Evermore
Chapter 2: A Silver Lining
Characters~ Arthur & Merlin
Disclaimer~ Yeah—don't own Merlin in any way, shape, or form. (Arthur does XD)
Warnings~ young prince!Arthur and young poor!Merlin, some OOC because they're kids, and fluffy slash/shounen-ai ~wO
Notes from the KIT-chan~
And so we proceed with the beginning of a new and everlasting friendship. ^_^
Silver: If you somehow come across this, lawl—no, I did not purposely name Chapter 2 like this. XD The phrase just so happened to actually fit for them here. =w=";
Enjoy~ :D
.::.*~Kitsune Shadow~*.::.
~o~
At that moment, Merlin was standing rigidly in front of the threshold, his eyes bulging with shock as he gazed incredulously at the blonde sitting a mere few feet away from him. And in just seconds, he had found himself shouting halfway across the room, waving his arms vigorously.
"What do you think you're doing here!"
Immediately, Arthur had flinched and whipped his head over to look the perturbed raven with wide eyes of surprise, meeting the other's disconcerted gaze.
Not long after that, Hunith had appeared from the sidelines to peer towards the door in time to see her poor, agitated son just about close to having a fit in the doorway. She paused, then slowly shook her head.
"Oh, dear…this has gotten a lot more complicated than it already is, hasn't it?"
Mrs. Emrys closed her eyes and let out a sigh before turning back to continue handling the stove. "Merlin, please close the door."
At that moment, the raven gradually eased up a bit, uneasily reaching back to grab the doorknob and close the door shut. Then he began to proceed towards his mother without any hesitation at all as she calmly turned the stove on to boil water in a pot.
"Mum!" Merlin cried. "What on earth is the Prince of Wales doing here in our house!"
He eyed Arthur suspiciously, only to watch him grin quite amusedly at the jumpy expression he now had on his face.
Finally, Hunith let out another sigh and placed another pot in the sink, then glanced back to meet her son's gaze with aplomb. "It's all right, love. Calm down before you end up having a fit."
There was a long pause.
She smiled slightly, grabbing a tablespoon from the counter, then continued in an even but soothing tone.
"There's absolutely no need to worry. Prince Arthur is just merely acting as our guest here for the time being," she spoke calmly.
At that moment, the raven raised a dubious eyebrow, briefly darting his eyes at the blonde as he listened to the words his mother was saying that minute. Guest?
That was when she'd finished her sentence with news that almost made Merlin jump over at Arthur to grab his neck in a chokehold.
"He'll be staying with us for a few days, so please help him feel at home."
In that instant, Merlin's breath had hitched, and his eyes had widened even more. "What?" he sputtered. "What do you mean—no way!"
At the same time, he glanced back to see Arthur chuckling softly behind him and frowned disdainfully at him. Then he turned to look at his mother again.
"Mum…" he began to protest in a half-whiny tone. "Please—you can't be serious. We've already got enough problems now."
At this, Hunith didn't even bother to give him a response.
Pretty soon, the chuckles behind him had turned into wholehearted laughs. "Don't you get it yet? She is being serious, you dolt."
Instantaneously, Merlin whirled around to pout at the young blonde, looking at him up and down. "Oh, pipe down, you prat. Just because you're the Prince of Wales doesn't mean you can barge randomly into people's houses like this and act all high and mighty like some god. It's already hard for us to feed ourselves. Why don't you go run off and bother somewhere else?" he spat out, almost shrieking.
At that moment, Arthur raised an eyebrow at the latter. How interesting it was to him to be informally addressed so freely by a commoner like this for the first time in his royal life. Of course if this had happened with someone other than the boy standing in front of him, he would have had the right to have him or her taken to the Tower of London in less than a second.
But right now was a different story—after all, he had run away from home, and Mrs. Emrys had already been so kind enough to help him temporarily take some form of refuge here in the first place. So he kept quiet and listened as the raven continued to tell him off.
Though that wasn't until Hunith had finally turned around to cut Merlin off before he'd end up strangling the other where he was now; she put down the spoon on the counter and turned around to look at Merlin with a stern expression on her face.
"Merlin, that's enough. Bring me the basket that Mr. Adams gave to you earlier, and while you're at it, go upstairs to call your siblings downstairs for supper."
