A/N: Suprisingly, I have no witty comments to entertain you with today. So just enjoy the story. :)


Chapter 8- In Which There is an (Almost) Epic Car Chase

The door to the back bedroom creaked open and one half-asleep, too-big sweatshirt and sweatpants clad Crystal walked out, her red-brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. She rubbed her brown eyes and looked at her couch to find that, indeed, the strange young man she'd left there last night was still spread across the only real piece of furniture she owned, the blanket she'd given him draped over him as he snored gently. Crystal half-smiled. Asleep, he looked even more innocent than he had when he'd begged her to help him. She could almost forget what a strange weirdo he was.

She decided to let him sleep and walked over to the door of her flat, which she opened and leaned over to pick the daily newspaper off the floor out there. She wasn't particularly sure why she still subscribed to the newspaper. She honestly wasn't that interested in the news of the world, but still, she paid her dues to it monthly, and it ended up outside her door daily. Whatever.

She threw it down on her table and briefly glanced back to see that her guest was waking, blinking at his surroundings with confusion as though he wasn't quite sure how he'd gotten there. Crystal smirked and leaned against the countertop in her kitchen.

"Good morning," she called to him. He looked over at her, and his eyes suddenly widened as though everything had just come back to him.

"I have to find Arthur," was his response, and she watched as he threw off his blanket and clambered to his feet.

"Yeah, your friend, I remember," she said. "Relax. We'll look for him this morning. Then maybe I can finally get rid of you."

She mumbled the last bit to herself, and hoped he hadn't heard. She flicked open one of her cabinets and found the ubiquitous box of granola bars, which she snatched the last two out of. Taking the box down from its shelf, she searched it to make sure that there were absolutely none left and sighed.

"Great," she muttered. "Grocery shopping. More bills." She walked past the turned-over Rent Due warning and tossed one of the bars at the boy, who, not surprisingly, didn't catch it.

"Granola bar," she said before he could ask (seriously, where had this kid been all his life?). "We'll search for your friend after breakfast. You're lucky today's Saturday or I'd just dump you off to look for him yourself."

She watched him fiddle with the wrapper out of the corner of her eye as she unfolded the newspaper and flicked through it.

"Thank you," she heard him say and she sighed.

"I told you, it's really nothing," she pretended to be too interested in her newspaper to pay much attention to him, and he seemed to get the picture. A rather awkward silence fell over the two, broken only by Merlin's careful munching on his granola bar.

Crystal flipped a page in the newspaper, and suddenly laughed. Merlin glanced up briefly from his breakfast and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked. Crystal chuckled and looked up at him.

"Merlin, come here," she said, getting more used to saying his name (even though it was very strange. Who names there kid Merlin?). The black-haired boy stood and walked over to her, a look of worried interest on his face. Crystal pointed to the sidebar article printed on the paper.

"Looks like you're not the only weirdo to have turned up yesterday," she teased, wondering at what point she'd become "friends" enough with this strange young man to actually start teasing him. Merlin fixed his eyes on the article she was indicating. The name of the clip was written in large, black letters and read, "MAN ARRESTED IN THREE-CAR PILEUP". But it had been the story that had made Crystal laugh, as it detailed the young man who had apparently stepped into the line of traffic, caused one car to swerve into two others, and when an officer had attempted to stop him for a sobriety test, he had hit the officer and run. After being restrained, the man had called himself the "Prince of Camelot", demanding to be released. He had been taken in for possible drunk and disorderly conduct as well as resisting arrest. His picture followed the article.

"Prince of Camelot," she snickered. "Maybe he's from the same insane asylum you're from."

It had been a joke, but Merlin didn't answer. She glanced over at him to see that his eyes were wide, brow furrowed, blue eyes locked on the picture of the young man who had been arrested.

"Merlin?" she asked.

"That's him," Merlin said slowly. "That's Arthur. That's Arthur!"

He looked up at her, eyes suddenly bright and excited. She stepped back.

"You've got to be kidding," she said. "Your friend is a lunatic who thinks he's the prince of Camelot?"

"We have to get him out of there," Merlin was practically climbing the walls with a mixture of excitement and worry, as he ran his hands through his black hair. Crystal's mouth dropped open.

