The Boy and the Beast: A Merthur Beauty and the Beast AU

Figuring out the Future

Merlin watched as the beast...no. Merlin watched as Arthur-

Because that was his name, wasn't it? It was Arthur. It is Arthur.

Merlin watched as Arthur fanned his cape around him to conceal him as he swiftly turned and disappeared down the corridor to his left. He stayed standing there a few moments after he had gone.

With a deep sigh Merlin ascended the staircase and went back into his room. Yellow sunlight was streaming in through the window letting him know the day had begun and there was no point in going back to bed. The wardrobe began to stir, but not very much and it was then Merlin realized how hungry he was. When was the last time he had eaten? He tried to run away yesterday, right? How long had he been passed out, anyway?

Merlin left his room again and traveled back down the stairs. He made his way to where the kitchen was and bumped into Gwen just before he arrived.

"Oh! There you are! I noticed you weren't by the fire so I was just about to go and find you. Are you hungry? Or thirsty?"

The tea cart Gwen was perched on rattled beneath her and the paint that sketched her mouth was smiling.

"Uh, yes."

"I'll make sure you get a nice breakfast, you can sit in the dining hall. You remember where that is, right? Are you feeling better?"

Merlin nodded, in response to both questions, and when Gwen and her tea cart scurried away he took a seat near the head of the table. Though the room was well lit, it was silent and large and he felt uneasy in there by himself. However, he wasn't in there for long before Gwen came back with three plates of steaming, fresh delicacies and tea of course. He immediately dug into the food and after taking the first bite he couldn't stop until he had finished everything in front of him.

After he had finished, Gwen made sure the table was cleaned up, politely refusing Merlin's kind gesture to help. He was leaving the dining hall and on his way back to his room, because really, what was there to do? He'd done enough exploring of the west wing and didn't really want to go anywhere else. He had a feeling he'd get bored pretty quickly and branch out soon, but that was not now. He was almost at the top of the staircase when he noticed Gwaine hopping towards him, the candles that functioned as hands and a head balancing orange flames.

"Oh, hello Gwaine," Merlin greeted.

"Hello. Have you been feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you. I feel almost back to normal."

There was a pause. "It looks like your bandages need changing," Gwaine observed, gesturing to an area of the bandage that was loosening on his left arm. "Follow me, I'll do that for you."

Gwaine immediately began going down the stairs and Merlin waited for him to pass by him before following the candelabrum. They ended in the room by the front entrance of the castle where he slept most of last night and Gwaine motioned for him to sit a short ways away from the now burning fire. Gwaine obtained some bandages and a small tube of something from a box nearby and Merlin wondered how he was going to put bandages on his arm without thumbs.

Gwaine blew out the tiny flames on his hands and started to unravel the old bandages on Merlin's skin. It was after that task was done Gwaine spoke up.

"I heard you and the master speaking earlier."

This definitely caught Merlin by surprise. He looked quizzically at the candelabrum.

"You've a brave soul, Merlin. No one dared to press him for information, not even...before," he added rather secretly.

"Can you tell me more? About...before."

Gwaine busied himself with removing some of the substance that was in the tube and spreading it on the wound. It sent pleasurable cool tingles across his arm.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Merlin was expecting that answer, so he wasn't completely disappointed. "But I do think you should do as you said. Talk to the master. Don't wait for him to come to you. He may never."

Gwaine began wrapping the fresh bandages around Merlin's arm.

"Are you sure?" Merlin started to think he went a little too far earlier and now that he was feeling better and waking up a lot more he feared what he had said to the beast was foolish and pointless.

"Yes. He may not realize it or want to accept it, but he needs you. He needs company other than me and Gaius and Gwen. It's been...a while. And everything that's happened has been really hard on him. He won't hurt you. I know. He saved your life."

"Only to make sure I remained his prisoner." Merlin claimed.

"No," Gwaine finished wrapping the bandages. He waited another moment before continuing. "Just talk to him. And if you are to stay here forever-"

"He made that pretty clear."

"-then at least try to have some sort of relationship with him where you're not trying to avoid each other for the rest of your life."

Merlin was silent, the truth of that sentence weighing down on him. Because it was the truth, wasn't it? He's going to stay here forever and the only way not to have that time be completely unbearable was if he coud at least tolerate the person who senteced him to his destiny, because clearly he was not in a normal prison where he'd just rot in a jail cell and barely even see the person who locked him up. This was an entirely different situation and the only way he could truly cope with it was to do something about the anxiety he had every time he thought about crossing paths with the beast...or Arthur.

"Alright," Merlin agreed. "But if he hates me and none of this works out it's your fault."

Gwaine scoffed in response.

Merlin rose to his feet and Gwaine's candles caught flame again.

"Where is he?" If Merlin was going to attempt to get this talking thing to work between them he had to know where Arthur was.

"Try the back garden. I'll point you in the right direction."

Merlin followed as Gwaine hopped ahead of him until they stopped in a part of the castle Merlin had never been in before. There was a large crimson door in front of him with a bronze handle.

"Just walk outside," Gwaine instructed. "You should see him."

"Thank you," Merlin intoned before opening the door and stepping out into the crisp autumn air.

Merlin looked around and noticed the trees in this garden weren't just lacking leaves they were actually dying. Many were an unhealthy shade of gray with branches curled in to their trunks and unusual splotches of mold growing on their bark. The whole garden looked far from something you'd find in a storybook castle, with topiaries losing their shapes and looking to be a sickly brown. There weren't any flowers just weeds and Merlin could see no animals. Not even a bug.

Merlin walked farther into the garden, if that was even a suitable name for it anymore, and he noticed a small bridge over a thin stream. The eroded areas to the sides of it caused Merlin to assume it had been much wider in the past, but now it was a barely moving thread of liquid.

It was who was standing on the bridge that made Merlin stop.

And Merlin saw him just in time to see him lift his head and lock eyes with him.