Just another day in Camelot - Merlin one shots

Death threat- Part 2

Gwaine was left, watching as Arthur galloped away with his horse, confused as to what all that was. Obviously, something had happened to Merlin which had upset Arthur. He couldn't really follow Arthur as he was already out of sight and would probably accidently kill him in his blinding rage, but at least he could go make sure Merlin was ok.

He walked through the kitchens asking everyone he passed if they had seen Merlin. Everyone shook their heads and got on with their business. He made his way slowly to the physician's chamber. He met Lancelot on the way, asking if he had seen Merlin. Lancelot, like all the others shook his head but insisted to go with Gwaine to help look for him. It turns out he wasn't in the physician's chamber. They went to the stables then debated whether to look in Arthur's chambers or the dungeons next when a loud bang was heard. They both ran at full speed in the direction of Arthurs room.

The kicked the door open and where left speechless as they saw what was happening. Merlin lay on the floor in the corner of the room being blasted by what must have been some powerful magic and convulsing violently. Two cloaked figures stood over him, chanting steadily in an unknown language while their friend approached the two knights, hand held up towards them. The knights jumped out of the way of the spell just in time and Gwaine got to action immediately in killing these sons of bitches. Lancelot made it his priority to get to stop the sorcerers that where harming Merlin. He jumped on one of them from behind and they both rolled onto the floor, struggling against each other. The untouched sorcerer continued his chanting above Merlin, meaning the spell was still in action. Gwaine was hit square in the face with a blast of light and promptly fell unconscious. Lancelot was not doing much better as the figure had pinned him down and was wielding his sword high above his head, ready to strike. He winced waiting for the impact that never came. The loud crash of metal on metal was heard and Lancelot opened his eyes just in time to see a blond prince nock the sorcerous unconscious.

"There are still two left. You get the one next to Merlin." Lancelot ordered the prince. He rolled to his feet and advanced on the sorcerer that nocked Gwaine out.

Arthur ran towards where Merlin was lying and got rid of the cloaked figure in record time. Without another thought, he ran to the raven haired boys side. He was a sickening grey colour and looked infinitely worse than the last time Arthur saw him. With shaking hands, he moved the hair plastered to his friends forehead out of the way and tried to hold together the shaking boy.

"Merlin." His voice cracked. He only just noticed Lancelot had left, probably to fetch Gaius.

"Arthur?" The prince violently jerked his head down to see two ocean blue eyes look up at him. His breath hitched slightly on seeing the state of his poor friend.

"I'm here. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You are going to be fine. Just wait until Gaius gets here. Can you do that for me" They were holding hands, Arthur strong grip holding Merlin's limp hand.

"Anything for you, my prince." A week smile appeared on his face. Arthur talked nonsense the whole time, trying to get Merlin to stay awake and concentrated a lot in not moving so that he didn't hurt the friend who had ended up half laying on his lap.

About half an hour later, Gaius arrived. He rushed towards Merlin and immediately started to check him.

"Oh Merlin, how many times do I have to tell you to be more careful." Merlin just grinned at him, then stifled a yell of pain as Arthur shifted under him. His violent shaking had calmed down slightly but he was still a sickening shade of pale grey. "Drink." Merlin looked at the potion suspiciously but drank it with Gaius's help either way. Immediately, his eyes fell shut and his breathing evened out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So, this is what death feels like, thought a certain raven haired boys groggy brain. His limbs where dully burning in pain and his head was giving him hell. It wasn't helping either that his mouth was drier than a desert. Merlin had to use an immense amount of force to crack an eye open to then get rudely blinded. He blinked adjusted to the light agonizingly slowly to notice he was looking at the ceiling of his room. Wracking his brain, he only remembered some men walk suspiciously to Arthurs room then a feeling of immense pain. Panic rose up his throat as he imagined what could have happened to Arthur. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he managed to get up, out of the bed before his body decided to collapse, making him fall in a tangle of blankets onto the floor. A little yelp escaped him as he hit his battered body.

"Merlin!" Merlin jumped as he heard the familiar voice seeming to be coming from right above him. His vision swam for a second before he saw a worried looking Arthur looming over him. Fragments of memory came rushing back to him of Arthur babbling nonsense above him and looking perfectly fine.

"The one and only." He croaked.

"You idiot, why did you try get up? Your bad enough the way it is." Arthur reached out a hand of which Merlin grabbed weakly and failed miserably to pull himself up. The prince had to carry him bridal stile to the bed in the end; the fact that Merlin had on bandages instead of a shirt made it much more embarrassing. Arthur hovered over him for a second, asking if he needed anything like a worried mother before gushing out what had happened the previous day.

Merlin filled the silence when he finally finished, "Have you been here all night?"

The blond prince looked away, mumbling something about leaving to let him rest. Using the remaining strength, he had left he tugged Arthurs arm towards him.

"You dollop head." He shuffled a bit to make room in the bed for two. After a moment's hesitation, Arthur lay down next to him. Merlin chuckled quietly to see his friend so stiff and uncomfortable next to him.

"What?"

"You can relax you know."

Arthur took a moment before responding; "I don't wat to accidently move and hurt you."

"You won't, I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine. I saw you hurt then I immediately left you to find Morgana. You could have died, all because I was selfish enough not to think about you and how stupid I was to leave you, unsupervised and with no help. I'm really sorry." He stayed looking up at the ceiling.

"No, Arthur, it wasn't your fault. You went to look for Morgana because you where angry at what she did to me and wanted revenge and that in itself shows your loyalty to me."

Arthur turned to face him. He lifted his hand and delicately traced around the gash in Merlin's forehead. He dropped his hand and looked sadly at his friend. "I just wish I could have done more. I was almost too late."

Merlin didn't know what to say to convince Arthur that what he did was not wrong. He found the princes hand with his own and held it up to his face so that Arthur was cupping his face. "I'm here, it wasn't too late." Arthur gazed down at him, "You did the right thing, you saved me and your father and that is so much more than most people can do." Arthur opened his mouth to protest but as cut off by the raven-haired boy again, "I know you aren't used to complements, and that you don't get many, but I want you to know that you really are an amazing person. One day you will make a brilliant king." A comfortable silence fell as Arthur tried to think of something to say but just as he opened his mouth to answer, he felt a warm breath under his thin shirt on his chest. He looked down and saw a curled up Merlin snuggled up to him. He smiled warmly and closed his eyes for a moment before having to get up and write a long and boring speech.

The speech was never written due to the prince falling asleep next to his serving boy.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

As soon as Gaius finished tending to an unfortunate drunk who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, he rushed back home to see if Merlin had woken. He peaked into the room and smiled widely as he saw Merlin snuggled up to Arthur's side, both of them asleep. He turned away and grinned knowingly, already planning what flowers they would have at the wedding.