The Love Between Souls (Merlin X Reader)

~{Chapter 8}~

Merlin's eyes widen with shock, grief and other emotions I can't quite make out.
"I— but...." Merlin stutters. I start walking past the trees and onto a small river bank.
"Merlin, I heard Jack, Hans, and Arthur the other night. They were talking about a curse. I believe from the information I have gathered these past couple of days I can come to the conclusion that you and the others are the F7, aren't you," I interrogate the small stunned dwarf.
"I'd like to know about the day I can't remember. And the curse." Merlin stays silent and the sky soon starts tinting the land with a soft pinkish purple colour. The walk down the riverbank is quiet as I wait for Merlin to start his story.
"The day you can't remember," Merlin starts after moments of deafening silence.
"I am guessing you are talking about the day we fought that dragon." Merlin lets out a big sigh and continues the small stroll.
"We, meaning you and the F7, had been requested to go and fight a dragon that was terrorizing a village on the outskirts of King Stephans kingdom. The fight wasn't going too well as the dragon had left Jack and Hans badly injured. You and Arthur ran up a mountain to a ledge hoping to finish the fight there. You had almost fallen off the cliff at one point but I came and saved you," Merlin's voice starts quivering and his tone gets softer.
"The dragon had died by your hands," Merlin takes a deep breath and a big puff of exhaled air leaves his chest. "You went to retrieve your sword from the dragon's supposed dead corpse but as you pulled it out, the dragon let out its last mighty roar, and with one fell swoop of its tail it..."
"It sent me into the canopy of trees below." I finished for Merlin. A small silence fell upon us as Merlin sat himself down on a log overlooking the river, the sound of trickling water, small chirps of crickets, and a couple choked breaths from Merlin, the only sounds to be heard.

"I was adamant to go down to where you fell to get you and see that you were okay and alive but everyone told me it would be a waste, that no one could survive a fall from that height. So we went home and carried on with our lives, some more than others." Merlin looked to the grass below ashamed. "They weren't wrong," I stated informatively. Merlin looked at me with confusion written across his features, along with a couple of tear streaks on his cheeks. "What do you mean?" He asked softly.
"Like I had mentioned when I had shown up a couple of days ago, I was in a coma for weeks. When I woke up, Aurora's godmothers said that I was lucky Aurora found me when she did. If I had been out in the woods any longer or been found by anyone else I would have died." Merlin looked down, a small "oh" leaving his mouth. We both sat in silence, leaving a comfortable atmosphere between us two.
"Merlin.. why didn't you tell me all of this days ago." I ask in a hushed tone.
"I was afraid. I was afraid about what you would say. You had just arrived. I didn't want to scare you or overload you with all this information. And mainly. I was afraid you were going to hate me for leaving you to die." A long tense silence filled the atmosphere.
"I'd never hate you Merlin."
I looked to Merlin whose focus was trained on the flowing river.
"So what happened to you?" I ask poking Merlin's cheek, earning a small chuckle and hand swat in return, lightening the mood.
"Us F7 fought off a dragon in golden goose avenue 2 months after you supposedly died. We were supposed to be rescuing a Princess but when we freed the maiden from the dragon she was green. We had thought she was a witch so we attacked her, she turned out to be the fairy Princess. She wanted to teach us a lesson, so she put a curse on us. It turned us into little ugly green monsters whenever people looked at us." Merlin explained with a slight chuckle.
"Oh, that's rough." I let out a small giggle. Merlin punches my arm lightly chuckling. Suddenly an idea springs to my mind and I turn my head away from the dwarf.
"So are you green now?" I ask, keeping my gaze away from Merlin letting out a small giggle.
"Not at all." A human hand gets placed on the shoulder facing away from my gaze and I feel a thumb caress the curve of the joint.
"So how do you break the curse?" I ask looking back to the now green dwarf.

A scowl crosses Merlin's face as he switches back to his green form and he snatches his hand from my shoulder. "That is where things get complicated," the dwarf mumbles angrily. "Apparently we need a kiss from the most beautiful woman in the world. But none of us know where to look for the said woman." Merlin crosses his arms, a scowl still prominent on his features.
"Well, I don't think it's looks that the fairy was talking about," I enquire, looking out to the river.
"You and the others are always on about looks and appearances you don't actually see what's deeper than that. Take Red shoes for example.. she—" My sentence was cut short as thumping shook the ground and a tumultuous roar from behind erupted into the serene environment.
"What the!" I shout abruptly, turning and glancing behind us. A giant wooden monster smashes through the forest behind us, a monstrous roar erupting from it. It lifts up its mace-like hand and brings it crashing down into the grass right in front of where Merlin and I stand.
"Hurry!" Merlin shouts, taking my hand and pulling me away. The pair of us sprint through the forest, heading downstream from the river we were just resting by.
"What is that?" I question hysterically looking behind me and speeding up my pace, afraid of the closing distance between the monster and us.
"This kingdom has a serious monster problem!" Merlin shouts with fear laced in his voice. Merlin and I run to a fallen tree log that stretches from a cliff and across the river below. Without a second thought, we both run towards its arch down and slide our way towards the grass below. Before we can reach the end of the log, it all of a sudden shoots up and we get launched into the air. We get flung across a collection of trees and fall at the edge of a canyon before rolling and tumbling down a rocky and dusty hill. I fall into a giant crack in the ground, Merlin following suit and we land on some sand sitting at the bottom of the small crevasse.

