Merlin One Shots

Day Twenty Five of Christmas

A/N: Wow, guys, I can't believe we've made it to the end of the 25 Days of Christmas! I hope you guys all have a wonderful holiday, and I hope that you enjoy this last oneshot.

"I'm too amazing to freeze to death!" Gwaine lamented from his spot on the ground. Merlin rolled his eyes as he looked down at his friend, who was lying dramatically in the snow as the other knights of the round table continued their training.

"Amazingly annoying, that is." Leon spoke up. Gwaine glared at the knight, using his elbows to push himself into a sitting position.

"Merlin, mate, won't you help a friend in need?"

"Sorry, Gwaine." Merlin shrugged, not sounding sorry at all. "Arthur's orders are to train."

"'Arthur's orders are to train.'" Gwaine mocked under his breath. He glared daggers at the king, who was sparring with Percival. "You're right, Merlin, it is the princess's fault. So," the knight gathered snow into his hands. "He's the one who should pay the penalty for it."

Merlin watched, amused as Gwaine compressed the snow into a ball, before winding up, and throwing it with all his might at the king.

There was a grunt as the projectile made contact, but not with Arthur. Percival turned around to face whoever just hit him in the back of the head with a snowball.

Gwaine has the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry, Percy! I was aiming for Arthur's big head!" The large knight stared for a moment, then grinned. He crouched down to the ground, quickly gathering snow into one of the largest snowballs he'd ever seen. Gwaine jumped to his feet, running for cover as Percival hurled the snowball at Gwaine.

Unfortunately, that 'cover' just so happened to be Leon, who was forced to suffer a direct hit from Percival's snowball.

The senior knight laughed as he grabbed snow and dumped it down the cowering Gwaine's chainmail, making him yelp. Arthur was too busy laughing to notice Merlin holding a snowball in his hand until it was too late.

The snowball went flying, hitting Arthur straight in the face.

"Merlin!"

"Sorry, sire! Your large head was in the way!" Arthur growled, chucking a lump of snow towards the manservant.

Merlin, who was plenty used to having things thrown at him, ducked skillfully, and the icy missile sailed over his head.

Straight towards Guinevere.

Both Gwen and Elyan had gone on a walk earlier in the day, taking the time to enjoy some peace. Neither of them had expected for Gwen to get hit full in the face with the snowball thrown by her own husband.

She stood there for a moment, silent, keeping everyone on edge. Even Gwaine had forgotten about his endeavor to remove the melting snow from his chainmail as tension hung in the air.

Suddenly, quicker than Merlin thought possible, Gwen had made a snowball of her own, and she held it proudly in the air, and evil glint in her eye.

"Scatter!" Gwaine's voice spurred the others into action. Everyone took of in different directions, desperate to escape from the queen's wrath.

Elyan was the first to suffer at Guinevere's hand. The poor knight was still busy processing why his sister had gotten hit when she shoved a handful of snow in his face.

Leon was next. He was simply too... nice. He hadn't even tried to fight back when the queen had tossed her weapon at him. The knight had simply laughed before setting his sights on Percival, a snowball in each hand.

Gwaine took one to the back of the head while he was busy trying to tackle Elyan to the ground.

That meant Gwen only had two left.

She leveled her gaze on Arthur, who had just dodged a snowball from Percival. She walked towards him, smiling sweetly.

"Guinevere, my love." Arthur began, eyeing her cautiously. Like an animal caught in a trap. "I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry."

Gwen's sweet smile turned sinister in an instant. "Sorry doesn't change things now, does it?" She triumphantly shoved two heaping handfuls of snow in his face, and she was fairly certain she heard Gwaine murmur "Oh, snap." somewhere in the background.

But, the queen was so focused on getting revenge on her husband, she forgot about her final target.

The feeling of a snowball hitting the back of her neck made Gwen freeze in her movements. She slowly turned around to see a grinning Merlin, standing just a few feet away from her.

"Merlin?"

"Yes, Gwen?" Her lips twitched in a barely contained smile as he stared her down.

"Run."

And run Merlin did.

(Not that it saved him.)