Beside Me, Chapter 1.3 - Hello, There
Mar. 20th, 2011 12:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nyxelestiaStory Title: Beside Me
Chapter: 1.3 - Hello, There
Rating: R
Summary: X-Men AU: For many downtrodden mutants, rejected throughout a lifetime of unwelcome blood dictating their lives, Camelot Academy is not just a school - it's a home. But something dark is brewing, and Camelot is no longer as safe as it appears.
Word Count: 4400
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot, Morgana, Gwaine
Chapter Warnings/Content: minor mentions of bigotry, swearing, and violence (none depicted)
Beta: None, because I have no patience to speak of an a schedule that I at least try to keep :P
Notes: Sorry it's late! i iz sick and spent the day sleeping and staring at my homework.
Chapter 1: School’s In Session
Part 3: Hello, There
Master Post
<< Previous Chapter
~*~
By the end of the week, Merlin was in Gaius’s office. He gingerly took his program and smiled at what he saw – most of them were his favorite subjects.
“Now then,” Gaius said. “Do you have any plans for university? Or your career?”
“Er…”
Gaius smiled gently at Merlin from behind his desk. “We have our own psychologist – whom I am sure you will meet soon enough – but I do act as a counselor for my students, as well, Merlin. This includes you, now.”
Merlin nodded. “I…I just…something that involves art? Especially computer art. Design and stuff. I’m good at it. Maybe advertising type things or something like that…? Or street art, maybe, if I make enough money, one day.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Yeah,” Merlin said with a nod. “A lot.”
“That is all I would wish for you at this point,” Gaius said. “You scored quite well, Merlin. You are a very bright young man.”
Merlin blushed. “Thank you, sir.”
“Now, you will be shown around by a student named Guinevere – I believe I told you about her? – for classes and breaks. She is waiting for you outside.”
“Thanks, sir,” Merlin said, getting up.
“Have a good day, Merlin.”
“You too, Dr.-”
“Gaius, Merlin – just Gaius.”
“Right – have a good day, Gaius.”
Merlin exited to nearly run into a girl waiting outside. Dark skin and dark curly hair, but with sweet brown eyes, and roughly his age, dressed in loose clothing and large jeans, with a sturdy school bag over her shoulder – Merlin felt rather good about her.
“Guinevere?” he asked hesitantly.
“Just Gwen,” she said pleasantly, holding out her hand. “Gwen Smith.”
“Merlin Emrys,” Merlin said, shaking her hand. “Gaius said you’re going to show me around?”
“Yeah,” Gwen said. “All our classes we either share or they’re right next to each other, so showing you around will be easy for me.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem,” she said, pleasantly. “I like meeting new people.”
A bell rang, and within moments, there was a soft thunder of footsteps as kids all poured into the halls and headed for class.
“Let’s go, then!” Gwen said cheerfully, before turning and heading down the hall. She pointed out various rooms and their teachers and classes, the bathrooms, pathways to other important parts of the castle, and other important rooms as they went, regaling him with stories of her own first few days at this castle and how terribly lost she had gotten.
“There is a system to the castle’s layout, it’s just a little difficult to see at first glance, even on the map,” she said. “I can show you later – once you get it, it’s very easy to find your way around.”
Merlin nodded, head swiveling with every single little thing she had pointed out, thinking there was no way that he would be able to easily navigate his way through this place. It was just so damn huge that he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed-
There was suddenly a small hand clasped inside his gloved fingers.
Surprised, he looked down to see a little boy there. He was young, barely even nine or ten years old, and had brown hair and sweet, gray-blue eyes – but with a gaze that said he knew just a bit too much.
“Erm…hello,” Merlin said, turning a baffled gaze to Gwen about the boy who just appeared. She giggled when she saw him.
“That’s Leon,” she said. “He’s a telepath – he can read minds – and he has a habit of popping up randomly and helping people like that.”
The boy squeezed his hand, and Merlin turned to look and see Leon staring up at him – not quite smiling, but almost. Then the boy faced forward and continued to walk, as if it were perfectly normal to hold his hand, as if they’d known each other forever.
It was, actually, oddly reassuring.
A few hallways down, Leon gave one more squeeze and wandered off.
Without having ever said a word.
“That was…weird,” Merlin said, blinking after him.
“As opposed to the rest of a medieval castle full of teenage mutants?” Gwen asked.
Merlin grinned.
“Oh! I never asked – what’s your power?”
“…um…” Merlin swallowed. “My power is….is…complicated. But the one I use is telekineses.”
“What’s your main one, then?”
“I can…if I touch a mutant skin to skin, I absorb their power. Not take it, they still have it, I just have it, too. But it’s a painful process on both ends, so I just try to avoid it. It’s why I wear so much.”
She nodded in understanding. “I control plants, live ones…oh, here!”
She pointed to a tree outside the window, and her eyes narrowed in concentration, and Merlin’s jaw dropped when the tree swayed, and a branch lifted up and waved at him.
The tree went back to normal, and Merlin turned to stare at her. “Gaius mentioned a mutant who could control plants, but he never said anything about this!”
She laughed and tugged him into a classroom, which turned out to be their English class. “Come on, Merlin – we can show each other more later.”
He nodded and sat down for the class.
Gwen suddenly waved someone over, and a pale, hazel-eyed brunette came over, looking about his age.
“This is my best friend-”
“-Morgana,” the girl finished, holding out her hand. “Nice to finally meet you, Merlin.”
Merlin looked at her in alarm – how the hell did she know him?
“So you saw him coming, then?” Gwen asked.
At Merlin’s look of confusion, Morgana said, “I can dream the future. I saw this happening over a week ago. Telekinesis, empathy, and can copy people’s powers into your own DNA, I believe? Artist, multi-medium, but especially computer graphics? And, you’re gay. Mostly.”
