A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been such a long time, life and all of that got in the way once more. Apologies for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors you may come across, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I was standing there, clutching hold of Arthur's hand tightly. It didn't seem real, or possible, that he was there and that my uncle was finally out of my head. Everything was starting to go back to how it should have been, the trees were growing again, their lush green leaves beginning to unfold in the bright sunlight that was beaming down on us. "He's gone. He's actually gone." I managed to breath in relief, before sinking to my knees.

Arthur was quick to catch me and held me against him as he joined me on the ground. "Everything is going to be all right now, Isabella. You're right, he is gone, and he will never have a chance to get close to you again, I promise you." No matter how much I knew he meant that, I knew that it was not going to be that simple. He got to me once, he would try to do it again.

"Be careful what you promise, Arthur. He is sly and sneaky, and he will try something again. We may have won this battle, but the war is far from over." I warned him, knowing that it was the truth. This had just been a battle, and it wasn't the biggest, this was just a warm up for him. Sian was right, he has much bigger plans for me than death.

I watched as he let out a sigh, knowing that I was actually right. "Then we have to be prepared for him. No more sitting around and waiting for him to strike, this time, we take the fight to him." I was actually surprised by his announcement, and rather curious.

"What exactly are you thinking, Arthur?" He had that look on his face, the one that told me he had a plan bubbling in that head of his. It always worried me, because I was always scared that it was going to be a really stupid idea and that something would go wrong and someone would end up being hurt.

He gave me that reassuring smile, but it did nothing to settle the butterflies in my stomach. "It doesn't matter right now, I'm just working on a plan."

But I wasn't going to let him get away with just telling me that. "Arthur, this is my life, I can't do this alone, and you can't do this without me. Please, just tell me what you are thinking." I told him, hoping that he would listen to me.

I saw the hesitation on his face, he wasn't sure he wanted to tell me his plan. "Isabella, we need to drive him out into the open. I know it sounds like a stupid idea, and I know that you will probably think that…" I quickly put my finger against his lips to stop him from saying anything else.

"Like I said, I can't do this alone. I need you, Arthur, I need you to help me. Before you showed up, I had no hope of defeating my uncle. The moment you appeared, everything changed. I need you, Arthur, more than you will ever know." I couldn't tell him, I couldn't tell him that without him, I would give up all hope. That without him by my side, I would have given up a long time ago.

"No matter what it takes, I will help you. We will defeat your uncle, I swear to you, we will get rid of him." Arthur assured me, gripping my hands tightly, squeezing them as he spoke to me. "I will always stand beside you, Isabella."

Of course, I was starting to get a little emotional, but I refused to let it show. "Good, because I need you. I was never going to be able to defeat him on my own. If I had never met you, this would have all been over, he would have killed me by now, he would have won. You are the one that is stopping him, Arthur." It was true, he was the one who was stopping him from winning, not me. I had always been ready to give up, but Arthur refused. If he hadn't appeared in my dream world, I don't know what would have happened. I probably would have been trapped forever with my uncle after me, or I would have been so worn out from fighting him that I gave up.

I couldn't help but let out a long sigh. The next thing I knew, a pair of strong arms were hoisting me off the ground where we had both been resting."Everything is going to be better now, Isabella. I mean it, things will be better." Arthur assured me once more.

I managed to nod my head at him, as I wrapped my arms around his waist, clinging to him like I was a small child. "I wish we could just stay here forever." I mumbled into his shirt. "We could do whatever we wanted, there would be no one to tell us what to do, no monsters to fight, nothing. Just us." A stupid, selfish, and childish wish, yes, but it was my world, and if it was just Arthur and I there, then it was perfect.

"But this place isn't real, Isabella." The Prince reminded me, popping my bubble. "This is a world in your head that was made to seem real by magic. By your uncle." A world in my head, yes. Made to seem real by magic, almost. By my uncle, not at all.

"My uncle didn't create this place, Arthur, I did." I reminded him. "This really is the world in my head, my imagination, my little fantasy world. All he did was invade it, and trap me here. That was the magic, Arthur, him coming here and trapping me here." I explained to him, hoping that he would understand it. "And some how, you got dragged in as well." I still hadn't worked that part out, how he had managed to get in as well.