The raven paused, staring at her in protest. "But Mum…"
Mrs. Emrys sighed and put her hand to her forehead. "I mean it, Merlin. Now," she insisted.
With that, Merlin scowled at a smirking Arthur, then did as his mother asked and left.
~o~
The next few hours were not as pleasant, either—at least…not for Merlin that is.
The dinner table had been quite noisier than usual that evening, which had mainly been his brothers and sisters constantly fussing over how Prince Arthur was sitting with them—eating the same food as they were at that moment, in addition to answering all the numerous questions he'd end up being asked.
"Is it really that nice in England?"
"How big is Buckingham Palace?"
"Do you have your own butler and stuff?"
"Do they give you a lot of toys?"
"Is there really gold in the King's chambers?"
"How many times do your parents take you on vacations?"
"Can you take me with you one day when we're older?"
"Being the Prince of Wales is the life, isn't it?"
After a while, when his younger siblings were still chattering on and on to that bigheaded blonde, Merlin had finally had enough and got up from the dinner table, letting out an exasperated sigh after rolling his eyes at Arthur.
It had even driven the raven almost entirely mad later on when Molly, of all people, had been swayed along with the others. Molly—who Merlin had thought could have as well been the only other remaining sensible sibling of his family who didn't usually obsess or fantasize over issues like this.
But soon, it had all been too late when he had seen her and two of his other younger sisters Diana and Lori with the self-conceited prince in the kitchen when everyone else had gone to bed for the night.
Merlin had just been about to hit the hay himself when he'd heard his sisters giggling from the other side of the room.
At that moment, Arthur was smiling at them like a complete idiot, and he diverted his gaze to look at him as he walked past them to make his way up the stairs to get dressed.
"Are you really staying here with us?" Diana had asked innocently.
"Are you really a prince?" Lori had added, tugging on the blonde's red sleeve.
The prat had chuckled, shifting his gaze among each and every one of them. "Of course I am," he'd replied with a grin, taking Molly's hand and kissing it briefly with sleepy, Prince Charming-like eyes.
"Enchanté, mademoiselle," he spoke in a cool, sultry tone, looking into Molly's chocolate-brown eyes.
In that instant, the brunette had blushed a little, shyly looking away from Arthur.
Merlin let out a sigh and rolled his eyes again. "Oh come on. That was probably the worst French that I've ever heard," he spat out.
At that moment, Molly turned around to laugh at her older brother. "How would you know? Can you speak French yourself, big brother?"
At first, the raven opened his mouth to speak confidently in reply, but then grew slightly hesitant for a minute.
"Well…no," he replied reluctantly, briefly scratching the back of his head. "But I do know for a fact that French accents shouldn't sound like that," he finished with a firm tone.
"Is that so?" Arthur replied, looking back at Merlin with an amused expression on his face, an eyebrow raised.
At that moment, Merlin unintentionally shrank back a little from the blonde, struck speechless for once in his life. "Er…"
What in the world—?
Before he knew it, his sisters were giggling again, and he found himself sulking over to the stairwell with a sheepish look on his face, his eyes lowered.
"Forget it—I'm going to bed," he sighed in defeat, making his way up towards his room.
And even when he knew they were out of sight, he could still feel Arthur smirking quite condescendingly at him.
~o~
Merlin closed his eyes and slowly shook his head as he grabbed the doorknob to his room. At that point, he knew for a fact that the next few days were definitely going to be hell with him around in his own home.
But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that strange feeling in his heart all over again just like before during the first time that the two of them had laid eyes on each other that day—that particular warmth inside that was still too far for the nine-year-old to understand clearly...
In that instant, the raven let out an exhausted sigh, then pushed the door open to step into his chambers and found himself standing rigid in the middle of the threshold as he caught the first glance of clothes that most definitely weren't his scattered about on the floor and on his bed.
Arthur's clothes, he thought to himself flatly, frowning as he noticed a red cape with the royal emblem sewn onto its back.
Merlin took a deep breath, then leaned his head against the wall, almost wanting to bang it repeatedly against the surface. Really now? Really?
"So now he's decided to claim my room, too...oh, the joy," he muttered sarcastically.
