Okay, I think MagicbyMerlin is way to excited about her new Ipod to say anything, and by the way, it is my turn! So here's the new chapter, filled with lots of sillyness for you to enjoy! And review.
Ah, while you are at it, go and read (and review) "Happy Go Lucky" by MagicbyMerlin! Sooo coooool... 3
*is not making any adverisment ^^"*
MBM
There was a blinding flash. Arthur was quite sure he would have fallen to the floor had there still been one. But there wasn't; it had disappeared. Now it came to it, everything seemed to have disappeared. Instead, there was a swirling grey mist. Arthur put out his hand; he could almost feel the smoke. It curled around his hand, up his arm, twisting itself around his body. He began to feel dizzy; the smoke was making him feel light-headed. Merlin was nowhere to be seen; the fog made sure that he could see nothing. The world was slipping away; he had the impression he was flying.
Suddenly, with a thump, he landed on solid ground. He staggered, feeling nauseous, and clutched his stomach. Merlin was a little way off to his side, looking quite unharmed.
"Don't ever," Arthur wheezed, doubled over, "do that again…"
Merlin merely shrugged, looking nonchalant.
"See him?" he said, pointing.
Arthur looked in the direction he was designating. They seemed to be in his chambers, but his chambers as they had looked many years ago. This confused him. Had they travelled in time? In the corner of the room was crouched a boy, probably around sixteen, and he was washing socks.
"Do you remember him?" Merlin asked.
"No…" Arthur said indifferently. He did not recognize the boy, whoever he was.
Merlin shook his head, disappointed.
"That's Henry," he said. "Remember him now?"
"Err…" Arthur still had no memory of him.
Merlin jabbed him hard in the ribs with a long finger.
"You're worse than I thought!"
"Oi!" Arthur reprimanded, rubbing his side, a hurt expression on his face. "Anyway, look at him! He's spilling soap all over the place!"
"Oh, woe is me…" Henry suddenly spoke up, his voice dragged out and dramatic as he whined quietly to himself, "…such a hard life…stupid socks…they smell so bad…woe is me…"
"Humph. They're not that bad," Arthur muttered.
"I can tell you from experience that they are," Merlin replied.
"Whatever." Arthur avoided eye contact.
"See him suffering…" Merlin went on in earnest, throwing his arm out at the servant as if to prove his point further.
Henry pulled a face, seeing he had sock fluff all over his soapy wet fingers.
"Eww, this is so disgusting. Look at me suffer."
"It could be worse…" Arthur said, looking surly.
"You think so?" Merlin asked, gesturing to Henry, who, quite suddenly, cried out in horror and threw one of the socks into the corner. The sock walked away of its own accord. Arthur wrinkled his nose, watching it edge its way under his bed to fester away there forever until it became mulch.
"So? It's his job!" he said to Merlin angrily.
"Suff-er-ing…" Merlin responded.
"I see no suffering."
Merlin just sighed.
"So is that one of my former menservants?" Arthur asked.
"You really don't remember, do you?"
"Should I? It's a servant!"
"So was I!" Merlin cried.
"But –"
Arthur was cut off by the yelps of pain emitted by Henry, whose ankle was suddenly being nommed by the sock, which seemed to have taken a fancy to it.
"Oh, it's all good for him," Arthur said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Henry leapt to his feet, the sock still firmly attached to his ankle, and began to hop around, desperately trying to extract the offending item of clothing from his foot. Unfortunately for him, the window was open. He did not see it, and the next thing he knew, he had tripped over the bucket of soapy water and flown head first out of the window. Merlin and Arthur listen to his screams die away. And then –
SPLISH.
"Oh, so that's how he disappeared!" Arthur said in realization. "I did wonder, y'know."
Merlin stared at him incredulously, and said, "Would you like to see your other menservants…?"
"Yeah, sure, it'll be a laugh," Arthur replied, smirking as he put his hands behind his head in an offhand-ish manner. "I like to see them suffer."
Merlin's eyes widened, horrified by his words.
"What?" Arthur asked.
"Whoa, you really are a prat…"
"Right, you've asked for this…" Arthur grabbed Merlin's scarf from off his neck. Horrified, Merlin tried to snatch it back, but Arthur merely walked over to the fire burning in the hearth. He swayed it deviously back and forth in his hand, and each time the scarf swung a little closer to the tongues of flame.
