The Lost Princess of Grerin || A Merlin AU

XV. Castles Crumbling

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"Atlas!" Ryia stated a bit out of breath as she found him sitting on the staircase. When he looked up at her, Ryia could see he had a hurt expression on his face, "are you okay?" She asked as she sat next to him.

"I'm fine Ryia," Atlas told her a bit dismissively.

"Atlas if somethings wrong, you can tell me," Ryia told him as she sat next to him, lightly touching his arm with her hand.

Atlas just pushed her hand away as her looked at her with a serious look, "what do you want Ryia?" He asked in a more stern tone, "I assume you didn't just run up here to talk."

Ryia was a bit taken aback from his sudden sternness, she decided to not push it and get back to the matter at hand, "I really need to show you something if you have the time."

"Is this really important?" Atlas questioned dismissively, not really in the mood for anything after everything with Maisie.

"Atlas I don't know what's going on with you right now but I really don't like it," Ryia told him, unsure if this is the result of something happening to him or if he's just showing his true colors.

"It doesn't matter if you like this or not," Atlas told her in a cold tone, "this will always just be a marriage of convenience and nothing else."

Ryia looked away for a second as she controlled her breathing before looking back at him, "Atlas I'm going to be honest you're being a huge prick right now, but I can tell that something is clearly wrong, even if you don't tell me, so I'll ignore it," she told him as he looked away, "I do really need you to come with me."

Atlas sighed as he stared off into the distance, "listen Ryia, I'm sorry. Something happened earlier and I shouldn't have taken it out on you," he told her before looking at her, "we should probably go now before it gets too late."

"Thank you," Ryia told him as they both stood.

~~~

"What exactly is this?" Atlas asked with a raised brow as he looked at the shack.

"Atlas I don't want to deceive you," Ryia told him as she looked at him with a serious look, "someone is in there who claims to be your mother and wa-"

"My mother?" Atlas asks, looking at Ryia as he cuts her off.

"She wants to see you and tell you her side of everything," Ryia tells him, "you don't have to go in there if you don't want to but if you do, I'm here for you."

"I- I don't know," Atlas says as he looks at the shack, "it's been six years, Ryia. Why is she suddenly here now?"

"She wouldn't tell me everything so I'm not sure," Ryia told him with a sigh, "you don't have to go in."

"No," Atlas said as he looked at her, "I need answers. I've been wanting answers since the day they gave me away," with that, he walked in with Ryia following behind, hoping his mother actually stayed.

"Atlas," Eliana said as she walked over to him, putting her hands on either sides of his face as tears welled up in her eyes, "my baby boy."

Atlas pulls away from his mother as he looks at her with a serious expression, "why did you just give me up?"

"Your father and I didn't want to," Eliana told him in a sincere tone, "we didn't want to lose one of our babies."