Hey everyone sorry for taking so long!
It really wasn't intention to take so long.
With being quarantined and all that it was hard to find the inspiration to write.
However, I'm back for real now so don't worry I'll be updating once a week from now on!
Also sorry for this chapter being so short it was very crucial for me that this plot stand alone before continuing the next part of the story.
So yeah after this they will definitely be longer lol.
Alright I'm not gonna take up anymore of your time.
Enjoy!
"You fucking idiot!" Will yelled, storming over to him and punching him in the arm.
"Ow!" Merlin cried though it wasn't out of pain and his smirk showed just how hurt, he really was.
Will growled at him, "like hell that hurt," he crouched down to be on the same eye level as Merlin, "now what the fuck was that about?"
Merlin raised an eyebrow at him, "I saved you, why is that so hard to believe. I mean you saw me beat up a whole bunch of Alpha's earlier. So why is it suddenly weird?"
Will growled in frustration, "because Omega's don't turn into WOLVES!" Will went to Gaius leaving Merlin to his thoughts.
That shocked Merlin as his brow furrowed, 'how can that be possible?' he thought, he glanced up to see a good handful of Alpha's still in their shifted forms. All growling and snarling, but none ever got closer or farther from their positions. He has been into the forest enough times to get a bit of knowledge of animal behavior and body language. What they were all doing at this moment was obviously reacting to a threat; however, the way they seem to look at each other and their expressions said something. It told him that these proud Alphas, from the short time he interacted with them, are always ready for any threat but this was unfamiliar. So based on their stances they had no idea what to do and were acting overly aggressive. More so than the situation called for.
Merlin then took the time to look behind him, through the bars of the fence to only see three Alphas, two shifted and only one humanoid. 'For them to focus heavily on the front and not in the back shows that they don't believe I'm smart enough to find a way out of this,' he thought sighing to himself. Though he could easily make a getaway it wasn't sure how far he will be able to go, he prided himself for having speed since that was the only thing he can work on other than hunting. However, his fighting ability was the one thing that was lacking, so if any of them were to come after him there is the likely hood that he might be able to outrun them. But if anyone of them managed to keep up with him and try to engage him then he might be screwed since he didn't have a foolproof tactic of defending himself.
Also, what he did notice behind or lack thereof was the absence of Morgana and Gwen so it was easy to assume that the two ran away when he was preoccupied with Arthur. It caused his stomach to knot uncomfortably as he thought back to their horrified expressions when they saw him in his wolf form. He swiped his hand down his face willing himself not to cry, which was rather easy since his father taught him how to control himself while in front of the enemy.
How much different can he be, he was different in the human world and now he was different in the wolf world.
'You freak.'
'Nobody wants you around faggot!'
'What a weirdo.'
'Monster!'
'Freak of nature!'
'Savage.'
Merlin placed his hand over his rapidly beating heart and at that moment he felt trapped. Not because he was surrounded by these Alphas, no he felt trapped by the world. He felt the entire world just hovering over him, reminding him over and over that no matter where he goes and what he does he will always be the freak in the room. At school, yeah he had a couple of friends here and there but they weren't meaningful, he couldn't talk about himself like they could, it was as if being friends with them was only him buying time until the end of the school year. Even so, he tried so desperately to be one of them to leave his wolf traits or his training behind and act like them. But he could never do it as he is always reminded of how different he was from them.
Maybe that was why he never wanted to reach out to his own kind before. He was so afraid of being rejected by them that he was just content to know that they were similar. But now being in this pack, he finally realized that his worst nightmares came true.
He wasn't like them at all.
The first night staying with Gaius, he cried to himself because of his behavior he had messed up the chance of finding something in common between the pack and him. And he would think time and time again that his wolf form would be his last chance of trying to get that common ground between them. To show them that there was no need to be afraid of him when he had something that he believed everyone had. Only for that dream to be taken from him too. All the while worrying about his father, Mrs. Adams, and his hometown.
He needed space and he needed it now!
He stood slowly to not give anyone any alarm before glancing over to where Gaius, Will, and the now humanoid Arthur stood in front of the injured wolf while Gwaine, Percival, and the tall blonde shaggy-haired Alpha he had seen earlier stood behind the wolf. With them distracted and with wolves on the field a few ways away it would be easy to make a getaway, however, taking into account of the three Alpha's behind him. It will be difficult but if he was fast enough he will be able to run passed them without them grabbing at him.
Merlin then closed his eyes, allowing himself to gather as much calm as he could, he didn't want to make any drastic decisions. He's already done enough of those to last a lifetime but even so, he needed to get away for a while. So he took a deep breath then exhaling, then he opened his eyes to glance over at the others to see that a couple of the Knights were beginning to move the injured Alpha. With everyone distracted and watching the group moving the Alpha out of the training field. He swiftly turned jumping over the fence running right passed the three Alpha's as they attempted to grab him but with Merlin's training was able to dodge them effortlessly.
When he put enough distance between himself and the three he safely turned into a wolf again and dashed off into the forest. He could hear them all growling, howling as if they were right next to him. But there was one that was distinct that was stronger and louder than all the others. It was a howl so powerful it thundered throughout his body, it nearly had him stop and turn around.
And he was pretty sure he knew who that howl belonged to.
Arthur.
And he was furious.
However, he didn't have time for idiotic prats right now. He had to get away even if it's for a few hours.
He just had to get away from everything.
From himself.
From the pack.
From the uncertainty of home.
So when his paws passed the tree line, all of his thoughts disappeared.
All he could feel in that moment was himself and the forest.