"Did you not read the article?" she demanded. "He's in jail. That means the only way you can get him out is by paying bail. Do you have the money for bail? Cos I sure don't!"

"What? Money?" he said, giving her only a brief glance before returning to his own line of thoughts. He stepped towards her, his eyes pleading.

"Please, we have to get him out," he said. "He could be in danger."

Crystal sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Fine," she muttered. "We'll visit him, but I'm not posting bail for him. And if you decide to break him out, I am not helping."

"Sure, fine," Merlin said, but she was pretty sure he hadn't heard her. "We have to get back to Camelot. Something really bad's going on."

Crystal groaned. Weirdos. She was getting herself involved with weirdos. And yet, she still remembered the black haired boy's pleading look yesterday when she'd told him to buzz off and leave her alone. She couldn't see him look that sad again, and she hated the fact that she just couldn't seem to say no to him. But…the sooner she got him back with his friend, the sooner she'd get him out of her flat.

"Let me put on something different," she said, stalking back towards her bedroom. "And we'll leave. Don't make me regret this."

She gave him a withering glare before slamming the door of her room and beginning to rifle through her wardrobe for some decent clothes so she could go break a man out of jail.

This just gets better and better, she thought sarcastically.


Across a sidewalk of London strode a tall, thin woman, her blonde hair billowing out behind her as she walked, her brown eyes intensely focused on the path ahead of her. As she passed other pedestrians, they paused and gave her brief, odd glances, their eyes drawn to her strange attire: the long, flowing gown covered by the similarly flowing cape. And yet she did not care.

Morgause was on a mission.

She'd arrived in this time only hours ago, and much to her pleasure she had immediately felt the tingle of magic in the back of her mind. She had focused on it, and soon she was able to feel just where Arthur Pendragon was, could see the path in her mind of how to get to him.

The bracelet had done its work. The mark it had left on him would make him a walking target. Now no matter where he went, she would find him. Even if he discarded the bracelet, she would still be able to track him by the powerful magic it had left behind on him.

As Morgause walked, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. This time may be strange and different, but there was one thing that did not, would not, would never change: and that was magic. It would always be the same, as it was the power of the Earth. Magic never changed.

And because of that, Morgause would find her enemy, and kill him.

Of course, here in this world she would have to be careful. Though the idiocy of people does not change, the technology does, and Morgause knew that with the all-seeing eyes that were called "Cameras" mounted near shops and on street corners, she would have to be careful with how and where she disposed of the young prince for good.

Morgause paused in her walk and closed her eyes, focused on the magic that beckoned her. Her lips once again twitched in a smile. She was close. Very close.

She strode down the street and paused, the magic strong now, pulsing in her mind. She raised her eyes to the buildings that stood near her, and her gaze settled on one which stood tall against the others. Words above its glass door proclaimed it to be "City of London Police". Morgause wasn't precisely certain what Police were (though she hated admitting that she didn't know something) but if this was where Arthur was, then she would find him.

She thrust open one of the clear glass doors with her hand and strode in, the hood of her cape bouncing around her shoulders as she walked. The interior of this place was barren and official, and a few men in odd uniforms strode around apparently attending to whatever business they did here. A counter stretched ahead of her, and one uniformed man set behind it, busily pressing buttons on a strange glass-fronted box that Morgause may or may not have heard called a "computer". Whatever it was for, she did not care.

The man at the desk looked up as she attempted to walk past into the building beyond.

"Excuse me," he said, his voice thickly accented. "Can I help you?"

Morgause turned sharp brown eyes to him, which narrowed at his appearance. She glanced around at the officers around her and smirked slightly.

"No, I don't think you can," she answered. The man opened his mouth to reply, but Morgause's eyes flashed gold and he and the others standing around him all froze as if time had stopped. Morgause laughed sharply and strode forward, this time unhindered by these strange men in uniform. It was time for her work to begin.


Merlin still did not entirely like the idea of car travel, but at least his stomach was a little calmer than yesterday. Still, every time Crystal took a corner at high speed, or braked suddenly, or changed lanes, Merlin found himself gripping his knees so hard that his knuckled were turning white. He was fairly certain he'd have finger-shaped bruises on his legs by the time the ride was over.

