Never Free ~ Merlin x Reader

2 - The Shoes

It's been a year.

A year of living with seven idiots.

We have been travelling all of Fairytale Island in search of the most beautiful woman and coming up with zilch because none of the women we met wanted to kiss the boys. And why would they want to? The guys are acting incredibly shallow.

It's surprising how much Merlin changed. I mean, he's still Merlin. He's still the boy I cloud gazed with and played tag with. He's still my Merlin. Only he can be a dick sometimes. More so than when we were kids. But it's strange. After almost a month of joining them and helping them, Merlin and I basically re-established our best friendship. We joke the same way we used to. We have friendly banter whenever we're in the same room. And now we also train together. I have to train the boys since their new bodies make them a little clumsy. The biggest difference is his personality. It's like he's still my childhood Merlin underneath a whole bunch of new layers of idiocy and dickishness. What the hell happened while I was kidnapped?

Our travels also caused me great pain, however. Although I gained my best friend back, I lost my life.

When we went back to my kingdom on our search, I planned to catch a glimpse of my parents, to make sure they're okay. What I found instead was a three-year-old sister named Genevieve and a memorial shrine. For me. My face was a wall in the village surrounded by candles and flowers and little notes from my subjects stating how much they miss me. The tokens were framing a picture of my twelve-year-old self. I look so different now. My hair darkened and my skin paled due to the lack of sunlight in the tower I was kept in. I have the scar on my jaw that the magic mask hides. Only my eyes are the same. But even those are duller than they used to be. Faded by the shit I've seen, shit I've been through. I don't know how the artist managed to capture the innocent sparkle in my eyes from back then but that's long gone.

They thought I was dead. They painted me on a wall to remember me. The whole thing got me thinking. My parents have another daughter now and they looked quite happy. I would probably ruin that with returning. I don't want to shock them. Plus, the kingdom was still thriving without me. My disappearance may have caused them sadness and a shrine, but they are happy now. Things actually seem better without me. Security has increased, I watched little girls and boys practicing self-defence techniques. They moved on. I don't want to ruin that. I look so different they probably won't even recognize me either.

At least I have Merlin. I may be a different person to him, but I have him. I have my best friend. And I spend every moment I can with him to keep some of my happy memories alive. I need to hang on to as many of those as I can. It's hard not to let my bad ones invade my mind.

Now, we're are almost back home to our cave house with a castle facade wall on Risky Rock after a trip to the far east corner of the island in search of the most beautiful woman. The birds are chirping in the mid-morning sun, the breeze is light and warm. It's a lovely day.

"Short, chubby and green," I hear Merlin complain for the millionth time in the past year or so. "Ugh, green is like an ogre. Blue or yellow could have made us look cute! And cuddly." He squishes his chubby, green cheeks and I thank fuck my smiles are hidden behind my mask.

Arthur groans. "Quit your complaining, Merlin!" He scolds. "I'm trying to figure out how to take this curse and kick it where the sun don't shine!" He kicks the air to prove his point.

"Look," Jack chimes while looking in his mirror. "We need to find the most beautifullest princess to kiss us. And we've just about run out of options!"

"How would a beautiful woman even see you?" Hans mocks. "Mr. Invisible."

I roll my eyes at them. Those two are always bickering. At least Merlin and I have fun banter.