A/N: Thank you guys for reviewing my previous chapter, you guys made my day. I like to thank WitchyWeasel and oceanblue14 for their comments, I really appreciate them. I learn a lot from you guys. I reposted Chapter 1 with the proper corrections.

I also would like to thank those who added my story to their Story Alerts and Favorite Stories. I'm so happy to see that many of you read it and really liked it. That gave me inspiration to continue on.

Here now is the second chapter of my first attempt in writing a fan fic. I hope you guys will enjoy reading this.

Disclaimer: BBC owns the rights to the show. I don't get paid for writing this. I only write for fun.

CHAPTER 2

EXPLOSION

The potion Gaius gave Merlin for his back really did the trick. The pain wasn't totally gone but it was bearable. Gaius had also put some sort of warm minty ointment on the boy's back and bandaged his waist. It was the same stuff the physician would put on his patients with joint problems, particularly the elderly. It felt nice on Merlin's bruised back, but to him the smell wasn't very appealing. It was not unpleasant yet it smelled very strong, like concentrated oregano and eucalyptus combined. He hoped Arthur wouldn't notice or else he'll get a lot of teasing. After looking for some of his clothes and boots in his now clattered and chaotic bedroom, Merlin got dressed, ate a quick breakfast and set off to work. He promised himself that he will clean up his room when he's finished with his chores for Arthur.

The young warlock thought he could get away from not going to work that day due to his back. It could have been a convincing excuse though. Merlin wanted to take the day-off so he could figure out why he levitated in his sleep, and also to avoid from getting teased at because of his smell. But Gaius insisted that the boy should do his duties for the Prince and pretend like nothing happened. Sure, he could do that, pretending is one of Merlin's great talents besides his magic. He had been hiding his true self for a very long time and everyone in Camelot were still oblivious to who he really was. Yet the incident in his room had him thinking. He feared that it might happen again, and if it does happen again, 'when' and 'where' were the big questions. Gaius promised Merlin that he would do his best to look for some information that will help them understand what was going on with him. Gaius would dig through his books and papers all day if he has to, or even pay a visit to his old friend Geoffrey of Monmouth in the court archives. Merlin felt assured in his guardian's words, so he shouldn't worry too much.

Merlin reached the wide oak doors of Arthur's chambers. While balancing a tray of food on his arms, he carefully opened the door. Across the room was the 'royal prat', already dressed, seating on his four post bed while waiting for his manservant. When the Prince saw Merlin come in, he stood up and welcomed his servant with a rant.

"Merlin, you idiot, you're late again! That's the forth time this week and it's only Thursday. How many mornings will you keep me waiting for you? You're getting lazy!"

"Good morning to you too, Sire." Merlin said while placing the food on the table that was near the bed.

Arthur continued, "I almost went to Gaius' chambers to fetch you."

Merlin gulped. If Arthur were there while he was levitating that would have ended badly.

"Then why didn't you fetch me?" Merlin asked.

Arthur frustratingly explained, "Because I don't want you to get use to being fetched all the time. What would people think if they saw me fetching my manservant in his quarters, again for the forth time in a row? Do you realize how . . ." Arthur tried to find the right word, "undignifying that would be?"

"It's a good thing you thought about your dignity." Then Merlin added in his mind, For once.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Honestly, I don't know why I still keep you around. Your tardiness is keeping my schedules at bay."

"Well at least you know how to dress yourself now." Said Merlin with a mocking smile.

"I do have other abilities too, Merlin." Arthur said wryly, "If you're going to be late again I swear I'll throw you in the stocks."

"Sure Arthur." Merlin jadedly said while preparing the prince's breakfast on the table not minding his master's continues prattle. The boy was so used to this sort of taunting, Arthur kept saying he'll throw Merlin to the stocks but that never happened, yet.

After arranging Arthur's breakfast Merlin left the table and headed for the four post bed. Arthur's nose suddenly caught something in the air when Merlin passed by him.