"You wouldn't dare…" Merlin hissed.
"Try me." Arthur swung the beloved neckerchief again. Merlin bit his lip and tried to resist the urge to dash over and reclaim it, but Arthur could see by the sweat beginning to appear on his forehead that he was having trouble in doing so.
Eventually, Merlin broke down.
"Okay, I give in! Please don't!"
"Did you really think I was going to destroy it?" Arthur asked, taking the neckerchief away from the flames and giving it a cuddle. "Never…"
"Annoying, and yet sweet at the same time…" Merlin muttered. "Back to the point…next servant. Guess who?"
"No idea."
"Jonathan."
"Oh, I remember him!" Arthur grinned. "Curly haired chap, right?"
"Correct," Merlin said, nodding. "This was several years ago, when you were a child."
"What? No!" Arthur cried in great distress. "No! You are not going to see me as a toddler!"
"Shut up, we're going."
"But –" Arthur began, but the blinding flash came again, and it left him with an imprint of the room on his eyes. Again, the smoke curled around him, and again he was flying…and then he was on solid ground.
Involuntarily, he screamed. Merlin stared at him. Arthur cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks colouring. Merlin turned away, not looking in the least impressed.
Fighting back the desire to kick Merlin in the face, Arthur, too, looked where Merlin was now facing. A small boy – probably no more than three or four – was sitting on the floor; his hair was blonde and his eyes were blue, and before him was lined up an army of toy soldiers.
"Aww, you were actually cute!" Merlin said, grinning.
"Watch it." Arthur punched his arm half-heartedly.
"I wanna play!" the baby Arthur cried.
"No, Arthur, it's time for bed."
As he spoke, Arthur caught sight of the figure standing unnoticed just behind his field of vision. He did indeed have curly hair, and he was tall and thin, although not in the same way as Merlin.
"I don't wanna go to bed!" baby Arthur yelled.
"You have to, sire." Jonathan looked as though he were biting back his anger and annoyance with great difficulty. Perhaps he had been at this for some time…
Baby Arthur pouted. He looked uncannily like the adult Arthur as he did this, and Merlin sniggered. Arthur narrowed his eyes at him, and Merlin quickly reverted his amusement into a stern silence, although Arthur was quite certain he was fighting back the urge to smile.
"Sire, put away those toys!" Jonathan demanded.
"No!" Baby Arthur promptly kicked Jonathan hard in the shins and ran out of his room and down the corridor, squealing hysterically with delight all the way. Merlin clapped his hands over his ears, grimacing.
"That squeal alone is enough to drive someone mad…" he said to Arthur above the racket.
"Oi, you just said I was cute!"
"Yeah, but how would that look if some slash-obsessed fangirl read this?"
"Ah, you have a point there."
"I should make amends, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you should."
"You're a horrible prat and I hate you."
"Yeah, you just had to take it one step further, didn't you?"
"Well, naturally," Merlin answered, a huge grin on his face. "But this was not all…"
SNP
"Next servant?" Arthur wanted to get out of here – or wherever here was – as quickly as possible. Merlin was way too happy to see baby Arthur, but when the ghost said they were going to stay with the same manservant, Arthur sighed. "Have I not been ashamed enough?"
"Never."
There was another flash. When the light evaporated, they were still standing in the same room, and judging by the sun outside, it could not have been much later in the day. Jonathan had managed to fetch baby Arthur from under the bed, and placed him in a chair next to a table. On the table was a plate, although the contents was scattered all over the table.
"Oh, the embarrassment!" Arthur groaned, as Jonathan lifted up a spoon and scooped some of the vegetables onto it.
"Here comes the horsey!" Jonathan said in a comical, high voice, lifting the spoon up to baby Arthur's face, acting like it was a horse ready to enter the stables. Grown-up Arthur hid his blushing face behind his hands as little Arthur took a bite. After chewing on the vegetables for no more than a second, he spat it back out again. Jonathan gave baby Arthur an angry look, trying to wipe the goo of his knee back onto the plate. Baby Arthur just giggled.
Merlin shook his head at the prince standing next to him.
"Well, sor-ry if it was cabbage! I hate the stuff!" Arthur stated, pointing at the plate.
