Chapter four
-"Your Henry's birth mother?"
-"Sister, you have no idea what I am capable of."
-"You may not be strong enough but maybe we are."
-"But if we teamed up, if you taught me."
-"But maybe I need you."
-"You thought we were friends."
"Emma! Please wake up," Gwen asked desperately, and a moment later, Emma shot up breathing deeply, and looking very much disorientated.
"What happened?" she asked, once she finally recognised Gwen's friendly face.
"I was just behind you, I was too late to stop her from hitting you. But for some reason she just walked away laughing as soon as she saw me," Gwen replied, looking very much guilty.
So Henry is my son, Emma realised, but what is Regina to me? From her dreams she had assumed that they were friends, but every time she saw her, she had the urge to grab her and kiss her, was it unrequited love?
Emma shook her, almost like she was trying to shake the thought away, and turned to Gwen, "thank you for saving my life."
"I think you're exaggerating," she replied modestly.
"Are you okay?" a teenaged boy interrupted, rushing passed the uncaring passersby.
"I just fell," Emma lied, while inspecting the weedy boy; he looks familiar.
She felt pain begin to radiate through the back of her head, and brought her hand to the back of her head on reflex.
"I can help you," he replied, while kneeling down next to the blonde. Before she could protest he held a hand over the back of her head and whispered something. Instantly, Emma felt a soothing sensation battle against the pain, and when it was over she let out a sigh of relief/
When the boy had finished his magic, Gwen gasped as if she just realised something, "you're a wizard."
The boy chuckled, "apprentice actually, Merlin," he extended his hand which Gwen gratefully shook.
"Gwen and this is Emma."
Gwen gave the blonde a curious look as she stared at Merlin in astonishment, then she remembered that his older counterpart had mentioned being only seventeen in this time, and shook her head.
"Thank you, Merlin," she tried to appear less strange.
Despite this, he must have assumed that she was concussed, as he replied, "my master should probably check you, I am the apprentice after all," he said timidly.
Though she had tried to convince Gwen and Thomas that she was fine, they still basically forced her to go with Merlin, who, much to her surprise, led her to the castle. But before Merlin led her away, Gwen had whispered, "this is the magical centre of Camelot, you should really ask about memory loss." To be honest, Emma had felt like a complete idiot for not thinking of that herself.
As they entered he explained, "I work for the royal physician."
A few moments later, she sat on a stone table, with Merlin's master inspecting his apprentices work, "you did a very good job Merlin," the man smiled proudly.
Staring in wonder at all the potions stacked on a nearby shelf, Emma asked, "do you have anything for memory loss?"
Merlin's master tilted his head, "you suffered memory loss?"
Emma looked at the paling Merlin and she quickly held up her hands, "I lost my memory a few months ago, but there's no apothecary in my village."
"Oh," Merlin calmed, before handing her a little jar of blue liquid from the shelf.
Emma was about to down it, only to be stopped, "with the head injury, I would suggest waiting until the morning," Merlin's master warned.
Emma dropped her arm in disappointment, but nodded, "thank you," she smiled, handing him a few coins for the potion.
"Merlin, Arthur asked for water," a generic servant boy shouted through the door before he ran away.
"You're a servant, an apprentice and a physician?" Emma tilted her head in disbelief, after pocketing her potion.
"The apprentice and physician are the same thing, magic is only allowed for healing purposes in Camelot," Merlin explained while he grabbed a few buckets. "As for the servant thing, the apprenticeship doesn't pay, glad you're okay by the way."
Emma quickly thanked his master again, and rushed out to intercept Merlin.
She grabbed one of the buckets and said, "please, let me help you, I owe you."
He frowned, "I don't help people for favours."
"This isn't entirely selfless," the blonde admitted, Merlin nodded and began to follow him to the well, "I have a question that I hope you can answer."
"Okay," he replied, while beginning the process of collecting water.
"Can one person exist as two separate entities?"
"What a strange question," he laughed.
"Please, I don't know who else to ask that won't write me off as crazy," she pleaded.
Merlin thought for a moment, before he nodded, "yes, in theory. I have read accounts of a magical person having two warring aspects, so their magic forces the two aspects apart, but these accounts are generally considered folklore."
Emma sighed in frustration, did she get all the memories? She wondered.
Emma took one of the filled buckets off the young wizard and proceeded to follow him to Arthur's chambers.
The blonde realised that she must have been deep in thought, because she failed to notice Merlin's questioning looks, until he asked, "has this happened to someone you know?"
"I think so," Emma sighed, "it seems like the only explanation, but it also sounds far too insane."
"It does, doesn't it," he laughed. "Well, you know where to find me if you ever want to tell me the whole story."
"I don't know if I understand the whole story," Emma smiled sadly.
"Let me know when you figure it out, it sounds very interesting," he laughed.
Emma smiled back at the wizard, she placed the bucket down outside the Arthur's chambers and said, "thank you, Merlin."
Emma walked into the inn that they were staying in, and noticed Thomas and Gwen sitting at a table in the far end of the room.
Gwen gave her a questioning look, to which she answered with a smile, "he said I'm fine."
"Are you going to tell us what happened with your 'twin,'?" Thomas asked.
"Apparently we're the same person," the blonde replied, knowing how insane the words were.
"How is that possible?" Gwen asked.
"I wish I knew, I can't remember ever acting like her," I answered.
"You really need to get your memories back, did you ask Merlin's master about memory loss?" Thomas asks.
Emma nodded and pulled out the potion, "he said I can take it in the morning and it should bring all my memories back."
Thomas smiled down at the liquid and almost whispered, "magic never ceases to amaze me."
"So you get your memories back tomorrow, and your joining the biggest tournament in Camelot, tomorrow is a big day for you," Gwen laughed
"I thought you said you were against me entering," Emma asked, while putting the potion away.
"I can't stand you moping, maybe you're less insufferable when you remember," she laughed, as she placed a beer in front of the blonde and urged her to drink, "the first round is tomorrow, so you may need some liquid courage."