This is my kinda personal take on the short scene we saw in The WitchFinder where Merlin is left with this compeltly trashed room, no major story changes. Although soome added bromance :)
Broken. Everything was falling apart in the room, mirroring Merlin's exact emotions at the time. The equipment: test tubes, bottles, vials and relics- smashed to pieces. The shards littered the floor, displaying vast amounts of colours; all spectrums of the rainbow, but to Merlin they all looked grey. There was nothing mesmerising about the way they caught in the light. Walking over to the table, he heard the crunch of glass under his feet and felt his eyes watering. The sights he was seeing triggered all the emotions that had suddenly built up over this short time.
Reaching for a broken test tube and trying to keep it standing was Merlin's way of trying to understand this. He was mentally trying to place a bandage over a cut that would need stitches. Papers and books seemed to corner him in, and everywhere he looked was the consequence of one small act of magic he had performed. The smoke. The arrival. The interrogations. The accusations. Then the charge of Gaius. Every event had escalated so quickly, and Merlin didn't know how to handle it. He couldn't. This was it, all his fault, this mess, this ruined place that surrounded him was his doing. The one man who he had counted on time and time again, who had taken him in, treated him like a son- and Merlin had gone and betrayed him like this. Picking up the test tube now, Merlin screamed out in devastation. He smashed the test tube in his fist, feeling a small trickle of blood start to flow but, he didn't care. With a defeated sob, Merlin sunk to the ground. Weak attempts to gather the strewn papers were made, but to no avail as he soon ended up curled in on himself, willing the tears to go away and for time to be reversed.
Gaius was going to die at his doing. No- no, he wouldn't allow that. Thoughts now consumed with possible futures of a world with no Gaius, Merlin picked himself up and strode from the room. He glanced behind himself once, which only served to fuel his determination to go right to Adrian and give him what he deserved.
Arthur had been rapidly trying to get through as much paperwork as he could. This Gaius situation had not settled well with anyone, and Arthur knew his father had assigned him more work so that he wouldn't get involved as much. But this was Gaius they were talking about- a man that had raised Arthur and taught him so many values. Who, for a time being, was the only person on his side that Arthur had. There was no way someone as good as Gaius could be delving in the evil ways of magic. The door to Arthur's chambers had been propped open so that he could easily hear if there was any change to the current situation, however with his door open Arthur was able to see Merlin stride right past his room. Seeing the boy's hands tightening into fists, a pit of worry grew in Arthur. If Merlin wasn't coming down these corridors to attend to him, then where was he going?
Wasting no time, the young king ran from his room and followed the path of his manservant. He caught up to him just in time. Merlin had ben rounding the corner when he had bumped into the exact man he was looking for.
"You… You- you're a liar!" Merlin started to yell, and was about to punch Adrian in the face when a force came from behind him. It wrapped around his torso and pulled him away, leaving a shaken Adrian in his wake.
"HE'S A LIAR!" Merlin screamed to the person hauling him away. But there was no answer, and soon enough Merlin found himself being dragged back to the exact place he had just run away from.
"Merlin" Arthur's voice called out to him. As the young king closed the door to the physician's quarters, Merlin slumped down onto the floor.
"He- Arthur- he can't" Merlin whispered, broken. Arthur softened completely and sat beside his friend.
"I know Merlin. I don't believe what he says either."
"You don't?" Merlin asked, disbelievingly turning his head. His eyes were red and blotchy. At his question, Arthur shook his head. He took a second to look at their surroundings- seeing everything so scattered and ruined made the young king outraged. He was understanding now what had spurred Merlin on. Arthur's head jerked back towards Merlin on hearing ruffling sounds, and noticed him reaching across and trying to pick up papers that were- red? Or being stained red. That was when Arthur saw the blood coating Merlin's hand.
"Merlin!" He cried a little too loudly as his manservant flinched away from him "Sorry- just your hand… It's bleeding."
"Oh yeah… Must've been from the glass" Came the all too uncaring reply, from which the owner carried on trying to repair the broken parts he found.
"Merlin" Arthur addressed him much more softly this time "We need to bind that. Come on, let me have a look." With that, Arthur carefully pulled Merlin's arm towards him so he could inspect the damage. Merlin's hand displayed two jagged cuts that ran deep into the boys hand, still half-bleeding, half-infected. Arthur winced as Merlin hissed quietly, although the manservant didn't say anything.
"Stay there a minute. I'll get some bandages." Again, even as Arthur got up, Merlin didn't move. His eyes were lost in the ruined mess that was his home. Arthur cursed mentally, promising that Adrian would pay for this. Finding the bandages hadn't been the easiest thing; it had taken quite a lot of rummaging around for the soft, white material to show itself. But back he was by his manservant, who seemed to have come back from the dark place he had gone to.
"Arthur- you don't have too, I can-" He started to protest.
"No, Merlin, don't be such a girl." Arthur fondly replied, whilst cleaning and wrapping Merlin's hand.
"Thank you" Merlin breathed as he admired Arthur's handiwork "Not bad- for a prat."
Arthur chuckled, slightly relieved to hear Merlin's insults "Watch it. Talking like that is treason." Both boys smiled at this, but Merlin's smile faltered slightly when the word treason rung true to the recent events.
"Arthur" He addressed his King, completely serious "We need to stop him."
"And we will Merlin. I promise you we will." Arthur placed a reassuring hand on Merlin's shoulder, grounding them both for what the future could hold.