Seeing Arthur's picture in Crystal's newspaper had filled the warlock with excitement. Yesterday had been one of the worst days in the young man's life. Being thrown in to a completely different world, wandering the streets aimlessly, running into a girl, trying to find Arthur amongst a city he had never seen before, and hopelessly failing to do so had put his nerves on edge. All Merlin wanted to do was make sure Arthur was alright and get the heck out of this world and back to Camelot before something extraordinarily terrifying occurred.

Crystal turned another corner, and after recovering from that, Merlin suddenly became aware of a strange sensation in the back of his mind. He blinked and glanced around. It was not unlike the feeling he'd had when Arthur had opened the box with the bracelet inside of it. The feeling that strong magic was close by. His heart thudded madly against his ribs. If he could feel the bracelet's magic in his mind, that certainly meant that Arthur was close by!

Finally, Crystal yanked the steering wheel of the car and pulled them into a parallel parking space near a building with the words "City of London Police" above its glass doors. Crystal and Merlin both clambered out of the car and onto the sidewalk, made their way to this place that was hopefully where Arthur would be. Merlin's heart beat faster in anticipation, though he never would have expected he'd ever be so happy to see that prat.

Just like the day before, Crystal lead him up to the desk in the entrance of the building. An officer seated there looked up and smiled as they approached.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his words heavily accented. Crystal stepped forward, taking control of the situation just as she had done yesterday. She smiled sweetly at the officer.

"We're here to visit a man," she said. "Named Arthur Pendragon? The one in the papers this morning. He was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest?"

The man behind the desk studied them for a moment with confusion, and then shook his head.

"Sorry, never heard the name, and I don't believe we have a man who fits that description on record."

Merlin blinked.

But the newspaper in Crystal's flat had said….

"Are you sure?" Crystal pressed. The man nodded, but checked on his computer anyways.

"Nope, no one here by that name or description," he said. Crystal turned to Merlin and motioned to him to hand over the article she'd cut out, just in case they needed the picture. He pulled it from his tattered leather jacket and handed it over, and Crystal held it out to the officer.

"This article says he was taken here," she said. "And you're saying you've never seen this man" – she pointed to the picture – "before?"

The officer looked at the article and shook his head.

"I think you must have been mistaken," he said. "No one like that is being held here. I'm sorry."

Crystal began to try to reason with him, but something distracted Merlin's attention from the conversation. The sensation in the back of his mind suddenly grew from an annoying tingle to a massive clanging. He slowly turned around, closing his eyes and trying to catch just where the source of the sensation was coming from. He opened his eyes again, and, gazing out the glass of the door into the Police building, he caught the sight of something that made his stomach clench.

Down the street, a cloaked figure was half-dragging, half-carrying a blonde figure along, in a way that told Merlin the cloaked figure was trying (and failing) to do this as inconspicuously as possible.

But it was the blonde figure that caused the blood to drain from the warlock's face. That was most definitely Arthur.

"Crystal!" he said, catching the girl's elbow and yanking her away from her conversation with the officer. She turned sharply, brown eyes annoyed.

"What?" she demanded. He pointed out the door, pulling her along behind him.

"That's him!" he said. "That's Arthur!"

"Wha – " she started again, but her words were cut off. Merlin's eyes widened as he watched the hooded figure (who, he wasn't quite sure but he had a fairly good idea of who its was) stretch their arm out in the direction of one of the cars parked by the side of the road. The figure then yanked open one of the back doors, slung Arthur's limp body into the interior of the car, before yanking open the driver's side door and clambering in themself. For a moment, Merlin's heart rose at the thought that there was no way the figure was going to be able to start the car, let alone drive it, but his hopes were soon dashed when he heard the noise of the car turn over and the sight of the vehicle being pulled from its parking spot, albeit ungracefully. It collided with the car parked in front of it before pulling out onto the street.

Merlin blanched. Whoever had Arthur in that car, they were using magic.

"We have to go after them!" Merlin declared, turning to Crystal. The girl's eyes widened in horror.

"Are you insane?" she demanded. "You want me to chase them? I can't afford a speeding ticket!"

