Part 3: Fast asleep
"Hello?"
"Merlin? It's Arthur" Arthur was nervous, why the hell was he nervous? The look on Morgana's face when she sent him out had put him on edge, but now…something felt off.
"Arthur?"
"Yeah" Arthur said slowly. "Morgana sent me with cheesecake" He felt stupid saying it, but the door buzzed and he pulled it open. He went up the lift and got to Merlin apartment, number 62. He knocked gingerly on the door, and it took a while to finally open.
The door opened wide, but he couldn't see Merlin. He walked in, only to see Merlin hiding behind the door. Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Morgana sent me with cheesecake, apparently you like it and we're not going to eat it."
The door shut behind him, and Arthur gasped. Merlin's face had been beaten to a bloody, bruised pulp. He was hunched over, one arm around his middle.
"Shit" He took Merlin's face gently in his hands. He had a cut on his eyebrow that was going to need stitches, a split lip, bruises coming up left right and centre. "What happened? Who did this?"
Merlin didn't answer, he just took a couple of shaky breaths.
Arthur looked around then, Cedric was missing, there was a lamp laying on the floor, sad and broken, next to fresh patches of blood -
"Merlin, it's okay, just - " He took a deep breath, not wanting to believe it. "Where's Cedric"
Merlin stared at him hard. The look in his big blue eyes told him all he needed to know. "Shit" Arthur muttered. "I'll kill the bastard"
"No" Merlin cried out, then winced and doubled over.
"Come, sit" He helped him to the sofa.
"You have to help me" Merlin pleaded, eyes wide and desperate.
"I'm taking you to the hospital"
"No, please, can you just, get Lance? He's a doctor, he can help me"
"No, you need to go to the hospital, don't fight me, Merlin. So help me, you need a doctor, and the police and I will kill that fucker"
Merlin closed his eyes for a beat too long, squeezing his eyes shut, causing the cut on his eyebrow to bleed again. "I don't want to go to the hospital" Merlin whispered, voice cracking.
"Why not?" Arthur Demanded. He needed to see a doctor, someone who could put this on his records. Cedric would not get away with this. Arthur felt sick, thinking about the times he'd stuck up for Cedric.
"I don't want to leave the apartment, what if he comes back? What if he's here when I come back?"
Arthur nodded, thinking for a minute, he had a good point, but Merlin needed a doctor. "Okay" He agreed. "I'm calling Lance, he's coming to have a look at you. I'm also calling Morgana, is the apartment in your name?" Merlin nodded weakly. Arthur got a flannel from the bathroom and soaked it in water, holding it to his eye. "Here's the plan, Lance is going to fix up here, if we need the hospital, I'll get Morgana and Leon to come here, and to stay while we're away, I'll ask them to see if they can get a locksmith to change the locks, this is London, surely there's someone open at this time. Does that sound okay?" Merlin just nodded.
He phoned Lance first, he was convinced Merlin needed hospital treatment, His hand was swollen, and by the way he was sitting, he'd took a beating to the chest as well.
"Arthur" Lance greeted sleepily, he looked at his watched, nearly 1am. "You alright?"
Arthur took at deep breath. "Not really, I need you to come to Merlin's"
"Merlin's?" Lance said slowly, he sounded more awake. "Arthur, why do you need me to come to Merlin's?"
He looked at Merlin, who was slumped over, still holding the flannel to his head. "He's been beaten pretty badly, I'll explain when you get here, but…he's in a pretty bad state"
"I'll be right there" The phone clicked off, and he dialed Morgana's number.
"What's wrong" She demanded, of course she already knew something was wrong, she'd been telling him all evening.
"I need you and Leon to come to Merlin's, I'll explain when you get here" he clicked off, not wanting to talk about Merlin over the phone when he was sitting right next to him.
"Merlin, look at me" Arthur gently pulled the flannel away from his eye, it was still bleeding a bit, it was too deep, it would probably need stitches, he wouldn't tell him that, though. "Have you got a first aid box?"
