She tip-toed into the bedroom of the baby, avoiding the guards she knew wouldn't allow her to get inside if they saw her. It was easy enough when their eyes were so focused forward. They didn't see a tiny child who couldn't even reach their waist sneaking past them. Or maybe they had seen her and chose to ignore their king's order. She was sure her father's knights never had defied him. Even after his death they assured their loyalty to her mother and their kingdom.

The room was bigger than her own, and she thought of the foolishness of it, she was older, she needed a bigger room. Even her sister's room wasn't as big as the baby's was. Her mother was sleeping in a bed, near a moises, tiny figures of horses and swords moved with the wind over it. The bedroom was decorated carefully, a vase of flowers in the table in the middle of the room, an enormous dark blue carpet above the stone floor and wooden chairs, there was a place for candles away from the window and the crib

She walked with small steps, grabbing one of the chairs and trying to drag it across the carpet. Her mother shifted in bed, her eyes remained closed as the small dark skinned child adjusted her dress trying to reach the chair and climb it so she could get a better look at the inside of the moses.

She struggled to keep her balance once she was over the chair standing almost on her toes, trying to adjust her mane of dark hair as her blue eyes scanned over the blue blanket until she was able to see a child. Eyes barely open, pink skin, a blue blanket over his body and what appeared to be a white long shirt and small pants to go alongside it.

"People say you will be a huge king" She began, reaching her hand to poke his cheek, repeating the words she had heard from the adults around her and Emrys who was the only one kind enough to give her any news on her new brother and her mother. She liked Emrys. "But I don't think so, because you are very tiny, and everyone knows a king has to be the biggest and strongest so he can protect the weakest people"

The baby wrapped his fingers around her own, the small hand holding onto her finger. The girl pouted; eyebrows furrowed feeling the baby's tight grasp around her.

"Morgause says your name is Arthur, she says she heard it from Uther. I don't like you Arthur, because of you mom got sick and they don't let me talk to her, Mor says mom was like that too when I was tiny, but I don't believe her I was never tiny like you, I've always known how to talk" The baby shifted, she looked at him, terrified he would begin crying and someone would discover she was there.

"I hear you crying a lot through the door, we should make a deal. I used to have those with my dad, and he said a good deal has to benefit both sides. So here is the deal, alright? But you have to pay attention; I'll sleep with you to scare away the nightmares and when you grow older you have to be my friend. It should be easy, because as your older sister, I will take care of you. Deal?"

The baby wrapped his hand around her finger for a second time, and the girl smiled, moving her the hand the baby had his hand wrapped around up and down.

Valerie kicked a stone on the road ahead of her, the buzz of the students leaving school had died out and she was waking to her home with Jonathan by her side. There was still a drumming on her chest, that raised whenever she thought about the knight aiming his sword at her and how she had barely managed to make it out alive. Audrey had left with Gabriel, they exchanged an awkward glance between each other while the blonde said she would go to ballet practice. Valerie figured Gabriel would walk her there.

"...hurt?"

Valerie lifted her eyes from the stone she had kicked looking at Jonathan who was staring at her. She felt embarrased.

"What did you say?"

"Your arm, does it hurt?" he repeated, eyes open, head slightly tilted, not a hint of dreadfulness on having to repeat the question to her. Valerie raised her arm staring at the cut fabric of her uniform's jacket and the red stain on it that looked like if it would dry soon.

"It stings a little" she admitted putting her arm down. "maybe my aunt will have something for it at home. Explaining the bloody fuckery this happened might be a little complicated" She lifted the corner of her lips, a small part of her eager to tell her aunt all the details of their incident. He smiled at her, yet, despite the warmth of his smile his eyebrows were slightly knit together.

"May I?" Jonathan extended his hand to her. Valerie lifted her arm until the injury was high enough for him to reach it and lift it for any further inspection.

He put one hand under her arm and stopped walking, moving his head from side to side to make sure no one was looking. Valerie tilted her head, Jonathan placed one hand just barely above her injury, taking a deep breath, his eyes glowed golden before they returned to their normal color.

