A/N: Hello, fellow fanfic reader and writers! This is a one shot about Arthur, Merlin, and a certain secret. This idea came to me months ago and I wrote half of it then forgot about it. I just recently found it and found myself finishing it,against my will, knowing I should be working on my other story Emrys Revealed. Writers are weird ;) Now to my Emrys Revealed readers, this is not part of Emrys Revealed so you non-Emrys Revealed readers do not need to read it to understand this. They are two separate stories. Now I know everyone is hear to read the story, so just sit through a short disclaimer then the story should begin momentarily.

Disclaimer: If I owned Merlin there would be a 6th season. And a 7th. And an 8th. And a, ok you get where I'm going with this. I obviously don't own Merlin.

Nightmares

"Come on Merlin; let me take watch for once." Sir Gwaine said.

"You actually want to?" Merlin responded.

"Well, not really bu-"

"Then I will, because I'm the servant, and that's all there is to it."

"Do you actually want to?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin stayed silent at that.

They were in the forest of Dranin, about 5 days outside of Camelot, journeying to the kingdom of Adoewen. King Arthur had been asked to attend an important meeting that was to take place at the kingdom and had brought along his best knights for the journey. Well, his best knights and Merlin.

For the past four nights Merlin had been keeping watch and even though he could take small naps here and there, the lack of sleep was taking its toll. Gwaine and the other knights, besides Arthur who had just stayed quiet throughout this entire thing, had started to worry about him, yet he insisted on keeping watch, saying it was his duty as a servant.

It was almost dark and the knights still had no luck getting Merlin to relent to some sleep, so they just lay down on their sleeping rolls and watched Merlin sit up against a tree to keep watch. Gwaine's eyes were just starting to close when he heard Arthur say, "Go to sleep Merlin. I'll keep watch."

Immediately all the knights sat up. "But sire," Elyan said, "you need your strength, and for that you need sleep."

Leon agreed. "Arthur, you are the king. You do not need to keep watch. We can do that job."

"Well, he wasn't listening to you though, was he?" Arthur said.

"Yeah, and I'm not going to listen to you either." stated Merlin.

Sir Leon had long since gotten over the fact that Merlin was allowed to talk to the king any way he wanted, but occasionally comments like that still made him cringe. If Uther had heard that, man, all hell would have broken loose. But Arthur just looked down at Merlin and said, seemingly unfazed by that harsh comment, "I'm the King and I order you to sleep."

"Since when have I listened to your orders?" Merlin said, causing another slight cringe from Leon.

"Merlin, you look like you're at deaths door and the only reason I can think of for that is because you haven't been sleeping. I get that you're my servant and you need to serve me, but you don't need to kill yourself for me. Now get some sleep."

"But-"

"Now." The king said in his best 'If you don't do what I say you will find your head on a stick' tone of voice.

Apparently he got the message across because Merlin scurried away from the tree and went to lie on the ground.

When Merlin's breathing steadied, signaling that he was asleep, Gwaine whispered, "Thank you Arthur."

The king smiled. "It was nothing. Besides, I don't think I would be able to get any sleep tonight anyway."

At the knights questioning looks he said, "I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow. Camelot hasn't really been on great terms with Adoewen for as long as I've lived, and I'm not quite sure what they want to discuss."

The knights all exchanged worried glances. For the king to even say he was a bit nervous must mean that he was close to terrified.

That's when it happened.

It started with a slight movement coming from Merlin. Arthur and his knight looked over to see if the servant was still awake and if he was, to order him to sleep. But when nothing more happened, they turned away, wondering if they had really heard it at all. Then it happened again.

And again.

"Merlin?" Arthur said as he slowly approached the sleeping boy. His knights followed closely behind.

"Merlin?" Arthur said again, wondering if the manservant was awake.

Suddenly Merlin started crying and jerking around. It was now quite obvious that he was no longer awake. "Arthur!" Merlin yelled.

"What, Merlin? I'm right here." Arthur said, trying to reassure his manservant, but Merlin was dreaming and was not aware of what was going on in the real world.

"Arthur!" Merlin yelled again. "I'm sorry. Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." Tears were streaming down the boys face but Arthur still could not wake him. "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Arthur, please don't hurt me."

