A.N. Super late with this, I know. I'm not gonna bore you with excuses so here you go -

Merlin was tempted to leave without letting Morgana know. There was enough to worry about with Arthur, he didn't want to add her to his already overflowing pile of responsibilities. But her words rang in his head, bringing back the pinching feeling of guilt that seemed to be permanently associated with thoughts of Morgana now.

"Please Merlin, Arthur's life might be at stake, I may not matter to you that much, but I know how much you care for Arthur. You'd follow him to death's door if you could. I've already seen you do it."

He'd given her his word. He wasn't about to give her more reason to believe that he didn't care about her.

He gripped the feather tighter.

It hurt to think about. It hurt and frustrated him. How could she think that? That wasn't... it couldn't be farther from the truth. But somewhere, somehow he realised that he had somehow subconsciously drifted away from her after the incident with the druids. The great dragon's words had gotten to him and he didn't know what to think about that realisation.

But for now he had a Prince to tend to, and an anxious lady to appease. With that thought he quickly wrote down the note.

Wait for us outside the city gates, we should be there in about an hour.

Now how to deliver the message...? Merlin thought to himself as he started walking down the castle corridors.

His question seemed to have answered itself, as he saw Morgana approaching the corridors.

Their eyes met for a brief second and he almost slowed down and lost his trail of thought with the intensity of that moment.

The Lady jerked her head suddenly to break the spell, which snapped Merlin out of his, as he remembered what he had to do in the first place. Stealthily, he slipped the note into her hand as he passed by her, and Morgana was quick to hide it in her fist.

The tiny, but unmistakable rush of thrill - like magic, didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

Arthur was shocked to see Morgana waiting at the gate, to say the least.

"Going on an adventure without me, Arthur? Now, now, we talked about this. But I'm willing to forgive you failing to remember. I can imagine you must have trouble keeping up with things now."

Smugly satisfied at Arthur's confused and indignated expression, Morgana smirked and turned her horse around, ready to take off at the slightest indication.

"Morg- what the hell was that supposed to mean? And what the hell are you doing here?" Arthur said, nudging his horse forward.

"Oh just that I happen to know that your mind's been a little distracted with a certain maidservant lately. Not that it functioned very well to begin with." Morgana gestured to his head for emphasis.

Arthur's eyes went wider and wider until he was almost sure they were going to pop out of their sockets. But that was only for a second until he realised this was inevitable. Of course Morgana figured out. Nothing escapes that woman's notice. At least nothing in his life. Honestly it was like having a nagging mother and a nosy sibling all at once.

"Right. So you came here all this way and ambushed me just to make fun of me."

"Of course not." Morgana said dismissively, "It doesn't take all that effort to do that."

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Then why are you here milady?"

"A little bird told me you were on a bloody suicide mission and following an enchanted horse to god knows where to meet a strange and possibly murderous witch. I decided to tag along." Morgana hadn't even given the slightest indication but it was rather obvious that there could only be one bird who was incapable of keeping his goddamn mouth shut when needed. Or rather, one Merlin.

"MERLIN!" The shout was accompanied by a smack on the manservant's head.

"Don't you dare, Arthur Pendragon. It was no fault of his his. I was the one who made him tell me." Morgana huffed at Arthur's crass treatment of his manservant. It was nothing new, but it left a bad taste in her mouth. Merlin was a grown man, not a child. It seemed barbaric to her.

"Of course you made him." Arthur said, looking pointedly at the manservant in question, who was sporting his best innocent expression.

Arthur was no fool, despite what his friends liked to think. It was clear all Morgana had to to was ask him and bat her lashes, and voila! His manservant must have melted like goo and confessed everything. He didn't take Merlin for a weak fool or simpleton. But he was in love, and love had the power to turn the most practical men into utter fools. It was bad enough that Morgana had pretty much every man in the castle wrapped around her little finger, he didn't need Merlin being added to the list.

But that didn't mean he wan't going to try and persuade her to go back, although he knew it would be futile.

"Morgana, if Father finds out-"

"He will what?" Morgana let out a low snort, "Shout at us? Slap me? Chain me up and throw me in a dungeon? Confine us to our chambers? What will he do that he hasn't already?" Well, he could tie her to a stake and have her burnt alive on finding out what she was, but Arthur didn't need to know that.

"Morgana. Seriously, turn back, this could be dangerous-"

"I thought we had established that already."

Arthur ignored her interruption and continued, "And it's bad enough that he's worried about me, I don't want him to be worried about your safety too."

"Damn his concern, damn his worry and damn his bloody wrath!" Generally, taking that tone with Arthur would result in a shouting match, if you weren't Uther, that is. But Morgana was exhausted, hadn't slept at all in days, lived in constant fear of her life and was now plagued with that of Arthur's. She was tired of living like that; tired of being dismissed by everyone around her, of not being taken seriously, of being treated like a child – especially when it was in fact, the man in front of her who was acting like one. "If you're going, I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. Now do you or do you not have somewhere to be?"

There were times when all it took was a word from Morgana to shut Arthur up. Usually they were clever jabs that he had no answer to match. But very rarely were there instances like this when it was not her tone, or the volume of her voice that stopped him short. It was the desperate underlying concern that could only come from family. It was different from the kind he heard from Gwen, Merlin, or his knights. It didn't make him feel touched, or emotional. It was the kind that made someone instantly feel like rubbish for putting their lives in danger - just incredibly guilty. It was something he'd been hearing for the past ten years. And not a thing about it had changed. For a moment, he felt like it was exactly how his mother would have sounded when scolding him. Even if Morgana and Ygraine were miles apart as individuals, according what he'd heard anyway.

Arthur sighed and deeply and lowered his head for a second, before kicking his horse and taking off into the woods, leaving his other two companions to follow.

I know this was a short one, but that's because another's in the works and should be up very shortly. (like, in a few weeks, promise.) Also, the last bit with Arthur is something that really resonates with me. Others' concern is great, really. But family's is the only one that can make me drown in guilt for having self-destructive thoughts. I also thought that Morgana and Arthur's relationship hadn't been done justice by the writers (as many other things, imo, but that a whole other rant in itself.) I can't believe how quickly they made their bond disappear in favour of his romance with Guinevere. It was so disappointing. You don't just forget about other people when you enter a romantic relationship.

*sigh* Anyway. Please let me know what you thought of it. Reviews are writing fuel 3

Also thanks to

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NotNecessarilyInThatOrder: Haha thanks so much! And yeah I don't resist them any more but they tend to disappear after dropping the idea, those pesky little things *grumbles*. Anyway, will do my best to get out faster updates now X

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Meri Ley: Thank you so much. I'm not too big on tragedy anyway so you can rest assured about that :)

Cholo Palai: Thanks so much reading despite being skeptical about the plot, I hope this lives up to your expectations :3 I promise I'll try to flesh out each and every character and do them justice.

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MysteryNinja5252 (haha thanks buddy. That's been me since 2014, so trust me, I get ya),

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Thanks for reading! See you soon :3