When he lifted his hand, his eyebrows dropped, his lips pressed in a thin line and his shoulders fell, there was hardly any noticeable change on the injury.

"It should have healed" He mumbled.

"At least you tried" Valerie smiled, trying not to complain about the pain the movement caused in her arm.

Jonathan seemed to have caught on it and let go of her arm soft and kind with the delicacy one uses to deal with an old, valuable treasure before they restarted their usual pace.

"That was... something" Valerie said after a few seconds of silence.

"It really was" Jonathan nodded "Look at you Ree, a proud quinceañera stabbing knights through the heart". He placed a heart over his chest and circled around her, bowing as he was once again by her side. Valerie raised an amused eyebrow at his pronunciation, but stopped herself from making any comment on it, shrugging nonchalant.

"If we're being honest, between you and me" Valerie began, there was a jump in her step her head raising high, this time it was Jonathan who raised an eyebrow, the thin line of a smile making its way to his lips "I didn't stab him through the heart. It was through the stomach, pretty disappointing if you ask me, I was expecting ghostly guts to fall off. What about you, though?" She questioned putting her hands forward and moving them in strange motions, earning a laugh from the older teen. "I don't think I would have won had it not been for you, if it hadn't been for the shields you created my head would have been in a plate by now. It was amazing! The shield that came out of nowhere! And the thing you did with the branch that came out of the roof! That was... That was incredible! You made a tree sprout out of fucking nowhere and bent it so it would hold the knight's hands! It was bloody mind-blowing! How did you do that?" His eyes diverted to his black shoes, his cheeks lighting up red. He swallowed hard, eyes wandering to his surroundings, he opened and closed the palms of his hands.

"It just happened" Jonathan admitted staring ahead of him "I had this feeling rushing through me and then there was a shield or a branch in there. I can't figure out why I can't do it on purpose." He tensed, although the logical conclusion would be to ask Merlin about it, Valerie knew of the turmoil the mere idea of it caused him.

"Don't stress yourself too much over it." Valerie tried giving her friend a light pat on the shoulder.

"I don't want to rely on impulse, what if... what if one day it doesn't come out when we need it and your life is in danger because of it, because of me," there was a weight in his tone that made her heart sink.

"When that happens I'll manage" Valerie said eyebrows furrowed and a smile erupted on her face. "We'll manage." Who exactly did she mean by we, Valerie wasn't entirely sure "I am a strong girl and magic or not magic, you are still my friend Jonathan. I know we can face the world together," Valerie placed her had on his side for a second and turned to the front of him beginning to walk backwards, the pressure of his shoulders diminished. She smiled at him carrying on her path.

Seeing him now more relaxed remined Valerie of the only time he had played guitar outside the comfort of his own home. She was nine years old and her mother had gotten diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. 

There was a talent show and Valerie had managed to convince Jonathan to sign up his name. It took her a lot, even more the day of the event when he had been so close to quitting. She sat on the first row, her mother by her side and her aunt on the other, Audrey and her family were on the row behind hers. The two girls often got scolded about talking during the show as they waited for Jonathan and Audrey's turn to participate. The boy had walked up the stage dragging his guitar, almost as if the weight sunk him down, his eyes wide open when he stared at the audience that was made mostly from strangers.

His eyes looked through the crowd, first looking at his mothers who made encouraging gestures and then at Valerie who, looking at her friend yelled his name in clear support, clapping as loud as her hands allowed her to. Valerie recalled her aunt laughing as a first reaction and then clapping alongside her. He smiled, somewhat awkward, beginning to play the guitar and sing.

When his fingers first strummed the guitar, Valerie felt the entire place quiet down. The running children sat down, a baby's cries came to a halt. It was as if even the wind had stopped to blow through the branches of the trees to avoid any noise that could deviate the attention from the ten-year-old boy. She only dared to glance away for a second, and she thought she had seen her aunt shed a tear that was gone faster than Valerie could register, looking at the other side her mother simply swayed her head to the rhythm of the music like she did whenever she enjoyed a song.

