A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been commenting and favorite-ing and following. It really keeps me encouraged. Now on to Chapter 2!
Chapter 2-In Which There is a Very Confused Warlock
The world was black for a long time for Merlin. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but when he finally did start coming around he rather wished he could remain unconscious.
For one thing, his head pounded like someone was bashing the back of his skull in with the hilt of a sword. For another thing, though he hadn't yet opened his eyes, he could tell that something was very, very wrong.
The sound wasn't right. He'd been in Arthur's chambers when the light had flashed, when Morgana had done whatever she'd done. Waking up he would have expected to hear the sounds he usually heard in the castle: servants in the corridors, maybe Arthur yelling at him to wake up, maybe even guards coming to see what had happened. Or if he'd been taken to Gaius' chambers, he would have expected to hear the sound of Gaius muttering to himself and the clink of vials or the pounding of a mortar against a pestle as the old physician ground herbs for medicines.
But the noises he was hearing now….none of them were at all familiar. Before Merlin allowed himself to open his eyes, he decided to let some of his other senses take over for a minute, in case there was any danger that he needed to know about before opening his eyes and letting anyone near know that he was conscious.
He had already decided that the noise wasn't right. It was far too loud for one thing. Too many voices, unless he was lying amongst the streets of the lower town. But even then it seemed there were too many voices around him to be in Camelot. And there were other sounds, too. Music, and sounds like giant birds squawking, and screeching and yelling….it was enough to make his already-pounding head throb even worse.
Smell was something else. He could smell a strange, acrid scent in the air, like smoke but different. And…was that rotten fruit? Was he in the stocks? But that wouldn't make sense…
He couldn't tell much from feel except that he was lying on something hard and rather cold. And there might be rain as well. Yes, definitely rain, falling from the sky and hitting his face. He winced. It was cold.
Taste wouldn't have told him anything, so he let that one alone. Finally, deciding that he really did need to open his eyes now, the warlock let his lids crack open, let the daylight enter in.
He found himself staring up at the sky, which was grey and drizzling rain onto his sprawled-out form. Merlin groaned and slowly began to sit up, not too fast as to aggravate his headache. Even still, his head swum and he closed his eyes when he was upright, trying to recover from the pain.
He wondered briefly how he'd gotten outside, since he'd been in Arthur's chambers before he'd blacked out. Maybe Morgana had used a transport spell that had sent him and Arthur into the forests? But that wouldn't explain the noise.
As soon as Merlin opened his eyes again and lifted his head, the problem of being outside was soon set aside. He had much bigger problems.
Like where the heck was he?
Merlin glanced around, not sure what he was seeing. He seemed to be lying in some sort of an alley, lined with large, painted metal containers filled with discarded food, which explained the smell of rotting fruit. Multicoloured signs hung on the walls around him that were too smooth and seemed to be painted, but the colours were too bright. He had never seen walls painted in colours other than white or light cream. Merlin stumbled to his feet, turning in a circle as he tried to ignore the pounding of his skull.
"Arthur?" he called, realizing for the first time that the royal prat wasn't in his line of sight. But surely he was around here somewhere….
"Arthur?" he called again, but no one answered. Merlin turned slowly on his heel to where he supposed the alley led out. He immediately felt apprehensive. He had no idea where he was, and this alley was a very, very strange place already. The street that the alley emptied out on was where the strange noises and scents seemed to be coming from. Did he really want to walk out into this place that he did not know whatsoever?
Of course, he obviously couldn't stay here. For one thing, it was raining quite hard now, and the awnings of the two strange building on either side of him only gave so much protection. Already his dark hair was sticking to his head and his clothes were beginning to become soaked through. And also, Arthur might be somewhere out there, hurt and just as lost as he was. They needed to get back to Camelot, and out of this strange world. And he needed to leave this alley to do that.
Steeling himself, Merlin strode forward and out of the small alley he'd awoken in.
Only to wish that he had stayed where he had been.
The young warlock found himself in the midst of only what he could describe as chaos. Standing on smooth stone, he watched as, in front of him, across a great black stone road zoomed great shining, metal beasts that belched grey smoke and screeched like great birds. Inside them, he saw men and women, almost as if they had been swallowed by these beasts. Merlin felt confused, and terrified. What on earth were the monsters he saw before him? He stumbled backwards, only to almost be run over by a man straddling was appeared to be a two-wheeled cart, which he pedaled with his feet. He man jeered at him, and Merlin spun, trying to find his bearings. People pushed into him, telling him to get out of their way. Merlin found himself staring through windows into huge shops that sold the strangest articles of clothing and other stores that advertised what he supposed were food items like "Fish and Chips" and "Hamburgers". More people pushed into him, and at one point he was almost thrust into the street amongst the huge monsters that sped at speeds he had never witnessed before. It all became too much for the warlock, and, in a burst of panic, he leaped into a run and turned a corner a little too sharply…
Only to collide with a girl walking the other direction.
