Hello, guys! First, I wanted to thank all of you who've read my story so far. Here's the second chapter (which is really short, but it's still an update that I'd rather not delay).

I also wanted to answer to these reviews that made my week! I really appreciate your support!

Sky-Girl1999: Thank you so much! I'll be placing my focus mainly on the BBC Series of Merlin, but I intend to- at least- include one or two elements related to the actual legend :)

GingerTyPerior and Guest1: Thank you so much! :D

NotCharlie: Thank you for reading! Hope not to disappoint :) Personally, I like Brotherhood better than FMA, so this story will probably stick more to that precise world. However, there are elements from FMA (like the gate and the AUs- no spoilers, right?) that I like so much that I have to include them :)

Thanks so much to paintbuckets, who helped me by pointing out a hilarious typo (popped vs. pooped- wtf? hahaha). Thank you for saving me from further embarrassment! Any help with pointing out mistakes in my stories is much appreciated! Also, English is not my first language, so even if the mistake's not a typo, please tell me!

Thanks for your support :D

Please keep reading, and enjoy!

Love, xBookEaterx

One.:

Of Herbs and Laundry

"MERLIN!"

"Yes, sire?" Merlin's impish grin popped into the room.

"You forgot to do the laundry. Again."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry sire. You stink."

Arthur gaped. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"Merlin" Arthur seethed.

"Laundry, right away sire!" the manservant ran from the king, all the way laughing his head off.

Rosemary, a sweet and pretty servant greeted him in the laundry chambers.

"The King's laundry again?"

Merlin nodded. "I swear that dollophead will run me down with work not far from now."

The maidservant gasped. "It's inappropriate to speak of the King in such a manner!"

Merlin just grinned, folding his sleeves back and grabbing one of Arthur's shirts.

"Is Merlin here yet?" came a gruff voice from the entrance. Merlin dried off his hands on his pants and readjusted his neckerchief. "I'm over here, ma'am." The woman in question was the current head cook and stared at him with her hands on hips.

"No time to waste, boy! Go fetch some of these from the forest", she said, taking out a list of herbs needed in the kitchen.

Merlin scratched his neck, not knowing what to say. "I'm terribly sorry, madame Audrey, but I ought to do the King's laundry right this instant or he might hang me."

The broad woman growled. "I don't care if you get hanged as long as the king and his wife have something warm in their bellies at the end of the day", she kindly stated. "Take a basket! Off you go!"

And so, Merlin found himself wandering the cold woods surrounding Camelot for a bunch of herbs. Perhaps, if it had been Gaius who had asked for them, Merlin would've been more up to the challenge, -but alas, here he was, his sorry self in danger of being put in the stocks yet again because of his overload of work and his little time to do it. Last week he had just saved Arthur from being killed by a resentful ungifted sorcerer, yet again, without Arthur knowing it, yet again, for Merlin to be rewarded with an evening in the stocks for skipping work, yet again. It was no surprise any more, really. He rearranged his bag on his shoulder and clutched his basket hard.

Gah! Merlin crouched to grab for another herb, and suddenly there was a flash of purple light and the wind shook around him, smacking him against a tree and knocking the wind out of his chest. What…? Merlin wondered, but his eyesight was already blurry and his head screaming with pain. Everything went silent, except for the haunted scream that sounded somewhere nearby his left.

"ALPHONSE!"

A spell…?

Then everything went black.

Please tell me what you think :)