Out of Time
AvalonReeseFanFics
Okay, can I just say that you guys are awesome! I have never felt more loved in my life! Seriously, thanks so much for making me feel special. So I've gone and gotten this chapter out earlier than expected. If you want the next one even quicker don't forget to leave a review after you read it!
Also, now would probably be a good time to mention that this story is going to be HELLA LONG! I'm not joking. I planned this story out, finally forced myself to sit down and figure out where I wanted it to go and how I wanted things to pan out, all while trying to maintain the story line of the show (Here's a hint, we're going to hit a point where I start messing with the timeline) and I've realized that this story is probably going to be over 100 chapters or more. Probably more. Now, will I do everything in my power to get all those chapters out to you? Damn straight I will. Will it probably take me a long time? Not gonna lie, I suck at updating on time so yeah, this is gonna be a one long ride. But if you're will to bear with me I think this is going to be an adventure we're all going to be happy with in the end.
On a happier note, I made sure to make this chapter extra fluffy – there's a lot of bromance between Arthur and Merlin and even more romance between Addison and Arthur which I know everyone wants to see. Seriously though don't forget to tell me what you think, or what you want to see happen. I'm totally down for suggestions!
Shout-outs to: Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, JumbledThoughts, Gracen900, NothingNooneZero (Can I just say your review warmed my heart), Domino2, AmalieNico, Gissung, daydreamer06980, emmsluvsuall98, DarkDust27, NyxLoon, kiome love-chan, and ariah23.
Chapter 9: Out of Pride (unedited)
Addison realized quite quickly that she wasn't dreaming her own dream. It didn't feel right. It wasn't light like hers were, it was heavy and cloudy and way too much like reality. There were too many flashes, too much screaming, and too much death. It woke her immediately, where she sat in her borrowed cot sweating and breathless. She glanced to Morgana and found her tossing and turning in her sleep.
She was too tired for this.
Addison didn't want to figure out what was going on. She didn't want to know if Morgana was a seer or something, she just wanted to go back to sleep but if she was somehow absorbing Morgana's dreams she wasn't going to get it here. Addison got up before she could change her mind and slowly snuck out of the room and down the hall. She stood in front of Arthur's door and only then did she think about her decision.
When she had left early that night the atmosphere was very charged, there was a good chance that going back now, at this late an hour, that atmosphere could pretty much explode. It's not like she had contraceptive here, and even though she wanted very much to go that distance with Arthur she wasn't sure if it was a good idea. She could get pregnant, she could get caught, or she could ruin the time line… or worse, fall even more in love with Arthur and break her heart in the process when he eventually ended up with who he was destined to end up with—Guinevere. Plus if Uther found her in his son's bed the next morning she was guaranteed to lose her head.
She was too tired to think logically.
Addison pushed the door open a crack, just large enough to slip in and then shut the door behind her. "Arthur?" she whispered into the dark silence. There was no response, but she could hear his soft breathing. Okay, so he was asleep. She snuck through his room, picking her way carefully around the table, the bed and the piles of discarded clothes. Merlin was going to have fun cleaning this up tomorrow.
She got the end of his bed and craned her neck to look at his sleeping form. "Arthur?" she asked again, there was no movement. Addison huffed as she moved towards the side of the bed he was sleeping on. "Really Arthur, it's not good that you're this deep a sleeper. Anyone could come up here and take advantage of you."
She put a hand out to touch his shoulder but he suddenly lurched forward and grabbed her. Addison tried to stifle her yelp as she tumbled into his bed but even she could hear her shocked squeak echo through his dark chamber. Arthur rolled her over so they were in the middle of the bed, his head was now in her neck, his breath hot on her skin. His arms were around her, one leg had found its way between hers and Addison found herself cradling his head.
"As if I didn't hear you open the door," he murmured into her neck. Addison smiled into his hair while she threaded her fingers through those golden locks of his. "What's the matter?" he asked her as he stretched his body against the length of hers, his hands moving up and down her back absently as if attempting to stroke her fears away.
She was so tired it was working.
"I had a nightmare," she replied softly to him. "I just want to be somewhere safe, can I stay?"
Arthur pressed the softest of kisses to the column of her throat before whispering: "Of course."
