Some days I don't know
If I am wrong or right
Merlin, running on his way to the tunnels to see Freya, turns a corner and crashes straight into Halig. The man crosses his arms and glares at Merlin as two of Halig's men he didn't see before grab his arms, pull him into the castle and throw him into a dungeon cell.
"Where were you off to?" Halig asks, towering over Merlin threateningly.
"Just on my way to see Arthur. I'm still allowed to check on him, you know," Merlin says, attempting to snap at him, but instead his voice just shakes as he tries not to cower.
Halig ignores his comment, though. "The Druid girl I'm looking for, have you seen her?"
"No," Merlin says, clenching his jaw and trying to keep his voice steady.
"That girl is an Ambivalent. She is halfway between worlds, she can be seen by people in our state and theirs. Do you know how much money a communication line like that is worth to me?" Halig asks, and Merlin shakes his head. "More than your life. So I'll ask you again. Have you seen the Druid girl?"
"No."
Halig reaches forward, his hands landing on Merlin's chest and Merlin falls backward onto a chair. The two men put their hands on Merlin's shoulders to hold him in place while Halig takes a few steps toward him. "You're lying."
"I'm not," Merlin yells, and Halig clenches his fist.
"I think you are."
Before Merlin has a chance to argue, Halig swings his arm back, then slams his fist straight into Merlin's cheek. He lets out a yelp of pain, and Halig's men pull him back into a sitting position as the man prepares to hit him again.
Merlin takes a few more punches, and by the time Michael appears, he's feeling dizzy and disoriented and he isn't sure how he managed to hold off this long.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Michael demands, just as Halig swings his arm towards Merlin's face again. Merlin squeezes his eyes shut and braces himself for another hit that never comes, and when he cracks an eye open, he sees Michael holding Halig against the wall using his magic.
"We caught the boy behaving suspiciously, sir," Halig says, almost looking afraid of Michael.
Merlin doesn't know if he's hallucinating as a result of being beaten into almost unconsciousness (though he's not certain it's even possible for him to fall unconscious), but he swears he sees Michael's eyes glowing red instead of gold.
Merlin blinks as Michael lets Halig go, and when he turns back, Merlin sees his eyes are the same blue as usual. "Merlin is with me, and if you have a problem with him, you bring it to me, not him. Got it?"
Halig, to Merlin's surprise, bows to Michael before straightening up and glaring at Merlin over his shoulder. He nods to his men, who follow him out of the cell, leaving Merlin and Michael alone. Michael doesn't say a word, just gives Merlin a look somewhere between disappointment and anger, and vanishes from sight.
Though he does feel a little (or a lot) guilty, Merlin still takes it on himself to help Freya.
He makes it down to the tunnels to find her sitting in the corner, her hands folded and staring down at her lap. "I'm sorry I took so long," he says, sitting across from her. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she says, but her voice breaks and it comes out as a squeak.
Merlin shakes his head defiantly, sliding closer to her. "You're upset."
"No."
"Did you think I wasn't coming?" Merlin asks, raising an eyebrow and debating if he should put a hand on her knee to comfort her, but decides against it. "I promised you I would."
"I scare most people away," she says, shaking her head and pulling her knees to her chest.
"I'm not most people," Merlin says, and Freya looks up to see a small smile on his face. "How long had you been with him?"
"A few days. I was locked in a cage," she says with yet another shrug and Merlin sighs. She shrugs a lot.
"And the bounty hunter?" He asks, and she shuffles her feet awkwardly in the sand.
"Halig."
"How did he find you?" Merlin asks.
Freya shakes her head with a sniff. "You can't always trust people."
Merlin nods, understanding completely. "I know. That's why I left home."
Freya looks up, her eyes sparkling just a bit, and Merlin feels a bit of hope for the first time since meeting her. "Where is home?"
"Ealdor. It's just a small village. A few small fields, couple of cows. Not really anything special."
Freya slides closer to Merlin, playing with a bit of sand in her hands as she smiles. "My home was next to a lake surrounded by the tallest mountains. In the winter the storms whipped up the water into waves and you thought they were going to crash down and take away all the houses. But in the summer, wild flowers and light. It was like heaven."