I was waiting for him to start questioning how he got in my head as well, but he didn't. "It doesn't matter how I got here, what matters is that we stopped your uncle." It seemed that was all he cared about, it wasn't the magic, or the crazy and impossible world, it was my uncle.

Except there was a problem that he still hadn't seen. "The things is, Arthur, how are you going to get out of here?" I had been thinking about that ever since my uncle had vanished. I had wished him away, I had told him that he wasn't welcome there, but Arthur was. I didn't want him to go, to leave me there on my own, but he had to. Arthur had to get back to the real world somehow. "What was the last thing you remember before ending up here?"

He paused and looked at me, concentration on his face as he thought about it. "You had just walked into Morgana's chamber with Merlin, you looked around the room and collapsed. You had a fever, I was sitting beside you, doing what I could to help you."

I had a feeling that I knew what happened next. "Arthur, do you… do you think you may have fallen asleep?" I asked him carefully. "It's just, the magic my uncle used could have easily spread to you if you were close to me. He may not have even realised it, but it probably pulled you in. But you would have to be asleep or something for you to actually be here. If that makes sense." It made sense to me, because I knew the truth. It wasn't my uncle that had pulled him there, it was had been me. Again.

"I suppose it is possible that I may have dozed off." There was now a hint of confusion on his face. "I guess it would make sense that I would have to be asleep, after all, you were asleep while fighting your uncle in here."

Now I knew the way to get him out of there. "Then you need to wake up, Arthur. That's the way to get out of here, by waking up."

"And what about you? Are you going to wake up as well?" I could hear the concern in his voice, and I knew he was worried that I wasn't going to wake up.

"I can't wake up while you're still here, can I?" I had to get him out first, I had to make sure that my world was going to be safe. "You have to wake up, or we are both going to be stuck here."

"How can I be sure that you're going to wake up as well, Isabella? I can't just leave you here." I should have known that he was going to put up a bit of a struggle. But he had to go, he had to leave.

There was only one thing that I could do. Arthur was not going to like it, but it had to be done, he had to wake up. "I'm sorry, Arthur. Time to wake up." I told him, before drenching him with a wave of water from the lake. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that it was enough to shock him, to startle him and get him back where he belonged.

When I opened my eyes he was gone.

"Arthur… Arthur, wake up." A voice called, as the Prince was gently nudged as well. "Come on, Arthur, time to wake up."

He let out a groan as he shifted his head that was resting in his arms on the bed. One hand was holding onto Isabella's tightly, and he wasn't going to let. "What's happened?" Arthur asked, trying to push past the fuzzy feeling he was getting in his head.

"You fell asleep." Merlin told him, now busying himself around the room. "Gaius still hasn't found anything, but he is still looking." Of course, the young warlock had no idea that Arthur had just helped to get Isabella's uncle out of her head.

Arthur just ignored him, and kept all of his attention on the woman laying in the bed. He placed his hand against her forehead and couldn't suppress a smile as he felt how cool it was. It seemed that her fever had gone, her skin no longer felt like it was on fire. "Come on, Isabella. It's your turn to wake up now." He whispered to her, hoping that she could hear him, hoping that she would wake up.

Merlin had overheard him, and a worried look spread across his face. "I'm sure she'll be fine, Arthur. Isabella is strong, you know that, she won't give in." But the Prince already knew that, he knew just how strong she really was, he knew how everyday she was doing everything she could to keep herself together.

I couldn't see anything, but I could hear muffled voices, voices that I recognised. After Arthur had left, I spent a little time cleaning up, putting things back to how they should have been. I had to undo all the damage that my uncle had done. There was no way I could have left it looking so devastated, that was why I had to do it.

"Please, wake up, Isabella." I heard Arthur whispering. At least I knew that it had worked, that he had woken up and was absolutely fine. I had been worried that he would be trapped in there with me, that he wouldn't be able to get out and wake up, I was just so glad that he had woken up. But he was right, now it was my turn to wake up.

I was actually finding it to be quite a challenge. The bed I was in was just so warm and comfortable that I just felt so snug and relaxed that I didn't actually want to wake up. Just knowing that I wasn't going to be able to stay there for much longer annoyed me, and caused me to let out a groan.

