Just to help with confusion that might occur, Merlin-Arthur is Merlin in Arthur's body and Arthur-Merlin is Arthur in Merlin's body, ok? Right, on with the story.

"The darkest hour is just before the dawn,"
Arthur Pendragon

oxo…oxo

Arthur had been happily walking across his room when his world had gone black. There had been no Merlin, no worries, and no irritating boot lickers attending to him. All was well.

That was, until his world went black.

He had felt himself falling, and knew that when he woke up it was going to hurt; but when he finally had woken up he hadn't expected it to hurt that much. He also hadn't expected to wake up on a wooden floor when the floor of his chambers was made of stone.

What exactly happened?

He wondered as he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly as the sun burned at them. When he was finally aware enough to see, he found himself looking up at the worried but distinctly relived looking Gaius.

He groaned slightly and tried to sit up, pausing when the physician's hand pressed gently on his chest, willing him back down to the floor. He groaned again before lifting a hand to his throbbing head.

"What happened?" he asked groggily, freezing as he heard his voice. That wasn't his voice. It wasn't his. He recognised it though…why was that? Gaius didn't seem to notice the prince's strange change in voice, or his panic at hearing it. Instead he raised an eyebrow.

"I hoped you would be able to tell me that Merlin. You said you would be careful."

That confused the prince the most and he furrowed his brows while pondering it. Why was Gaius calling him Merlin? He wasn't Merlin. His frown deepened slightly before moving to get up again. This was starting to scare him.

"Please lay down Merlin. You hit your head on the wardrobe quite hard."

"I'm not Merlin Gaius; what are you talking about?" Arthur replied, his voice slightly slurred as he looked up at the gaping physician. Gaius blinked in confusion before frowning slightly and murmuring to himself.

"You must have hit your head harder than I thought."

Arthur snorted slightly in disbelief. His head hurt, sure, but it wasn't the worst thing he had dealt with in his life.

"What? I've had worse."

Gaius' eyebrow rose again as he studied the man on the floor.

"That may be so, but you still hit your head pretty hard on the way down. I told you those kind of spells can be difficult,"

Arthur froze. Spells? What kind of magic had been used here? Who had used it? Why had Gaius mentioned it? What the bloody hell was going on?

"Spells Gaius?"

The physician studied him for a moment, a look on his face that Arthur found he could not place.

"Yes…you told me you were creating a protection spell so you could be sure if Arthur was in danger. Don't you remember?"

Arthur's eyes widened in shock and he sat up quickly, ignoring the sudden pounding in his head as he turned his eyes on a startled looking Gaius.

"Who was creating a protection spell? Who Gaius?"

"Y-you Merlin!"

"But I'm not Merlin, I'm Arthur!"

Then Arthur froze, along with Gaius; both for different reasons. Arthur had just realised why his not-voice sounded so familiar. It was Merlin's. He had Merlin's voice. It was only then that he looked around him, realising with a stab of fear that he was in his manservant's room. His hands weren't his either, more calloused than his own with slimmer, longer fingers and bonier knuckles.

Gaius had frozen in fear as he understood what he had just said. If Arthur put all he had said together than the physician had just told the prince his wards most dangerous secret. He would never forgive himself if this all went sour.

The old man watched as Arthur-Merlin looked at his hands in wonder. It was true that it looked like Merlin, but Gaius didn't doubt now that this was in fact the prince who inhabited his ward's body. It was a scary thought, but at least he knew that while Arthur was in Merlin, he couldn't order Merlin's execution. All the physician had to do was get the prince to listen before then.

Not the easiest task.

"Sire?" he tried tentatively, catching Arthur-Merlin's attention and causing the man's wide, frightened eyes to swivel onto his.

"Gaius, what's going on? Why am I Merlin? And what's all this about a spell?"

"Well, sire, I don't really know what's happening…"

"Don't lie to me Gaius. I know you know so tell me. I won't hold anything against you."

Gaius pursed his lips for a moment before sighing. Maybe it would be better just to tell the truth. When he regained his senses there was no way Arthur would miss the implications of his previous words anyway. No matter what Merlin thought, the prince wasn't that dense.