Merlin stared at her, slack-jawed. “How did you…”
She laughed, sitting down beside him after exchanging supplies with Gwen. “I saw it. I do that a lot.”
“She does,” Gwen said, with a shrug. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Um…”
“You’ll see,” Morgana said with a wink, before taking out a pen, flipping over Merlin’s notebook, and writing on the back of it. “Now, as I already know you’re going to be obnoxiously good at this class, here’s my e-mail. I’m going to start copying from your notes instead of Gwen’s. She’s not that great at this class-”
“Hey!” Gwen said, but her tone was jovial.
“-because she’s too invested in her biology and whatnot,” Morgana continued. “On that note, you should copy her notes from biology, she’s brilliant at it. Her and her plants.”
Gwen stuck her tongue out, and they settled in for class.
It was an average and somewhat jarring but still engaging class. Throughout the class, Morgana filled in gaps, with things like, that’s Mr. Collins, he can learn any language in the world in less than a day, and he only checks half the homework. Or, there’s Mary, she can make her voice sound like anyone she wants to. And, there’s Val, he’s a prick, but he’s great with animals, especially reptiles and other such tidbits about students, the teacher, and the class in general. Merlin listened to both her commentary and the lesson (the latter of which Morgana found boring), and overall, ended the class with a large smile on his face.
And, well, Gwen was good at the class.
“Just not as good as you,” Morgana said, when Merlin voiced this.
“I’ll just take your notes from her, then, shall I?” Gwen said, pointing to Morgana as they packed up at the end of class.
The next class, sociology, Gwen went to the class next door, but Morgana was in it with Merlin, so they continued sharing notes as Morgana pointed out various other students, explaining their personalities, powers, and various important aspects of their personal histories.
“It’s all so much,” Merlin said as they left the class to head for lunch.
“You’ll get used to it, everyone does,” she said. “Now come on, Gwen’s about to introduce you to her boyfriend. But, word of advice: he’s straight as an arrow and loyal as hell to Gwen. I would know, I’ve tried to shag him, twice. It’s tragic.”
Merlin could see why it was tragic, and why Morgana sought to warn him. The bloke was absolutely gorgeous. If you looked up ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ in the dictionary, his picture would be by it.
“I’m Lance,” he said, holding out his hand. “Merlin, Gwen said?”
Merlin nodded.
“Merlin Emrys,” he said. “What’s your, um, power?”
Lance smiled, and a moment later Merlin’s eyes widened as the guy floated up out of his seat and towards the ceiling.
“I can fly, basically,” he said. “You’re telekinetic, right? How strong?”
With a grin, Merlin concentrated on his own body, and levitated himself up to the ceiling as well, smiling down at Gwen, laughing, and Morgana, who was rolling her eyes. He didn’t do this often but…
“We’ll have to race some time,” Lancelot said. “No one else here can fly – except for the kid with bug wings – and only one of the other telekinetics is powerful enough to lift herself up.”
“Come back down to your seats, boys,” a passing professor said.
Merlin laughed, and he and Lance obliged, and a small part of Merlin still felt this was too good to be true, actually playing with his powers, with someone else who had a power, too! It just…it was bizarre. But it felt so good, to not have to hide it for once in his life.
“That’s actually pretty good,” Morgana said. “Not many telekinetic kids are that stable and un-wobbly in levitating themselves.”
“I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” Merlin said sheepishly.
Morgana whistled, impressed. “You’re definitely a Class III, if you could do that as a kid. Hell having powers as a kid is usually a Class III thing. Maybe even a Class IV.”
“Er…thanks?” Merlin said, unsure of how to respond to that.
Morgana gave him a shrewd look and said, “Maybe even a Class V…?”
Merlin’s eyes widened, and Gwen said, “Morgana, don’t tease.”
She just smirked and rolled her eyes. “What? It would be kind of cool.”
“Um, no, I’d rather not have my new friend die in a violent storm of his own power,” Gwen said, sticking his tongue out.
“Not all Class V’s end up like that,” Morgana muttered under her breath.
“Sure they don’t,” Lance said with wry politeness.
And a few minutes later, Merlin was introduced to another student who could do the same thing as Merlin, another telekinetic, and then so many other kids had similar powers, being able to move specific objects, and they all seemed so pleased to meet Merlin and...
He felt someone hug his waist, and looked down in time to see Leon wrapped around him before the boy wandered off again, to sit by some girl who appeared to be glued to a textbook of some kind, looking frazzled as she read aloud to herself.
Huh. He could get used to this.
~*~
When he had left home, he had only left a short note for his mother – don’t worry about me.
When he was able to check his e-mail two weeks later, he had a one-word e-mail from her: why?
He sent her every news article about disappearing mutants he had ever bookmarked, every statistic, for mutants, and most importantly, for their families. He sent her the bills she would have to pay even while she looked for a job (and the ones saying that now she wouldn’t, as Merlin had used the money from his savings to pay them off, considering he was the reason she lost her job in the first place). He sent here the copies of the comments of him on his now-dead Facebook account about him.
He had ended that e-mail with, do you really have to ask?
A while after that, Merlin had called her. He didn’t tell her where or how he was living, or what he was doing to earn it, but instead told her about the new place he was headed to, a change from his aimless wandering. She wished him luck, and tried to offer him some money to help him – but she still didn’t have a job, and would only be able to pay for water and utilities for another month – after that, if she didn’t have a job, she would have to give something up.
Instead, he had quickly changed the subject, enough for his mum to remind him the importance of education, of getting to that school soon, before needing to wish her a hasty goodbye, as he had been using a payphone and his time was running out.
Will had never contacted him at all.
Right now, he sent them both a quick, short e-mail:
I’m fine, now. I’m safe. Hope you are, too.
