Big thanks to the awesomest Beta ever, Trufflehead! She's awesome guys! So, yep, thank you.
SETEE! (Don't try and understand it if you're not Trufflehead.)
Amelia rolled over in the bedroll she shared with Kelvin, finding it cold on the other side.
"That idiot," she muttered tiredly as she sat up. In the back of her mind, she knew she should have told Emrys or Morgana that he was missing, but she didn't want him to get in trouble.
So, showing no qualms about the dark, she set off to find her best friend.
In the dead of night, Arthur set off into the forest alone. He needed some time away from his knights. They had been talking about him, and not kindly at that.
"Traitors," he hissed to no one as he spied a lake. Walking over to it, he knelt down and stared at his own image.
"They're just concerned about you," his reflection told him.
"Concerned? I'm perfectly fine!" he said back with almost a sneer.
"Yes, because everything you've done and told them about is 'fine'." His reflection gave him a raised eyebrow, voice thick with sarcasm. "When are you going to face it? Merlin doesn't want to be found."
Arthur glared. "Merlin wants to come home; he wants to be with me."
"Really? Last time I checked, he ran away from you." His reflection looked sadly up at him. "And you know why."
Arthur looked off into the distance. "Merlin loves me. No matter my mistakes."
"You killed him."
Arthur whipped his head back to face his image in the water. "That was my mistake. I should have realized what that would have done."
"Excalibur can kill magic itself," his reflection said, sounding wise. "Imagine what it did to Merlin."
Arthur closed his eyes and winced. "My Merlin," he muttered softly.
"Is he even your Merlin?"
Arthur's eyes opened and he hit the water, making ripples in his reflection. "Don't you dare say that! He loves me just as much as I love him!"
"Then why did he run?" he reflection asked. "If he loves you, why did he run from you?"
"He was scared." Arthur swallowed, knowing which questions would follow.
"What was he scared of?"
"Me," the king whispered. "Merlin was scared of me."
"Why was he scared of you?" his reflection asked in a condescending tone, almost like an adult asking a child what they did wrong.
Arthur cringed. "Because I – I-"
"Yes?"
"I ran him through." Arthur took a breath as his hand subconsciously went to his blade. "That's why he ran from me."
"Don't forget your curse," his reflection said sadly. "That's just another reason for him to stay away."
"Why am I even doing this?" Arthur asked himself suddenly. "Talking to myself; why am I doing it?"
"Because you need to admit it," his reflection said bluntly and simply. "You need realize what has happened."
Arthur was going to reply, but a whistle cut him off. "Wuh-ow. And I thought Emrys was crazy for talking to himself."
Arthur jumped to his feet and whirled around, expecting an attack. His eyes scanned the area, finding no one.
"You know, talking to yourself is never a problem," the voice said. It was young, maybe a child's. "It's when you start talking back; that's the problem. First sign of madness, they say."
"Show yourself!" the king called, his weapon out already.
"Tut, tut," the voice answered. "Going to hurt me with your scary sword?"
"Come out and fight me like a man!"
He heard an audible sigh, followed by a scuffling noise. The next thing he heard was a loud thud and a young boy was standing in front of him, having just jumped out of a tree.
"I heard what you saying to yourself, mister. Sounds like you royally screwed up," the boy with maybe less malice now that he could see his face.
Arthur shook his head and turned away.
The boy took a step closer and cocked his head, as if trying to decide something about the king. "Want to talk about it? I mean, to someone that isn't yourself."
Arthur gave the boy a wary look. "Why?"
The boy shrugged. "I'm young, I'm curious, I can't sleep, and I'm bored. What better way to spend my time than by listening to the ramblings of a mad-man?"
Normally, when someone even suggested that Arthur was just a bit funny in the head, he threatened them with an inch of their life (verbally and physically). But this boy, there was just something about him – the way he talked, the way he held himself – that made the king feel, well, relaxed.
It reminded him a bit of Merlin.
"I'm not mad," he pointed out as he sat down. The boy rolled his eyes and joined him on the ground.
"Sure," he said. "Not that there's anything wrong with mad people. My…you know? I'm not sure what he is to me…Anyways, Emrys is probably mad. He talks to himself a lot and actually wants to do work sometimes."
"Who's Emrys?" Arthur asked, not wanting to give away his sob story just yet.
