Out of Time

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I was waiting for more reviews and I was trying to finish the next chapter but it took a little longer to write as I was super busy this week. So here we are, you voted and you're going to get what you want. Let's see how it goes this time around huh? Thanks to everyone for telling me what you thought, I definitely do enjoy hearing from everyone. Keep that up everyone! Also, I wrote this chapter both ways, so maybe, down the line, around next Christmas or something I'll post up that extra chapter, this one, except as Merlin who got poisoned instead of Addison. If you're interested in that tell me in your review!

Also Thank you to: Lara Barnes for being the 70th review! You rock!

Shout outs: RedPanda31, Faby0411, Lara Barnes, Fanficqueen306, daydreamer06980, , AuyikmoraTano, AmalieNico, Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, Sarah, and Ai-Rose4

Chapter 14: Out of Duty (P.S. A lot of swearing in this chapter)

In some god forsaken cave in some god forsaken corner of the land that Uther hadn't dared look, Nimueh was plotting her revenge. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, except maybe for Addison who had had a strange feeling she couldn't quite place about her since the near death incident with the afanc, Nimueh had a plan that could tear Camelot asunder. It was why she had pricked her finger hard enough to cause quite a bit of blood to run down it, on that particular night with the moon raised high, the perfect time for spells by the way, while she chanted and played with water infusing it with both magic and her own blood.

She knew that if she wanted to destroy Uther and his precious Camelot he'd have to get to his son. To get to his son she'd have to get past Merlin who had already ruined one plan. The other girl, the one who knew too much and had a power too strong to comprehend at the moment, wasn't a threat so long as she stayed blissfully ignorant to whatever was growing inside her. Nimueh wasn't concerned, if the girl gave even the slightest hint that her power was growing Uther would kill her. No, it was Merlin who was her main concern at the moment, he would have to be rid of.

And with the enchantment on that stupid chalice complete, her trap was finally ready to be sprung.

Some time later, never mind how much later, across the Isle of Albion and great meeting was happening in Camelot. Lord Bayard of Mercia had arrived to discuss a truce agreement between their two kingdoms. That morning, when the whole procession had come riding up, Addison had laughed, she had mentioned something about this being a war of primary colors and that it reminded her of some game she called Team Fortress. She then very loudly exclaimed that she either wanted to be the Pyro or the Spy because they had the coolest powers.

Once she explained to Arthur what those powers were, he quickly made sure to ban her from playing that game ever on the grounds that Camelot would never survive it.

Uther had been wise and banned Addison from the meeting but not from the feast to celebrate the treaty that night. It was at the feast that gifts would be traded to show no hard feelings and that the wars between them had come to an end. Arthur knew all too well that Addison would find a way to make some sort of scene. Though he didn't want to he had given Merlin the directive to watch Addison like a hawk. So while he was busy over-seeing treaty signing and being a polite host and prince, he worried about what Addison and Merlin could possibly be up to.

"Why do I always get landed with the donkey work?" Merlin complained, his arms laden down with two heavy bags filled with supplies for the feast.

Arthur had given the two of them busy work to keep them... well... busy. Addison had offered to help him carry some of the heavier ones but instead was given something smaller and easier, a basket of apples. Merlin had half said this comment to her and to Gaius who was passing them in the halls.

Gaius chuckled and stopped to indulge Merlin. "You're a servant, Merlin; it's what you do," he reminded him.

Merlin frowned. "My arms'll be a foot longer by the time I get this lot inside," Merlin said and Addison checked him with her hip.

"Come, now it's not so bad," she chided.

"Easy for you to say, you've got ten apples tops," he snapped as if he hadn't been the one to make her take the apples. Addison merely rolled her eyes playfully at him.

"It's character-building. As the old Proverb says, 'Hard work breeds...'" Gaius started and then paused, he seemingly thought for a while before finally settling on: "A harder soul."

Both Merlin and Addison frowned. "There's no way that's a real proverb! You just made that up!" Merlin complained.

Addison nodded sharply. "I concur. Besides shouldn't it be: "Hard work breed success, laziness breeds mediocrity'?" she asked.

Both Gaius and Merlin stared at her. Gaius thought this over. "That's actually quite good, I should use that one," he told her and Addison started to twist a little, her skirt twirling back in forth in her happiness as she beamed up at him.

Gaius looked like he might say more but a young woman with her hair up in a blue turban, dressed in a plain dress with a blue front and red sleeves and back managed to trip and drop everything she was carrying right in front of Merlin.