Crystal was on her lunch break. But, since she'd used her last bit of cash the other night to buy that bottle of nail polish (which she was now kind of regretting) that meant she'd have to go back to her flat and see if she still had a frozen dinner she hadn't eaten yet. Of course, if worse came to worse she still had a few granola bars.
She stepped out of the sliding glass door of the department store she worked for and grimaced. Rain. Of course. On the day she didn't have an umbrella with her, it had to be rain. You would think that, having grown up in England, she would have come to the understanding that she should always carry an umbrella. But, no, that of course was not something her mind had decided was necessary information, and on the day that she really could have used that piece of common sense, it had been shuffled away to remember more "pressing" things like the fact that carrots weren't orange until the 17th century…
She hadn't expected someone at that moment to run into her as she was turning the corner towards where she'd parked her car. In a flash of movement, Crystal felt another body impact her own, and she fell forward, only to find that the one who'd collided with her was now awkwardly collapsed beside her.
Crystal struggled up, eyes landing on whoever had run into her, ready to give them a bit of harsh advice on watching where they were going.
But the words died on her tongue before she even opened her mouth to speak. The one who had run into her was a young man, probably around her own age, with raven-black hair that was dripping wet from the rain. He was struggling to rise, and Crystal's eyes widened at the sight of his clothes. She had never seen clothes quite like what this young man was wearing. His red shirt was now mud-stained from his meeting with the pavement, and he wore a rather tattered-looking blue neckerchief tied around his neck. Over the shirt and scarf he wore a brown leather jacket, along with brown trousers and a rather old-looking pair of very odd boots, like nothing Crystal had ever seen before.
A groan escaped the young man's lips, and Crystal was snapped back to her senses.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, touching the man on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his eyes wide and she was shocked to see, panicked.
"Where am I?" he asked, voice tight with fear. He glanced around, as if looking for someone. "Where's Arthur?"
Crystal reeled back a little, slightly frightened by this strange man's questions. She stumbled to her feet, and he did the same, turning slowly around as if trying to get his bearings. Crystal couldn't understand the fear in his eyes. He seemed utterly, completely, scared.
"Are you okay?" she asked again. "Are you lost?"
He turned to her, as if only just realizing she was there. His eyes were urgent.
"Do you know where I am?" he asked. "What is this place? How can I get back to Camelot?"
Crystal stared at him for a long time.
This guy's a complete nut job, she thought. She swallowed hard, wondering if he was drunk or high or something. And yet, she couldn't smell any alcohol or drugs on him. Just to be safe, she took a step back.
"Uh…you're in London," she told him, studying his disheveled appearance and strange clothes. "London, England….are you sure you're okay?" Crystal was beginning to wonder if he'd hit his head when he fell or something. Or maybe he was an escapee from a mental ward. What she just needed to do was get him on his way so she could get home, change out of these wet, dirty clothes, get something to eat, and get back to work. She really didn't want to spend any more time in conversation with this weirdo than was necessary.
"Do you have family or something that you know?" she asked. Maybe she could just point him in the right direction, back to people who knew him and could take care of him. Maybe he was one of those Asperger's people and had just gotten separated from his family or something.
The man didn't speak for a long time, just looked around, rather lost. Actually, it was more than rather lost. He was completely lost. Crystal could see the look of complete horror and confusion on his face and he looked around at the buildings that surrounded him.
"I have to find Arthur…" she heard him mutter to himself. He stepped forward and stumbled. Crystal caught him before he hit the ground, and studied him closely. Seriously, he did not smell like a drunk or someone on drugs. But there was something definitely off about him. And for some reason, Crystal felt strangely compelled to help him.
Gently, she helped him over to a nearby bench, which he sat down on gratefully. Crystal sat beside him, not caring that it was soaking from the rain. They were both already wet so what did it matter?
"Is Arthur your friend?" she asked him softly, as if she was talking to a very small child. "Do you know where he is?"
The boy rubbed his face in his hands.
"Know where he is?" he muttered. "I don't even know where I am."
"Where was the last place you saw him?" Crystal asked, trying to get some sort of answer from this guy. She had no idea why she was still sitting here with him, trying to help him. Something in her told her to leave and let him figure out his own problems. After all, he could be some sort of criminal or drug dealer or something, and if she stayed around too long maybe he'd attack. But a larger part of her told her otherwise. She'd been around people before whom she'd felt she shouldn't be around. They always gave you a tingling feeling in your stomach. But this boy…he didn't seem like that type. Yeah, yeah, she knew what people always said. "There's no 'type'. It could be anyone." But honestly, this young man was just too innocent. And something told her that he really needed help.
