PAIRING: Merlin/Arthur from the Television Series: Merlin.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the TV Series. I am not making any money. This is for entertainment only. This did not happen. This story is slash fan-fiction. Slash means that the main characters are Gay. If you don't like this sort of story, don't read.
SUMMARY: Rating MA. Angst/Humor Romance/Danger Merlin is body swapped to a future Merlin from a different world. Can he get back to Camelot or will Future Prince Merlin from another Timeline drive Arthur mad? Will Merlin be able to figure out how a toaster works?
RATING: MA
AUTHOR: Rufferto9 (rufferto9 )

CHAPTER :2 of 10

After spending the next four hours scanning through a number of books and magazines strewn around Merlin eventually learned several things about Prince Merlin of the place and time he found himself. What he learned he didn't particularly like. Apparently, he was an ass and not very many people liked their crown prince. He learned that his mother Hunith was the Queen of Albion and they lived in a castle in the capital city of London. He didn't live in the castle. He lived in his apartment because it enabled him to live a freer life. Not only were they royalty but they were also extremely rich. Merlin learned that he had access to BILLIONS.

Billions!

He couldn't even imagine owning 100 gold pieces at any one moment in time.

Merlin sighed bemusedly, Hunith as a Queen? He laughed to himself. She would think that was extremely funny. The next tabloid blurb made him frown. Hunith had married again to a Duke and his name made Merlin's blood run cold. Uther Pendragon and his mother were /married/.

He shuddered.

What nightmare.

If that was the case, then surely there would be some mention of Arthur somewhere, right? He has to be around. Merlin had taken the whole bag of gummy bears to get through while he was reading. He was getting a bit of a sugar high, he supposed because his head hurt.

Arthur Pendragon, Arthur Pendragon. He needed to find out if Arthur was in this time and place! If so, maybe Arthur had come here with him. Surely one of these magazines has something. It took him a while until finally he saw the name. His heart leapt... until he read the information there. It made him want to throw up. Arthur Pendragon was missing and was presumed dead several years ago long before Uther's marriage to Hunith fighting in one of the many wars that ravaged this sorry world. His body had never been found and Uther had fought everyone before finally agreeing to end the search for his only son.

As far as Merlin can tell, because this was all before Uther's marriage to Hunith he and Arthur had never met in this world. It was probably just as well because from some of the other entries in the tabloid magazine he was something of a player. He had a long string of girlfriends and boyfriends and never anyone for very long. More reading confirmed what he suspected. This world was an absolute mess. He read about things like cell phones, laptops, crazy devices that contained the world's information, nuclear weapons, tv and yuck ... something called processed food.

Merlin ate another gummy bear.

He hadn't brought himself up to learning how to use them. He knew he had them. There was something called an Ipad next to his bed. It had been buzzing on and off and showed the picture a woman who looked very much like Gwen. Her hair, however, was completely different and since he didn't know how to use the thing, he ignored it.

He still wasn't comfortable with talking to anyone just yet there was more to learn before he left the apartment. Merlin sighed. It would have been bearable if there was someone who looked like Arthur here. At least then he could focus and it wouldn't hurt so much. The idea that he might never see Arthur again made his stomach churn. He clenched his fist in aggravation. Another thing that he learned was that his behavior had made him extremely unpopular amongst the common folk. They thought of him as some kind of joke, the heir to the crown. He snorted.

He also learned that he had his own personal guards and something called a Jet Plane. After a while it dawned on him. Arthur would have laughed. He'd come to the realization that this version of him in this place and time he was the biggest Prat he had ever heard of. Merlin was disgusted at the last tabloid he read and tossed it to the side.

He had never heard of the kind of behavior he was reading about. Honestly, all he wanted to do was figure out how to get back to his real body and back to Arthur. There was no telling what trouble Arthur would get up to in his absence. He spent a few moments just taking it all in and trying to collect his miserable thoughts. He paced a little bit around the apartment and ran a hand through his hair. What was he going to do without access to magic? This world had lost its magic. Then it occurred to him that maybe it was just pushed back. There were so many myths; there was so much confusion over whether or not magic had actually existed in the past. And he, he had the resources to track down leads to possible magical artifacts. If he could just find an artifact that actually had magical power maybe he could use it to get back his own powers. Hope lit in his eyes. He might have a plan!