Valerie couldn't imagine there could be anyone on the entire earth who wouldn't remain quiet to hear Jonathan sing and play. She was already used to hear to it; still, she found herself drawn to his voice every time a melody came out of it. In front of this audience he was focused, the two dark caterpillars on his forehead seemed to make a single line, as he tried to not stumble upon the lyrics like he did when the teacher made him read out lout, fingers strumming the chords of the guitar. 

There was something in the focus of his eyes, the lingering tone of his singing voice and the slight tremble of his hands while they played that forced people's attention to be focused on him.

Then, the song came to a halt, and the crowd was quiet for a second, Valerie saw the horror cross his friend's face before the crowd clapped cheerful to the his performance. Jonathan's cheeks got pink and he made a tiny reverence as he left the stage, she could see the corners of his lips lit up slightly as he still tried to overcome the initial whirlwind of emotions.

A week later, Valerie's mother's health seemed to be improving and there was a line of hope.

"You'll do great" Valerie spoke, Jonathan turned his head to her, not quite comprehending "On magic, I know you'll be great at it".

"I hope so" Jonathan smiled, rubbing the back of his neck, as they stopped in front of Valerie's doorstep. "What kind of purpose has wizard that can't control his magic?" She meditated her answer as she put the key on the lock.

"I don't know about purpose" Valerie spoke after a second "I do know that no matter the kind you are the wizard I want by my side. I'll take you a thousand times over the so-called skilled wizard that lives in my house. I'll take you over tens of thousands of overly skilled wizards" she said, no trace of doubt in her voice as she walked through the door.

The first thing that caught Valerie's eyes was the fact that the furniture was out of order. The house was never a show of perfect organization skills. Valerie and Morgana often knew each other well enough to know where everything was and that nothing that wasn't trash should be removed from where it was left. The music was unfamiliar to her, instruments she couldn't recognize and the further she walked into the house, the bigger the strangeness grew.

In the living room, she found Merlin, arms crossed and furniture floating in the air his eyebrows were furrowed his hair had a neater cut and his hair was carefully slid back, it suited him. If the way her aunt looked at Merlin was anything to go by, the sorceress thought so too, and perhaps a little more so than the teenager did.

"What are you doing?" She questioned after taking a deep breath, voice tense, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm looking at the furniture, such odd things and such a heavy weight in them" Merlin spoke without turning to look at the teenager as the TV floated above his head. Valerie tried to undo the tension of her shoulders.

"When you are done, return every single piece of furniture to where it was" She indicated turning her back on him.

"I don't think that's the best choice. Like I said they seem to have an unusually heavy weight in them, maybe it would be better if..." he said before Valerie had the chance to ask about the whereabouts of her aunt. Upon hearing him, Valerie stopped in her tracks, at some point her ears muted his voice, but she could feel the veins in her forehead pulsating and she saw a splash of red in her vision for a split second before she turned to him, stomping her feet until she was right in front of the older man.

"I do not care!" she screamed "This furniture has not been moved out of place for nothing but cleaning since my mom is gone and I intend to keep it that way. So if you have any respect for me as a person, as the person you call your majesty despite me telling you more than once to just call me Valerie the very least you can do is respect my wishes and leave my things like they were! This was my home before you came to tell me I'm some fated queen, and moreover you are my aunt's guest, so you have no right to put anything out of place!" She let out. Merlin took a step back. Valerie took a deep breath before she heard the sound of furniture being dropped to the floor.

She turned her back to the wizard, not bothering to look back when she heard the door opening. She ran to her bedroom locking the key behind herself. She stared at the schoolbag that she had dropped near her bedroom door, refusing to do her homework. Looking at the calendar that hung on her next to a framed picture of her and Audrey she focused on the fact that she was supposed to go fencing. Valerie leaned against the wall and allowed her own weight to sink her on the floor. Figuring there could be no damage if she skipped it for just one day.

AN

I want to apologize for the amount of time writting this took, everything piled up in school, and well... I really hope everyone reading this enjoyed it and please, don't hesitate to leave a comment or a vote, it would really make my day. Have a lovely day!