A/N: Hello all my amazing readers. So for all of you the second chapter for this story. Bit of a short chapter this time, but the next one will be longer. Won't say much about it, but I hope that you will all enjoy!

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He had barely reached the gate when he felt a presence near him. He wanted to spin around and face the person behind him, but before he could do anything or even see who or what was behind him he was grabbed by his waist, his arms pinned to his side.

He yelped out in shock as he was tilted upwards. He started to struggle, kicking the person behind him. A snicker was heard from behind him before he heard the man speak. ''Merlin, calm down, it's me. You do remember me, right?''

Immediately Merlin froze, for a moment just looking shocked in front of him, before he turned to face the man behind him. His eyes met a pair of doe brown ones and a smile that completed the picture. ''Robin?'' He asked weakly.

''Yeah, it is me.'' The outlaw answered with a chuckle.

xxx

Though he had barely walked a quarter of the distance when he froze, he could see a man sneak up behind Merlin. He wanted to scream out a warning, but no sound left his lips and he saw how the man almost threw himself on top of Merlin, wrapping his arms around the raven's small waist and lifting him up. He could see Merlin struggle to get out of his grip and it was then that he shook himself out of his sudden shock.

His legs moved on his own, running to save his friend as he drew his sword. Merlin had stopped struggling and just looked totally shocked at the man.

Arthur growled, he wasn't going to let anyone hurt his friend, he would kill anyone who would do so! 'Release him!'

xxx

"Release him!''

Merlin heard the voice and immediately recognized it as Arthur's. He snapped his head around, hearing the panic in his friend's voice, though he never had the chance as strong arms grabbed his waist and he was pulled out of Robin's arms and against a muscular chest.

He yelped and immediately his eyes shot upwards, staring startled up at Arthur's face. The king wasn't looking at him, instead he was glaring at Robin. A low growl left the blond's lips. ''Don't you dare touch him again!'' Arthur lifted his sword, pointing it to Robin's chest.

''W-What?'' The archer was blinking startled at him, before his eyes too narrowed as he saw the grip Merlin was in. ''Let him go!'' The brunette hissed as he slowly reached for his pocketknife.

Merlin's eyes grew as he watched the two men and for a moment he feared that they would attack each other. He quickly jumped up, grabbing Arthur's sword arm and pulling it down while getting in front of the king. ''Both lower your weapons!''

''No, get behind me Merlin, I'm not allowing him to hurt you!''

Arthur tried to get him behind his back, but Merlin just slapped Arthur's hand away as he quickly explained. ''Arthur don't, he's a friend! The same goes for you Robin!''

''What?''

The two other men looked startled at the court warlock, but both lowered their weapons and Merlin sighed in relief. He quickly turned to Arthur as he told him. ''This is Robin, an old friend of mine that I told you about. He's the one from Nottingham, he's the one that helped me and Gwen.''

''... He really is?'' The king sounded rather confused.

''Yeah.'' He then turned to Robin, who still was looking slightly confused, though also relieved when he saw the way that Merlin talked to the blond. ''And Robin, I would like to introduce you to King Arthur Pendragon.''

''W-what?'' Robin breathed out startled before his eyes snapped to Arthur and he quickly bowed. ''I... forgive me, sire.''

''I-it's okay.'' Arthur mumbled, still slightly startled by the revelation.

Merlin sighed in relief before he returned to wearing his goofy smile and he slung his arm around Robin's shoulder. ''Come on, I believe that Gwen would love to see you again...'' He glanced at Arthur. ''At least if you allow us to?''

The king narrowed his eyes, glaring at his friend. ''Idiot.''

''Prat.''

''Don't call your king an prat!''

Merlin turned to look innocently at his king. ''But sire, I'm only telling you the truth.''

Arthur let out a growl as he hit the court warlock on the back of the head. ''Just get back to the castle already, Gwen is expecting us for dinner.'' Arthur eyed the archer uncertainly. ''You can join us if you want, I expect my wife to be really excited to see you again.''

''Thank you, my lord.''

The raven just chuckled as he dragged both his friends back to the castle.

xxx

''Uncle Merlin!'' Lucan screamed as he threw himself against the warlock's legs.

Merlin just chuckled as he looked up at Arthur. The king was looking down at his son with a frustrated expression. ''Shouldn't you be welcoming your own father back first?''

The little prince looked unimpressed back at Arthur and he simply answered. ''Nope.'' He then immediately turned back to Merlin. ''So why are you late for dinner, did you fight bad guys? was the castle under attack? Did yo-.''

''Calm down, I just met an old friend of mine.'' He said laughing, still rather amused at the expression that the king was currently pulling, let's just say that Arthur wasn't amused with his son. He then turned the prince around, showing him to Robin. ''Lucan meet Robin an old friend of your mother and me, Robin meet our little prince Lucan, he's Gwen's son.''

''I'm not little!'' The prince protested.

Robin chuckled as he sank to his knees and looked at the prince. ''Hi, it's nice to meet you.''

''Are you a knight?''

''No, I'm just a simple archer, but I was once part of my king's army.''

Lucan narrowed his eyes. ''Are you strong?''

Robin nodded. ''Yeah, I believe so.''

''Do you like my uncle?''

''Yes.''

''Good.'' Lucan said before he pointed at Merlin. ''Than you can be my uncle's friend, but you have to be nice to him and protect him.'' Merlin smiled fondly at the prince, he was actually touched by the boy's words. Lucan dropped his hand and looked back at Robin, closing in a bit more. ''You can also be my friend if you want though.''

''I would like that.''

''Good, now let's eat, I'm hungry!'' The prince said with a smile as he grabbed robin's hand and started to drag him towards the dining room.

Gwen was standing with her back to them as they walked into the room, reading some papers. ''Mommy, father and uncle Merlin are back!'' Lucan screamed as he let go of the man's hand and ran towards his mother. ''And they brought a friend!''

He could hear Gwen laugh as she turned around. ''A friend, who did they br-.'' She fell silent as her eyes fell on Robin and a high pitched laugh left her lips. ''Robin, what're you doing here?''

They walked towards her and she practically threw herself against him, giving the brunette a tight hug. ''It's good to see you again, your majesty.''

''Oh please, don't be so formal with me.'' She then walked up to Arthur, giving him a slight kiss and she gave Merlin a warm hug before asking. ''Did you make that whole trip on your own?''

''No, I didn't, the rest will probably arrive sometime tomorrow. They stayed behind to make camp as I scouted ahead, apparently we were closer than we thought.'' Robin said with a chuckle.

''Arthur, why don't we send out Gwaine and Percival, they would probably like to see them again and then they could bring them back to the castle instead of having to sleep the night outside.''

Arthur simply nodded, knowing that he shouldn't oppose his wife. ''You're right dear, I will ask a servant to get them.''

''Good.'' She then turned to Merlin and Robin. ''Now to get you two to dinner. Robin, I'm certain that you're hungry after such a long journey and we definitely have to get some more meat on Merlin's bones.''

Rboin laughed. ''I can only agree with that one, I believe he's even skinnier than when I last saw him!''