It didn't take long for Arthur to fall asleep again, in a matter of minutes he was quiet once again though his grip on her hadn't loosened. Addison wiggled herself into a more comfortable position, and his arm out from under her bulk so it wouldn't be asleep when he woke up. Well, she tried to anyway, Arthur was determined to keep her pinned to him and had refused to be moved into a more comfortable position. Despite all the worries and the drama tomorrow would bring Addison fell asleep with a smile on her face, content to be in Arthur's arms.
When Merlin woke up his game plan was to go straight to Arthur's room so they could go bring Uther the news together. He was surprised to find that Addison was already there in Gaius's chambers eating a meager breakfast of porridge that she had covered in honey. She smiled brightly to Merlin.
"Hungry?" she asked and brought out a second bowl and handed it to him.
Merlin took it. "I... uh… how did you get this?" he asked her.
"The kitchen staff will give me anything. They also let me bake. If you tell me when your birthday is you'll get a bitchin' cake," she said with a wave of her hand.
Merlin sat down beside her, he didn't know what she was talking about she was using words he had never heard in that context before. "I need to talk to you about yesterday," he whispered.
Addison leaned in close and said: "I know, snakes are scary right?"
"No, that's not it. You know what I want to talk to you about, right?" he urged.
Addison put a finger to his lips. Despite himself he inhaled and got a very strong whiff of Lavender. "Yeah, I figured, but we have bigger fish to fry right now," she said in a very serious tone. "I promise you'll get answers but right now Arthur needs you."
Without knowing why, Merlin found himself getting up and moving towards the door. He knew he didn't want to go just yet, he wanted to ask Addison what the hell was going on, but because Addison had asked him he found himself compelled to go.
That was how Merlin found himself walking towards Arthur's chambers without really wanting to with a bowl of porridge made especially for him. He wasn't sure how he knew that but he knew for certain that Addison had got this for him, and just for him, so it would be made to the way he liked it. When Merlin let himself into Arthur's room he found Arthur searching through one of his cupboards. Arthur, who had not gotten dressed but was in his nightclothes—loose cotton pants and a non-existent shirt… seriously he was shirtless—stared at him with wide eyes as if Merlin had caught him in some sort of embarrassing state.
Arthur looked Merlin up and down, his eyes did a full sweep of the room, and when the door finally swung shut of its own accord Arthur finally asked: "You haven't seen Addison have you?"
Merlin blinked his eyes slowly realizing that Morgana must have told Arthur Addison was missing. He thought about how Addison was always getting in trouble for wandering off and how she just wanted to stay with Ewan until he got better and he didn't think that was such a big deal so he shook his head no. He took a few more steps in the room, closer to Arthur's bed and found that there was a strong and very pungent smell that he found very familiar. Unbeknownst to him Arthur has snuck up on him, he had reached out and put a finger in Merlin's porridge before he could even try to stop him. This left Merlin to yelping and trying to put the bowl out of Arthur's reach, which was really just Merlin turning his body sideways and holding the bowl away from him.
Arthur put his finger in his mouth and then narrowed his eyes at Merlin. "That's the way Addison likes her porridge… you have seen her!" he accused.
Merlin was momentarily confused and only then did he remember where that familiar smell was from. "Lavender!" he cried. "Addison was here last night!"
Arthur had grabbed Merlin, spun him around and then pinned him to the wall before Merlin had a chance to fight back. He pointed a stern finger into Merlin's face. "And no one is going to hear about it, right?" he asked.
It was a question laced with promise of violence. For a moment Merlin was insulted that Arthur would think that he would go around gossiping about them and putting Addison in danger. "Nope, no one's going to hear about anything," he ensured and only then did Arthur let him go.
Arthur went to getting himself dressed while Merlin wolfed down the rest of his porridge before Arthur could try and steal some more. Once he was done his meal he went about cleaning the room. "So," Arthur started casually as he pulled a shirt on. "Where did you bump into Addison?"
"She's with Gaius, I guess she's waiting for Ewan to wake up," Merlin said.
"Ah," Arthur said and the two lapsed into silence once more. After a while Arthur cleared his throat and Merlin took that to assume that the conversation would no longer be about Addison. "I sent word to my father this morning, he's expecting us in the throne room."
Merlin helped Arthur pick out his most regal and "I'm about to lay down the law" type outfit and then together the two went to meet his father in the throne room.