He sent it off quickly, before he could talk himself out of it.
The message back from his mum said: Thank god you are. Where are you?
Will just said: Fine.
~*~
Merlin found a phone and sat nervously, his mother’s phone number on the screen, before he finally jammed his finger into the ‘send’ button before he could do anything else, and held the phone up to his ear.
“Hello,” his mum’s curt voice said. “Hunith Emrys speaking. Who is this?”
Just say something, damnit.
“Hello?” she asked again.
It’s not that hard!
“If this is a prank call-”
“Mum?”
A beat, then-
“Merlin?!”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Merlin! Oh my god, where are you? Are you safe? You never responded to my e-mails or anything! You had me worried sick, especially with the latest round of riots going on!”
Merlin swallowed. The latest go of anti-mutant riots started just after he reached Camelot. Maybe he should have called her sooner…
“You know that school I told you about? I made it.”
A long sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear that, sweetheart. I’m so glad to hear you’re all right.”
“This…this school, for mutants,” he said. “It’s run by…by someone…he says he knew you. His name is Gaius, Dr. Gaius R.-”
“-Wilson?” she asked, startled. “Gaius is alive?”
Merlin stared at the wall in surprise. “You really knew him, then?”
“Yes, he and your father used to work together all the time. He used to have dinner with us, sometimes. He still…he vanished after the Gene Riots, I…I thought he was dead.”
“No,” Merlin said. “He…this place, it’s kept hidden, because it was attacked a long time ago, but I found it, by accident, and…it’s safe. It’s brilliant.”
He heard sniffling on the other end. “So you’re okay?” she asked, voice thick with tears.
“Yeah,” he said. “I…this place…there are a few hundred other kids here. All mutants, too, and…”
“I wish I’d known this place existed,” she said softly. “I would have sent you there as soon as I could.”
“Like I said, they keep it really low profile, don’t advertise or anything. You generally can only find out by accident. I was lucky to. I…” What could he say? He found it by accident while running away from a hospital he’d ended up in because two men drugged him and raped him? No, Mum was never going to find out what he’d done on the streets. “It was an accident I found out. I don’t…”
Overhead, a bell rang.
“What was that?” she asked, startled.
“Just the bell – classes are going to start, soon,” Merlin said. “I’m reading the same things here as in Ealdor, it’s really good, Mum. We get our own rooms, and we can train with our powers. There are so many other telekinetic kids here, they’ve started this tournament for it, called the Hover Games. I’m playing next week.”
Another choked laugh. “I’m so glad to hear you’re all right. I know Gaius – he’s a good man. If you’re in his hands, they’re good hands to be in.”
“It really is nice,” Merlin said. “You’d like my friend Gwen – she controls plants. She manages all the flower gardens on the school almost single-handedly, and they’re gorgeous. And her boyfriend Lance can fly, and we race all the time. And Morgana, she can see the future, and she’s mean in a nice way, kind of like Will if he were a girl, but…”
He trailed off.
“How’s Will?” he asked.
“He’s…okay. Still in the wheel chair. Still needs physical therapy. But…I think he’s getting better. Slowly.”
“Does he…has he…said anything about…me? To you?”
She sighed. “No. He avoids me and this house, I only hear from him in short e-mails. He won’t say anything about you. Have you tried his blog? Or that Facebook thing?”
“No Facebook,” Merlin said. “I ended my account. And…I’m rather scared to see his blog.”
“He doesn’t really mention you much,” Hunith said. “But he still supports mutants in general. When that idiot MP tried to propose legislation requiring all mutants to register no matter what – again – Will put up two whole posts raving against it.”
Merlin smiled at the thought. He could see Will typing furiously in his room while swearing about everything that bugged him, the posh upper class and corrupt politicians and ‘the budget being run by crackheads in suits’ and any other number of things he went on about.
But just because Will still supported mutants didn’t mean he’d forgiven Merlin.
“Just give him time, Merlin, you know how he is. Go …if you’re still in classes, you shouldn’t be late. Good luck. Call me soon.”
“I will, Mum. I miss you, too. Bye.”
He hung up and stared at the phone.
He did know how Will really was, and that was what scared him most.
~*~
About a week later, Merlin had went shopping with Morgana and Gwen and Lance, and gotten some clothes (and had learned that shopping for clothes with Morgana was a bad idea) and he’d gotten supplies (and found that shopping for supplies with Gwen was a bad idea) and he’d even found some stuff to fix-up his iPod (and found that shopping with Lance for tech was a bad idea).
Next time, he’d go shopping on his own.
But still, Merlin was adjusting well to his new life, and he was settled into classes, too, and his room. He’d downloaded some open source manip programs onto one of the media center computers to play around with, and was already printing out his designs and taping them up on his walls, along with stuff he drew by hand, and his room was starting to look like it was actually his. He had settled nicely into his friendship with Gwen and Morgana and Lancelot, cosseted by Gwen’s sweet guidance, Lance’s easy camaraderie, and Morgana’s oddly reassuring acerbic wit, reminding him of Will.
This place was starting to feel like home.
“That’s good to hear, Merlin,” Gwen said cheerfully when he’d told her as much on Friday night as over half the student body, all clad in pajamas, gathered in one of the larger lounges to watch a Blackadder marathon.
“Your thoughts are happy, lately,” Leon said as he cuddled up to Gwen.
She seemed to know him quite well.
“Her family lives on mine’s estate,” Leon said as Merlin let his confusion swirl around his head. “Gwen and Elyan – Elyan’s her brother – went to Camelot for a long time and then Mum found out I was a mutant and she heard about Camelot and knew Gwen and Elyan went to a Camelot so she sent me with Gwen and Elyan – before Elyan left, of course, he’s too old, now, but back then I went with both.”
