The Voice of Albion
Summary: Arthur Pendragon, son of famous blues singer Uther Pendragon and world-renowned violinist Ygraine de Bois, has run out of other options. A failed record contract was the last straw and now here he was, standing on-stage on the Voice of Albion. Modern Merthur AU (with other pairings) based on the Voice.
Chapter Four - Knockout Week Part 1
Arthur and Leon had only known each other for a couple of weeks by the time that knockout week had officially started and steadily they were getting more and more serious. Arthur wasn't sure how Leon felt about it, and even though they were spending more and more time together, something still didn't feel quite right to him. Against his better judgement, he decided to leave it and see how things went. It was nice to have someone to spend time with and to have someone he could get more physical with.
He'd given up on commuting in, instead splitting Leon's hotel bill with him. Provided the two of them got through knockout week, the Albion Broadcasting Company who owned the Voice of Albion would start funding the contestants in the liveshows for the accomodation as they would have to stay nearby.
The Lives were weeks away however, with only two weeks' worth of auditions of the six done, still with two battles and a bumper-knockout episode to go. Some of the other contestants had already gone home - Arthur had spoken to Catrina from Team Gaius, who had said that Gaius had sent his team home and would rehearse with them in the few days before the Knockouts.
All of the other coaches it seemed had taken a different approach. Or so Morgana told him. She'd met him at the Studio for the final check on music so the band could get practising and invited him over for Lunch at her place.
He happily went, as while the fact that she was his sister had begun to sink in, it was still very surreal that the woman he was talking to was in fact his sister. He waited outside whilst she finished the handover with the rest of her acts. She came out of the studio room, looking quite exhausted.
"You would not believe how awkward it is to get the music right. I stood there arguing with Viv and Elyan again over their choice and the music for ten whole minutes in these heels." she said, holding on to the wall and pulling her heels off.
Arthur nodded and followed her out into the car park. She pressed the keys, unlocking a white Maserati a few metres away. Arthur climbed into the spotless car which had unsurprisingly comfortable seats. Morgana got into the driver's seat, slammed the door and pulled off her sunglasses.
"Honestly, I should have put them up against someone else so I could have dropped them."
"Did you not think of just putting Merlin and Gwen through?" Arthur asked.
Morgana turned the key in the ignition and the car purred to life. "I did, but if you look at my knockout team already I'm going to have a hard enough time choosing four for the live shows. Merlin and Gwen will fare better with Freya." She shook her head. "I'm not supposed to be discussing this with anyone, especially a contestant anyway, but I can trust you. Or I hope so anyway."
Arthur smiled at her. "You can trust me. I am your brother after all."
"Oh that reminds me, should you get through to the lives, the producers want be to have you do a duet with your dad."
His heart sank. "He'll be thrilled."
"Well you said he was touring in the US right now, and that he'd be back for the final. It would probably benefit you, provided we could match you both to a song. I just hope the other contestants don't kick up a fuss, as celebrity duets don't usually happen until the second week of the lives, but this is a special case."
Morgana drove them out of the car park and through the city - most of it familiar for Arthur - until she took a turn and the lay of the land became more obscure. Soon enough, they were out of the main city and into a clearly rich area of the suburbs. Morgana asked Arthur more about himself, and then talked to him a bit more about herself and how she had figured out the connection between them. The final stretch of road took them out of the suburbs and to a house - though more realistically it was a manor - with a wall and a big gate. She pulled in here into a garage, and tapped a button on the car dashboard which closed the gate after them.
"Come on then." she beckoned, leading him out of the garage, through a small section of the clearly large garden and into the main house.
Whilst it looked grand from the outside, the inside was quite modest. They passed a couple of rooms which Arthur looked into, including a not-so-modest library and a large music room, before they came to the spacious kitchen-come-dining room.
Morgana put the radio on then immediately set to work, taking things out of the fridge.
"Something with Pasta and Meat okay?"
"My favourite things." he replied.
"So there's more similar to us than meets the eye." she said, setting some water to boil. "And more than the musical influence." She pulls out some chicken from the fridge which has clearly been marinating and turns on the deep fat fryer. "How are you feeling about the knockouts?"
Arthur nods. "Pretty good actually. I think I know what I'm doing."
"I hope so." Morgana says. "Unlike one of my other colleagues, I will be rehearsing with you and the others all week coming up to the knockout. We're only obliged to do the initial meeting but I want you guys to bring your A game."
"Catrina said Gaius was sending them home."
"I don't know what he's thinking. His act's all bombed in the first live last year, bar the fast-passes. Both of them crashed out too, so I don't know why he's doing the bare minimum." She put the chicken in the fryer, which began to sizzle appetisingly. "I'm hoping to have reheasals most days with you all, and a group supper here the night before the big day."
"That's good of you."
"Well, I know some of my guys need it. I wasn't expecting to get Aithusa, and she's a bundle of nerves on stage, and I really want her to give a performance she can be proud of because that girl can do emotion as well as you can."
