Something Wonderful (Merlin x F! Reader) (Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves)

Chapter Four

(Y/N)'s POV
The first three weeks of my new occupation was going really, really well. My mapmaking was apparently really helping the boys in their missions. We wanted to keep me in the shadows for a little bit until I was off of the minds of the residents of Fairy Tale Island. I didn't mind though, because I took advantage of the luxuries offered in the house; warm water, comfy bed, and most importantly, food.
The kitchen was my second most visited place in the house, besides my own room. And that's where the boys found me after returning from their most recent mission at Golden Goose Alley.
I turned around, the crumbs of the croissant I was eating falling off my lips and onto the floor.
"Oopth," I mumbled. The boys had begun to put away their weaponry, and Merlin chuckled as he walked over to me, sticking his thumb out and wiping some excess crumbs from under my mouth.
"Missed a spot,"
He seemed focused on my lips, which made my cheeks heat up.
"Enough flirting, Mer'," Jack teased, which caused us both to snap back to reality. Merlin cleared his throat and I swallowed the rest of my croissant.
Jack turned to walk backwards and offered a smirk to the both of us. But the momentum he held was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Who's that?"
"We weren't expecting visitors.."
"Is it your mom again Hans?"
Pino, Noki and Kio all turned to look at Hans. He raised his eyebrows.
"Okay enough, boys, let's just open the door," Arthur meandered over to the door and opened it. Since Merlin and I were on the side where the door opened towards, we couldn't see who it was, but when the visitor started speaking Merlin went pale.
"Good evening boys! Just dropping by to see if you had made any progress on the mission!"
At what seemed like the speed of light, Merlin clasped his hand over my mouth and pulled me back against the wall, ensuring I didn't come into view of the visitor. His arms wrapped around me tight to prevent my body from moving.
I tried to speak, but it was muffled. Merlin slowly lifted his hand off of my mouth but immediately shushed me.
"What?" I hissed.
"It's the king," he whispered, worry pooling his eyes. I felt my breath hitch. He moved his hand to rest on my shoulder as we stayed pressed up against the wall.
"Mission! Right," Arthur had to stall the king, hoping he'd leave as soon as he arrived. I could see the sweat dripping down the other boys' faces.
"Well, go on with it!"
"Absolutely, sire! Well, we did a bit of reading up on the thief, and she has a reputation of leaving quickly before any authority can find her."
"She? So you know that the thief is a woman?"
"Arthur..." Merlin cursed under his breath. I couldn't help but giggle a little at his dismay. He glared at me, but eventually brushed it off and rolled his eyes in a playful manner.
"Oh! I uh... I suppose I just made an assumption. The drawing you gave us did portray a feminine figure."
"Well, I am disappointed to hear that, however there's not much we can do." I heard the king clap his hand against Arthur's to initiate a handshake. "Now then, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you boys about another situation I came upon. I suggest over a cup of tea inside-"
Merlin and I exchanged panicked looks as we heard the floorboards creak, the king's footsteps entering the cabin.
"No!!" Arthur stopped the king in his tracks. We all hitched our breath.
"No..?" The king seemed offended. Jack ran over and cut in.
"What he meant to say was.. no problem! We're just a little messy in here at the moment, so don't mind it," Jack looked over at Arthur with a wide-eyed expression, making sure that he was following his lead. "We would never refuse tea with the king."
"Ah, right!" Arthur nodded. "I was just... embarassed of the current state of our house."
Merlin looked over at me as the king sauntered his way into the kitchen. "Follow my lead."
"Hmm. Quaint little home," the king began.  "Now tell me boys; where is Merlin?"
"Your majesty!" Merlin grabbed my hand and led me towards the kitchen. The king swiveled around on his heels and flashed a smile.
"Merlin, my boy!" He boomed, then took a look at me, frowning. "And who is this?"
"This is.... Jack's sister, (y/n). She's moved in with us," he smiled widely, holding his hand out to present me.
"Jack's sister, hm?" The king didn't seem very fond of me. Especially not with his death glare toward's Merlin's hand that had become intertwined with mine. "I was unaware Prince Jack's lineage held a daughter?"
"W-well.. I'm kind of... the 'different' child. They don't like to talk about me much," I said, chuckling a little and feigning a look of sadness for the disappointment of my fake family.
"She's lucky I let her move in the first place," Jack played along, and that provoked an eruption of laughter from the king. We all laughed along uncomfortably.