Merlin finds himself a bit breathless by the girl's passion when she speaks about her home. "That sounds perfect," he breathes, and Freya smiles just a bit bigger.
"It was," she says, her smile faltering and she slides back to the wall.
"Was?" Merlin question, and Freya shrugs.
"My family died."
"Have you been on your own ever since?"
Another shrug. Merlin sighs, sliding closer to her and sitting next to her on the wall. "You're not on your own anymore. I'm going to look after you. I promise."
Freya shakes her head, her eyes watering just a bit, and Merlin feels his heart sink. "You can't look after me. No one can."
"No, I don't think you understand," Melin says, catching her hands as she drops the sand she had in them. She looks up, a bit shocked, and Merlin continues, "I've never known anyone like you."
He looks down at her hands, mentally cursing at himself for grabbing them, and attempts to pull them away, a bit embarrassed, but Freya reaches out and grabs them again. She looks as if she's asking him to stay, and he shakes his head sadly. "I wish i could stay."
"You're going?"
"We need to be careful," Merlin says, pulling his hands away and getting to his feet. "I'll come back in the morning. You know I will be back, don't you?"
Freya smiles and nods, looking back at the ground, but she looks back up immediately and Merlin grins. He nods, about to walk away when Freya speaks up again.
"Merlin," she calls, and he turns back to see her staring up at him. "I've never known anyone like you, either."
The smile stays on Merlin's face all night, even the warning bells ringing through the castle can't take it away. He finds himself rushing down to the tunnels the next morning. "I know, I'm late again. Michael was just going on and on about something I wasn't even listening to. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," Freya whispers, and Merlin can't help but feel a little disappointed when he sees the girl with her hands wrapped around her body nervously.
"Are you alright?" He asks her.
"I'm fine," she repeats.
Merlin stares at her for a moment longer before he gets an idea. He cups his hands together and whispers a spell, and Freya watches curiously as a red rose appears in his hands. He holds it out to her and she laughs, sitting up straight and holding her hand out. Merlin places it in her hand and she stares down at it, the smile not fading until she lets out a sigh. "Why are you so good to me?" She asks, and he raises an eyebrow questioningly.
"Because... I can't help it, I don't know. I like you. With you I can just be who I am. We don't have to hide anything. We don't have to worry."
"Merlin, please," Freya whispers, passing the rose back to him sadly. "Listen to me. I am not like you."
Merlin jumps when he hears footsteps descending down the stairs. Freya looks at him with panic in her eyes as he scrambles to his feet, helping her up. "They must have followed me." Merlin grabs her hand and leads her away into a corner crevice, and he holds her breath as Halig walks into the place they were just moments before. He curses in his mind when he sees Michael with Halig out of the corner of his eye, the boy looking around for the two of them.
Merlin waits until the footsteps leave again before letting out a breath of relief. Freya sinks to her knees, letting out ragged breaths of panic and Merlin lowers himself to sit next to her.
"They're going to find me," she says, her words coming out in panicked cries. "I can't go back in that cage, I can't."
Merlin tries his best to comfort her as she buries her head in his chest. "Shh, I won't let that happen," he says as she lets out a sob and sniffs. "I promised you I'd look after you, and I will. No matter what."
Freya takes a deep breath, calming herself down just a bit as she pulls herself out of the protection of Merlin's jacket. He stares at her for a moment longer, then speaks again. "You really don't realize how special you are, do you?"
"You're not scared of me." Merlin isn't sure if she'd intended it to be a question, but it comes out more as a statement.
"Being different isn't something to be scared of," he whispers, feeling his throat close a bit. Another tear falls out of Freya's eye and before Merlin realizes what he's doing, he inches his face closer and closer to hers until their lips meet softly.
Merlin feels a tear slip out of his own eye, not a sad one like Freya's, one out of joy for finally finding someone who understands.
Merlin paces across the floor of Arthur's chambers, humming a happy tune as he walks over to the prince- who hasn't stopped moping since the death of his manservant, and Merlin thinks that he should feel a bit bad for the sorrow Arthur's going through, but with everything that's going on now he can't bring himself to it.
Merlin peeks over Arthur's shoulder and whatever he's writing on the paper, and he doesn't notice that Michael's materialized in the middle of the room until the boy clears his throat.