Merlin nodded. "In the cupboard under the sink in the bathroom"
It was a fairly large box, as far as first aid boxes went. He opened it on the coffee table, pulling out one of the many antiseptic wipes. "This is a very well stocked first aid box" He said, impressed, but the look on Merlin's face stopped him. "Shit" He muttered "Shit shit I'll kill the bastard"
The intercom buzzed, and Merlin stood up to answer it. "Sit" Arthur instructed, and answered it himself.
Lance patched him up better than Arthur could. He put sterile strips on his eyebrow until they got to the hospital. He cleaned up his lip, and wrapped up his hand. Then, gave him a hard stare.
"You know what I'm going to ask you to do" Lance said pointedly.
Merlin shook his head. "Please don't"
"I've got to; it's either me or one of the doctors at the hospital"
Merlin sighed and hung his head. Lance gently pushed his shoulder so he was leaning back on the sofa.
"Lift up your shirt"
Slowly, Merlin pulled up his jumper with his good hand, and Lance, finally breaking his clinical exterior, hissed. "Don't" Merlin whispered.
"These are old" Lance said slowly, Merlin just nodded sadly. Taking a deep breath, Lance felt his ribs. Arthur, finally losing to his morbid curiosity, leant over to look.
He quickly wished he hadn't. Merins ribs were a symphony of purple, blue, yellow and black bruises, some old, some new. Arthur wanted nothing more than to hit something, preferably Cedric.
"These will need x-raying. Arthur, how far away is Morgana and Leon?"
"About ten minutes"
"I can stay here while you go to the hospital" Gwen said from the kitchen. Arthur had forgotten she was here.
"I'm not leaving you here on your own" Lance snapped, "I need Arthur to come to the hospital with me" Gwen simply nodded. Lance pulled his phone out and put it to his ear.
"Morris? It's Doctor DuLac, Yes I know it's my day off, I'm coming in with a Domestic violence victim, 25, male" He paused "Merlin Emrys, he'll need stitches and x-rays, possible broken hand, cracked ribs…Thanks, about 20 minutes" He put the phone down and stared at Merlin. "They're expecting you, there's an on call police officer coming, don't fight me, Merlin, don't even think about it, he'll get what's coming."
Lance and Arthur had to stay in the waiting room while the doctors took Merlin away. Lance tried to go with them, but they directed him here and told them to wait for the police, they wanted to ask them some questions.
The police came and went, there wasn't a lot they could say. Arthur was just dropping off some left over cheesecake, when he found him like that. He left out Morgana's bad feeling; they didn't need to know that. He didn't know how long the violence was going on for, he didn't know what provoked it, he was a bit useless, but the officer thanked him anyway.
Eventually, after what felt like a lifetime, a doctor came in.
"Does Mr. Emrys have any family?" He asked, looking between the two of them. Lance shook his head.
"His mother died last year, he hasn't got a dad, or any living relatives." The doctor nodded and looked at his notes.
"He's got two breaks on his hand, a cracked rib and stitches on his eyebrow. Other than that he's generally very bruised. Though I have to suspect that he was rather bruised before today?" The doctor gave them both a stern look. "Well done on your first aid before he came in, though. He can go home now, if he's going into someone's care?"
"Mine" Arthur said quickly. "He can stay with me for tonight" Morgana had text him earlier anyway, saying her and Leon were staying until the locks were changed, which would be until later.
The doctor nodded "Very good, if you could come with me to fill out some paperwork"
Arthur filled out the forms impatiently, he wanted to see Merlin, he hoped to god he looked better than when he was going lead off by the doctors.
Lance helped him get Merlin to the car, who looked generally out of it, but better. Lance said the painkillers he was on were pretty strong, so he'd be out of it for a while. It was probably for the best, Arthur thought. He dropped Lance back at Merlin's place so he could pick Gwen and go home. It had been a long night, Arthur would be glad to get back home.
He drove him and Merlin back to his, it was a longer drive, but Cedric wouldn't come looking for him there. At least, he hoped.
