Title: The storm.
Summary: Merlin and the knights go on a fishing trip, an ill warlock tries to get through the days till he's back home but Morgana just has to ruin everything.
From: Merlin BBC (The Adventures Of Merlin.)
Merlin woke up from a long night of polishing Arthur's armor, the poor man groggily got dressed and made his way to Gaius's chambers to eat.
"Morning, Merlin…how are you?" Gaius asked his tired ward.
"Urgh… .Awful…" He groaned to the old man as he sat down, about to eat.
"Do you want me to give you something for that?" Gaius asked.
"No...No it's okay, it'll pass…." Merlin whispered, his hands slowly weaving through his hair.
He laid his head on the table.
"Uuuuurgh!" He loudly moaned.
"You might be ill…or someone's trying to make you ill…" Gaius sadly said.
Merlin sat up, silent.
Gaius walked over to Merlin and put his hand over Merlin's brows, making the warlock lightly moan with relief from the coolness of the touch, his eyes drooping closed.
The old man sighed.
"You're burning up…"
"Mmmmhmmmm…" Merlin weakly hummed.
"Eat Merlin….I will tell Arthur your-" Gaius said but stopped when Arthur suddenly burst into the room.
"Merlin! Were going on a boat to go fishing….we will come back in three days, you'll be serving us, by cooking the fish…we'll leave in an hour, don't worry about anything, were all sorted…" Then the king left before Gaius could make out a word.
"Don't worry Merlin…I'll give you some medicine and try to get lots of rest, here my dear boy, eat…" Gaius said, pushing the food closer to Merlin.
Gaius felt awful that Merlin had to accompany Arthur in this way.
"Merlin, I'm sorry, I wish I could help in anyway but you know how Arthur can be, just try to hang in there and you know Arthur will take you right back if anything happens to you, you know he'll save you…" Gaius said.
"Yeah well…I hope he'll save me soon…" Merlin mumbled as he packed, feeling too ill for food.
(break)
"HURRY UP MERLIN!" Arthur irritably yelled.
"Coming…." Merlin weakly called as he jumped on his horse.
On the way Gwaine could see that Merlin was struggling to sit up on the horse.
When they arrived on the beach Gwaine went up to Merlin.
"Hey mate you okay?" The knight asked.
Merlin sighed and jumped down, Gwaine just managed to catch him.
"No…I feel so sick…" Merlin mumbled to the knight as he tried to stand up.
"Sorry mate…I'll look after you, well…heh knowing the princess I'll try…" Gwaine said and gave the horses to a servant to look after, till they came back.
(break)
It was the second day adrift, Merlin threw up three times, Gwaine was there each time, rubbing his back saying everything was okay.
Merlin was truly touched.
At midnight Gwaine would sneak in and sit next to Merlin's bed, making sure that he had a cold, damp rag on his head through the night.
It was noon, the second day.
Merlin was cooking the fish that the knights caught from the ocean with sticks and rope with hooks on the end, and just to make it clear, it wasn't a boat, it was a damn SHIP!
Merlin was trying not to gag from the intense smell of the fish.
"Merlin…you okay?" Gwaine asked as he walked into the kitchen.
Merlin shook his head, nausea pooled in his stomach.
Arthur walked past but stopped, watching this moment.
"Here…" Gwaine said as he gave Merlin a bucket.
Merlin shook his head and let it fall to the floor.
"Merlin…I know you don't want to do it but you'll feel better soon enough…look, it's one more day, one more then Gaius will be treating you, safe in Camelot…" Gwaine urged his friend.
Merlin groaned and fell to his knees and threw up.
Gwaine sighed, feeling sorry for his friend and kneeled next to him, rubbing his back.
"It's okay, everything's okay, Merlin…" He said to his friend.
When Merlin finished he lifted his head.
"Wa…water…urgh!" He whispered.
Gwaine nodded and got out a jug of water and gave it to Merlin.
The warlock drank it and spat into the bucket until he was able to drink.
"Take the fish and cut it, will you?" Merlin asked Gwaine as he tried to control his breath, the knight nodded and did what Merlin asked of him.
