AN: Hello!

Okay so I have decided to just make this a Merlin/OC. Because I was thinking it over, and I thought that Merlin and Elizabeth really were made for each other. And it really helps out what I've got planned for season 3.

So I'm now here to do the Once and Future Queen!

Just to let you know, I made a poll that says that I want YOU to vote for which stories (if you read my others, that is) that you want me focus on FOR NOW, because school is an evil thing and I can't focus on all of them right now. And also to let you know, this will be one of the ones that I shall be focusing on. Surprisingly it's the one that got the most votes. I didn't realize that you guys liked this story so much.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Merlin! I only own my OC, Elizabeth Malinor.

Enjoy, my lovelies!

"What do you expect, Arthur?" I asked him as I sat at the dining table in his room, after he and Merlin came back from Arthur's jousting practice.

"How am I going to prove myself if my opponents aren't trying their hardest?" He asked.

"I'm sure it's not happening all the time," Merlin assured him.

"So it's happening some of the time?" Arthur asked incredulously.

Ouch. Bad move, Merlin. "No, I'm certain it isn't," He said quickly.

Arthur threw his hands up in the air. "Now you're doing it! You're telling me exactly what you think I want to hear!"

"Yes," Merlin started, but I quickly gave him a look that says 'Wrong answer, bro!' So he said, "Er...no," Then I gave him another look that said that was the wrong answer too. "Er...What was the question?" He eventually said.

Arthur sighed. "That just proves it. All my life I've been treated as if I'm special. I just want to be treated just like everyone else."

"Really?" Merlin asked at the same time as I said, "You sure?"

"You have no idea how lucky you are," Arthur told Merlin, a little glumly, if you ask me.

I used to live like Merlin did. Well, I was a little better off than Merlin was, but I actually don't know which life I preferred. I never really liked people doing things for me in my old world, but here when someone did it I felt so happy that I didn't have to do anything. I was confusing.

"Well, anytime you want to swap places, just let me know," Merlin joked, and I couldn't help but laugh at what he said. Arthur switching places with Merlin? Priceless!

Arthur's face lit up, "That's not a totally stupid idea."

I immediately stopped laughing. What was he saying? "But you're Prince Arthur. You can't change who you are." I said.

"Yes I can," Arthur said.

"You are right, of course," Merlin said, and that was promptly followed by a "Shut up, Merlin!" which made me laugh. Ah, with my boys, life was never dull.

After Arthur explained his idea about wanting to disguise himself during the jousting tournaments, the three of us decided that Arthur needed a place to stay. Immediately I thought of one person. Gwen.

It certainly took a while, but Merlin and I managed to somehow convince Gwen that Arthur staying with her would be a good idea.

So here I was, walking into Gwen's house with Arthur and Merlin.

"My Lord," Gwen greeted him.

Arthur nodded back at her with a smile. "Guinevere. It's good of you to let me stay in your home."

"I'm happy to help," She said as Arthur walked further into her house looking around.

"Food," Merlin leaned over and whispered to Gwen as I walked over to where Arthur was.

"You can't really expect me to stay here," Arthur whispered to me as I noticed Gwen whispering something to Merlin from the corner of my eye. Must be something along the same lines.

I huffed. "Well we need to keep you out of sight and we can trust Gwen not to let anyone know that you're here."

"I doubt anyone would believe it," Arthur said.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You really can't go without your big bed and your soft pillows for two days?" I harshly whispered. Arthur was being an asshat and the day had barely started.

"This will be fine," He eventually said, and turned around to Gwen and Merlin. "How are the preparations coming along? Have we found someone to play our knight in the tournament?"

Merlin nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely. He's a farmer from one of the outlying villages, and no one will recognize him."

"But does he look the part?" Arthur asked, and Merlin and I exchanged glances. Not really...

After we brought William to Gwen's house, she and Merlin washed and dressed him, in order to make him look more like a Knight. After they were done, Merlin gave him the seal of nobility.

"From now on, you're Sir William of Daira," Merlin said. I had to refrain from mentioning the Lancelot incident with faking the seal, but this situation was different from Lancelot's, right?

"Imagine you're really...arrogant. Knights like to think they're so much better than everyone else," Merlin told William.

"It's not arrogance. Ignore him, he's an idiot," Arthur told him, and I rolled my eyes at his blunt ignorance. "A knight must behave with honour and nobility."

When he practiced walking, William did this sort of strut...thing. "That's...better. You must convince everyone that you were born into a noble family," Arthur said.

In an authoritative voice, he said to Merlin, "Polish my armour, boy."

Arthur smiled, "Now you're gettin' the hang of it!"

