A/N: Thanks to mew (mew-tsubaki) for betareading!
Chapter 1
Merlin grabbed a piece of bread and took a bite while buttoning his shirt. He couldn't understand where time had gone, but suddenly he had only five minutes until Arthur would be yelling for his breakfast.
"Merlin, what's the rush?" Gaius asked as he looked up from his book.
Merlin swallowed before answering. "I have to get down to the laundry room as well before going up to Arthur."
"Oh, I see."
Merlin finally managed to get the last button right and poured himself a glass of water. "That's right, Gaius, did you seen Gwaine yesterday?"
Gaius lifted his head again and peered at Merlin from above his glasses. "No, why?"
"Just wondering. He seemed to be so distant last we talked." It had been two days ago, and Merlin was afraid it had something to do with Gwaine's newly won status as a knight. It had been almost three weeks since they had recaptured Camelot and slowly things were starting to return to normal. Or, as normal as it could be, with Uther bedridden and so traumatized of Morgana's betrayal he refused to speak, the new knights trying to find their place in Camelot's court, and the reparation of all the damage the fight had caused to the town.
But, all in all, things were heading in the right direction. So, that's why Merlin dearly hoped Gwaine wasn't having second thoughts about staying in Camelot, not now, when it finally looked as though they had gotten rid of all the problems.
Of course, Morgana and Morgause still were somewhere out there, and of course Merlin still had to hide his magic, but at least there wasn't a traitor within their court.
Gaius nodded as he returned to his book. "Well, you could always talk to him."
"I will," Merlin answered as he opened the door. "See you later!"
"Yes, Merlin. Have a nice day."
Merlin hurried down the stairs and entered the big, steamy laundry room that was in the basement of the castle.
"There you are!" A rather plump, red-faced woman approached Merlin with a pile of clothes. "I thought you said you'd be here earlier."
"Oh, sorry, I got a bit caught up," Merlin said to her as she dumped the heap into his arms. It was so heavy he almost wobbled a bit—he had no idea clothes could weigh this much. All right, there were a lot of clothes, so maybe he shouldn't be surprised.
He began ascending the stairs after thanking the woman, who quickly disappeared back into the mist-filled room after a firm pat on his shoulder.
When he passed Uther's room he suddenly halted—were those steps he could hear? It had to be, but was it even possible Uther had gotten better this quickly? Yesterday Merlin knew he hadn't even said a word, not even to Arthur, so could it really be him walking around in there? Merlin leaned close to the door, to try and hear what was going on in there. But there were no voices to be heard, only heavy footsteps. It had to be Uther pacing around in his room, Merlin concluded before giving up and leaving.
Finally Merlin reached Arthur's door. After taking some deep breathes as he had run out of these by carrying his load all the way up five stairs, he opened the door - as quiet as possible since he didn't know whether Arthur would be up yet.
"Hi, Merlin." Merlin turned around since he had used his foot and elbow to open the door and saw Arthur, fully dressed and sitting by his window.
"Oh, er… Hi. I'm so sorry I'm late," Merlin stumbled over his words as he hurried over to the wardrobe and began hanging up the clothes. "I just got caught up, and then I…had to talk to Gaius, and, er…well, you'll have your breakfast in a moment!" He turned over and gave Arthur a wide smile, to show him that he was a bit sorry but would make it up to Arthur.
Arthur didn't look at him.
"Arthur?" Merlin slowly approached, but Arthur kept staring out the window, apparently deep in thought. "What?"
Now, though, Arthur turned around. "What do you mean, what?"
"What is it?" Merlin tilted his head a bit, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips thanks to Arthur's bewilderment.
"Nothing," Arthur answered, as if Merlin was completely stupid.
"All right, it's nothing that makes you ignore I haven't finished your breakfast, it's nothing that makes you gaze out that window and not question my explanations as to why I'm late; sure, it's nothing."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Merlin, are you a complete fool? Shouldn't you be happy that I don't care about that?"
"I am, but I'm also curious as to why you aren't yelling at me," Merlin answered casually as he began putting Arthur's breakfast on the table.
"Well, I thought it would be nice for a change," Arthur said and nudged Merlin with his elbow as he passed him and sat down by the table. But there was something that wasn't right here; Merlin was certain of it, but he didn't want to nag, so he changed the topic.
"I heard steps from Uther's chamber?"
"Oh, yes." Arthur grabbed a mug and took a sip. "Yesterday evening he suddenly got up, and it seems as though he has regained full power. At least it sounded so; he said he had so much to do, and he couldn't wait until today to get them all going."
"Plans? Like what?" Merlin asked, trying to sound nonchalant not to show the nervousness he could feel spreading in him.
"How to find Morgana and Morgause. You have no idea how angry he was yesterday, with everything."
"Like?"
"First of all Morgana, but Morgause for corrupting her, magic, and…me." Arthur looked down at the table for a second.
Merlin felt a jolt in his stomach when he heard Arthur saying magic; he had hoped that things would perhaps be different now. Or, really, he had known there wouldn't be a change, but he couldn't help that he had wished for it. Now, though, there were more important things. "Why would he be angry with you?" Merlin asked. Arthur really seemed upset over this, so Merlin figured that was why Arthur had been acting so odd all morning.
"What do you think?" Arthur answered with a crooked smile. "Because I dubbed Gwaine, Lance, Elyan, and Percival. Of course Father now accuses me of being foolish, since none of them are noble." Arthur sighed before continuing. "But what else should I've done?"
Merlin gave Arthur a sad smile. "I think you did the right thing, there was no other choice."
"Yes, but that doesn't matter, does it? Father will still be angry with me—and with the knights."
Merlin narrowed his eyes. "Why is he angry with them?" It really didn't make sense, they hadn't done anything wrong.
"I don't know, but he's sent Gwaine away, I think—"
"He has what?" Merlin interrupted.
Arthur nodded. "I guess it's because he was banished, but now that I had made him a knight he couldn't refuse him from staying in Camelot. So instead he sent him on a mission."
"Seriously? Where?" Merlin realized this was the reason to why Gwaine had acted so oddly yesterday; he must have talked to Uther just before and received his orders.
Arthur gave Merlin a wary look. "To find Morgana and Morgause."
"No way. That is—that is just too dangerous."
"I know, I tried telling Father this, but he wouldn't listen. And it only made him angrier with me." Arthur looked down once again, fingering a spot on his spoon but not eating.
Merlin returned to the clothes he hadn't hanged up before and continued with his work. He was deep in thought; all he had found out in about five minutes made him regret getting out of bed in the morning. He should have stayed there forever, so he could have been unknowing of all Uther had accomplished in only one night.
Suddenly Arthur arose from the table and walked back to the window. Merlin frowned. There was something else that was wrong, he was certain of it.
"Er…" he began, not having a clue of what to say. He just wanted to fill out the silence, so he blurted out the first he could think of. "Have you spoken to Gwen recently?" He grinned and turned around to face Arthur.
Arthur looked straight at him. What on earth was going on? Merlin felt really confused and his smile disappeared quickly—Arthur's look was too stern to be able to keep it. But he hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Just the other day everything had been as usual between Gwen and Arthur, awkward and sweet.
"No." Arthur finally said. "But I have seen her."
"All right…?" Merlin said a bit suspiciously.
"Yes." Arthur looked down and folded his arms, as if he tried to brace himself. "I saw her kissing Lancelot, Merlin."
