Out of Time

AvalonReeseFanfics

A/N: Here we are. Things are going to get angsty for a bit after this. Hopefully y'all are okay with that! I will admit I teared up a bit when I wrote this, but I'm super emotional at the moment.

Thanks to redhoodfan for being my 150th favourite!

Shout outs to: daydreamer06980, Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, redhoodfan, anitahuggins1996, RoselynFey, AsamiAiko, GaarasMyBoyzz, AngelElmarlienHenning, and AureliaPhoenixAnastasia.

Chapter 24: Out of Enchantment

Merlin had followed Aulfric to the lake. He had seen something, a glimpse of a place that he had never heard of before but now that he was back at the castle with Gaius he knew exactly what he saw.

The land of Immortality. Avalon. He had seen little blue people, small and doll like with rows of vicious teeth and a mean expression, with clothes made out of leaves. And those are what Gaius said were called: Sidhe.

"Did you see Peasblossom?" Addison asked. Interrupting the lesson that Gaius had been giving Merlin. "You can tell it's her by the blonde hair and snarky attitude. She also bites."

Both men turned to her with wide eyes, both wondering why the hell they were surprised in the first place. "You've uh… met the Sidhe before?" Gaius asked.

Addison nodded as she spooned another mouthful of broth into her mouth. "Sure. Whenever I go into the lake, if I swim down far enough I pop up in a different place. You call it Avalon, I call it the Apple Islands. The place is always abloom with apple blossoms, smells wonderful," she explained.

"You've actually BEEN to Avalon!" Gaius exclaimed.

"Well… yeah… the magic that brought me here originated from there, so every now and then, when I need to hide mostly, I stay over in Avalon. You know, just until things die down… why?" Addison asked. How could she ask that? Finding Avalon wasn't like going down to the lower town to see the merchants.

"Because most mortals don't even get to glimpse Avalon until their dying, and even then they're not allowed in!" Gaius cried.

Addison shrugged. "They brought me here, they get to deal with me. Side effect of the magic I suppose," Addison replied. "So Sophia and Aulfric are Sidhe huh? I knew I sensed something off in the castle."

"And Sophia was off with Arthur today," Merlin said wringing his hands.

Addison waved a hand at him like it was no bother that Arthur had been off with a Sidhe for most of the day. "Only to tell her that things were done, like he said he would." Ah well that would explain why she wasn't worried.

Merlin wasn't even surprised that Addison knew about that, it was probably something the two of them had come up with together. Arthur hadn't really confirmed that he was sorting things out with Addison but it was certainly heavily implied. And Merlin thought that the whole city—aside from Uther—might breathe a sigh of relief to have Addison and Arthur finally together and possibly alleviating all of that horrible sexual tension that was hovering over them at all times.

"Yes, but Aulfric said that they were going to offer up Arthur's soul to gain access back into Camelot!" Merlin reminded her.

"Arthur's not that stupid," she snapped.

"He might be if he's under her spell…" Gaius whispered.

"She is not that pretty or charming," Addison muttered bitterly stirring her soup and avoiding everyone's eyes. Merlin clearly heard the unsaid: "she's not more pretty or more charming than me" that was implied.

"No, I mean her literal spell," Gaius replied. "Arthur may be bewitched!"

Gaius let that sink in, a minute before the three of them went on to make a plan.

Oh yeah, Arthur was most definitely under a spell. Merlin had tried to get to Arthur when he returned from the forest with Sophia but he had shut everyone out. Then in the following morning he had called a meeting with his father and announced that he intended to marry Sophia, with or without his father's permission.

Uther had dealt with it relatively well and in his typically normal fashion. First, he laughed, but upon realizing that Arthur was serious, he threatened to have Sophia and Aulfric killed. Arthur backed down and Uther let it go but Merlin knew that this wasn't the end of it. Aulfric wasn't going to let go of Arthur that easily and if Arthur truly was under a spell, they could make him do whatever they wanted.

So Merlin promptly went to Gaius's chambers and collected Addison and then rushed all the way back to Arthur's rooms. When they got there Arthur was dressed in his armour and packing a few bags.

He glanced up at them as they entered and he snapped: "Get out!" very harshly and made both of them cringe.

"I thought the king was a bit harsh," Merlin started, trying to gauge what was going on with Arthur. Addison was moving closer to him one step at a time, Arthur was looking everywhere but at her.

"I don't need sympathy, Merlin, especially not from you," Arthur snapped, obviously more grumpy than usual.

"But I do think he had a point," Merlin continued.

Arthur straightened immediately, a wild look in his eyes. "I ordered you to get out! Now leave me!" Arthur cried.