"Where are we going?" Merlin finally perked up when they were halfway to Arthur's.
"You're staying at mine tonight, or for however long you need" Merlin nodded, not questioning it, he went back to staring out the window.
Gwen had brought some of Merlin's things round, his pyjamas, toothbrush, some spare clothes. Arthur helped him change into his pyjamas, wincing at the bruising on his ribs. He shook with anger, but now was neither the time or place to do anything about that. He helped Merlin into bed, and finally sat in the living room. He looked at the clock, 7am, God it had been a long day, he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but he was wide awake and alert. So he called Morgana instead.
"How is he?" She asked in a small voice, she sounded younger, worn out.
"He's in bed now, he's not said a lot, the pain killers are pretty strong apparently, he'll be out of it for a while, I hope anyway. Any sign or Cedric?"
"No" She spat. "He knows what he's done, he won't come back for a while. We've packed up his stuff, though so he's got no reason to hang around. I'll start phoning around for a locksmith soon, I couldn't find any open late."
"Do you…do you think Merlin will want to go back there?"
"I don't know" Morgana said after a pause, "Arthur, Leon and I thought we'd clean the blood stains off the floor, there's a few of them, old ones, I mean. How long do think it was going on for?"
"A while, you should see his first aid box, he was used to patching up wounds. How did no one notice?"
"I don't know" She whispered. "I feel awful, the last few months, he's been miserable, even when it was hot outside he was always wearing long sleeves, the signs were there, Arthur, and no one noticed."
"It's okay, Morgana, he was trying to hide it"
"I just wish I'd have noticed"
Later on, sleep still evading him, he thought back to The Rising Sun, Cedrics smirk.
"How do you put up with it?"
"Oh, don't worry, I have my ways."
9am, sleep still hadn't come. So, he tip toed into Merlin's room, only to find him lying on his back, still wide awake.
"You okay?" He asked gently, Merlin nodded. "Have you been awake this whole time?" Merlin nodded. "Why?"
"Can't sleep" Merlin muttered, staring at the ceiling.
"You want me to stay with you?"
There was a pause, Merlin just stared at the ceiling, and then finally, he nodded. Arthur sat softly on the bed next to him.
They were both silent for a long time. Arthur was careful to keep his distance, making sure he didn't touch him.
"I'm scared he'll come back" Merlin's voice made him jump.
"He won't come back, and if he does, Morgana will probably scratch his eyes out"
"I'd been saying I was going to break up with him for months"
"Merlin - "
"It wasn't always like that, you know, he used to be nice, he used to be caring."
"Merlin - "
"And then one day, bang. Knocked me out cold on the kitchen floor. It only went downhill from there. I knew one day I'd snap, I'd either snap or he'd kill me"
Arthur blanched, what could he say to that?
"Sometimes, I hoped he'd kill me, I didn't have the will power to leave him, I hoped he'd hit me too hard, that I wouldn't wake up one day."
Arthur lay down on his side, facing Merlin slowly, he ran his fingers over the purple bruise on his cheek. Tears slid over his finger, he brushed them away gently.
"Why are you helping me?" Merlin whispered.
Because you tried to help me and I threw it back at you. Because I feel bad for not helping you all those times before. Because I called you miserable when you were being abused. Because you looked so damn helpless and bruised and battered and I'll never get that image out my head. Because it's what any decent human being would do. Because you don't deserve this. Because you're beautiful. the list could go on.
"Why wouldn't I help you?"
"Because you don't like me"
"That's not true, I do like you"
Merlin snorted.
"I was always a bit jealous of you, you know, seems stupid now, but when I met you, you were fresh out of university, just come back from doing charity work in south Africa with Lance, you had some overly camp guy on your arm, and you were out and proud and doing the things I wish I could have done, but never did."
Arthur watched carefully as Merlin took a shaky breath in. "You'll get through this, I promise, we'll all help you through, just…don't give up." He placed his hand gently on Merlin's shoulder, and slowly started to drift off to sleep, Merlin whispered "Thank you"