Merlin shivered, he grabbed the bucket and irritably threw it out the ship.
"Thanks for helping me…you're a…a good friend, really thank you, Gwaine…" Merlin weakly thanked, giving the knight a small smile.
Gwaine grinned and when he was done with the fish he ran up to Merlin and hugged him.
Arthur smiled and walked away.
Merlin then looked at the food, giving the knight an irritable sigh he walked over to the food.
"I need to give this to them…sorry Gwaine…" Merlin pouted and walked past Gwaine.
"I'll see you tonight…" The knight said, smiling.
Merlin smiled back and walked out of the kitchen.
"Thank you!" He called.
(break)
Merlin came back with the dishes, it was the third night. They were going home.
Merlin sighed as he cleaned the dishes.
He suddenly felt dizzy, all too tired.
Without warning, Merlin fell to the ground, out cold.
Dishes fell before him, breaking around him.
A cruel laugh echoed in the kitchen, suddenly Morgana appeared.
"Stage one complete…"
She said and set the kitchen on fire.
"Stage two…goodbye Merlin…" the witch said and disappeared.
The fire spread, smoke flowed from the kitchen into the ocean air, the fire hungrily crackled as it devoured new wood.
Gwaine saw the smoke and alerted the knights.
They all immediately abandoned ship.
Gwaine was just about to do the same when he heard an unearthly sound.
It sounded like-
"MERLIN!" He cried, feeling utterly stupid that he almost forgot his only friend.
He ran to the kitchen, smoke as black as night itself engulfed the kitchen but that didn't stop the knight, he covered his mouth and ran in, the knight kept hearing Merlin's breath, it sounded wrong, he was struggling to breathe!
Finally Gwaine found Merlin and lifted the man into his arms and ran out of the kitchen, cutting through the thick veil of smoke, it gently flowed past him, following him a bit.
He got to the edge.
"Hold your breath, Merlin!" He cried and jumped in, not knowing that as soon as he hit the suddenly storming ocean he let go of Merlin and swam to the shore, far away, thinking he still hand Merlin in his arms, safe.
He fell to the sand, coughing from the smoke and water.
"Where's' Merlin!" Arthur cried.
Suddenly the ship cracked in half.
"No…" Arthur breathed, thinking Merlin burned alive, he ran into the water, the knights held him back.
"NO!" He screamed in rage.
"I got him out, I thought I had him!" Gwaine cried.
They gasped and looked into the storm, clouds, black clouds shunned the sunny day in an instant, the waves grew large, raging with every turn, lightning lit the darkened sky; the loud screech of thunder harshly penetrated the ocean air.
"We have to get him out!" Arthur cried; the knight and the king jumped into the monstrous ocean, immediately torn from one another from the current.
Gwaine swam deeper into the ocean, it was eerie, darkness surrounded him, no light, then suddenly lightning lit the ocean for a split second, showing unearthly monsters of the deep, Gwaine was scared, then darkness swallowed him whole once more, he continued to soar the ocean with a fast heart.
He needed air, Gwaine swam up to the surface, he arrived and gasped for breath, gallons of the ocean flowed onto the knight, he choked on the salty water, the knight was immediately thrown with the waves, the sky was black, and thunder filled his ears, lightning colored the dark ocean for a moment.
When he could breathe, the knight swam back down, now…he was desperate.
Arthur tore through the ocean, trying to find Merlin's floating body, or his neckerchief, anything…Anything.
When he was unable to find his friend, thinking it was all too late, thinking his only true friend has drowned, alone in the large ocean, scared and afraid, probably calling out Arthur's name with no avail and no hope at all, empty and scared He screamed with anger, he swam to the surface, lifting his head to the raining sky, he let out a scream, so mad with anger, so empty with sadness that even the gods felt pity for the lonely king.
It echoed, echoed like the thunder, overpowering the booming wrath of Mother Nature for a moment, then the thunder stopped, only hearing Arthur's screams, softening after each desperate, empty cry.
The king wept loudly.
"MERLIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN!" He screamed again.