"And she's only, what, sixteen or seventeen."
"Exactly. It's looking hard though. I've got six acts who can realistically make it, and I have to pick four of them."
"I don't envy the decision."
"Who would you put through though, bar yourself."
Arthur pondered the question. "Morgause can really belt it out, she's fantastic as a vocalist. Gwaine has that real rawness to his voice, Aithusa is really emotional and Leon has good depth to his voice. I'd say they'd get through."
Arthur thought he heard Morgana mutter something about Arthur knowing about Leon's depth, but before he could comment on it Morgana spoke. "That would be a good team for the live shows definitely. Lance and Freya have their teams in their mind, and they are slightly more clear cut. It'll be a fight that's for sure."
When the food was ready, Morgana brought it over to the table in plates. It tasted delicious, and they both sat there in silence for a few minutes eating.
When he had finished, Arthur broke the silence. "That was amazing."
"Thank you." she replied. "I'm not just a pretty voice."
"That much was always clear."
"Stop it you." she teased. "I'll clear everything up later, how about we go through to the music room? We can go through some techniques on stretching your voice a bit, try and make it a bit easier to hit those falsetto notes we're going for."
They practised in the room for a couple of hours. Arthur had to drink quite a lot of water to keep his voice okay. They went through the whole song, Morgana playing it on the piano for him and giving him directions.
"Excellent." she said, when they had finished. "Now, no singing at all tomorrow and for the rest of today. We'll do the same thing a few days from now, to really try and solidify the practise we've put in."
"Thank you, I feel a lot better about the live show now."
"My pleasure brother." she smiled. "Just don't lose your voice for the knockouts, that'd be a disaster. So, if you want to come here for Lunch on Wednesday, that'll give you time to recover vocally for the final rehearsals on Friday before filming on Saturday."
Morgana dropped him back at the hotel, giving him a message for Leon to rehearse tomorrow with her. Arthur bid her farewell and went back to his and Leon's room. Leon had also left Arthur a message.
Out at the pub by the studio with some of the others. Come over when you're back.
Arthur scribbled down Morgana's message on another piece of paper so he'd remember and took the short walk to the pub. Leon's inside with Morgause, Gwaine and Aithusa who's sipping a coca-cola.
"Leon." Arthur say as he approach them at the table. He passes him the note, which Leon reads and nods.
"Anyone want another drink?" Arthur asks, and Morgause slides out from the table and comes up to the bar with him.
"Morgana said you were rehearsing today?" she asks him as we wait for the barmaid to pour the two pints.
"Yeah. It was good actually."
"She's a fantastic coach I think, considering she's taking the additional time with us." Arthur picks up the two pints, but Morgause grabs his arm as he makes to return to the table. "Arthur, none of us have any problem with it but we've obviously noticed what's been going on with you and Leon."
He passes her the pint, sliding his arm from her grip. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asks, probably sounding harsher than he expected.
"Trust me, I don't want to offend you at all, but you've got to see." she looks over at the table. "The five of us who are contenders for the four places in the lives are at that table. Don't let Leon distract you."
As if he's the one in my thoughts most of the time Arthur shrugged. Merlin was no longer in his team so as part of the competition, he didn't have to worry about him and Gwen.
"I won't Morgause."
She smiles at me. "I just wanted to be sure. You both look good together, but this is a competition and the knockout is gonna be a bloodbath. And you're one of my boys, I look out for you."
The two of them begin to slowly weave their way through the growing crowd back to the table. "Did you say it to Leon too?" Arthur asks.
"Yeah."
"How'd he react?"
"Same as you pretty much."
They reached the table, at which point they both stopped talking about the topic. It was a good night all in all, and Arthur felt like he was really amongst friends. Even Aithusa was beginning to open up to them a lot more and really integrating with them. At one point, members of Freya and Lances team began to crop up in the pub - Arthur spying Merlin and Gwen sitting with some others - one of whom must be Elena - at a table at the other end of the pub.
He didn't know too much about the opposing teams, or who was really a threat. Morgause had mentioned Elena from Team Freya, who Arthur had heard good things about. He didn't really remember her battle - there were so many - but now the numbers were slimming and he had a chance at the live shows he started to find out more and more about the other contestants.
Team Gaius was easily the weaker Team with its only real standout member being Mordred. Team Freya however had Gwen and Merlin, Elena - who had defeated Aithusa in the battles, and a girl called Sophia. In Team Lance, there were a couple of guys called Cerdan and Percival as well as Will, who Gwaine claimed was Lance's favourite on the team.
This was about as much as Arthur managed to document in his head from his group as progressively they got drunker and drunker - except for Aithusa - until the point where Leon ended up on Arthur's lap.
In his drunkenness, Arthur didn't look around the pub at all, focusing on the people he was with. And as such, he didn't notice Merlin eyeing him and Leon from the other side of the pub.
