Summary: This is the story of how Merlin became the Queen, Gwaine courted Gwen and Arthur tried saving his marriage to his manservant.
Or: The one story in which Merlin and Gwen switch bodies.
Rating: T
Pairings: ArthurxGwen, MerlinxGwaine (Also some slight MerlinxArthur and GwainexGwen if you squint)
This - this thing right here - this situation, was inacceptable.
Truly inacceptable.
Never in her existence had she ever been more bored than right now.
Alright, now that might be a small lie, but it really felt as if that was currently the case. Nothing to do, nothing to say, no one's life to ruin… Her existence sucked right now, it really just sucked. She found no other words to express her misery but also figured that none were truly needed.
It was only her sitting around here so it's not like anyone would criticize her choice of words anyways.
Huh, maybe some of the prophets were listening in on her plans right now? No, she'd know about that.
It was almost embarrassing really; a being as great as her falling prey to one of the most simple but also one of the most devastating catastrophes that were known to mankind.
Boredom.
Simple boredom.
Wasn't there anything she could keep herself entertained with?
She slowly got up from her more or less comfortable space on the fresh, green grass and wandered over to a small lake not far away. But what were space and distance and time to her anyways?
Her eyes fell onto the clear surface of the water slowly becoming murkier the closer she got. She could see shapes in the water, some of them as clear as if they were right in front of her eyes, as if she could just reach out and touch them. But none of them managed to catch her attention for longer than two seconds.
That is, until her eyes fell on a young dark haired man who had probably not seen more than two decades in his life. She remembered his face from somewhere, it was familiar to her. Something was important about that man that much she knew, although she had forgotten what exactly it was.
The man was currently standing at the edge of some field. A training field? Probably. There were men in armour trying to beat each other to death it seemed. But no, after taking a closer look, it was clear that they were just training.
She let out a low sigh. Too bad.
A blonde man came over to the dark haired one and demanded some water or something. So the man she was currently watching was a servant?
…
A servant?
…
To whom? To the king?
…
It seemed so.
…
Did that mean he was who she thought he was?
…
"Merlin!" The blonde called his servant, annoyance clear in his voice for whatever reason.
…
Emrys.
…
Now she knew why she remembered him. How she could have forgotten about one of her favourite little toys in the first place was a tiny bit concerning, now that she thought about it, for he was indeed important for her little schemes and plots. And also the perfect distraction from her boredom!
A sly grin was spreading over her face as one could practically hear the gears in her head turning. Oh yes, this was going to be so much fun!
Merlin had enough of this. He really did. Because no matter what he did, it always seemed to be the wrong thing.
"The water is way too hot Merlin", "Do you really expect me to drink that?", "Shut up Merlin, no one asked for your opinion", "Stop daydreaming and get to work". It was always the same, every day. All that Merlin wanted was a small vacation; really just a tiny one. To clear his head a little. But no, he couldn't have one minute to himself because of his destiny.
Okay so even Merlin had to admit to himself that he was overdramatizing things a bit. He had accepted his destiny a long time ago and even if he did get a few days off he would probably end up following Arthur around all day anyways. But still, he could dream about an easier life without any obligations right? Or was that now outlawed as well?
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the other person at the top of the stairs until it was too late and he already ran into them. Okay, so maybe Arthur was right and he should break his habit of daydreaming…
"I'm sorry, I didn't look where I-"
"Oh Merlin, I apologize this is totally my-"
Only then did he realize that the person he ran into was the Queen. Other people would probably screech only at the thought of almost running over a Queen but with Guinevere it wasn't really a problem. She was kind. Kinder than most of the nobles around here anyways, so Merlin counted himself lucky.
"Gwen! I mean- ahem- It's just… look, I apologize; I wasn't concentrating on where I was going. Are you alright by the way?"
She gave him one of her kind, warm smiles he had missed so much over the last few weeks. Since Gwen had become the Queen they've had much less time to see each other and talk freely about nothing and everything. The members of the council were putting much pressure on her, some of them the exact opposite of delighted that Arthur had married not a princess but a common woman.
"I'm alright Merlin. But what about you? I haven't seen much of you lately…"
Merlin really would've liked to get a real conversation going with her, but right at this moment a visiting noble decided to come around the corner into the hallway that lead to the stairs Merlin and Gwen were currently on, and Merlin really didn't want to cause Gwen any more trouble than she already had.
So he just shot her a smile that hopefully made his reasons clear and murmured: "I'm fine Gwen. You shouldn't worry about me but about yourself."
Guinevere returned his smile and nodded her head before she turned around to accompany the noble visitor on his way towards the throne room.
