Merlin One-shots

Drunk

A/N- Tag to "Lady of the Lake" contains spoilers!

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"Where is that halfwit!" Arthur yelled, storming into Gaius' chambers. 

"I thought he was with you sire." Gaius said, a frown etching onto his face. 

Arthur huffed, "Well he's not. And he missed the banquet and I had to have some boring servant named George fill in for him."

"I don't know," Gaius said, "I only saw him this morning."

"Once I find him I'm going to have him thrown in the stocks for a day, maybe that'll teach him. You stay here and inform me if he comes back."

Gaius raised an eyebrow. 

Arthur smiled sheepishly, "If you don't mind that is." 

Gaius smirked and gave a short nod, and Arthur marched out the door. 

Arthur could not find his manservant anywhere. And he was getting less and less patient. He started asking around, and it seemed no one had seen him since that morning, and no one was sure where he went.

Arthur was just about to give up, when he resolved to ask one more person.

"Sir," Arthur said, tapping a scraggly looking man on the shoulder.

"Prince Arthur!" He said, dipping into a bow, "What can I do for you sire?"

"By any chance, do you know the whereabouts of my manservant?" 

"Merlin?" He asked. 

"Yes, Merlin."

"Why, he's been at the tavern all day! Poor lad is miserable, but no one is sure why. Mary's had to take his ale away at least three times now, but somehow the boy keeps getting his hands on more."

"He's at the tavern?" Arthur asked, anger lacing his words.

The man picked up on it and frowned, "Aye, but don't you go being hard on him sire. From what I gather you have something to do with the poor boy's misery. Everyone is fond of Merlin and don't take well to people who upset him."

Arthur raised an eyebrow and the man looked down sheepishly. 

"My apologies sire, I did not mean to speak out of turn."

Arthur gave him a small smile, "No harm. Your concern for him is touching, and the information you gave me is much appreciated. What's your name?"

"Larson, my lord."

"Thank you Larson," he said.

"Of course."

Arthur marched off to the tavern, angry, confused, and (though he wouldn't admit it) concerned. He slipped into the tavern and and scanned the tables, quickly spotting his manservant, who was downing another ale.   

He sat down and pried the jug from Merlin's drunken fingers.

"Heeey," Merlin said, attempting to snatch the mug back. 

"No." Arthur said bluntly, handing the jug to Mary who frowned. 

"Hmf," Merlin pouted. "'S not nice."

"Yeah, well if you don't die of intoxication, I'm going to kill you myself." Arthur said, folding his arms. "What on earth gave you the idea that you could spend the day at the tavern?"

Merlin grumbled something incomprehensible. Then he spoke up. "'S none of 'ur business."

"It dam well is my business," the prince argued, "since you decided to skip out on work because of it."

"Le'me alone." Merlin complained, placing his head on the table. 

"No."

"I don' wanna talk to you. I don' wanna see you. Shoo." 

Arthur frowned, "Don't shoo me."

"Shoo."

Arthur huffed, this was getting nowhere. He glanced at the door, wondering if he should just leave Merlin to wallow in his misery, but decided that it would be inconvenient for him to have to come back later to haul him out. When he turned back, Merlin had another ale in his hand.

"How'd you get that?!" Arthur asked. Merlin chugged the drink before Arthur could steal it away. "You idiot. Gaius will kill me if you die of intoxication, you know that right?"

Merlin didn't seem to care. He was muttering to himself and shaking his head. Tears ran down his face, and Arthur felt his heart soften.

"Merlin..." he said softly, "please tell me what's wrong."

Merlin shook his head. "She's gone," he sobbed, "She's gone."

"Who?" Arthur asked. He was utterly confused. He didn't think Merlin had a girl, maybe it was his mother? But that didn't seem right. Gaius would've told him. This was someone else. 

Merlin whispered, "We were gon' run. We were gon' leave toge*hic*ther. I was gon' leave you. Ma sensidy. All 'f it."

"Your... what?"

"Sens- den- density."

"Destiny?" Arthur asked.

"Mhm. *hic* We were gon' live in mounts. With serberries. She loved serberries."

"Who Merlin?" Arthur asked, starting to understand, and dreading where it was going.

Merlin shook his head again, getting angry, "Why d'you care?" He gestured a jug of ale at Arthur, who promptly snatched it away, confused how it came to be in his hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arthur asked, slightly offended. 

Merlin scowled at him, "You din' care when you snab- stabbed 'er."

"What?!"

Arthur was mortified. He didn't remember killing any girls. 

Merlin continued as though he didn't hear him, "So wha' she was cursed? No' 'er fault. She was s'ill nice t'me. She'd ne'er hurt me."

"Cursed? What are you talking about Merlin?"

"Yeah she was a drui', but tha' din' matter. No' t'me."

More pieces of the puzzle fell into place. A druid girl with a curse... "Oh Merlin..." 

Merlin started sobbing into his hands, "She's gone. My sweet sweet girl. She's gone."

Arthur looked at the broken boy, guilt etched onto his face. This really was his fault. "What was her name?" he whispered.

Merlin looked at him. He smiled a heartbroken smile.

"Freya."