I don't own Merlin

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Merlin was late again. It couldn't help wasn't like he planned it – he did try to be on time, honestly he did. But for some reason no matter how hard he tried he always seemed to be late. Jumping down the few steps to his room Merlin grabbed his jacket and rushed to the door, ignoring the raised eyebrow that Gaius was aiming in his direction.

Rushing through the castle, Merlin attempted to come up with a good excuse for his lateness yesterday he had said he was doing an errand for Gaius, the day before that he had said that the kitchens were late in preparing the prince's breakfast and before that he had said he had run into Gwen, and at the mention of her name Arthur had completely forgotten about his lateness. As he sprinted to the kitchens Merlin ran through all the possible excuses he could use, and it was because of this that he ran straight into another servant.

The girl stumbled backwards, dropping the bundle of clothes that she was carrying. As she quickly bent down to grab everything that she had dropped, Merlin went to help her. The girl must be new thought Merlin. He was pretty sure that he knew every servant in the castle but he was also sure he had not seen this girl before. Merlin immediately felt guilty; the girl was probably nervous enough starting work here without him making things more difficult.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you, that was all my fault' Merlin smiled at the new girl. 'I'm Merlin, are you new?'

For the first time the girl met Merlin's eyes. She was pretty, with dark brown hair that was tied back from her face. 'I'm Catherine' she said, and as she stood up she gently placed her hand on Merlin's arm – as if in a sign of forgiveness. Then she turned and walked away, leaving Merlin standing in the hallway.

Merlin stood still for another minute, he felt strange and he didn't know why. Catherine had been perfectly nice, but he had a horrible comfortable feeling as if something bad was about to happen. Merlin was still standing in the same spot a few minutes later when the prince himself stalked around the corner.

'MERLIN!' Arthur yelled, as he spotted his manservant standing idly in the middle of the castle hallway. He was in fact on his way to find him, but he had not expected to find him just standing; not even attempting to turn up on time. Arthur frowned slightly at Merlin's lack of response, and walked straight up to his servant, not stopping till he was directly in front of him. Still Merlin did not acknowledge him. 'Merlin, I knew you were incompetent, but this is a whole new level of uselessness' Arthur announced. At the sudden sound of the prince's voice directly in front of him Merlin jumped, and snapped to reality from his thoughts.

'What?' Merlin asked in confusion, then as if seeing the prince for the first time, Merlin jumped. 'Sire! I was just...' Merlin trailed off, how long had been standing there?

'Standing in the hallway?' Arthur finished for him. 'And I'm sure you have a perfectly good excuse as well...' Arthur leant back on his heels and crossed his arms in an authorative manner, giving Merlin his best disapproving stare.

'uh...em...I was...' Merlin stammered, but his mind was still not working properly, and he couldn't formulate an excuse fast enough. Arthur sighed, this was getting ridiculous.

'Never mind. I'm going to train the knights, someone from the kitchens already brought me my breakfast. I need you to get my armour' And with that he turned and stormed away. Stunned at being let off so easily Merlin stumbled after him, following the prince back to his chambers. By the time they had arrived Merlin had almost completely shaken off the strange feeling. He was just reaching for Arthur's armour when suddenly he heard a voice in the room.

'Emrys? I need you to talk to me.'

Merlin jumped, looking around. What the hell did that mean? And where the hell had it come from? Arthur noticed Merlin jump, and the fact that his manservant's eyes were darting around the room in a suspicious manner did not escape his notice. 'Merlin, are you ok? You're even more useless than normal!' Arthur exclaimed, but he was actually worried; Merlin was acting very strange.

Merlin heard Arthur speak, but he sounded far away. He was just about to reply when he heard the voice again.

'Emrys, you know I can't help you unless you try. Now I need you to focus on reality, focus on my voice'

Merlin looked around, meeting Arthur's eyes. The prince looked concerned, but he was so far away, so very far away. And since when was Arthur's room painted white? Merlin felt dizzy as his vision began to swim.

He was sitting in the corner of a small white room. In front of him sat a man, his hair line was receding and he wore glasses. He was sitting with a paper resting against a small table, his hand posed to write something down. As he looked directly at Merlin he spoke again.

'That's right, well done Emrys. Leave your delusions behind, come back to reality. I'm Dr Fara and your parents have asked me to help you, but I need you to work with me. Do you think you can do that?'