Out of Time
AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: HOLY HELL THIS TOOK ME FOREVER. Oh god, I'm sorry everyone, I honestly meant to get this finished and up much sooner than I did and all I can really say is that I've been pretty busy at work. Not exactly the best excuse. I've been gone so long my shout outs and thank section is almost as long as my freaking chapter! I was certain to add some Arthur and Addison fluff since a lot of people wanted to see more of that. And I promise to try and get the next chapter out faster then I got this one out. Hopefully you guys don't hate me.
I do have some good news. I've decided which surprise chapter you'll be getting as a bonus when we get to our anniversary! WOO! Also I'm almost at 100 reviews! Guys! Literally only seven review away. We can totally get me to 100 next chapter, I totally believe that you guys will. I'll tell you what, my 100th review gets a special surprise! So help me get to 100 guys!
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Chapter 17: Out of Appreciation
Merlin walked beside Addison in the quiet of the forest. Both were carrying baskets, but only one had been sent by Gaius to collect mushrooms. Addison had tagged along for the ride, leaving time for her and Merlin to talk about everything they had between them.
"So… so you're really from the future?"
This private conversation had started with him asking if it were okay to ask her personal questions. Once she had confirmed he had asked right away, where this "far away place" that she claimed to come from was. He'd like to know why it was so hard for her to get back and why magic had to be involved in both her appearing here and how she was to get back. He expected a far away land from fairy tale or legend. Not the future.
Though it did explain much.
Addison nodded to him. "How in the world did you end up here?"
"Magic I guess. I don't know really. But I know I'm stuck here and now I have magical powers. Gaius says it's a…"
"Side effect of the curse that sent you here, yeah," Merlin finished for her and Addison nodded. "And I… I'm famous in your time?"
Addison nodded. "Its how I knew you had magic. Merlin the greatest Sorcerer in the world and Arthur the greatest Ruler Britain had ever seen. You guys are famous for going on a search for the Holy Grail."
"The what?" Merlin asked.
"It's a magic cup. Grants the drinker eternal life or something," she said with the wave of her hand as if it meant nothing at all to her. Sounded like a pretty fucking big deal to Merline. "So… Arthur told you about me, huh?"
He had mentioned that Arthur had been forthcoming about her mysterious backstory before they started this conversation. Kind throwing poor Arthur under the bus. Merlin really should have felt a little more bad about it.
"Not the future bit, but mostly," Merlin replied. When Addison winced he added: "I won't tell him I know."
"Oh good," Addison said quickly. "I need to learn how to control the magic thing… find a way to safely expel it and not get myself in trouble… think you could help?"
Things had been going well between Merlin and Addison. Arthur had backed off and allowed the two of them more time to themselves, not much time mind you, and she was always chaperoned by other knights or by Gaius. There hadn't been time to talk about the dangerous subjects, but Merlin knew that Addison had healed after the poisoning attempt and for that week while she recovered Arthur barely let her out of his sight. No one knew how she was healed and Gaius never told either of them how he happened upon the Morteaus flower when Uther had burned them both. Addison seemed perfectly content with not knowing the details of what had happened even though it was in her nature to be curious. Both boys found this confusing but neither of them could get either Gaius, Uther or Addison to talk about that day.
But since the poisoning attempt Uther had been particularly vicious with magic users, so Arthur had been over protective and Merlin had been forced to be super paranoid about using magic. He hadn't even so much as used the simplest of charms since Uther cracked down. Merlin wanted to help her, but he was worried because if either of them got caught they were both going to die. Obviously Arthur would do something to save Addison, but Merlin would be entirely on his own.
Still Merlin knew he was going to say yes to her. They could probably start the training now since they were out of sight of the castle but Addison was rubbing the middle of her chest in a worrying manner. Merlin paused in his walking to stare at her, Addison's face was tilted to the sky watching the grey clouds around them.
They were on a high ridge, the top of a hill with plenty of tree cover and through the branches they could barely see the sky. Addison seemed intent on staring at those miniscule patches of blue and that worried him.
"What is it?" Merlin asked her in a hushed voice.