When Ewan woke up the world felt groggy. He was absolutely certain that he had to warn Arthur of something but he couldn't quite remember what. All he knew was that Arthur needed to know about it right that second. He felt a cool sensation on his brow and when he looked to his right he found Addison there smiling down at him the light behind her lighting her up like an angel.
He smiled fondly and then remembered that there was something he urgently needed to tell Arthur. "Arthur…" he murmured to her. Addison nodded. "I need to tell Arthur!"
"Yes, we know about Valiant," she whispered. It came back to him then. His duel with Valiant. Being pinned under his shield. The snake coming out. Valiant ordering it to strike him. And then blackness.
He must have freaked out because Addison suddenly put a soothing hand to his shoulder. "Don't worry," she told him. "Gaius went out to fetch you some water, you rest so you can tell Uther all about what you saw, okay?"
Ewan smiled at her and closed his eyes to sleep. Addison smiled, happy to see that a little bit of her luck had actually worked and then pulled a book out to read. Gaius was taking a while but she didn't really think anything of it. He was old, sometimes he took a while, he also could have been stopped by someone and asked question. The point was Addison wasn't judging why he was taking too long and after a while she got so caught up in the book she was reading that she kind of lost track of time anyway.
It all caught up to her when she heard a strange noise. Like a thump as if something had fallen. She looked around and saw nothing on the floor. Addison put the book down and got up, something was wrong, she could feel it. It was like a humming, she got it whenever she was around something magical, it felt almost like a pull but she had been ignoring it all morning due to the fact that both Gaius and Merlin left traces that pulled her like that. Now it had gotten stronger and she didn't know why.
She followed the pull, but it was leading her to the window and then back to Ewan. Where was Gaius and why was he taking so long? She didn't like this anymore she was on edge and getting slightly jumpy.
Ewan made a strangled noise and Addison turned. She found herself eyes wide staring at him, and the large green and yellow snake that was poised above him on his chest. Before she could shout or throw anything the snake had struck and Ewan started screaming.
Addison did too.
The shriek was loud, it was piercing and it got the snake's attention. It let go of Ewan and turned to her. It started to approach her, slowly as if getting a feel for her and Addison realized that whatever pull she felt must have been affecting that snake too. Addison backed away from it, reaching with shaking hands for anything she could throw.
She found a beaker first, and she took it quickly and whipped it at the snake. Glass exploded at the base of its body, but it was undeterred. Addison skipped around shards of glass, and it followed, hissing at her. She wasn't sure if it was being threatening or not and it wasn't like she was about to stop and ask it.
Gaius opened the door at the moment. "What is going on in here?" he cried and the snake suddenly changed, charging for the older man immediately.
"GO AWAY!" Addison screamed and swept her arms in one giant sweeping motion. Something, probably magic, caught the snake and threw it against the wall. It seemed to be fine but it shot her, what Addison thought was a very threatening glare, before somehow scaling the wall and disappearing out the window.
Addison and Gaius exchanged glances before Addison promptly passed out.
Valiant had a smug grin on his face when he walked into the throne room. It was the face of someone who knew what was going to happen and that things were going to go in his favour. It was a look that made Arthur nervous, but he was also certain that he had enough proof. There was a couple of minutes where they were all glaring at one another before Uther came in who looked less than pleased to be there.
"Why have you summoned the court?" he snapped to Arthur as he swept to his throne. Arthur followed after him.
"I believe that Knight Valiant has been using a magic shield to cheat in the tournament," Arthur announced and everyone present gasped.
Uther cocked an eyebrow to his son and then turned to Valiant with a glare on his face. "Valiant, what do you have to say to this?" he asked.
"My Lord, this is ridiculous. I have never used magic. Does your son have any evidence to support this outrageous accusation?" Valiant snarled as he moved to stand next to Arthur's Father. I mean, really, how dare he, if anyone should be beside Uther it was Arthur.
"Do you have any evidence?" Uther echoed with narrowed eyes. Arthur could almost read his mind. He was no doubt wondering if he was doing this because of Addison. And he wasn't. He was insulted that his father would even think that he would come to him with only Addison's irrationality. He had other reasons for this. Like Merlin's assurance that it was the truth, or that fact that Ewan was lying in the infirmary and might not get better because of this. Okay he might be doing this mostly because he wanted Valiant as far away from Addison as possible, but his father had no right to assume that was his only motive.