He didn't know how long he had run for as he darted around the trees, running over rivers. However, once he became more aware of himself when he finally slowed down to a stroll as he walked sadly through the forest. To be honest he didn't understand why he was so sad, he just was. He remembered at such a young age when Isaac had explained to him about his nature and learned about the others like him. He had made the decision then and there that he didn't need a 'pack' or other wolves when he was fine right where he was.
He made that decision so long ago, but the pain was still there.
Why did he have to care so much of what they thought. Though just remembering how they looked at him as if he was some kind of monster to be feared, to be hated. Bounced continuously through the recesses of his mind and he couldn't understand why.
Why?
Why him?
Why this?
Why always?
Why was he always different from everyone in the room?
He was stronger than the rest.
He was faster than the rest.
He was smarter than the rest.
That difference always made him stand out in school, which always filled others with envy, aggression, caution, inferiority. They always wanted to take him down from the pedestal that they placed him on. He never wanted the pedestal, he never wanted to be different from anyone. And no matter how much he tried...
He could never hide the wolf inside.
And now here...
In a place that should understand him. A place that should accept him as he was.
Was met with the same results that he had always wanted to change.
He was tired of it all.
When suddenly out of no where he tripped over a large tree root with his right back paw getting stuck underneath. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the obvious tree root and now he's sprained his paw. He whimpered softly and gave a soft sigh before slowly rising and carefully pulling his paw out from beneath the root. He carefully placed his paw on the ground only for a sharp pain to ricochet through his paw up his leg, it hurt but judging by the pain of it just a few days of rest the pain will cease. He would just have to stay off of it for a while.
Merlin sighed, 'there I go again, the soldier analyzing every outcome like usual,' he thought, he sometimes blamed Isaac for raising him like a soldier rather than a son. Merlin knew his father cared for him and only wanted what was best for him; however, because of him he could never be truly relaxed like his classmates and simply 'go-with-the-flow' as his classmates would say.
Merlin shook his head trying to will the negative thoughts away. He will always be grateful for everything Isaac has done for him regardless on how he wanted to raise him. With that thought in mind he continued forward only to look up and see something unexpected and kind of unnerving.
Just in front of him was the side of a tall cliff with flowered covered vines trailing down covering all the sharp and pointy rocks that was peeking through the foliage. Merlin guessed he would have had to be thankful for the root for stopping him when he did because he could have ram himself into the wall.
And that would have been ten times worse than a sprained paw any day, Merlin had thought to himself when something caught his attention. It was subtle and hardly there but there seemed to be movement coming from the bottom of the vines. Merlin limped his way to the wall to give the movement some closer inspection only to feel a calming breeze come from the foliage and ruffle his fur. 'A cave?' Merlin thought as he cautiously nuzzled his snout in between the vines and poking his head inside and what he saw was truly magical.
What he had found was indeed a cave entrance with the same tiny white flowers on the vines growing on the sides of the cave as beautiful softly glowing fireflies played amongst the flowers. Adventuring forward he was amazed how the fireflies flurried around him as they danced to their own tune, one even daring to land on the tip of his nose. Unfortunately, Merlin sneezed the poor thing off when it's tiny legs had tickled his nose. The cave smelled heavenly and sweet from the many flowers that grew from every corner. There were even flowers hanging down from smaller vines from the ceiling and for some reason it wasn't bothering his nose. His usually sensitive nose would have been sneezing or at least burning but all he could feel was calm. All the anxiety that had wrecked his body was now becoming a distant memory, the calm was even helping him to forget the pain that had been pulsing before from his paw.
And as he walked the smell get even stronger the farther he traveled finally noticing a soft glow from the end of the tunnel.
At the end of that soft glow was something straight out of fairy tale picture book. It was a large room with a hole in the ceiling that allowed the natural light of the sun to enter and give the area a soft glow. The vines and flowers were everywhere some piled as if to resemble bushes and instead of fireflies there was small little butterflies flying around. And at the very center of the room was a small lake that surrounded a tiny island with a large tree at it's center. The only way onto the little island was the wide grassy dirt path leading directly to the tree.
Quite enchanted by the view Merlin couldn't help limping his way to the little island his eyes never straying from the very beautiful tree that seemed like the heart of this place. Standing in front of the tree was a bit intimidating as it's branches nearly reached the very top of the cave. Also with an island so small it didn't take long to do a small lap around the magnificent tree. Merlin even found the source of the water at the very back of the cave there was a few cracks in the wall with water falling down into the river below.
'This place is so peaceful,' Merlin thought as he sat in front of the tree tilting his head back to get more of the soothing fragrance, 'it's so sweet and warm here. It's actually making me feel a bit sleepy.' He sighed as he slowly opened his eyes to see a small opening within the branches that looked large enough for him to go through. He tilted his head in confusion this was the only spot the tree that had an opening, the rest of the tree was crowded with branches and leaves. Wanting to get a closer look, he carefully stood on his left hind leg with his other foot hovering off the ground as he gently placed his front paws on the bark. He could barely look through this small hole but from what he could actually see there seemed to be an empty spot devoid of any branches in the tree.
Curious to see what this meant with care and speed he swiftly jumped through the hole careful not to scratch too much of the bark as he climbed up. When he uncovered another secret the cave held, in the center of the tree was a large enough opening for three wolves to lay comfortably side by side each other. The center was shaped in a bowl shape with grass growing on it's floor. Which Merlin had thought was impossible for something of that nature to occur. However, what he did notice was the smell was even sweeter here, but at same time a bit more subtler.
Merlin couldn't help but feel the earlier drowsiness returning, he carefully laid himself down on the softest grass he has ever had the pleasure of laying on. Before finally giving into the tiredness the day has brought him.
Thank you everyone for reading!
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See ya!