With that, the raven sifted his fingers into his coal-black hair, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. Then he placed his hand over his mouth as he glanced over once more at the royal mess in front of him before finally stepping out of the room to make his way back downstairs with a discontent expression on his face.
That's it—I need a glass of water.
~o~
Of course he wouldn't have minded at all if Arthur had bunked in with his other brothers, or perhaps decided to sleep downstairs. But for that pillock to barge into his room without permission and make a whole mess out of everything inside it...
This was absolutely too much.
Merlin swallowed and let out another sigh as he made his way down to the kitchen, just about halfway along the stairs.
It was quiet now that everyone else was asleep, making the atmosphere around him a bit less stuffy than it had been before...
But that wasn't until he'd begun to hear soft murmuring not far from where he was as he noticed that the kitchen was dark, nothing but the dim yellow-orange light of a candle illuminating its very walls.
For a moment, Merlin was quiet as he tiptoed down the stairs, careful not to catch any attention, then sat down on the last step to peer across the other side of the room from behind the railing to see two silhouettes sitting at the table, looking straight at each other's faces.
In that instant, the raven stiffened slightly as he scrutinized his gaze across the kitchen to see his mother seated on a wooden chair, Arthur across the table from her with a solemn expression on his face.
From how things had looked at that point, neither of them looked happy that minute. But then again...they weren't angry, either, but more...melancholic and somewhat serious. They were whispering to each other at the moment, Hunith's voice calm and sincere, while Arthur's replies had been rather brief and reluctant.
At that moment, Merlin had begun to think curiously about what the two of them were saying to one another and remained poised by the bottom of the stairwell, eventually staying there to silently listen in on the conversation they were having, his breathing pattern soft and even as his mother had opened her mouth again to aim another question at the young Pendragon.
"It's quite all right if you stay here for a while. I have no reason against that, dear."
In that instant, the blonde lowered his eyes and spoke in a soft but respectful tone. "I truly promise that I won't become a burden to you or the rest of your family, Mrs. Emrys. I really am sorry for placing this inconvenience on you in the first place. If my father somehow finds me here later on and begins to blame you for my disappearance or threaten to take away your job...I swear on my life that I'll take full responsibility for it, even if it kills me."
Merlin swallowed and stared at the blonde, his gaze intent and unwavering on his complexion. But before he could even turn to glance for his mother's reaction, Hunith had already been laughing at the latter, comfortingly reaching over to put her hand on his shoulder.
"Oh...you needn't worry about that, love. It's rather early to be making promises so noble even if you do have a great future ahead of you as a king-to-be. You're still too young." She smiled, slightly squeezing his arm. "Besides, I'm sure that in time your father will learn to find reason to your actions soon enough. Otherwise he wouldn't be such a kind and understanding king to his people."
But despite Hunith's reassuring words, the blonde only frowned and looked away in despair. "That's easy for you to say," he managed to speak in a dull voice after a long moment of silence. "No one else is the King's son except for me." He winced slightly. "How he treats his own people is another story from how he treats the one who'll end up taking his place in the future," Arthur replied solemnly, slowly shaking his head. "Which is why he's always got such high expectations for me that I can't even reach most of the time. It hurts just to even think about them now when I know that I'm still just a kid."
He closed his eyes, then sucked in a huge a gulp of air, tentatively lowering his head down on his elbows folded on top of the table.
Soon, it was quiet between them again, and Merlin's eyes had softened on the blonde.
At first, Hunith's expression grew sad but then turned sympathetic. "Would you like to talk about it?" she asked carefully in a calm tone.
Silence.
"...you wouldn't be able to understand."
At that moment, she slowly took her hand off the latter's shoulder, and he reluctantly raised his head to look into her warm, chocolate-brown eyes.
"Try me," Hunith had replied with a kind smile, staring into the prince's eyes. "I might not be able to understand your situation as much right now, but...I'm pretty good at listening as a mother, despite all that. Merlin always comes to me whenever he has anything he wants to talk about, so...it's worth a shot, if you wish to talk about it or not. I promise I won't say anything until you've finished pouring everything out," she finished with empathetic eyes.
Arthur was silent and hesitantly lowered his eyes to his feet.