"Magic. Something really big and really magical up in the sky."
Merlin glanced up again and looked around himself but he didn't see or sense anything. "How do you know?" he wondered.
Addison indicated to the spot in her chest that she was rubbing absently. "I can feel it," she said. "Right there. Like some invisible string is pulling me."
Merlin looked back up to the sky. "Well I don't see anything," he said and after a moments pause Addison's eyes returned to his face.
"It's probably nothing," she said with a smile and Merlin couldn't help but smile too. Her moods were infectious and he caught them way too quickly.
They continued on with their walk for only a brief couple of seconds before they heard the vicious screeching. Merlin turned and a giant creature was coming for them, half bird, half lion, all massive, and looking entirely vicious. It landed on the ground and charged them. Merlin instinctively pushed Addison aside, the resulting push knocking her backwards and sending her tumbling down the hill.
But Merlin didn't have time to contemplate whether or not Addison was alright, now that he was the only target the creature was charging him outright. Merlin turned and ran, sprinting as fast as he could away from the beast. He tripped because what clumsy oaf doesn't trip in a life-or-death situation? Merlin was certain that this was how he was going to die, but as he was scrambling up someone crashed out of the underbrush, sword in hand waving it about and driving the creature back.
The sword clattered against the beast's side sending feathers and tufts of fur flying but doing no real damage to the creature. The man in the blue tunic, olive skin and wavy chin length dark brown hair took one last vicious swing at the creature and his sword shattered into pieces. The beast, sensing that they were now unarmed started forward again.
The stranger turned and shouted: "Run!" at Merlin who had the good sense to stand up while the two were duelling. They ran together, the stranger holding onto his arm pulling him along until they got to a clearing and he let go. Hurdling over a dead log and hiding behind it. There was a moment where Merlin was certain the creature was going to find them, but instead it simply took to the sky, no doubt to try and search for them, except it disappeared.
The two men sat, catching their breaths carefully before Merlin turned to thank his saviour.
"It's gone," Merlin whispered breathlessly. "You saved my life."
The stranger finally turned to him, his laboured breathing passed, so now it was just Merlin who was panting. Clearly this stranger was in better shape then him. Merlin offered him a hand to shake. "I'm Merlin," he said, trying to smile.
"Lancelot," the stranger said back, shaking the offered hand. He rested his head against the log, suddenly lethargic, his eyes closing and his breathing shallowing out. Merlin stared at him confused until his arm fell away revealing a leaking wound just above the man's sword belt.
Merlin suddenly because overwhelmed with this terrible fear that the man who saved him would die before he got him help. So Merlin scrambled into action, not quite certain why he thought he was forgetting something but too preoccupied to actually think about it.
Later that night, Merlin, with dinner in hand, was making his way back to Gaius' chambers where Gaius was waiting for a meal. Lancelot had been saved by Gaius, the wound wasn't as deep as they thought it to be and he would be right as rain once he woke up. Merlin had been so preoccupied by making sure that Lancelot got the care he needed and survived that he had completely forgotten about all else and just paced behind Gaius until he announced that Lancelot would be fine.
Merlin was almost back to Gauis's chambers when he heard someone call out his name. He turned and found Arthur storming towards him. He looked awfully upset about something and Merlin figured it was because he hadn't been as attentive that as he usually was, in fact Merlin wasn't certain if he brought up dinner for him.
Arthur stopped in front of Merlin and crossed his arms over his chest. "I hear you went out to the woods today," he said stiffly. "Heard there was a creature attack."
Oh was that it? Was Arthur worried about him? "Oh, it was nothing, I'm alright."
Arthur's face darkened. "Well that is just grand, did you… maybe… forget something out there?" he shot back.
Merlin blinked his eyes. That kind of rung a bell but he couldn't think of what it was he had forgotten. "No… I don't think so…"
Addison stepped out from behind Arthur, with her hands on her hips. There was a fire in her bright blue eyes, her face was smudged with dirt and there were sticks and leaves in her hair and stuck to her dress. "No?" she shouted. "You didn't forget anything? Something you, maybe, pushed down a hill?"
