A/N: This is Neon Rose here, my account has stopped working so I've had to start a new one (hence the name), so if you had me on Author Alert on that account then you'd be better off adding it to this one as irritatingly I can't update anything on my old account.
Arthur grabbed Merlin by the back of his shirt with another hand pulling at his hip, Merlin was kicking and screaming about how wrong Uther was and screaming at the witchfinder about how he'd not get away with it. He pulled Merlin backwards out of the room, flashing his father an appropriate apologetic smile, the small nod permitted him to leave. Merlin fell into an angry silence as Arthur pushed him down the hallway with one of his arms wrenched up his back forcing the dark haired servant to move or else.
He felt the arm under his hand tense as they entered the dungeon and down the steps, the guards looked up and decided to keep quiet and out of the Prince's way. When Arthur released Merlin he tottered forward briefly but with speed that Arthur would have expected from a knight not his servant Merlin swung a fist in the direction of Arthur's face. Arthur grabbed said fist and spun Merlin with his own momentum and shoved that arm up his back so hard that Merlin's back arched out from the pain. Merlin's head hit Arthur's collarbone and a gasp that was part anger, part pain and part surprise slipped out from his lips.
"I'm not locking you up, you idiot." he hissed against his manservant's neck as he stared straight forward,
"I'm taking you to see him." He said as he released Merlin who again stumbled forward. Merlin stumbled forward again and turned to look at Arthur wide eyed like a lost foal, Arthur felt himself sting a little inside but he simply nodded to the cell at the end of the row.
There Gaius sat dishevelled, old and unwashed. He looked so small and old and tired in that cell, Arthur dreaded to think about what the witchfinder had been doing to him. He pulled the cell door open allowing Merlin in.
"Gaius!" Merlin all but sobbed as he threw himself against his guardian.
"Merlin, my boy." Gaius breathed as he wrapped his arms around Merlin, he cast a grateful look up at the prince who managed to wince out a smile, Gaius shouldn't be there. It was then with all of Merlin's avowals that he would do something that the truth about the bracelets came out, that it belonged to neither of them. Merlin was practically buzzing as he walked out of the jail, he was walking with clear and determined strides and Arthur had to fight himself to make him grab Merlin by the sleeve at the top of the stairs.
"Merlin," He whispered, his fingers wrapped in his servant's sleeve, Merlin stopped and looked down at Arthur who was a few steps lower.
"you can't do this. What if you fail? He will kill you Merlin, you see what he'll do with no evidence, let alone with actual attempts to frame him, which is what he'll say it is. You'll burn." Arthur said feeling pain well up inside him at the idea.
"I have to," Merlin insisted, "if I fail then Gaius will be dead already, so he won't miss me. I can't just do nothing." He finished as he pulled himself away from the prince and ran off to go set Gaius free.
Arthur, alone now, felt himself sag. I would miss you, you fool.
That night Merlin slipped into Arthur's room, Arthur had just been about to blow the candle out and roll over to sleep when the door clicked shut behind Merlin. He glanced up at his servant and smiled, it was a smile of relief.
"Is Gaius okay?" He asked, Merlin nodded mutely still leaning against the wooden door.
"Good." Arthur smiled relieved,
"You did great today Merlin." He added meaning it, Merlin had been very brave. Stupid as well one might argue but brave nonetheless. Merlin winced visibly at that.
"Someone still died today though." Merlin said at last, his voice barely above a whisper.
"He deserved it, he was a murderer." Arthur said coldly. Merlin shook his head at that and opened and closed his mouth a few times as if to speak but could come out with nothing.
"It's not like it was your fault Merlin, he fell." Arthur said soothingly as he reached out for Merlin, his manservant stepped closer to Arthur, apparently unconsciously. The skinny dark haired boy wrapped his arms around himself and shook his head.
"He'll be fine." Merlin said out loud, Arthur wasn't sure if it was for him or for Merlin's own benefit.
"A few good meals and lots of sleep and he'll be okay." He added.
"Good." Arthur nodded quietly.
"Uther," Merlin practically spat, his fists balling up suddenly by his sides, "came by to apologise to Gaius. Said about how he needed to be vigilant against magic and how Gaius was an old friend and he should have trusted him."
Arthur bit his lip and remained silent, so this was why Merlin had come.
"As if sorry just makes what he did better! He's a monster!" Merlin hissed, his voice rising.
