Title: When It Falls Apart
Category: BBC Merlin, (AU) Gen
Characters/Pairings: Merlin, Gwaine, Agravaine
Rating/Warnings: T
Summary: AU to 4x07. Agravaine succeeds at killing Gaius, and Merlin snaps.
For TheDragonRider, as part of the holiday wish exchange, on The Heart of Camelot.
MM
Gwaine paled as he rounded the corner, his eyes landing straight on the hunched form of Lord Agravaine. The flash of light glinting off a blade caught his attention, drawing his focus to find a small blade covered in blood, clutched tight within the lord's hand.
The knight froze where he was in the door way, finally spotting Gaius lying perfectly still on a stone slab behind the noble.
It wasn't a difficult conclusion to come to; what had happened, but rather one he wished he didn't have to reach. Unfreezing Gwaine stepped forwards, his strides quickly consuming the distance between himself and the pair in front of him.
Agravaine, hearing the sounds of Gwaine moving, turned abruptly. He spotted Gwaine, as the knight took his last few steps across the room.
"What have you done?" Gwaine demanded, though he hardly expected a truthful answer. Agravaine stuffed the knife away into the folds of his robes, seeming to harbour some hope that Gwaine hadn't spotted it yet.
"Nothing, I just found him this way." His tone of voice was arrogant, a challenge to Gwaine's accusation. Narrowing his eyes slightly at the lord's words, Gwaine took another step closer, and despite being ever so slightly smaller in height the knight's body language made him appear the bigger of the pair.
"I don't believe that for a second." Agravaine's eyes widened at the words, before he tried to back up, only for his back to come into contact with the slab, on which Gaius still lay, thus effectively halting his retreat. Gwaine met Agravaine's eyes in a hard stare, daring the lord to try and lie again.
Silence stretched on for several minutes, neither speaking, just staring trying to get the other to back down. Until the older noble cracked,
"Sir Gwai-" But whatever ever he intended to say to defend himself they would never know, as at the moment, Merlin arrived.
The servant was covered in iron ore, the brown dust clinging to the heavy fabric of his clothes, almost as if he had been rolling around on the floor. He wore a weary expression, with just a small hint of desperation, visible only if you knew where to look.
It was clear that Merlin did not initially spot his mentor, hidden as the old man was behind them. Ignoring Agravaine, Merlin turned his attention towards his friend, and ignoring everything else.
"Did you find him?" Merlin, asked hopefully, moving away from the entrance of the room.
"Merlin, mate…" The knight started weakly, not know how to break the news. It seemed however that he wouldn't have to as Merlin's eyes falling to Gaius's still form.
His eyes widened just a tiny fraction, before his eyebrows dropped and a confused expression crossed his face.
"Gaius?" His voice sounded small, "what? I don't understand… Gwaine?"
"I'm sorry, Merlin. He's dead." The knight was blunt, knowing that now what not the time for grief, and that they had more pressing things to deal with.
Merlin stumbled forwards a few steps, eye locked on Gaius.
While Gwaine watched his friend in indecision, Agravaine took his chance, to shuffle sideways the fabric of his clothes dragging and catching on the stone at his back.
He had nearly gotten around Gwaine, and away to escape from the room, when he kicked a stone on the floor. The resulting clatter even in from a stone as small as this one was, was amplified by as the sound echoed off of the walls of the cave.
Both other pairs of eyes in the room were on him in an instant. The thought of making a break for it briefly crossed Agravaine's mind before he felt the sharp, strong press of a sword being levelled with his back, effectively halting him.
Merlin's eyes narrowed, a dark shadow manifesting in the normally bright blue eyes. He straightened up to his full height, feeling his anger fuelling the flow of magic under his skin.
Gwaine was surprised at the amount of hatred on his friends face; any hate was a rare thing for Merlin to show, and this? Well it was like he was a different person. He wasn't given a chance to contemplate anything else, as at that moment Merlin did something which completely caught Gwaine off guard.
Gold sparked into the servant's shadowed eyes, the almost unearthly glow the seeming to light up the dark room.
Agravaine gasped, putting together the pieces within his mind and drawing the only conclusion that could possibly make sense.
"You!" Agravaine exclaimed, taking an involuntary step backwards and feeling Gwaine sword rip into his clothes a little. "You were right under our noses this whole time." The scorn in his words making Merlin flinch slightly at the jab at his secrecy.
Merlin didn't both with a verbal response, instead throwing both his hands up, and sending Agravaine crashing backwards with solid crack as the lord's body collided with the ground. Lowering his arms slowly, but keeping his eyes focused on the ground.
"Merlin?" Gwaine's question was wary, unsure of his friend's stability.
Merlin made no indication that he had heard the question, rather turning away from Gwaine, and towards Gaius. He crossed the over to his mentors side, hand gently closing the old man's still open eyes. He then dropped his hand, going still and silent.
"Gwaine," the word was so quiet, and he almost missed it.
"Yes?" He tried to make his reply strong.
"Do you hate me?" His voice was louder that it had been the first time he spoke, but he did not look up.
"'Course I don't mate." He stepped up so he was besides Merlin, sparing a quick look over for Agravaine's unmoving body before he continued. "Agravaine, he needed to be dealt with, if he hadn't been, who knows what trouble he would have caused."
Merlin nodded, shoulders tensing.
"And about the magic?"
"Mate, I could never hate you for having magic, and even that you hide it from me." Hearing his friends words, Merlin finally looked up. His face was a picture of misery, eyes red and tears tracks slowly craving their ways down his cheeks.
"Merlin, I could never hate you." Merlin nodded numbly. "We need to get Gaius out of here."
"Ok."