"I believe there may have been some trouble with a potion Merlin was trying to brew. He only wanted a better way to be able to project you and is probably kicking himself for it now."

"Merlin's a sorcerer?" Arthur asked, but it wasn't in the tone Gaius had expected. He had thought Arthur would be angry. He thought the prince would rage at the 'betrayal' of his manservant. But all that he could hear in the man's tone was sadness and hurt. It pained Gaius to see it on the face of his ward and he imagined this would be the expression on Merlin's face if Arthur condemned him to death. "Why didn't he tell me?"

Gaius sighed. "I believe, sire, that he was scared. I'm sure you understand why."

Arthur-Merlin looked at him with a strange look before shaking his head.

"He thought I'd have him executed."

It wasn't a question but Gaius found the need to nod anyway.

"Yes. He wanted to tell you, desperately at times, but-"

"No Gaius," Arthur cut off. "Don't make excuses for him. He can make them for himself."

Gaius nodded, recognizing the 'I want to hear it from him' behind his words, before getting to his feet with a moan of pain and effort. He walked to the door, leaving Arthur-Merlin sitting on the floor.

"I'm sure Merlin will make his way down here soon enough so wait in here until he does. That head wound will be sore as I'm sure you know, and you might have a concussion so don't move around too much."

Arthur-Merlin nodded as he watched Gaius walk out of the door before sighing and shuffling backwards a bit so he could rest his back on the wardrobe. His day had started so nicely; he knew it had been too good to be true.

His thoughts turned to Merlin, the fact that he was a sorcerer not quite having sunk in just yet. The fact that Merlin had lied to him for the past however many years hurt, but other thoughts began coming to him and he realised the mystery that was his manservant was starting to make sense.

He thought of times that they had been fighting bandits or solders and Merlin, unarmed and not wearing armour Merlin, had come out of unscathed; grinning his signature grin. Even when some of his knights had been seriously injured or worse. There were also his times of strange wisdom that sounded like they should come from someone twice his age and experience. Perhaps Merlin was more experienced than he realised.

Of course there were also the times that Merlin seemed to know about a magical threat to Camelot before any one else. So far ahead in fact that he wasn't often believed. He knew that he himself had called Merlin a liar many a time.

He remembered how many times 'luck' had seemed to favour him when the odds didn't. Like when random tree branches would fall off and land on his enemies or when spear and other sharp objects would come flying out of nowhere to hit someone about to take his head off.

He remembered that time in Eldor. Before the fight Merlin had said "no matter what happens, please don't feel any differently of me." Then there had been that whirlwind. Will may have taken the wrap for that but only after he had been hit by that arrow. He realised it was probably Merlin who had done the magic. All those times he had been arrested as well, and always been released.

He expected to feel angry at Merlin, and knew that he should want to go straight to his father and turn him in…but he didn't and he didn't want to. Merlin was his friend, even if he would never say it out loud, and sorcerer or no he would not let his friend die. He smiled slightly at his resolve as a huge weight felt like it had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew it didn't matter what Merlin said, he would never turn him into his father.

He wanted to hear Merlin's story anyway, why wouldn't he, but as he closed his eyes and smiled, he was safe in the knowledge that he would protect Merlin's secret with his very life if he had to.

xxx…xxx

Merlin groaned, his back sore and his head throbbing slightly. What had he done?

He was pretty sure the potion wasn't supposed to make you feint. So what? Had he said the wording wrong? But the potion had done what it was supposed to and had changed colour.

He groaned again and struggled to sit up, his body feeling heavy and large. He hadn't yet opened his eyes as he placed a hand over his head, rubbing his face before blinking them open, slightly startled by what he saw.

He was in Arthur's chambers…but quite how had gotten there he wasn't entirely sure.

"My head," he moaned softly, freezing at the strange voice that came from his mouth. He would know that voice anywhere. Scrambling to his feet and ignoring his body's complaints to the rash movement he walked quickly to the mirror. He could swear his heart stopped when he saw his reflection.

