OK! Sorry for the longer wait than I promised on this one! It took a while to write, but I do have the other chapters already semi-finished so it shouldn't take too much longer. Four more to go!
Thank you to all who faved, followed, and ESPECIALLY reviewed! It meant a lot to me that you guys enjoyed the story!
This chapter, if it wasn't already obvious, features the full length song "A Whole New World" which will be in italics. Getting into MAJOR Gwerthur feels here! Alright now enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I own nothing! HUZZAH!
Albionian Nights
A Merlin Aladdin!AU
Chapter Eight: A Whole New World
Arthur growled at himself, pacing back and forth outside the back entrance to the castle, while Merlin and Carpet were playing chess. The genie glanced at his friend and raised his eyebrow.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"Tch, a man who is alright does not pace, Merlin!" Arthur explained, still pacing. Merlin smirked. "Guinevere won't even let me talk to her! I knew this prince thing was a stupid thing to try to pull off…"
Merlin frowned and made an odd scoffing noise from the back of his throat as Carpet knocked another one of his pieces off of the board.
"What?! That is so not fair!" he protested, narrowing his eyes at Carpet, which if it had a face would probably be smirking. Arthur grumbled.
"Merlin, I need your help with this!" he protested, crossing his arms. Merlin looked up from the chessboard and slid over to his companion, a mock thoughtful look growing on his face.
"Well, if you really want my advice…" the magical being began, sticking his hands in his pants pockets. Arthur nodded fervently.
"Yes! I do!" Merlin smirked.
"Well if you wanna win her heart, you gotta shoot straight, you know?"
"What?" Merlin rolled his eyes and grabbed Arthur's shoulders, looking him straight in the face.
"Tell. Her. The. TRUTH! You lovesick idiot!" Merlin laughed, but stopped when Arthur pushed him away.
"No way, Merlin!" he snapped testily. "If I told Guinevere the truth, she'd think I was pathetic, she'd laugh! She'd-" Arthur threw up his hands. "I can't let her know I'm just a…street rat!" Merlin frowned. His master really didn't understand…He sighed, crossing his arms.
"Arthur, all joking aside, you should just go up there and be yourself. That's what she likes isn't it? You, as you," Merlin suggested softly. Arthur gave his exotic companion a light glare.
"That's the last thing I have to be right now," Arthur replied curtly, throwing his brilliant scarlet cape over his shoulder. "I need to be cool, smooth, and confident…how do I look?" Arthur turned to Merlin briefly, calling over Carpet. Merlin sighed.
"Like a prince," he responded sadly as Arthur flew up to the princess's small balcony outside her window. The blond peered into the room, seeing Gwen sit on her bed, sighing as Morgana sat dutifully by her.
"Princess Guinevere!" the blond called from outside. He gained both women's attention and the emerald irises of Morgana pierced Arthur's gaze with a harsh glare.
"Who's there?" Gwen's voice replied cautiously, and Arthur couldn't see her as well. He cleared his throat and presented himself in a stately manner.
"It is I, Prince Arturus Draconis!" he announced in his most princely voice possible. Gwen huffed.
"I don't want to speak to you," she replied shortly, turning away from the balcony and walking towards the door. Arthur panicked, stumbling a bit.
"No, no, please princess, gimme a chance or something!" he protested, nearing the large window, but being blocked by a very protective and angry Morgana.
"Can't you see she is distressed enough? OR are you just too thickheaded like the rest of those heartless fools?" the dark haired woman pushed Arthur farther and farther back, poking her finger at his armored chest.
"How's our little lovebird doing?" Merlin whispered to Carpet. It responded with a slashing throat symbol, and Merlin groaned.
Arthur now had removed his crown and his cape, trying to fend off the tiger-like Morgana, and Gwen looked over, intrigued. The way the teen tried to hold off her confidante, it seemed familiar to her.
"Wait- do I know you?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Arthur froze for a moment, only a moment, before taking a quick breath.
"What? Me, no." he denied quickly. The princess raised her eyebrow and walked closer.
"You remind me…of someone I met in the lower town," Gwen continued slowly, staring a paralyzed Arthur down. Morgana realized what her friend was getting at and slowly stepped to the side, slightly eager to watch the scene. "In the market." Arthur's brain went into overdrive.
"Ah- no, ah, couldn't have been me- I mean, I send servants to the lower town, heh," he sputtered ungracefully. "S-Sometimes I even send servants of my servants! s-So it couldn't have been me you saw yknow?" Gwen's face fell in disappointment.
"No…I guess not," she sighed, eyebrows furrowing. "Of course not…how could you be?" Arthur wondered why she was so upset over this, and he turned back briefly, meeting eyes with Merlin.
The genie wrote letters into the air using his magic. TELL HER SOMETHING ABOUT HERSELF! SHE'S SMART, FUN, BEAUTIFUL, PICK SOMETHING!
Arthur cleared his throat and turned back to face Gwen and Morgana. "P-Princess Guinevere- you're ah, very beautiful!" he managed to make out, grinning genuinely. Morgana gave one glance to Gwen and the princess returned the gesture.
"Hmm," she pondered, walking over to Arthur. "I'm wealthy too." Arthur swallowed a lump of anxiety.
"Y-yeah!" he agreed, backing up as Gwen moved closer. She gave him a sly smile.
"The next in line for the throne," she added, narrowing her dark brown eyes at his bright blue. Arthur simply nodded this time, unable to get out words. Guinevere smirked. "A fine prize for any prince to marry." Morgana smirked as well, knowing where she was going with her line of words. Arthur gulped.
"R-Right, a prince like me!" Arthur's words stumbled out. Morgana's smirk grew. Oh, he was in trouble! Gwen's look became dangerous.