Arthur opened his mouth to tell his father that he did in fact have evidence, and a goddamn witness if the knight ever bothered to wake up when a sudden scream echoed through the castle. Arthur caught one look at Valiant's smug smile and the blood in his veins ran ice cold. He had done something to Addison, he must have. He must have known what Arthur was planning somehow and gone after Addison for revenge. Arthur shot Valiant a glare and turned for the door, ready to dash out.
"NO!" Uther suddenly snapped and Arthur paused, he hadn't even managed to get two steps. "She could be screaming about anything! You brought this to my attention you finish this now!"
Arthur frowned at his father but complied. He turned to Merlin who seemed to understand what he was thinking and nodded. "Just don't let him too close to the shield," he whispered before turning but before he vanished out the door he handed one thing to Arthur.
Arthur turned back to his father and held the snake's head out for everyone to see before handing it to his father. "To answer your question, I do have evidence."
Uther took it and then looked at the shield. "Let me see the shield?" he asked. Valiant shrugged and handed it to him.
Arthur was trying very hard not to pace at this point, but he forced himself to go by his father and stand very still. His father held up the snake's head to the shield. "See, very similar," Arthur told him. "And we don't have snakes like this in Camelot."
His father looked it over, compared it to the shield that Valiant had offered up and then he glanced to Arthur who nodded solemnly. His father looked him up and down, his eyes questioned him as if to say: "Is that it?"
Valiant took this time to say: "As you can see, my Lord, it's just an ordinary shield."
"Well he's not going to let the snakes out for everyone to see," Arthur complained.
Uther's face grew hard and stony and Arthur knew immediately that his father was getting angry. "Then how am I to know that what you say is true?" he asked.
Arthur smiled his own smug smile. "I have a witness, " he said. "Knight Ewan was bitten by one of the snakes from the shield. Its venom made him grievously ill, however he has received an antidote. He will confirm that Knight Valiant is using magic."
The door opened and Merlin came in followed by Gaius and Addison. Addison's eyes were wide again, she was in hysterics, he could tell. They were quieter than her last ones, so Arthur assumed she must have been calming down, but as soon as her eyes clapped on Valiant it started all over again. Arthur wasn't in the mood for this, if she fainted again he's personally shove smelling salts up both of her nostrils. Gaius quickly sat her down and began to talk to her and Arthur tried to show that this display hadn't upset him.
Uther, couldn't have cared less. His stern gaze bore into his son. "Where is this witness?" he asked him.
Arthur turned to Merlin. "He should be here," he whispered. He quickly went to Merlin and noted that once he was near Addison's person she calmed down a bit.
"Where's Ewan?" he snapped. He couldn't bring himself to ask what happened to Addison, he was too afraid that he'd hear what happened and attack Valiant then and there.
Merlin made a face and Arthur knew immediately that Ewan was dead. And judging by Addison's face it wasn't of natural causes. Uther was getting impatient though. "I'm waiting!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the throne room.
Arthur turned to face his father and his court unsure how to continue. "I'm afraid the witness is dead…"
"So you have no proof to support these allegations?" Uther translated. "Have you seen Valiant using magic?"
Arthur paused. This wasn't going the way he planned at all. He didn't really want to do this but he didn't have a choice. He tried to not grimace but he wasn't sure it worked. "No." It was that syllable uttered in the complete silence of the room combined with the look of utter outrage on his father's face that made his hope die and his stomach turn to stone. He quickly turned to where Merlin was standing, waiting for Arthur to believe in him and where Addison was sitting expecting him to protect her. "But my servant fought the snakes..."
He didn't get to finish that sentence. Suddenly his father had rounded on him angrier then he had ever been before. "Your servant?" he echoed. "You make these outrageous accusations against a knight on the word of your servant?"
Arthur couldn't look his father in the eyes, but he defiantly raised them back up to snap: "I believe he's telling the truth!"
Valiant with his smug smile stepped up at this point. "My Lord, am I really to be judged on some hearsay from a boy?" he asked. He looked happily from Arthur to Merlin and for a moment his eyes lingered on Addison's trembling form. He looked so confident that he had won, that Arthur wanted to smack the look right off of his face.
Even though Addison was clinging to Merlin he managed to break from her grasp—no mean feat mind you, Addison was strong when she wanted to be. Merlin must have been hiding some muscle somewhere in that lanky body. He stormed towards Arthur taking a position at his right side. "I've seen those snakes come alive!"