Gwen rolled her eyes, wrapping Leon in a blanket as Lance wrapped himself around her.
“Elyan’s in uni, right now,” she said. “But yeah, his Mum basically sends him with us and tells us – just me, now – to watch out for him. So I do. Right, Leon?”
Leon nodded, then said, “John has it, he’s going to give it to Lee.”
Gwen cursed and ran off to two other students to get whatever it was she wanted, and Merlin rolled his eyes. Morgana just sighed morosely as she went off after Gwen, and Merlin frowned after her in confusion.
“I don’t know,” Leon answered. “She can shield her thoughts from me.”
“She has a brother, too,” Lance answered quietly.
“Really? I thought it was just Morgause,” Merlin said, looking over to where Morgana’s sister was trying to round up fellow students, little sparks and lines of electricity escaping her fingers as she tried to get the rowdier ones to settle down, glaring them all down with her oddly-reassuring firmness. A year older than Morgana, she was ‘teaching’ at the school for a year as she waited for Morgana to graduate so they could go off to university together. She was sharp and tough, but she helped kids make leaps and bounds in learning to harness their powers – including Merlin. She was scary as fuck but in a good way, and that was about the most anyone truly knew about her.
“They’re full sisters – from what I know, this brother is her half-brother…something about an affair between their parents, I don’t know. Said half-brother is a mutant. Said half-brother’s dad is very anti-mutant and has forbidden Morgana from talking to him. I know she still does but it’s not often…I don’t think she likes the situation,” Lance said, shrugging a little helplessly. “That’s about all I know.”
Merlin frowned. “Wait, if the brother’s a mutant and the dad-”
“That’s why she doesn’t like it,” Lance said. “I think.”
Merlin nodded, opting to turn back to look at the large screen instead of Morgana.
He supposed he could at least be glad he was still able to talk to his mother whenever they wanted and both had some free time. Merlin had chatted with her just this morning.
Now if only he could work up the guts to talk to Will.
Shaking his head, trying to shift away from his abruptly dark thoughts, Merlin settled into his beanbag and focused on the show. He’d think about all this later, when it was just a little less painful. For now he’d wait for the show to start so Leon would stop staring at him and go back to snuggling, whenever Gwen came back.
“Good plan,” Leon said, and snuggled up to Merlin instead.
~*~
“Gwaine!” Merlin cried out a few days later in the hallway, running up to the man, who turned around and smiled at him.
“Hey, kid, how’ve you been?”
“Brilliant,” Merlin said, not caring if he had his ‘doofus grin’, as Will had called it, on his face. “You? Are you staying?” Suddenly, he felt…oddly apprehensive. He was still mad at Gwaine, and barely knew him!
Gwaine sighed. “Well…it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do, so I might as well stay…even if it does mean being locked in fucking castle with a couple hundred teenagers...and nothing to drink…”
Merlin let the relief show on his face.
“You seem oddly invested in me being here,” Gwaine commented as they made their way down the hall – most probably towards the kitchen.
“Just…well, it’s not exactly safe for mutants out there, anymore, is it?” Merlin tried.
Gwaine shook his head ruefully. “So you heard, then?”
“Who hasn’t?” Merlin asked.
It was true – who hadn’t heard about the latest round of mutant riots, of shoot-outs and bombings between the pro-mutant Knights of Medhir and anti-mutant Dark Knights. It was war between the two, as pro- and anti-mutant locations all over the country went up in flames.
“So you want me to stay here and safe?” Gwaine asked wryly. “I thought you hated me.”
Merlin’s face fell. “I’m…okay, I’ve moved you from ‘hate’ to ‘moderate dislike’.”
“And the ‘moderate dislike’ category warrants your concern?”
“…yes?”
The man laughed. “You really are too good for your own good.”
“Hey!” Merlin scowled, but without much bite. He liked being in the school, safe, and a good person. Bad people may run the world, but good people kept it from falling apart (at least according to Will, before whining that if he wanted to become PM one day he’d have to be a bad person, and Merlin would usually promise to make sure he’s only just bad enough and- no, he should stop thinking like this).
Gwaine shrugged. “Well – I’m staying mostly as security, checking around at night and stuff. According to Gaius, one half is about making sure no one is trying to hurt you kids and the other half is making sure you kids aren’t causing trouble.”
Merlin laughed. “Well, I already said, I’m not much of a troublemaker or anything…I’ll try not to add to it.”
Gwaine shook his head ruefully and pulled into the kitchen. “Thanks, I guess. That’s only part of my job, though – the other part is actually somewhat of an honorary teaching position.”
Merlin looked at him surprise. “Teaching?”
The man nodded. “Some kids started a ‘self defense’ club or something, for kids who have physical mutations and aren’t sure how to work in their extra body parts into martial arts. It’s a bit half-arsed…but I can still impart some deeper knowledge onto future generations.”
Merlin grinned. “Sounds good.”
“I take it you won’t bother attending?” Gwaine asked wryly as some biscuits floated down from one of the cupboards.
“I might…I’ll just watch,” Merlin added. “Me and sport of any kind…we don’t mix.”
Gwaine laughed, grabbing one of the biscuits from midair. “Do what you want, kid. You’re safe in here, anyway.”
Merlin grinned at the thought. “Yeah…we are.”
~*~
Next Chapter >>
Master Post
A/N: Sorry for the lack of Arthur. He'll show up in the next chapter, promise! In the mean time, have some bb!Leon. :P
On that note, I think I'll start chapter previews. Do you guys like it when authors put in previews of their upcoming chapters, or not?
Here's my preview for the next chapter:
Merlin should really know better by now than to go shopping with Morgana, but he supposes he'll learn - or he would, except he has some big news from Gaius. And Arthur has some from Uther, as well - news which will soon change the world.
