Author's Note: Hello! This is a new Merlin story I've decided to work on. I wanted to challenge myself with it a bit so I'm working with Merlin being autistic (something I know bits and pieces about as I'm high on the autistic spectrum and I know lots of other autistic people, and as it is (albeit the end) of autism awareness month it seemed like a fun thing to try). As a disclaimer in respect to this: this is just one fictional presentation of autism, not all people with autism will act like the character created and visa versa. This is just one way of presenting some autistic characteristics. If you want to learn more about autism then the National Autistic Society website is a good place to learn more. Disclaimer finished :D Hope you enjoy it, I'll try to update regularly (and points to the people who are able to tell what I'm going on about in the first sentence :D).

"One, One, Two, Three, Five, Eight, Thirteen, Twenty-One, Thirty-Four, Fifty-Five, Eighty-Nine." Merlin repeated as he sat at the desk, his black hair particularly messy this morning. Everyone else was asleep, Merlin was never able to sleep through the sunrise. So he had gotten up and had started thinking, which normally led his back to this thought, "One, One, Two, Three, Five, Eight, Thirteen, Twenty-One, Thirty-Four, Fifty-Five, Eighty-Nine."

He was watching out of the window as the sun rose up above Ealdor. It was a small village with only six buildings: a fact Merlin did not like, he had contemplated knocking one down to make it a better number, but his mother disapproved of this so his brother and him decided to make a model with two extra houses that was currently on the desk beside him. They didn't really have the supplies to make two more houses, so Merlin was content with this - though he would rather knock one of them down.

A squirrel ran across the road, it's red fur wet from dew. It was chasing something around, darting near fence posts and between crops, but Merlin couldn't see what it was. He took a breath in and then his eyes glowed yellow, he felt his vision shift from where he could see to where the squirrel was going. He followed it for a while, and then noticed that there was another squirrel appearing infront of it.

The two squirrels chased each other for a moment, and then went over to investigate a body that was lying in the middle of the road.

"Mum!" Merlin called, he could hear his mother groaning slightly as she woke up, "What is it Merlin?" "There's an unconscious...man on the road just outside of the village."

She jumped out of bed upon hearing this, "Is he alright?"

"Well. He's unconscious." Merlin commented, she glared at him. He knew that she didn't like it when he stated the obvious, but he didn't like it when she asked obvious questions so they were both in the wrong, "He looked dehydrated. Didn't seem to have any other injuries apart from some squirrel teeth marks on his ear."

Hunith was quickly throwing on some clothes, "Merlin, you go to him. Mordred and I will come to you as soon as we can." At this point she looked over at the other bed and shouted over, "Mordred! Mordred get up! There's someone in trouble." At this point a boy, a bit younger than Merlin, sat up and started to get out of bed.

Merlin started to walk up the road. It was a bit cold out, so Merlin was a bit irritated that he hadn't brought his jacket with him, but he was sure that he'd be ok for a few minutes. Perhaps hauling the body would help to warm him up. He walked quickly to where the squirrels had been before and saw the man on the road. He could tell he was a man this time, while before he had seen the wavy blonde hair and wasn't totally sure.

He knelt down infront of his face, "Hello. Are you doing ok apart from being unconscious?" Merlin asked, not expecting an answer, but it was polite to say something before you picked someone up. The man was wearing a few bits of armour, so Merlin removed these before he tried to lift him, he looked like he would be heavy enough without all of that. He then took a step back and his eyes glowed orange again. The man started to levitate in the air infront of Merlin.

Merlin started to walk back to the house with the man floating infront of him. It was taking a reasonable amount of effort to hold him, but he knew that it was probably safer to do it this way then for him to try and lift him himself. He was famous in the village for being able to trip over his own feet, even without anything else to focus on other than walking.

As they came towards the house, his mother and his, quite tired looking, brother were coming towards them. His brother's eyes glowed and then Merlin felt a bit of relief as he helped to bring the man inside. They went into the house and placed him down on the bed. His mother quickly started to examine him, "You were right Merlin, other than being unconscious and dehydrated, he seems to be fine. We just need to get some fluids into him and let him rest for a bit. Mordred, can you get me some fresh water from the well?" Mordred nodded and then picked up a bucket and walked out the door, "Merlin, can you keep an eye on him and try and get him to drink? I need to go and let everyone else know what has happened."

"Yeah, sure." Merlin replied, he then pulled his stool from the desk over and placed it next to the bed. His mother left, leaving Merlin with the man who lay very still on the bed. Merlin traced his eyes over him. He looked well built and quite strong, so him falling unconscious meant that he was probably running from somewhere. The armour he had before was good quality, something that a knight might have, but if he was a knight then he was quite unfortunate.

"Maybe he's come from Camelot?" Merlin thought, as the man infront of him let out a small groan and tossed his head from side to side. Camelot. The kingdom that had now fallen. Everyone knew what had happened by now. Everyone had heard the story of the Magic King, a man with tremendous power who came at the end of the old King Uther's great purge to bring vengeance against him. He had come and taken Camelot apart, breaking down the walls in minutes and had taken Uther's life seconds later.