Merlin continued to say: "Addison was with me, she saw them too!" Uther was bellowing: "How dare you interrupt? Guards!"
The two guards came for him immediately and though Arthur wanted to intervene, he didn't. He was honestly just thankful Uther hadn't heard that Addison was involved in the discovery of magic shield snakes.
The guards were taking Merlin away when Valiant, very hesitantly mind you said: "My Lord."
And only then did Uther say: "Wait!"
"I'm sure he was merely mistaken. I wouldn't want him punished on my account," Valiant told the court.
Arthur was shocked for two reasons. One, Knight Valiant was obviously a very good actor and a very skilled strategist. He had just effectively made himself look ridiculously good in front of everyone. And two, his father—who rarely listened to Arthur his one and only son, his fucking heir to the throne—had listened to him. TO HIM!
Uther took this in and shot a glare to his son. "You see? This is how a true knight behaves, with gallantry and honor."
Arthur wanted to throw up his hands and say: "Well if you like him so much make him your heir then!" But he didn't which left the space for Valiant to open his mouth again.
"My Lord, if your son made these accusations because he's afraid to fight me, then I will graciously accept his withdrawal," Valiant suddenly said.
All eyes turned to him. Uther seemed to think that this was a valid point, as if Arthur was really afraid of anything. "Is this true? Do you wish to withdraw from the tournament?"
As Arthur shouted: "No!" someone else, he had really hoped would stay quiet, piped up.
"Wait?! He said What?" Addison suddenly screamed and all eyes fell on her. Arthur inwardly groaned, here it was, she was going to do it. Addison stormed up to them and stood on Arthur's left, she put both hands on her hips and glared directly at both Uther and Valiant. Don't ask how it's possible, she just managed to do it.
"Arthur isn't afraid of a damn thing! Especially not some knight who got taken down by a girl! I FREAKING GIRL! That's right! I took him down! FUCKING TWICE! If I can take him down, Arthur can do it without batting an eyelash!" she shouted.
Uther opened his mouth to scream at her. Hell, he looked like he was about to hit her which was why Arthur was trying to sweep the suddenly unmovable Addison behind him. Then something dawned on him, a sort of realization that made Arthur uncomfortable. He pointed to Merlin who was still in the arms of the guards.
"He said Addison was with him," he murmured.
Arthur and Addison went wide eyed, both realizing what that meant. Uther swept them aside and approached Merlin. "You were with Addison when you came across this magic shield?" he asked.
Even though both Addison and Arthur were shaking their heads no to keep Merlin from spilling the truth, he went and did it anyway. "Yes, she came with me. She wanted to help."
Addison's growl was loud. "Snitches get stitches you little shit!" she hissed for all to hear.
Uther turned to her staring at her incredulously. Addison took in the glare and began to wring her hands. "Are you staring at me like that because you're angry? Or do you just want to know what I'm talking about?"
"Both," Uther snarled.
"Oh. Basically it means that when I find him again, I'm going to beat him so bad Gaius is going to need a needle and thread to put him back together again!" she cried.
Uther rounded on her, getting in her face, even though Arthur had put his shoulder in between them. Addison unwisely held her ground, and pushed Arthur out of the way. "You tell me what happened, this instant, or I'll execute you right now!"
Arthur's heart was pounding now, his hand on the hilt of his sword ready to drawn. Addison put a hand to his arm and while it kept him from drawing and running his father through it didn't calm him down.
"I do not think that you want your court present for my story," she said in her most diplomatic tone, she even tilted her chin in that defiant way that made Arthur smile.
"And why is that?" Uther asked his own tone low and dangerous.
Addison put her hands on her hips and glared him down. "I want you to think very carefully about why I would get myself involved with anything that could possibly involve snakes," she ordered.
Uther straightened as he did in fact think it over. Arthur had to admit that Addison was very clever. It was well known that the only thing that Addison was damn near terrified of was snakes. But it wasn't just that, she was questioning his father's intelligence, and of course he wasn't going to let her think that he had no idea what was going on.
Uther looked around at the faces of his court, knowing more than half of them had no idea what Addison was and that it was his idea to keep it that way. "Everyone can leave us," he ordered. "Valiant you stay."
A few refused to move. Morgana with Gwen standing stubbornly at her side, Gaius and Merlin all stood where they were refusing to go. Uther glared them down and each gave an excuse.
