I'm glad everyone enjoyed the prologue! Here is chapter 1. I tried to make Merlin mega cute because he is so adorable as an adult he must be REALLY cute as a child (L) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naw Merlin's not mine, but I wouldn't mind if it was...
Arthur was truly speechless. For the first time in the life, he had no idea what to say to this. It was obvious magic but… Merlin was a baby! This couldn't be possible!
"Merlin…?" He asked hesitantly, his eyes keeping locked on the adorable… no… no, not adorable… He shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his mind. He looked at the little boy up and down.
The clothes Merlin had been wearing before were now overly too big with the sleeves draping over the edges of his short arms and he was sitting on his trousers, both legs dangling through only one of the holes. His red scarf was gaping down to his waist and was weighing down his neck. His eyes hadn't changed at all, bright blue with a slither of gold and his dark hair was ruffled and a mop on the top of his head, poking over his eyes so he couldn't see properly. His ears still poked out through the thick hair and looked overly large compared to the rest of the body which would've made Arthur laugh if he wasn't in this situation.
"Artha?" Merlin's voice had totally changed. His deep tone had changed to a high pitch with a small lisp. He could see that his two front teeth were missing and were growing back through the gums. Arthur was slightly surprised that he knew his name… did that mean he still had his memories?
"What happened?" He asks quietly, staring intently at the little boy. If anyone knew, it would be him.
Merlin paused to thing and he lifted an arm and pulled his sleeve up to reveal his petite fingers only about a quarter of the size of Arthur's. He began to scratch his head, ruffling up his fluffy hair even more, "Dunno Artha. All went wrong," His eyes were full of fear and he began to crawl away from him, "You gonna kill me?" He asks, "Magic's bad! You gonna kill me!" Tears began to well up in his bright eyes as he even considered the idea.
"Merlin, it's okay, I'm not going to kill you for using magic. I would never do that." He stood up and began to walk over to him, unsure of how to handle a child. He had never had any child contact apart from that boy Mordred and he was practically double the age of Merlin at the moment. He knelt by him and wrapped his arms around his young friend as he began to sob into his shoulder.
"S'all my fault, Artha. All my fault!" He cried as Arthur could feel his shoulder becoming wet from tears and mucus, "Whut do we do, Artha? Whut do we do?"
The boy was becoming hysterical and this time Arthur couldn't whack him over the head and tell him to pull himself together. He remembered when he was Merlin's 'age' Uther wouldn't let him cry and he used to get shouted at if any tear was seen. Morgana had used to comfort him and he had sometimes cried on her shoulder. Great father Uther had been when he wasn't even allowed to cry.
"It's alright Merlin. Listen to me and we'll make up a story to tell everyone, okay?" He asks. He sees the bloodshot eyes look up at him and he sniffs, wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve, "Okay now we're going to tell them that we got attacked by a dragon and it said some sort of spell that made you four years old, okay?" Merlin nods shakily, "It'll be okay, maybe Gaius will find some sort of way to reverse it, but we have to get home before it darks, alright?"
Merlin gets to his feet, not bothering to even try and pull his trousers up. Instead, he let them drape to the ground as he stepped out one of the legs. His shirt was so long that it was dragging along the floor and he tripped over the fabric, falling to the ground.
"I see you are still as clumsy, even as a toddler, eh Merlin?" Arthur chuckled, lifting him up swiftly and placing him in his arms, "Can't trust you walking on your own, besides, you're dead slow."
Merlin squeals and begins to kick out as he sees himself get to a dizzy height and begins to feel sick, "Arthaahhh!" He cries out, trying not to look down.
"It's alright, I won't drop you. C'mon lets get to the horses."
The trek back to where the horses were picketed was a while and the sun was setting over the mountains in the distance. Merlin was watching in awe as the sky merged into a mixture of reds, oranges and yellows and he stared at the horizon until his eyelids grew heavy and he fell asleep in Arthur's arms.
Arthur reached to two horses and tied them together and smoothly jumped into one saddle, Merlin perching precariously in one of his arms, still fast asleep. He put his feet into the stirrups and held the reign with one hand while letting Merlin lie on the front of the saddle and balancing him with the other arm. He began to ride, the two horses riding side by side and heading towards Camelot.
The stars were glittering above them in the clear night sky as they approached the walls of Camelot and Merlin was just beginning to wake up, rubbing his eyes and looking up at the huge castle.
"Artha?"
"Right here, Merlin, remember what we said happened…"
"Yeah." He mutters, positioning himself on the saddle correctly and riding through the gates with the guards looking bemusedly at the Prince and boy.
Arthur rode the two horses into the stables, slipped off the saddle and picked Merlin up by cupping his hands under his armpits and placing him safely on the ground. The even younger warlock ran up to the horses and began petting their heads as they whinnied and snorted. He giggles and gave Arthur a toothy and goofy grin before running up to him and grabbing his hand, "Do we go to see them now?" He asks, quietly.