"Shh!" Arthur said pulling Merlin down onto the bed, "Be quiet! You don't know who could be listening. Do you know what'd happen if my father ever heard you say that?"
"He'd probably kill me like he does everyone else!" Merlin said venomously. Arthur said nothing to that, Merlin's breath rose and fell raggedly, he was still clearly furious.
"How can he even call himself Gaius' friend and do that?" Merlin said disbelievingly.
"I don't know. My father…" Arthur tried, but there were no words to describe what his father had done. Instead he just gave a tired shrug.
"A friend wouldn't…" Merlin said, his voice almost a whimper. Arthur put a hand on Merlin's back and hoped it'd comfort him somehow. Merlin sat quietly on the edge of Arthur's bed for a while with the Prince's hand between his shoulder blades, then in an oddly detached voice he asked:
"If it'd been us, if I was in Gaius' position and you were King…" He asked quietly.
"Never." Arthur insisted emphatically, Merlin's back relaxed slightly at this.
"As you said, a friend never would do that. And you're my friend Merlin." Arthur hushed his servant as he pulled him close.
"Besides, I trust you. I know you'd never use magic in the first place, so-" Arthur started but was cut off by a sudden sob from Merlin. The boy slumped forwards with his hands over his face and sobbed, his shoulders shaking violently.
"Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed pulling the teen close to him. It must just have all got too much, he reasoned, he'd been desperately trying to save Gaius all day and not slept, then when Gaius was free he had to be strong for him, finally when he was just here with him he must have just cracked. It was strange how things like that could weigh on you forever and then suddenly snap you.
Merlin twisted in his arms and threw himself against Arthur, his face buried in Arthur's bare chest. The prince lay back with his sobbing servant in his arms and felt hot tears run across his skin as Merlin cried and cried. Eventually the tears stopped and Merlin's back stopped shuddering with each ragged breath, Arthur continued to stroke his friend's back though and hush him every so often.
"Perhaps," he said quietly before sniffing loudly, "Uther really does think he's Gaius' friend, even if he isn't at all."
Arthur didn't know what to say to that so simply rubbed Merlin's back again, but Merlin pushed himself up on his elbows and looked Arthur right in the eye.
"And maybe Gaius doesn't want to be Uther's friend because he knows that one day he's not going to be so lucky, but maybe he can't help it because that's not the kind of thing you can take back." Merlin insisted as he studied Arthur's eyes.
"Gaius is a good man, my father knows that." Arthur replied for lack of anything else to say.
"It's not enough though." Merlin said quietly. He let his head fall forward onto Arthur's shoulder again and hiccupped.
"You're right, Gaius is right… one of these days I'm not going to be so lucky and I'll lose my head too." Merlin murmured against the prince's skin.
"No!" Arthur snapped jerking Merlin up, "I would never let that happen, I would never let anyone hurt you. And I would never hurt you either." He insisted again.
"Uther probably said that too." Merlin mumbled. Arthur felt his blood run cold.
"I promise you, I promise on anything you'd care to name. My life, my soul, my mother's grave, anything. I would never." He hissed gripping Merlin's shoulder's tightly.
"No matter what? No matter what everyone else said? No matter what you found out? No matter what I did or anything about me?" Merlin pressed him.
"Never." Arthur repeated.
"But… what if it had been me instead of Gaius that was locked up. And what if he'd been right?" Merlin asked so quietly that Arthur wasn't even sure he'd heard him.
"Please Merlin, I think I know you a little better than that." Arthur chuckled mussing his friend's hair. He paused as a light seemed to dim in Merlin's eyes.
"Merlin?" He asked reaching for his friend who was already pulling away and getting off of Arthur's bed.
"I need to get back… you know, Gaius." Merlin mumbled straightening up with his back to Arthur.
"Merlin." Arthur said more sternly as he grabbed the back of the raven haired boy's shirt.
"Sorry about… this, Arthur," Merlin said gesturing to the bed and the still damp patch on Arthur's shoulder, "it won't happen again. Sire." Merlin said backing away with a tight-lipped smile.
"Merlin?" Arthur called ineffectually as the door clicked shut behind him leaving Arthur alone on the rumpled bed sheets. Arthur leant back against the headboard of his bed and rubbed his damp shoulder and felt a loss of something that he couldn't name and wasn't quite aware of.