At the same time, Merlin held his breath to listen carefully to what the latter had to say.
After a few more seconds of thinking, the Prince had opened his mouth to begin telling his story in a hushed, solemn murmur.
~o~
"I never meant to run so far away from home," he had spoken hoarsely. "I just wanted to get away from everything for once. I couldn't take it anymore."
The blonde exhaled sharply and continued. "Even if we are away from England right now...Father still has his ways of trying to fit in the smallest amount of business with representatives and ambassadors abroad. All this fake smiling...and waving...and acting like the most perfect son...it just wasn't me," he sighed with a frown. "Yesterday may as well have been the worst when I'd finally refused to come along with my father to one of those useless royal meetings of his as the next heir to the throne—this...figurehead of London," Arthur spat out bitterly before putting his hand to his forehead and slowly shaking his head. "He'd gotten so mad at me that day that...I just couldn't."
At that moment, Merlin had noticed that Arthur was shaking from his seat, his expression tense and hands balled up into tight fists. Hunith's eyes had softened, and she had calmly reached over to take the blonde's trembling hands, though almost immediately, Arthur had found himself catching her in a warm embrace, cringing under her arms.
At the same time, the raven had begun to feel a lump forming at the base of his throat, gradually swelling as the minutes passed, and his body began to feel tense as well, his breathing a bit quicker and shorter than usual. Yet he could not understand at all...why he was feeling this way just now—for he had not even had a father to begin with.
He had left him so long ago when he was so young...that he could not even remember what he had looked like before the man had disappeared forever from his life, never to be seen or heard from again.
He stiffened when he'd heard another sharp exhale from the Pendragon, then a choked whisper. "I already know...how worried Mother must be for me at this point...and I've wanted to go home for more than a while now..." His voice had faltered on those last few words, and he swallowed deep before speaking again. "But I can't," he finished in a firm tone. "I can't go back, because my father is just so—"
Shut up, Merlin thought to himself in that instant, wincing in pain as he continued to listen. His mother had probably seen him by now, but he didn't care anymore at this point.
Just shut up—please...
Before the blonde knew it, his throat had closed up slightly, and Hunith had comfortingly rubbed the poor child's back. "Shh...it's okay," she began in a soft voice. "I can understand how much this hurts for you right now..."
"No," Arthur instinctively blurted out, engulfed in his emotions. "No, you can't. No one but me can understand what it's like to have a father so...so cold and ignorant towards another's feelings."
At that moment, the raven's eyes widened as those words reached his ears, and he had slowly began to rise up in his seat, tears beginning to well up over his cheeks. Please...I—
The blonde took a deep breath, his face forlorn and anguished. "I—" he began in a sharp tone.
But suddenly, he'd been cut off mid-sentence by the sound of the front door slamming shut and the pitter-patter of running footsteps outside in the pouring rain.
~o~
Merlin didn't look back even once as he was drenched by the storm. He had only continued to run faster and faster, for all that had been on his mind at that point was the faint, dark silhouette of his father.
Merlin...
The raven choked and took a deep breath before closing his eyes to shake the thought away. After all those years, it had been so difficult to forget that specific day—but now...
No more... he'd begun to think desperately to himself at that moment before the tears had begun to fall down from his cheeks, almost in sync with the raindrops that fell from the sky.
No more—
CRASH. Clang.
Before long, the nine-year-old had found himself lying face down on the sidewalk beside a bunch of trash cans near the street. Immediately, he had stumbled up on his feet, then collapsed behind the cans, gasping with his back against the cold, wet metal as he despondently looked up at the night sky, his shapeless emotions blending with the drops of rain that fell on his face in that instant.
"Why!" he yelled up at the heavens, his voice filled with anguish.
At that moment, a stifled sob managed to escape from Merlin's lips, and immediately, he had covered his mouth with his hand, taking a deep breath.
Stop it, Merlin—what are you doing now? he thought sadly to himself, closing his eyes and burying his head into his curled-up knees. He's not coming back...he's not...
In that instant, a rumble of thunder resounded in the dark of night, and Merlin sniffled, sucking in a narrow gulp of air.
He's not.
~o~
It had probably been about fifteen minutes now since Merlin had run off from home.