"Right, a prince like you," she echoed, pushing him, and pulling his shirt over his head. "And every other stuffed shirt, swaggering, pig I've met!"
"Wait- I-!"
"Just, go jump off a balcony!" Gwen retorted heatedly, turning around and crossing her arms.
"Alright!" Arthur answered just as angrily, though more at him than at her. Gwen and Morgana both looked at him.
Merlin, looking up from below, letting out a sigh, quietly slipped back into the lamp inside of Arthur's satchel.
"What?"
"I- I mean, you're right," the blond corrected his words, clutching his bag instincively. "You're not just some prize to be won." The two women glanced at each other in confusion. "I'll just go now." Arthur stepped off of the balcony, to their shock.
"No!" Gwen cried out.
"What? What?" Arthur answered, sticking his head back up from the edge. Guinevere, amazed, glanced to Morgana who nodded her head over to Arthur.
"How…are you doing that?" Gwen inquired, approaching the edge of the balcony.
"It's a magic carpet," the teen explained, floating up for the princess to see.
"It's beautiful," she complimented as Carpet "kissed" her hand. Arthur glanced at her shyly.
"You- ah, don't want to go for a ride, do you?" he suggested kindly, lowering just a bit. "We could get out of the palace, see the world?"
Gwen glanced to Morgana, who grinned and gestured forward. "Go on!" she whispered.
"Is it safe?" the princess asked, unsure. The blond Pendragon chuckled.
"Sure, do you trust me?"
Those four words struck Princess Guinevere like a bolt of electricity. She looked up wide-eyed at the smiling prince, wondering, hoping, if what she thought could be true.
"Do you trust me?" Arthur asked again, and Gwen smiled knowingly as she took his extended hand.
"Yes," she replied softly, stepping up onto the magic carpet and bracing herself as, without much notice, they took off into the sky.
Arthur smiled as Gwen put her arms around his waist and the wind rushed through their hair.
"I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid! Tell me, Princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?" The blond teen brushed her hair behind her ears gently and guided Carpet through the night sky. Guinevere's face was colored with a deep blush as she looked back on the city of Camelot, growing smaller and smaller.
"I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride! A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view! No one to tell us 'No' or where to go, or say we're only dreaming."
"A whole new world!" Gwen added, heart soaring with exhilaration. "A dazzling place I never knew, but when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with you!"
"Now I'm in a whole new world with you!"
Arthur led Carpet across the land and sea, flying by amazing unseen wonders of the world unknown to both him and the princess.
"Unbelievable sights, indescribable feeling, soaring, tumbling, freewheeling, through an endless diamond sky, a whole new world!"
"Don't you dare close your eyes!"
"A hundred thousand things to see!"
"Hold your breath, it gets better!"
"I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far! I can't go back to where I used to be!"
"A whole new world!"
"Every turn a surprise!"
"With new horizons to pursue!"
"Every moment, red letter!"
They held hands and gazed into each other's eyes. "I'll chase them anywhere, there's time to spare. Let me share this whole new world with you."
"A whole new world."
"A whole new world."
"That's where we'll be."
"That's where we'll be."
"A thrilling chase."
"A wondrous place."
"For you and me." Hovering over a moonlit lake, their hearts beat together as one, and Guinevere laid her head against his chest.
"It's all so magical," she murmured dreamily, and Arthur nodded.
"Yeah."
Gwen scrunched up her face in determination and thought that this moment would be the time to burst the bubble.
"The view of Camelot from your place was amazing, but this was unbelievably stunning, like a fairytale," she commented slyly, and Arthur didn't notice her sneaky wordplay, momentarily forgetting his disguise.
"Yeah, that's nothing compared to this," he replied wistfully, before sitting up straighter and realizing his mistake. "What I mean is-!" Gwen furrowed her eyebrows.
"You are the boy I met in the lower town! I knew it!" she exclaimed, hurt. "Why did you lie to me?"
"Gwen, I'm sorry-!"
"Did you think I was stupid?"
"No!"
"That I wouldn't figure it out?!"
"Well- I hoped you wouldn't- but that's not what I meant!" Arthur's brain was floundering for the right thing to say. Gwen's warm brown eyes narrowed coldly.
"Who are you? Tell me the truth," she insisted plainly, staring him down.
"The truth? The truth…the truth is…Gwen, I ah," Arthur fumbled, before settling on a thought. "I sometimes dress as a commoner t-to escape the pressures of royal life!" Arthur smiled, pleased with his fabrication. "But I really am a prince!" The princess glanced at him, tilting her head.
"Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Well, y'know, royalty going out into the market in disguise, kinda strange isn't it?"
Gwen chuckled, and ruffled Arthur's hair. "Not that strange."
She leaned against him, and smoothly, Arthur directed Carpet back to the Camelot palace, dropping Gwen off at the balcony.
"Goodnight, my handsome prince," Guinevere murmured with a sweet smile. Arthur returned the gesture.
"Sleep well, princess," he replied, leaning over the balcony edge to kiss her, and she reciprocated, but Carpet nudged Arthur forward and sped up the process. The two kissed passionately for a few seconds and then broke away, Gwen walking away slowly into her bedroom. Arthur grinned, leaning back on Carpet.
"Yes!" he cheered as Carpet began to descend slowly to the ground. "For the first time, things are starting to go right!" All of a sudden, he was snatched by four pairs of hands and gagged. He let out a few muffled "Hey!" yells as a guard grabbed Carpet and tied it around a nearby tree.
"I think you've overstayed your welcome, Prince Arturnip," Agravaine stated darkly from the shadows, his voice laced with cold emotion. Arthur glared, struggling underneath the grip of the large guards. The advisor turned away. "Make sure he's never found."
Arthur Pendragon felt a hard blow hit the back of his head, and his world dissolved into the dark of oblivion.