Chapter Six:
Betrayal
After exactly one minute and 32 seconds of pacing, Veronica heard a knock on her door which turned out to be Merlin when she opened quickly. He came rushing in speaking words that were to Veronica's surprise. After what she just encountered, he happened to say exactly the right thing; "I'm sorry." He then walked in, shut the door after him and continued to speak as he said, "my anger got the best of me and I blew it up way too much with the overwhelming information that I gave you. I just thought that you would fall asleep and in the morning you would forget what I said, but turns out fate has a different plan for us. Fate wanted you to find out this way and I'm sorry that it is the hard way."
Veronica stared long and hard at Merlin looking for some kind of crack or loop hole to his kindness, but couldn't find it. Could this annoyingly spiteful idiot possibly be genuinely apologetic about the events that occurred? Clearly Merlin wasn't a liar, but what if he's only doing this because he's worried that she might go running to her parents like a little girl and tattle tale? He sat down on her bed, which was an inappropriate choice of seating, and patted on the area next to him indicating for Veronica to also take a seat next to him. Veronica did not reject the poor guy, but she didn't sit next to him either. She walked across the room and grabbed the nearest chair to pull in front of Merlin so that he may continue with his apology. Veronica had never allowed this to cross her mind, but sitting there right in front of him made her realize how beautifully green his eyes were—but that thought was never an option.
After a long awkward silence, Merlin then continued, "Look, I know how lost you may be and confused, trust me I grew up with somewhat mortal parents and a gift that none of them really understood. I know how hard it is to feel different and how hard it is to feel out of place. Sometimes I feel like a monster and sometimes you will feel that there is something wrong with you. Veronica, nothing could ever be wrong with you, and even though it may seem like way too much to handle right now, I sense that you're really strong and you'll be able to handle absolutely anything. After all, your father is King Arthur the great." Merlin smiled and Veronica surprisingly did exactly the same thing. Were they actually getting along for once?
"I really hope that you can forgive me sometime even though I've been an asshole," Merlin continued and then he repeated, "I'm sorry." Veronica couldn't believe what just came out of Merlin's mouth again as she hated the guy, and let's be honest he was so annoying. For once, however, he actually seemed more human, even though he wasn't, or was he. Veronica admitted that she had never been so confused in her life and that the world is turning upside down every single minute. It's like she's being shaken inside some cocktail container and there are new mixes with new flavours of alcohol every day, not knowing how she will be served any minute.
For the first time ever she hated him one percent less than she did a couple minutes before his apology. She saw it on his face that he really regretted ever speaking a word to her about anything and the bombarding her with information at the wrong time. As if he actually had obtained feelings inside that cold figure and he wasn't senseless. It was probably one of the most shocking events she had encountered for months, even more shocking than finding out she was a warlock for the first time, or being visited by some girl, well witch, who is so mad jealous of her and hates her for a reason Veronica cannot comprehend.
It felt quite odd to look at Merlin and not see him as the abominable creature that Veronica thought he was. Her first impression of Merlin was an obnoxious guy who thought way too highly of himself and the worst company to have around. But the second he was down to earth, Veronica saw him in a totally different light, a light that she didn't really want to see him in. He had two cute little dimples on his cheeks that she recognized every time he would smile or even smirk annoyingly, but that only came to her attention when she didn't hate him as much as before. His eyes were like the perfect shade of green...
Veronica paused her thoughts for a minute. What the hell was she thinking? How can she even look at Merlin in an unspiteful matter? Even though she never knew him for a while, she never thought in the little time around him that she would ever think this way. Veronica stopped herself from thinking anymore and told herself that it was the adrenaline rush of all that had happened earlier that was making her go crazy, think stupid things and see hallucinations of Merlin being cute.
"Merlin," she called out to him, as he looked at her with those adorable... She meant hideous green eyes. "I think I want to go to sleep," she continued. "It has been way too long of a day and I don't think I can stand being awake for 1 minute more." Veronica looked way too suspicious as she spoke, as if she wasn't tired, but running away from something.
Merlin didn't suspect that she thought for a blink of an eye that he was cute; in fact he just thought that she felt him reading her thoughts and was uncomfortable. So he began to speak in order to comfort the poorly scarred girl. "I want to know what you're thinking Veronica, but after what just happened, I think I'm going to block myself from your thoughts for a little while. It's not really fair to you."
