A/N: This is set directly after The Witchfinder.
I don't own Merlin.
Arthur sighed as he sank into the chair at his desk. He'd let things pile up during Aredian's investigations, but now he needed to tackle his pile of paperwork.
About an hour later, his father entered—without knocking, as usual. "Arthur, what have you done with the reports on the taxes from the southern fiefs?"
Arthur held up the parchment he'd been working on. "Right here, Father, I was going to bring it in the morning."
Uther frowned in disapproval. "You really shouldn't let yourself fall so far behind."
Arthur bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Sire."
Suddenly, a muffled noise that sounded suspiciously like an explosion came through the wall. Uther jumped. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Arthur replied, silently praying that Merlin wasn't experimenting again. The sound repeated.
Uther furrowed his brow. "It sounds like it's coming from Merlin's chambers." He turned around and left to investigate.
Arthur hurried after him. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Father…"
He trailed off when Uther opened the door to Merlin's chambers and promptly fainted. Now extremely worried, Arthur cautiously looked into the room. He quickly pulled his head back out and shut his eyes, hoping he'd been hallucinating. After taking a deep breath, he looked again. He had not been hallucinating.
Every single object in Merlin's room, including the furniture, was floating in midair and drifting lazily in random directions. Merlin and Morgana were sitting on Merlin's bed with a jug and two glasses of wine, which somehow did not spill despite the constant tilting of the bed. Morgana was giggling and making random explosive bursts of fire. Merlin appeared to be guiding the chaos of the floating objects.
Arthur dragged his father out of the room and closed the door. Then he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. What higher power had he offended, to deserve this? Wasn't running a kingdom hard enough? Must he be saddled with two sorcerers for siblings? Drunk sorcerers, who had just revealed themselves to their magic-hating father?
Well, standing around and moaning wasn't going to help anything. Checking that the door was securely closed, Arthur called for a pair of guards. "Take my father back to his chambers unseen. And not a word to anyone, or you will regret it."
"Yes, Sire," the guards chorused, obviously burning with curiosity.
Once the guards were out of sight, Arthur took a deep breath and entered Merlin's chambers again. He quickly closed the door behind him. "What do you two think you're doing?"
"Cel'bratin'," Morgana slurred. "'Redian's gone. We're alive."
"And drunk," Arthur stated flatly.
"'M not drunk," Merlin objected.
"Really? So tell me, why is nothing in this room where it's supposed to be?"
"Is too where it's s'posed to be!" Merlin insisted. He pointed at a table. "The door's right there." He pointed at a chair. "Window's right there." He pointed at a floating book. "And the bed's right there!"
"No, Merlin. Not even close."
"Don't you ever get tired of black hair?" Morgana mused. She mumbled a spell, turning both her and Merlin's hair vibrantly red. "Much better."
"C'mon, Arthur, have some fun!" Merlin urged. A chair suddenly scooped Arthur up and brought him to the bed.
"I think you've both had more than enough fun for tonight!" Arthur retorted.
"But the ball is just starting!" Morgana protested. She mumbled another spell, causing several of Merlin's floating shirts to turn garishly pink. They began waltzing with the other, still-masculine shirts. A glance at Merlin showed that he appeared to be controlling the latter group of shirts.
"Okay, seriously, enough!" Arthur cried. "Merlin, put your room back in order right this instant!"
"But I like it this way," Merlin complained with a hiccup.
"What about Will?" Arthur suggested. "I think it would make his job rather difficult, to work in a room like this. Where is he, anyway?"
"Gave him the night off," Merlin replied. "Figured he and Gaius would want to catch up."
"Well you won't be making him feel any better if he has to deal with this in the morning," Arthur pointed out.
Merlin pouted, then sighed. "I'll fix it later."
"You won't remember how to do it later," Arthur warned. He paused as an idea came to him. "In fact, I bet you don't remember now."
"Do too," Merlin argued.
"Prove it."
"Gladly." Merlin waved a hand, and everything drifted back where it belonged. The furniture settled on the ground with slight thumps. Arthur gratefully put his feet back on the ground and rose out of the chair. He hurried over to the bed and swiftly punched Merlin in the face, knocking him out.
"That wasn't very nice," Morgana objected.
"I don't have time to be nice right now," Arthur retorted. "Put your hair back to normal. His too. And the shirts."
Morgana folded her arms. "No."
"I am your future king, Morgana. Put things back to normal right now, or one day I'll issue a decree banning you from ever having fun again."
Morgana gasped. "You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Morgana glared at him for a few moments, then deflated. "Fine. Have it your way." Her eyes flashed gold. Both her and Merlin's hair turned black again. Arthur checked the wardrobe. The shirts were back to normal too.
"Good job," Arthur praised. "Now let's get you back to your chambers."
"Why can't I sleep in here?" Morgana complained.
"Because this is a man's chambers and you're a woman. Now get up." Arthur slung his arm under hers and hauled her to her feet without waiting for a response. He guided her out of the room. "Come on."
"You know what this kingdom needs?" Morgana mused.
"No, what?"
"A queen. It needs a queen. It needs a woman's touch."
"Sure, so long as it's not another troll."
Morgana gave him a thoughtful look. "You should marry Gwen. She'd be an amazing queen."
Arthur stiffened. "I'm sure she would, but princes don't marry servants. However much they may want to," he added under his breath.
"Well that's a stupid rule. Uther makes a lot of stupid rules. Like…why does he hate—"
Arthur quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. "Don't mention that word in public, Morgana. You wouldn't want people to guess your secret, would you?"
Morgana shook her head. Arthur kept his hand over her mouth as they passed a pair of guards who looked far too interested by the sight of their prince escorting a very drunk king's ward. "Speak of this to anyone, and I will have your heads," Arthur threatened.
The guards nodded, obviously suppressing laughs. "Of course not, Sire."
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they reached Morgana's chambers. They were empty; it looked like Gwen had gone home for the night. Arthur led Morgana to her bed, then picked her up and placed her on it. "Now be a good girl and go to sleep."
"But I need my nightgown," Morgana objected. She sat up and untied her sash. "You've got to help me into my nightgown!"
"No, I most definitely do not!" Arthur said quickly. "You can survive one night of sleeping in your clothes. I am not your nursemaid!"
"No, you're my brother." Morgana smiled and hugged him. "G'night, brother." She laid back down and closed her eyes.
Arthur stood frozen in shock for a few moments. "Uh…good night, sister."
Arthur left the room and shut the door. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then hurried back to his chambers to finish the tax report. Once that was done, he crawled into bed, thoroughly exhausted. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
In the morning, Arthur went to the dining room for breakfast. He stopped short when he saw his father sitting at the head of the table, looking somewhat pale. Oh no. In all the chaos of corralling his drunk siblings, he had completely forgotten about what their father witnessed.
"Father?" Arthur asked warily. "Did…you…sleep all right?"
Uther rubbed his head. "No. I had a most terrible dream." At that moment, the doors opened again. Merlin and Morgana entered, both looking hungover. Uther gave them a wary look. "You two…aren't…sorcerers, are you?"
The two secret sorcerers shared a wide-eyed look. "Uh…no?" Merlin answered hesitantly. Uther visibly relaxed.
"Definitely not," Morgana said more strongly. "Don't be silly."
"Why do you ask?" Merlin wondered.
"It's nothing," Uther said hurriedly. "A nightmare, that's all. I shall have to ask Gaius for a sleeping draught."
"Aredian's dead and there are no other sorcerers in Camelot," Arthur stated firmly. He took a seat. "Let's just eat our breakfast and put the whole thing behind us."
Morgana shuddered. "Gladly." Uther and Merlin nodded agreement.
