Annabeth Potter was used to waking up alone.

She'd lived on her own for the past 3 years while Orion prolonged his decision about when to stop toying with her and finally marry her to put her out of her misery.

Before that she'd lived with Laurel and Robert for 4 years in her island home. Laurel and Robert (who were actually her servants) avoided her like the plague unless she needed them so really, they only saw each other twice a day: Laurel to help dress and undress her – once in the mornings when she'd woken up and once in the evenings when she was getting ready for bed. After the first year Laurel came less and less often until Annabeth told her not to bother showing up (as was Laurel's intention) and dressed herself. Robert always came to her twice a day also. Once to ask her what her menu for the day was and once to ask if she needed anything so he knew in advance when he went on his daily morning shopping trip into the nearest town. Unlike Laurel, Robert didn't openly despise his genuinely caring mistress, not that he got better pay for it however it did give him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd hurt her just that little bit more when he betrayed her and signed the contract selling her to Lord Orion.

In the 2 years before her mother and uncle died, Annabeth woke up in her room on her own. This was only because she had turned 13 and was being treated like a grown up and according to Grace Potter grown-ups woke up on their own. Before that May (at least when she'd been alive) or her mother (on her better days) were there to wake her up in the mornings. Unfortunately, Annabeth had been 13 a very long time ago. 8 years ago actually and waking up on her own had become a fact of life to her with only Peter Orion to look forward to in life and that was not very promising.

So yes, Annabeth Potter was used to waking up alone. What she was not used to was waking up in a strange place that she did not know, nor was she used to waking up with a splitting headache. As she sat up in the small dark room she winced and folded forward, clutching her head. Her brain was throbbing and felt like it was full of rocks. She tried to remember what happened, why she was there.

Images flashed behind her eyelids: Orion barging into her house, yelling at Arthur, taking Merlin to her magic cave, being surrounded by water, feeling safe and home for the first time in a long time then remembering that Orion was waiting for her back in Camelot, how she'd rather die than go back and marry him, water closing in on her, putting more and more pressure on her body, granting wish until…

Nothing.

Just blackness and words. Words that alone made no sense but together didn't quite connect into anything understandable. Voices: Merlin's, Arthur's, one's she couldn't quite recognise and one that sounded a lot like May's…

Her brain was overloading and hurt even worse than before, causing tears to spring to her eyes.

"Annabeth?" The door to the room creaked open though Annabeth couldn't lift her head to see it.

She could feel the eyes of two men on her a she sat there, folded in half on a stranger's bed however she didn't move. She didn't speak. She just wanted to scream.

"Annabeth?" the vaguely familiar voice of an old man asked. He sounded closer than he had before. "Annabeth can you hear me?"

Annabeth groaned in response.

"I'll take that a yes then. My name is Gaius. Do you know who I am?" He asked slowly.

Annabeth heard Gaius scrape a chair across the floor and place it near her head. A long creak let her know he'd sat down.

"Yes. I remember." She croaked.

"Good. Very good. Now do you know where you are?" He went on.

"No." Her head hurt so much!

"You're in the castle in Camelot. Do you know what Camelot is?" Gaius checked.

"The Pendragon Kingdom. Where in the castle are we?" just ignore the pain. Ignore the pain!

"We're in my chambers. DO you know why you're here?" He asked.

The pain was becoming unbearable. She couldn't find it in her to speak anymore; she was too scared she'd burst out screaming and wake up the whole castle so she improvised and did a weird kind of nod instead and hoped Gaius got the message.

"Can you tell me why you're here?" He asked, understanding.

Annabeth did a weird head shake.

"Why not?" the frown was evident in Gaius' voice.

Carefully, Annabeth extracted one of her hands from her tangled hair and pointed at her head.

"There's something wrong with your head?" He interpreted.

Annabeth nodded.

"What is it?" He asked, suddenly urgent.

"It hurts," she whimpered. "like it might explode. It feels so heavy."

"I'll go get something for it. Merlin is here for you should you need anything." Gaius stood up and hurried away.

Annabeth sat there, her head in her lap, trying not to think. The pain was maddening. She pulled her hair in an attempt to distract herself with a lesser pain but it failed unlike usual. She tried singing quietly to herself but she could not think of any songs. None of her usual tricks were working and that scared her.

"Do you want to sit up?" Merlin asked finally, breaking the silence.

"No." she groaned.

"Why not?" Merlin inquired, taking Gaius' vacated seat.

"My head my fall off." She told him seriously.

"What if I help you? I promise your head won't fall off." He compromised.

"I want to try it on my own first." She told him stubbornly.

Merlin didn't say anything but just watched silently as Annabeth very slowly pulled herself up, still clutching her head, and leant against the wall behind her. "Merlin, could you, you know?" She gasped.

"Uh, sure." Merlin frowned.

With a quick glance at the closed door he got up from the chair to stand beside her head and placed a hand on either side of her face.

"Poena licentia." Her whispered, his eyes flashing gold.

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed as the pain was lifted from her head.

"Thanks Merlin." She smiled.

"So why did you try and drown yourself?" Merlin asked immediately, cutting straight to the point.