"We have to go to Uther and tell him what's happened."
Fear flashed through Merlin's eyes and Arthur could see he was truly terrified of him. He was probably just as frightened as him when he's an adult but covers his feelings well, as does everyone.
"C'mon, Merlin, I promise you won't get locked up." He says, picking him up and shifting his weight into two of his arms. Arthur still couldn't believe this was happening. He was looking after a child version of Merlin who had the memories of his adult self but acts much more immaturely. It's ironic that Merlin actually acts a lot like a child sometimes, especially when he is tripping all over the place and dropping things. Who would be his manservant now?
Together, they went to the King's chambers where both Uther and Morgana were who had clearly just had a feast. Merlin was put onto his feet and Arthur requested an audience with the King. The guards put their spears upright and the Prince opened the large wooden doors, Merlin following behind his legs, staring up at the now very large room.
Uther turned and frowned as he saw someone clinging desperately to Arthur's trousers, hoping not to be noticed.
"Arthur, I hope you have a good reason why you brought a child in here. Don't tell me you just took pity in it," He sneered, staring down at the slightly familiar toddler.
"Child?" Morgana echoes, bending down to look over at Merlin who she hadn't recognized yet, "Hello, I'm Morgana."
"H…Hi Morgana…" He stutters, unsure of what to say.
Arthur looked at the two of them and sighed, "Something happened while Merlin and I were hunting in the forest. There was a dragon," He felt Merlin grab the fabric of the trousers, terrified, "It attacked both Merlin and I… then put a spell on him…"
Morgana's eyes widened as realization hit her, "You are joking me, that can't be…"
"Where is the boy? What happened to the dragon?" Uther asks, still oblivious that the child cowering behind Arthur was Merlin.
"The dragon died, I don't know how, he just collapsed on the ground and died. As for Merlin… he's the little leech clutching at my trousers right at this moment."
Everyone looked down and met Merlin's scared eyes as he tried to hide by covering the trouser fabric over his face.
"He knows us, he recognizes us and has all his memories… but… he's a four year old child." Arthur explains as he sees the horror filling Uther's face. He holds his breath, waiting for his reply but this time they are both speechless.
"He's been enchanted with magic, he should be killed before-"
"You can't kill him!" Morgana shouted at Uther, glaring furiously at him, "What the hell has Merlin done? It's not like it was him using the magic! Maybe the magic will wear off after a few hours and he'll be back to his old goofy self. You can't just kill someone because someone put a spell on him, I mean look at the boy!"
Merlin was shaking by this time as he watched the adults fight and yell at each other. Uther had wanted to kill him, but he could see the cogs working in his brain and he waved Arthur away, "Fine, I won't kill him, but if I see anything go wrong he's going straight to the dungeons, got it?"
"Got it."
Arthur hauled Merlin up and wrapped his arms around him, "It's alright, Merlin, nothing bad is going to happen." He immediately began to relax and rested his head on the Prince's shoulder, sighing deeply.
Morgana followed Arthur out the room and they exchanged smiles, "Thank you for sticking up for us, Morgana."
"He's done nothing wrong. I will go tell Gwen what's happened, you go take him to Gaius' chambers and tell him." They parted and Merlin watched Arthur proceed down the corridor towards the physician's room.
"Artha?" Merlin asks sleepily, surprised that he had slept so much ever since he became a child. He tries to cover a yawn but fails miserably and shifts himself uncomfortably, "What we gonna do, Artha?"
Arthur sighed and shook his head, "I don't know, Merlin. Maybe Gaius will know what to do, but right now you need to go to bed." He opened the door and saw the physician messing about with bottles, his back to Arthur and Merlin.
Still not facing them he began to shuffle about, "Merlin you're quite late for hunting with Arthur, you didn't get in any trouble, did you?"
"Gotta say he got into heaps of trouble," Arthur smirks, causing Merlin to giggle cheekily. Gaius spun around, eyes wide, staring at the two visitors in the doorway. Arthur put Merlin down on the ground and his short legs nearly gave away before he steadied himself.
"Arthur," Gaius looked down at the little boy, "why have I got a bad feeling that's Merlin?" He asks regretfully.
"A lot of trouble went on in the forest," Arthur admitted, "Let me put Merlin to bed then tell you watch happened," He said, leading Merlin through into the bedroom and lifted him onto the bed where he tucked him in and the very young Warlock fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Gaius stood behind the Prince and folded his arms, "Arthur I think you have a lot of explaining to do."
Arthur nodded and began to explain the story of the dragon and Merlin's spell which turned him into a child and how they had to lie to Uther. At the end of the story, Gaius rubbed his head and groaned.
"This is bad."
R&R please :)