This was going no where, Addison moved to him and put a hand on his arm. Arthur finally stilled in his packing and turned to look at her, a puzzled look on his face. "Where are you going, Arthur?" she asked.

His eyes furrowed. "I'm going away with Sophia. We're going to get married. We're in love," he replied, his voice almost toneless as he said it.

"You love her?" she asked, making him turn to face her. "Are you sure? Don't you love someone else?"

"Someone else?" he echoed. Already Merlin could see the plan working, with Addison touching him the magic was wearing off, she was drawing it out of him. "Addison?"

"Yes," Addison cried. "See, Arthur, it's me, it's Addie."

"Addison? My Addison," he murmured.

"Yes, your Addison. Remember? You were suppose to leave Sophia, not propose to her!" she cried.

"See. I told you people would try to keep us apart!" Sophia declared as she and her father entered the room.

Arthur's eyes blinked, he pulled his arm out of Addison's grip and turned away from her. "I know," he said quickly. "I won't let that happen."

"Don't listen to her. She's controlling you!" Merlin cried and Arthur turned to him, his eyes blinking. Addison put a hand out to him but he flinched and shied away.

"We can elope together," Sophia continued. "Get away from this place, these people."

"I saw you," Merlin said pointing at Aulfric. "I followed him. They're planning to sacrifice you."

Aulfric laughed and took a step forward. "You let your servant talk to your guests this way?" he asked.

Arthur's eyes were blinking, his face scrunching up as if he were in pain. He seemed to be struggling to regain control of himself. "It doesn't make sense… I'd never leave her… we're in love… my Addie… I'd never leave her…" he muttered.

As Merlin squared off with Aulfric Addison put a hesitant hand to Arthur's shoulder. "Do you really want to leave me Arthur?"

At this moment two things happened.

Merlin had lunged for Aulfric's staff to show Arthur the magic writing on it, but Aulfric had snatched it away before Merlin could grab it and his eyes went red. He turned to Arthur, because there was his proof shouting: "Arthur, do you see?"

At the same time Sophia screamed: "Don't let her touch you!" and Arthur whirled around, his eyes the same color as Aulfric's eyes. Quick as a viper, the back of his hand caught Addison on the side of the face sending her sprawling to the ground.

"I see everything," he growled.

Merlin realized it then that he had lost Arthur. He was gone. The real Arthur would have never hurt Addison. Merlin made a mad dash for the door but Aulfric was faster, wielding his staff he threw a bolt of blue lightning like magic that threw Merlin up against a wall knocking him unconscious immediately.

It took all of Sophia's power to get Arthur to move. The man was just staring at his feet at the woman crumpled there. Sophia reinforced the enchantment on him, but she didn't feel the same hold as it did before, not until she got him out of the room and away from the woman.

The night had firmly set by the time Morgana came sprinting into Gaius's chambers. She had been all frantic because she had seen Sophia leave with Arthur. She knew that it was happening now, Arthur was going to drown, just like she had seen in her dream. She was going to go to Uther, tell him what she saw, both from her window and in her dreams but Gaius had stopped her, made her wait in his rooms as he went out to search for Merlin.

Merlin who had gone with Addison who was supposed to have stopped this from happening.

Gaius found Merlin in Arthur's chambers, on the ground, an unconscious Addison beside him.

"Merlin!" Gaius cried rushing forward to help him. "What happened to you?"

Merlin groaned and stirred a bit. "It was Aulfric. Where's Arthur? I have to go after him… oh Addison, is she okay?" he asked, his words jumbling and rushing like a leaky spout. Merlin tried to sit up but seemed to be having trouble. "What's that buzzing noise?"

Merlin lurched to his feet with Gaius holding onto him. "Careful, Merlin. You can barely stand up."

"I have to go," Merlin said breathlessly.

"You can't, not in this state," said, holding Merlin still and trying to look him in the eye so he could see if there was any last damage. "You owe it to your powers that you survived this at all."

Merlin avoiding eye contact. "I'll be fine. He needs me."

Merlin tried to twist out of Gaius's grasp but for once Gaius was stronger. "Has that buzzing stopped?"

"Yeah."

"Liar," Gaius snapped.

"I have to go, Gaius. He'll die if I don't," Merlin pleaded.

"The Sidhe are a vicious people," Gaius reminded him. "You must be careful."

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing," Merlin said. Finally, free of Gaius's grip he rushed off towards a window.

"Merlin..." Gaius called out. Merlin turned to him bemused, expecting more advice. Instead Gaius pointed to the door. "This way."

