Hello, you lovely people :3
An early update today, because I don't trust myself to be on time tomorrow ^^; Fridays are apparently stupid for me... This and the following chapter are probably one of my favourites. I don't know why, they just are. Yaeliz: Dogs are so funny :') And their little quirks just make them so much more loveable. Yeah, I was wanting to get Gwen back into the picture for Any questions? Theories? Ideas? Criticism? I'd love to hear from you :3 Disclaimer: IDOM
Dinner at Gwen's house had been… different, to say the least. Unlike Merlin's little lake-side shack, it was undeniably modern, with all the features and appliances one would expect to see in a house of that era. And Arthur thought Merlin's technology had been complicated.
Kilgharrah and Aithusa had returned to their true forms upon Gwen's insistence, and Aithusa had stuck to the queen like glue the entire night.
When all had settled down to eat, Gwen had told them about her current life – her parents weren't the same ones as before but her brother, whose name was Evan, was indeed Elyan. She told them about her job at the café, and the dreams she'd been having. At Arthur's insistence, she told of her life as queen after Camlan, how the others died and, finally, how she herself had gone. At this point she had started crying – not for herself, but for Merlin. After all, his life had continued on long after Camelot.
Both Arthur and Gwen had asked about what had happened to Camelot, so Merlin told them. His voice rich with emotion, Merlin spoke of the turmoil the kingdom had fallen into without an heir to claim the throne. How various nobles had argued and fought amongst themselves over who would be the next ruler. How neighbouring kingdoms had seized the moment of weakness and invaded. And how he had done nothing to stop them. In his eyes, without Gwen and Arthur, there was no point. Camelot would have only been tarnished by another monarch – better to just let it go. The two royals had grieved for their kingdom, but did not blame their friend in the slightest.
When the night wore on and the time came for them to leave, they said their goodbyes like it was their last. Gwen had promised that the next time they met she would have Elyan with her.
"Good morning, Melvin."
Merlin frowned as an elbow was jabbed into his side. Morgana grinned at him, readjusting the handle of her bag on her shoulder.
"Morissa," he returned with a smirk and a slight nod of his head.
"How was your weekend?" she asked, falling into step beside him as they moved through the museum's entrance hall.
"Caught up with Gwen."
Morgana stopped dead in her tracks. "Gwen? You found Gwen?!"
"Actually, Aithusa found Gwen. But, yes, we did."
Morgana's smile broadened and Merlin found himself smiling too at the pure, untainted joy that lit up her face. "Could you please take me with you next time you go see her?"
Merlin opened his mouth to respond but quickly slammed it shut, his eyes widening as he took in the cluster of police and investigators standing around a strip of yellow tape blocking the entrance to the medieval section.
"What happened?" he asked, hurrying over to the nearest officer. At the hesitant look the officer gave him he added, "I work here."
"There was a break-in last night."
"What?" Morgana tried to see past the authorities and into the next room. "What was stolen?"
"Nothing," the officer replied. "Whatever they were looking for, they didn't find it."
Merlin furrowed his brow. That section in particular was filled with priceless artifacts. Why would someone break in and not take anything?
Seeing the two weren't going to say anything more, the officer excused himself and returned to the investigation.
Merlin and Morgana exchanged a look.
"Excuse me."
Merlin and Morgana stepped aside, apologies on the tips of their tongues but stopped when they saw who was behind them.
"Leon?!" they cried in unison. For the man was the spitting image of Arthur's second in command back in Camelot. Merlin thought the police uniform suited him well.
Leon frowned, obviously confused. His eyes widened with something akin to recognition but before he had the chance to voice his thoughts, he was interrupted.
"Officer Stiles!"
Leon turned his attention to the officer who had called him and, with a muttered apology to the two dumbstruck museum workers, joined the rest of his team.
Noting the time, Merlin and Morgana pulled themselves away from the site and headed towards their respective sections, whispering and looking back over their shoulders as they went.
Leon Stiles was frustrated. He was supposed to be focusing on the investigation! So why was it he couldn't seem to keep his mind off the two museum employees from earlier? It was unnerving, the way they had known exactly who he was despite never having met. Unless…
No. Dreams were just the product of an active mind. They weren't real.
So why couldn't he stop thinking about it?
The man… he was identical to Merlin, Arthur's manservant, right down to the neckerchief tied around his neck. And the woman…
She was the spitting image of Morgana.
Leon's heart clenched. What if she was Morgana? What if, somehow, the dreams were real? Morgana had turned against them, done everything in her power to kill them all and take the throne. And, right now, she was close to Merlin.
Despite how ridiculous it was, Leon was consumed with an unyielding desire to hurry and find Merlin; to protect him from the witch that wouldn't hesitate to kill him – all-powerful warlock or not.
"I'm going to take my lunch break," he announced, heading off in the direction he had seen the raven-haired man disappear earlier that morning. He ignored the niggling thought that the dream-induced paranoia was getting to him. He knew he wouldn't be able to focus on his job if he didn't at least check.
Leon paused as it occurred to him that he had no idea what section Merlin worked in. Spotting an information desk, he wandered over, prepared to use his position of authority to find the man, if necessary.
"Hello, how can I help you?" the plump woman behind the desk smiled pleasantly.