"Right, anyways, speaking of Prince Jack, we've received word from your kingdom about something truly troubling," the King's laughter turned into a look of concern, and Jack's brow furrowed.
"What have you heard?" he asked.
"Well," the King began. "There's been some talk around your village about a member of your family holding a special power. One stronger than any power that has ever been seen before, due to some sort of prophecy. This family member is set to experience a horrible tragedy, then take a truly evil form and possibly destroy whichever town or city it happens to be near in that point in time.
"I have just heard word about this, and I trust that this family member is not near Fairy Tale Island?"
"Well," Jack started. "It's not me... a-and it's not (y/n), either," he stumbled over his words.
Nice save, I mouthed to Jack. He winked.
"Well, just make sure that this family member doesn't make their way towards our kingdom, boy. I let you on this island because you promised me that I could trust you to keep it safe." The King nodded.
"Yessir. And I will be upholding that promise," Jack continued. "Now if you don't mind, your majesty, but we do have mission training this afternoon,"
The King nodded, then said his goodbyes. He gave me a suspicious glare before leaving.
"Prophecy..." Jack began to think. "I've heard of the prophecy before, but my parents never went into detail about it."
Merlin and I exchanged confused looks. The rest of the boys were gathered around the kitchen table, thinking as well.
"We should give him some time alone," Merlin said, nodding his head towards the door.
~*~
MERLIN'S POV
I'd been traveling around the world almost my whole life, and I had never seen someone as extraordinary as (y/n).
Not only was she gorgeous, but she had a passion for everything she did. Even when she was eating her croissant she had this look on her face as if there was no where else she'd rather be.
So I knew she'd love the flower fields.
"WOW!"
As we broke through to the bright daylight, (y/n)'s eyes focused onto the lavender colors that came with the beauty of the field. She ran over, collapsing to her knees and bringing a flower up to her nose, taking a deep inhale and sighing upon receiving the scent.
"(Y/n)?" I walked over and sat next to her.
She looked at me and nodded.
"How come.. wherever you are.. you always make it out to seem like it's the best place in the world?"
She frowned. "I don't get what you mean."
I bit my lip. "You bring this energy wherever you go; it's so youthful. It makes us all feel so incredibly warm. I don't know how you do it! And... it makes me feel like what I'm doing here is right."
She smiled sweetly, bringing her hand and placing it on top of mine. I curled my fingers so they would intertwine with hers.
"That's because everything you're doing is right."
She sighed and continued. "I've been on the run for my whole teen years. I'm almost 18, like you guys. Yes, I've seen beauties of the world, I've been to France, where Jack is from, I've snuck across oceans on cargo ships and across fields of flowers like this... but in all my years of travel, I've never met people as extraordinarily compassionate as you seven. As wonderful, as sweet, caring, thoughtful, as...you."
"Sev..." I started to finish her sentence, but I could tell in the look she gave me that she ended where she wanted to.
My eyes widened a little, and I could feel my cheeks heat up.
"You gave me a second chance, Merlin. And I can't thank you enough."
"No need.." I said, and whatever words were about to come next disappeared into thin air as our eyelids grew heavy, and a lean towards the woman in front of me...
She stopped and I heard a gasp escape her lips
I opened my eyes, my lips still pursed. She wore a bewildered and excited expression as she faced the flower field.
The sun was setting right in front of us, the large, bright, orange circle shining great warmth towards the Eastern sky, and the way it hit the color of (y/n)'s (h/c) hair was absolutely astonishing.
She stood, bringing our intertwined fingers with her and pulling me up from my sitting position.
I smiled at her excitement as she exclaimed, "come on!"
All of a sudden my feet were moving along the field of beautiful purple flowers, petals floating in way that made it look like they came from the sky. The petals rained down around us and I let (y/n)'s hand go. It was clear I was holding her back because she sped up, running and dancing through the beautiful field of flowers.
I couldn't pry my eyes away from the beautiful creature in front of me.
This was the happiest I'd seen her since we met.
Those dark, (e/c) eyes she bore when we first met were replaced with a youthful, bright variant. She moved with so much grace, and although I'm sure that as a thief she did before, she seemed more passionate.
There it is again: passion. In everything she did. My heart fluttered as (y/n) walked over to me, taking a hold of my hand once again.
"We should get back, Jack actually wasn't lying when he said you guys had mission training."
I smiled slightly and nodded. She was right; even though I wanted to stay out here forever, the boys would need us back soon.
I tightened my fingers around (y/n)'s, and we walked out of the field towards home.