Gaius was extremely skeptical of how Merlin was planning things. He still hadn't told Arthur or any of his other friends about his pregnancy, and he was going to be noticeably showing within the next few days. At four months, the morning sickness was starting to waver, but Merlin's personality was quickly changing again.

Arthur sat at his table, writing on an "important" piece of parchment. Merlin stood off to the side, slouching a bit to hide his stomach. "Merlin, prepare my weapons. There's a hunting trip today." He nodded and was off to fetch the king's crossbow and some lunch from the palace kitchen. Gaius had been right: he really should've told Arthur of his condition by now. He just needed to find the right way of doing so, without shattering their friendship.

Merlin, Arthur, and a few guards were off, riding along on their horses. They walked along the forest, quite close to the Valley of the Fallen Kings, when they heard a loud roar, not too far away from their location. Arthur signalled for everyone to quiet themselves, but the creature came forth anyway.

It was giant, taking the form of a giant snake with a lion's head.

"Get back, everybody get back!" Arthur shouted.

The group turned around and ran as fast as they could without looking back. Merlin tripped over a root, but no one noticed because of all the trees and noise surrounding them. In normal circumstances, Merlin would've gotten himself up and to safety, but he landed on his front. A sharp pain ripped through his abdomen. "Argh!"

Merlin could see the creature catching up, but, oddly, it stopped at him. It looked at him for a moment, observing him. It reached down and picked Merlin up with its mouth, whisking him away.

Merlin didn't exactly keep track of where he was, he was focusing on the pain on his stomach. Of course, the moment he got there, Merlin knew exactly where he was: Morgana's cottage.

"Arthur!" he yelled in one more attempt to get his friend to hear him. Merlin gave up and was dropped right in front of the door by the creature. Morgana opened the door and looked down at him, grinning wickedly. "Hello, Merlin."

/

Arthur and his group of men stumbled away, and when they were sure they were safe, took a moment to rest. They were all panting, but also weren't being chased by a giant snake-lion hybrid. Arthur turned to the nearest man, Percival, and asked, "Is anyone missing?"

Percival's eyes darted from side to side of the group before saying, "I think everyone's accounted fo-," and looked around one more time before stating, "Merlin's missing."

Arthur's eyes widened.

/

Merlin looked up at Morgana, not speaking a word as he was too weak from the pain to talk. "What? Cat's got your tongue?"

Merlin scrunched his face and rolled on to his back, clutching his stomach.

Morgana was still smiling. "Let's get you inside." She carried Merlin to a chain on her ceiling, the one he was on last time, and hung him up by the arms.

"How are you doing?" Merlin didn't answer. "Oh, better fix that up for you." Despite the friendliness of her choice of words, the way she said it was cold, brooding, and intimidating. She muttered a few words of the old language and her eyes flashed gold. Like a miracle, Merlin's stomach was no longer in pain, earning a glare from Merlin.

"Did you do this to me?" he said through his teeth,

Morgana tipped her head to the ground for a moment before moving only her eyes to look into his. "Well, who else? You nearly miscarried there, Merlin. I'm curious. How is Arthur handling this?"

Merlin managed to hold the face he was using, still refusing to speak.

"So he doesn't know? When are planning to tell him?"

For a moment, Merlin nearly didn't speak again. "Why are you doing this?"

Morgana scoffed. "I'm using you, Arthur's most trusted servant, to get to the king. Why else?"

Merlin frowned, confused. "How with this thing affect the king of Camelot?"

"Arthur, he cares about you too much. I could've gone after Gwen, but there would be no reason to believe this was the work of magic."

"Why do you want them to think magic is evil? You've just gave more proof against your case if you did that."

"You and Arthur are strangely loyal to each other. If he believes magic is working its way up to himself, he'll be too paranoid to realize what's really going on."

"So you got me pregnant, just for the sake of paranoia?"

Morgana smiled evilly, walking up to Merlin and placing a hand on his stomach, causing him to frown and turn away in disgust.

"No. I'm doing this because Arthur's going to need a distraction from Gwen."

Merlin faced her once again frowning, but this time in surprise. "You want to kill Gwen?"

Morgana pulled back. "Of course. She stole the kingdom, all that was meant to be mine."

Merlin was getting fumed, ready to bust some heads. "The kingdom isn't yours, Morgana. It belongs to Arthur and his betrothed, and that just happened to be Gwen."

Morgana smiled once again, in a way Merlin almost didn't understand for a moment. "How did Arthur react?"

Merlin stared at her for a few moments, causing Morgana to laugh. "You still haven't told him!"

"I… I will," he said while looking away once again.

