A/N: Hello everyone! I've been working really hard on this, because I really have way too many ideas for this story in my head right now. I know I've probably missed a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, and I will try to hunt them down soon. Anyway, enjoy!
Burning, that was what I could smell, something burning. It was flooding my nose, and after taking a deep breath I began to cough. That was when panic and fear took over and my eyes flew open, ready to run from the fire if it was about to consume me. But what I saw was certainly not what I was expecting.
I knew I had passed out in Morgana's chamber, and I expected to wake up to find something burning in there, maybe even just a candle that was nearing the end of its life, but I was so very wrong. My eyes were stinging from the sight before me, at the blackened trees and the smouldering ground. Wherever I was, the place had just been burnt to the ground.
"Do you like it? I like it, it's a lot better than all that green stuff that was here." I spun around and saw my uncle looking at me with a smirk on his face. "It was too cheerful for me, I prefer the death and destruction."
My eyes wandered past him and took in more of the scene around me. For some reason it seemed familiar to me, it felt familiar, like I had seen it several times before, like I knew exactly where I was. Then the faint smell of something even more familiar hit my, candy floss and cinnamon. "No… no, you can't…" It wasn't possible, I refused to believe it.
That horrible smirk just grew even bigger on his face. "I told you, Isabella, you are mine now, and that includes this place." He told me, clearly happy with himself and the way that I was standing there in utter shock with horror written all over my face. "There is no way for you to escape my hold."
Rage suddenly started burning inside of me, although it had been there for a while, it was no longer just a little flame, it was now swiftly turning into a wild forest fire. "No. This is my world. I created this world, and only I can decide who stays here. This place is a part of me, and you… you are not welcome here."
My uncle laughed, and it rang through my ears, vibrating every inch of me and filling me with even more hatred and fear. "And what exactly are you going to do about it? Close your eyes and pretend that I'm not here?" He seemed to find it all so amusing, but I would show him, I would make him see exactly what I was capable of.
My uncle had underestimated me, and he was going to keep on doing it until I showed him otherwise. Well, now was the time for me to do that, to show him exactly what I was made of, that I was my parents daughter, and that I was not afraid. He wouldn't win, I wouldn't let him. "Well, since you are so desperate to find out, maybe I will show you." I was not afraid of him, I would never be afraid of him again.
Arthur was chewing on the nail of his thumb as Gaius gave Isabella a quick check over. She had just stepped into the room, looked around, and then suddenly hit the floor. Of course, he had been the first one to move and rushed over to her in a heartbeat. Within seconds, he had scooped her up in his arms and was cradling her close to him. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest then, and it still was now.
Now he was waiting for Gaius to discover what was wrong with her, and it was agony. As every second passed he became more and more impatient, until he couldn't take it any longer. "What's wrong with her, Gaius?"
The elderly man knew that he couldn't tell the Prince of Camelot the truth about what he suspected was wrong with her, so he came up with the most valid and logical reason he could. "I believe she is exhausted, Sire. She has been through rather a lot recently, and she hasn't really had much time to rest and recover." Gaius informed him, doing his best to keep a professional manner with the Prince. "We must give her time to recover properly."
After a few nods of heads, the older man left the room quietly, leaving several people still in the room with an unconscious Isabella. "Arthur, Gaius is right, she must rest." Uther told him, trying to reassure him. "The poor girl is overwhelmed, she needs peace and rest." After saying those words, the King left the chamber, having other matters to deal with, and knowing that he would be informed if anything happened.
"I failed her. I failed her again." The words just spilled out from his lips, but Arthur didn't care. "He almost took her once, and I failed to protect her then. And now look, I failed to protect her again. No wonder she hates me." Arthur let his shoulders slump as he sunk into the chair he was sitting in beside Morgana's bed, which was occupied by Isabella.
An irritated sigh slipped from the lips of Morgana, who was dipping a cloth in a bowl of cold water. "Yes, and sitting here wallowing in self pity is going to make everything better." The woman snapped at him, before gently placing the cloth on Isabella's forehead. "Right now, you should be out there, hunting down that wretched man, putting an end to his life so that he can never harm Isabella again." It was very plain to see that Morgana was still upset and angry with everything that had happened.