"We don't have time!" Merlin said, pushing her towards her own car. He heard the girl grunt with exasperation, but eventually gave in, starting the car just as Merlin was climbing into his side. With a lurch, she pulled her car out into the street, and, though rather less than fast due to the traffic on the roads, followed the car that had an unconscious Arthur stuffed in the back.

Merlin leaned forward, trying to figure out what to do. He could feel Crystal shooting him deadly glares as she attempted to maneuver her car closer to the target.

"And just what do you think you're going to do when we catch up with them?" she demanded as she edged around another car. Now they were only two away from the blue car (which Crystal knew to be a Toyota Prius) that contained the prince.

"I don't know," Merlin admitted, voice tense.

"Terrific," he heard her mutter. Once more she changed lanes to try and get around the car in front of them.

"I have no idea why I'm doing this right now," Crystal growled, but Merlin barely heard her. An idea was forming.

"Get me up next to them," he told her. She looked over at him, and he could see her eyes fill with horror as she apparently figured out what he was thinking.

"You're joking," she said. "Please say you're joking."

"I have to get Arthur out of there," he told her bluntly.

"But are you trying to get yourself killed in the process?" Crystal demanded in response.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Merlin muttered to himself. Without another word, Crystal edged around another car as they painfully slowly neared their target.

However, whether the driver of the car had caught on to the fact that they were being followed, or just decided to take a different route, the car that held Arthur captive suddenly swerved down a side street, off the main road. Merlin gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Go that way!" he urged, adrenaline pumping through his blood.

"I'm trying!" Crystal countered. She jerked the wheel and the car slipped onto the same street, but this was one much narrower than what they had just pulled off of. He heard Crystal curse colourfully and he gave her an impressed look. She glared at him.

"One way street," she told him. "Too narrow to get up next to them."

"Just try," he told her. He saw her jaw clench as her knuckles turned white from gripping the steering wheel. Merlin had to be incredibly impressed by this girl. She hardly knew him, and yet she was willing to risk her life to help him get Arthur out of whatever danger the prat had gotten himself into.

Merlin smirked to himself. Arthur wasn't going to hear the end of this for a long time.

Crystal attempted to pull to one side to get Merlin in a position where he was closer to the blue car's back door, planning to open his door and somehow get Arthur's door open so he could pull the prince into their car. But Crystal failed to get close enough for the amount of cars parked along the side of the street on either side of them.

"It's no use," she said. "We'll just have to tail them for a while."

Merlin nodded tensely and watched the car ahead of them urgently. Arthur still hadn't awoken in the backseat, which only confirmed his suspicions of just who might be driving the car, who was behind that cloak. Of course, how she knew how to drive one of these strange horseless carriages, he couldn't know, but it was probably through magic.

All in all, this was turning out to be one rather slow car chase. Not that Merlin knew what a car chase really was, and to the young warlock who wasn't used to going any faster than the galloping speed of a horse, it was plenty fast enough. But in light of the situation and the need to get Arthur out of that strange car, it was going rather slowly, even for him.

Fortunately, luck seemed to be smiling down at the young serving boy today. Or at least, at this moment it was.

Crystal suddenly slammed on her brakes, and Merlin only just managed to stop his head from hitting the dashboard. He jerked himself up and looked forward to see what had made her stop so suddenly. He couldn't help but smile though. At the end of the street where it opened back out onto the main, larger road, a very large type of car that seemed to have a long metal box attached to its back, sat perpendicular to the road, blocking off the one-way street. And, fortunately for them, it also blocked off the blue car's escape.

"Hah!" Merlin laughed when he saw that the car they'd been chasing (though it was rather too slow to be called a "chase") had been stopped, as well. He grabbed the handle of his door and threw it open, leaping into the street and running forward. Crystal was clambering out after him in a heartbeat, left behind by the warlock with a plan.

"Wait!" she called. "What are you – "

She was cut abruptly off when the driver's door of the blue car opened up and the cloaked figure climbed out to face boy and girl. The hood fell away from her face, and Merlin stumbled to a halt, his suspicions now completely and undeniably confirmed.

