Title: Under Siege
Show: Merlin
Characters/Pairings: Gwen/Arthur
Rating: PG
Word Count: 408
Spoilers: See A/N
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own, because if I did…I wouldn't be going crazy wanting to know what will happen next because then I would already know what was happening next.
Summary: Camelot is under siege… (real clever summary, I know)
A/N: Inspired by a video: www youtube com/watch?v=qhW7RpK2BgA Put a period (.) in the spaces. (spoiler warning, tho nothing terribly major) mostly just cuz it got me all excited for epic fight sequence, which I thought could (should!) be coupled with a similar kind of adrenaline pumping activity (well not quite that). What happens in the above clip is pure speculation on my part. And although I'm also sure that it is somehow related to the 'Gwen walking through fire' tease, I have no idea how to work that in.
Even if my fic (probably) is completely off base, it can still be enjoyed.
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Arthur ran down the stairs from his room, three steps at a time, still fastening the last few buckles of his armour as he went.
"Guinevere!" he yelled when he spotted her. She turned, a relieved look on her face. He wondered, vaguely, if it was relief that she had found him. "You're supposed to be with Morgana in the keep."
She placed her hand on the hilt of a sword he had somehow not noticed fastened around her handmaid's dress. "I wanted to grab a few things. In case…"
"I won't let that happen," he replied quickly. But it might not be true, he thought grimly, no matter how hard he tries, how fiercely he fights. So he was glad she would have something to defend herself with. She had the heart of a warrior, even if she hid as a handmaid.
"If you're in need of swords, then, you can take it," she rushed.
"No," he said, although he wondered if he would have let her have it regardless. "I'm lacking men, not swords."
"Then I can –"
"No," he answered strongly. Even with the heart of a warrior, he wanted her in the keep where she'd be safe... safer, at least.
He watched her face for the few seconds she seemed to deliberate fighting the matter, taken by surprise when she seemed to have reached a decision.
Guinevere placed her hands on either side of his face, pulling herself up onto her toes, and kissed him fully on the mouth, her lips pressed hard and desperately against his. Arthur's hand immediately found the small of her back, holding her more easily against him but also so that her body might be pushed more firmly to his and damning his armour for reducing the feel of it.
She pulled back after what was probably only a few seconds, her face a mix of desire, shock, and determination.
"Go!" she ordered, at which he clamped shut his jaw and nodded.
His mind turned, with a bit of struggle, back to the siege, as he ran toward the battlements. It became easier when he began calling orders to his men as they followed him. She was almost forgotten when he felt the heat of the fireballs whizzing over their heads from the enemy's trebuchets.
But with each doubt he called on Gwen's faith. And with each threat of defeat he remembered her kiss to spur him on.
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A/N 2: Yes, I realize it's similar to my other fic Token from a Handmaiden, but that's partly because I think there's a good chance that their first kiss would be a crisis-kiss. (Because it is an action-adventure show).
Perhaps I'll add my own opinion of what I thought the Arwen 5 year plan should be:
S2: beginning of friendship
End of S2: kiss, probably during/before/after a crisis when they're all not quite thinking straight
S3: Amazing UST (due to previous kiss)
S4: play around with the idea that they might actually like each other and want to be together. But with lots of adorable awkwardness.
S5: actually together(ish)
End of S5: Engaged/married