500 Days of Freya (Merlin)

Statue

Chapter 44

Warning/s: None.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: i have so many other fanfiction chapters to write but i just started watching the walking dead so

Prompt: ruapilot02 – "The large statue of the black winged cat at the top of the stairs reminds Merlin of Freya. It is hard not to notice how much the statue seems to affect him."

"How come I've never seen this statue before?" Elyan said curiously, patting the large, black, winged cat made of some kind of gleaming stone. It was perched rather precariously on the top of a bannister.

"Don't know," Gwaine replied, crunching an apple. "Nice, though." He raised his voice and shouted over his shoulder: "Hey, Merlin, come here a second!" He took another bite of his apple and raised his eyebrows at Elyan, waiting for the slight manservant to appear.

He did in record time, clutching one of Arthur's boots with a smudge of brown polish on his cheek. "Yeah?" he asked, glancing over at the statue quickly. Elyan frowned – it seemed almost as if Merlin had flinched.

Gwaine didn't appear to have noticed. "You've been here for as long as anything, right? How long has this thing been here?"

This time, Elyan was sure that Merlin had jumped a little as if he had been shot with a bow and arrow. "About three years," he said uneasily. "It was, um, it was put up after this big winged cat thing was attacking people in Camelot and Arthur – well, Arthur killed her."

"Her?" Gwaine questioned. "How do you know that?"

Merlin paled, and bit his lip. "After Arthur stabbed her, she turned into a girl, and it turned out that she had been cursed by some witch to turn into that creature and she couldn't help it," he said in a rush. "I have to go back to my chores now." With that, he turned abruptly on his heel and strode back to where he had come from.

"Don't you think Merlin was acting kind of weirdly?" Gwaine said to Elyan, taking a thoughtful bite of his apple, which was nearly down to the core now.

"Definitely," Elyan agreed. "Let's keep an eye on him."

When the two knights arrived at their daily training session, they headed for Arthur and told him quickly what had happened and if Merlin had seemed alright. Leon and Percival, who were already standing with him, were just as baffled as their prince. They all cast surreptitious glances over to the manservant, who was sharpening swords and seemed fine now.

Without being prompted, Arthur said lowly, "We better keep an eye on him," and everyone present agreed.

It didn't take them long to realise that it was the cat statue that was causing Merlin's occasional bouts of tension and sometimes melancholy. The question was how to deal with it; well, rather, why it was a problem.

The problem was dealt with efficiently. Arthur soon found a dignitary just outside of Camelot who they weren't on the best of terms with – not quite enemies yet but they could be soon – so he sent the cat statue as a peace offering and a promise of alliance.

So, that solved two problems: a happier Merlin and a happier ally.

And only a couple of days after it had gone, Merlin hesitantly brought up the topic over lunch. He set down Arthur's plate and as he was pouring some wine, blurted out, "Where did that cat statue thing go?"

"What?" Arthur asked, mainly to buy himself some time. It wasn't dignified to speak with his mouth full, after all.

"That cat thing, the statue, that was on the stairs," Merlin explained, clearly uncomfortable. "It's gone."

"Oh, yeah, that thing," Arthur said dismissively. He took a swig of wine and cleared his throat. "I got rid of it because I noticed it was freaking you out a bit."

As he had predicted, Merlin fumbled with the clothes he was holding and inhaled sharply. "What do you mean?" he tried to ask casually, but Arthur easily picked up on the hidden tones of paranoia. He had known Merlin too long to ignore it now.

"You just acted weirdly around it," Arthur said, pushing his plate away from him. He suddenly didn't have an appetite anymore. "Come sit down, Merlin."

"What?" The manservant looked up nervously and swallowed. Arthur nodded to the chair next to him and waited for him to hesitantly sit down.

"Gwaine told me what you told him," he started quietly. "I don't want to pry but...I didn't know that bit about her turning back into a girl."

Merlin shook his head, refusing to meet Arthur's eyes. "It just never came up. I mean, it wasn't like I was going to casually walk into your room the next day and tell you that."

Arthur nodded. "I understand...I just...hell, I'm not good with my words, Merlin, you know that." Merlin looked up a little. "But I am your friend and I don't want you to suffer in silence."

Merlin nodded. "She was called Freya. I was heading back to the castle after it happened and I saw her. She was bleeding and she told me that she had been cursed; she was attacked by a man and in fright she fought back, and accidentally killed him. His mother cursed her to become this cat thing at night and kill as punishment, even though it wasn't her fault. She died soon after I found her but I took her somewhere that she liked to die."

Arthur's voice was soft when he next spoke. "Where did you take her?"

"A lake. Mountains in the distance, flowers, grass, where she always wanted to live when she was married."

"You got to know her a lot during the time she was dying," Arthur said hesitantly, curious but not wanting to push Merlin too far. Despite how he acted, he harboured a deep affection for his manservant.

Merlin smiled bitterly. "She lived in Ealdor when we were younger. We were really good friends ever since we were small; the last time I saw her was when I left to come here, to Camelot."

"Oh." The words that Arthur had been forming in his head escaped through his ears. "I'm sorry, Merlin. I am so deeply sorry for your loss."

Merlin shrugged awkwardly. "I'm going to get on with my chores," he said, but somehow it was more of a question.

Arthur nodded to give Merlin his permission and watched his manservant stand up and grab a pile of clothes. He settled back in his seat. Somehow he sensed that this friend of Merlin's was more than a friend, but it wasn't his place to question.

A/N: this was terrible v sorry