Straight away I felt something shift next to me, before the warmth from someones hand reached my cheek. "Isabella? Come on, time to wake up." Arthur called to me softly, gently trying to pull me out of my sleep.

With some effort, I managed to get my eyes open. The first thing I saw was Arthur, sitting there on the side of the bed, clasping one of my hands tightly in his own and with his other gently resting on the side of my face. I couldn't help but let my eyes take in every feature of his face. And then I saw it, the angry red marks on his cheek. "Arthur… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it, I promise you, I really didn't. I'm sorry." I blurted out, know that I must have caused him some pain with my nails when I had attacked him.

All he did was smile at me, before leaning down toward me and lightly pressing his lips against mine. "I know, Isabella. It's all right."

When he pulled away, I knew my eyes were beginning to glisten with tears, I could feel them. There was an ache growing in my chest as well, and it grew worse with every passing moment I spent looking at Arthur. "I'm sorry." I mumbled to him once more, before launching myself at him, grabbing onto him and holding on for dear life.

Everything that had happened, it had really messed with my head. I had been so sure that it had been Arthur, I hadn't even thought about my uncle until he was in my head. It never occurred to me that he was the one leading out of Camelot, pretending to be the Prince. I had been so blind and so stupid to have believed it really was him. In all honesty, I was surprised that Arthur was able to forgive me for how I acted towards him.

"It's okay now, Isabella. He's gone, you know he is." He whispered to me in reassurance while he held me tightly. "We will stop him, once and for all, together." I knew that he meant it, there was no way he couldn't after he had been in my head and seen what was happening.

The truth was, I didn't want to think about it, about my uncle, about what he had done, about what I had done because of him. I didn't want to think about any of that. I just wanted to stay there with Arthur, to not move and not have to worry about anything. Everything would just be fine if the rest of the world left us alone.

But of course, that was never going to happen, was it. The door soon opened and in stepped Uther, followed my Morgana and Gaius. Straight away I just wanted to shrink into nothing, the feeling of guilt rising in my stomach. They had been there when I had attacked Arthur, and I really didn't want to know what Uther thought of me for doing that.

When I looked over at the King, the expression on his face was unreadable, and it made me want the ground to open up and swallow me whole even more. Arthur must have caught on to how I was feeling, because his arms tightened around me as he pulled me closer towards him. It felt a little as if he were trying to protect me from his father.

Uther didn't say anything as Gaius came over to the bed, looking at me with concern. "How are you feeling, Isabella?" He asked me, clearly knowing more about what had happened than anyone thought. Merlin, he would have told him what I said, that made sense.

"I'm… I'm okay. Confused. I'm… I'm not entirely sure what happened. Everything's a little… hazy." I had to put on the act in front of the King, I couldn't very well sit there and blurt out that my uncle had control of me, that he had used his magic to get inside my head and make me do things.

"Do you still believe that Prince Arthur gave you to your uncle?" So, they weren't just checking on how I was, they wanted to know what I thought happened now. It felt like no one believed me in the first place anyway, so why would it matter to them now?

In all honesty, I didn't know if I wanted to answer him, but with the King watching me closely, I knew that I had to. "There are many thing about what happened that I am now questioning. Prince Arthur and I have been speaking about it all, and we have come to the conclusion that my uncle tricked me." I had no idea why I had said it all like that, I didn't really care.

"I suggest that you have plenty of rest, Isabella. It has been a rather stressful and trying time for both you and Prince Arthur." Gaius finally told me, giving me a small smile as he walked over towards the door and exited the room with Merlin following behind him. Now I was left there with Arthur, Morgana, and Uther.

Straight away, Morgana rushed over to me and give me a rib crushing hug. "I was so worried about you, Isabella. I'm so glad that you are all right." It really did sound like she was relieved that I was okay. Tha twas the thing about Morgana, she was a good friend, and she really did care. She wasn't afraid to stand up to Uther, and she certainly wasn't afraid of Arthur either. We got along so well, she kind of was like my sister, the sister that I got to pick.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Morgana. But everything is okay now, everything will be fine." I had to reassure her, I couldn't just say to her that it was just the beginning and that things were going to get much worse. There was no way I could inform my friend that war was coming.

