Chapter 6

Another day, another opportunity to get caught. I was well aware I was walking an extremely thin line here and I was more than close to crossing it. I really wish I could've stayed home from school, but it's my last few days with my friends and I'm a complete moron, so on to school!

Maybe, I could ask Gaius to pull me out for a month, now that he knows… Who am I kidding? After yesterday, I should know Arthur would show up on my doorstep with bells on. And me, being the complete asshat that I am, fucking invites him to join our club. Because I'm just that much of a fucking bloody genius. It's like I'm asking to get caught, but when he's around, I can't help myself. The words just fly out of my mouth. Bye sanity! Addio! Au revoir! Sayo-fucking-nara!

At this point my options were bleak and getting bleaker by the second. I should've never told Arthur I was going to London, but I hadn't thought he'd be willing to drop everything and run blindly after me. I don't know how, but I should've known. The day I first saw him at the dance, I'd been ready to say fuck it and run right to him and every day after that, I'd been thinking of the doing the same thing. How could I have thought that he wouldn't have felt it as well?

I sighed loudly as I made my way to the steps. At first, I thought I'd avoid it, but the whole purpose of me coming to school was to see my friends and, yeah, I wanted to see the stupid git who's turned my life upside down too.

I stopped right as I rounded the corner, seeing them all there, talking amongst themselves, probably about me this time, I smiled. These people were my home and I had to enjoy them before I lost them.

I grinned and waved at all of them as I got closer, "Good morning, my pretties!"

Mordred grinned, "Good! You're here. We were just discussing making Arthur run down the street in his boxers. Want to give us the approval, mister president?"

"Hmm," I contemplated his question for a moment, "How about smashing an egg on his forehead first, then make him run down the street in his boxers. What do you think?"

"YES!" Lance laughed, "I vote hell yes to the egg!"

"Seriously?" Arthur groaned, "That's just mean."

"I approve as well," Mordred smirked, "That's an even better plan."

"I am sooo going to record that," Gwaine snickered.

"Buck up," Gwen laughed, "We all had to go through the hazing bit. I had to walk around a whole day at school with clown make-up. It was terrible!"

"And they made me go on a date with Nelson," Morgana added, "And, trust me when I say that kid really needed a shower. I never even knew someone could have that bad b.o. issues."

Elyan clapped his hands, "This is going to be awesome."

I laughed, "I remember that. It was great, he tried to kiss her and she almost threw up. Fucking hilarious."

Arthur shook his head, "You're terrible, terrible people, you know that?"

"We're well aware," Morgana grinned, "It's what makes us so interesting."

"Should we do it tonight?" Elyan asked.

"Oh yes!" I answered, "I most definitely need to be a witness to this as soon as possible."

"Sweet!" Gwaine grinned, "Everyone meet at Merlin's place at 6:30 for the show!"

"Yes and bring snacks," I agreed, "You guys ate all of mine yesterday."

"Definitely," Elyan chuckled, "I'm going to want some snacks for this."

Arthur raised his hand to his face, "I'm so going to regret this."

"Hell yeah, you are," I acknowledged, looking around and whistling, "Lots of guards here now, huh?"

"It's for everyone's protection," Arthur answered, "After yesterday's events, it can't be helped. They still haven't figured out what had gotten into those people and don't want to take any chances. Even flew some more in last night to make sure everyone was safe."

I nodded, "It's just so strange to see them all here. Albion has always been a peaceful place. Don't think we've ever had a need for these many guards before."

"You can say that again," Mordred affirmed, "I hope they figure out what's going on. With these many sentinels here, I really don't know how much privacy we're going to get. Going home last night, we must've passed 6 squad cars alone and I heard they're thinking of implementing a curfew if anything happens again."

"I hope nothing happens," I grinned, "I really don't want anyone getting in the way of tonight's plan."

"If you haven't realized it yet, Merlin here is quite the philanthropist," Mordred explained, "He's always so worried about everyone else."