And he was still there by the trash cans, soaked to the bone with rain, his head buried in his arms that were folded on top of his knees at that moment.
The raven sniffled and sighed.
But that wasn't when he'd heard a rustle and a small clank from behind break the dead silence of the night, and stiffened when he'd heard a familiar voice resonate in the shadows around him.
"It's interesting to see that you've refrained from using your gifts for this long, young warlock. Never did I expect to see you here in a place like this."
In that instant, the raven had held his breath, raising his head to glance over his shoulder with wary eyes. It couldn't be...
But it was. At that moment, a small but great ivy-green lizard could be seen standing proudly on the very top of the trash can he was leaning on, a shrewd grin lit across his face.
Immediately, Merlin furiously wiped his cheeks and timidly looked up into the creature's eyes.
"Oh...Kilgarrah," he muttered softly, moving around a little to compose himself.
In response, the reptile chuckled amusedly at the raven and lowered his head to meet the other's gaze.
"It's good to see you again, Merlin," Kilgarrah replied in an articulate tone, still grinning at the boy. "Has your family settled in here fine recently?"
"Er...yes," the nine-year-old spoke in an unwavering tone. "Everything's been quite all right."
With that, the great reptile nodded once in approval. "Good...so then things are going well so far," he responded with a pleased voice.
Merlin gulped, then shrugged back with a sheepish expression on his face.
At this, Kilgarrah chuckled again. Then, he went on to continue with a cunning, unfamiliar gleam in his golden eyes.
"How about the young Pendragon?" he added smoothly in that instant. "Has he been fending off fine as well?"
At that moment, Merlin frowned with thought and lowered his head to look down at the ground. "Well...yeah—I guess so—" he'd begun reluctantly, biting his lip. But before he could continue any further, he stopped mid-sentence as soon as he'd realised how he'd never mentioned the blonde's name to the reptile at any point before the beginning of their conversation.
With that, he sputtered, looking up at Kilgarrah with incredulous eyes. "Hold on—how did you know—"
"I know all that there is to know, young warlock," the lizard cut in proudly with another crafty smile. "You should know that by now as well."
In that instant, the raven shrank back slightly, not knowing what to say at the moment. "Right..."
Kilgarrah smirked, then laughed heartily at his baffled expression and sighed. "So—how is the young Prince?" he asked, intrigued. "From the news that I've heard from my sources, Arthur seems to be quite a polite and affable child for his age—more than suitable to become the Once and Future King of Wales."
But almost immediately after that, Merlin found himself rolling his eyes with disbelief and irk, almost out scoffing in aggravation.
"Oh, don't even start with me on that—that's what he probably wants everyone to think."
~o~
"He's an arrogant, self-conceited prat who doesn't know hemp from flax," the raven had remarked pointedly at the green reptile. "He ticks me off all the time, and he's absolutely far from being polite, don't get me wrong," he added.
At this, Kilgarrah couldn't help but chuckle as the conversation went on like this for more than ten minutes already.
"Is he now?" the creature replied with an amused expression on his face.
"Of course he is!" Merlin shot back instantly. "He's probably the biggest brute I've ever seen in my life! I'll have you know that at this point, he's probably mooching off in my room right now!"
At that moment, the lizard smirked, his amber eyes glimmering in the darkness of the night. "So I see. How interesting."
"I swear that if he tries to pull a stunt on any of my sisters, I'll grab his neck and strangle him myself—"
"Now, now," Kilgarrah cut in, laughing heartily at the young raven. "Let's not be rash here, Merlin. How long has he been staying in your home?"
"Er..."
In that instant, Merlin paused and lowered his head. "Well...he's only moved in just this afternoon. To be honest, he even plans to stay in our house for a few days or so," he added reluctantly before whipping his head up again to gaze intently into the other's eyes.
"But his reasons for running away for home are rather stupid, if you ask me," he spat out bitterly.
At this, the reptile nodded with interest as he listened to the boy's words. "Because he doesn't cherish the company of his father as much as you would have had yours not left when you were at such a young age?"
For a minute, it grew silent all of a sudden.
Then the raven winced and spoke just above a hushed whisper. "...yes," he spoke meekly, staring into Kilgarrah's eyes with a lost, forlorn look on his face.
