Chapter 3

Merlin drove up to his mums, now he had his own flat he could just go home and cry to himself but he needed someone to talk to.

He was in tears by the time he reached his mums house, his eyes were red and swollen and all he wanted was a hug off his mum to tell him everthing would be okay.

It was only 6.30 so Hunith was surprised to see her son at the door, but when she saw the state of him she guessed it was to do with Morgana.

"Sweetie, come in" Hunith said "I'll make you some tea"

They got a cup of tea and made toast and they went to talk in the living room

"Was is that bad of a date?" Hunith asked

"No, but she has basically used me and thrown me out, i know you don't need to know the nitty gritty stuff about what happened, i am your son after all but it just, it's so painful how last night can happen and then this morning she is like Sorry Merlin it's not happening" Merlin said

"Sweetie, You may be my son but you are 24, lived in America for the past 6 years out of my sight and you were in a relationship from the age of 13-16, i aren't stupid"

"Ok, well, anyway, it just ... It hurts mum so much, I love her" Merlin said starting to cry again

Hunith gave him a hug and told him it was going to be okay but Merlin wasn't so sure

"Merlin" Hunith asked a while later while he was layed on the sofa still in tears "Does it remind you of High school all over again? Is that why it's got you this upset?"

Merlin just nodded and Hunith sighed "Merlin, you can't dwell on what happened at High school forever"

- Flashback -

It got to January and Merlin was looking forward to new start in 2004, he only had a few months left of school then was off to College to train in dancing.

The only problem with the last few months of school were that he and Arthur were no longer friends by any means and he and Morgana had a very nasty breakup just before christmas break, he was at the bottom of the social triangle, and boy did he know about it.

He was hoping that any greif he got wouldn't start immediatley so it wouldn't last for as long or have much chance to get worse, something he was very wrong about.

That morning he was walking down the school hallway when he saw Arthur walking the other direction, he reached to just before Arthur and gave no eye contact when he suddenly felt himself be thrown into the lockers.

"Fucking Bastard!" He heard Arthur shout at him before walking off down the hall

Merlin got up off the floor and saw people looking at him, he was in pain, his arm had hit the locker with some force, he wanted to cry on the spot but that wouldn't help his cause so he just walked down the hallway to his class without a word.

It got worse very quickly, one Thursday dinner, without knowing how, he had his head shoved down a toilet by Arthur and Leon was on watch to make sure nobody was going to catch him nearly drowning Merlin.

"What the hell did i do to you!" Merlin shouted at him when Arthur brought his head back up for a moment

"You broke my sisters heart!" Arthur shouted back at him and shoved his head back in the toilet flushing it again

Merlin pulled his head back up and spat into the toilet.

"I didn't break her heart! She ended it with me! I was the one who suffered through Christmas break! i am the one who is suffering at school with no friends!" Merlin shouted at him

"And my family suffered through christmas because Morgana was miserable! You ruined our christmas you wanker!"

"Abort! Abort!" Leon whispered through to Arthur

Arthur jumped up and walked out of the cubicle shutting the door of it behind him leaving Merlin alone and went to wash his hands acting natural.

Merlin sat back against the wall in the cubicle and started crying, The rest of year 11 was going to be awful. People used to love him, he was popular too, most people were scared of Arthur, that is why everyone was treating him like crap, they were scared of Arthur.

He got up and dried his face and hair best he could then left the toilets, At least he stil had Gwen.

- End of Flashback -

Merlin ate some breakfast and then went to Tesco for his mum, He was about a street away when he saw Arthur.

"Oh shit" he muttered

Arthur saw Merlin and walked over to him

"Hey Merlin!" He said "Can we have a chat please!" He grabbed Merlin by his top and pulled him down the road the way he had just come from, he got to a house and opened the door and pushed him inside.

Merlin fell over and jumped straight back up

"What is your problem?" Merlin snapped at him

"Listen now Emrys! You think you can just show back up in town and charm my sister, sleep with her and then leave her you can think again!"

"What? She kicked me out!" Merlin said half laughing

"So you did sleep with her!" Arthur said

"Arthur, you didn't once have a problem with me and your sister having sex when we were in high school!"