"No, I'm not leaving her, not this time." Arthur replied, his voice burning with determination. "Let the knights take care of him, I refuse to leave Isabella's side."
Morgana couldn't help but scoff at him a little. "And do you really think she wants you here, Arthur? She hates you, she attacked you!" That was something that Morgana was never going to forget, the way that Isabella had just sprung off the bed and grabbed onto Arthur, clawing at him, screaming in his face. It was at that moment that she realised Arthur must have done something terrible to make her that way, she had seen the fury in her friends eyes.
They seemed to have forgotten the other person that was still in the room, and Merlin quickly made his presence noticed by making as much noise as he could by tidying a few things up. He gave Arthur a pointed stare, telling him to stop it, to just keep quiet.
Luckily, Arthur seemed to get the message, and he let out a groan as he pushed himself out of the chair, annoyed about Morgana's comment. As he stormed out of the room, Merlin rushed after him. "Arthur, we need to talk." He told him quietly, not knowing if there were other people listening, but knowing that he had to speak with him.
He silently nodded and the pair of them headed down the corridor until they came across an empty chamber. There was no point in going to his own chamber, it was still a mess, everything was still destroyed. "What is it, Merlin? Are you going to lecture me like everyone else has?" It was evident from his tone that he was annoyed and fed up.
"I know what's wrong with Isabella." The dark haired boy told his master, watching his eyes widen. "Arthur, there isn't anything Gaius can do to help her, this isn't a normal sickness." He was trying to be delicate, he was trying to break the news to him gently.
"Just spit it out Merlin, what is wrong with Isabella?" He wasn't in the mood for delicate games, he just wanted to know the truth, and now.
He shuffled from one foot and to the other, his nervousness showing. "She told me about what happened with her uncle. He's in her head, Arthur, and she can't get him out." The look on Arthur's face was difficult to read. There was shock and anger flickering behind his eyes, but there was something else, Merlin just didn't know what it was. "When he had her, he used his magic, and now she keeps on hearing his voice in her head. He tells her things, and she doesn't know what is true and what isn't. She's a right mess inside, Arthur, she is struggling to work out what is real and what isn't."
"And she told you all of this, did she?" Arthur didn't know whether to believe it or not, but he was fairly confident that his manservant was telling him the truth. Merlin simply nodded at him, hoping that he would listen. "Merlin, get the horses ready."
"What? Why, where are we going?" Merlin asked him,a little concerned at Arthur's sudden change in attitude and the change in topic.
The fire was burning brighter now inside of the Prince. "Because we are going to find him, and I will kill him." Straight away Merlin knew that he was talking about Isabella's uncle. "Whatever he has done to Isabella, I will get him to reverse it."
"Arthur, it's not that easy." He knew he had to stop him from rushing off, Merlin knew that Isabella would be able to fight him off herself, he had faith in her. "We need to think this through carefully, come up with a good plan. Going out there right now is not going to help Isabella, because she needs you here. When she wakes up, she is going to need to see that you are here and on her side."
But the Prince couldn't just sit there and do nothing. "No, Merlin, we have to find him and put a stop to him." The frustration was growing inside of him now. He had to do something, he had to find her uncle and end his life, that was all that kept bubbling inside of him.
Merlin was ready to be the voice of reason. "And we will, but first we need to make sure that Isabella is all right. She is a mess and needs our support, Arthur. She needs to see that you didn't drag her off to her uncle, you need to prove to her that it was just him messing with her head." At least Merlin had managed to work it all out, at least he had figured out what had really happened that night.
"Was it him just messing with her head? What did he do to her to make her so scared of me, and so angry with him?" The way she had jumped on him, the way she had just attacked him, clawed at him like she was a feral beast. He didn't understand it, but he could see that Merlin did.
"I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I have a theory." Arthur folded his arms across his chest and waiting to hear this theory. "He tricked her, he could have used his magic on her, to make her think that he was you. Arthur, he wants her to hate you, he wants to use her. Think about it, she attacked you just because she thought you were lying. If her uncle feeds her more lies, what else do you think she can do? You taught her how to defend herself, Arthur, he could use that against you."
