The spear struck true and the beast fell; I smiled along with the knights, of whom none had been harmed by the beast.

My smile was short lived as I realized that the girl was still severely injured. Running to her side I put my hands on her either side of her face trying to see if she was still conscious. Her eyes were open but they were glazed over slightly, as if she was falling into unconsciousness.

"It's okay; you're going to be okay." I told her fervently, trying to make her stay with me. "You just have to stay awake for just a bit more okay? I know it's difficult, but just try, you're going to be fine." as I said the words her eyes responded slightly, brightening minimally. I took the short opportunity and took the supplies from the medical kit I always took along with me just in case.

"This may hurt just a bit, but just stay with me, it'll be fine." I tried to encourage her more as I applied pressure to her wounds to staunch the bleeding. I didn't even notice that the knights had surrounded me looking anxiously down at the girl who seemed to be breathing a bit better as I put the pressure on her wounds. Yet I knew that I would have to apply more pressure if she wasn't going to die from blood loss.

"This is going to hurt a lot…and I'm sorry." I tightened the bandages and waited for the scream, but instead there was only a hiss of pain before her eyes closed, the pain too much for her.

I checked her pulse on the side of the neck, breathing a sigh of relief when I realized it was still strong and steady. I also noticed the slight feel of magic but brushed it off as residue from the Griffin.

As I finished wrapping the bandages a hand came down upon my shoulder. I startled a bit and turned around, only to come face to face with Arthur.

`"Is she going to be alright?" he asked; real concern present in his voice.

I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "Yes, but we have to get her back to Camelot quickly. I did the best I could, but she should really be looked at by Gauis."

Arthur nodded his agreement and the knights picked up the girl carefully and put her on a horse with Sir Leon. I sighed in relief; the girl was going to be okay-hopefully.

I shook the memory away from my mind; it was still very vivid even though it had happened hours ago. Once we had arrived in Camelot the girl was immediately escorted to Gauis' chambers where he cleaned her wounds, gave her medicine to ward of infection, stitched her more serious wounds, and applied new bandages.

I turned to look at the girl once more. She hadn't even screamed once, even though Gauis had said that her wounds were very deep and must have been excruciatingly painful. She looked so serene while she was sleeping; almost as serene as she had when she was in the forest. Yet her face began to change and her eyebrows pulled together. I got up to go a little closer to her to make certain she was alright.

My face was fairly close to hers when she opened her eyes.

Both of us startled backwards a bit. Her eyes were so beautiful. The green slowly churning and melting with the clear blue; in my peripheral vision I noticed that her mouth was slightly open to reveal white teeth, but most of my attention was focused on her eyes; I couldn't seem to stop staring at them.

We sat there staring each other in the eyes for quite a while. It seemed like hours, when in reality it was probably only a couple of seconds. My body moved on its own accord and my hand reached up to touch her face, to feel the smooth skin beneath my fingers.

Right as my hand was going to touch her face she blinked rapidly a couple of times and looked down at my hand. I dropped it quickly and looked down and away from her.

With a slight laugh I broached the silence that had crept up on us.

"Um, sorry," it was the only thing I could think to say.

I heard her breath out deeply a couple of times before she responded, still a bit breathless. "Why?"

I reverted into my normal awkward self once more, my hand reaching up to rub the back of my head, "Well, for, um, staring at you." I said in a rush before abruptly changing topics to try and dispel the awkward atmosphere that had seemed to form.

"Are you alright?" I knew it was a slightly stupid question, considering she had just been attacked by a magical creature.

She laughed softly at my words and it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. "Well, I'm as well as I could be after that." I looked back up at her at that; she was shaking her head back and forth minutely as if to dispel a memory.

I laughed slightly as well. "Yeah, I'm sorry we didn't stop it sooner." I felt the need to apologize for our slowness.

"It's fine; I'm just glad you stumbled upon Me." her smile seemed slightly false, as if she would've preferred to have dealt with the creature by herself.

I frowned slightly. "Yeah…" my voice trailed off, thinking about why she would possibly want to deal with such a beast alone.

Before I could think more on the subject she shifted slightly and winced. "I guess I won't be moving around much very soon, eh?" her voice was light and carefree, but I could sense an underlying pain.

"Unfortunately, yes. You took quite a beating out there. Luckily you seem to be a very fast healer, otherwise you may have died." I blanched after I said it, for some reason the idea of her being dead just seemed to wrong. She seemed to embody life itself; if she died it would be a crime to life itself.

I shook my head slightly at the thoughts. This was ridiculous, I didn't even know this girl and yet I felt such a strong connection to her. My magic felt it as well. Every time I was around her it seemed to sing in my veins, fighting for release. I had never felt my magic so out of control, it was scary, but also…exhilarating.