I get up from the ground to see Merlin wincing in an extreme amount of pain walking around with his knees buckled inwards.
"Are you okay?" I ask concerned.
"No... I'm not." He manages to grunt out. Merlin soon walks off the pain and gets out of the hole, helping me up and out onto the surface.
"Thank you." I smile at the dwarf, heat rising to my cheeks slowly.
"Pleasure, m'lady." We get on our way but not even two steps and another giant wooden monster is towering over us and already leaning down to try and snatch us up. We start running the opposite way back towards the hill, away from the crevasse and then the monster from before emerges at the top of the canyons hill. Merlin leaps into action, pulling out and sparking his talismans to retaliate against the monsters. He launches a crackling ball of lightning towards the knee of the monster above us and it collapses before crashing down and rolling towards the pair of us. I let out a frightened scream as the monster starts descending towards us and I turn around running towards the other monster. The wooden block bounces and flies over the top of us. I cover my head, shielding me from any impact or debris and everything seems like it's in slow motion as the monster crashes into the other one, then being bowled over and knocked down.
"Woo!" Merlin cheers leaping and spinning as we run away from the wooden monsters.
"That was the dumbest but smartest move you've ever done." I give a wheezed chuckle losing my breath from all of this running.
"Haha! Yes!" Merlin celebrates but we soon slow our running as we hear more crashing.

Merlin runs to the left of me as the crashing gets louder and I look to my right to see another monster crash through the trees, this time more red in colour. I follow Merlin in fear as the three monsters stalk towards us and I soon catch up to the dwarf.
"What do they want besides smashing us?" Merlin questions snarky hints found in his words.
"I don't know!" I reply frightfully. Merlin looks up to the top of the canyon and sends out a bolt of lightning towards the canyon wall but only small stones and dust come out of the attack.
"The old me would have nailed that." Merlin scoffs. Thumping, crashing, a loud roar like cry, and finally splashing is heard from behind and Merlin points finger guns cheering yet again.
"You just got merlined." He cries with enthusiasm. I look behind me to see what's going on and see a giant Boulder flying through the sky right towards us. The Boulder lands mere meters from Merlin and me and I cough due to the dust that was stirred up.
"Hurry!" Merlin gasps, grabbing my hand and dragging me away from the Boulder. We run down deeper into the canyon and boulders start falling left and right, almost landing on us every time. Merlin and I almost run into a Boulder which crashes into our path, and I swerve to the left to dodge it. I see Merlin to the right, and a lot further away from me, jump down a small hill and then look to the right. I sprint onwards trying to dodge the giant rocks.
"(Y/N)! Close your eyes!" Merlin shouts at me running closer.
"This is no time to play blindfold, Merlin. We need to focus!"
"Just trust me!" He pleads. "Close your eyes!" Merlin looks behind us but before I do he shouts a desperate 'please! Close them!'. I do as I'm told and shut my eyes. Instantly I feel a hand grab my arm and pull me into a tall, lean figure. I hear the sizzles and crackles of lightning before hearing a loud burst.

"Ah!" I shout out of fear, flinching at the loud and sudden sound. I feel small rocks and dust fall on me as I open my eyes slowly.
"Phew!" I hear Merlin breathe out. "That was too close." Merlin's tone sounds serious and I fix my hunched posture starting to look behind me. Merlin grabs my left arm harshly, yanking it back towards him and pulling my body along with it. My body collides with Merlins softly and his grasp on my arm loosens.
"Don't look at me." Merlin sternly commands, emphasizing the 'don't' as I try to turn my head to see him. I get what Merlin is letting on to so I nod my head slightly, as a signal of understanding.
"You see that tree on the other side of the bridge?" Merlin asks, still gripping my arm slightly. I look forward, seeing a thick bridge made of rock crossing a lake and a lone tree standing in the setting sun's warm purple and red glow.
"Yeah?" I question.
"On my signal, I need you to run towards it as fast as you can."
"No! Merlin, I can't leave you here!" I plead, trying to convince him to not send me away.
"You have to. And don't look back, okay?" I stay silent thinking about my options.
"Look right at that tree until I say it's safe." I look at the tree and give Merlin a small hum in acknowledgment. "Promise you won't look!" Merlin asks, in an almost begging manner.
"Okay," I say hesitantly. "I promise." Silence falls between us, the only sounds to be heard are the stomps and thumps from the monsters, the faint sound of water, and Merlin's calm and steady breathing.
"Now!" Merlin shouts, almost giving me a fright. I feel Merlin take his hand off my arm and I immediately start sprinting towards the tree on the other side of the canyon.