"Merlin, calm down." Gwen hissed at him, clearly aware of where they were.
"I am calm Gwen." he replied, voice very steady.
"They're just drunk." she said, which was obviously true by the amount of empty glasses across their table.
This was not good. It had taken a while to get Merlin to calm down after meeting Arthur in the queue at the auditions. She hadn't expected Merlin, who was usually reserved when it came to relationships, to take such a sudden romantic interest in Arthur. They were both fans of the music he'd released before they'd met him, but this had taken another level.
What was more concerning though, was that while Gwen had paused to sip at her vodka and coke, Merlin had left the table and disappeared into the throng of people.
She didn't even bother to whisper. "Oh shit."
Arthur didn't even see Merlin storm past to the pub bathroom as he stood at the bar, trying to convince the barman that they weren't all that drunk. In the end, his powers of persuasion and charm didn't translate too well with the high alcohol level in his blood and he was sent packing back to the table.
"Where's Gwaine?" Arthur said, stumbling slightly on his words, when he got back to the table.
"In the toilets." replied Aithusa.
"Dammit, he's the most sober of us and we need him to get us drinks." And with that, Arthur made his way to go get Gwaine from the toilet.
The toilets in the pub were the standard for pub toilets. Arthur pushed the door open and winced slightly at the smell. He needed to piss anyway, so he made his way into one of the two cubicles and began to piss. Zipping up, he opened the door of the stall.
Merlin was pressed up against the wall, lips locked against Gwaines, the two cluched together in a tight embrace.
Awkward. "Oh. Sorry." Arthur said. Merlin shot Arthur some side eye as he headed for the door. What the hell? But Gwaine was into Morgause! None of this make sense! thought Arthur as he came back into the pub.
He sat back down at the table and Morgause raised her eyebrows. "Seen something bad in the men's? Where's Gwaine?"
"Um" Arthur half spoke half stuttered, "He's in there right now. I left him making out with Merlin against a wall."
Morgause sat back. "Oh. Right." She glanced at Aithusa and Leon, then her watch. "How about we call it a night?"
"Probably a good shout." Leon said. "Aithusa, do you want us to walk you back? It's quite late."
"That'd be great thanks."
The four of us left the pub. Aithusa's house was only a ten minute walk, and for the most part it was awkwardly quiet. They waited outside until her Dad opened the door, and he thanked the three of them and invited them in for a drink, to which they said they couldn't hang around.
Leon and Arthur then walked Morgause to her car and she offered to drop them back at the hotel, so Leon got in the back of the car and Arthur got into the front.
"So, Gwaine and Merlin huh?" Morgause asked to nobody in particular.
Leon spoke first. "I didn't realise either of them liked guys."
"Me neither." Arthur then said. "I honestly thought Gwaine liked you Morgause."
"So did I. Though I knew about Merlin." she said.
"How?" Leon and Arthur both asked.
She grinned. "He would talk about Arthur most of the time and not about his music."
"Me?" Arthur asked. Merlin had never given him any indication of wanting it to go further, well other than the kiss but Merlin had been very drunk. He had said that he really wanted to do that. Had he meant more than in the moment?
"Well tough, Arthur said yes to me first." said Leon defensively.
"It's not us you have to say that to." Morgause replies, pulling over by the hotel. "See you guys later."
"Thanks for the lift." Arthur replied, getting out and walking with Leon into the hotel. The two got into an empty lift and Leon pressed the button for their floor quite hardly.
"Leon chill."
"I'm sorry Arthur; this has all just... just stressed me."
I give him a kiss. "Well it's fine, you are my boyfriend not him, so don't worry about it."
He puts his arm over my shoulder and pulls me in close. "I know, but what the hell is he acting at? Literally everyone knows Gwaine and Morgause are made for each other, and that you and I are together."
"Leon it's not his fault he likes me. And if Gwaine's getting with Merlin then that's Gwaine's decision."
"I'm sorry. I just get jealous sometimes." he says as the lift reaches their floor. Arthur takes Leon's hand.
"Come on, let's go forget all about it."
To Arthur however, everything is beginning to add up, even though it's still confusing. Merlin giving him side-eye whilst with Gwaine was Merlin trying to make him jealous. Arthur realised this in the morning whilst he was nursing his hangover. Still, much didn't make sense.
Arthur spoke to the empty room - Leon having gone for his rehearsal with Morgana. "I'm just gonna have to talk to him." He found Merlin's number in his phone, which he had got from them after the battles, and sent him a text.
Now all Arthur could do was wait.
Authors Note:Again I apologise for the delay. Exam season is back, so my second year anniversary of starting writing is approaching and the workload has already piled up. I hope you enjoy this chapter. There will probably be one more before the night of knockout performances and then it's on to the live shows!
Also yes I am trying to catch the errors I'm making by accidentally writing in third person, which is proving surprisingly difficult for some reason. I apologise if you come across any, and if you wouldn't mind pointing them out I'd be ever grateful!