This is set between series 3 and 4 of Merlin and mid-series 6 of Doctor Who. I am going to have to bend history occasionally though considering some of the stuff they do on Merlin my alterations will be fairly minor. Also I am completely ignoring Battlefield (1989) on the Doctor who end for obvious reasons. I hope you like it. Please review!
"I told you this was going to end badly."
"Shut up Merlin," Arthur ordered. He tightened his grip on the sword. He didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but Merlin was right. Why couldn't a hunting trip ever just end well? "Merlin, stay behind me!" he shouted as the bandits rushed them.
He dispatched two of the attackers in crashes of metal, but there were still dozens more left. He had never seen a group this large outside of Camelot before. He quickly turned his head and was surprised to see three bandits on the ground before Merlin.
Merlin turned halfway to look at him and his eyes widened several degrees. "Arthur, look out!"
Arthur never got a chance to heed the warning because he felt something very heavy hit his head and heard a loud crack.
…
When Arthur awoke he was in a very white room with Merlin's face directly above him.
"Oh thank goodness you are finally awake," Merlin said with a smile.
Arthur groaned, "What happened?"
"One of the bandits clubbed you over the head and then…" Merlin's smile faded and he got a weird look on his face.
"What is the matter Merlin?" The man looked as though he wanted to answer, but wasn't quite sure how to explain.
With another groan Arthur pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around the room. Everything was shiningly clean and generally very white. There were things all around him that he couldn't hope to identify made out of materials he had never seen before. The bed underneath his was very soft and had strange rails along the sides. There were strange tubes attached to his arm by some strange means and, scared of what they might be, he went to pull them out.
Merlin laid his hand across where the tubes were attached to Arthur's arm to prevent him from yanking them out.
Arthur looked at Merlin in surprise. The man seemed incredibly sad. "You should really leave those in," he said gently.
Arthur was panicking, but he tried to fight down his fear. "Am I dead?"
Merlin looked him in the eyes and seemed to consider what to say for a moment. "No, but you should be," he finally replied.
"What do you mean 'I should be,'" Arthur asked, still panicking.
Merlin didn't answer him. He stood up and walked around Arthur's bed towards the door. "Since you are finally awake I will go speak to Dr. Jones. Hopefully she will give you clearance to leave so that we can work on a way to get home." Merlin smiled sadly to himself as though he thought getting home was just wishful thinking. It scared Arthur more than he wanted to admit but through his fear, he noticed something about Merlin's words.
"Finally awake? How long was I unconscious for?"
Merlin smiled sadly again. "Three weeks." Arthur's jaw dropped. "Don't move and leave the tubes in," Merlin commanded before he walked out the door.
Arthur lay back down and tried to process what was going on. Merlin had somehow gotten them safely away from the bandits, he had been unconscious for three weeks, and he was in a room the likes of which he had never seen before. Merlin was also hiding something from him, but that was nothing new, it was just irritating.
Merlin reentered the room followed closely by a young woman in an impossibly white coat. "It is good to see that you are finally awake," the woman said with a smile. "Merlin and I were very worried about you."
Arthur made no response. He was far too confused to. The woman, Dr. Jones he assumed, walked over to his side and pulled a small metal rod out of one of her pockets. She held the rod so that it was pointed at his face and suddenly an incredibly bright light came out of the end of it. She shined the light into both his eyes and then the light disappeared. "You look just fine," she said, returning the rod to her pocket. "I will fill out the paperwork to have you discharged."
"Sorcery!" It was all Arthur could think to say.
Dr. Jones and Merlin shared a long glance before looking back at him. "Not sorcery, Arthur. It's science." Arthur frowned, he didn't understand. Dr. Jones sighed. "I had best let Merlin explain." She turned and walked to the door, but just before she left she turned back. "Good luck Merlin. You know where to find me if you need me."
"Thank you for everything, Martha," he said in return, smiling.
She nodded and left the room. Merlin turned back to meet Arthur's gaze.
"Explain," Arthur demanded.
"It's difficult to explain, and I doubt you will understand in any case."
"Try."
Merlin sighed and sat back down in the chair next to Arthur. "Fine, I'll explain, but that doesn't mean that you will understand."
