Merlyn - Arthur x Female Merlin [1]

Chapter Forty-Four: What did I do?

...His lungs hurt. That was his first thought. He was also cold and wet and tired, everything ached. What the hell had happened? Where was he?

"You're alright Arthur. It's ok" her voice echoed lightly. Arthur's eyes opened to find a slightly blurry Merlyn above him, her hair plastered to her face and body along with her undergarments that revealed her womanly shape beneath. Her eyes shone brightly as water droplets ran down her skin. Gods, she was beautiful. But why was she soaking? Why was he?

"Merlyn?" Arthur grimaced at the pain that radiated across his throat and lungs. Had he swallowed a river? Merlyn smiled brightly as she gently cupped his cheek with one hand, relief fluttering across her face. He vaguely noticed they were in a forest beside a lake and that it seemed to be early morning - he figured they had been in the water for some reason. It was a beautiful place.

"It's alright, I've got you. I've got you..."

Groaning, Arthur felt himself waking up. Whilst his lungs did hurt slightly, they weren't as painful as they had been in his dream ... or had that been a memory? Suddenly, he could hear her voice again - the only good thing about waking up in the mornings was that Merlyn was the one to wake him.

"Arthur? Arthur?" Opening his eyes Arthur found himself in his bed with Merlyn and Gaius in seats next to him. Their presence and the fact his body ached gave him the suspicion that perhaps his "dream" was a memory and something had happened.

"What happened?" Arthur groaned tiredly.

"Can you remember anything?" Merlyn asked. Arthur frowned, now she was asking. Could he remember anything? No, not really.

"Oh! Oh my head!" Arthur complained as he sat up, that was a bad idea. Lifting his hand to his head, Arthur tried to remember anything. He could vaguely remember a girl ... Sophia ... he saved her. "There was a girl. Sophia, she ... I asked my father something about her, I asked him..." That's when it flooded back to him. He had asked his father if he could marry her. Bolting up right, wide awake. He ignored his complaining muscles as his mind raced at his actions. "What was I thinking?"

"Well, we did wonder. Especially when you tried to elope with her last night" Merlyn said, fighting back a smile. Arthur's face paled at her words.

"I did what?!" Arthur asked his eyes flying over to Merlyn in shock and horror. Merlyn couldn't help but laugh at Arthur's horrified face nor help the twinge of happiness she felt at his reaction - if he had truly loved Sophia he wouldn't be so horrified at the prospect of marrying her right? Meanwhile, Arthur's mind was racing. Marrying Sophia; why, why, why would he marry Sophia? What on earth possessed him to ask his father that? Recalling Merlyn's words, Arthur decided to focus on Merlyn's word of "tried" if he tried it meant he didn't succeed (he was hoping). Oh god, he better not have eloped with her.

"Merlyn went after you and stopped you; she had to bring you back to Camelot" Gaius calmly explained grabbing Arthur's attention. Arthur turned to look back at Merlyn. In that moment he could have kissed her. Thank god for Merlyn and her extreme loyalty and brains - if he had eloped, the issues that would have caused...

"I don't recall any of this" Arthur stated. What on earth happened? He couldn't remember much, there were just fuzzy memories here and there from the last few days. Why couldn't he remember?

"Must've been some blow" Gaius commented almost to himself. Arthur sighed as he looked at Gaius, what was he missing now?

"What blow?" Arthur questioned.