"He saved me a few years back from a group of slave traders. They were about to beat me when he came in. He picked me off, dusted me off, and took me in. I've been with him ever since."
The name "Emrys" struck a memory from within Arthur, but he couldn't quite remember its significance. "So, he's like you father in a way?"
The boy nodded. "I guess, even though he's way too young to be my father. He could be Lily's or Tommy's though." At Arthur's blank look, he elaborated. "Other children he's saved."
"He sounds like quite the hero," Arthur mentioned, nodding.
"Oh, he is," was all the boy said. "Enough about me. Tell me what happened with this 'Merlin'."
Arthur sighed and began. "Well, Merlin was my best friend and my soul mate. One day we went out hunting." He paused.
The boy made a "keep going" hand gesture with a slightly irked expression, most likely a reaction to the uninteresting beginning.
"It wasn't exactly to hunt, you see, we just wanted to get away from it all and maybe….you know….without being interrupted…." Arthur coughed and the boy looked confused.
"Oh! You went going away so you could kiss each other!" the boy exclaimed as his eyes lit up.
"Erm, something like that," Arthur muttered, relieved he didn't have to explain the finer parts of life to a child. "Anyways, when we got to our destination, we settled in and rested for a while. Well, that resting led to falling asleep. When I woke up, Merlin was gone."
The boy raised an eyebrow. "And?"
Arthur closed his eyes at the memory. "I should have protected him better, I shouldn't have let them take him."
"Who took him?"
The king opened his eyes with a kind of fury. "A witch. She had once been my sister. She took Merlin and tied him up with a strange type of rope that burned his skin."
"Did your Merlin have magic?" the boy interrupted.
"Yes," Arthur answered, tight-lipped.
"She was using a magic-restraint!" the boy supplied unhelpfully.
Arthur nodded. "Yes, she was. I charged at her, intending to kill and I stabbed her, but it went straight through her. She was just an image."
At this point Arthur's eyes narrowed. "I don't know how she did it. I never saw her move. When I turned around she was next to Merlin, her eyes were gold and she was muttering in that strange magic language. I – I couldn't stop her. She put a curse on Merlin."
The boy was silent for moment. "Oh."
"She vanished after that. I had no idea of what she has done, until I ran up to Merlin. I untied him, made sure he was alright, and walked him back to where we had set up camp. We were going to leave at first light."
"But when we tried to fall asleep, he started screaming; screaming that he was on fire, that he was watching me die, that all those that he'd loved and lost were staring at him. He stared hitting himself, hitting the ground, scratching himself, trying to make it stop. I held him close throughout the night and tried calming him down, but nothing would work."
"When we tried to move the next day he had another attack like this. It took him almost all day to calm down. When we did start-" Arthur stopped, hearing a sound coming from the bushes. He raised his hand to silence the boy's complaints.
He stood up silently, sword getting drawn. He crept forward and reached out quickly into the bushes, grasping something – no, someone – by the scruff of their neck. He heard a squeal and threw whoever it was to the ground.
"State your name!" he growled at the little girl he was pointing his sword at. She trembled.
The boy, as it seemed, knew her. He tried launching himself at Arthur with a battle cry, but the king easily pushed him away.
"What's your business here?!" Arthur snarled. "Tell me or you shall not live to see the sunrise!"
Arthur's eyes turned red. He was going to do it. He was going to kill this little girl.
She started crying. "My n-name's Amelia and I was just looking for-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence.
The clatter of metal on the ground has interrupted. Arthur had dropped his sword.
"What have I done?" he asked, horrified. He took a step back, stumbling and falling backwards.
The boy glared at him as he went over to the girl. "You okay, 'Melia?" he asked in a hushed tone.
She shook her head yes and the boy wrapped his arms around her. They both looked at Arthur.
"I'm sorry," Arthur said, staring at them in shock.
"Get away from us," the boy growled. He picked up a rock and threw it at him.
Arthur numbly nodded and began backing away, backing away while his sanity lasted.
A/N: I know, WTF?!
Hey guys, how've you been? It's been a while since I updated this, hasn't it...(Sorry, I'm a bad author. Plus, after chapter three I had no idea where this story was going. Then I came up with many ideas. One question: Do you want a happy ending or a sad ending? Or an angry ending? I'm good with any.)
Oh, and thanks for reviewing, following, and fav-ing, guys, it means a lot! Free invisible unicorns to you!