Arthur froze as all the knights turned to stare daggers at him, especially Gwaine. "Hurt-I wouldn't, I swear I wouldn't. I've never, I haven't." Arthur said over Merlin's constant pleas, the King's words coming in short gasps. The knights were now looking from Arthur to Merlin. Well, all except Gwaine who had gathered the boy up in his arms and was rocking him gently.

"Arthur, don't. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please don't hurt me."

"Is this why he never wanted to sleep in front of us?" Elyan said. "Did he know he would have nightmares?"

"He's probably had them before, thanks to yours truly over there." Gwaine said, throwing a hateful glare at Arthur.

"Please don't hurt me."

"I swear I haven't!" Arthur said and suddenly, he couldn't take it anymore. He shot to his feet and ran into the forest, getting as far away from his crying manservant and hateful knights as he could.

Eventually running out of breath, Arthur stopped and put his back against a tree. He slowly slid down to the bottom of the tree and sat with his head in his hands.

What the hell happened? Why would Merlin even consider the fact that I would want to hurt him? Haven't I made it quite clear that Merlin and I were friends? Even though I've never said it out loud, I thought I'd made it pretty obvious.

That's when it hit Arthur. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe he hadn't made it obvious at all. Maybe all that constant teasing and insults which Arthur meant no harm by, had really meant something to his manservant. Maybe all this time Merlin had secretly resented Arthur for everything he said.

But to consider the fact that he would actually hurt him? That was almost too much for Arthur to bear.

So there he sat, with his back against the tree, for what felt like hours. It could have been ten minutes, or it could have been 5 lifetimes for all Arthur knew, and he never, not once moved from the tree.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming up behind him, snapping him out of his trance. Probably one of his angry knights coming to yell at him.

"Look, I'm sorry." Arthur said, turning around. "I swear I never-" but stopped abruptly when he realized who he was talking to.

It was Merlin.

"Hi." Merlin said, sheepishly.

"Hi." Arthur said back. Ok, maybe not the most kingly thing to say at the moment, but this was kind of an awkward situation.

"Sooo" Merlin said, just adding to the awkward feel. "Could you please tell me why I woke up in Gwaine's arms? Is there something I should know?"

Arthur just shrugged, not exactly sure what to say.

"I mean, I fall asleep for what? Ten minutes? Honestly, what the hell did I miss?"

"Why did you come to find me? Why not just ask Sir Gwaine?" Arthur asked, not quite sure where this was going.

"I did, but he told me I should go find you. Any reason why he gave me that order in a voice that clearly stated he would like nothing more than for you to go die in a hole?"

"Not sure." Arthur said, looking down at his feet, making it obvious that he was totally sure. Wow, I am really not myself right now. What is happening to me?

Merlin obviously noticed the same thing, as he sat down right next to Arthur and looked him in the eye. At least he tried to, but considering Arthur wouldn't look at him, it really wasn't having the desired effect.

"Arthur, you can tell me anything you know."

That did it.

"So can you! You can tell me anything! Starting with why the hell you think that I would ever hurt you! Why?! I know I tease you and make fun of you, but I mean nothing by it! Why didn't you tell me something was wrong, that I was scaring you?! Am I the reason you're scared of everything? What have I done?! Please tell me Merlin."

His manservant looked startled (who wouldn't be?) for a few seconds, but then seemed to realize what exactly Arthur was talking about.

"I was talking in my sleep again, wasn't I? And you heard me, didn't you?" Merlin asked, his turn to look at the ground.

"Heard you? Of course I heard you! Everyone heard you! Now they all think I'm a complete monster!" Arthur yelled, now standing up.

"That's why I didn't want to sleep in front of everyone. I was better off taking watch." Merlin said softly.

"No, you needed sleep. Now will you tell me what happened? How did these dreams start? Why? You know I would never hurt you Merlin." Arthur said, now in a concerned tone of voice.

"No, I don't."

Now Arthur was really concerned. Inside, he had really believed that Merlin didn't actually think he was going to hurt him; it was just dreams that got out of hand. Obviously he was wrong, and though Arthur didn't want to admit it, that scared him a great deal.