So, should I start adding in previews or is that a no-go? Either way, comment to let me know, both on the previews and the chapter itself! :D
Chapter: 1.3 - Hello, There
Rating: R
Summary: X-Men AU: For many downtrodden mutants, rejected throughout a lifetime of unwelcome blood dictating their lives, Camelot Academy is not just a school - it's a home. But something dark is brewing, and Camelot is no longer as safe as it appears.
Word Count: 4400
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot, Morgana, Gwaine
Chapter Warnings/Content: minor mentions of bigotry, swearing, and violence (none depicted)
Beta: None, because I have no patience to speak of an a schedule that I at least try to keep :P
Notes: Sorry it's late! i iz sick and spent the day sleeping and staring at my homework.
Chapter 1: School’s In Session
Part 3: Hello, There
Master Post
<< Previous Chapter
~*~
By the end of the week, Merlin was in Gaius’s office. He gingerly took his program and smiled at what he saw – most of them were his favorite subjects.
“Now then,” Gaius said. “Do you have any plans for university? Or your career?”
“Er…”
Gaius smiled gently at Merlin from behind his desk. “We have our own psychologist – whom I am sure you will meet soon enough – but I do act as a counselor for my students, as well, Merlin. This includes you, now.”
Merlin nodded. “I…I just…something that involves art? Especially computer art. Design and stuff. I’m good at it. Maybe advertising type things or something like that…? Or street art, maybe, if I make enough money, one day.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Yeah,” Merlin said with a nod. “A lot.”
“That is all I would wish for you at this point,” Gaius said. “You scored quite well, Merlin. You are a very bright young man.”
Merlin blushed. “Thank you, sir.”
“Now, you will be shown around by a student named Guinevere – I believe I told you about her? – for classes and breaks. She is waiting for you outside.”
“Thanks, sir,” Merlin said, getting up.
“Have a good day, Merlin.”
“You too, Dr.-”
“Gaius, Merlin – just Gaius.”
“Right – have a good day, Gaius.”
Merlin exited to nearly run into a girl waiting outside. Dark skin and dark curly hair, but with sweet brown eyes, and roughly his age, dressed in loose clothing and large jeans, with a sturdy school bag over her shoulder – Merlin felt rather good about her.
“Guinevere?” he asked hesitantly.
“Just Gwen,” she said pleasantly, holding out her hand. “Gwen Smith.”
“Merlin Emrys,” Merlin said, shaking her hand. “Gaius said you’re going to show me around?”
“Yeah,” Gwen said. “All our classes we either share or they’re right next to each other, so showing you around will be easy for me.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem,” she said, pleasantly. “I like meeting new people.”
A bell rang, and within moments, there was a soft thunder of footsteps as kids all poured into the halls and headed for class.
“Let’s go, then!” Gwen said cheerfully, before turning and heading down the hall. She pointed out various rooms and their teachers and classes, the bathrooms, pathways to other important parts of the castle, and other important rooms as they went, regaling him with stories of her own first few days at this castle and how terribly lost she had gotten.
“There is a system to the castle’s layout, it’s just a little difficult to see at first glance, even on the map,” she said. “I can show you later – once you get it, it’s very easy to find your way around.”
Merlin nodded, head swiveling with every single little thing she had pointed out, thinking there was no way that he would be able to easily navigate his way through this place. It was just so damn huge that he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed-
There was suddenly a small hand clasped inside his gloved fingers.
Surprised, he looked down to see a little boy there. He was young, barely even nine or ten years old, and had brown hair and sweet, gray-blue eyes – but with a gaze that said he knew just a bit too much.
“Erm…hello,” Merlin said, turning a baffled gaze to Gwen about the boy who just appeared. She giggled when she saw him.
“That’s Leon,” she said. “He’s a telepath – he can read minds – and he has a habit of popping up randomly and helping people like that.”
The boy squeezed his hand, and Merlin turned to look and see Leon staring up at him – not quite smiling, but almost. Then the boy faced forward and continued to walk, as if it were perfectly normal to hold his hand, as if they’d known each other forever.
It was, actually, oddly reassuring.
A few hallways down, Leon gave one more squeeze and wandered off.
Without having ever said a word.
“That was…weird,” Merlin said, blinking after him.
“As opposed to the rest of a medieval castle full of teenage mutants?” Gwen asked.
Merlin grinned.
“Oh! I never asked – what’s your power?”
“…um…” Merlin swallowed. “My power is….is…complicated. But the one I use is telekineses.”
“What’s your main one, then?”
“I can…if I touch a mutant skin to skin, I absorb their power. Not take it, they still have it, I just have it, too. But it’s a painful process on both ends, so I just try to avoid it. It’s why I wear so much.”
She nodded in understanding. “I control plants, live ones…oh, here!”
She pointed to a tree outside the window, and her eyes narrowed in concentration, and Merlin’s jaw dropped when the tree swayed, and a branch lifted up and waved at him.
The tree went back to normal, and Merlin turned to stare at her. “Gaius mentioned a mutant who could control plants, but he never said anything about this!”
She laughed and tugged him into a classroom, which turned out to be their English class. “Come on, Merlin – we can show each other more later.”
He nodded and sat down for the class.
Gwen suddenly waved someone over, and a pale, hazel-eyed brunette came over, looking about his age.
“This is my best friend-”
“-Morgana,” the girl finished, holding out her hand. “Nice to finally meet you, Merlin.”
Merlin looked at her in alarm – how the hell did she know him?
“So you saw him coming, then?” Gwen asked.
At Merlin’s look of confusion, Morgana said, “I can dream the future. I saw this happening over a week ago. Telekinesis, empathy, and can copy people’s powers into your own DNA, I believe? Artist, multi-medium, but especially computer graphics? And, you’re gay. Mostly.”