Everything that Merlin told him swirled around in his head. I knew that he had not handed her over to her uncle, he was certain of that. He had fallen asleep, holding her in his arms, and when he woke up, she was gone. The place where she had been was cold, and he then proceeded to tear the chamber apart frantically looking for her. "What do you think I should do then, oh great and wise one?" Arthur asked him sarcastically.
"Sit with her." Merlin told him simply. "You sit there and you wait for her to wake up. And if she wakes up and tries to push you away, you have to refuse to move. You have to show her that you will not give up on her, that you will do anything."
"You really think it's as simple as that, Merlin?" Arthur still wasn't convinced, of course he wasn't. There were still too many doubts swimming in his head, doubts about what Isabella thought of him, of how much damage her uncle had really done to her.
"Nothing with Isabella is ever simple, Arthur, you should know that by now." The Prince could agree with him there, life with Isabella around was in no way simple. "Just show her that you care, that you are on her side. And stay close to her."
Arthur figured that he didn't have anything else left to lose. The person he cared about most in the world was currently lying in Morgana's chamber, having suffered the torment of her uncle. When she had walked back in with Merlin he had seen it, the fear and the panic in her eyes, the helplessness. He knew that what Merlin was saying was sensible, and that he should probably listen to his advice.
The sweat was rolling down my back and dripping down my forehead and into my eyes. I crouched down and leaned against a tree, trying to calm my breathing, to ease the pounding in my chest. My uncle really had underestimated me, he had gloated when he should have been watching his back. I couldn't help but smile as I remember the look on his face when the flames crept towards him.
Although most of the trees in my world were now nothing but cinders, some of the fire was still burning, and I used that. I saw the flickering golden beast out of the corner of my eye, dying, ready for its life to be extinguished. But I stopped it, I gave it the strength and brought it back to life, directing it along the blacked forest floor, up the charred trees, and I let it lick at my uncles back.
He hadn't seen it coming he had been too busy gloating, telling me that I was useless and pathetic, that I would never be free of him, that I was going to be his to control forever. Unless, of course, he became bored of me and I outlived my uses. But I didn't care, I just watched as he cried when the flames stung his back, my heart pounding in my chest.
After that, things became a bit of a blur. He shouted, something came flying at me, I had only just managed to duck in time. I threw almost everything I had at him. I manipulated the ground, causing him to trip over, but he soon caught on to that little trick of mine and was more cautious. Even though the trees were burnt to a crisp, they still aided me, the branches snagging his clothes, clawing at his skin, trying to slow him down.
Now I was trying to catch my breath. With a little help from the trees, I had managed to get ahead a little, but I wasn't hiding. I knew that there was no way I could outmatch his magic, he had years more experience than me, he knew exactly what he was doing with it. But I was learning, and I was learning pretty fast. All I had to do now was work out how to get him out of my world, and out of my head.
I heard a low and animalistic growl coming from somewhere behind me, and I instantly froze. "You're little tricks are nothing." My uncle shouted. "You are just delaying the inevitable, Isabella. Why don't you just give up now, hmm? There is no way you can beat me, give up and surrender." Of course, he was still sounding pretty smug.
I held my breath, trying to determine what direction he was coming from, and how far away he was. He was close, I knew that much, but I wasn't sure how close. Was I going to have enough time to spring from my resting spot and make a run for it? Or was I going to have to stand there and fight him? Either way, I couldn't stay in my spot for much longer, I was going to have to move eventually.
Waiting to hear his voice again was agony. I didn't want to hear it, but I needed to if I was going to be able to work out where exactly he was. I closed my eyes and listened carefully. The ground was hard and crunchy, so much of the undergrowth had been burnt to a cinder as well, which meant I could hear his footsteps growing louder. Closer.
Come on, Isabella, you can do this. This is YOUR world, you MUST defend it. I had to keep reminding myself of that, that we were in my world, that I controlled what happened here. I could make the trees grow again, I could clear the dark clouds from the sky and let the sun beam down on everything. I was in control, not him.
I took a deep and calming breath before I finally pushed myself to my feet. It was now or never, I either fought him or I fled from him. There was no way I was going to keep running from him, I had to face him, I had to stop him. "You want me, come and get me!" I shouted, my voice sounding a lot stronger than I felt.