"I have known from the beginning what she is and I want to see how this ends," Morgana said before gesturing to Gwen and adding: "I need my maid-servant for support, never know when a lady might feel the need to faint."
Gaius said: "She's in a terrible state of shock my Lord, she can only stay in this state for so long, and I'm afraid that when it wears off she will have a... well... breakdown of sorts."
Merlin merely shrugged and said: "As Arthur's man-servant I am invested in how this turns out. Plus she told me all about what she is."
All eyes turned to Addison who growled and snarled: "Snitches end up in DITCHES!"
Arthur kept an arm safely around her waist, daring his father to make a comment about it with his eyes. Merlin wisely chose to stay beside Gaius, eyeing Addison every now and then who had nothing more to say except to glare at him which conveyed no secrets about the harm she wanted to do to him.
As soon as everyone else had left Uther turned to Addison and crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me what happened," he ordered.
"Okay, I'm all for that, but shit is going to get said, and this will go a lot easier if you just don't interrupt me," she told him.
Uther rolled his eyes but raised his hands, a signal that he wouldn't interrupt the story and once Addison saw it she took this deep, deep breath. And Arthur knew immediately that she was right. Shit most definitely was about to be said.
"Okay! So like, you know I hate snakes right? Like for realz here, I hate them. Terrified. So obviously the only reason I would ever put myself at risk of snake exposure, especially magic snake exposure, is to save your stupid son. So Twat-muncher over there goes: 'Magic shield snakes? Uther will never believe me! We need proof!' But look at him! A freaking strong wind could knock him over and I absorb magic right? So I figured if I go they'll like come out or what not and then I can go hide and he can deal with it, or die or something and then I could tell Arthur and he could do something and you know what the plan sucked okay, I know that, but I didn't know what else to do so I just went with it."
She was pacing everywhere and throwing her hands around and gesturing at people, like Merlin and Uther and the shield. She hadn't taken a second breathe that Arthur had seen so she was probably doing this on all one continuous breath which was always surprising to him. To give him credit Uther never stopped her, Arthur guessed that he had finally learned that he'd have to let Addison ramble before he got the answer he wanted.
"But it didn't work! Like I had my palm full force on that stupid thing and nothing came out. So we were like 'okay, maybe it had nothing to do with his shield, maybe there was a snake that no one saw and it bit Ewan.' And then out of nowhere fucking three of these fucking things come out of the goddamn shield and they like... they just go, right at me. So I like scream because HOLY FUCKING SHIT SON!"
"So that's why you were in Valiant's room," Uther breathed out.
"Are you honestly believing the word of this mad woman?" Valiant cried but Uther held out a hand to silence him and Addison continued.
"So like, I'm incapacitated clearly and I guess me screaming at a vocal range that can break eardrums like flat out paralysed the snakes cause Twat-muncher manages to get a head off of one of them and then he showed Arthur and Arthur was all like 'This isn't enough proof,' and we were all 'Yeah well Gaius is waking up Ewan so he can tell you and you can suck my invisa-dick!' And now we're here and you don't believe us!" Addison finished.
Uther took all that in and then carefully looked her up and down. "Bring the shield," he ordered.
Addison's eyes widened. "What?" she asked. "Didn't you hear me? It didn't work when i touched it!"
"No, it sounds like it was a delayed reaction," Uther shot back.
"WHAT? NO!" Addison screamed, hiding behind Arthur fully now. "Come on! Listen to reason! Obviously the snakes have a will of their own, or they only listen to the parsletongue asshole! Make him say something like: 'I command you stupid snakes to come out' I bet it works a lot better!"
"Addison, if it doesn't work what are you afraid of?" Uther shouted.
"Because! I just watched one of them kill Ewan, like snake to the fucking face so he's dead and then it went for me and if Gaius hadn't shown up I don't know what would have happened. So there's one slithering around this fucking castle and one more left in that shield and what if it remembers me as the reason one of their friends is dead and they come out and go straight for my face!" Addison screamed.
Arthur fought every urge to whirl around and crush her to his chest. That was what had happened to her? No wonder she was in hysterics. Couldn't his father wait to test the shield?
"Well that's a risk we'll have to take," Uther told Addison which made both Addison and Arthur frown.
"Take the risk with your own face!" She snapped and Arthur tried to cover his snort of happy surprise. Uther was not amused by this.