Realization dawned on Merlin and he was suddenly horrified. "Oh Gosh! Oh Addison! I'm sorry! I got so excited I forgot!" he cried. He reached out to her to pull her into a hug or something to soothe her.
Addison slapped away his hands and put her hands back on her hips as she glared at him. Merlin had seen Addison angry before but never had such an anger been directed at him before.
"And what exactly was so important that you forgot you threw me down a hill?"
Arthur put his hands on his hips and mimicked Addison's positioning before glaring down at Merlin and asked: "Well? What was it?"
"Well… someone saved my life and he was injured doing so, so I had to take him to Gaius," he said. He pinned Addison with a stare that he hoped she understood. That Merlin was trying to get back to this person, that it was important that Merlin be there when Lancelot woke up."
"That is still no excuse to leave my ward out on her own in the middle of the forest! Anything or anyone could have taken her!" Arthur shouted at him.
Addison, finally understanding Merlin's look, shot him a withering glare but turned to Arthur and said: "Come now Arthur, I'm tired and sore, I want to go to bed."
Arthur turned to her, a look of incredible concern on his face. He hissed: "If you're sore, you need to see Gaius."
Addison put a hand to Arthur's arm. "I'm too tired. I want to go lie down, please, take me to lie down."
It was a good act, all misty eyed and a quivering voice to top it all off. Merlin watched Arthur melt, being certain to look away when Arthur turned his glare back him. "We'll finish this discussion later," he said in a low tone, with the promise of a very uncomfortable talk happening in the near future.
Merlin nodded and ran off before Arthur could say anything else to him. Arthur watched him go and then he turned to Addison. "I know you're not that tired, you don't get tired when you're angry," he whispered to her.
Addison sighed and put a hand to her forehead the way the damsels did before the fainted. "It just descended upon me," she said in her most dramatic tone, when Arthur pinned her with a dry glare she put her hand down and shrugged at him. "So I want some alone time to get a hug and some cuddling, so sue me!"
Arthur stifled his smile, he grabbed her upper arm and dragged her down the corridor. He found a broom closet and pulled her in before shutting the door behind him. They stood in the shadows, he pulled her into his chest, his arms tightly around her and her head resting right above his rapidly beating heart.
"You scared me today," he whispered to her.
And it was true. Arthur had been going over the guard shifts with his knights when Addison appeared beside him, looking as if something had dragged her through the forest and back. She had only said that she had been attacked by some creature and that she was certain it had taken Merlin away to be devoured. She had tears in her eyes over the fear for her friend's life, Arthur felt a guilty fear knowing that she had been attacked and left alone, that he hadn't been there to protect her.
It was only by chance that one of the knights had seen Merlin earlier, then he got the full story once Addison was enraged and was then desiring to beat the insolent oaf for forgetting her in the forest. Arthur would have gladly done it for her, and he would be thinking of a suitable punishment for him once he got Addison safely to her cell.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But we were only going out to pick mushrooms."
Arthur pressed a kiss into her hair. "You are not ever going anywhere alone with him again," he swore, already feeling the words tightening around his heart as if binding to him.
Addison pulled her head out of his chest to stare at him with those big luminescent blue eyes. "That's not fair," she whispered. "He's my friend, and sometimes I will want to go places with him."
"I don't care," Arthur said and he meant it. But he knew he would relent the second she asked and batted those long eyelashes at him. She smiled at him as if she knew that this were the case.
Arthur wanted to kiss her again, he wanted his lips against his but since his father had cracked down on him he had been afraid to let her get to close. He would never have forgiven himself if she was killed because his father perceived her to be a threat. So instead he opened the door, checked that the coast was clear and then pulled her out after him.
He escorted her back to the dungeons, without looking at her, instead focusing on the cobblestones beneath his feet. He planned to take her out the following morning, somewhere pretty to make up for her disastrous day in the forest, but come morning he was called out to investigate an attack on a village with his father.
He would just have to find something for Addison on the way back to Camelot to make up for it.
Lancelot was up and feeling better by the morning and Merlin was there to greet him. They reintroduced themselves and Lancelot began to explain how he came to be in the forest at Merlin's time of need.