They shared a laugh before Arthur said to Merlin, "That's a good point, you do need to polish our armour."

In the same voice as before, William said, "Yeah," before he fell to laughter again. I rolled my eyes again. Ugh, Knights and their ignorance...

Just as I was about to go to bed the day before the tournaments, Merlin burst into my chambers. I'll admit, I got a little surprised when he didn't knock. It's just, literally everybody knocks before they enter my room, so I looked over to him with a surprised look on my face. "Uhh, Merlin..."

"There's an assassin in Camelot, he's here to kill Arthur," He said breathlessly.

My jaw dropped. "What? We have to tell him!" So Merlin and I ran to Gwen's house, where Merlin opened the door (seriously the man needs to work on his knocking skills) and blurted, "Arthur, there's an assassin in Camelot. He's here to kill you."

We came in, and Merlin explained the situation further. "The assassin killed a guard. Your father said Odin sent him."

"Why would Odin want you dead?" I asked. This was one of the times where I missed my show knowledge the most.

Arthur put his hand on his forehead. "Because I killed his son. Odin's son challenged me to a fight. I had no quarrel with him. I asked him to withdraw. Perhaps he felt he had to prove himself," Arthur said, his face looking a little distant. "I can still see his face. He looked so scared."

"You cannot blame yourself," Gwen automatically said.

"No one but us knows where you are. If the assassin can't find you, he can't kill you," Merlin pointed out.

Arthur turned to face Gwen. "May I continue to stay here?"

She nodded quickly. "Of course, for as long as you need."

"Thank you. I'll sleep on the floor tonight," Arthur told her, but Gwen shook her head in disagreement.

"No, have my bed. You need to be well rested for the tournament tomorrow," She insisted him.

"I'll not hear of it. Goodnight, Guinevere," Arthur shut down solemnly.

"Goodnight," She replied.

Well, I obviously missed something, so I said, "Well, I should probably get to bed too. Goodnight." Then I pushed myself away from the counter where I was leaning on, and left Gwen's home. As I was leaving, I noticed a little tension between Gwen and Arthur. What was that about?

The tournaments had been going on for three days now, and it'd been really boring. I mean, once you've seen one jousting tournament, you've seen them all, right?

It was just been me and Morgana again, since Merlin has been so freakishly busy, and Gwen's been busy playing house to Arthur, who was supposedly not supposed to be here. It's weird, even without Arthur here, Merlin has been so busy with stuff for Gaius, even more so than usual. Even though I see him sometimes in the hallways, I missed him.

But today was the last day of the tournaments, so Arthur would be "coming back", and I could start hanging out with Gwen in her free time again.

It was the last pair, which was, of course, Arthur, and some dude I couldn't care less about. I was just eager for this to end so I could go and take a nap. Or do something with Morgana.

The other guy's lance hit Arthur, and I bolted up. Usually the hits didn't faze Arthur, but he was bending over, and someone had to help him off of his horse.

Gwen immediately stepped up (to go see what happened, I presumed) so I got up to follow her. But when I got down there, Merlin grabbed me by the arm.

"Sir Alinor has a pointed lance, and I don't think it was given to him by accident," He said.

I gasped. "The assassin," I breathed, and Merlin nodded. So the both of us ran over to his tent. I looked inside and nearly screamed at the sight of the dead body. Merlin put his hand over my mouth before I could. He pulled me out and as soon as we walked out, we were in the line of vision of the supposedly dead Sir Alinor.

"We have to keep Arthur from fighting," I said, and Merlin and I ran to find him at the tents.

But when we got there, only Gwen was there. "Where's Arthur?" I asked her.

"He's about to joust," She answered.

"He's jousting against the assassin," Merlin told her. Her eyes widened, and the three of us went running to the crowd of people standing beside the course.

Arthur and the assassin were about to clash when I heard Merlin incantate, "Unbinde þé téage."

The girth on the assassin's horse broke, and Arthur was able to knock him off of his horse, killing him. After he did so, Merlin went over to guide him off the course, and Gwen and I helped him off of his horse.

We pulled him into his tent, where William joined us. "You were jousting against the assassin," Merlin explained to Arthur. "He killed Sir Alinor and took his place," He said.

I looked from outside, to William, to Arthur. "The people are waiting for their champion. It's time to reveal yourself," I said to him.

But Arthur turned to William. "You must go and collect the trophy."

"I thought this was going to be your moment of glory," Gwen said, a little confused. Hey, I was too.

He just got this weird look on his face as he said, "Perhaps this is a time for humility."

I could sense an awkwardness creeping in, so I clapped my hands. "Well then, William," I turned to him. "It's your time to shine."