He waved for the guards, who apparently had not left like Arthur had thought and they grabbed Addison and hauled her out from behind him. He could feel her fingers practically rip his jacket as they pulled her away. He caught sight of her frantic wide blue eyes and felt as if a dagger had been plunged into his heart.
"Oh no! No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no… please don't make me!" she cried.
"Wait! So she's the one who uses magic and you're accusing me? All this will prove is that she's the one who put the spell on my shield!" Valiant argued as Uther moved him into place so Addison could touch the shield.
"I absorb magic you twit!" Addison snapped. "I couldn't cast magic even if I fucking tried. You really think I'd have two fucking guards on me if I could cast any sort of magic to get out of this?"
"Stop with your vulgarity!" Uther ordered and Addison's silence became the high pitch whine of her trying to breathe and not cry at the same time.
One of the guards forced her arm out and Addison's whine started to grow in volume. The shield got closer and she whimpered out Arthur's name and then opened her mouth and screamed. The scream started low and grew louder and louder and suddenly glass was shattering all around the room, windows crashed, things fell over and Arthur realized that in her blind panic Addison was using whatever magic she was absorbing from the shield and causing havoc around her without realizing it.
Arthur stepped between her and the shield, immediately regretting what he was about to do. He glanced to both Uther and Valiant and then around to everyone else who had been watching. "Obviously, there had been a misunderstanding," he announced to them all.
Uther looked perplexed by this but Arthur continued despite the blow his pride was currently taking. "I withdraw the allegation against Knight Valiant," he said, he lowered his head refusing to look Valiant in the eye for this part: "Please accept my apology."
"Accepted," Valiant said that smug grin of his returning.
He glanced back at Addison who had stopped her screaming and was staring at him with tears in those big blue eyes of his. "Take her back to her cell," he ordered before he could do anything more damning to the two of them.
Her eyes widened with hurt but Arthur couldn't care less at this point. The soldiers dragged her two feet before she went limp in their arms. He tried not to wince, he tried not to show he cared when they slung her over one of their shoulders and vanished. Arthur didn't want for his father to say anything more, he left the throne room with Merlin quick on his heels.
As he stormed to his room the anger grew. It bubbled up all the way to his room, to where he slammed the door shut. He let the reality of what just happened sink in. He had embarrassed himself and managed to put Addison in even greater danger.
He didn't realize that Merlin had followed him in until he pretty much sense the complete... what did Addison call him? Twat-muncher? He'd have to ask her what that meant later.
"I trusted you. I believed you. And you made me look like a complete fool," he snapped to him.
"Well... Addison helped," he muttered back. Arthur gripped the edge of the table he was leaning on to restrain himself from hitting Merlin square in the face. "Look, I know it didn't go exactly to plan."
At this point Arthur turned to him and Merlin could see that he was very, extremely, and truly pissed off. "Didn't go to plan?" Arthur echoed. "My father and the entire royal court think I'm a coward. You humiliated me! And on top of that, that psychopath now knows what Addison is capable of so you've put her at further risk as well!"
That should have been the end of the conversation. It should have ended right there. Arthur had turned his back on him, the last word had been said. There shouldn't have been more... except...
"We can still expose Valiant," Merlin told him.
And that was enough to make up Arthur's mind. "I no longer require your services," he muttered. He didn't look Merlin in the eye, he said because he was angry, but really it was because of the question he knew was coming next.
"You're sacking me?" Merlin asked sounding both shocked and hurt. Arthur tried to not let that get to him. He reminded himself that Merlin was just a servant, and he could get a job anywhere else in the city if need be, Gaius could see to that. It wasn't like Arthur was getting used to Merlin's company and it fact rather liked it. Especially since Merlin came around someone else was watching out for Addison which kept a bit of the stress of worrying about her off his plate. Except for right now, now Merlin was a cause of a great deal of stress.
"I need a servant I can trust," Arthur told him, hoping that little dig would wound Merlin enough to shut up and go away.
"You can trust me!" Merlin complained.
God, didn't this kid get it? Arthur didn't want him around, just get lost already. "And look where it got me this time. Get out of my sight!" he ordered as loudly as he could.
Merlin didn't argue this time, Arthur listened to his footfalls and they slowly faded away and he leant against the table once more. For some reason he felt a lot heavier and more sad than he could explain and he didn't want to think too much about it.