"Yes, yes you will." She once again put her hand on Merlin's stomach, but this time, her eyes glowed gold. Morgana gasped and stepped back, eyes jerking from side to side and downwards.

"What? What is it?"

"The child," Merlin looked down at his stomach, "It's mine."

/

After a few days, Morgana felt it appropriate to set Merlin free, just enough to build up some fear in the castle. Merlin, raggedy and dirty, trudged through the forest in the direction of Camelot. Eventually, a patrol found him nearly two miles from the palace. The first thing they did was bring him to Gaius, just to be sure he was unharmed.

When he arrived, Gaius was worried sick. "Where the hell have you been?"

The guards helped the energy-drained servant to a cot in the corner of the room. He waited for them to leave before he spoke.

"It was Morgana. She did this to me."

"You mean-"

"Yeah, but that's not all. It's hers."

Gaius held an expression of surprise. "She didn't know either? Did she do anything to it?"

"Not that I'm-" Percival opened the door to the room. "Arthur requests your presence in his chambers immediately."

/

Merlin had expected that much, with him having been missing for the past few days. Arthur was like a brother to him, even though he was the king. Merlin rushed down the hall, but he knew he had to be prepared with answers for Arthur's questions. He also had to be truthful. Merlin opened the door to Arthur's bedroom to see him sitting at his table, enjoying his lunch. He looked up and grinned at his servant, standing up to greet him.

Arthur didn't say anything, but enclosed Merlin in a tight hug. Merlin didn't pull back. He felt a rush of something he hadn't felt in a very long time. It took him a moment to place it. 'Freya,' he thought. Already in a state of shock, something quite illy timed happened, causing Arthur to pull back instead.

It kicked.

Arthur had both of his hands on Merlin's shoulders, a mixture of surprise and confusion swirling in his expression. "What was that?"

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out for a moment. "I-I have to go," Merlin said as he turned around to leave.

He heard no more of anything Arthur would have to say. He still wasn't ready to tell him, but the little pest had to do it for him, didn't it? Merlin walked back to Gaius's chambers. He was storming to his room when Gaius intervened, "Merlin, what's wrong?"

"Arthur hugged me, but this thing decides to kick me, and Arthur!"

Gaius's eyes widened. "He knows?"

"I left as soon as it happened. I didn't answer any questions."

"He's going to want to know. You really need to tell him."

/

Merlin went to his room after that, not coming out even to eat, despite how hungry he was. He couldn't stop thinking about that feeling he got when he touched Arthur. Why was is so similar to when he was with Freya? Could it really be-

Someone knocked at the door, interrupting Merlin's thoughts. It was Arthur.

"Merlin?"

Merlin looked over to him. He was laying in his bed, so it was a bit hard to see him. "Yes, Arthur?"
Arthur frowned, then stared at Merlin sternly. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Merlin asked, still not wanting to discuss the subject.

"You know," Arthur moved closer and whispered, "that kick."

"Did Gaius let you in?"

Arthur nodded. Merlin sighed to that and sat up.

"He's been wanting me to tell you for months. Morgana… When I went missing four months ago, Morgana captured me."

"She what? Why didn't you tell me?"

Merlin didn't want to say that it was because she cast a spell on him that focused him on killing the king of Camelot. "Arthur," he croaked, struggling to get the words out, "Morgana cast a spell on me. I'm-" he sighed, "pregnant with her child."

Arthur frowned. "That- That's impossible. You're a male."

It was absolutely stinging, what he was about to say. Merlin was on the verge of tears, voice on the edge of breaking. "It's magic. Like you said, all magic is evil."

Arthur studied Merlin for a moment. "Don't bother showing up for work tomorrow. I can't have you working, not in your condition." Arthur turned toward the door, but turned back to ask a question. "How long have you known?"

Merlin looked down at the ground. "Three months."

Arthur scoffed. "Three months? How could you not have told me for three months?"

He left the room, slamming the door behind him. Merlin heard some faint dialogue between the king and Gaius, but nothing more for the rest of the evening. He laid back in his bed. 'I know what I must do. I need to get rid of the baby.' He put his hand on his abdomen and fell asleep, that being the only thought on his mind.

/

I finally got this chapter done! I know it wasn't very long, but all the new series and seasons have been coming out on Netflix, and I have been binge watching like nuts: Supernatural, iZombie, The Flash, Arrow, The Walking Dead, I could go on. I am very sorry if this chapter seemed at all rushed, but I was really eager to get to the punch line. Thank you to a reviewer who suggested making it Morgana's. I've also been at NYCC, so I've been very tired and out of it since then. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you liked it (or didn't) feel free to review any opinions, suggestions, or constructive criticism! :D