"Oh, big words for a little girl!" My uncle called back, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Well this little girl is sick and tired of your games. Time to put an end to it all." I was doing my best to stay strong, to make sure I sounded confident. Inside, my heart was pounding in my chest and I could hear the blood pumping in my ears.
Suddenly he stepped into the small clearing, a smug smirk on his face. "So, finally ready to give up? I knew it would only be a matter of time." He sounded so sure of himself, and I hated it. It was time for me to prove him wrong.
"You're right, it's time to end this now. I can't keep running from you." I forced my shoulders to sag a little, I had to let him think he had won. From the look on his face, he really did believe me. "But I'm still going to fight you." I pulled on every strand of magic I had, gathering it towards me, reeling it all in.
He laughed, and it echoed all around me. "You're too weak, little Princess. There is no way that you can fight me, you can't even control your magic." I was going to wipe that smug smirk off his face, even if it was the last thing I ever done, I would do it.
The magic I had been pulling at filled within me, and now it was my turn to smile. "You seem to forget, we're in MY world, I control this place." I told him, noticing the blackness that covered the ground slowly fading, being replaced with a pale green. "I come here so often, I practice my magic here. This is mine, everything you see around you belongs to me, and there is no way I would ever let you take it away."
"But I've already destroyed it all. There is nothing that you can do to stop me." I was sick and tired of his gloating now.
"Yeah? Watch me." Before he had a chance to say anything else, the forest floor came alive. My world was being reborn from the ashes, the lush green replacing all the black and grey. My uncle was standing there in silence, his eyes wide and obviously stunned. "You always underestimate me, just like everyone else. And that is your downfall. You are too busy goading it over everyone, making out that you are the best thing the world has ever seen, that you miss the obvious. I'm the only one who can control this place. you can burn it down a thousand times more, but I will always bring it back to life."
I stood there and watched as vines appeared from nowhere and wrapped themselves around him tightly. he was struggling against them, but it was completely pointless, he would never be able to free himself from them. "This isn't going to stop me, you know. I'll be waiting here the next time, and the time after that, and every other time until you finally give in to me." I could tell that he was afraid, I could see it in his eyes.
"No, this ends here. I'm kicking you out of my world, and my head. When all this is over, I will find you, and you will wish you had never been born." He may have thought that it was an empty threat, but it certainly wasn't. With Arthur's help, I would find him, and together we would put a stop to him.
Arthur sat there beside Isabella, pressing a cold, damp cloth against her forehead. She was burning up, like she had been for the past three days since she fell unconscious. Merlin had told him not to worry, assured him that she would be fine, but he found it hard to believe. To him, she just seemed to be getting worse.
He had demanded she was moved from Morgana's chamber and into a temporary room, somewhere close to him and his temporary room until his has been tidied and repaired. Arthur stayed with her day and night. He fell asleep at her side and woke up when Merlin came in to check on her for Gaius. They were still non the wiser as to why she wa so sick, at least, that was what Gaius had to claim in front of the king. Melin had, of course, filled him in on everything that Isabella had told him, and what the dragon had said as well.
For some reason, Arthur wasn't that shocked that magic was involved, that Isabella's uncle had resorted to using his magic to try and harm her. He was just sick of sitting there and watching her, feeling helpless, not being able to do anything to make things better. The Prince felt like he had failed her, because he hadn't protected her like he had promised, her uncle had reached her, had hurt her, and he didn't know how to fix it.
"Come on, Isabella, you have to wake up now." It was the same thing he told her every few hours, even time when his stomach churned from guilt. "Please, Isabella… please…" He was managing to keep it together, bearly. He was hard for him to sit there and watch her, to see the beads of sweat forming on her forehead, to see them roll down her face. Every now and then he would hear a whimper, as if she were in pain, and it made him hope that she was waking up, but she never did.
Her fever was getting worse now, Arthur was certain of it. The sheen on her skin and the redness of her cheeks told him as much. It didn't matter how many times he dipped the cloth in the ice cold water, it made no difference at all. He wondered what was going on inside her head, he wondered if she was really in a lot of pain.