"Knock that off, it's annoying," Michael says in a bit of a spiteful tone, and Merlin nods awkwardly, suppressing his hums and choosing instead to tap his foot. He ends up humming again, anyway, and Michael rolls his eyes. "Merlin."
"Sorry," Merlin apologizes absentmindedly, his focus still on the paper in Arthur's hands even though he isn't even reading the words.
"Come with me, we've got stuff to do," Michael says, and Merlin looks up and shakes his head quickly.
"Can't, sorry."
Michael crosses his arms, shifts his weight onto one leg and raises his eyebrows. "And why is that?"
"I've got my own stuff to do. Just because you seem to be all high and mighty to Halig and his men doesn't mean you're high and mighty to me. In case you've forgotten, I know what my task is," Merlin says with a glance down at Arthur. "He's going on a hunting trip and I have to be there to make sure he doesn't lose his head."
Michael doesn't look even the least bit convinced, most likely because even if Arthur were to get in danger, Merlin wouldn't be able to do anything anyway, but Michael just lets out an annoyed breath and shakes his head. "Fine. Just try not to die."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Merlin smiles, and Michael rolls his eyes before disappearing again.
"He has got to teach me how to do that," Merlin whispers to nobody in particular, then with a final glance at Arthur, he takes off through the castle and back to the tunnels below.
Freya looks up as Merlin turns the corner, looking a bit upset. "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't help it," Merlin says, not caring about the grin on his face.
"It's dangerous," Freya sighs as Merlin kneels in front of her.
Merlin shakes his head, his grin only getting bigger. "I don't care."
"No, Merlin, you have to be careful."
Merlin drops to a sitting position and huffs in slight annoyance. "That's just it, I am fed up with being careful. I am fed up with all of this. So I've decided, we're going to get you out of here, out of Camelot."
"How?"
"I'll sneak you out. It's not like anyone can see me, and nobody will recognize you. As long as we avoid Michael and Halig's men, we shouldn't have to worry."
Merlin's smile fades a bit as Freya frowns, looking down at the ground. "What's wrong?" He asks, and she looks back up at him sadly.
"It's just, I'll miss you."
"No, you won't," Merlin grins again. "Because I'm coming with you."
"You what?" Freya breathes, and Merlin pulls her to her feet, not dropping her hands when they're both standing. "I told you I'm going to look after you."
"You can't. Stop saying that."
"It's not what you want-"
"Merlin," Freya cuts him off, sinking back down to the ground a bit hopelessly. "You have a good life here. My life is...I have to keep moving, always looking over my shoulder, people chasing me..."
"Then we'll go somewhere where nobody knows us. Somewhere far away."
Freya looks up at him sadly. "I want that more than anything. But you told me that your task is to help Arthur. Most people in our state don't even get that far, they just stay here rotting away for all eternity. You can't just give that up, not for me."
"That means I'll spend all eternity with you. Freya," Merlin whispers, bending down to kneel beside her. "I want this as much as you do."
Freya stays silent for a moment, before looking up at him with hope sparkling in her eyes. "Where will we go?"
Merlin grins at this, the same hope in his chest. "Somewhere with mountains."
Freya grins, too, leaning towards Merlin. "A few fields."
"Wild flowers."
"A couple of cows."
"And a lake."
"And a lake."
basically the only important thing in this chapter is that halig bowed to michael ill try not to spoil anything just remember that little tidbit
yeah this entire chapter is basically just me rewriting the transcript of the lady of the lake so yeah sorry about that the next one does that too but only for like half of it the other half is not gonna be fun for u michael fans and freylin shippers spoiler alert freya dies
but yeah idk sorry i took forever to update i need to set reminders or something to remember to post new chapters every few days i always forget
since i took so long i'll give you a bit of insight on what happens soon, we find out michael's secrets, meet a hell of a lot of oc's who tell us a bit about he other dead people kicking around albion, and we find out some stuff about the fifth dead person living in camelot (plus we see lander again ayy lmao) so yeah that's what you have to look forward to stick around things are picking up soon
but until then enjoy this transcript of the lady of the lake
-notreallymagical