Lance snorted, "Oh yeah, he's not the selfish git he appears to be at all."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, because everyone else here wasn't thinking the exact same thing."

The bell rang, "Yay. Class," Elyan said sarcastically, "How exciting."

"Oh yeah," Lance added, "Learning is soo much fun."

"You better not slack," Gwen warned, "Trying to tutor you is a headache."

Morgana threw her arms around Mordred, "I'm glad I don't have to worry about that with mine."

"I wish I could slack," Mordred sighed, "The rents are so strict. Anything less than an A and I'm grounded."

"All work and no play, makes Mordred a dull boy," I said.

"Seriously though," Mordred responded, "These AP classes suck."

"Tell me about it," I groaned, "All these freaking projects and essays kill me and it only gets better. Trust me. Why the hell did I ever agree to this torture?"

"Med school, remember?" Gwen answered.

"Screw that. I'm just going to drop out, move to America, and become a rodeo clown."

Lance laughed, "Now that, I want to see."

I punched him on his arm as we started making our way inside, "Don't make fun of my rodeo dreams!"

Elyan laughed, "You're nuts, Merlin."

"And that's the way you all like it," I affirmed.

We all waved bye as most of us split up to go to our classes.

I considered my not tackling Arthur to the ground and kissing him senseless a success for this morning, because, yeah, the thought crossed my mind more times than I'd like to admit, and, to be honest, fighting myself that much this morning was already making me feel a little worn. Two days in and already I was going back on my word. Keeping myself away from him was going to break me apart if something didn't change soon. Last an entire week? I didn't know if I could even last till the end of the day. Yeah, I was most definitely fucked.

As I was walking to my third class of the day another alarm went off with same warning as yesterday, "ALL STUDENTS MUST REPORT TO THE NEAREST BUILDING. ALL STUDENTS MUST REPORT TO THE NEAREST BUILDING AVAILABLE. DO NOT STOP FOR ANY REASON. SENTINELS AND GUIDES PLEASE FOLLOW ALL GUIDELINES FOR CODE 3211. WIZARDS PLEASE FOLLOW ALL GUIDELINES FOR CODE 1601. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

What the hell was going on? Didn't we have all these guards in school to prevent exactly this? I made my way out of the building as quickly as I could and trying my best to not run into the rush of students that were barreling all over the place.

I began sprinting towards the middle of the school like I did yesterday, but stopped short when I heard a sudden voice yell out, "I can't fucking believe this!"

I turned in recognition of the voice and saw Arthur marching towards the south of the school. I hurried up to catch up to him, but before I could reach him another guard took his hand.

"You must calm yourself, Sentinel Pendragon. We can't risk you falling into a zone or becoming feral."

Arthur jerked away from him and answered with a growl, "Twice! Twice these people have dared to intrude into my territory and you think I'm going to remain calm about this?"

I hesitated before I took the last few steps towards him and placed my hand on his arm, Arthur's demeanor softened immediately as he turned to me, "Merlin?"

I frowned and looked around, "What's going on?"

He sighed, "Some of the people captured last night escaped, and two were caught at the edge of the school. The last was caught near the highway, apparently, attempting to leave."

"They came here again?" I huffed, "Rather insistent, aren't they? Is everyone safe then?"

"Yes, everyone's fine," Arthur shook his head, "The alarm is a precautionary measure at this point."

"How on earth did they escape?"

Arthur's body went rigid and he reached out and pulled me near him, "We think they may have had some inside help," he whispered in my ear.

I blushed at the contact, "Is that why you're so upset?"

He gave me a slight tilt of the head as an answer and I asked, "And you still have no idea as to why they're here looking for a guide?"

Arthur nuzzled my neck and sighed, "We have some theories. Sorry, I'm not able to share them with you."

I shuddered and pulled him closer, "Secret official sentinel business then?"

A heard a muffled, "Mhm," and I smiled, "Does this mean I won't be seeing you in your boxers tonight?"