"Ever since I was a child I dreamed of coming here," Lancelot told him. He was standing on one of Gaius's benches and staring out the window at Camelot a childish sense of wonder and awe about his features. He turned back to Merlin. "It's my life's ambition to join the knights of Camelot."
Merlin made a face because who would want to be one of Arthur's boorish knights? Lancelot caught that look and winced. "I know what you're thinking: I expect too much. I mean after all, who am I? They have their pick of the best and bravest of the land."
Well that was just plain dumb. Merlin shook his head. "Lancelot," he interrupted.
"Yes?" he answered back a little too quickly as if he were grateful for Merlin's interruption.
Merlin sat forward in his chair. "They are going to love you," he assured him.
Lancelot took a few steps towards Merlin. "They are?"
"YEAH! I've seen you in action! You could shame the great Arthur, himself," he boasted.
Lancelot blushed and looked away. "I hardly think so," he said trying to keep himself modest.
Merlin put on his most serious of faces. "In fact, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to talk to him right now," he said, launching himself out of his chair and rushing towards the door.
Lancelot watched him go surprised. "You know Arthur?" he asked incredulously.
Merlin nodded and cocked him a wide smirk. "Oh, yes!" and then rushed out of the door.
As it happened, at that exact moment, Arthur was out on the green lawn giving a new recruit his last initiation test. All the fledgling knight had to do was best Arthur in battle. He glanced to the side, where the rest of his knights waited, all their eyes on Addison. She was humming to herself, her body twirling and swaying creating quite the sight.
Arthur cursed softly under his breath. "ADDISON!" he shouted and she jumped and turned to him, her eyes wide with shock. "What are you doing?"
"Dancing," she answered with her innocent voice.
"I don't care what you're doing!" he snapped.
Addison put her hands on her hips and glared at him in a playful, teasing manner. "Then why did you ask?"
Arthur growled and rolled his eyes. "Just go stand with Merlin," he snapped, pointing to where Merlin was standing with some strange man who he had never seen before. Wasn't like Merlin to be off making new friends. Nor was it like Merlin to come and watch him fight. He figured that this was the person who had saved him in the forest, that he had forgotten Addison over. He pointed at Merlin sternly as Addison went to stand beside him. "And when I'm done with this you are getting a stern talking to!" he warned.
As Arthur began the one-minute challenge Addison turned to the new man. "Who's your new friend Merlin?" she wondered.
"Oh, that's actually why I'm down here. This is Lancelot, he wants to be a knight, do you think you could help me talk to Arthur about it?"
There was a sudden round of applause literally 10 seconds into the challenge and when they turned Arthur was standing above an unconscious challenger. He bent over him to take the sash from him.
Addison rolled her eyes. "You don't deserve it but sure," she said. She crossed over to where Lancelot was staring at Arthur with reverent awe. She brought her hands up to his face, and began to twirl one of his locks with her fingers. "It doesn't matter what I say so long as you smile," she said.
Lancelot donned a shaky smile as he stared at her. "What?" he asked, noting that Arthur was coming towards them with a darkened look on his face.
Addison threw her head back and laughed as if he had said the funniest thing she had ever heard. She swatted his shoulder. "You are so funny," she said, she then started to squeeze his upper arm. "And so strong too!"
Arthur had reached them by this point, he grabbed her hand and with one strong tug had jerked her to his side, his darkened blue eyes glaring daggers at Lancelot. "Come Addison," he growled before turning to Merlin. "And Merlin, you're coming with me, as well."
He waited until he was back in the walls of Camelot before letting go of Addison's arm. She immediately went back to skipping and humming, twirling about in circles as she danced and walked at the same time.
"Did you even see me take that man down?" he asked her.
Addison twirled in front of him, like a nymph dancing through the water. "No, I missed it. But it didn't take very long."
"Well maybe if you'd stop flirting with anything with floppy hair…" Arthur started.
"You should have gone easier on him," Addison interrupted and Arthur scoffed.
"That is not the problem. He is the third person to fail the challenge this month. How am I to protect Camelot with rubbish like that?" he argued.