Addison was suddenly frowning and staring at the woman. She felt oddly light-headed all of a sudden. Merlin bent down to help her pick up everything she had dropped and for a moment the two met eyes. She had such beautifully stunning blue eyes, she was really quite lovely. So much so she took his breath away.

Addison watched them as they stood. Merlin's hi was sheepish and unsophisticated, it was really obvious that he hadn't much practice with talking to girls whom he found attractive. Addison was going to have to get him lessons from Arthur. Arthur could make a girl's knees week with a single word, she should know, Arthur was constantly make her knees weak. Hell her knees were weak right now and Arthur wasn't even there.

The girl introduced herself as Kara, and she knew that Merlin was Arthur's servant. She spoke of how it was such an honor but Addison had a bad feeling about this girl. She could feel it in her chest, in the way it was constricting and paining her. That hum she felt in her sternum around strong magic was practically a vibration shaking through her body.

Merlin smiled at all of Kara's compliments. "Yeah, it is. Well, someone has to keep the place running," he said. He pointedly ignored Gaius' expectant glare. Merlin gave back the pillow he had picked up and the Kara girl said thank you.

Only then did she turn and lock eyes with Addison. For that brief moment it felt like there was too much air in her, filling all of her senses. Addison couldn't breathe, the vibration became this long whistle like the one you heard when the car window was open a crack on the highway.

Addison dropped her basket of apples, she didn't even have time to try and put a hand to her throat to indicate that she was chocking. She let out one strangled gasp and then passed out.

Merlin shot forward, not even caring that the woman had quickly walked away, catching Addison before she could plummet to the floor. Gaius checked her vitals but Addison was breathing, sort of, in a staggering kind of way. The other servants in the corridor had gathered and Merlin had hauled Addison up into his arms, only to find that she was a bit too heavy for him.

Gaius forced him to put her down. "I'll get her to my chambers," he said waving a stronger looking page boy to his side.

Merlin stood, suddenly very afraid. He knew what he had to do but he didn't really want to do it. "I'll go get Arthur," he said. And then the two split ways, the beautiful serving girl momentarily forgotten and left to sneak around the castle and continue on with her plan.

And while Merlin and Gaius were distracted with Addison's fainting spell, she switched out the real chalice gift, for the one she had made herself. The one that would be Camelot's undoing. And no one would see it coming.

Addison, having woken up not long after her fainting spell, sat stubbornly on the cot refusing to move. Every time Arthur went to grab her, she'd promptly drop to the floor and become as heavy as she possibly could so he couldn't lift her without hurting her, or would grapple onto something heavy and immobile so Arthur couldn't drag her away.

"I'm fine," she repeated. "I don't want to miss this banquet, it's my first one with real permission from your father and you're not taking it away from me."

"Addison you are clearly over-whelmed, you are staying in and sleeping tonight. Gaius has prescribed rest and you won't get that at a banquet," he chided.

Addison pouted up at him, her arms folded across her chest, she felt like she might cry. "I'll be super careful!" she cried.

Arthur shook his head stubbornly. "No. You are going back to your cell, you're going to eat the soup Gwen is getting you from the kitchen, and I'll give you a new book to read, or some parchment for you to write on or anything else you desire to keep yourself entertained while you rest."

Addison paused. "Anything I want?" she asked after a moment's consideration.

"Anything," Arthur vowed.

"I want to go to the banquet," she said firmly.

"Anything but that," Arthur shot back causing Addison to moan.

"Arthur it's not fair! I want to go the Primary Colors Banquet! I want to see what happens when you guys get drunk and rowdy. I want to know if it make purple?" she asked with a bright smile.

Arthur couldn't help but smile at her jokes as well, but she still wasn't going. She had given him a fright today. Merlin had come bursting into the great hall a look of terrible agitation on his face. He gratefully hadn't out right asked for Arthur to come over and interrupted the proceedings, but instead had looked at him insistently, kind of hopping from one foot to the other as if he needed to relieve himself but had to hold it. When Arthur had torn himself away from his father's side Merlin told him about Addison's sudden fainting spell.

He had all sorts of thought running through his mind as he rushed to Gaius' chambers only to find that Addison was already awake and explaining some phenomenon where she felt as if she were being smothered with too much air. Gaius had looked like he wanted to prescribe a different sort of remedy for this, though Arthur had never heard of anything like this before in his life and was a little worried that this was some affliction only from Addison's time that they wouldn't have the means to cure, but whatever it was that Gaius was going to say was lost when Arthur came in the room. Rest was the primary cure for whatever was ailing Addison, then by god she was going to get it.

"Addison, please, I want you there as much as you want to be there, but you're not well. There will be other banquets and feasts," he whispered.

