Wings

Chapter 1

If everything goes to plan this part will be published on my birthday (September 9th) so, happy birthday to me

All the knights had noticed at some point that Lancelot always flinched whenever anyone touched his back. They all figured it must be an injury he'd gotten a while ago; it had been months and he still avoided any contact to his back when he could. But it wasn't an injury. Lancelot didn't flinch when people touched his back because it hurt, although depending on which part of his back was touched it sometimes did. He flinched because he was worried about them noticing something that shouldn't be there and because he'd been through too much to trust anyone with the knowledge of what that was.

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The knights, Arthur and Merlin were on a hunt. They hadn't had any luck so far. Arthur had already declared they would stay out overnight and continue the hunt in the morning. Merlin was setting up camp and Gwaine was sitting on a log watching Lancelot, who had been acting strangely that day. He seemed constantly uncomfortable and was a lot more sensitive to touch, especially around his back but that was normal by now. He watched closely as Lancelot looked around quickly, before sneaking away into the forest. Gwaine stood and followed, making sure he stayed far enough away that he could hide if Lancelot looked back. He just had to know what was bothering the other knight.

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Lancelot eventually stopped in a small clearing a good way away from the camp. He looked around again, Gwaine made sure he hid when Lancelot looked in his direction, before turning to the lake and pulling his shirt off. For a second, Gwaine thought about going back, he didn't want to invade his friend's privacy, but stopped himself when he noticed something strange on Lancelot's back. There were black and dark brown feathers, wings, tied down by a thin rope wrapped tightly around his torso. Gwaine winced when he saw blood running down one of the wings, that part of the rope stained red. That would explain the black shirt nobody knew Lancelot had. It hid the blood.

Lancelot steadied himself against one of the trees, he looked like he was in a lot of pain. Gwaine noticed that the rope was knotted at the back, it looked like it had been tied a while ago.

'How long has that been tied? And how old is that blood?' Gwaine wondered as he watched Lancelot struggle to bend around to the small, tight knot, which was right in the centre of his back. Right where he couldn't reach it. Unable to watch anymore, Gwaine stood up straight and walked out of the bushes. Lancelot wasn't facing him.

"Wings, Lance? Wow," Gwaine said, still getting over the last bit of shock from seeing the dark feathers on the other knight's back. Lancelot jumped and spun around, wide-eyed and panicked.
"How long have you been there!?" He asked, looking terrified.
"The whole time," Gwaine replied, somewhat guiltily, after a short pause. Lancelot slowly backed away, his expression complete horror.
"Need a hand?" Gwaine asked, gesturing to the rope wrapped tightly around Lancelot. Lancelot looked at him for a moment, unsure, before giving a small nod when one of the wings pushed back against the rope, causing him even more pain. Gwaine walked over and around to Lancelot's back. He worked at the knot for about five minutes before he finally managed to untie the rope; the already tight knot had been almost glued together by dried blood. He unwrapped the rope from Lancelot's torso and couldn't help but smile when he saw the much more relaxed expression on Lancelot's face once the rope had loosened. The wings were still tucked in tightly against Lancelot's back, the area the rope had been tied around coated in dark red. Gwaine couldn't stop himself from reaching out and running a hand over the wings, forgetting for a moment how sensitive Lancelot was when people touched his back. Lancelot jumped and whirled around, fear once again evident on his face.