Back with Merlin and Arthur

Merlin was relieved to hear that Fox was arrested and would soon be in court. Another good thing was that Golzine was never going to be harmful either, as the guy had gotten killed. Though he was not too close to this all, as this was after all not his life and body. Yet still he felt relief for his counterpart's crush.

However, the two adults, Max and Ibe, were not too pleased about what he did. Though they had decided that it was a lost cause to scold him. They could tell that he was not guilty at all for going to 'Ash' but they also made it clear that after he was discharged he would have to go to Japan.

Which made him anxious because he could not let Arthur here. This was not going to work, and he was surprised to have Ibe tell him that they made sure that 'Ash' would be able to go with them. The reason for that was that 'Ash' was a victim himself and so Charlie explained that after they had all of the questions answered he would be able to go with him. That alone was a relief.

"Did you hear?" His eyes turned towards Sing, who decided to visit him.

"No? What's going on?"

"Well, Fox is declared guilty. Ash is declared innocent and a victim. So there is that, he's free to leave with you." Sing explained happily.

"Wait for real?" Merlin could not help but ask.

"Yup, rumor has it that he made Alex step up as the leader."

His eyes blinked at this. The fact that Arthur was going that far made him wonder what Ash would have done. Knowing from the memories he doubted that he would have followed. That worried him when they would switch places again. But for now, he was only glad to know that Arthur would come with him.

"Huh, I am surprised because Ash has not yet given me the answer." He grumbled out.

"To be fair, they are only rumors right now. So I can't be certain but I hope for so both of you." Sing's voice was hesitant knowing exactly how upsetting it would be, would 'Ash' stay behind?

"I hope so too, Sing." He let out a sigh, feeling conflicted and slumped.

The two continued to converse and Merlin knew that when Ash would be back to his body, he was pretty sure going to curse Arthur out.

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Merlin could only hope that Arthur would soon move his ass to the airport, because when he would not soon arrive, well Merlin would go find the prat himself and drag him there.

"I am sure that Ash will soon get here." Max tried to reassure him.

"When not, I will drag him here myself." He huffed out, being in a bad mood since waking up.

Merlin usually was better with pain but this body is not used to this. So, he was rather frustrated.

"Ei-chan, have you taken your meds?"

His eyes gave a blank stare at Ibe. "I did, Ibe-san but I still can feel the pain and it also did not help that Ash was not here with me." His voice held irritation.

"Sorry for the wait. Had just one last thing to take care of." Arthur's voice interrupted any more arguments that they could have.

"Thank god, I was worried about you clotpole." Merlin huffed out.

"Sorry, but now I am fully ready to go." His voice was sheepish and Merlin wondered what Arthur had now done.

"I will visit after things have calmed down, okay son?" Max told Arthur.

"Yeah, yeah Dad. Just be careful."

Merlin could tell that the two were both trying to get on their nerves, though when someone watched closer they could tell that Max had grown on Arthur. It also was because of the memories that they held.

"You too, Eiji, please make sure that he takes care of himself." Max turned his attention now to him.

"Don't worry I will." He promised.

Merlin watched Max and Ibe say their goodbyes and with this, they headed where their plane would be. Which was making him nervous as he had never really seen anything like that, hopefully their flight would be calm. Because he could see that Arthur was as anxious about this, as Merlin felt.

The plane had been nerve-wracking even more so for Arthur than him. Merlin could tell that he could not relax fully, not even when they sat next to each other. Somehow he managed to calm Arthur semi-down, but the man was anxious about something. Why that was, Merlin had no idea and as long as they were on the plane nothing could be done. As soon as they were somewhere more private, Merlin could ask this.

Either way, the plane flight was as expected not too pleasant and he could not relax either. Call it paranoia but Merlin felt as if something was not right. He might also have some kind of anxiety attack because that would explain how uneasy he had been the entire flight.

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"Thank you again Ibe-san." He softly said.

They were by now in front of his counterparts' family home. Sadly neither of the family of Eiji had time to pick them up. His counterpart's mother had gotten with his counterpart to an appointment to check how well his health was. His counterpart's sister hadn't gotten time to pick them up either, as she was in school. So, Arthur had been interested in everything that he saw. From the building to the language, Merlin tried to translate things as well as explain, but it was difficult as these were not his memories and it was exhausting for sure. Yet Merlin did not mind it, the fact that he could finally up one Arthur made him smug. Because of how many times Arthur has teased him about certain things, and now he was able to tease him back.

"Stop being smug, Onii-chan." Arthur drawled and Merlin decided to stick out his tongue in retaliation.