"Just testing," he said as he ran to the door. He almost got out of it before he stopped and turned to Gaius. "You will take care of her right? I think he hit her pretty hard… he had his armour on and everything."

Gaius wanted to ask: "Wait… Arthur?" but instead he said: "Just hurry!" and then Merlin was gone and he was left with a very limp and heavy-for-an-old-man Addison.

Arthur stopped abruptly, so abruptly that Sophia nearly walked right into him. Aulfric paused also and turned to watch the young prince blink his eyes over and over. Before either could do anything, Arthur turned, looking at a spot right behind Sophia.

"Addison?" he whispered and then took a step forward, walking right back towards Camelot.

Sophia turned and yes, it was still there. That lingering imprint of magic that had been following them since they had left. The projection of the girl, the time traveller, the experiment gone wrong, or right depending on who was talking about it, a bit of her magic in her shape calling after Arthur, trying to pull him off track. And it was shockingly working.

Sophia chanted the incantation again. She had done it so many times over that there shouldn't have been a single hiccup, but every time she said the incantation the projection following them gained a little bit more strength.

Arthur's eyes glowed red briefly before looking back to where that projection was standing and whispered: "She needs me," and tried to walk off again.

Sophia held onto him tightly. "Arthur, we're going to be together," she reminded him.

For a moment he stared at her and then turned back once more. "Addison," was all he whispered.

"She's coming with us," Sophia replied hoping that this would tide him over. "You and her will be together forever."

He finally looked at her, a smile dawning on his face. "My Addie," he said softly.

Sophia ground her teeth. "Yes, you and your Addie," she said to him.

After that Arthur turned around and let Aulfric and Sophia lead him to the lake. He was standing at the water's edge with her, his eyes still on the projection that had followed them, smiling absently at her.

Sophia put her staff down, there would be no need for it once she returned to Avalon. "Go. They are waiting for you," her father urged.

Sophia shot him a look of confusion. "I don't understand. You're coming too."

"Only one of us can pass through. This was never meant for me," he explained.

Sophia's face fell as understanding dawned on her. "But I only wanted this so we could both return to Avalon," she reminded him, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Your destiny is on a different path to mine," he whispered. "It is my fate to live a mortal life."

Sophia was crying now, it had never even occurred to her that she would be without her father. "I don't want to leave you," she replied.

"You must!" Aulfric snapped. This was why he hadn't told her, he knew that she would be resistant, would want to find a way so that both of them could return. But he wanted her back in Avalon, he wanted her happy and safe. "Once the ceremony begins, you have to go through with it the elders expect a soul. If they don't get his, they will take yours."

Sophia glanced to Arthur who was still staring off at the projection, not a single one of the words uttered between her and her father reaching through the veil she had put on him. She hugged her father in earnest. "Goodbye," she whispered to him, kissing his cheek gently. "I will never forget you!"

She then took Arthur's hand and lead him into the water. When they were waist high they stopped. Auflric was chanting and Sophia could feel the power surrounding them. She held Arthur's hands, having him look at her, like a real wedding ceremony between mortals. She stepped up to him she whispered: "Until Death do us part."

As she pressed her lips to his she heard him breathe out: "Till death do us part, My Addison." This kiss was soft and their first because she had never quite gotten him to kiss her before. Arthur closed his eyes and let Sophia push him into the water where he quickly sunk out of sight while Aulfric stood there screaming his name within the spell and Sophia stood awaiting the door to Avalon to open.

He was following Addison again. The astral glimpse of her running a head of him was what had kept him on the right path. His head was still fuzzy from the magic hit that should have killed him. If it hadn't been for him spotting Addison's image running through the trees he would have been lost for sure. He didn't even doubt it once that she was trying to lead him to Arthur, he was just grateful that she was, however she was managing to do it, considering he was certain she was knocked unconscious back at the castle.

Merlin got to the lake, he found Aulfric chanting, and Sophia standing waist deep in the water, her hand out as if hovering over something. He knew he couldn't take on Aulfric so long as he had that staff in his hand. And it was by glaring at Aulfric's back that he spotted it, Sophia's discarded staff.

He flung one spell and the staff flew from where it had been lying right into Merlin's awaiting hand. With staff in hand, Merlin wielded it the way Aulfric had and shot the same curse that had knocked him out right at the Sidhe in human form. Aulfric had enough time to turn around to see that lightning blue magic he had used on Merlin coming straight for him. The only difference was that as soon as it hit Aulfric he exploded into a million pieces.