It was Arthur looking back at him in the mirror, his blonde hair slightly mussed from being on the ground and his blue eyes wide. He wore his usual shirt and trousers, only in his socks. Though he had seen Arthur in it a thousand times, he decided it was the weirdest thing he had ever seen in his life.

Letting out another groan he ran his hands through his hair, frowning and doing it again. He had never realised just how soft his master's hair was, and now realised just why the prince himself ran his fingers through his hair so often. It was quite a nice experience.

Then he frowned. Damned royals and their expensive soaps. He didn't really care too much but the fact that Arthur could have a bath whenever he wanted but that Merlin could only have one once every week or so had always annoyed him. The fact that soft hair was the result only annoyed him more.

Stop being such a girl Merlin, he heard Arthur say in his head. Then he sighed and walked away from the mirror. This could only be bad. If he was in Arthur's body then it was likely that Arthur was in his and that would mean explaining why he was now Merlin which also meant keeping the magic a little less secret. Not a prospect he was really looking forwards to.

He eyed the door wearily, unsure if he really wanted to venture out. He prided himself on knowing the prince fairly well, but if anyone stopped him to speak to him he didn't know quite how he would react. Sighing again (he had to stop doing that) he walked towards the door, striding out like he owned the place…which he supposed at this moment he did.

Thankfully there was no one in the corridor and he made it almost all the way to Gaius' chamber without interruption when he ran into Gwen turning the corner the other way. It seemed she had just left Gaius' chamber herself and Merlin-Arthur had to physically stop himself from moaning by pinching his leg discretely.

He smiled at her as she smiled at him, knowing this was going to be an awkward meeting for him even before they started talking.

"Hello Arthur," she greeted with a small bow. She no longer needed to since they had been officially dating since she had become a noble, but Merlin knew it was hard to break a habit you had been doing all your life.

"Gwen…evere," he greeted back, almost forgetting Arthur's habit of using the long version of her name. Gwen didn't seem to notice as she leaned up to peck him on the lips softly. His heart jumped as her lips met his and he tried his best not to panic. Arthur would kill him for this if he found out.

She frowned slightly as she pulled back, her hands still resting on his upper arms, looking into his eyes and causing him to cringe.

"Are you ok? She asked uncertainly. He nodded, quickly before looking away and coughing, doing his best to replicate Arthur's embarrassed face. Apparently he did a good job as the smile came back to the girls face. "Are you here to see Gaius…or Merlin?"

The cheeky grin she gave him with her last two words surprised him slightly and he couldn't stop the small smile that came to his face. With about a second to think without it looking suspicious, he found an excuse to be walking to Gaius' chamber on Merlin's day off that still sounded like Arthur.

"Gaius. I slipped on something that idiot Merlin had left on the floor and landed on my back. I'm fine but it's better to be safe than sorry, right?" he shrugged, smiling as Gwen's face became a mixture of worried and amused.

"You should learn to watch where your walking." she told him before leaning up again, pecking him on the lips for a second time and walking away with a wave. He smiled at her until she had rounded the corner before sagging slightly. For a small talk that had been exhausting. He couldn't wait until he was himself again.

It was with that thought that he walked through the door to Gaius' room and his head felt like it had exploded.

oxo…oxo

Dear readers,
Ok, so that's chapter two. It's a lot longer than the first, I know, but I saw the first one as more of a prologue. This will probably be the size of the chapters from now on as I find people prefer it this way. Of course, if you like them shorter or longer then tell me in your review or whatever and I'll see what I can do. I hope you enjoy this story, it should be funny. Hopefully. And please review. I live for review's. They are my entire world XD
Oh, in case anyone's interested, I got this idea from the Colin/Bradley quest thing when they were asked a question like 'if you could be anyone else in Merlin who would it be' and Bradley said they had always thought it would be fun if Merlin and Arthur swapped bodys or something so I decided to give it a shot! XD
Animeloveramy

Well that last statement isn't entirely true, watching Merlin and anime as well as reviews are more like her entire world ^_^ oh btw I think this Merlin-Arthur/Arthur-Merlin is gonna get confusing, any supporters for numbering them 1 and 3? ;)

AnimeAiedail