Addison rolled her eyes and managed to say something like: "I suppose so" when Arthur suddenly tackled her. Addison hadn't been expecting it and the suddenness of it knocked her off of the cot and flat onto her back. Addison was breathless now, the complete opposite of what was wrong with her this morning but still had the same effect. For a brief moment she felt all of Arthur against her, his strong powerful leg in between hers setting her on fire and leaving her breathless for a completely different reason.

She groaned when Arthur got off her, more in pain but still partly because she wanted to feel more of his body on top of her, and found she had no strength left to struggle when he suddenly hauled her up into his arms. He cradled her, her head on his shoulder, his legs dangling over his other arm, he held her up as if she were nothing but a pillow, completely effortlessly.

"You can be mad at me later," he whispered to her. "Right now you're just going to rest and get better."

Once he was out of Gaius' chambers and away from prying eyes and ears Arthur pressed the softest of kisses into her hair. Addison could have found a way out of this, she really could have, easily, but she didn't want to. She liked being there, listening to his heart beat wildly in his chest, a reminder that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him there was just nothing they could do about it.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise," he whispered to her and while Addison didn't doubt that, she planned to be at that party regardless. That Kara girl did this to her, that Kara girl caused that reaction, and for some reason Kara was super interested in Merlin. Maybe it was to get to Arthur, maybe it was to take advantage of Merlin, either way Addison wasn't going to let that happen.

Hell no. No one was going to mess with her boys.

And then Addison very stupidly fell asleep. She had no intention of doing so, but after Arthur had made her eat soup and then tucked her in with a brand new book for her to read she had gotten tired and fallen asleep. Maybe she really was coming down with something.

What woke her up was dueling voice. Both of them speaking in her head, one a woman and obviously Ygraine and the other male and unidentifiable at the moment. Being a sound sleeper, Addison had missed most of their argument, but now that she was awake, she could hear it quite clearly.

Her duty is to Arthur, not Merlin and Arthur is not in danger. Ygraine snarled.

She will always be a danger to Arthur and if you let her get to Merlin their joined destinies will unravel and Camelot will fall. The manly voice snapped.

Oh when will you stop meddling you overgrown fire salamander?

Ah so it was the dragon. Well that made sense.

When you walk into the light, you precocious ghost!

Addison got the gist of it. Merlin was in danger and they were arguing about whether or not she should save him. Well, Merlin was her friend and she was going to go help him. But first, she was going to have get out of her cell.

Up in the banquet hall Merlin was looking like the prized idiot. Arthur had told him he had to wear the ceremonial robes as this was a special occasion. And oh boy did he not have to wear these stupid robes. None of the other servants were dressed up in fine livery with a ridiculously feathery hat, nope just Merlin who was once again serving as the joke to Arthur's sick and sadistic sense of humor.

Gwen was standing beside him, the only one who could without laughing. She had eyed him staring at Kara, and he unwisely made a comment on how beautiful he thought Kara to be which, for some reason, made the only person willing to stand by him, without teasing him, walking away. He wasn't alone too long, as Bayard showcased the goblets he was presenting Uther and Arthur, Kara came over to him.

"Merlin! I need to speak to you!" she whispered with an unexpected urgency in her voice.

"What is it?" He wanted to believe that she wanted some sort of secret liaison with him because he was just so irresistibly handsome, but the look on her face told him that it was something a little bit more worrying.

"Not here, please! I don't know who else to tell!" she urged tugging on his arm and pulling him out of the throne room. Luckily both Gwen and Gaius saw the two of them leave together.

When they got into the hallway Kara turned back to him. "It wasn't until I saw him give the goblet to Arthur that I realized..."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down! Start from the beginning!" Merlin interrupted. Mainly because he hadn't quite heard what she was talking about he was too busy staring into those lovely blue eyes.

"Two days ago, I was bringing Bayard his evening meal. I was supposed to knock. He didn't expect me to walk in..." she said.

Okay, that was too far back. Merlin shook his head. If this was urgent and it involved Arthur he was going to have to get her to talk faster. "So what are you trying to say?" he interrupted once more.

"If he knows I said anything, He will kill me!" she cried.

Merlin shifted. "I will not let that happen to you, I promise! Please tell me what you saw" he swore, and he meant it too. This might work out to his advantage, he could find the girl a place to stay and a job in the castle. He could woo her, marry her, and have a completely happy life. Screw Arthur, screw his destiny, he was going to marry this girl and have a million little magic Merlin babies running around. That was the dream life.

She seemed to half-believe in his promise for she said: "Bayard is no friend of Camelot. He craves the kingdom for himself."