In the water Sophia cried out, she tried to wade out of the water to help, or maybe to run but she was too far in and Merlin was chanting the incantation again. That magic hit her too and like her father she exploded into a million pieces. Merlin threw down the staff and peeled off his jacket. Though he couldn't see him, Merlin knew were Arthur was, in theory, and he had to find him, somewhere in this lake, before his soul was taken into Avalon.

If he had to guess, since he was the only one standing he'd be given immortality if that did happen, and immortality wouldn't be that bad, but at the same time that wasn't what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to save Arthur, help him become king and maybe get him with Addison if he could.

Merlin crashed into the water, using his feet to try and feel Arthur at the bottom, problem was, it got deep quick. This left him with no other choice, he had to dive under to see where Arthur was. It took several attempts but on his third dive down, he found him. Hooking an arm around his chest Merlin brought Arthur back up, happy to hear the idiot coughing as he dragged him out of the water and back to shore.

Arthur didn't wake up until the mid day of the following day. When he finally was awake, he was groaning and mumbling, while Gaius and Merlin—who had been sitting by his bedside awaiting for this very moment—were leaning in.

"Where am I? What happened?" he asked forcing himself to sit up.

"Can you remember anything?" Merlin asked. Because that was the question worth a chest full of gold. Just because he was under a mind control spell didn't mean that Arthur wasn't aware of what had been going on around him.

Arthur continued to groan. He put a hand to his head. "Oh, my head," he moaned, most likely to emphasize how much pain he was in. Probably for more sympathy that he wasn't going to get from Merlin no matter how much he belly-ached.

Something dawned on him and he said: "There was a girl… Sophia. I asked my father something about her. I asked him… uh…."

Then it came to him and he sat up straight as a pin. "What was I thinking?" he thundered.

Merlin wondered if that was all he remembered. Maybe he could just feed him the prepared story and see if it just took. "Well we certainly did wonder," Merlin muttered. "Especially when you eloped with her last night."

Arthur turned incredulous eyes to the pair sitting beside him. Merlin had had the audacity to drag Arthur's own chair over to his bed side and sit in it. He would hear about that later. "I did what?" he cried.

"Merlin had to bring you back to Camelot," Gaius explained while Merlin nodded.

Arthur just looked stunned and confused. "I don't recall any of this!" he snapped.

Merlin tried to hide his smile and he and Gaius exchanged glances, that was just what they wanted to hear. "It must've been some blow," he said to Merlin who just nodded along.

"What blow?" Arthur asked through grit teeth.

"Well when I caught up with you, I couldn't persuade you to return. You were beyond reason. So I had to make you listen," Merlin explained.

"You managed to knock me out?" Arthur asked in utter disbelief.

Merlin nodded. "Yep, with a lump of wood," he said.

"He only did it to bring you back safely," Gaius added which was not the important part of this conversation and everyone in the room knew that.

Arthur pointed a finger at them, "No one can know about this," he warned them. "Any of it! Is that understood?"

Hiding their smiles, Merlin and Gaius exchanged glances. Both were pretty pleased that they had gotten this to go exactly the way they wanted it to. They nodded in agreement and Arthur flopped back down to his pillows.

He ran his hands over his face. "God I hope Addison doesn't hear about this," he mumbled to himself and neither Merlin nor Gaius had the heart to tell him what happened.

Arthur waited a few hours before heading to Addison's cell. He felt bad about having Merlin sent to the stocks over a necessary lie to save his skin. His father couldn't know that he eloped with Sophia last night. But, to make it up to him, he had been nice enough to get him out early, you know, for telling Uther that he had forgot to tell Arthur that he was supposed to come down to see him that morning, and he had instead gone hunting.

Originally Arthur had gone to Gaius's chambers but Addison was no longer there. Gaius had told him that Addison was much better had been moved back to her cell as per Uther's request. He also alluded that, while she had recovered from her fever, either something was wrong with Addison, or she was still somewhat indisposed. The way Gaius was talking he would have thought Addison didn't want to see him or that Arthur should tread carefully if he went to see her.

To him that meant that she knew about Sophia. He bet Merlin couldn't wait to tell Addison what had happened between he and Sophia. So, he made a detour before heading to her cell stopping to by the kitchen to get her some of her favourite snacks.

When he finally got there, he found that Addison was sitting on her bed, her back to the cell door her face to the brick wall. She didn't usually sit like that. He couldn't tell what she was doing, but she was wearing her cape, the one he got her for the winter, with the long fur trimmed hood and fur trimmed sleeves. If she was cold she couldn't possibly be all that better. God, if his father sent Addison to the dungeons even though she was still sick in hopes to make her worse then he was going to drag her back to Gaius's and then stand guard outside the door personally to make sure Uther didn't try to send her back.