Arthur laughed into my neck and said, "Yeah, curfew, but I could still give you a private viewing if you'd like."

"Not that was definitely a terrible come on," I chuckled.

"Did it work?"

"The verdict is still up on that one."

"Well, at least it wasn't an immediate failure."

"I'm sure it would be if I were human, but us Jupertanians have strange taste."

"And are apparently fairly indecisive."

"Guess you got me on that one," I sighed, "Can't be helped though, not every day I get hit on by a sentinel."

"Not every day I want to hit on a mute, either," he sighed and let me go, "Thank you. I feel better now."

I saluted him, "Glad to be of service, Sentinel Pendragon."

He arched a brow at me, "Aren't you supposed to be heading inside?"

I shrugged, "I'm not really the type to follow all the rules."

He grinned, "I've noticed," he turned to a guard and said, "Let the teachers know Merlin is with me."

The guard looked me up and down, "Full name?"

"Merlin Ambrosius," I answered, noticing then that there were a lot of guards looking at us. Fuck. Had we really been hugging in the middle of school in front of everyone?

"You're already out here so you might as well just stay with me," he said interrupting my thoughts, "Ambrosius, is it?

"I thought you said I was a distraction and you couldn't protect me."

"I never said I couldn't protect you," he huffed, "I'm more than capable."

"Yeah, so am I," I rolled my eyes, "Not denying the distraction bit then?"

"No point in that," he shrugged, "To me, you are very distracting."

He stopped and began a conversation with a guard too quietly for me to hear. I waited a few minutes until he seemed immersed in the conversation before I did a quick scan, I didn't feel any malicious emotions, but I wasn't entirely sure that I was getting the whole picture. There were too many new variables, all these guards I didn't know were making things muddy for me. If it were just my regular school mates and teachers I'd be able to identify everyone within a few seconds. Categorize them and file them, but I didn't know any of these new people and I was too afraid one of the guard guides would identify me if I didn't tread lightly. At this rate, scanning for any possible threats without going too deep or breaking through any shields would be impossible without getting caught and right now that was not an option.

I looked at Arthur. Well it is an option, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea … Or maybe it is a good idea and I'm just insane. Thinking back on a few minutes ago, it seemed like the best idea, but I didn't know if I was thinking straight or not. I really didn't seem to be doing any logical thinking when Arthur was involved.

I groaned loudly and began pacing, successfully making Arthur stop short in his sentence and turn to me.

I said, "Can I go look for my friends? I want to check on them."

"Ok," he nodded, "You have to stay with them though. They're at the center of the school."

"I figured," taking a pause, "Guess that means I can't run off looking for you after I make sure they're ok?"

"How about I text you if I move?"

"That works," I agreed, "See you in a bit then."

I waved bye and took off to the center, relieved I thought of a plausible excuse for my behavior, but extremely frustrated in not being able to find a solution for my problem. How could I be of any use without exposing myself?

The truth is I probably couldn't. My best bet might be seeing what Gwen or Gwaine could read off of them, but knowing Gwen she'd see as trying to read them as an intrusion. Great for privacy, not so good in trying to find a threat. Gwaine might be more for it, given the current circumstances. At this point, I had to take what I could get.

I sprinted the rest of the way to the center, finding my friends already in a deep discussion.

"Hey," I said slightly breathless.

"Merlin?" Lance questioned.

"Chill. I got permission to be here this time," I answered defensively.

"From who exactly?" Gwen arched a brow.

"The supreme ruler," I answered, "Also known as Arthur. He had a guard inform the teachers."

"As if you wouldn't have shown up either way," Mordred smirked.

I grinned at him, "You know it."

"Did he tell you what happened?" Gwaine asked.

"Yes," I nodded, "Actually had a question for you and Gwen."

"What is it?" Gwen asked.

