When Time Collides (Merlin AU)

One

The woman groaned as she came to, a deep, dull ache pulsed through her body and a strange sour sort of smell tickled her nose. She stared up from where she lay, blurred vision clearing to let a grey sky be seen through shadowed branches which hung above her. Bright orange hair mixing in almost naturally with the twigs and leaves that surrounded her head. Frozen by the sight of the branches above her, she lay nearly motionless. Eyes shifted around her, slowly but thoroughly taking in her surroundings. The trees around her stood close together, obviously she was in a forest, and a dense one at that. It was late fall, or maybe early winter, she guessed by the bare branches and leaves itching at her bare arms. She shivered. It was cold in the shadows of the large trees, though she could see that the sun was high in the sky. Midday, she assumed; but where was she?
All at once she stopped her assessment of her surroundings and sprung up. Her vision rushed for a moment, but it cleared quickly enough. Leaves stuck out at all angles from her bright hair, as well as onto the back of the clothes that clung to her form. The back of her white T-shirt was surely ruined, she thought. She dusted off the back of her tight, dark jeans and adjusted them so they covered her ankles once again, picking the leaves from her socks as she did so. She attempted to dust the back of her shirt off, but it itched as if leaves still clung to the sheer fabric. She sighed, and then finally, began to walk. She mumbled as she did.

"Stupid Drew. This is all his fault. I have no idea how. But it must be." She stopped walking for a moment, looked around, crossed her arms. She turned in one full circle."Where the bloody hell am I? How did the damn seasons change?"

She continued to walk for hours, the sun slowly making it's way across the sky. Still she found no path, no sign of life. The forest was oddly quiet, it set her off, so she continued her muttering if only to have some sound to keep her company. She had no idea where she was going. At this rate she would have to camp for the night, she believed.

She needed to find water, she decided. Finding a town could wait, because at this rate water seemed to be more important. She walked slowly now, no longer grumbling along, listening closely for any sound of running water.

The day had just begun to dim when she decided to give up on her search for water and try to rest instead. At the exact moment she began to walk towards a tree a twig snapped loudly somewhere close by. She froze. Heart pounding in her chest. The forest fell into silence once more and she had just started to ease up when it seemed to explode around her.

Men surrounded her. Everything about them terrified her. They were dirty and ragged, their clothes nothing like anything she'd seen except in movies before. Some held swords and daggers, others held axes and crossbows. What was going on?

The men rushed at her and she stepped back a moment before quickly twisting and sprinting from the men.

Who are they? They look like bandits or something! There aren't bandits anymore! She thought.

She could feel them gaining on her, and she, stupidly, turned to look behind her shoulder as she ran. They were closing in. She was panicked. She tripped, and then she was on the ground, scrambling backwards on her hands; too scared to even Think of returning to her feet. Her mind raced for something to do, some way to somehow help herself, any way at all.

She sucked in a breath, and then she screamed as loud as she could. She raised her hands above her head, closing her eyes just as they reached her.

No blow came.

She heard scuffling, clanging of metal on metal, grunts. She didn't dare open her eyes, instead she crawled tighter into a ball. She was going to die. She was sure of it.

Then everything stopped; or so it seemed. The deafening sounds had stopped, but it was not silent. The girl was suddenly very aware of the sounds of heavy breathing, and not only her own.

Still, she didn't dare look up. "Please," she squeaked."Please don't hurt me."

"We aren't going to hurt you." A soft, kind-sounding, voice spoke up.

"You can get up now." Another, harder, but not at all frightening, voice said.

Slowly, very slowly, she raised her head. Her vision sparked colors for a moment from how tight her eyes had been shut, however it cleared but a second later.

The first thing she saw were three men standing a slight distance from her. One stood in a blue shirt and brown jacket, some kind of scarf or kerchief tied around his neck. His hair was dark, and his bright blue eyes sparkled with what could only be described as kindness. His clothes were odd, but it was the appearance of the other two that irked her most. Armor. The men were wearing armor. Both men were blonde, but one appeared much younger and was clean shaven with hair that just reached the tips of his ears. The other man's hair curled down to his shoulders, and scruff lined his chin.

Then she noticed the Bodies. The men that had chased her lay scattered upon the ground, some even crushed under a large branch. She squealed and scrambled backwards.

The dark haired man --more boy than man, really-- took a soft step forward. He spoke. It was the first voice from before, the gentle one. "No, no, shh. It's okay. You're safe now."

She felt the urge to trust the man, but still she shook her head. "You-- you guys killed them. A-all of them..."

The blonde with the shorter hair snorted. "Would you rather they have killed you?"

The girl flinched, but still looked down and shook her head. She had never been so scared in her life, never felt so weak. This wasn't her. She wasn't like this. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, then stood. She brushed herself off and stepped towards the dark haired man. "If you don't mind, could you tell me where I am?"

"About a day's ride outside of Camelot." He smiled.

"Day's ride? Camelot?" She crinkled her nose in confusion.

"You must be a far way off, you have a very... Uhm, strange... Accent. Take no offense, I do not mean that unkindly." The second blonde said. He was the second voice that comforted her. "Where are you from?"

"I was born outside Dublin, currently live in Brighton." She mumbled, not paying much attention to her words. "I'm sorry, did you say Camelot? As in King Arthur?"

"Well, I'm not king yet." The first blonde spoke, he smiled stiffly. "But yes, that Camelot. I'm Arthur. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The girl swallowed as he paused, looking back and forth between the three men. "This is Leon, and Merlin, my manservant."

"I-I'm sorry, M-Merlin? Man... Manservant? What the bloody hell..."

"Uhm, yes, that would be me. What's your name?"

"A-Ara." The girl was able to stutter out before loosing consciousness and collapsing, the men were just barely able to catch her before she hit the ground like a rock.