Arthur knelt beside him. "Merlin, I promise you, I would never ever hurt you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Merlin, I-"

"Come on." Merlin said, standing up. "If we don't leave now, we'll never make it to Adoewen."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT BLOODY ADOEWEN! WHAT'S-"

"WELL YOU SHOULD!" Merlin yelled, very angry now. "THIS TREATY MEANS A LOT TO CAMELOT AND I WON'T HAVE IT FALL TO PIECES BECAUSE OF ME!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE TREATY RIGHT NOW!" Arthur yelled, and then visibly calmed himself down. He was going to get nowhere with Merlin handling things like this. "I just want to know what is bothering you. I can help. Whatever it is, it's probably not as bad as you think it is."

"You have no idea." Merlin's voice got dangerously low. Now he was not only angry, he was furious. Arthur also thought he saw a glint of tears in his eyes. "You have no idea of the things I've seen and what I've done. NO IDEA!"

"But I will have an idea if you just tell me."

"I can't tell you."

"Yes you can-"

"NO I CAN'T!" Tears were now streaming down Merlin's face. "I can't tell you anything. I want to Arthur, I want to desperately, but I can't."

"Why?"

"I have a secret, I secret you can never know. If you ever found out, it could mean death, not just to me, but to everyone in Camelot. Including you."

Arthur couldn't imagine his usually happy servant burdened with such knowledge, or tortured by such actions. It now seemed as though every smile, every laugh, every carefree moment Merlin and him, or Merlin and anyone, had shared must have all been a lie, a clever façade to mask what was really going on inside. Suddenly Arthur was burdened with such guilt as he had never felt before. He had stood by as his servant went through, well whatever he went through, being none the wiser. Well, no more. Arthur was going to put a stop to this one way or the other.

"Merlin, you can tell me, and I promise that I will protect you from whomever or whatever will try to kill you."

Merlin laughed at that. A dry, low, unhopeful laugh.

"That's not possible, Arthur, because you'll be the one doing the killing."

It took a few seconds for those words to sink in, but when they did, Arthur had to hold on to a tree branch for support. "What would I kill you for?"

Merlin drew in a shaky breath and looked at Arthur quizzically, and then seemed to come to a decision. "You would kill me for something I can't help. Something I was born with. Something I have to live with everyday. Something that requires me to live in fear everyday I'm in Camelot. Something that would take my head from my body with just one word."

Arthur's eyes widened. "You're not…"

Before Merlin could even open his mouth, a flash of purple through the trees caught both of their eyes. It was a cloak with the crest of Adoewen embellished on the back. And attached to the cloak was a knight. A very big knight, with a crossbow and a murderous look in his eye.

"Hello sire." he said, coming out of the trees and smiling. "The treaty between Camelot and Adoewen has been, how shall I say it…revoked. We've decided we'll just take Camelot without a stupid treaty, starting with the death of the king."

And with that, he let the arrow fly, right at Arthur's heart. But it never made it.

Arthur turned just in time to see Merlin's eyes flash gold and stop the arrow in midair, making it fall to the ground.

"Do you have anything else to say to the King of Camelot?" Merlin said, looking at the knight murderously.

"As a matter of fact, I do." the knight said, looking right back at Merlin.

And without a moment's hesitation, the knight turned towards Merlin and shot an arrow at him, faster than Arthur would have thought possible. So fast, no one could possibly have been ready for it. No one except Merlin.

Just before the arrow pierced his body, Merlin's eyes flashed gold and he caught the arrow midair.

Merlin looked down at the arrow in his hand; hovering mere millimeters from his body, then looked at the knight.

"You should not have done that."

A/N: So how was it? This was written as a oneshot but if enough people want to me to continue it, I would be more than happy to. I have a thing for magic reveals and powerful 'everyone run and hide' Merlin. So if it's not too much to ask, can you please leave me a review to tell me how I did, what was wrong and right, and whether or not you think Merlin should have a spin-off series (I know that one was random you don't really have to answer it but wouldn't that be awesome?!). Thanks a bunches! Still testing that phrase out, not sure if I like it.

To my Emrys Revealed readers (and if your not one, you should totally go and read it, it would mean the world): I'm sorry I haven't updated but something went wacky with my computer and it's not saving and I lost the document with my ideas so now if anyone has any suggestions that would be very helpful because I have serious writers block.