At this point Merlin, with his arms laden down with the armour Arthur was discarding as he walked, piped up. "Well, I think I can help with that."
Arthur turned to him. "You?" he questioned. "The one I couldn't trust to take Addison into the forest to pick mushrooms without you abandoning her? Speaking of, where do you think you get off just leaving her like that? Anything could have happened to her, don't act like you don't know how clumsy she is. She practically walks into danger of her own accord."
As if to prove his point, Addison stumbled over a discarded bucket and if it were for Arthur's quick reflexes she might have fallen. Arthur managed to snag a hold of her arm and pulled her back to her side before she could fall over. She smiled up to him and pet his chest lightly in thanks. "Come now Arthur, Merlin's sufficiently sorry for what happened in the forest…" she started.
"He can't be sorry if I haven't punished him yet," Arthur snapped and Addison raised her eyebrows at him. "Alright sorry, continue," he said with a sigh.
"Just hear what he has to say, alright?" she asked. When Arthur remained silently unconvinced she added: "Please? … for me?"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Fine, this better be good."
"I know someone, he's everything you're looking for," Merlin said.
"And how would you know? You know nothing about being a knight. A knight needs to be courageous, have fortitude and discipline," Arthur snapped.
"But he has all of that," Merlin insisted. "He saved my life! He's really, really good!"
Arthur turned to Addison who nodded solemnly. Arthur then turned back to Merlin. "Yes, that's all well and good, but you're forgetting the first code of Camelot."
"The what?" Merlin asked just as Addison rolled her eyes and snarled: "Aw not this bullshit again."
"The first code of Camelot: Only those with noble blood can serve as knights, so unless your friend is a noble man…."
"Oh yes, yes he is," Merlin answered quickly which earned him a surprised look from Arthur and a confused look from Addison.
Arthur turned back from Merlin and back to Addison who quickly changed her face from the one of suspicious to one of wide eyed agreement as she nodded to Arthur. He sighed and turned once more back to Merlin.
"Fine, have your friend report to the training ground in the morning and tell him to bring his seal of nobility," he ordered.
"Thanks Arthur!" Merlin called after him, "You won't regret it."
Arthur glared at Merlin, shaking his head, he grabbed Addison's arm and pulled her off. Merlin was certain that he heard Arthur hiss: "If I see you twirling another man's hair one more time Addison, I swear I will not be accountable for what I do to him…"
But Merlin couldn't have cared less what sort of spat Addison and Arthur were having, he was just so happy that this worked. He just had to go tell Lancelot.
"What do you mean you're not a nobleman?" Merlin asked, his heart sinking like a stone.
Lancelot had pounced on him the second he came through the door desperate to hear what Arthur had to say. Merlin had played it off as if it hadn't gone well, waiting until Lancelot looked crestfallen and then told him that Arthur wanted to meet him. The two boys had been so excited until Merlin tried to clarify that Lancelot was a nobleman.
Yeah, not even close. Of course, that would explain why Merlin liked him so much, why Merlin and Lancelot got along so well.
"Why does that matter?" Lancelot wondered, suddenly concerned.
It was Gaius who said: "Because the first code of Camelot states that you much be a nobleman to be a knight."
Now Merlin was sort of understanding why Addison had called this bullshit. It wasn't fair at all.
"I'm sorry Lancelot, truly I am," he said and with that he went back to his potion making. Merlin and Lancelot went back into Merlin's room.
Lancelot had been quiet since he had found out. Obviously quite disappointed that he'd never become a knight after all.
"Why do you want to become a knight?" Merlin wondered as he lit the candles in his dimly lit room.
"When I was a boy my village was attacked by raiders from the northern plains. They were slaughtered where they stood, my father, my mother, everybody. I alone escaped. I vowed that day that never again would I be helpless in the face tyranny. I made sword craft my life, every waking hour since that day I devoted to the art of combat. And when I was ready I set forth for Camelot, and now it seems my journey ends. Everything I fought for, wasted," he said.
"You have my word, whatever it takes. I'll make this right," Merlin vowed. Knowing, that it was time to start practicing his charms again.