"Why did you have to do that for?" Jonathan had managed to get rid of the cabbage-y goo as much as he could, but there was still a stain left.
"Well, sow-ry if it was cabbage! I hate the stuff!" baby Arthur gave as explanation, still giggling.
"Not changed much, have you?" Merlin said, his voice quiet.
"Don't be ridiculous! Of course I have!" Arthur said swiftly. When Merlin raised an eyebrow, Arthur added, "I have muscle!"
Merlin sighed.
"Sire, you must eat your vegetables!" Jonathan tried.
"Why?"
"Because the king will accidentally have the executioner slip on me while he's carrying an axe…" Jonathan muttered, more to himself than the misbehaving toddler before him. As young as little Arthur was, however, he had understood the meaning of the utterance. Gleefully, he started to hop up and down in his seat, almost tipping the chair over.
"BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!!" he squealed, letting his little fists hit the table. Jonathan cradled his head in his hands, panicking, not sure what to do next.
"I hate my life…"
Merlin nodded and stared at his feet.
"I know how he feels…"
Little Arthur kept screaming the same word, over and over; Jonathan wasn't able to quiet him down. Grown Arthur had still heard what Merlin said.
"What? You don't mean that…do you?" he asked.
"Yes, I do." Merlin looked away, a grim expression on his face.
"You don't really…hate your life, do you?"
"Well, some days are really tough. Mucking out the stables, cleaning your room, cleaning your socks…"
Baby Arthur stopped screaming.
"…polishing your armour, cleaning your shoes, your sword, your bed…"
"Yeah! Yeah, I get it!" Arthur sighed.
"Really?" Merlin turned back to him, looking hopeful.
"Did you muck out my stables yesterday, because I came in…"
"Arthur!" Merlin punched Arthur on the shoulder.
"What? Did you…?"
"No!"
"WELL, WHY THE BLAZES NOT?"
"I was busy dying, remember?"
"Oh, shut up, you idiot…" Arthur muttered. He didn't like to be remembered of that moment, the pain he had felt; he still felt it inside of him. He knew the ghost of Merlin would not – perhaps could not – stay with him forever. He was going to leave him. Prince Arthur was going to be alone.
"See!" Merlin raised his arms up in the air, looking annoyed more than anything. "You can be harsh!"
"That wasn't harsh…" Arthur hissed. Merlin looked disgusted by him, and Arthur suddenly felt a small twinge of guild, though he quickly hid it.
Jonathan was still trying to feed baby Arthur, even though most of the plate's contents had ended up on the floor. Little fists kept hitting the table in anger: baby Arthur was not going to give in!
And to make matters worse, somebody knocked at the door. Jonathan couldn't risk take an eye off Arthur, and asked the man to come in on his own. The man entered Arthur's room: it was the executioner, and he was carrying his axe.
The Arthur standing beside Merlin stared at Jonathan's face, which was frighteningly easy to read. Sweat was pouring down the man's forehead, his teeth were shattering and he kept blinking his eyes.
"Oh…there are banana skins everywhere…" he muttered to himself under his breath, frantically looking here and there at invisible banana skins. "The executioner is going to slip…" He was biting his fingernails in agitation now, and forgot to watch baby Arthur, who slipped out of his seat and snuck up to the black hooded man.
The executioner did not speak a word; his presence was always enough to silence the crowd: they never asked any questions. But he did make a low growl in the depths of his throat when baby Arthur gave him a little push, causing him to him loose his balance, and in the meantime making him slip on one of the 'banana skins'.
Jonathan saw the axe come down in slow motion, thinking something couldn't move that slow but in the same time that fast. After a weird slicing sound, Jonathan couldn't think anything at all. The axe and his head rolled over the floor, and baby Arthur started to yell, "BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!!" again.
Another servant ran into the room, attracted by Arthur's screaming. But the boy had managed to climb into the seat again, and was looking as innocent as could be.
"It wasn't me!" he claimed. "His head – it just popped off! I'm sure it was magic!"
The servant seemed fooled by the argument, but Merlin, standing beside Arthur, wasn't in the slightest. He had that look on his face again, the evil one that Arthur couldn't copy, but he knew pretty well what it meant.
"It was magic, wasn't it?" Arthur tried carefully.
"Next – servant," Merlin said through gritted teeth, eyes steely.
