Betrayed and Broken

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Gwaine was ashamed to admit that he hadn't even noticed Merlin. He had been so caught up in the thrill of freeing the kingdom that concern for his friend hadn't even crossed his mind. Obviously Lancelot had noticed first and had been already running towards the young raven haired man, but Gwaine and Percival only saw his prone body when Arthur had shouted the manservant's name.

Lancelot dived to his knees next to Merlin, not at all concerned about the blood that stained his pants, Arthur freezing behind him, a stricken look staining his face. Gwaine kneeled down next to Lance, barking at Percival, "Get Gaius! Now!" The mountainous man ran towards the hidden door, yelling out for Gaius. Gwaine winced; he hadn't realized that Percival could be that loud.

The usually drunken knight stared in horror while Lance tried to stem the flow of blood from Merlin's side wound without pressing on the younger man's extensive burns until Gaius knelt down next to them, knees popping in protest. Gaius, his old face wrinkled with worry, turned quickly to Gwen, "You know what to get from my chambers. Bring two of the knights and get it quickly. We can't afford to move him now. It will only hurt him worse."

Gwen nodded, dragging Leon and Elyan with her. The other royals meandered around in the background, uncertain of what to do. Mithian seemed honestly concerned, sadness at seeing Merlin like that etched into her face. Gaius instructed Lancelot to keep doing what he was doing and unashamedly commanded Arthur to move out of the way. The King did so, not concerned in the slightest about a subordinate being so rude. Gwaine thought wryly that if this was Uther and it was even Ygraine lying on the ground, he still would have yelled at Gaius.

Finally, finally Gwen, Leon, and Elyan returned with the supplies piled high in their arms and Gaius barked that everyone except Gwen and Lancelot had to get out. It took Percival pulling him away for Gwaine to leave, but he eventually did. He was jealous that it was Lance that was in there helping Merlin and not him, but he figured that it was better that way. If he was being honest with himself, Lancelot was most definitely the better friend out of... well, out of all of them.

After an hour of tense pacing all around (with Arthur more lost in thought than Gwaine had ever thought he'd see the king), the door to the throne room creaked open and Gwen stuck her head out, a great smile lighting up her cherubic face. Arthur stepped forward anxiously, "He's alright?" Gwen was too overcome to correctly answer, smiling broader and nodding quickly. Her eyes started to form tears and she and Arthur embraced.

Gwaine pushed past them, not ready to deal with those two and their hypocritical ways. Yes, he had betrayed Merlin too, but he had helped Merlin and started to reconcile with him, knowing that he had made bad decisions. But them, they had threatened Merlin and said horrible things about him and all of a sudden they were amazingly happy that he had survived and would do fine! It was ridiculous! And Gwaine could feel that they would just turn around and betray him when he was feeling better.

They all filed into the room, taking in the lack of blood on the floor and the fact that Merlin's eyes were open. Gwaine smiled broadly and Merlin grinned his signature grin back. Before anyone could say anything, however, Mordred scrambled into the room. He had a black eye and there was a thin trail of blood coming from his disheveled hair. He spouted quickly, "Agravaine is coming! I couldn't stop him! My magic isn't yet what it used to be and he surprised me before I could do much!"

Everyone, except Merlin of course, were on their feet and turned towards various exits within a moment. Merlin had tried to rise to his feet, but was pushed down by a disproving Lancelot. Nothing moved for a second and nobody dared breathe in case they somehow missed his entrance. After an extremely awkward pause, Elyan laughed shakily and said, "Well, he must have slipped out sometime during the battle. You know how he is."