Merlin stood on the stairs for a few more seconds looking after Gwen and the noble until they disappeared. He felt a warm buzzing feeling slowly settling in his chest but thought nothing of it. He was happy to have spent some time with Gwen again. Even under such circumstances and even if their encounter was more than a little short.
"Merlin, what have we said about spacing out in the middle of the hallway and daydreaming in general?"
Merlin sighed. Should he honour that with an answer? He was about to open his mouth and give one of his usual witty remarks when Arthur decided to dump parts of his armour into Merlin's arms.
Half of the metal fell to the floor with a loud 'clack' and Merlin almost lost his balance, had it not been for the wall close behind him that he could lean his body against, before he landed on the floor like the prat's armour.
He could hear some of the maids giggling but the noise was quickly drowned out by Arthur shouting orders at him from the other end of the hallway, already on his way to his chambers.
Great.
He tried picking up the pieces of Arthur's armour that he'd dropped but that proved to be rather difficult considering that whenever he bent down to pick up one piece, another one that he had balanced in his arms would fall to the ground.
He was about to just drop the whole thing and stomp away like a petulant child when someone reached down to grab the plackart and the breast plate and gently placed them on top of the pile of metal in the servant's arms.
"Seems like the princess is in one of his moods again today, eh?" The rough voice of Sir Gwaine noted. Merlin was close to dropping the whole armour again, but this time so that he could hug the other man.
Yes, that is how frustrated Merlin had become with his pointless chores for Arthur the King of clotpoles and especially with his sodding armour!
"Thanks a lot, Gwaine. Who knows how much longer this would've taken without you."
On the one hand Merlin felt pathetic for not even being able to complete a task as simple as picking up some pieces of metal…
"No problem mate."
But on the other hand he didn't really have to worry about appearing pathetic or being embarrassed with Gwaine. And that was only one of the many good things about their easy friendship.
"Merlin!"
He was sure the shout could be heard throughout the whole castle. Had Arthur no shame? Well, it was his castle after all, but still…
"Duty calls", Gwaine laughed before he clapped Merlin lightly on the shoulder, making sure that he didn't drop the princess' armour again.
The servant shot the knight one last grin, before he rounded the corner and went up the next set of stairs towards the King's chambers. There he found Arthur hands crossed over his chest the tip of his foot tapping the floor impatiently.
"Oh, so you have decided to grace me with your presence after all! What took you so long?!"
The warlock was quickly losing his patience. What was Arthur's problem today? He wasn't usually like this… okay, scratch that, yes, he was often, very often, like this.
He wanted to give a smart retort, something, anything really but nothing came out of his mouth. Was this supposed to become a habit now? Was he never going to be able to answer Arthur's insults again? Today truly seemed to be a dark day…
This thought seemed to be confirmed when he felt a hot, sharp pain searing through his heart like a burning dagger. He dropped Arthur's bloody armour on the floor and broke down in a coughing fit but it didn't seem to help his condition.
He could hear Arthur calling his name, worry clear and evident in his voice. The pain subsided slowly but the burning did not. It was as if some sort of fire was slowly spreading through his body burning everything on its way. His bones, his muscles, his organs, everything felt as if it was on fire. Even his blood. He wondered briefly if this was what it felt like to be burned at the stake. It was definitely not a pleasant feeling.
He could now hear Gaius' voice too not far from Arthur's and wondered how long exactly he had been lying here on the floor of Arthur's chambers - which he had just scrubbed this morning thank you very much!
The pain was no longer there and the fire in his veins slowly seemed to die out, but Merlin still didn't dare to open his eyes. His eyelids were feeling much too heavy. The warlock didn't understand what was happening to him. It was clear that this had to be some sort of magic but Merlin could detect no sorcerer through his pain and didn't remember running into one today.
He vaguely noticed that someone was picking him up and putting him somewhere that was not the cold ground. It wasn't soft either though. Then it felt as if he was flying. Flying through a low-burning sea of flames. And voices. Not just one and not just two, but all of them somehow familiar.
And he could hear screaming. A woman. There was a woman screaming. Some of the voices around him seemed to become more distant rushing away from him to that panicked woman. Good someone needed to help her.
Maybe this was all just a dream and he would wake up feeling relaxed and happy tomorrow in his bed?
Hopefully.
The flames inside his body felt as if someone was rekindling them and with this new wave of fire returned the stabbing pain.
The last thing he remembered was a desperate voice calling his name loudly, asking the warlock to stay with him, but then he lost himself in cold, blissful darkness.