"I didn't." She replied simply, stretching out on the bed.

"Annabeth, I'm not stupid." Merlin scowled.

"And I'm not a liar." She responded coolly.

"Then what happened?" He demanded uncharacteristically.

"I accidently tried to kill myself." She was so calm about the matter. Too calm in fact.

"Annabeth." Merlin sighed.

"Say what you want! I don't know what happened! I was fine. I felt safe – a lot safer than I've felt in a very long time – and I was in complete control! Then I remembered Peter was back here waiting for me and I panicked. I don't love him Merlin! I don't even like him! I'd rather die than marry him! The water must have picked up on my thoughts because it started putting pressure on my body and I began to drown! What more is there?" Annabeth exploded. "I know you think I'm lying but I'm honestly not. I fear death above all else. I have no reason to lie to you Merlin. I won't gain anything from it." She stared at Merlin, begging him to understand.

"I believe you but what are we going to tell Arthur?" He asked finally.

"That I'm not suicidal maybe?" she suggested bitterly.

"Annabeth, that's not going to be enough," He told her knowingly.

"Fine, how about this: we went for a walk and I fell into a river and you saved me. It was purely accidental." She said offhandedly.

"That won't work. I've already said that you tried to drown yourself. In front of other witnesses too." He confessed.

"WHAT?" She shouted.

"Ssh! You'll wake up the entire castle!" Merlin looked over at the door again.

Angrily, Annabeth threw her legs over the side of her bed and got up. Ignoring Merlin's protests she grabbed a shawl from off of the chair and wrapped it around her shoulders. Not bothering to search for shoes or a cloak, Annabeth stormed out of the room.

"Annabeth, I don't-" Gaius started as she stalked past him but Annabeth ignored him and continued on towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Merlin demanded, running around and blocking her path.

"Home." She growled, attempting to side-step him and failing.

"And where is that exactly/?" He challenged her.

Giving him a dirty look, she opened her mouth to answer when the door opened behind Merlin and Arthur strode in. He paused and looked at the scene before him. Merlin was looking at him with relief on his face as he stood between Annabeth and the door. Gaius had frozen midway through making a potion of some sort and had appeared to be watching Merlin and Annabeth fight, whilst Annabeth stood fuming, fists clenched.

"Annabeth, you're-"

THWACK!

Annabeth's fist collided with the side of Merlin's head, causing him to crumple to the floor. She then pounced on a nearby table and dragged it around, blocking Gaius off from her before skilfully ducking under Arthur's arms as he jumped forward to restrain her. Crouching low, she kicked out Arthur's knee from behind him but he caught her arm on the way down so they crashed to the floor together.

"I told you I was going to sort it, didn't I?" Arthur told her angrily. "Didn't I?"

"I'm sick and tired of living like this Arthur! I've had enough!" She snapped.

"Where were you trying to go?" He demanded, not moving.

"Back to my house in the towns. I was planning to run whilst he slept." She revealed sourly.

"You can't outrun him Anna." He told her wisely.

"Oh yeah? Just watch me!" She snarled.

She tried to break free but failed as Arthur had sensed what she was going to do next and had tightened his grip accordingly.

"I will not watch you hurt yourself or run away from me," He growled in her ear. "So don't expect me to let you."

"Well I must say Miss Potter, you pack quite a punch. He's out cold." Gaius grimaced. He'd gotten past the table and was now bent over, examining Merlin. "Who taught you to punch like that?"

"My uncle. He believed that every woman should be able to defend herself so I can do a fair amount of physical damage with my fists as well as being able to fight with a sword too." He explained bitterly, allowing Arthur to help her up.

"I see." Gaius mused, turning his gaze back to Merlin.

"Can I go home now?" She asked Arthur expectantly.

"Not quite yet. Stay here with Gaius and Merlin. Let them check you to make sure you're okay. If you pass Gaius' test then I will personally escort you home," Arthur compromised. "Oh, and you'll need to apologise to Merlin as well." He added as an afterthought.

"What? Why?" Annabeth moaned childishly.

"Annabeth, you knocked him out cold! It's the least you could do, especially as he saved your life!" Arthur stated, not truly believing she was arguing with him.

"And who said I wanted saving?" She countered, stepping away from him.

"Annabeth, you will apologise. Now go to your room and rest." Arthur ordered.

She glared up at him, unmoving, her hands clenched into fists.

"Don't even think about it or I won't let you leave the castle." He warned her, stepping out of her punching range.

Making a wordless shriek of annoyance and frustration, Annabeth turned and stalked back to her room, shoving any obstacles violently out of her way. She stormed up the steps and slammed the door shut behind her.

"I'm sorry about that." Arthur apologised to Gaius.

"What for? It's not your fault she punched him."

"Sometimes I feel like everything she does is my fault." Arthur sighed.

"Arthur, you are not responsible for every single action of every single person in Camelot." Gaius nodded wisely.

"Well sometimes I feel like I am." His head drooped.

"Well stop thinking that nonsense sire and get back to bed. You're going to need your full strength if it comes to another fight with her in the morning." Gaius dismissed him.

Shaking his head and looking at the door Annabeth had disappeared into one last time, Arthur left.

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