The prince paused, "What's that smell?"

"Er, what smell?" Merlin wanted to sound ignorant but he knew it was the ointment. The smell crept into his blue tunic and jacket.

Arthur followed the smell like a bloodhound, sniffing the air for the trace of the sent. Merlin tried not to pay attention on what the Prince was doing, he was playing naive as he smoothes out the sheet and blanket on the bed. After a few whiffs Arthur's nose landed on the shoulder of Merlin's jacket. The Prince pulled back from the stench.

"By the gods, Merlin, what is that?" Arthur said wrinkling his nose.

Merlin knew this was going to happen, and now he had some explaining to do. He sighed, "Gaius put some ointment on my lower back and bandaged it."

"You smell like an old woman with a bad case of arthritis."

Merlin retorted, "Well, it smells better than your socks."

"At least I don't wear it on my sleeve." The Prince cynically said then added, "What the hell happened to you?"

Arthur's voice had a hint of concern, Merlin noticed it. The blond man sat at the table and ate his breakfast. He waited for Merlin's answer.

"I've . . . been feeling some pain when I woke up this morning."

"How did you manage to get yourself hurt while sleeping?", Arthur chewed a piece of bread then continued, "Wait, you fell of your bed, didn't you?"

Merlin gave the Prince a side-glance, "No, I did not. I just felt it when I woke up."

"Oh really, Merlin. Have I been giving too many back breaking chores lately?"

"Mmmm . . . That's probably the reason."

When the servant turned around to the other side of the bed Arthur noticed Merlin's face flinching a bit. Merlin held one hand on his back, stood up straight and walked to the other side of the enormous bed.

Although Arthur found it amusing to see Merlin acting like an elderly person with a back problem, however he felt a little sorry for his servant. Arthur assumed that Merlin must have injured his back while working. He observed his manservant closely and saw Merlin seemed to be a bit pale. It's probably due to the heat of the season that made it more draining to work. These past several days his servant had been working relentlessly from morning till late in the evening. Arthur considered he should give Merlin a break. He maybe an arrogant prat but he does have a heart.

To mask his concern the Prince made his voice sound pompous, "Okay. You better clean my room. I'll be outside training the new knights, and when I return I want to see this place spick-and-span. Then afterwards you can take the rest of the day off."

Merlin snapped his head towards his master with a surprised expression across his face.

"Really? Seriously? ", Merlin said unbelievingly.

Arthur nodded, "You better get Gaius fix your back. You might go paralyze if it's not treated. And I don't want that happening to you." The prince was even surprised at what he just said, "It's . . . hard to get a half-descent servant these days.", he added.

Merlin could read Arthur like an open book. The servant had known the Prince long enough for him to see behind Arthur's superciliousness.

Merlin smirked, "Gee, Arthur, I didn't knew you cared."

"Just . . . don't get the wrong idea, okay. But you better take care of yourself and come back to work tomorrow when you're back is healed. Is that understood?", Arthur ordered.

"Yes, sire. Thank you.", Merlin said with appreciation.

He couldn't believe it. Arthur's giving him a day off? Merlin guessed that his back pain drama unintentionally worked. He felt a bit guilty though. The cause of his pain in fact wasn't from the workload for the past days. Yet it was a welcome relief. The young warlock needed all the time in the world so he may perhaps help Gaius in figuring out what the heck was wrong with him.

After breakfast Arthur stood up, took his sword from top of an amour next to the door and was about to leave his chambers. But he suddenly remembered something so he spun around to face his servant.

"Oh, and Merlin, before you leave my chambers make sure all the windows are open so the smell of what ever Gaius smeared on you won't retain in here.", Arthur said and left his chambers.

"Ah, yeah, sure.", Merlin said as his cheeks turned red.