At that moment, the reptile closed his eyes and nodded once with respect. "I see."
Merlin exhaled and closed his eyes as well, clenching his fists as he'd remembered the words that the blonde had said earlier that night.
"He doesn't understand a thing about what it's like to not have a father around when you need him the most," he murmured sulkily at the latter. "To be burdened with having to support your family without anyone to guide you from behind—to learn from when you've made mistakes and don't have any idea how to fix them...Arthur doesn't know anything about it," he finished staring intently at the ground below him.
At this, Kilgarrah opened his eyes and gazed wisely at the latter before him. "...which is why you must teach him to see life in your perspective, as you must learn in return to put yourself in the boy's shoes."
In that instant, the raven stirred and raised his head to look up at the reptile with a confused expression on his face. "What in the world do you mean by that?" he asked incredulously.
At that moment, the great lizard chuckled cunningly at him. "You'll see in due time."
Merlin frowned, questioningly raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Kilgarrah started to laugh at that point, his amber irises almost bouncing. "Indeed, I see great potential in you to become a very powerful sorcerer, Merlin. But studying pure magic itself is not your only fate, for you must also learn when to use it and for what purposes," he spoke shrewdly. "Similarly, Arthur will indeed become the Once and Future King of Wales," he continued with a grin. "And he must also learn how to judge people of the truest hearts in addition to learning right from wrong and making wise decisions. Which is why you will be there to help him realise his true destiny—for your fate is intertwined with his from now until the end of time as both his conscience and his protector."
"What—me? What in the world are you talking about?" the raven replied in an exasperated tone. "Why can't you get anyone else to do that? I'm no bodyguard, that's for sure. I'm just a kid, for crying out loud."
But the great creature only shook his head and smirked amusedly at the latter. "Ah, Merlin...as naive as always..."
Before long, Merlin noticed him begin to fade in the shadows behind him, and in that instant, he scrambled up to call after the emerald reptile.
"Wait!" he cried helplessly into the night, his eyes darting around in search of the lizard. "I still don't understand!"
"Everything will unfold when the time is right," Kilgarrah replied, his voice faltering as he disappeared from view. "Believe in what is to come, young warlock.
At that moment, the raven frowned and aimlessly began to fumble blindly for the reptile. But it was useless for he was already gone.
Merlin sighed and exhaled sharply, putting his hand to his forehead. What did he mean?
"Come back—" he started to shout.
"Merlin?"
Immediately, the raven held his breath and whirled around to see Arthur standing behind him, his messy blonde hair soaking wet and bright blue eyes perplexed.
~o~
The two had stared intently at each other for quite a while before either of them had opened their mouths to speak.
Merlin had lowered his eyes away from the blonde before turning around to lift the lid of the trash can to rummage about its contents in the hopes that maybe someone had already disposed of any leftovers from supper.
"Oh," the raven began in a dull, nonchalant tone. "It's you. What do you want from me now?"
At that moment, the prince flinched slightly, staring curiously at the nine-year-old. "You ran off so suddenly. I just wanted to see if you were all right," he replied in a slow and careful voice.
In that instant, Merlin stiffened where he was and paused, Arthur staring at him from behind with a somewhat concerned look on his face.
Silence.
Then after a while, the raven continued to scavenge through the garbage can without glancing back at the blonde even once.
"I'm fine," Merlin spoke detachedly, struggling to keep a blank countenance at that point.
No response.
At that moment, he stopped again, this time to finally look back at the prince. But the minute that he turned around...his face had been no more than an inch away from his—and before he could say anything more, he'd glanced down to see Arthur's hand gently stroke his tear-stained cheek.
"You're crying," he spoke in a soft tone in that instant, looking up to gaze longingly into the raven's azure eyes.
Merlin closed his eyes and held his breath.
Soon after that, he slightly turned his head away from the blonde and put his hand over his.
~o~
Even now, it had still been raining, and Merlin and Arthur were now sitting by the trash cans next to each other, staring up at the black night sky.
Whoosh, the wind whistled as another breeze blew on right past them.
They listened as the thunder rumbled, the rain cool against their cheeks. Then finally, after a few minutes, the blonde glanced over at the raven.