Veronica's thoughts began freely rolling all over the place since he gave her permission to think to herself. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Before you sleep Veronica, I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you and I'm willing to teach you whatever you need to know." The more and more Merlin spoke, the more and more she hated him less. "Witchcraft and Wizardry such a hard subject to learn on your own," he continued. "If I didn't have Gaius there for me, I wouldn't know what to do right now. He was an amazing teacher, friend and father that I never had. I'm sorry I gave you the worst impression of me, I promise you I'm not that bad. Really bad social skills." Merlin smirked a little. "Your father couldn't stand my guts the first couple of months I was with him, until after a little bit when he commenced to see me as an OK person. I hope that one day and you won't despise me as much as you do right now."
Then Veronica brought up a totally random question that she didn't know was coming out of her mouth. "Have you ever been in love Merlin?" He looked up at her and tried to read her. At first she thought he was trying to read her mind but really he was just doing what any other human would do at this moment, try to understand why those words would come out of her mouth through her body language.
He smirked once again, a smirk that Veronica had noticed the deep dimples and charm in his eyes. "It was so long ago I can hardly remember, but the one thing I can say for sure is that she's gone forever there wasn't anything I can do about it." At that point Veronica felt bad for ever opening her mouth to speak. "I wish there is a way to bring her back and I would do anything to go back in time and save her because no one really looked at me the way she did and no one really understood me like she did. I never really believed love existed before I experienced the romance that happened between Arthur and Guinevere, and then I realized my love life was a bore compared to theirs. So I met this girl not so long after and fell madly in love with her, because I finally knew what love meant."
Then Veronica put it all together and realized why she had asked herself that question, she then said, "well then you know the way I feel about Jacob. Do you think you can help me figure out why he took his own life?"
Merlin began to laugh as he started to explain, "I have no clue what happened to your lover and I don't plan on finding it out, but if it what makes you happy I'll think about it. You never admitted you loved him did you?" Veronica wasn't sure if Merlin started acting up again and demolished the barrier between her thoughts and his, but he didn't have to read her thoughts to understand.
"How did you," Veronica said as Merlin cut her off.
"-Because keeping my feelings to myself is what I did when it came to my love for that girl." Wow, Veronica thought, because it was the one thing that they could oddly be sharing in common with. Oh and that both the loves of their lives were, well, dead. She sounded kind of really odd being able to make conversation with Merlin, as if he wasn't the same man from earlier. He just seems like the type of guy that would always get under her skin and always find a way to piss you off.
There had been an awkward silence as they were in deep thoughts, until Merlin spoke up. "Veronica, it's a skill to really know how to bother someone and irritate them so quick, not everyone knows how to do that. And sometimes it can come in really handy, like when you actually want to get rid of someone from your presence." Veronica just smiled and stared into his green eyes, as Merlin began to feel awkward that he was the only one speaking. "I think you should go to sleep Veronica you seem so tired. Tomorrow morning when we wake up I'll begin teaching you what you need to know about sorcery, so be prepared to be waken up before sunrise."
Veronica choked a little on her spit as she stated, "that's only in a few hours and I've had the longest day ever, can't we postpone it one day more?"
Merlin began to laugh. "Suck it up pumpkin, were starting before sunrise!" Veronica then saw the glow in his green eyes disappear. "We can't risk your parents finding out until it's the right time because they don't know about your powers and they can't know about your powers—yet. It took me years to tell Arthur because I was just so afraid of losing him. And when I finally told him, he was about to die and it actually took his entire death for him to accept it. Actually he hadn't fully forgiven me until I brought you home, so I can't spring this on him right now."
As much as Veronica wanted to understand why they had to wake up so early in order to practice magic, she couldn't argue with the fact that Merlin was right. She was tired. Not only tired, but exhausted without any bit of energy left in her. She stood up from her spot as she made her way to the dresser and Merlin stepped out and closed the door behind him. He knew that there wasn't much conversation left, there was no power remaining in Veronica. She pulled out a beautiful night gown, not noticing that she was already in one. Her brain wasn't really in its right state at that ungodly hour.
Veronica blew out the candles, dragged herself to the bed as she got under the covers and began to block her mind from thinking a single thought in the dark. As much as she wanted to reflect on her day, she just really didn't want to be kept up till Merlin would wake her for sorcery lessons. So she closed her eyes and without even trying, Veronica found herself drowning within her own dreams.