The Crown Prince marched across the courtyard towards the castle gates. The training grounds were right behind the walls of the palace in the southern section. While walking he took note on a delicate fragrance in the air. He inhaled deeply taking in the soft sweet sent. It helped clear up his nose from what remained of Merlin's stench. Arthur also noticed how pleasant the atmosphere was that day, people he passed by were in a cheerful mood wearing smiles across their faces.

When he got out side of the palace walls and turned to a dirt path leading to the training grounds, and he found where the sweet smelling fragrance was coming from. Rows of Magnolia trees lined the side of the road. The trees were grandly crowned with yellow blooms. And beneath one of the trees stood a woman who to Arthur was more regally beautiful than any flower or tree.

Arthur watched as Guinevere extended her arm to reach for the blooms on the branches. After picking a flower she placed it inside a basket that was slung on her other arm. Gwen wasn't aware that Arthur was a few feet away from behind her. He noticed that her long wavy hair was pulled back and elegantly adorned with small blossoms, it made her look like a princess. Her lavender dress flowed into the gentle breeze. The Prince stared at the girl, so absorbed and amused was he to her grace. A small curve rested on his lips as his heart lolled at the sight of her. He could stand there the whole day just watching the maidservant pick flowers.

Then Arthur's heart sank, he soon realized that the only woman he ever cared about was a lowly servant, someone that his father will never approve of. His blue eyes looked away as he shifted his sight on the ground.

"Arthur."

The prince looked up in attention to her call. Gwen approached him with an adoring smile, his heart skipped a beat. Her cheeks had a hint of red. Arthur felt his ears burned hot. He tried to be coherent and spoke.

"Ah, good morning, Gwen."

"Good morning to you too, my lord." Gwen greeted, "I see that you're up to the training grounds?"

Arthur charmingly smiled, "Yes, I was, until I saw you picking flowers."

Gwen looked at her flower filled basket, "I'm taking these to Lady Morgana's chambers. She loves the smell of Magnolia flowers in the summer."

Arthur frowned. It had been months since Morgana vanished, yet her loyal and loving maidservant still brought flowers to her chambers.

"I know what you're thinking.", Gwen said, "I just . . . want to be optimistic that my lady will return."

Arthur could see the sadness in Gwen's eyes.

"I know how much you missed her. We all do," he said.

"Yes, I do miss her. It's just that, I can't help but worry about her. Where could she be right now?"

A blanket of sadness seemed to have enveloped them both.

"She's a strong woman," Arthur assured Gwen, "Where ever she is right now, I know she's going to be alright."

Gwen gave a weak smile, "Gaius told me that too."

There was a short silence between them. Gwen was the first to speak.

"So, I think I better go inside now. Have a nice day at training, sire."

Arthur nodded, "You too, Gwen."

Gwen smiled at Arthur then went of to the palace gates.

As the Prince watched Gwen walk away his mind fell into deep thought. He suddenly remembered his adopted sister. Morgana loved this particular time of the summer season when the Magnolia trees were in full bloom. When they were young, Morgana would make a garland of the Magnolia flowers and gave them to Uther, which the king gladly accepts. Now Morgana's gone and missing, kidnapped by sorceress Morgause. All the people in Camelot were worried for her, especially King Uther, who blamed himself for Morgana's disappearance.

But deep inside Arthur he felt that he was the one to blame for what happened to Morgana. He could have done so much more to protect her if it weren't for the Knights of Medhir who kept him away from her. The only awake person she was with at that time was Merlin, and what could his clumsy, sleepy, stick of a servant ever do to protect the Lady against a powerful sorceress. It was indeed a hopeless situation. Now she's gone and it was entirely his fault.

Arthur tried to shake off his melancholy because he had knights to train, he doesn't want them to see him like this.

When Arthur reached the training grounds he saw Sir Leon with the knights awaiting him.

"Good morning sire." Sir Leon greeted the Prince as he made a respectful bow.