Merlin stared at her, slack-jawed. “How did you…”
She laughed, sitting down beside him after exchanging supplies with Gwen. “I saw it. I do that a lot.”
“She does,” Gwen said, with a shrug. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Um…”
“You’ll see,” Morgana said with a wink, before taking out a pen, flipping over Merlin’s notebook, and writing on the back of it. “Now, as I already know you’re going to be obnoxiously good at this class, here’s my e-mail. I’m going to start copying from your notes instead of Gwen’s. She’s not that great at this class-”
“Hey!” Gwen said, but her tone was jovial.
“-because she’s too invested in her biology and whatnot,” Morgana continued. “On that note, you should copy her notes from biology, she’s brilliant at it. Her and her plants.”
Gwen stuck her tongue out, and they settled in for class.
It was an average and somewhat jarring but still engaging class. Throughout the class, Morgana filled in gaps, with things like, that’s Mr. Collins, he can learn any language in the world in less than a day, and he only checks half the homework. Or, there’s Mary, she can make her voice sound like anyone she wants to. And, there’s Val, he’s a prick, but he’s great with animals, especially reptiles and other such tidbits about students, the teacher, and the class in general. Merlin listened to both her commentary and the lesson (the latter of which Morgana found boring), and overall, ended the class with a large smile on his face.
And, well, Gwen was good at the class.
“Just not as good as you,” Morgana said, when Merlin voiced this.
“I’ll just take your notes from her, then, shall I?” Gwen said, pointing to Morgana as they packed up at the end of class.
The next class, sociology, Gwen went to the class next door, but Morgana was in it with Merlin, so they continued sharing notes as Morgana pointed out various other students, explaining their personalities, powers, and various important aspects of their personal histories.
“It’s all so much,” Merlin said as they left the class to head for lunch.
“You’ll get used to it, everyone does,” she said. “Now come on, Gwen’s about to introduce you to her boyfriend. But, word of advice: he’s straight as an arrow and loyal as hell to Gwen. I would know, I’ve tried to shag him, twice. It’s tragic.”
Merlin could see why it was tragic, and why Morgana sought to warn him. The bloke was absolutely gorgeous. If you looked up ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ in the dictionary, his picture would be by it.
“I’m Lance,” he said, holding out his hand. “Merlin, Gwen said?”
Merlin nodded.
“Merlin Emrys,” he said. “What’s your, um, power?”
Lance smiled, and a moment later Merlin’s eyes widened as the guy floated up out of his seat and towards the ceiling.
“I can fly, basically,” he said. “You’re telekinetic, right? How strong?”
With a grin, Merlin concentrated on his own body, and levitated himself up to the ceiling as well, smiling down at Gwen, laughing, and Morgana, who was rolling her eyes. He didn’t do this often but…
“We’ll have to race some time,” Lancelot said. “No one else here can fly – except for the kid with bug wings – and only one of the other telekinetics is powerful enough to lift herself up.”
“Come back down to your seats, boys,” a passing professor said.
Merlin laughed, and he and Lance obliged, and a small part of Merlin still felt this was too good to be true, actually playing with his powers, with someone else who had a power, too! It just…it was bizarre. But it felt so good, to not have to hide it for once in his life.
“That’s actually pretty good,” Morgana said. “Not many telekinetic kids are that stable and un-wobbly in levitating themselves.”
“I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” Merlin said sheepishly.
Morgana whistled, impressed. “You’re definitely a Class III, if you could do that as a kid. Hell having powers as a kid is usually a Class III thing. Maybe even a Class IV.”
“Er…thanks?” Merlin said, unsure of how to respond to that.
Morgana gave him a shrewd look and said, “Maybe even a Class V…?”
Merlin’s eyes widened, and Gwen said, “Morgana, don’t tease.”
She just smirked and rolled her eyes. “What? It would be kind of cool.”
“Um, no, I’d rather not have my new friend die in a violent storm of his own power,” Gwen said, sticking his tongue out.
“Not all Class V’s end up like that,” Morgana muttered under her breath.
“Sure they don’t,” Lance said with wry politeness.
And a few minutes later, Merlin was introduced to another student who could do the same thing as Merlin, another telekinetic, and then so many other kids had similar powers, being able to move specific objects, and they all seemed so pleased to meet Merlin and...
He felt someone hug his waist, and looked down in time to see Leon wrapped around him before the boy wandered off again, to sit by some girl who appeared to be glued to a textbook of some kind, looking frazzled as she read aloud to herself.
Huh. He could get used to this.
When he had left home, he had only left a short note for his mother – don’t worry about me.
When he was able to check his e-mail two weeks later, he had a one-word e-mail from her: why?
He sent her every news article about disappearing mutants he had ever bookmarked, every statistic, for mutants, and most importantly, for their families. He sent her the bills she would have to pay even while she looked for a job (and the ones saying that now she wouldn’t, as Merlin had used the money from his savings to pay them off, considering he was the reason she lost her job in the first place). He sent here the copies of the comments of him on his now-dead Facebook account about him.
He had ended that e-mail with, do you really have to ask?
A while after that, Merlin had called her. He didn’t tell her where or how he was living, or what he was doing to earn it, but instead told her about the new place he was headed to, a change from his aimless wandering. She wished him luck, and tried to offer him some money to help him – but she still didn’t have a job, and would only be able to pay for water and utilities for another month – after that, if she didn’t have a job, she would have to give something up.
Instead, he had quickly changed the subject, enough for his mum to remind him the importance of education, of getting to that school soon, before needing to wish her a hasty goodbye, as he had been using a payphone and his time was running out.
Will had never contacted him at all.
Right now, he sent them both a quick, short e-mail:
I’m fine, now. I’m safe. Hope you are, too.
He sent it off quickly, before he could talk himself out of it.