At that moment there was a loud banging on his front door. "Merlin!"

He recognized the voice. It sounded a lot like Gwen. He wondered then if he and Gwen were friends in this world. That would be great; he would at least have something familiar. So he happily opened the door and smiled at her.

Gwen looked different. She was absolutely stunning and he had to blink several times. Her hair was cut into a cute bob and her face was tastefully made up. She wore a mini-suit skirt with a white silk and smart purple flared jacket top that had a little name tag on it. Guinevere Du Lac. Press Secretary, what drew his attention as well was her pumps. They made her taller than she actually was and he couldn't help but smile at her appreciatively.

This seemed to irritate her, of course. "Merlin, I can't believe you! Why haven't you answered your phone!"

She was beautiful in this life, Merlin decided. Seriously, if he wasn't already in love with Arthur he might have fallen for her cute bob and smart looking spectacles. "Hi, Gwen." He said cheekily. "Sorry, I had it on silence mode. I had a bad headache this morning."

She looked like she really wanted to slap him. "No doubt from the usual drunken debauchery! If you answered your freaking messages, you would know that your mother is waiting for you at the hospital! Honestly the amount of press that is there right now the very least you could have done was show up and support the family! But noo, poor little you, you have a headache."

"What? Hospital?" Merlin looked alarmed and started to panic. "What do you mean, is mother ok?"

"No you moron." Gwen rolled her eyes as if that particular term was a thing she used often and with relish. "You would know if you cared to answer your phone. He's been FOUND!"

"Who?" Merlin rubbed the back of his neck in confusion.

"The Duke's son, you idiot! Arthur Pendragon. He was found. Out of the bloody blue! It's a freaking miracle. Now come on! And don't forget your ipad."

"What!" Merlin grabbed her. "When?"

Gwen looked taken aback by the emotion that she saw in Prince Merlin's eyes. "Er..." She looked at his hands on her shoulders. He immediately released her. "That's better. Just this morning, what's wrong with you? The King and Queen flew in from where they were on vacation and they expected you to be at the hospital that Arthur was taken to deal with the press! Uther isn't happy, Merlin."

"When is he ever?" Merlin grumbled. "Alright! Alright!" Merlin looked around wildly.

"Don't forget your phone." Gwen snapped.

Merlin hurried into his bedroom and retrieved his ipad gingerly. Gwen took him downstairs through the elevator. When he became fascinated by the elevator, Gwen gave him a funny look and he simply shrugged adorably. The news screen in the elevator was already talking about the return of Arthur Pendragon.

"Something IS wrong with you." Gwen decided. "Must have been a rough night."

"Oh, er ah... No." he smiled cagily, "Just a headache"

"You're acting awfully strange today." Gwen told him. "Stranger than usual."

"You have no idea." Merlin smirked. It was really nice to have Gwen nearby, it was something familiar and something he could hold on to. Even if she wasn't the Gwen he knew he knew that he could trust her.

"Whatever. Get in the car." Gwen's heels clicked against the concrete of the underground parking center towards a black stretch limo. A driver opened the door for them and they both got in. When he didn't put on his seatbelt she grunted and reached over to do it for him. "Really, Merlin?" She gave him a look. Merlin jumped when the engine started and Gwen just gave him an odd look. "You act like you've never been in a limo before. Settle down."

Merlin relaxed a little bit. It was kind of comfortable and not at all like a horse back. "This is nice." He murmured.

"You hit your head? You're usually not polite in the mornings." Gwen eyed him and answered her phone.

Merlin just shrugged and looked away from her, embarrassed. Was he really that much of a jerk?

"Yes. This is Gwen Du Lac. Yes, Yes I have him. We'll be there in ten minutes." She hung up the phone and eyed Merlin. "Well your /fans/" she said sarcastically, "await."

Merlin gave her a nervous grin which made her frown suspiciously.

