Chapter 10: Realisations

"I've just thought of something!" Arthur nibbled at his finger nails.

"What?" Merlin sighed exasperated.

"I haven't a clue how to play chess!" Arthur cried out. Merlin slapped his hand to his forehead.

"You dollop head! The whole idea of making a tournament was something that seemed fair but you were sure you could win! You don't really want to Morgana's homework for the next year do you?" Merlin jumped up from the bench they had been sitting on and began to pace.

"Well, actually, I did have an alternative in mind…"

"What? Rock, paper, scissors?" Merlin asked mockingly.

"No. I thought maybe you could do it…" Arthur trailed off when Merlin burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Sure. I'll wipe the floor and the chess table with them!" Merlin chortled and began to walk off. Arthur was the picture of intrigue and confusion. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

Morgana's forest green eyes peeked out from behind a bush.

"Coward." She grumbled. She turned to Mordred who raised his eyebrow at her.

"He challenges me to a chess match and then has the nerve to make Merlin do it!"

"So?"

"So? Merlin is the nerdiest kid I know around here! I need to beat Arthur!" Morgana hissed at the boy next to her.

"Just go get someone else to play for you. Promise them something like popularity around school! That's a nerd's weakness!" Mordred suggested with a smile.

"And you know this how exactly?" Morgana raised an eyebrow, observing Mordred as he lost his smile in an instant.

"Well you know…" He shrugged.

"Do you know how to play chess?" She asked.

"Well I…" Mordred didn't look at her.

"Mordred! If you are any good, please, do this for me!" She grabbed him by the collar of his school shirt that was peeking out from under his winter coat. Mordred stared into her deep green eyes, seeing her desperation to win.

"Okay." He finally said after a long pause, "But, I will only do it if you promise me two things…"

"Name them." Morgana released the grip on his shirt.

"One, if I lose, don't kick me out the group." He began. Morgana crinkled her nose.

"It's not just me who has the say on who stays and who goes in our group you know?"

"Two, if I win, you have to break up with Helios."

"WHAT?!" She screamed. Several heads in the playground turned to the bushes and both teenagers ducked to avoid being seen.

"He's a troublemaker. If you're not careful, he'll get you into all kinds of situations that you can't get out of. If I win, he goes." Mordred held out his hand. Morgana stared down at the pale skin, pondering whether or not to strike the deal. She rolled her eyes.

"Very well." She shook his hand and his face cracked into a glorious smile. They stared at each other, not really sure what to say. Just stood blinking at one another.

"You look quite nice today." Mordred broke the silence that had formed around them, admiring the girl's raven waves that escaped out from under the hem of her polar bear hat.

"Thank you." Morgana was shy all of a sudden, not her normal persona.

Suddenly, the branches to the bushes ripped open and Helios stormed in.

"Hey gorgeous, what you up to?" He asked, standing between Morgana and Mordred as he enveloped the girl in his muscular arms that were still on show despite the freezing weather. Mordred's face fell and then darkened.

"We were just staking out Arthur. Turns out he's recruiting others for the tournament. I knew he would be too cowardly to do the job himself." Morgana's nose twitched in disgust as she remembered the conversation she'd overheard between her brother and his best friend.

"I'm going to stand in for Morgana. I've had plenty of practice at the chess table." Mordred piped up from behind him. Helios frowned.

"No you ain't." He hissed.

"What?" Both Morgana and Mordred asked quietly in unison.

"I'm gonna stand in. You're gonna sit and watch while I take her brother down!" Helios leant over the shorter boy, all 6ft of him looming over Mordred who gulped.

"And if you lose?" Mordred asked, but Helios just laughed loudly.

"Lose? Its chess! Please, how hard can it be?" He added as he linked his arm through Morgana's and began to drag her back out onto the playground.

"Well maybe I want Mordred to do it." Morgana interjected. Helios froze and turned to her.

"What? You insane?"

"No, smart. He's had way more experience playing chess than you ever have."

"Oh yeah, he used to be a nerd, I remember…"

"That's enough Helios!" Morgana shoved his chest lightly, "What's gotten into you?" She snarled and walked off, wrapping her coat further round herself. Helios growled, looking back to the bushes…but Mordred was gone.

Meanwhile, Arthur and Merlin had found refuge in the warmth of the school canteen. They'd each got a hot chocolate from the side, paid for it and sat down with Gwaine and Leon.

"Ah, so here is the dynamic duo, at last." Gwaine voiced.

"We weren't that long." Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, do you know how cold it is outside? Anyway, mission unsuccessful, we couldn't find her anyway." Arthur sighed, taking a sip of his hot chocolate and instantly regretting it for it was still scalding hot.

"Well, she has to be somewhere." Leon frowned.

"Mmm." The table fell silent.

"Merlin?" A timid voice asked. As Merlin turned, he was surprised to see Mordred standing behind him.

"Mordred! What are you doing here?" Merlin asked, though there was no sense of distain in his voice, more genuine surprise.

"Well, it's just… Morgana was spying on you and she knows that Merlin is playing instead…" The boys sitting down all clapped their palms to their faces.

"But… Helios is adamant he is going to play. I wanted to, but he isn't going to let me."

"Right…" Arthur narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "And you're telling us this because?"

Mordred sighed out.

"Look, Arthur, I know you hate your sister, even though you're doing this truce thing, but I know you care about her and Helios… he's no good for her. If no one is careful, he'll drive her into bad things…"

"Like, crime?"

"Yeah, like crime."

"Oh god…" Arthur thought about this for a moment. Sure, he hated her, but was he prepared to let her slip into the world of all things bad? No he wasn't. He had to protect her.

"So, I need someone to convince Helios to let me play, and then you gotta let me win."

Gwaine spat out his drink.

"What? No way, we need to win this else Arthur gets all of Morgana's homework for a year!"

"Not if I win. If I win, you get the truce, I'll do the homework and Morgana made a deal with me that if I won, she'd split up with Helios." Mordred explained.

"As good as the deal sounds, I don't trust you completely." Arthur remarked pointedly.

"Fine, you can have it in writing." Mordred handed Arthur a slip of paper. Arthur raised an eyebrow; took the piece of paper and turned it round to see what it said:

I Mordred (sign here) _ agree that if Arthur's team lets me win, I will protect Morgana from Helios and persuade her not to make you do her homework.

I Arthur Pendragon (sign here) _ agree that we will let Mordred win but protect him from Helios should he get aggressive.

"Whoa, hang on, you mentioned, nothing about us protecting you from Helios." Arthur waved the paper around the air above his head.

"Look, Arthur, I like your sister, okay? I want to protect her just as much as you do, but in order to do that, I need to know that you have my back. I saw how you guys thrashed our side in the park with the snowball ambush. You've proven you can do it, I just need you to agree with this. You hold up your end of the deal, I'll hold up mine!" Mordred explained. Arthur's expression softened. He glanced around the table of friends who stared back, looking just as unsure as he was.

"Merlin, your call."

"Why me?"

"You're the one playing the game. Only you can be sure if you can let him win or not." Arthur hissed. Merlin looked around the table, at the slip and then at Mordred.

"Fine. But you better hold up your end of the deal." Merlin pointed, though his threatening voice still needed some work. Mordred nodded.

"Deal."

Both Mordred and Arthur signed the paper and agreed to hide it in Merlin's locker for later reference. Now, they just had to persuade Helios to let Mordred play…

Hey everyone! So its been ages since I updated this story (GCSE year and exams are just so annoying, they get in the way of everything! But now I'm finished, so my fanfiction stories can now be updated as I will have more free time on my hands!) Hope you enjoyed and keep following for the next chapter!