Merlin doesn't belong to me.
Moment of Truth
Helios threw off the covers and got out of bed. He looked at the clock and read 2:34 am. Exactly three hours since he had entered bed and pretended to go to sleep. It was useless, he couldn't sleep.
I can't do it; he thought to himself, I can't go through with it. Even as those thoughts crossed his mind, Helios felt himself relax. It had the first free breath he'd breathed in weeks. The first free breath since the engagement had been announced. What had he been thinking? How could he have thought he'd have the strength to go through with it?
He really felt bad for Gwen, it wasn't her fault he was weak but he had no choice. She had made him do it and he could never say no to her, he loved her too much and was equally scared of her.
When he had met Gwen, he could understand why she hated her so much. Gwen was a lovely person and it seemed she was under as much pressure as he was, why else would agree to marry a man only two weeks after their first meeting? Why else would she agree to have the wedding only two months later?
Even as these thoughts went through his mind, Helios decided that it was really Gwen's fault. Gwen should never have agreed to the whole marriage business. It was her fault. She should have seen that he was flake.
000
Gwen smoothed down her gown and looked at herself in the mirror. It was now or never.
There was a knock at the door and Tom came in. He smiled at his daughter. "You look very beautiful," he said.
"Thank you, Father."
"It's time."
Gwen took a deep breath and walked out of the room on her father's arm.
000
Tom handed Gwen over to Helios and walked to his seat. Gwen looked at Helios and she could see that he was shaking and she could see the beads of sweat run down his face. She squeezed his hand and tried to look at him but he kept his eyes down. What was wrong with him?
The Reverend began to speak. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of his congregation to take part in the most time-honoured celebration of the human family, uniting a woman and man in marriage. We have come to witness Helios and Guinevere telling us of their love for each other." He paused and smiled at them and then said, "Before we continue I have to ask, do you either of you know of any impediment that may not allow you to be legally wed?"
There was silence.
The Reverend was about to speak again when Helios said, "I'm sorry, I can't do this."
Gwen watched in horror as her husband-to-be run down the aisle and out of the church.
000
"You're allowed to be upset," Philomena told Gwen. "We would all understand if you were off your game."
"I am not off my game," Gwen replied. "I am perfectly fine."
"No you're not."
"I am," Gwen insisted. "The man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with run off without more than 'I can't do this' to me and he hasn't bothered to call me in the two days since our almost-wedding. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
"Maybe we should have gone on that honeymoon?"
Gwen laughed a pitiful laugh. "Did I forget to mention that he went on the honeymoon?"
"What?"
"Marie was kind enough to inform me that inspite of the fact that Helios couldn't bear to get married to me, he was going on the honeymoon." Marie was Helios' assistant. "Apparently he needed to clear his head and what better place to do it than the Seychelles?"
000
Philomena got out of the taxi and entered the building. She opted not to take the lift and made her way slowly up the stairs to the doors marked 'Emrys-Pendragon Alliance,' on the fifth floor.
The receptionist's desk was made of think wood and situated in the middle of a large carpeted area. The room was tastefully decorated with glass sculptures and wooden art.
She walked up to the receptionist and asked to see Arthur Pendragon.
"So when we find Helios what do you want us to do?"Merlin asked Mena.
"I want to know why he did it," Philomena explained. "Why couldn't he call the wedding off, why hasn't he called her since, how could he go on the honeymoon she paid for?"
"And Guinevere," Arthur asked, "what does she want? Does she even know you're here?"
"She doesn't," Philomena admitted. Gwen would kill her when she found out that she had gone to Arthur.
"Then we can't take your case." Merlin said.
"Gwen needs this," Philomena told them, "she would never admit it but she needs this."
Arthur and Merlin looked at her and then Arthur nodded. They would find Helios and get him to explain why he had left Gwen at the altar.
"Now it's legit. You have been hired. You can do what you were going to do anyway."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Arthur said.
"If you say so," Merlin replied.
Arthur and Merlin like so many in their social circles had known about and had been invited for the Lewis – Martin wedding. Arthur and Merlin hadn't been in church for 'the worst' as it had been dubbed, Arthur couldn't bear to watch Gwen getting married to someone else – but they had heard about it very soon after and they read the newspapers.
"You never wanted her to marry Helios," Merlin pointed.
"I hardly know him," Arthur said. Merlin kept silent and Arthur continued. "And I don't even know Guinevere that well apparently."
"I beg to differ."
"So I got married to her when we were ten," Arthur replied. "We were young and of course it was a joke."
"No it wasn't."
Arthur's, Merlin's and Gwen's families were friends, and had been for years. Gwen and Arthur had met quite a bit through the years and had even been best friends for a while. When they were ten, Arthur had proposed to Gwen, on a dare from Merlin, and they had had a pretend wedding. Over the years, they had lost touch and only met at the numerous parties they had to attend and then said more than a few perfunctory words to each other. Or so Arthur told Merlin, Merlin knew that there was more going on between Arthur and Gwen but he would wait until Arthur was ready to talk about it.