After a long time the boy shook his head.
"I have to find him," he said. "He could be in danger."
Crystal blinked. Danger? What am I getting myself into?
"Well…" she tried. "Have you…tried the hospitals?"
The young man looked at her blankly.
Secretively, Crystal checked her mobile for the time. She grimaced. She was slowly shaving away precious minutes of her lunch break talking to this weirdo. She needed to shake him.
"Hospitals?" he asked. "You mean like Gaius' chambers? Do you have a court physician somewhere?"
Now it was Crystal's turn to look confused.
"Court physician? What the heck are you talking about?" she didn't have time for this. "Look, there's the King's Hospital up on Court Street, if that's what you mean. I have to go."
She started to get up, but the man stopped her, putting a hand on her arm. She almost pulled away in fear, but he didn't grab her, just touched her. Nothing aggressive. She glanced up to see his eyes (which were deep blue, by the way) boring into her own, pleading. They looked so scared, so lost. Nothing like the eyes of a drunk or a stoner. Whatever had happened to this guy, he wasn't lying about not knowing where anything was.
"Please," he said, voice soft and pleading. "I don't know where anything is, and I have to find my friend. He could be in a lot of danger."
"You don't understand, I'm on lunch break and I have to be back to work in an hour and a half-" Crystal started, but one look into his pleading blue eyes made her argument die on her throat.
"Please," he said again. Crystal sighed and glanced down at her feet. She looked back up at him and finally nodded.
"Alright," she finally consented, wondering if she was insane for agreeing to help such an odd young man. "I'll take you to the hospital, and if he's not there I'll take you to the police department and you can ask about him or something. But that's it. And don't get any ideas."
She glared at him as she said the last sentence, but he gave her a blank look and she knew he had no idea what she was talking about. But she wanted to make it very clear to him that she would not put up with any weird ideas if he had any.
She pulled her car keys from her pocket.
"My car's right over here," she said, glad to see her ancient Toyota Camry not but scant meters away. Although it didn't really matter: they were already soaked.
Crystal took a few steps towards where the tan-coloured car stood waiting, but suddenly realized that the boy wasn't following. She turned back around to see him standing back, watching the car with a mixture of fear and confusion. Crystal glanced back to the Camry. Sure, it wasn't the nicest looking car. A 1990 hand-me-down from her brother, it was one of the boxiest things she'd ever laid eyes on. But surely it didn't rate the type of look this young man was giving it.
"What?" she asked, getting rather annoyed by now. She really wanted to get out of the rain. "It's just a car."
"What does it do?" the question was the oddest that had ever been posed to Crystal in her life. Even those weird questions she sometimes got at the Customer Service desk didn't come close to what this young man had just asked her. What type of a freak was he?
"It's a car," she repeated. "It….you know…drives."
Not waiting for anymore weird questions, Crystal unlocked the driver's door and hit the lock to release the other doors. She slid in and looked at him.
"Come on, get in," she said. "I have to get back to work soon."
The man moved towards the car like he was afraid it was going to reach out and eat him. He glanced at the cars zipping down the road around them, and apprehensively stepped off the sidewalk onto the black paved street. Crystal waited with barely controlled annoyance as he moved around the back of the car before sprinting to the passenger side door, yanking it open like he'd seen her do, and leaping into the Camry's interior. He landed on the seat heavily and slammed the door closed with such force that Crystal hoped the door wasn't damaged.
She glanced sideways at him to see him staring at the cars speeding past, his eyes wide and his face pale. She rolled her eyes.
There really is something very wrong with this guy,she thought as she pulled on her seatbelt and snapped it into the buckle. He was still staring out the window, seemingly oblivious to everything, and Crystal cleared her throat. She had been raised in the firm teaching that seatbelts were amust for everyone. This strange guy was no exception. Besides, the last thing she needed was a ticket for having an unrestrained passenger.
"Uh…seatbelt?" she prompted him. He stared at her blankly, so she tugged at her own to make a point.
"Use it," she said. She watched with bemusement as, after fumbling around his seat clumsily, he finally discovered his and tugged it across his lap. He studied the silver clip at the end before attempting to fit it into the plastic buckle. It snapped into place and his eyes widened, apparently fascinated with this new discovery. Crystal was really starting to wonder from under what rock this guy had crawled out of. But, no matter. She jammed her key into the ignition and yanked the car into gear before stepping on the gas and pulling out into the traffic of London.
And officially embarking on one of the most amusing car rides of her life.