Veronica felt the events of the night before creeping into her sleep as she felt every inch of her body dismantled and a pounding headache. She must have slept for only a few hours, she was surprised she even got some sleep at all with all that had taken place. Before she could open her eyes, Veronica rolled over as she stretched across her bead, ruffling all the sheets, pillows and covers. When her eyelids separated from each other, she saw a blurry figure sitting right in front of her that reminded her of the time when she woke up to a blurry figure a few months earlier. As she blinked her eyes, the image of Jacob became clearer as she feared that she missed his birthday, but now it wasn't Jacob who was before her. She squinted a little to make sure that what she was observing was in fact in front of her, but the image of Merlin sleeping on the chair next to her bed was very much real.
Veronica didn't know if she was meant to be creeped out or disgustingly flattered, either way it was quite unusual and inappropriate that Merlin would be sleeping with her—or rather sleeping next to her, on a chair. She thought he was somewhat, not really, cute when he was fast asleep cradled up in the fetus position, even though he wasn't supposed to be there. She was so sure that he had left her room before she had fallen asleep last night, which means he must have creeped up in her room and sleep on the chair as she was sleeping; that is completely just disgusting, not really flattering.
"Merlin," she whispered as not even a single bone flinched to the sound of her voice, so she whispered once again louder. "Merlin." He turned over, but was still fast asleep, so Veronica did the next cruel thing that came to mind. The normal thing to do would be to shake him as she said his name, but Veronica wasn't really the type of person to do that. Instead she yelled out his name and threw a pillow at him which got him jumping out of the chair with his enchanting green eyes wide open.
"Are you okay?" Merlin asked breathless. Veronica began to laugh because her wickedness had been very amusing to her, but on the inside she was quite surprised that Merlin would say such a selfless thing at that moment. "Seriously Veronica? Did you really just throw a pillow at me for no reason?" Merlin was rubbing his eyes at this point as he crawled back into the chair.
"Yes, yes I did just throw a pillow at you." Veronica replied. "To be frank, you did want to start training early this morning, and it is well—early this morning. Why the hell were you sleeping in my room?" Veronica's tone turned from a laughing piss off to a serious pissed off girl, but Merlin did the complete opposite and began laughing.
"Relax Veronica, I was just making sure nothing would happen to you. I couldn't sleep knowing that Morgana threatened you and you were in danger, so I snuck back in and stayed by your side." Merlin explained as Veronica, being extremely embarrassed, sunk deep into her clothing. He was actually being selfless and kind, but Veronica was being too stubborn on hating him to notice that he wasn't so bad of a guy-or warlock.
Veronica got up from her bed and walked on over to the wardrobe in order to choose an outfit. Merlin must have seen the disgusted look on her face because he started to laugh as he walked towards her, climbed into Veronica's wardrobe, and reached for what seemed to be door knob that led to a closet filled with normal modern day clothes. Happy inside, Veronica quickly observed different garments and put together an outfit that she was surprisingly in love with. She turned to Merlin and smacked him on his arm as she said, "You guys had modern clothes for me this entire time and I had to wear that ugly dress yesterday?"
Merlin began to laugh as he made his way to the door silently to open it, and then signaled for Veronica to walk ahead of him. She made her way to the door where she made it clear to him that he should probably go first because she didn't even know where his chambers were. For most of the walk it had been extremely silent and Veronica did not know why it seemed so awkward, probably due to the night they had. Usually Merlin was so annoyingly talkative and even talked when he wasn't invited to, but now it seemed as if there was too much thoughts clouding his head that he couldn't even find his voice. The silence had been foreign to him, so he stopped to turn around and smiled at Veronica as light soaring through the window above them shone down at his green eyes and made it sparkle.
"We're here," Merlin said as his left hand reached out for a door handle and opened two beautiful French doors. It definitely looked like a poor boy's room, whose a servant to the king, but it didn't even look like the room to the best friend of the king- Or most powerful warlock in the world's room. Everything was made of oak wood, including Merlin's bed and had a simple desk that contained numerous jars and flasks. His collection continued over on what seemed to be bookshelves but really contained different jars that Veronica guest would be ingredients for potions or stuff. To her, right there was an actual bookshelf with actual books and Merlin had noticed her glance turned over there. He stopped his arms in mid-air as his eyes turned gold, like an old friend of Veronica's, and a massive book filled with dust and spider webs jumped out of the bookshelf and into his hand.