"You didn't like Helios either," Arthur reminded his friend.
"He seemed too perfect," Merlin agreed, "and who gets married after only a month?"
"Two months," Arthur corrected him. He couldn't believe that less than a month after he had proposed and not received an answer from Gwen she had become engaged to another man. That she had even considered marrying a man she barely knew; they hadn't even spent any time together, Arthur knew, he had paid attention. Apparently Helios worked on a farm in the country and couldn't be in Camelot much.
"What time's the flight?" Merlin asked. They had already booked a flight to Seychelles, even before Mena had hired them.
000
Helios turned in the bed and smiled at the woman lying next to him. "Good morning, beautiful."
"Morning." Morgana smiled at him.
"What shall we do today?"
"Nothing," Morgan replied. "Absolutely nothing."
Morgana and Helios had met ten years ago when Morgana had been busted for stealing drugs from the hospital where she worked as a nurse. Helios had been the arresting officer. Instead of having her arrested and sent to jail, Morgana and Helios had begun working together stealing and conning patients. After a while they began working together towards achieving Morgana's goal in life – to destroy Guinevere Lewis.
According to Morgana, she and Gwen were half sisters; Gwen's father had made a maid pregnant and he had provided for his second family, to the point that the girls had even gone to the same schools, although Gwen didn't know that Morgana was her sister. Morgana's mission in life was to bring her sister down, to make her suffer for the fact that she had been accepted while Morgana would never be even acknowledged.
The plan had been for Helios to marry Gwen, and then have her sign her shares in Lewis Steel over to him and then he would divorce her but in the end Helios couldn't bring himself to marry her. Morgana had been angry but for now the Gwen's humiliation at being left at the altar infront of four hundred people was enough for her. They would wait for few weeks and then attack Gwen again.
"You I never knew how much you loved me," Morgana told Helios, "until you left Gwen standing at the altar."
They laughed.
"I wish I could have seen her face," Morgana said. She had thought of attending the wedding but she hadn't wanted to take the chance in case anyone recognized her.
000
Gwen looked through the file again and shook her head. She couldn't believe Mena had gone behind her back and hired Arthur. Arthur of all people, it was humiliating even that she had been left standing at the altar but Arthur Pendragon finding out why Helios had done it for her was worse.
"They admitted all this," Gwen asked, "that they wanted to humiliate me?" Gwen wondered why she had fallen for Helios' act, so he was funny, he wasn't intimidated by her family and they had the same interests. She should have known that he was too good to be true. And I should never have rushed into it; I should have used my head.
"Yes," Mena replied.
Through their investigations Arthur and Merlin found that Morgana wasn't actually Tom's daughter and therefore she wasn't Gwen's half sister. Morgana's mother, Mrion, and Tom had had a one night stand, Tom had told her that it was a 'mistake that would never have happened had he been thinking straight' and Mrion had vowed to make him pay, but he wasn't her father. Mrion had blackmailed Tom to make him provide for her child and she had lied to Morgana that she was her sister teaching her to hate Gwen. They would make the Lewises pay.
Morgana and Helios had been arrested, brought back to Camelot, and charges pressed against them.
"Why did you have to involve Arthur?" Gwen asked Mena.
"He's the best at what he does," Mena replied, "and he's trustworthy. Besides he likes you."
"Of course he does," Gwen replied, jokingly. "Everybody does."
Gwen wished she didn't have to see Arthur again. She had treated him badly. And she had run away.
000
"Guinevere," Arthur smiled at her.
"Arthur."
"How was your holiday?" Gwen had gone away for two months.
"Great."
"Good."
"So I just wanted to you know, say thanks, for finding Helios and bringing him to justice," Gwen told him. There, she had thanked him, she could leave.
"You're welcome." Arthur had been waiting impatiently for Gwen to return from her holiday. She and Mena had gone backpacking in Europe, and she had refused to take his calls.
"I guess I'll be off now," Gwen said she made as if to get up.
"Guinevere," Arthur grabbed her hand, "we already ordered, you can at least stay and eat your food."
"Okay."
"Fine."
"You know you didn't have to get engaged to another man," Arthur said. "You could have just said no."
"You can't let it rest, can you?"
Gwen looked at him and shook her head.
"Why?"
"I was scared," Gwen admitted.
"Scared of being married to me?"
"It's silly, right?" Gwen asked. "I was scared so I almost got married to man who made me into a laughing stock instead."
"Look on the bright side," Arthur said. "We'll have a great story to tell our children and grandchildren."
Gwen smiled at him; maybe it could work out since they were both obviously quite mad.
000
end