The message back from his mum said: Thank god you are. Where are you?
Will just said: Fine.
Merlin found a phone and sat nervously, his mother’s phone number on the screen, before he finally jammed his finger into the ‘send’ button before he could do anything else, and held the phone up to his ear.
“Hello,” his mum’s curt voice said. “Hunith Emrys speaking. Who is this?”
Just say something, damnit.
“Hello?” she asked again.
It’s not that hard!
“If this is a prank call-”
“Mum?”
A beat, then-
“Merlin?!”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Merlin! Oh my god, where are you? Are you safe? You never responded to my e-mails or anything! You had me worried sick, especially with the latest round of riots going on!”
Merlin swallowed. The latest go of anti-mutant riots started just after he reached Camelot. Maybe he should have called her sooner…
“You know that school I told you about? I made it.”
A long sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear that, sweetheart. I’m so glad to hear you’re all right.”
“This…this school, for mutants,” he said. “It’s run by…by someone…he says he knew you. His name is Gaius, Dr. Gaius R.-”
“-Wilson?” she asked, startled. “Gaius is alive?”
Merlin stared at the wall in surprise. “You really knew him, then?”
“Yes, he and your father used to work together all the time. He used to have dinner with us, sometimes. He still…he vanished after the Gene Riots, I…I thought he was dead.”
“No,” Merlin said. “He…this place, it’s kept hidden, because it was attacked a long time ago, but I found it, by accident, and…it’s safe. It’s brilliant.”
He heard sniffling on the other end. “So you’re okay?” she asked, voice thick with tears.
“Yeah,” he said. “I…this place…there are a few hundred other kids here. All mutants, too, and…”
“I wish I’d known this place existed,” she said softly. “I would have sent you there as soon as I could.”
“Like I said, they keep it really low profile, don’t advertise or anything. You generally can only find out by accident. I was lucky to. I…” What could he say? He found it by accident while running away from a hospital he’d ended up in because two men drugged him and raped him? No, Mum was never going to find out what he’d done on the streets. “It was an accident I found out. I don’t…”
Overhead, a bell rang.
“What was that?” she asked, startled.
“Just the bell – classes are going to start, soon,” Merlin said. “I’m reading the same things here as in Ealdor, it’s really good, Mum. We get our own rooms, and we can train with our powers. There are so many other telekinetic kids here, they’ve started this tournament for it, called the Hover Games. I’m playing next week.”
Another choked laugh. “I’m so glad to hear you’re all right. I know Gaius – he’s a good man. If you’re in his hands, they’re good hands to be in.”
“It really is nice,” Merlin said. “You’d like my friend Gwen – she controls plants. She manages all the flower gardens on the school almost single-handedly, and they’re gorgeous. And her boyfriend Lance can fly, and we race all the time. And Morgana, she can see the future, and she’s mean in a nice way, kind of like Will if he were a girl, but…”
He trailed off.
“How’s Will?” he asked.
“He’s…okay. Still in the wheel chair. Still needs physical therapy. But…I think he’s getting better. Slowly.”
“Does he…has he…said anything about…me? To you?”
She sighed. “No. He avoids me and this house, I only hear from him in short e-mails. He won’t say anything about you. Have you tried his blog? Or that Facebook thing?”
“No Facebook,” Merlin said. “I ended my account. And…I’m rather scared to see his blog.”
“He doesn’t really mention you much,” Hunith said. “But he still supports mutants in general. When that idiot MP tried to propose legislation requiring all mutants to register no matter what – again – Will put up two whole posts raving against it.”
Merlin smiled at the thought. He could see Will typing furiously in his room while swearing about everything that bugged him, the posh upper class and corrupt politicians and ‘the budget being run by crackheads in suits’ and any other number of things he went on about.
But just because Will still supported mutants didn’t mean he’d forgiven Merlin.
“Just give him time, Merlin, you know how he is. Go …if you’re still in classes, you shouldn’t be late. Good luck. Call me soon.”
“I will, Mum. I miss you, too. Bye.”
He hung up and stared at the phone.
He did know how Will really was, and that was what scared him most.
About a week later, Merlin had went shopping with Morgana and Gwen and Lance, and gotten some clothes (and had learned that shopping for clothes with Morgana was a bad idea) and he’d gotten supplies (and found that shopping for supplies with Gwen was a bad idea) and he’d even found some stuff to fix-up his iPod (and found that shopping with Lance for tech was a bad idea).
Next time, he’d go shopping on his own.
But still, Merlin was adjusting well to his new life, and he was settled into classes, too, and his room. He’d downloaded some open source manip programs onto one of the media center computers to play around with, and was already printing out his designs and taping them up on his walls, along with stuff he drew by hand, and his room was starting to look like it was actually his. He had settled nicely into his friendship with Gwen and Morgana and Lancelot, cosseted by Gwen’s sweet guidance, Lance’s easy camaraderie, and Morgana’s oddly reassuring acerbic wit, reminding him of Will.
This place was starting to feel like home.
“That’s good to hear, Merlin,” Gwen said cheerfully when he’d told her as much on Friday night as over half the student body, all clad in pajamas, gathered in one of the larger lounges to watch a Blackadder marathon.
“Your thoughts are happy, lately,” Leon said as he cuddled up to Gwen.
She seemed to know him quite well.
“Her family lives on mine’s estate,” Leon said as Merlin let his confusion swirl around his head. “Gwen and Elyan – Elyan’s her brother – went to Camelot for a long time and then Mum found out I was a mutant and she heard about Camelot and knew Gwen and Elyan went to a Camelot so she sent me with Gwen and Elyan – before Elyan left, of course, he’s too old, now, but back then I went with both.”
Gwen rolled her eyes, wrapping Leon in a blanket as Lance wrapped himself around her.
