Unmei no Henka

Xx—Xx—Xx

chapter 3 of Unmei no Henka. So sorry for the long delay (it was ment to be up by Monday) but I've had loads of homework to do. *mumble, mumble* damn school, already giving us loads of homework and it's only been 1 week -_-

I spent ages working on this tonight to get it finished and uploaded and I still have homework to do.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, enjoy the chappie!

Xx—Xx—Xx

"We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change."- Katharine Hepburn

Xx—Xx—Xx

Chapter 3- Repercussions of reactions

The first thing they had to do was find out where Emrys was. Over the loudly ringing warning bells Arthur could faintly hear the shouts of his knights as they chased the thief down. Following the voices they managed to track the thief to the lower towns. He was running down the streets, ducking down alleyways, managing to stay away from the knights. Nodding to his knights they broke away from each other, each going different ways. Arthur continued to trail the thief. When he was close behind Arthur held his sword out and shouted 'Halt!' Emrys slowed down slightly but didn't stop running. Arthur grinned, just what he wanted.

Suddenly Emrys stopped, as Elyan and Percival appeared in front and to the side of him and Arthur, expecting this stopped running, coming to a halt close behind the thief. He held is sword against Emrys' back. Emrys tensed slightly and a low growl appeared from his throat, from what Arthur could guess was annoyance.

'I thought you'd learnt your lesson about using swords against magic.'

Arthur didn't reply. Emrys turned to face him, he was grinning. 'You know you're outmatched but you're too much of an arrogant prat to admit it.' Arthur was stunned; he hadn't heard anyone call him that in months, since the incident with Merlin the word had never been spoken. As soon as the word had been spoken Arthur could see that Emrys appeared to be shocked with what he had said and, by quickly glancing round, Arthur could see his knights were surprised as well. He narrowed his eyes, it couldn't be. 'What did you say?' he questioned. Emrys, who had recovered from his shock, decided to ignore Arthur's question and started looking around for a way out. Arthur took this time to study the thief. He was tall, and covered in a slightly worn out looking dark midnight blue cloak and Arthur wished he could see underneath the hood, to know what the thief looked like. Soon, he thought, soon I'll know. He had no weapons; Arthur thought he saw something glint in the light slightly when the thief moved, though the thief did have magic to defend himself, so Arthur guessed a weapon wasn't really needed.

Emrys started mumbling something and Arthur realized that he was chanting a spell. 'Stop him!' He shouted to Elyan and Percival who both lunged forward to try and stop him. Emrys managed to doge both knights by stepping to the side. Arthur grinned, perfect 'NOW!' He shouted, Emrys whipped round to face him in surprise before Gwaine appeared behind him with Leon as back up. In one swift movement Gwaine thrust is sword into the thief's shoulder. With a small cry of pain Emrys sank to the floor, sword still embedded in his shoulder.

'You got cocky Emrys' Arthur taunted 'you didn't realize that two of my knights weren't with me.' He strode towards the fallen sorcerer. 'Now let's see what you look like.' He grabbed the dark blue hood and pushed it back. Arthur gasped as familiar blue eyes glared up at him, he could tell straight away who it was, even with the messy black hair slightly longer and face less pale, he knew. How could he not, it was the face of the person he had considered a friend for 5 years. He took a step back in shock, and he could see the other knights pale in shock at the revelation.

'Merlin.'

Blue eyes hardened with hatred glared back at him 'sire.' The word was spat out like it left a foul taste in the thief- Merlin's, Arthur corrected himself with reluctance, mouth.

'Merlin, what are you doing?' Gwaine cried from behind Merlin who ignored him in favor of glaring at Arthur. Arthur managed to calm down 'What are you doing?' he echoed Gwaine's question.

'I told you,' Merlin snapped 'Revenge.'

Arthur shook his head in denial 'This isn't you Merlin.'

'You know nothing about me.'

'I know Merlin wouldn't kill anyone'

'People change.'

'For god's sake, Merlin, you hate hunting! You hate killing things.'

Merlin chuckled darkly, a smirk crossing his lips 'On the contrary Arthur, I love hunting. Especially when it involves killing people who share you twisted views' he stood, yanking the sword out of his shoulder and throwing it to the floor with a clang, his eyes never left Arthur's 'I only wish it was you I could kill.' He lunged forward to try and get to Arthur but was tackled to the ground by Gwaine and Leon.

'Merlin please, stop this' Gwaine begged

'I sacrificed so much for you, Arthur Pendragon!' he spat in anger 'I trusted you, believed in destiny and in the future I thought you'd create. It seems, however, that my belief was obviously misplaced.'