He opened the door to her cell and Addison glanced back at him, the long hood hiding her face.

"Hullo, Addie," he whispered. "I brought you cookies. If you're feeling better. Uh… how are you feeling?" Arthur asked.

"I'm just fine, thank you. And I'm not hungry for cookies," she whispered not once turning towards him. Arthur's smile faded immediately.

"Addison what's wrong?" he asked.

"How's Sophia?" she shot back and Arthur winced. Goddamn it, Merlin had told her what happened. That bastard.

"She… she's gone," Arthur said, mentally cursing Merlin and his gabby-gums. "I want to give you a good excuse for what happened, but I'm honestly drawing a to how it got that far."

Addison hunched her shoulders as if guarding herself from him. "It's fine, Arthur, just forget it," she said.

Arthur took another step closer to her. "No, it's not alright. I know I messed up, I had really hoped that you wouldn't have found out from someone that wasn't me. I promised to break things off with her and I did the exact opposite and that must have killed you. I just want to say sorry," he told her. He put a hand out to touch her shoulder, to reassure her that he meant well, when suddenly Addison bolted up and scuttled away from him. He knew then that something was wrong.

"Addison, what's going on?" he asked her, watching her move so that her back was to him. "Why won't you look at me?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Addison said: "Go away. I don't want to talk to you right now."

Arthur felt his heart stop in his chest, these were words that she had never once uttered to him before and it hurt to hear her utter those words.

"Addison!" he cried but she shook her head and refused to face him.

"No, I'm serious, I want you out, Arthur!"

Those words were like a knife to his chest. That was enough, he wasn't letting her do this to him right now, no matter how deserving it was. He took a hold of her and forced her to turn around despite her best attempts to get away from him. He needed to see how serious she was, he needed to see her eyes.

"Arthur don't," she cried, but he had both hands on her shoulder and it took one brush on his thumb to hook the hood and pull it down

What he found staring back at him shocked him enough to let her go and stumble back. Images crowded his mind but there was one at the forefront. The moment the back of his hand connected her face. Addison knew he had run off with Sophia because she had been there, she had tried to stop him and he had stopped her.

The left side of her face was purple, he could see the impact point of his knuckles. There beside her eye, and the reddened purpling bruise spread out like a virus taking hold of her. It blackened her eye, and looked like it had travelled down to her jaw. He had done that to her.

"Oh my god," he whispered as Addison took a few steps away from him. "Addison… I didn't… I don't know…"

"I don't know want to talk to you about it," she replied.

"Addison, I'm sorry, I am so, so sorry," Arthur said, he went to reach out for her, to hold her, to soothe that damage he had done to her. But Addison flinched and moved away from him which just shattered his heart a little bit further. She was actually… afraid of him. Afraid that he might actually hurt her again.

"Addison, come on, you have to know that I would never hurt you…."

"Are you sure? Because this…" she cried pointing to the bruise on her face. "Does not make me think that you'd never hurt me."

"Addison that's not fair. I mustn't have been in a right state of mind, I know that's not an excuse, I know that it makes no sense. But you have to know that I care about you…" Arthur started.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Addison interrupted. And Arthur froze. "I don't want this anymore; I don't want to care about you. The prince who's going to marry a princess one day and stick me in a tower somewhere when he's done with me. I don't want you to hurt me anymore, not physically or emotionally."

"I'm not going to do that to you…" Arthur mumbled, not sure if he was even breathing anymore. He wasn't sure what she was saying to him, this was honestly the big fight they had ever been in and they weren't even yelling.

Addison's tears dripped down her face. "You say that now, but the second you see another pretty girl it's like you're under her spell or something," she sobbed. "I don't want to see you anymore. I don't want you to hurt me anymore."

"Addison… please…" Arthur murmured.

"Just get out! I don't want to see you! Get out! Leave me a lone!" Addison cried. Arthur found himself stumbling back his eyes wide his heart constricting in his chest. "JUST GO AWAY!"

She thundered those last two words, and Arthur fled, leaving her cell door wide open. He walked quickly down the hallway, taking the steps two at a time to put as much distance between Addison and the pain he had caused. As he went he realized he was breathless, as if he had run the whole perimeter of Camelot in his armour. He got to his room and slammed the door behind him.

He tried to calm down, tried to even his breathing, tried to quell the pain that was welling up in his heart. He felt as if it had just snapped in two and after two minutes of laboured breathing and ragged guttural primal scream ripped from his body as he collapsed to his knees in his room. He had done this to himself, he should have just stopped seeing Sophia. He had what he wanted, he had the love and the happiness and he went a screwed it up.

How was he ever going to fix this now?