"Well Arthur said they may have had a guy on the inside, so I was wondering if there was any way either of you could use your empathy to suss out any suspicious guards in the school," I frowned, "If they have connections then there is no telling where they may have them planted. They may have someone helping them here, too."

"Already tried," Gwaine answered, "The guards seem ok as far as we can tell, but they have way more experience than us and are already bonded. Even if we managed to break through their barriers, we wouldn't get very far."

This information stunned me. I couldn't say I had a lot of experience breaking through shields, but bonded or not, experienced or not, I had done it before. A few times, almost got caught each time, but still I managed to do it. How could my friends who were being trained to use their empathy not be able to do it as well?

"Oh," was all I could say, "Anyone have any other ideas?"

"Not at this point," Morgana sighed, "None of this makes any sense. It's all so strange."

"I still don't see how a rogue guide would be in our school," Mordred frowned, "I mean are they a student or something?"

I looked at Mordred blankly for a moment, "Yes!" I answered, "Yes, of course they are. They'd have to be. It makes sense."

"What are you talking about Merlin? How does that make sense?" Elyan asked.

"To have to work here, everyone has to go through an extensive background check, but students? All you need is some paperwork and an adult. If the guide has someone to help, then why not? Enrolling in school would help blend in. Provide a good cover," I sighed, "It's so obvious."

"Merlin, all mutes get tested yearly until they're 21," Gwen explained, "So unless this is some highly trained guide, I highly doubt they'd be able to get away with it."

"T-that can't be true," I stuttered, "Guides used to hide all the time. Even the books you guys lent me had information about it."

"Yes," Gwen agreed, "But all those guides were kept hidden and trained for years until they could do it properly."

"W-what?" I said dumbly. My head was spinning again; I was nowhere near highly trained. Actually I had no training at all and I'd been hiding since I first presented. What she was saying didn't make any sense.

"Well there are exceptions to every rule," Gwaine chimed in, "They're rare, but there are guides who are stronger than most, some that are naturals when it comes to controlling their empathy. Hardly need any training at all. I mean it's unlikely, but it's possible."

"Maybe that's why they're so adamant in finding this guide," Lance added, "It's a good theory."

"Yeah," agreed Mordred, "But that's all it is. Just a theory. We have no evidence pointing in either direction and if we're just going to throw conjectures around then we might as well say he owns a donkey and goes by Billy and lives in Merlin's attic."

Elyan snorted, "Why does Merlin always gets wrapped up in your stories?"

"I think it's because I've spent too much time with him," Mordred answered.

Brilliant! My friends are joking around while I'm in the middle of having a full blown panic attack. What. The. Hell?

"Merlin, do you have a rogue guide living in your attic?" Elyan asked breaking into a laugh.

"I," I paused, "Need to go to the loo," I turned and ran like a madman to the restrooms.

A very small part of me registered that I was having a meltdown for the second time within 4 days and should probably be consulting someone about that, but a bigger part of me was unable to wrap my mind against anything concrete at all. I was gripping my hair and breathing hard, grateful that no one had felt the need to join me in here. I closed the door and locked it with shaky hands. Fuck.

This didn't make any sense. So now what? I'm not just a one-of-a-kind wizard guide. I'm a guide who's a natural? Powerful? Something?

According to them, I had to be. Gaius! Call Gaius!

No! I said stopping myself. Too many sentinels, someone might over hear. I needed to calm down. I heard a knock on the door.

"Somebody in there?"

I forced myself to take slower breaths and counted to 100 as I did. I couldn't let anyone sense my emotions. More knocking, "Are you ok in there?"

I washed my face and slowly walked to the door. "Sorry," I said unlocking the door to a guide-sentinel pair of guards, "I thought my stomach was taking a turn for the worse and I hadn't wanted anyone walking in, but I guess I was wrong."

The sentinel eyed me warily as the guide answered, "I suppose that could've been what I sensed."

"Yeah, I suppose," I shrugged, "I don't really get how that thing you guys do works."

"Our empathy, you mean," the guide answered.