It took a few more minutes for Morgana to be satisfied that everything was fine, and that I didn't need her help in plotting revenge against Arthur for what had happened. Although I may have implied that plotting for a few tricks might be needed later. Soon enough, she had left the chamber as well, her own chamber, leaving my with Arthur and his father.

This was what I had been dreading the most. "I am glad to see that you are feeling better now Isabella." Uther said to me, sitting standing at the foot of the bed, watching Arthur and I closely. "However, what has happened is very serious. You attacked my son, claiming that he led you from Camelot and handed you over to a sorcerer." I was struggling to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat, because I really didn't like where the whole speech of his was heading. "What do you have to say about that?"

What did I have to say? Well, I had already told Arthur that I was sorry, that I didn't mean any of it. He knew the truth, he knew that I was tricked by my uncle, he knew that I had been confused as well as emotional and upset. "I was wrong and jumped to conclusions. I did not allow Prince Arthur to explain what had happened to me before accusing him of betraying me. I was rash and should have listened to him."

Most of what I had said was true, I did just jump in and ignore everything that I was told, not just by Arthur, but by Merlin as well. "Isabella and I have talked about what happened, she was upset and distraught. He uncle had played with her mind, he had tricked her and was trying to control her." Arthur informed his father, not giving him a chance to speak. "She is in more danger now than she was before, because he will not stop until he has taken her."

The two men seemed to just stare at each other, and it was starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable, especially since I was in the middle of it all. "Word has been sent to your brothers of what has happened, they must be kept informed of everything." Uther told me, finally breaking his gaze away from his son. "Arthur is right, you are in more danger now. Camelot is now at war with Lord Donald. We will not surrender, we will not retreat. We will stand and fight against him." That took me by surprise, so much so that I just looked on and nodded. I couldn't find any words, I couldn't even find a squeak.

A few words were passed between father and son, before Uther eventually left. I had tuned out, lost in my own thoughts. I kept thinking about my uncle, about what he would plan next, about how many people he would hurt to get to me. It scared me, but I still couldn't stop thinking about it all.

"Isabella?" Arthur called, getting my attention. I looked at him blankly, wondering what I had missed. "Come, I think it's time that Morgana had her chamber back." He said, his hand held out in front of me, waiting for me to take it.

I took it and let him help me off the bed before frowning at him. "Where are we going, then? You completely destroyed your room, and I doubt that Merlin has had enough time to get it back to a perfect condition yet." There was no chance that I couldn't have been asleep for that long, was there?

His face fell a little as he opened the door and looked at me. "Merlin showed you, didn't he?" All I could do was nod at him, admitting that I had seen the remains of his chamber. "I really didn't know what to do, Isabella. I thought that maybe you were just hiding, that something had happened or that maybe you were hurt, I… I was scared."

I could clearly see that he had been scared, I had been scared as well. The moment I saw his chamber I knew that something had been serious for it to end up in that state. "Yeah, I kind of figured that one out for myself. But you wasn't the only one that was scared." Obviously he knew that I had been scared, but I wasn't sure he realised just how much. "Anyway, can we just go to wherever it is we're going?" I didn't want to be hanging around in the stone corridor, where everyone could see us.

Arthur gave me a small smile, before leading me down the corridor and away from Morgana's chamber. Although I was thankful to her for letting me claim her bed while all that drama with my uncle was going on, I was really glad to be out of her room and left alone with Arthur. I felt a lot safer when it was just the two of us, and I didn't mind so much when Merlin was there.

It was easier for me to talk to Arthur, he knew so much, and he always listened to me. He didn't judge me, he didn't look at me as if I had completely lost my mind. When I had told him about the world in my head, it had only been a joke, but he hadn't made fun of me, he had just laughed at it, played along with it even. And now, now that he had actually been there, it was as if it were totally normal to him. But, I suppose, that talk was probably still to come.

"Isabella? Are you alright?" Arthur asked me, making me jump a little. I had ended up being lost in my thoughts, meaning that I forgot he was with me, that we were walking through the castle.