"look Merlin, shut up! Listen to me now! She says she doesn't want you but the last 8 years, she has been miserable, she's had relationships but they haven't lasted and do you wanna know why?"

"Why?" Merlin asked rolling his eyes

"Cause none of them were you! You were her first love! She may say she doesn't want you Merlin but she does, and you have to fight for her, not just walk out! I know you still love her Merlin so fight for her! Don't mess it all up!"

"Wait ... You are trying to help me?" Merlin asked confused

"Look i may have made the last term of year 11 miserable for you, but i have grown up now, I want to see my sister happy, and if she is happy with you then so be it" Arthur suddenly realized what he was doing. He was 25 years old for goodness sake, and not in high school and a business man. He wasn't going to go 'round beating people up "And I want you to be happy too Merlin."

There was just something about this guy and the way he could make his smart, confident sister fall into an uncontrollable mess - and that's when she was happy, the pile of sobs she would turn into when she was sad was even harder to deal with. But in all honesty, they had been best friends...

"Whoa, Arthur, did someone knock you on the head too? What is up with you?" Merlin stammered.

"Oh, just, you know, you deserve to be happy. I put you through hell in high school. And you and Morgana seem to - for whatever reason - be sort of a perfect fit." Arthur realized how stupid sappy he must sound, Merlin was going to think he'd grown soft too." But I don't want to have to see my sister crying anymore!"

The next monday after school had finished and Morgana and Gwen were tidying around the classroom and preparing for tomorrows lessons.

"So Morgana, how did the date with Merlin go?" Gwen asked as she put the books away in the book corner

"Gwen" Morgana sighed taking the kids work books off the tables, she sat down on the chair nearest to her "It wasn't a date ... Well saying that, it kind of ended up being a date"

"Oh?" Gwen asked smirking "Go on"

"Well ... We went to Manton's, the restaurant ... We had such a lovely time, catching up and talking about everything, He was so sweet, he paid for the meal and everything ... Then he drove me home"

"And?" Gwen asked, she refused to believe that was the end of the story

"Well ... i kissed him and before i could invite him upstairs, we were upstairs and ..."

"You didn't!" Gwen said now grinning

"We did" Morgana said "But, i can't go down that road with him, It hurt too much when we broke up last time, i could never go through that again if it didn't work"

"Morgana ... You need to go for it, You are meant to be"

"All i can think is the shit he went through at the end of year 11 ... Arthur made his life miserable and i let him ... How can someone do that to someone they love?"

- Flashback -

It was the third week back after christmas, Morgana was still miserable about her and Merlin's breakup, afterall she did love him, but they had been arguing so much recently and then his and Arthur's fall out had made matters worse, and what was the point in being together when they were starting college soon? They would never see one another.

She was walking to Religious Ed with her head held high, she may have been miserable but she still had an image to keep up, she saw Merlin walking infront of her, they were in the same R.E class, she heard Arthur, well who couldn't hear him, he was heard miles off with his big gob, and she suddenly felt an arm around her.

"Hey sis! how you doing?"

"What do you want?" Morgana asked

"So, i was thinking ... Am i okay to torture Merlin during R.E?"

"Do what you want, i don't care anymore" Morgana said

"Yes, thank Morgs" Arthur said "Come on boys, time to roll!"

"You are such a loser" Morgana said to him

"No ... He is the loser" Arthur said pointing to Merlin and Arthur and his friends set off at a faster pace down the hallway till they reached Merlin, Arthur put his foot round the back of Merlin's foot and Merlin went flying, falling on his face. Arthur's friends all started laughing, Even the ones who were meant to still like Merlin.

"Thanks you guys" Merlin muttered glaring up Gwaine, Lance, Perce and Elyan.

"Stay there! and don't move until i'm out of sight!" Arthur said to him he stood on Merlin's wrist and then they all walked off down the corridor

Morgana saw this happen and saw Merlin lean against the lockers and she just walked straight past him and down to R.E leaving Merlin sat there in tears.

- End Flashback -