"Right, that," I shrugged again, "Not a lot of education for us mutes about it. Someone should probably correct that."

"Well alright. Carry on then," the guide answered, "But keep the door unlocked."

"No need," I placed my hand on my stomach, "Done here." I walked off, feeling a breeze hit my face and feeling the world steady itself. It was going to be alright. I mean so what if I could do things my friends couldn't? That didn't mean anything. So what if they said I was rare? So what if I was an even bigger abnormality than I'd first thought? So fucking what?

It didn't change anything. It didn't change who I was or what I did or anything else. All it meant was that I had even more of a reason to keep this to myself and definitely talk more with Gaius about everything. Have a long conversation with him, before I have another breakdown. I finally calmed myself fully and made my way back to everyone, spotting a very concerned looking Arthur amongst my friends.

"Merlin! There you are!" He said as I approached.

"Here I am," I answered back.

"We were just telling Arthur about our theory," Lance said excitedly, "He said he couldn't get into it, but we're heading in the right direction."

"Even about Billy the donkey student who lives in my attic?" I arched a brow, "Really didn't think we were that clever."

"They hadn't told me that part yet," Arthur answered. Arthur must've sense something from me because he then reached his hand to my cheek, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I answered, quickly stepping away, "I'm just reeling from the fact that our school, our town, has been basically invaded twice in two days."

I saw a hint of disappointment flash through his face, before his expression hardened and he dropped his hand, "We will keep everyone safe."

"By keeping secrets from everyone?" I sneered, "How's that working for you?"

"Merlin!" Gwen yelled.

"This is just so odd," I ignored her and continued, "Even more odd that this started happening after you showed up." I knew I should probably stop myself from saying the rest, but I couldn't stop myself. All my anger and my frustration, everything, was just bubbling up and I couldn't reel any of it in, "It's kind of like these two things are connected. What reason did you say you were sticking around for?"

"Are you trying to say I had something to do with all of this?"

"Do you really expect me to believe that you had no prior knowledge to everything that was going on here?"

"I never said I didn't," he gritted out, "What're you accusing me of?"

"Nothing," I answered, "It just all seems too convenient and since you won't tell us anything, then at this point I don't know what to believe."

"I'm not telling you because I can't. It's for your own safety."

"I don't need anyone to protect me and I definitely don't need anyone deciding what I should and should not know about the things affecting my own home," I huffed, "For all you know, not telling us could put us in more danger. Did you even bother to think about that?"

"This is sentinel business," he growled, "You wouldn't understand."

"I understand more than you think," I spit out, "And if you think it's ok to not tell us anything, when we're the ones being affected by all of this, then that just goes to show how ignorant of a person you really are."

"You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Yeah! Because you won't tell me! Hence, my point! We have the right to know!"

"I'm doing what I have to protect my territory!"

"Fuck your territory! This is my home! These are my people! We have the right to know what's going on!"

"You're home?! You're leaving anyway! What do you care?!"

"Fuck you! I'm leaving because I have to, not because I want to and if you think there's a chance in hell I'm going to let you leave my family and my friends to face anything without all the facts then you have another thing coming!"

I must've somehow hit Arthur's last nerve, because the next thing I know, he reaches his hands out to me and takes hold of my cheeks, crashing his lips onto mine.

The kiss itself was crude and a bit rough, but it was perfect, sending tingles throughout my entire body. All I could think of was more, more, more. I wanted more of him. Needed it. Didn't know how could I survive a second without it.

It all ended too quickly and I almost cried out at the loss of contact. Arthur gave me a wistful look and I couldn't help but notice the flicker of his eyes to my lips.

I shuddered, feeling the heat growing on my face and I felt completely frozen where I stood. Arthur must've been feeling something similar, because he didn't move either and we were both breathing just as heavily.

"Ok," Lance broke the silence, "Ok. What the hell just happened?"