The tales were grim. The Magic King has since been gathered up people without magic and killing them, seeking to rid the plague that had spread around people, the plague of not being able to use magic. He claimed that only those who can use magic deserve to live and only through them will a better future be formed.

Merlin didn't like him. Well, he hadn't met the man, but from what he was saying it meant that everyone in Ealdor apart from Merlin and Mordred should be killed. He liked everyone in Ealdor, therefore he did not like the Magic King who was threatening them.

So far they had managed to evade him, through being a very small village in a very remote part on the outskirts of the kingdom, but they knew that they would come eventually. They knew, yet they decided to stay. Part of this was because of the M brothers, Merlin and Mordred, who they all knew now had powerful magic that could protect them, but also it was because they doubted that there was anywhere safer. If the Magic King could take down Camelot so easily, then they didn't stand a chance. The best they could do is to stay hidden, and Ealdor is pretty well hidden.

Mordred returned with the water and passed the bucket to him, "Thank you." Merlin replied, and Mordred smiled. Mordred didn't talk, something that Merlin liked. It made it nice and quiet when the two were together. Mordred was able to communicate effectively though. He had all of the usual methods of body language, gestures, that sort of stuff, but he could also use magic. He would often send images into Merlin's head that they would look at. Occasionally he would speak words into his head, but Merlin didn't like that as it sounded weird, so they tried to just send images.

Merlin put a cup in the water and then used magic to hold the man up. He then put the cup to his lips and started to pore it gently, which put a little bit of water into his mouth and a little bit on the bed sheets. He then gave him some time to swallow, and tried again repeating this a few times until the cup was empty. He then lowered him down and allowed him to rest for a bit. He then had an image pop into his head of him waking up with the words "soon" written on it, and Merlin nodded.

The two sat there for a while. Mordred started to read a book that the two had read hundreds of times before, while Merlin hit his fingers against each other while watching the man. Eventually their mother returned with other people from the village who were checking on the boy. Occasionally they would bring food as a way of showing support, which Merlin was glad about - he was often the one cooking food every day.

At the early afternoon (the sun was a little further west then it was east) the boy started to open his eyes. Mordred had popped out to walk, while Merlin stayed to keep an eye on him. The deep blue eyes looked up at Merlin and he slowly started to smile slightly, "I made it out then." He muttered.

"Hello." Merlin said, smiling and looking at his eyes for a second before looking away, "You're in Ealdor, on the Camelot border."

"Ah, Ealdor. Yes, I know the place. I've come here once while on a hunting trip to get provisions. It's a nice village." The man replied, slowly pushing himself up so he was sitting on the bed looking over at Merlin, "My name is Arthur."

"Arthur..." Merlin mulled for a second, then there was silence for a minute, "Wait. Arthur. Does that mean you're Arthur Pen-"

"Yes. But don't say it, you don't know who might be nearby." Arthur interrupted quickly.

"You don't have to worry. No one in Ealdor is aligned with the Magic King. Only two of us have magic, my brother and I, and we would never side with him." Arthur seemed to look a bit frightening, so Merlin tried to reassure him some more, "Our mother doesn't have magic, so he would try to kill her if he could, which we would never allow."

"Right. Ok." Arthur replied slowly. He seemed to be scanning the area. Maybe he was looking for his possessions?

"I had to leave your armour earlier, you would have been a bit heavy otherwise. I think another member of the village has got it."

"Are you calling me heavy?" Arthur smirked, causing Merlin to smile.

"You were a bit heavy." Merlin stated, "You should probably try to lose some weight, it may be bad for your health."

Arthur laughed, though it didn't sound like a happy laugh, "Yeah, well there are some things happening at the moment that are a bit worse for my health than my diet plans." Merlin laughed, causing Arthur to raise his eyebrows. Merlin then realised that it was probably not meant to be a joke, "So you have a brother and a mother?"

"Yes. They are out at the moment, but should be back soon."

"Good." Arthur nodded, "So...are you going to tell me your name at any time soon?"

"Oh!" Merlin replied, realising what the silence earlier was probably for, "Sorry, I'm Merlin."

"Ok, Merlin. Thank you for taking me in." He then held out his hand. Merlin didn't like the idea of this, but took his hand and shook it quickly. Arthur was smiling, "Do you have anything that I can eat? I'm starving."

"Sure, but it might be good for your weight if you don't." Merlin replied as he stood up and headed to the kitchen, he then felt a pillow hit him in the back of his head. He turned to see Arthur grinning, "Sorry! I thought that that may help with your idiocy problem, because you're obviously an idiot if you think I need to diet."

"Fine, whatever you say." Merlin muttered as he headed over to the various dishes of food that had been delivered. He prepared the food and gave it to Arthur who engulfed it and quickly asked for more, which Merlin advised that he should probably be careful with to which Merlin got another pillow thrown at him, this time to his face.

After he had finished that bowlful, Arthur looked straight at Merlin, "Do you think I could stay here for a while Merlin? I don't have anywhere else I can go."

Merlin nodded and smiled, "I'm sure that is ok. We have to ask my Mum, but she likes to have people around, so I'm sure it is ok."

"Thanks." Arthur smiled, "Just don't comment on my weight so much, ok?"