"Whoa!" Veronica yelled as she took a few steps back. She was more concerned about the fact that Merlin's eyes had turned gold than with the little magic trick that he pulled off. "Your eyes just turn to gold like the fires of hell! Jacob's eyes used to turn gold all the time!" Merlin look shocked and mysteriously confused which worried Veronica a great deal.
It seemed as if he hadn't heard her right because he then repeated what she said to him; "Jacob's eyes used to turn gold all the time?" He paused, looked around rapidly in a panicking manor before continuing. "Are you sure?" Veronica didn't know if this is some kind of game Merlin was playing or if he actually didn't know Jacob also had momentarily golden eyes sometimes.
"Yes I'm positive and there were even times where they turned so gold that it was scary, like the time I discovered the dragon egg and he tried to kill me." That was the first time Veronica had accepted what had occurred that night out loud; that what happened wasn't a dream after all, but a reality.
"Veronica, I think Jacob wasn't telling you something and it may have been the burden of his secrets caused him to commit suicide, because my eyes only turn gold when I use my powers." Merlin didn't have to explain any further, Veronica new what came next. She was furious with her dead best friend and angry at him for not telling her anything and just disappearing last minute. Did he really have powers, magical powers to be exact? He had the power of friendship and the power of humor, but magic? Obviously the burden would have caused him to commit suicide, he had been carrying it for half their lives!
Tears began to quickly form in her eyes, which Merlin sensed it to be a signal to change the subject and move on with their lessons. He blew on the book as he began to explain, "This right here is Gaius' grimoire filled with practically every single thing you will need to know as a young warlock. Gaius really help me through my transition and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have made it through anything or survived to see you today. I owe him my life and I will pay what he has done for me forward with you. I would have never gotten a chance at my destiny of reuniting the old religion with Albion through King Arthur without him. He is a great man, and though I may never be anything near to him, I hope to be just as kind to you in your time of need."
Veronica stared blankly into Merlin's bright green eyes; eyes that she once found to be piercing were now gentle. She smiled as she took a step closer to him, so close that her hormonal heart had controlled her mind. Merlin began looking away as if he was uncomfortable with the situation and Veronica understood that to be the universal sign to back away—except she didn't. Instead she whispered, "thank you," and laid her hand on his cheek. Merlin returned his glance to her then turned so red that it made Veronica laugh as she retracted her hand and walked away. At that point, her mind was back in control of her actions.
Merlin looked quite embarrassed when he opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a loud knocking on his door. He shook off what had just happened as he made his way to open the door, only to find Lancelot rushing in immediately. "Merlin, there is an urgent matter that I must speak with you about." He then turned his attention to Veronica and crooked his eyebrow in surprise of what he had seen. "Alone," he continued rather dryly as Veronica took it upon herself to obey the tall, strong, and handsome knight as made her way out the door, which Lancelot, a man of nobility, slammed afterwards.
Veronica stood there in the hall for a second or two awkwardly before she made her way through the halls towards the throne room where she would find her "parents". Through these halls, Veronica truly reasoned with her irrational actions that occurred before Lancelot interrupted Merlin's and her "magic study session."
First thing that popped up in her mind was, what the hell did I just do? She realized that even though she felt an attraction towards Merlin within a brief time, she still had her heart on her late best friend. She was in love with Jacob, but only felt a moment of intimacy with Merlin. To her surprise, hoping that Merlin would stop her right when he turned away, he returned her gaze to her and blushed. The only way that Veronica found a way to balance out the situation was to laugh in the poor guy's—warlock's face; a resolution that she realized in the hallway to be a cruel way of letting down a man that she led on for a minute.
Maybe Merlin wasn't the cruel evil sorcerer that seemed to be annoying, but it was Veronica who was those things. She had ranted to herself how much she hated him, but really she was the one who wasn't very kind when dealing with Merlin, or anyone for that fact. She punched her father right in the face when she found out the truth! She yelled at her mother for trying to protect her from the truth! Merlin was just as innocent as everyone else in the palace, and Veronica was more of the Villain than anyone else.
As she approached the throne room, she heard the voices of her parents having a conversation, and she would have never eavesdropped if she hadn't heard them mention her name and make her curious. She stepped closer to the doors and placed her right ear on the cold oak door to the throne room as she heard every word her parents spoke.
"I know it's torturing her Arthur and I completely agree with you." Veronica heard her mother say, and before she could question what it was about, her mother continued. "The memory of Jacob is not going to strengthen her at all, especially for battle!"