I tore my eyes away from him and looked at Lance for a few minutes before finally my brain decided to restart and I was able to finally answer, "I think he just tried to shut me up with a kiss," I took a long inhale, "I'm not really sure how to react to this."

"If we go by the movies," Morgana said wide-eyed, "I think you're supposed to slap him."

"I think a punch would be just as reasonable," Gwaine added.

"I don't think encouraging violence is the solution," Gwen scolded.

"Really?" questioned Elyan, "Because I think he should at least kick 'em."

"Guys," Mordred sighed, "You're failing to see the bigger picture here. Nobody one the argument."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Not helping. All of you are really, really not helping."

Arthur cleared his throat, keeping his eyes on me, "We've been looking for the guide for months," he announced, "Our search led us here, but we haven't gotten further than that."

"So you aren't looking for a guide?" Lance asked.

"I am," he nodded, "But this takes precedence to that. I can't tell you why but this guide is different."

"So there really is a rogue guide?" Mordred asked.

"Yes, as in he or she has been hiding, but whether the guide is from a different country remains unconfirmed."

"So that's why you've been traveling the country?" I breathed.

"No, that's why I'm here," he answered, "I had decided to hold off coming until we had a more concrete leads, but my plans changed when we heard of other interested, dangerous parties," he explained, "I knew I had to come here to find and protect the guide. We hadn't expected them to come."

"You," I began, "Are a bloody idiot."

"Excuse me?" he challenged.

"I said you're a bloody idiot!" I scoffed, "You're looking for a rogue guide, our age, that goes to our school and you didn't think it might be a bright idea," I waved a hand to my friends, "To ask the people who have lived here their entire life and go to school here for help? Really?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "To protect you."

"We could've tried to help you find this guide," I groaned, "Maybe avoided some of this shite. You've got to know that's true."

"Yeah," he sighed, "But I can't have people all over the place looking for the guide either."

"No," I agreed, "I know, but still."

"Everyone's safety is our first concern."

I nodded, "Yeah, fine, but maybe we, as in us in particular, could help you. We're already involved, you might as well get our help while you're at it or are you really going to continue being so stupidly stubborn?"

"I'm really getting sick of you insulting me," he huffed.

"I wouldn't, if you didn't give me any reason to," I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up or I'll shut you up," he quirked a brow, taking a step towards me, "Unless you want me to?"

I gaped at him, "Are you seriously flirting with me right now?"

"Don't act like you didn't feel that, too," he smirked, drawing my eyes to his lips and making me blush.

"This conversation is so beyond inappropriate right now, it's making me want to barf," Mordred said scrunching his face.

"Uh yeah," Morgana agreed, "It's called tact you two. You might want to look into it."

"Don't blame me," I raised my hands defensively, "This is all him. Anyways, I think the knights should hold a meeting tonight."

"Should I invite Nimueh?" Morgana asked.

"Dunno if she'll show," Gwen answered, "She's been avoiding me since the dance."

"Won't hurt to try," Lance nodded.

"What about curfew?" Elyan asked.

"I can take care of that, but you're all getting escorts," Arthur answered.

"Since we're meeting at mine, do I really need one?" I asked.

"You already have one."

I quirked a brow, "Do I? Who would that be?"

He grinned, "You already know the answer to that."

I blinked and turned to Morgana and shrugged, shaking my head, "I think I need to head back to class before my head explodes."

"Call Gaius," Arthur told me.

"You're doing that again?" I sighed.

"Have to," he answered back.

I nodded, "Yeah, ok. 630 still ok with everyone? And I still want you lot to bring snacks."

Everyone consented and I nodded, keeping my eyes off of Arthur as I turned around and walked away.

My plan to stay away from Arthur was a joke. I really hoped Gaius came up with something on his end, otherwise I really didn't know what I was going to do.

Aurthor's note: Ping! update! Finnaallly got this chapter done, edited, and posted. I want to thank my reviewers for their input on this one. The vote were tallied and this one won out. I hope you like it!