She paused only when someone walked by. Merlin leaned in closer, so close he could kiss her, but first he'd have to save Arthur stupid butt, then he could do everything he wanted to this pretty little serving girl. "Tell me, what has Bayard done with the goblet?"

"He believes that if he kills Arthur, Uther's spirit will be broke and Camelot will fall," she said.

Okay, that didn't answer Merlin's question, just cemented the whole idea that Bayard had done something awful. "What had he done with the Goblet?" he repeated, starting to lose his patience with this girl.

"I saw him putting something in it," she said quickly.

"What?" Merlin asked quickly trying to hurry her up.

She shook her head once more. "I shouldn't. He'll kill me!"

God why was she being so damn difficult? The toasts were going to finish and something awful was about to happen if this girl didn't just spit it out. Honestly, didn't she just say that she needed to tell him something? Then she should fucking tell him already.

"Please tell me!" he cried. She was shaking she was so scared, so Merlin guessed. "Was it poison?"

She nodded slowly. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Merlin said nothing else to her, not even come with me, or go to the dungeons to be safe, as no one would mess with her if she were with Addison. Instead he turned and ran off, not noticing that Kara wasn't following him and was smirking at him as he played right into her trap.

God this was boring. Arthur had been standing for at least ten minutes now waiting for the toasts to be done so he could drink from his brand-new shiny goblet and sit down to eat. A goblet he couldn't care less about. A goblet he would probably end up giving to Addison so she could hold more trinkets in it, like rings or something. This had been going on forever.

And just when he was about to drink and end his misery Merlin came sprinting in shouting about poison and snatched the goblet right out of his hand.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" Arthur cried.

"Bayard has laced Arthur's goblet with poison!" Merlin announced to the whole room. A gasp of shock and outrage erupted from the party goers on both sides.

Bayard shouted: "This is an outrage!" and drew he sword and then everyone was doing so.

Uther held firm control over this situation though. "Order your men to put down their swords. You're outnumbered." And yes they were, as a group of soldiers came rushing into the room.

Though Bayard didn't issue that order or put his own sword down he said: "I will not allow this insult go unchallenged!"

Arthur's lip curled, goddamn it he was going to have to fight a duel for Merlin. God if Addison were here to see this she'd be laughing so hard and demanded that the fight to mix up the color purple to start there and then with Arthur running Bayard through before he could get to Merlin. Damn Merlin was lucky that Addison was so fond of him otherwise Arthur would let the idiot die.

"On what grounds do you base this accusation?" Uther asked. Good question, where did Merlin get his information? Unless he's drunk, goddamn it was that idiot drunk?

"I'll handle this," Arthur said before Merlin could say anything. He rounded the table and stalked towards the stupid boy. "Merlin, you idiot, we've been at the sloe gin again?"

He was trying to drag the idiot to the safety of a hallway to let him loose to be drunk and merry. Maybe he'd even send him down to Addison, see if she was feeling well and then bloody well lock him in her cell. Okay, not her cell, no he didn't want Merlin spending the night with Addison, but a cell, a cell far away from Addison's. Very far away. You know what, Arthur would just put him in the stocks over night, that would solve this problem and sober the idiot up.

Uther had other plans. He halted them before Arthur could get them to safety. "Unless you want to be strung up, you'll tell me why you think it's poisoned now," he ordered.

Merlin nodded. "He was seen lacing it."

"By whom?" Uther asked.

"I can't say," Merlin whispered after some hesitation. Oh great, either Merlin was being an idiot or he was protecting someone. If it wasn't an extremely beautiful girl Arthur was going to whip him.

Bayard was far from pleased. "I won't listen to this anymore!"

Now Uther was on the move. He strolled leisurely around the table. "Pass me the goblet," he ordered and Arthur took it from Merlin and handed it to his father.

His father then took the goblet to Bayard. "If you're telling the truth..."

"I am!" Bayard interrupted. A brave feat seeing as the only one who ever interrupted Uther was Arthur... and well Addison did sometimes too but only because she hadn't gotten used to the whole never-interrupt-the-King rule.

"Then you have nothing to fear, do you?" Uther taunted. Bayard knew immediately what that meant. He sheathed his sword and put his hand out for the goblet but Uther suddenly had second thoughts.

"No, if this does prove to be poisoned, I want the pleasure of killing you myself," he said which caused Bayard to scoff. He was trying to remain brave but it was obvious that he was afraid. Uther turned back to Merlin and held out the cup. "He'll drink it!"