"It's so important that I fulfill my destiny, and I can't allow that boy who decided to kill himself at the worst possible time slow me down." Veronica was shocked at her father's insensitive words towards her late best friend. "I hate that we have to interfere with her life like this, but it's the only way we may free her from the bondage of his memory." Veronica was getting really confused from what her parents were saying and wanted to find out what they were up to.
"Arthur, do you think she will be upset?" Why would her mother worry she will be upset? Veronica questioned.
"She won't know, for she won't remember once we erase her memory of Jacob. However I still need to speak to Merlin and order him to do this He might object, but he doesn't really have a choice, does he?" Before Arthur, whom Veronica ceased to look to as a father, could speak any further, Veronica barged into the room.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She had never been so red and angry in her life! How can Arthur and Guinevere, whom she referred her parents to be from that moment, do such a thing? They came out to be a kind couple that cared for her wellbeing, but really they just wanted her to be of service to them for their own selfish needs. They didn't bring her back so that they may be reunited with her daughter, but to use her in the battle to return the old religion.
Before Arthur and Guinevere could reason with Veronica and what she had heard, she quickly ran out. Not only of the room, but also of the entire palace, which wasn't a palace but an estate in English Country. She began to cry as she ran quickly through the garden as it started to rain heavily, and past the gates that the guards were too late to shut on command of the king. Veronica ran and ran until she couldn't run no more and found herself breathless at a children's' playground. She knelt on the grass and began balling her eyes out saying that she just wanted to go home, until a figure approached her.
She couldn't tell who it was because of her anger, sadness, tears, and of course, the heavy rain. Soon she heard the voice of Lancelot saying, "Veronica, are you alright?" She got up quickly and began to run once again, but wasn't fast enough for Lancelot who caught her immediately. He held her in his arms as he ran her hand up and down her back while she cried on his shoulder. "Would you like to walk it out, Veronica?" She couldn't find her voice at all, so Veronica just shook her head in agreement and smiled.
She was thankful that Lancelot was somewhat on her side, for the last time she saw him he was giving her an odd look for being in Merlin's bedchambers alone with Merlin. They began walking despite how cold and wet they got from the rain, and the awkward silence sufficed at that time because Veronica wouldn't be able to find her words at all if they spoke. She didn't even pay attention to her surrounding and only watched each one of her feet make their next move on the sidewalk and into a forest.
She was smiling as she cleared her mind a bit and tried to forget what she encountered—that was until Lancelot took a cloth to her face as he grabbed her arms from behind her. Slowly, she saw the world around her become blurry as she drifted away into sleep. She tried stopping what was happening and fighting Lancelot, but the loyal knight was just way too strong for her. Her mind had fallen asleep, giving her no time to think.
Veronica woke up with a mad headache, her hands tied behind her back, a bag on her head, and sitting on an extremely uncomfortable chair. As soon as she regained her consciousness, she began struggling to get out of the roped that tied her.
"You won't be able to get out of that, so stop trying," she heard a voice that sounded a lot like Lancelot's. That was confirmed when his cold left hand grabbed tightly unto her right arm, and his right hand lifted the sac over her head to reveal the image of him. Veronica flinched from the brightness of the light she hadn't been exposed to for a long time.
Lancelot was smiling quiet evilly, as she was disappointed in his betrayal and spat at his face. He quickly wiped off her saliva, then took his hand across Veronica's cheek so hard that the chair that beheld her tumbled over and she began tearing up. He then brought the chair back up and said, "learn to respect your elders little girl."
Veronica couldn't believe him, she couldn't believe anything that was happening and wished that she never ran from "home." How could she not though? Her parents wanted to strip her from the memory of the one friend that she ever had and loved. She looked down and kept herself from crying and looking like a coward in front of this bastard.
Veronica then heard the sound of a door closing behind her, and then Lancelot opened his mouth to speak again. "Oh thank God! I would have killed her had you not come in. You're welcome. She's all yours." And with that Lancelot spat back into Veronica's face and made his way through the door that she heard open and shut behind her.
Then from the corner of the her eye she saw the man whom Lancelot had spoken to make his way in front of her. Her heart dropped as her throat gasped the second she looked to his face and saw that he was—
"Miss me, Veronica?" Jacob, her late best friend who was now somehow before her, said as he let out a slight chuckle.