The Second Player (Qishi Huanxiang Ye Fanfiction)

Chapter 25: Star Gazing with Arthur

  Lucille's P.O.V.~

  When we arrived back into the castle, Merlin and Arthur were waiting for us in the courtyard.

  "Merlin, you're back!" I cheered and ran over to him to give him a big hug, which he returned affectionally.

  "Where did you two go?" Arthur asked Kai, who smiles at him.

  "It's~ A~ S-E-C-R-E-T~" Kai sang and Arthur's facial expression turned into quite a scary one. "No, I'm just kidding. We went to visit some animals."

  "You mean you just went to show Lucille a mirror?" Arthur snickered. "That's very kind of you."

  "Hey!" I complained, glaring at him. "I'm not the only animal here, you dog."

  "Dog?" Arthur seemed confused at the choice of my words but shrugged it off. "No you."

  "Says you." I raised an eyebrow, knowing he wouldn't have any response to this, and he gave an annoyed sighed.

  "Oh, that's right!" Merlin claps his hand together, drawing our attention to him. "The person who's going to hold Arthur's knight ceremony would be his father, the king of England."

  Arthur's face was showing a mix of emotions; he looked nervous, anxious and I think I saw a bit of happiness as well.

  "Is that so.." he murmured.

   "I'll also need to talk to Lucille for a bit," Merlin said, ushering me to follow him. "Follow me, now."

  Small Time Skip~

  Merlin has brought me to his room, and looked out the window. There was a blue flower on his windowsill; butterfly flowers which means nostalgia. Does Merlin long for someone..?
  
  With a deep breath, Merlin faces me.

  "I will be gone for the next few days," He announced. "So there is quite a few things I need to tell you."

  "Remember that Arthur must be dubbed by his father." Merlin said, in a solemn tone. "You would have to prevent anything bad that happens in the ceremony."

  I nodded and Merlin continues.
 
  "If there is any mistakes, the game would become a failure." Merlin added, making me gulp from anxiety. "And everything would be restarted from the beginning again."

  "Again?" I echoed. "Do you mean the precious player before me failed this?"

  Merlin nods, confirming my suspicions.

   "Will you be coming back though?" I asked him and he doesn't move.

   "Well, you'll have Kai and Arthur here to help you finish the game until the end." He gave a somewhat broken looking smile. "Isn't that why you came back to the game?"

  "I came back because I felt loved here, and this is the first place I felt like I have been loved." I said. "Now, I learnt that it takes time to learn what love is in different forms and I'm still struggling with that."

  Merlin nods at my answer. "Half a month later, the king will come here."

  "And so Arthur will become the king soon?" I continued, which Merlin nods once more. "He just needs to pull the sword out of the stone, right?"

  "You really have done your research." Merlin laughs. "Only the true King can pull out that sword out of the stone, and it's him."

  Time Skip~

  After talking with Merlin, it was pretty much night out and I found myself walking to the garden, where Arthur was lying down.

  "Arthur!" I called out to him, making his head tilt to my direction. "Mind if I join you?"

  "Not at all." He said, closing his eyes. I decided to sit next to him.

  "It has been a while since you seen you father, right?" I asked him, making his form stiffen a bit.

   "I'm.. just afraid he forgot about my existence." He whispered. "I think, if it wasn't to my relationship with teacher, he would've forgotten me a long time ago." 

  "I think I know how you feel," I said, looking at the night sky. "My father has never been here for me either. He's always on business trips and he basically ignore my existence overall after my mom died."

  Arthur opened his eyes, and I could see his pain and powerless reflected in it. Reaching out towards the stars, he sighed.

  "Maybe one day, I'll catch all the stars in my hand." He mused, seeming somewhat wishful.

  "I heard from somewhere that stars represent someone's destiny." I said, looking up at the stars as well. "But they're too far away to see them clearly. They're pretty much always shining in the sky but you can never reach them."

  "I somewhat don't believe in destiny." Arthur said. "I think it's actually hard work and learning experiences that drives a person forward, which means I'm going to choose my own destiny instead."

  "You'll need to embrace your destiny as well and go work on your skills." Arthur added, making me raise an eyebrow. "You keep going away and you probably forgot about everything."

  "Well, I mean." I crossed my hands over my chest. "If I hadn't shot the monster's eye, I'm pretty sure you'd be his next meal."

  "Oh, your training is going to be so much harder tomorrow!" Arthur argued back, with an evil gleam in his eye.

  "Why is that?" I demanded. "Is it because you're just salty over that?"

  Arthur slumped down on the floor, which I knew meant I won this battle.

  "Anyways, isn't it getting rather cold out here?" I shivered, and Arthur sits closer to me.

  "I'll be warmer now with the both of us." He said mischievously. "Body heat works miracles sometimes."

  "You know what actually does?" I asked and he shrugged. "Going to bed and grabbing some blankets."

  "Are you literally announcing that you're having another sleepover?" Arthur sighed and I nodded happily. "You'll have to sneak out of my room tomorrow then."

  "Who cares!" I said gleefully. "Of course I don't mind, I'm like a ninja."

"What's a ninja?" Arthur asked, and I laughed at his lack of vocabulary.

"I'll teach you as we go back." I pulled on his hand, which he wraps his fingers around mine. "Let's go back in now."

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  So like I'm almost one hundred percent sure that the next chapter would be long- As well, I got another 1D album- It's an OT5 one so it's ancient lmao- Also I took an one day break to relax a bit, sorry!

  Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter~ Please vote and comment~ And I hope to see you in the next chapter~^.^*