“Elyan’s in uni, right now,” she said. “But yeah, his Mum basically sends him with us and tells us – just me, now – to watch out for him. So I do. Right, Leon?”
Leon nodded, then said, “John has it, he’s going to give it to Lee.”
Gwen cursed and ran off to two other students to get whatever it was she wanted, and Merlin rolled his eyes. Morgana just sighed morosely as she went off after Gwen, and Merlin frowned after her in confusion.
“I don’t know,” Leon answered. “She can shield her thoughts from me.”
“She has a brother, too,” Lance answered quietly.
“Really? I thought it was just Morgause,” Merlin said, looking over to where Morgana’s sister was trying to round up fellow students, little sparks and lines of electricity escaping her fingers as she tried to get the rowdier ones to settle down, glaring them all down with her oddly-reassuring firmness. A year older than Morgana, she was ‘teaching’ at the school for a year as she waited for Morgana to graduate so they could go off to university together. She was sharp and tough, but she helped kids make leaps and bounds in learning to harness their powers – including Merlin. She was scary as fuck but in a good way, and that was about the most anyone truly knew about her.
“They’re full sisters – from what I know, this brother is her half-brother…something about an affair between their parents, I don’t know. Said half-brother is a mutant. Said half-brother’s dad is very anti-mutant and has forbidden Morgana from talking to him. I know she still does but it’s not often…I don’t think she likes the situation,” Lance said, shrugging a little helplessly. “That’s about all I know.”
Merlin frowned. “Wait, if the brother’s a mutant and the dad-”
“That’s why she doesn’t like it,” Lance said. “I think.”
Merlin nodded, opting to turn back to look at the large screen instead of Morgana.
He supposed he could at least be glad he was still able to talk to his mother whenever they wanted and both had some free time. Merlin had chatted with her just this morning.
Now if only he could work up the guts to talk to Will.
Shaking his head, trying to shift away from his abruptly dark thoughts, Merlin settled into his beanbag and focused on the show. He’d think about all this later, when it was just a little less painful. For now he’d wait for the show to start so Leon would stop staring at him and go back to snuggling, whenever Gwen came back.
“Good plan,” Leon said, and snuggled up to Merlin instead.
“Gwaine!” Merlin cried out a few days later in the hallway, running up to the man, who turned around and smiled at him.
“Hey, kid, how’ve you been?”
“Brilliant,” Merlin said, not caring if he had his ‘doofus grin’, as Will had called it, on his face. “You? Are you staying?” Suddenly, he felt…oddly apprehensive. He was still mad at Gwaine, and barely knew him!
Gwaine sighed. “Well…it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do, so I might as well stay…even if it does mean being locked in fucking castle with a couple hundred teenagers...and nothing to drink…”
Merlin let the relief show on his face.
“You seem oddly invested in me being here,” Gwaine commented as they made their way down the hall – most probably towards the kitchen.
“Just…well, it’s not exactly safe for mutants out there, anymore, is it?” Merlin tried.
Gwaine shook his head ruefully. “So you heard, then?”
“Who hasn’t?” Merlin asked.
It was true – who hadn’t heard about the latest round of mutant riots, of shoot-outs and bombings between the pro-mutant Knights of Medhir and anti-mutant Dark Knights. It was war between the two, as pro- and anti-mutant locations all over the country went up in flames.
“So you want me to stay here and safe?” Gwaine asked wryly. “I thought you hated me.”
Merlin’s face fell. “I’m…okay, I’ve moved you from ‘hate’ to ‘moderate dislike’.”
“And the ‘moderate dislike’ category warrants your concern?”
“…yes?”
The man laughed. “You really are too good for your own good.”
“Hey!” Merlin scowled, but without much bite. He liked being in the school, safe, and a good person. Bad people may run the world, but good people kept it from falling apart (at least according to Will, before whining that if he wanted to become PM one day he’d have to be a bad person, and Merlin would usually promise to make sure he’s only just bad enough and- no, he should stop thinking like this).
Gwaine shrugged. “Well – I’m staying mostly as security, checking around at night and stuff. According to Gaius, one half is about making sure no one is trying to hurt you kids and the other half is making sure you kids aren’t causing trouble.”
Merlin laughed. “Well, I already said, I’m not much of a troublemaker or anything…I’ll try not to add to it.”
Gwaine shook his head ruefully and pulled into the kitchen. “Thanks, I guess. That’s only part of my job, though – the other part is actually somewhat of an honorary teaching position.”
Merlin looked at him surprise. “Teaching?”
The man nodded. “Some kids started a ‘self defense’ club or something, for kids who have physical mutations and aren’t sure how to work in their extra body parts into martial arts. It’s a bit half-arsed…but I can still impart some deeper knowledge onto future generations.”
Merlin grinned. “Sounds good.”
“I take it you won’t bother attending?” Gwaine asked wryly as some biscuits floated down from one of the cupboards.
“I might…I’ll just watch,” Merlin added. “Me and sport of any kind…we don’t mix.”
Gwaine laughed, grabbing one of the biscuits from midair. “Do what you want, kid. You’re safe in here, anyway.”
Merlin grinned at the thought. “Yeah…we are.”
Next Chapter >>
Master Post
A/N: Sorry for the lack of Arthur. He'll show up in the next chapter, promise! In the mean time, have some bb!Leon. :P
On that note, I think I'll start chapter previews. Do you guys like it when authors put in previews of their upcoming chapters, or not?
Here's my preview for the next chapter:
Merlin should really know better by now than to go shopping with Morgana, but he supposes he'll learn - or he would, except he has some big news from Gaius. And Arthur has some from Uther, as well - news which will soon change the world.
So, should I start adding in previews or is that a no-go? Either way, comment to let me know, both on the previews and the chapter itself! :D