But suddenly a ray of sunlight shun upon a spot in the raging sea, Arthur saw it and swam to it.
Gwaine rose and saw a beautiful silver light, beaming at a spot on the ocean, he took a breath and dived down, the knight saw the raze shine through the ocean to the bottomless pit of probably hell itself.
He swam towards the light.
When both men were close the light faded, Arthur hummed in anger in the ocean.
Sadly Arthur lost his track of where the light had shun for those moments and with a heavy, heavy heart he swam back , praying that Gwaine had found him.
Gwaine searched and searched the ocean, now and again the echo of thunder gave him a strong sense of hope that there was hope, lightning lit the ocean, but the lonely knight, swimming in the endless ocean found nothing.
…Nothing…
'No…I have to find him…It's not too late…it's not!' Gwaine thought to himself but as the ocean's salt stung his eyes, the harsh reality cut through his very soul, scarring him probably forever.
The knight stilled, letting the soft current drag him gently along the water for a while, still in the ocean.
His hope, his drive…gone…
He bowed his head; a tear formed in his eye but soon joined the biter, Bitter Ocean.
'Goodbye Merlin…farewell my friend…may you be in peace…' Gwaine prayed to his friend, he opened his eyes, looking at the eerie darkness, one last look at his probably greatest failure of all time and swam back when suddenly-
One loud, massive clash of thunder cut through the sky, it shook the ocean in more ways than one, piercing the souls of the dry land, then one large and powerful bolt of lightning cut through the black clouds, almost touching the ocean, the blackness of the ocean suddenly turned to gold, Gwaine looked further into the distance to see a body, floating aimlessly in the abyss of the ocean.
Gwaine's eyes winded and the golden light faded, Gwaine swam like he never swam before, his feet pounding the ocean, his fingers clawing the water as the lightning flashed, showing the body coming closer and closer before the knight.
When he was near, he looked at the body, it was Merlin!, black and gold lit his face a few times before he was about to grab him, suddenly bubbles rose from the depths of the ocean, thousands upon thousands of large tentacles grabbed Merlin's legs, arms and waist, bringing him down.
Gwaine screamed, he then rose to the surface and gulped down air, he unsheathed his sword and wailed in rage, he fisted his sword into the air, thunder boomed and rain poured, light flashed.
He then dived down and cut through every single slimy, purple tentacle that curled around Merlin's body, when the man was free, Gwaine grabbed him in his arms and swam to the shore.
The king and knights stood in silence, every second felt like a year to them.
Then in the distance, Arthur spotted two figures.
"IT'S MERLIN!" He cried, all cheered.
But then, a large creature rose from the deep ocean.
It screeched, all covered their ears.
Merlin moaned and looked up to see the beast, his magic flowed inside him and using his last bit of energy the warlock's eyes glowed gold.
"Be gone…" He whispered and leaned into Gwaine's safe touch once more.
Arthur grabbed a cross bow and fired at the beast, at the same time as Merlin's magic touched it, the sea monster wailed in rage and crashed into the ocean, a large wave formed, Gwaine heavily panted, almost exhausted from swimming when suddenly he was flying within the wave.
The blue sky started to shine, Gwaine smiled and held Merlin close as he traveled on the wave, when they were close the knight hugged Merlin protectively as they crashed onto the sand.
When the wave collected the broken wood from the ship, the two men were in view.
The king ran towards them, the knights followed.
Gwaine and Merlin were unconscious; both side by side, the knight hugging onto Merlin like his life depended on it.
Arthur fell to his knees; Sir Percival ran to Gwaine's side and checked for a pulse.
"He's alive, my lord!" He happily cried.
Arthur smiled and looked down at Merlin; he gulped and slowly pressed his fingers against Merlin's pale and cold neck.
Time stopped at that moment for everyone, all eyes on the boy that each knight loved like a brother.
Arthur's brows furrowed.
He dug deeper into the neck, he looked up into the distance, a hard stare burdened his face, then it melted away, leaving behind a grievous expression.
All the knights bowed their heads.
"He's dead…"
Really… What did they expect?