The door to the chamber slowly creaked open, but Arthur didn't bother to turn to look and see who it was. "How is she?" Merlin asked him quietly, stepping into the room with a tray of food and fresh water.
Arthur let out a sigh. "Just as bad. Her fever is getting worse. There has to be something that Gaius can do?" That was the only hope that he still had, that Gaius would find something that would help, that would ease the fever and help Isabella to get better.
Unfortunately, Merlin shook his head at him as he placed the tray down on the table. "The best we can do is just try to keep her comfortable. He's still looking, but we don't know how much influence her uncle's magic is having, we can't know how everything will affect her." It was with some reluctance that he actually told him that, but he knew that the Prince of Camelot needed to hear it.
"I can't just sit here any longer, Merlin, there has to be something that I can do." Arthur was speaking quietly. His own face was starting to look worn now as well, and it was easy to see that this whole thing was taking its toll on him as well. "Has there been any news?"
Once again Merlin shook his head at him. "Nothing. They've widened the search, but even the King is starting to give up hope of finding him. It's most likely that he has already fled from Camelot." In other words, no one had seen Isabella's uncle, he had just vanished. "We will find him, Arthur."
All the he could do was nod at his servant, before turning his full attention back to the woman that was lying in the bed. Her breathing was more ragged that it had been a little while ago, but he knew that it would settle soon enough, it had been happening a fair amount and he put it down to the fact that she had a fever. At first he had panicked, he didn't know what to do, he thought something was seriously wrong. Then, all of a sudden, Isabella had let out a long breath and settled down.
Arthur brushed some of the damp hair away from Isabella's face as he renewed the cloth. "He won't beat us, Isabella, I will not let him." He told her, before leaning down and lightly kissing the inferno that was her cheek.
Using magic was exhausting. I was hidden up in one of the many trees that I had brought back to life, that I had reclaimed when my determination set to take back what was rightfully mine. The problem was keeping up with it all. Everything I did, my uncle tried to counter, which just made me use up more and more of my energy. We had been going around in circles for a while, but I was finally getting a rest, while hiding myself up in a tree.
I knew that he was still out there, I could feel him walking around in my forest, I could smell him. But I was fighting back, I was winning. I was tired, but so was he. My stomach was growling because of how hungry I was, but he was hungry too. Except, I had the whole world on my side, my world, and we were fighting back.
Being up in my tree, I had a good view of things. The branches were rapidly growing their vivid green leaves, keeping me covered, hidden. Slowly, my world was coming back to life. He had done a lot of damage, he had a lot of time there to do it while I was busy running away from him, being dragged back to Camelot. But the back was being replaced with green, the water had returned to my lakes, it was looking brighter.
Except this battle was never ending. Seventeen sunrises had passed, and the eighteenth was on its way. I had no idea how much longer all of this was going to go on for, by I knew that my uncle was starting to get tired from it all. He seemed to forget that this wasn't the real world, the world that he was used to. Here, I was unstoppable. I didn't need to eat or sleep, but he wasn't used to any of that, he craved the food more than I did.
Suddenly, the world beneath me shifted, and I quickly jumped from the safety of my tree, wondering what had happened, what he had done now. Something had happened, changed, a new smell was in my forest, something else had entered my world.
The hairs on the back of my next were up, something really didn't feel right to me. "Isabella…" That voice, it made every single muscle in my body freeze. It wasn't possible, it just could not be possible. Then again, stranger things have happened.
I slowly turned around, knowing I would come face to face with the owner of the voice. My eyes widened slightly, and a rather large lump formed in the back of my throat. "Arthur…"
A/N: Dun dun DUNNNN! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I do know where we are going from here, and I'm sure you all have different theories as to what is happening and what is going to happen next, which I would love to hear.
Now, my favourite part, a massive thank you to every single one of you who take the time to read my story. I'm so glad that you all like it, and I am honoured that so many people keep coming back. The biggest hugs to everyone who takes the time to leave me a review, you guys are totally awesome and seriously amazing.
Oh dear, I think I'm getting a little too caught up in everything. I must get back to work, I must get this next chapter finished. Until then, my lovelies!
Pippa.