Arthur took a step back in shock at the venom in his old friend's once kind and caring voice. He wanted to open his mouth and say the truth; that he looked for his friend and felt terrible for what he said but the words would not leave his lips. Merlin continued to struggle before he suddenly fell limp and stopped struggling. Gwaine and Leon did not release him however, though were both confused at the sudden silence. When he spoke next his voice sounded slightly softer 'you are not the king you I believed you to be. Destiny is changing, Arthur Pendragon,' the hatred was back 'and I, your once protector, will be the one to kill you.' His eyes flared gold and Gwaine and Leon were thrown against the wall. Merlin started chanting again and a wind started swirling around him 'I'll go for now, you seem to be in shock,' he grinned, as Merlin faded from Arthur's sight, his last words echoed about the alleyway 'Until we meet again, sire.'

Xx—Xx—Xx

Arthur stood in stunned silence, shocked, terrified even, at what had become of his friend. Hundreds of thoughts rushed to his brain in a hurricane of emotions and conflicting thoughts. What if he hadn't acted so rashly, what if he had managed to find Merlin, What if, what if what if? He shook his head as if it would get rid of the thoughts filling his head; he needed to think of what was happening now and concentrate on what he was going to do. Nevertheless, No matter how hard he tried he could not stop thinking about the look of animosity on merlin's face. This was all his fault.

'Damn it, Merlin!'

Slowly Arthur dragged his eyes away from the area Merlin had disappeared from, to where Gwaine was leaning against the wall where he had been thrown earlier by Merlin's surprise blast of magic. He slammed his fist into the wall

'Why is he doing this!'

Then he turned to glare at Arthur 'If you hadn't have acted as such spoiled arrogant prat of a King then this wouldn't have happened.'

'Gwaine stop, this isn't Arthur fault.' Leon tried to calm the frustrated knight down 'You, just as we all do, know how long we looked for Merlin. How guilty Arthur feels.' Gwaine said nothing but his shoulders slumped 'I hardly recognized him.'

Arthur recovered at that point and frowned 'We need to talk to Gaius. He would have known about Emrys, about Merlin.' The rest of the Knights nodded and followed Arthur to Gaius' chambers in a shocked silence.

Xx—Xx—Xx

Gaius was sat at the old wooden table studying from a thick medical book when they arrived through the chamber doors. He raised an eyebrow but once he saw the look on the King and his most trusted knights' faces he became serious and stood. 'What's wrong sire?'

Arthur took a while to reply but when he did, his voice was quiet with an undertone of sorrow and shock, 'we found out who Emrys really is.' At Gaius' small gasp of shock Arthur continued 'you knew didn't you Gaius. You knew Emrys' true identity, that he's Merlin.' Gaius knew it wasn't a question but found himself nodding 'I knew that it was Merlin's druid name.'

'Why didn't you say anything then?'

'We never saw Emrys' face. For all I knew it was someone pretending to be Emrys. I didn't want to jump to conclusions,' he paused and added somberly 'I didn't want it to be true.' Arthur's gaze softened 'I can hardly believe it myself.'

'He's not Merlin anymore' Elyan said

'I never would have expected him to do something like this.'

'There's has to be a good explanation. Maybe he was enchanted, or he's just trying to scare us, maybe... maybe...' Gwaine sighed in defeat and ran his hand through his already messy hair, he, and everyone else, knew that Merlin made it perfectly clear that he hated Arthur. There was just a small desperate part of him, of all of them, that hoped that it was not as it seemed.

Xx—Xx—Xx

Dark green leaves formed a canopy over the muddy dark forest below, blocking out most of the light from entering the silent clearing. A few beams of light managed penetrate through the cover of leaves, creating narrow golden beams of light that touched the shadowy clearing floor. A small wind blew through the clearing, disturbing the silence as it rustled the leaves. A figure stood at the centre of the clearing, out the light so his features could not be seen. Another figure walked through the bushes behind him; he too was covered by darkness. After a moment of silence the two spoke to each other

'Well?' the second figure spoke in a calm voice

'I did it.' The first replied

'Good, good. And what of the King?'

'I hardly need to answer that, you already know.'

The second figure nodded, even though he knew the first could not see him

'We teamed up for a reason. We both wanted the King dead or have you changed your mind?'

The first did not reply straight away 'Don't worry,' he answered, sounding slightly annoyed 'the king will be dead soon but only when he knows what it feels like to lose all hope.'

Xx—Xx—Xx

Dun dun dduunn! Yes, it's Merlin! Who now seems to hate Arthur. Is that the reason for all this killing? The answer will be revealed soon.

I have to admit I was slightly disappointed that I only got one review for the last chapter, which really doesn't give me much motivation. Now I'm not gonna be nasty and say if I don't get reviews I won't upload but it would be nice to get a few more...

So yeah, review please! ^-^