William walked outside, and we all followed him. But he went on the course, and we all stayed off to the side. I saw the completely hilarious face William was making when he was celebrating, and I laughed. I looked from my left to my right at my friends, who were all laughing too, and I couldn't feel more glad that I was here.

The next day, I was sitting with Uther and the rest of the court in the council chambers when Arthur "came back" from his hunting trip.

"The assassin attacked us as we returned to Camelot. I was injured whilst killing him," Arthur explained, gesturing to the injury that he actually got from Myror.

"Odin must be made to pay for his actions. We must strike back at him," Uther said.

But Arthur put that idea right down. "Surely you understand the grief he feels for the loss of his son?" He asked, and Uther was silent. "We should try to make peace with him. There's been enough bloodshed."

I smiled at his leadership. This was the Arthur that should be coming out.

Uther nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps you're right. How was the rest of your trip? Fruitful?"

He nodded. "Very. I learned a great deal," He said, and he sneaked a glance at Gwen, who looked away. That was weird. What exactly did Arthur learn? Because that sounded like a double meaning to me. "How was the tournament?"

"Excellent," Uther told him.

"We have a new champion," I couldn't help but add, in a teasing sort of tone that only Arthur would understand. "Sir William of Daira."

He gave me a disguised look of irritation. "I'm sorry I missed all the excitement," He said.

A little bit after, the court was dismissed, so I walked outside of the room, and started for my room. It was when I was maybe a few feet away from the throne room did I realize that I forgot my bracelet inside the throne room. I spun on my heel and started running back. I slowed to a walk when I got close, but the closer I got, I heard two voices: Gwen and Arthur's.

I didn't mean to snoop, I really didn't (okay that was a total lie I wanted to eavesdrop), but I had to go back for the bracelet, it was a supposed gift from my parents. I hid behind a pillar, and listened to what they were saying.

I caught the last bit of what Arthur said. "...I'm afraid my father would never understand."

What would Uther not understand? I stepped a little out further, to try and hear better.

"You don't have to explain," Gwen said. "Perhaps when you are King, things will be different."

What will be different? Again, I really hated not knowing. Sometimes things trigger the memories back, but I needed something to do the job. Sometimes it was little things, like touching an old thing, and the memory would come back, but sometimes it'd be bigger things, like hitting my head on something (that one hadn't happened too often because of Uther's crazy bodyguards).

Speaking of Uther, I heard his voice, loud and clear. "Arthur?"

Footsteps, and I assumed Arthur's left with Uther. More footsteps, and Gwen's shadow passed by me as she walked away.

As soon as I was sure that she'd passed the corner, I came out of my hiding spot.

I looked at the spot where Gwen and Arthur were, and willed for the memory to come back. I actually felt a tugging sensation at the back of my head, when I heard my name. "Lizzie?"

I spun around on my heel, my concentration breaking. It was Merlin that called my name. "Yeah?" I asked, putting a hand to the back of my head, scratching it.

He pointed to the pillar I was behind. "Why were you standing there?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping," I blurted.

Merlin looked at me strangely. "Right," He said slowly. "Well, I have to go to Gaius. He found out about Arthur, and now I have to deal with it."

I patted him on the arm. "Sorry, Merlin."

"How come I'm being punished and you're not?" He asked.

I clasped my hands behind my back. "Because Uther Pendragon likes me," I said, and we both laughed. "You should probably go before you get in more trouble."

He nodded. "Yeah, I should. Bye, Lizzie," He said, and started leaving.

I watched him leave, and it was weird, the way that Merlin walked was actually a little cute. I'd never noticed before.

"Goodbye, Merlin," I said softly, then left to go get my bracelet. Once I got it, I went back to my room, where Gwen was cleaning up. She looked over as I came in. "Hello, my Lady," She automatically said.

"Hello, Guinevere," I said, shutting the door. Okay, I had to go into this subtly. "I hope that Arthur didn't give you a hard time. I know how he can be. I'm around him all the time."

She shook her head. "No, it was fine. It went fine."

"Did anything happen?" I asked, walking a little towards her. "You seem a little, different."

Gwen quickly became defensive. "Nothing happened. I'm fine, my Lady," She quickly changed the subject. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? I'll fetch you something to eat."

She was gone before I could even point out that I had already had breakfast. I groaned, falling back on my bed. Finding things out was actually going to be a lot harder than I thought.

TBC...

I hope you guys can respect my decision about changing the pairing. It just helps alot. So I'm gonna take the Nightmare Begins down to replace it with this one, and then I'm just gonna post the Nightmare begins as one whole chapter. So look out for that!

Lizzie's outfits on Polyvore!

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