As soon as the ten newly recruited knights saw the Prince all of them bowed down in respect. They were holding long wooden staffs as part of their training for the day.

"Good morning Sir Leon, are our new knights ready for training?"

"They're up and ready sire." Sir Leon looked behind the Prince, "I noticed you don't have Merlin with you today."

Truthfully Sir Leon had grown fond of Arthur's lanky servant. Merlin had shown extraordinary bravery and loyalty when he went with them to face the Great Dragon. To Leon, the boy was as courageous as any other knight. And to think Merlin was just a servant who didn't even carry any weapon nor wore any armor. What was more astonishing was Merlin's one of the lucky survivors, and he was the only conscious witness to the dragon's death when it was slain by Arthur (as far as Arthur and the other knights knew, the dragon was dead). Out of the fourteen men who face the dragon, only six survived. Because of that Merlin gained Sir Leon's respect and since then the knight befriended the boy.

"I left Merlin to clean my room." Arthur said, "Don't worry I can manage. I don't need him for today's training."

The windows of Arthur's chambers were visible from the training ground. Arthur gazed upon it knowing Merlin was up there doing his chores.

"If you need any assistance Sire, please let me know.", Sir Leon offered.

Arthur turned his gaze at the knight, "Of course Leon, thanks. Shall we proceed?"

Sir Leon gave another bow and let Arthur lead the way to the knights.

Merlin was almost finished cleaning Arthur's chambers. For the past three years that he had worked for the Crown Prince Merlin still couldn't believe that one man could make such a mess in a day. Arthur would toss his used clothes, armor or boots on the floor, on tables, on chairs, hung them on candle stands, anywhere. Merlin compared Arthur to a molting snake that leaves its old skin behind not caring where it left it. So the servant picked the clothes one by one with some strain on his back for he had to bend over to reach them on the floor. After that he swept and mopped the floors, dusted the furniture and cleared the table after Arthur had his breakfast. The next thing that he was about to do was to clean the fireplace.

As Merlin took a step towards the hearth he felt his balance shifted, he staggered a bit but his leg caught his balance. He abruptly felt dizzy and weak. He leaned his back against a column post. He was sweating and panting, and it wasn't even that hot yet.

Then he felt a tug at the pit of his stomach. His blue eyes turned burning gold. Merlin panicked.

"Oh no. . ."

From the depths of his inner core he felt a surge of power coming out of him like an open floodgate. Merlin could feel the rush of power emanating from him.

Suddenly things from inside Arthur's chambers started to take flight. He stood in the middle of the room watching the floating objects go around him. But unlike the incident in his room, Arthur's things were spinning much faster. A whirlwind took them up and spun them in circles. There were also lots of things inside the chambers that proved to be deadly, like Arthur's collection of weapons. If one of those swords, spears or axes hit him he'll be a goner for sure. The whirlwind made a howling sound.

He lifted his hands as he tried to stop the whirlwind with his magic, but he couldn't control it. He muttered spell after spell but nothing happened.

"No, No, No, stop! Stop!"

But the power surge didn't stop as it grew stronger and stronger within him. He held both his hands on the sides of his head, closing his eyes tightly as he tried hard to concentrate regaining his control. The strain was taking a toll on his mind and body, his nose began to bleed.

It was too much for him to bear, as if he was being pulled from every direction. The young warlock could not contain the surge anymore. Merlin let out a gut-wrenching scream.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Like a bursting dam his power exploded outward, its force shattered the windows and blasted the doors wide open. The whirlwind disintegrated from the force of the explosion sending all the objects it held hurling at every direction hitting the walls and furniture.

Then, there was silence.

Merlin slowly opened his eyes, and they were blue again. He looked around and saw the aftermath of what he had done.

"Arthur's really going to kill me for trashing his chambers." Merlin said to himself.

After he had released so much power Merlin began to weaken.

His knees buckled and collapsed face down on the floor.

Thanks for reading. Please review. I'll update soon.