"So," he began in a calm, casual voice. "Is this pretty much where your family gets their food all the time?"
Merlin closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Only when there's nothing left," he replied impassively.
At this, Arthur nodded thoughtfully, contemplating on the other's words. "So I see..." He pursed his lips, then glanced down at the latter's face. "You've been supporting them this whole time then?"
"Yeah..."
Soon, it had grown quiet between them again, and the Pendragon had spoken again in a careful tone. "I'm sorry if I hurt you at any point earlier today."
At that moment, Merlin stirred and reluctantly glanced up the prince with hesitant eyes.
In that instant, Arthur shrank back a little. "But of course...I actually mean what happened before you ran away—not that I don't apologize about any of the other things that occurred between the two of us today," he added sheepishly.
The raven smiled slightly as the blonde raised his hand to scratch the back of his head in thought.
"But anyway, putting all of that aside..." the young Pendragon continued. "...did I hurt your feelings by saying something wrong back there? I promise I didn't mean to make you run away. If I ended up offending you in any way, I'm really sorry about that. My father is just...my father."
At that moment, Merlin was silent and looked away from the latter.
Arthur winced, and went on to speak in a concerned tone. "Oh—I'm so sorry, was that it? Did I end up insulting your father when I started talking about mine?"
"I don't have a father," the raven cut in abruptly. He frowned, lowering his sad eyes. "He left a long time ago...when I was just a baby."
Rumble.
In that instant, the rain had begun to pour even harder, causing Merlin's jet-black hair to cover both of his eyes at that point.
And at the same time, Arthur's eyes had softened, and he winced at how bitter the other's voice had been towards him.
"...I didn't know," he'd ended up murmuring softly instead of apologizing, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
No response.
~o~
For a minute, the two had looked away from each other to look back up at the vast darkness of the night, listening to the pitter-pattering sound of the rain around them.
But it hadn't been for more than a while when Merlin had finally begun to shiver from the cold, instinctively wrapping his arms over his shoulder to hug himself.
Instantly, Arthur had been at his side, embracing the young raven with his own arms to share his body heat between them.
"Goodness, Merlin—next time you decide to run off like that, at least bring a coat outside, will you?"
The raven didn't answer. Instead, he'd found himself desperately clutching at the blonde at that moment, numerous thoughts flooding his mind at the same time as he glanced up into the prince's sapphire eyes, staring out into another dimension.
He shuddered slightly, then bit his lip as he felt the blonde's warmth rush right through him at that moment, almost immobilizing him where he was.
Still he couldn't understand at this point...why he was feeling like this right now.
After another breeze of wind had blown past the two of them that instant, Merlin had found himself slipping away from consciousness, exhausted from the day itself.
But at the same time, he'd truly recognized for the first time the blonde's presence there beside him—his irreplaceable warmth slowly making its way into the very core of his heart, which had strangely felt...quite comforting to the raven.
He'd paused for just a second more, than absent-mindedly opened his mouth to speak up in just above a soft whisper.
"Of all the places you could have chosen to hide in...why in the world did you go and pick mine?"
For a moment, it was silent, the rain continuing to fall upon them.
By that time, Merlin's eyelids were half closed, his breathing slow but even as he'd waited for the other's response.
But Arthur hadn't answered.
At least...not right away.
Just before sleep had finally taken him, he'd heard—or thought he'd heard—a hushed murmur escape the young Pendragon's lips with a small grin, the dim moonlight elucidating his fair complexion under wet, soaking blonde hair.
"Because I knew from the moment I met you...that you would probably be the only one to truly ever understand me for who I really am."
At that moment, the raven's breath hitched a little as he'd heard those words. Then after that, he had finally closed his eyes and sank deep into slumber.
~o~
Music on My Mind~ Bumuhos Man Ang Ulan (Even if the Rain Falls) by Jericho Rosales
Notes from the KIT-chan~
Again, hope you guys are still enjoying this. ^_^"; Hopefully I should be able to get the next update up soon. n_n";
The next chapter'll consist of more intimate bonding between Arthur and Merlin as they begin see the life of both the poor and rich through each other's eyes and understand...
Till then, loves~ Reviews would be very much appreciated. ;D
Regards,
.::.*~Kitsune Shadow~*.::.