Arthur was suddenly flabbergasted. What the hell? Yeah he didn't like the kid, yeah he wanted him away from Addison, yeah he joked about killing him but he wasn't serious about it. He was just getting Merlin trained, it would take a while to get someone as entertaining as Merlin to be his servant. He didn't want the kid to die over him either that was just... unfair.

"But if it is poisoned, he'll die!" he argued. Oh god this couldn't happen, he couldn't tell Addison that Merlin died because Arthur's cup was poisoned. She'd never let this go.

Uther didn't seem to care about that though. "Then we'll know he was telling the truth," he snapped.

"And what if he lives?" Bayard asked.

"Then you have my apologies, and you can do with him as you will," Uther said casually as if Merlin's life meant nothing to him.

Arthur rolled his eyes. Oh... good... god... god damn it either way Merlin was going to die! What the hell was he going to do?

Gaius was the one to speak up this time. "Uther please, he's just a boy, he doesn't know what he's saying," he argued. Oh good! Yes! Gaius was his father's most trusted EVERYTHING he'd listen to Gaius surely!

"Then you should have schooled him better," Uther growled. Okay, so Gaius had struck out, his father was just in too much of a mood to care about anything right now. So what was Arthur going to do now?

Arthur was about to fucking lose it. "Merlin apologize! This is all just a mistake!" he cried, turning his wild eyes to everyone around him, looking for someone to help him but the only one who could was his father and he was out of his goddamn might at the moment.

Merlin was going to say he'd drink, and then he was going to drink it to prove that he was in fact serious about this whole dying for Arthur thing. But a sudden squeal of delight cut through the charged silence and Addison came sliding into view, she danced past Merlin swiping the cup from him and then half hid herself behind Arthur. Arthur, who was now trying to turn to get the goblet from her, struggled with her, his fear palpitating through him quicker than a horse that had been spooked. Addison wasn't letting him though, she had that one hand gripping his red jacket tightly and he couldn't fully turn to get the goblet from her.

"I win!" she cried. "Why is everyone so quiet? And why are there so many weapons? Oh! Are we going to have our first brawl and paint the walls purple?"

Everyone was silent, even Uther was watching her carefully. She had been followed it by a small group of soldiers all out of breath from chasing her around the castle. They had stopped short of Arthur for if she was with Arthur she was untouchable, a fact she knew very well.

"Oh come on! That was funny!" she cried, "Get it? Because if you mix red and blue you get purple?"

And then she down the whole goblet in one terrifying gulp.

She sighed when she was done. "Wow I was thirsty, maybe I am coming down with something, I shouldn't be this tired after a jog." Everyone gasped and Addison looked around shocked. "Did mead get on Uther again? I didn't do it I was right here the whole time! I have witnesses!"

Arthur whirled out of her grasp and took a hold of her shoulders. "You twit! You drank it!" he cried. He didn't care if his father saw this, if this really was his last moments with her he was going to be as candid as he could be in less than five seconds. He scanned her lovely face for any signs of poison, though he wasn't certain what that was or how it would manifest.

Uther took a hold of Arthur and pulled him away from Addison and that left Arthur to hover as his father's side, ready to launch for her if it looked like she was about to pass out. "How do you feel?" he asked her.

Addison thought briefly and said: "I guess I'm fine. I'm a little tired though".

Uther smiled briefly, maybe because he was relieved she was alright, or that his guest of honor hadn't actually tried to poison his only son. He turned back to Bayard who was smiling smugly at them. "He's all yours," he said to him and Bayard moved to grab Merlin only to freeze when Addison suddenly gasped.

Her hands went to her throat, he face paled and her eyes squeezed shut in pain. She continued to gasp and cough until she gasped out something along the lines of: "Oh! Not again!" and collapsed. Arthur had surged forward, fairly knocking his father out of the way to catch Addison before she hit the ground. He clutched her to his chest, his body shaking so hard he felt as if it might be trying to come undone. He wasn't afraid that someone had just poisoned him, he was afraid because without her he wouldn't be able to breathe either.

She was still breathing but barely, for the moment she was still alive which meant there was still hope. Hope was everything Arthur needed and what he would be clinging to.

Bayard was arrested for the attempted poison on Arthur, but Arthur wasn't there or could have cared less. He was already on his way down to Gaius' chambers with Addison safe in his arms, and his heart in his throat. He had Merlin, Gaius and Gwen following him. Merlin shouting Addison's symptoms over his shoulder to Gaius who was spitting out theories as to which poison it could be, while Gwen had been smart enough to grab the goblet to Gaius could identify the poison properly.

For some reason Arthur felt a lot better with these people around him. Addison would be in good hands, these people would pull for them both and help him save her. There wasn't any other option, after all, for there was just no way Arthur could live without her.