As they got closer and closer to the hospital, his anxiety grew. It wasn't really about anything other than holding out hope that this meant something. That Arthur who was probably dead in this world had come back. Was it his Arthur? Had they both been pulled here for some reason? All he knew was that this was going to be the longest ten minutes of his life.

Meanwhile Back In Camelot...

Gaius followed Arthur up the stairs towards his room with no certain amount of trepidation. It was always like this when there was some kind of problem with Merlin. Gaius glanced at Arthur out of the corner of his eye. It was not as if he didn't know what was going on between those two. It was just that Arthur wasn't very good at being discreet. One day, he was going to get Merlin in a lot of trouble. Gaius was certain.

Gaius sighed and gestured towards the door. The guard moved away and Arthur opened it the door and they went inside. Arthur immediately noticed that Merlin wasn't where he'd left him. His eyebrows rose in surprise. He felt a sudden movement to the side and caught Merlin just as he swung a fireplace poker at him. Arthur easily ducked and used his superior strength to disarm the other and pin him with one arm behind his back.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Leggo you big oaf!" Merlin complained.

"What in the world!" Gaius shut the door firmly. "Merlin. What has gotten into you?"

"That's what I've been trying to say, Giaus! Settle down, Merlin and I'll let you go." Arthur said huskily as he gave Gaius a despairing look. He was glad no one else had seen that. An attack against one's Prince was a death sentence. "See what I mean, he's not himself? Quiet down, don't make me knock you out again."

Merlin's eyes were furious and yet something about the old man put him a little bit at ease. There was a flicker of recognition there. He'd seen Gaius' face somewhere before. He shifted and settled down a little bit. This of course caused Arthur to relax his hold just long enough for Merlin to stamp /hard/ on his foot.

Arthur yelped and released him. Merlin grabbed the poker again while Arthur limped. "You both stay away from me!" He said coldly. "I'll have you know I'm a champion Fencer!"

Arthur couldn't stop the pain from showing in his eyes when he couldn't recognize anything of his Merlin in that expression. "What the heck is a fencer?" He asked Gaius. "They make fences?" He held the poker as if it was a foil.

"No idea." Gaius muttered. "Merlin, I am here to examine you. If you would be kind enough to put away that weapon I can ascertain if anything is wrong. Will you please let me?"

"Does no one address people properly in this land?" Merlin wondered haughtily. "You will not order me about, Old Man. I am a Prince! But of course you all know that since you kidnapped me." He sat down in Arthur's chair. It was the comfy one in the room, after all. As far as anything about this place was comfortable. It smelled, it was dirty and there was no sign of civilization. Where the hell was he? "Now then. WHO are you?"

Gaius frowned and looked towards Merlin as he put his instruments on the table. "Ok /Prince/ Merlin. My name is Gaius and I am the Royal Physician. This is Prince Arthur, of Camelot."

"Of wherealot?" Merlin stared and groused. "I've never heard of a Prince Arthur and there's only a handful in the world left."

"Camelot. Where do you come from?"

"England."

"I see. Please allow me to examine you."

"I don't need a physician!" Merlin looked gleeful when he saw Arthur still limping a little from the foot-stomping. That would teach him. He still hadn't relinquished his poker. "I need a phone!" said Merlin petulantly. "And I want /Him/ to leave." Merlin glared daggers at Arthur. "That big oaf was on top of me this morning and I'll wager if I hadn't come to, he wouldn't have stopped!"

Gaius looked over at Arthur who had flinched as if slapped, then turned red with sudden anger. "Best you leave your highness. Let me deal with this."

Merlin gave Arthur a scathing look. "I also need a shower, and real clothes. What the hell is this?" He poked at his shirt. "It smells awful. I'm cold. God when was the last time this shirt was washed!? Come to think of it, we all smell like bloody piss. This must be hell, or a bloody joke!" He looked over at Gaius. "Alright then, examine me if you must but then I demand to be told what the ransom is. Whatever it is, my mother will pay."

Arthur straightened, flashed a glare at the room and stomped out. He didn't go far, though and held up the wall on the other side with his arm while he glared at nothing in particular. The guard who had the misfortune of guarding Arthur's hallway wished the ground would swallow him up.

***TBC***