"Morgause," he muttered darkly. The blonde woman wasted no time, lifted both hands, and a blast of magic rocketed Crystal and Merlin backwards several feet. Merlin winced as his head cracked against the rough pavement of the road, but he was struggling back to his feet again in an instant. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened to Crystal, but he knew that he didn't have time to check on her. Morgause was already turning her attention back towards the large car that blocked her path, raising her hands to attempt to move it herself. Merlin didn't have time to waste, and he grabbed the only idea he had and hoped that it wouldn't get him into trouble later.

His gaze locked on a decorative lamp post nearby that stood just close enough to the sorceress. It wasn't too tall, but Merlin didn't particularly care. It would do the job. His eyes flashed gold, and the lamp immediately toppled to the ground, taking Morgause with it. The sorceress crumpled to the pavement and lay still, unmoving.

Merlin ran towards the blue car and grabbed the handle of the back door. He could see Arthur in there, still unconscious, obviously under one of Morgause's spells. The warlock pulled at the door handle, but it was locked.

"Tóspringe," he commanded, eyes flashing gold once more. The lock on the door popped open, and Merlin thanked his lucky stars that his magic still worked on these strange contraptions. Wasting no more time, he yanked the door open and grabbed Arthur, who was lying on his front, his head towards Merlin.

"Arthur," Merlin called, but the blonde prince did not answer. Grunting, the skinny servant hefted the larger man out of the back of the car, rather ungracefully, and almost dropped him once he dragged him out onto the street. But he regained his hand hold on Arthur, draping the man's arm over his shoulder as he half carried, half dragged (though quite a bit more on the dragging side) across the pavement back to Crystal's car. The girl had apparently recovered from Morgause's attack by this point and was standing by the front of the vehicle, eyebrows raised and a look on her face halfway between disbelief and amazement.

"Can you get the door?" Merlin grunted, struggling under Arthur's weight. At least he wasn't wearing his armor.

Still seeming rather dazed, the redhead cast one last look at Morgause's still form on the road and hurried to open one of the rear doors of her own car. Merlin then proceeded to dump the prince's body into the back, making sure he was comfortably laid out across the rather worn cloth seat. Once the servant made sure that Arthur's feet weren't in the way of the door, he shut it with a click, and leaned against the car, panting. He glanced up to see that the huge car-thing that had stopped them in the first place was still there, just getting ready to move, the driver oblivious to what he had just been a part of. Merlin couldn't help but laugh a little at that. Without it, who knows what could have become of Arthur.

He glanced up to see Crystal staring at him with her mouth open, her eyes wide with…well, too many emotions for Merlin to identify.

"We have to get out of here before Morgause wakes up," he said, not fully realizing that she had no idea what the heck he was talking about.

Of course, she was ready to make that very plain to him.

"What the heck is going on here?" she demanded, stalking forward to look accusingly at him. "Who the heck was that? How'd she do that? With her hands? And who the heck are you, even? I mean, can someone please tell me what's going on here?"

Merlin sighed, glanced at the back seat to see Arthur was still out of it.

"Morgause," he told her. "Her name is Morgause, and she's a sorcerer, and we really need to get out of here before she wakes up because what she did to us really won't compare with what she's going to do to us when she wakes up. Okay?"

He fixed her with pleading blue eyes, and though he could clearly tell she was very, very confused and very, very flustered (though Merlin was just thankful he wasn't the one confused this time), she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Fine," she said, pushing past him to open the driver's side door. Merlin crossed back to his own side and climbed in beside her, while a very unconscious Arthur snored gently in the back seat. Crystal started the car and gingerly moved around where Morgause was still lying in the street, the lamp post lying beside her. The large car that had blocked the roadway was gone by this point, and they moved, unhindered back out onto the busy main thoroughfare.

"Listen," she said, flatly. "I don't know who you are or where you've come from, but we're going back to my flat right now and you're going to tell me just what the hell is going on here."

Merlin smirked.

"Fair enough."

"By the way, Merlin…"

"Yeah?"

"You're bleeding."


A/N: For me it was only fitting to have the "villain" (AKA, Morgause) steal a Prius. I'm sorry for all of you who actually like those cars. I can't stand them. I thought I'd go ahead and elaborate on that for your amusement. Check back Monday for the next chapter!