"I'm looking for one of the employees. He's tall, dark hair, red neckerchief," Leon described.
"Oh, you must mean Melvin." She glanced at her watch and grabbed a visitor map. "At this time he should still be in his office." As she spoke, she drew arrows on the map and circled the coloured block that represented Melvin's office. "He's not in trouble, is he?"
"No," Leon smiled, taking the offered map. "I just wanted to speak with him."
"Good luck, then."
Leon met her eyes, the unspoken question hanging in the air between them.
"It's just, he's a bit hard to approach," she explained. "Not much of a talker; prefers his own company. Oh, but you're an officer. I'm sure you'll have no trouble."
Leon nodded his thanks and followed the directions on the map. Hard to approach and not much of a talker? That doesn't sound like Merlin at all… A door marked 'Literature & Archives' signaled the end of his journey and he smiled at the name tag labeled 'Melvin Emery' underneath. He knocked lightly and waited for the call of 'enter' before opening the door.
The literature and archive section reminded him strongly of the library in his dreams of Camelot. Shelves containing a vast amount of books and papers took up the majority of the space and doors showed promise of more out of sight. A small armchair was pushed up against the side of one of the shelves and a large wooden desk stood opposite it.
Seated at the desk was none other than Melvin himself, who was concentrating on a piece of parchment spread on the desk in front of him. He glanced up at Leon and quickly got to his feet, an expression of surprise on his face.
"Officer?" he nodded in greeting.
And then Leon realised he hadn't thought through what he was going to say. 'Hi, I just wanted to make sure Morgana didn't kill you'? There was no way that would go down well.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Melvin asked uncertainly.
"Earlier… how did you know my name?" It really had been bothering him.
"Oh… um, well… I guess I mistook you for someone else… who happens to be called Leon."
Leon could tell by the man's slightly flustered tone and the way he was tapping his fingers on the desk that there was more to it than that.
"So, uh, how do you like working in the police force?"
"I enjoy it," Leon replied, noting the way Melvin had changed the subject. He moved further into the room to scan the titles of various tomes lining the shelves. "I guess I've always had a calling to do something to protect – both the people and my country. What about you? Enjoy museum work?"
Melvin fidgeted. "It has it's perks. I figured, if I have the knowledge I may as well put it to good use." His voice had taken on a harder edge, hinting to a deeper meaning in his words.
"Well, I've got to get back to work." Leon grabbed a pen from his shirt pocket and quickly scrawled down his phone number on a piece of note paper. "If you learn anything on the break-in, give me a call; I'm head of the investigation," he explained at Melvin's questioning look.
Melvin nodded again and watched in silence as Leon left the room.
Morgana looked up from her salad roll as Merlin walked into the staff common room.
"Melvin," she called in the mocking tone they had started using when calling each other by their fake names.
Merlin looked back at her from where he was pouring boiling water into a cup of instant noodles.
"Come sit," she encroached, patting the free spot beside her invitingly. The other employees watched her with raised eyebrows, but she ignored them.
Merlin rolled his eyes but obliged, setting his lunch down on the small coffee table while it cooked.
"You know, Melvin, you should really eat healthier."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Morissa," he smirked. "I didn't know my lunch had to meet your standards."
"Well it does, so do try to do better tomorrow." Really, why were the others so shocked to see the man partaking in a conversation? Had any of them even tried talking to him?
"It's good enough for Arthur." The unspoken 'and he's a king' was not left unnoticed.
"Good Lord, you haven't got him hooked on junk food, have you?"
"No, but I don't trust him to cook and I didn't have time to make anything better this morning."
"Scared he's gonna burn your house down?"
"Yes, actually. Even Kilgharrah and Aithusa are more trustworthy in that aspect." He picked up his noodles and began mixing them with his fork. "Leon stopped by my department earlier."
Morgana, who had been about to take another bite of her toll, paused. "Did he recognise you?"
"I don't know. He asked why I knew his name but I could tell that wasn't the real reason he came."
"What did you tell him?"
"That I must have mistaken him with someone else."
"And he bought that?" Morgana asked skeptically. She couldn't begin to fathom how Merlin had kept his secret in Camelot for so long when he was so terrible at lying.
Merlin shrugged and ate a mouthful of noodles. "It could be like what happened with Gwen… and you."
Morgana went to reply but noticed the other employees pretending not to be listening. "You think he could just be trying to figure out why he has dreams about people he doesn't remember meeting?" The switch to Old English was easier than she thought it should be. She was pleased to note the confused faces on the other employees' faces.
"Could be. I mean, we did call out his name. He gave me his number, in any case." Seeing the look on her face he hastily added, "Told me to call him if I had any information on the break-in."
"Maybe we should let him meet Arthur. That might jog his memory."
"… That might not be such a bad idea."
"You doubted me?"
"Well, to be fair, most of your other plans failed."
Morgana whacked him in the arm with an expression of mock insult. "No thanks to you." Her voice became solemn and she looked down at her half-eaten lunch. "I'm glad they did."
"And through here is the staff common room," Peter's voice called from the other side of the door. The door opened, revealing aforementioned man. Following closely behind was a man that had both Merlin's and Morgana's mouths dropping open in shock.
"Percival?!"