"Sorry, I was just...thinking." A lame response, yes, but it was the best that I could come up with at that point in time. "Everything that's happened, all of this, it's difficult for me to process, to get my head around." Especially since over half of it just didn't make sense. Most of my life was impossible.

At least I knew that Arthur understood, and that he wouldn't push me to tell him about anything that I really didn't want to. That was one of the reasons why I cared about him so much, because he really was a good, kind, and decent man. I could see that he wasn't hid father, no matter how much people believed that he was exactly like Uther. Arthur was different, he was better.

While I had ended up listing every single good point about the Prince in my head, we had arrived at a chamber over on the over side of the castle. "Merlin has already brought some of your clothes over, I hope you don't mind the room being smaller." He said, before opening the door and showing me the inside of the chamber.

I had to admit, it was smaller than his chamber, but I still didn't mind. There was a wardrobe pushed against one of the walls, smaller than the one I had been using in Arthur's room, but still a decent size. The bed wasn't as big as Arthur's one either, and there was only one of them. Naturally one question popped into my head with a hint of panic. "There's only one bed."

"I didn't see the point in two beds when you are just going to end up moaning and complaining until you end up sharing my bed." As soon as he said that, I was pretty sure that he regretted it, because his face kind of froze.

All I could do was roll my eyes at him, before strolling past him and into the room. "Does that bother you, Arthur? That I keep stealing your bed every night?" He didn't actually answer me as he entered the room as well and closed the door, locking it behind him.

"No, of course not, it's just…"

"That people see it as inappropriate? That people gossip about it because us sharing a bed when we aren't married is frowned upon?" Except for me, it wasn't all that bad. If only Arthur knew that things would be so different in the future, that the way he always looked after me would be admired, and how sharing a bed wasn't that big a deal for people who weren't married.

From the look he was giving me, I could tell that I was spot with everything I had just said. "It doesn't bother me, Isabella. And I do not see what concern it is to other either. What I am concerned about is your uncle, and how we are going to stop him."

I went and sat myself down on the edge of the bed, Arthur quickly joining me. "His plan doesn't involve killing me, Arthur, not anymore. He isn't just going after Elbear anymore, he's coming for Camelot." It was time I told Arthur what I knew about his plans, about what he had told me, all the things he was so proud about. "You've caused him too many problems, and now he wants to take you out, using me. He's already tried to make me hate you by pretending to be you."

"And you beat him. You stopped him, Isabella, you told him that you trust me. I know that there is nothing he can do that will even make you doubt me. And I will never do anything to make you doubt me." The look in his eyes didn't just tell me that, it told me that he would do whatever it took to prove it to me as well.

"I only beat him because you were there. I was failing, I wasn't getting anywhere before you showed up. If you hadn't have managed to slip into my head, he would have won. I don't even know how you managed to get in my head, but I really don't care, I'm just glad that you showed up when you did." Of course I had a pretty good idea of how he ended up there, but I couldn't tell him that. "We have to stick together, Arthur, I really can't do this without you. I need you."

The Prince took a hold of my hand and held it in his tightly. "I have promised to protect you, to make sure no harm comes to you, and that includes standing by you to defeat your uncle. I am not doing any of this out of duty, Isabella, I am not doing this because you are Princess Isabella of Elbear. I am doing this because you are Isabella, the strangest Princess I have ever met. And the woman who means more to me than anything else in this world." He told me, before taking me by utter surprise and pressing his lips against mine.

Moments like that made everything seem worth it. Those moments with Arthur, where it was just the two of us, where we could forget the world and everything that was happening. Where every single problem and worry floated away, they made all the pain and struggling worth it. Because, for me, he was worth it.

A/N: I really am sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter ready and posted. Things have been rather mad in my life, and it's about to get even worse. I have a wedding to attend next weekend, as a bridesmaid. Basically, it's all panic stations.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all my lovely followers, for your honesty and commitment to my story, even when I fail to update regularly. Thank you for sticking by me. And for all you super people who review, thank you so much! Reviews mean a lot to me, they help me to get things right and push through everything. So thank you all.

I hope to get the next chapter up soon, but I would like to hear your thoughts and ideas of what you think should happen next. I've had some pretty mad ideas recently, and they have spiralled out of control in my head.

Well, until the next time...

Pippa.