"Eiji Okumura." A woman scolded him.

His body tensed and slowly turned back to her. Eiji's mother folded her arms together and looked appalled.

"I am sorry Mother." He muttered.

"It's alright, we are only teasing each other," Arthur explained.

The eyes turned now to Arthur. She looked him up and down as he nodded. "It explains why you took that long. I assume he will stay with you then?" It was asked.

It was as if she knew that the two were a thing. Yet they weren't but from what he could pick from his memories it was obvious that they were both having feelings for each other. A reminder that his feelings were as deep.

"Yeah, though he won't be able to understand Japanese, so I'm going to be the translator." He explained and the woman nodded before giving him a tight hug.

"I am so glad that you're back safely and you look happier." The relief was heard and caused him to feel guilty.

"Sorry, mom did not want to worry you."

It had been for sure awkward afterward but somehow Arthur managed to calm his counterpart's mother down, and so they semi-managed to have a conversation. His sister was ecstatic to see him back and asked a ton of questions.

Either way, it seemed that even their awkwardness they liked Arthur. Though Merlin knew when Eiji and Ash would switch things would be strange for them. Hopefully, they appreciated of how this all ended.

With Eiji

The fact that they had ended up in the medieval complicated things. There was not much hygiene and it was not comfortable. There were not a lot who realized that something was off, those that did had decided just to ignore it. It seemed like a pattern. Yet Gwen and Gwaine did not look the other way. There was just no way that either of the two could ignore their weird behavior. Even more so with 'Arthur'.

"Alright, both spill." Gwen's voice made it clear that hiding was not going to work.

Ash gave him a look and he shrugged. They might as well tell the two. These people were, after all, close to their counterparts.

"Bear in mind that Arthur has marched into the room and well Merlin was in the middle of a spell. This caused Merlin to say a word wrongly and cause the spell to backfire." Eiji tried to explain.

"We switched places with the people you know. We do have the memories of theirs and that makes it easier to hide, but should have expected that both of you would figure out something is not quite right. " Ash explained.

"Wait then who are you?" Gwaine asked with dread.

"I am Ash Lynx, gang leader."

"Ash, come on, don't be that way. They aren't going to harm you or me." His voice tried to reassure the man but Ash gave him a deadpan look.

"Okay, fair. But you should know from the memory-"

"Eiji, can I remind you what had happened when she was under the control of you know who?"

His eyes furrowed and as he realized what memory Ash was talking about he winced. "Okay, fair. But it was not her fault. Anyway, I am Eiji Okumura" He explained and at the end softly introduced himself.

"I know, but I just can't fully trust that she won't do that again."

"Ah, that explains why you were so distant to me. It also explains why you slept somewhere else. But where did you rest?" Gwen asked with puzzlement.

Gwaine gave him a look and that caused Eiji to instantly feel his cheeks heat up. It was obvious where Ash went and from Gwaine's eyebrow wiggle, he knew.

"The irony of you two strangers getting switched with our friends and clearly being as close as the two are." Gwaine mused.

"Don't remind me, it's strange as it is, having those memories. I can only hope that they did not mess too badly up." Ash's voice was dejected.

"I am sure it's fine. Merlin is good at winging things. I doubt that things will turn out badly. But I do wonder what kind of bad situation we are talking about?" Gwen asked with a wary tone.

"Well um..." Eiji was not sure what to tell the woman even.

There was a big risk of them dying and he did not want either of them to be too worried.

"Let's just say I was in the middle of a fight, and that's all I will tell you." Ash's voice was final.

"Ash." His voice was hesitant.

"I know, and right now we can't do anything. Other finding what your counterpart has messed up." Ash explained.

Eiji knew that there was more behind his tone. Getting closer to Gwaine was a reminder of Shorter and that hurt. It was probably even worse for Ash.

"Hm, have you tried to remember what Merlin has messed up?" Gwen asked.

His brows furrowed yet even as he tried to remember, it was not working. "Guess we have to wait for Merlin to do this." Eiji let out a sigh.

"I might be able to figure it out before Merlin does," Ash told the others thoughtfully.

"I mean you're incredibly smart so I would not be surprised when you're able to."

It was after the conversation not possible to figure out and so they had to wait. At least Gwen and Gwaine had made sure that none would figure out what was going on. Gwaine on the other hand tried to rope him into way too many pranks. Eiji was not sure that he should but knowing what he saw from the memories, he in the end got roped into this. It was kind of fun but also stressful because he assumed that Ash would not be pleased. That was until he saw the amused gleam in his eyes making him know that Ash was not minding it too much. This went on for at least two months...