I promise this chapter was NOT supposed to go this direction, but it did, so... It did!
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REVIEW REPLIES:
Bellanca: Hhahaha, that is what Merlin thought, too! And yes, I'm pretty sure Uther DOES think he is crazy... *Grins*
Hannah Lynn McDonald: Haha, Dragoon the Great! :)
Alaia Skyhawk: Glad you think so! ;)
MerlinMorgana1579: Yes, he does, you guessed it! And, I guess if it fits in, it will be a reveal fic.
Merlin carried the animal in his hands warily, dodging people who bustled around the courtyard, knights and servants going to their houses or posts. Gaius had shown up about an hour prior, and told them he'd look for a cure, while they spoke to the man who'd done this. So, they were going to try and get him to undo it. The sentence had been postponed because of Arthur's disappearance, so they had more time. The manservant passed a man pushing a wheel barrow, and several guards that switched positions for the next few hours.
That was when he tripped. Someone rammed into him during his distraction, sending him flying onto the ground.
As Merlin fell, so did Arthur. From his position in Merlin's hands, the mouse-prince fell, tumbling hard and fast. The world seemed to be spinning. He bounced against the cobblestone of the courtyard, and once he finally landed, he groaned, or rather... squeaked. The prince stood dizzily and shook his head. Before he could move farther, he toppled sideways, panting slightly.
He was about to stand, when he saw a shadow looming over him. He rolled over and looked up. To his horror, he came face to face with a pair of green eyes and bristled whiskers. Arthur gulped, pulling his toothpick sword up. 'That's it... If I'm to die by cat... I'll go fighting.' he thought.
The cat lunged. The young prince dodged, stabbing his wooden toothpick sword into the cat's side... or rather into its fur. It did nothing but make the cat angry. It went at him again. He rolled to the side, groaning at the pain he already felt from his fall... but the cat was too fast.
Arthur let out a pained cry as the cat's razor sharp teeth sunk in. He writhed uselessly against the jaws of the creature that would be his doom. He couldn't believe it... He'd faced witches, wizards, druids, dragons, and armies, and a cat was to be his death? The thought was almost enough to bring tears... ALMOST. He lashed out at the cat with his 'sword,' still hoping to free himself.
It hurt... it hurt... he couldn't focus... he was losing too much blood and he knew it. "MERLIN!"
Merlin looked up from where he had landed on the ground, his hands underneath of him as he tried to push himself up, getting his feet under him. He scrambled to a standing position, trying to pinpoint the sounds of pain. Then he heard the mouse-prince-Arthur cry his name. "Arthur!" he cried, seeing a tabby standing in the courtyard a little ways away from him, shaking its head and pawing at its mouth. No, the mouse hanging from its teeth. Cursing, he ran towards the cat, already crouching to the ground before fully stopped. The cat bounded away from him, so he kept crouch-running, hands outstretched. Tail raised high, the feline trotted off. Merlin lunged, plowing the cat over with an angry sound. Ignoring the on-lookers, the wrestled with the creature.
"Let go!" he demanded, trying to pry its jaws open. Eyes briefly flashing gold, the cats jaw dropped open, and out fell a bloody heap of mouse. From this position he guessed no one had seen what had happened, but at the moment he couldn't care if they did. Scooping up the precious bundle he looked at the hissing animal before him, "Bad cat!"
Arthur vaguely felt the release of the cat's jaws. He heard Merlin scolding it... but everything was cold and dark. He felt... lost. He barely understood what had just happened. Merlin had somehow managed to get the cat to let go. His addled mind told him that Merlin had done something... odd. No, that couldn't have been right.
He blinked sluggishly, looking up at Merlin through the glassy, black eyes of a sick mouse. He suddenly felt very tiny... very desperate, and very near death. He coughed and tried to stand, but ended up toppling over in Merlin's hands again.
"Merlin..." he muttered, paws clutching at Merlin's fingers. He had to say the inevitable, before he keeled over, and he was man-enough to do it. "I'm... If I die, I should probably... thank you, before then."
"No. No," Merlin shook his head in denial. "This isn't what's supposed to happen. You're not supposed to die yet. You have to live. You haven't full-filled your destiny yet. You still have things to do. This isn't supposed to happen, " Merlin ran through his words, and with desperationtried to apply pressure to the wounds with his other hand which was not full of a mouse. Lips pressed together, and then they twitched to the side. His eyes watered, and with one hand he rubbed his nose, sniffing.
The people in the courtyard looked strangely at him, he could feel their stares and hear the gossip, the whispers. The laughs, the jests now being thrown his way. And they couldn't see it, they were blind, as their future king died before their eyes.
Arthur laughed, the sound humorless and hollow. "Yeah, I know... I can hardly believe it myself." He had barely managed to cough out the words. Arthur tried to come up with something else to say, but nothing came. He felt like he should say something profound, but it seemed like Merlin had everything covered on that end... surprisingly.
"Don't tell anyone... that a cat killed me," he sputtered. "Tell them... I was hunting a dragon or something," he added. He ran his paws over his face, shivering and wincing in pain. He groaned, curling in on himself and wondering how much longer he had. The prince vaguely wondered if perhaps the sorcerer could heal him. Then the thought crossed his mind that the man probably wanted him to die... slowly, as a mouse.
"No. No, you're not going to die, Arthur," Merlin said, determined. "You're going to live, and you're going to become king, and you're going to set of a chain of events that brings about peace. And you want to know how I know? Because I've seen it." The warlock's voice was thick with emotion; pride. He could still feel the stares on his back, burrowing into his soul. He closed his eyes, putting his forehead against the bloodied Arthur and mumbling under his breath. And then again, shaky words, and perhaps the anguish of his soul was what drove his magic to react to it. He opened his eyes again.
Arthur's eyes opened as he heard Merlin mumbling the words of magic. He recognized them. He flinched in surprise and his breath came in fast, sharp gasps of shock. He wriggled backwards, propping himself up and looking at Merlin's golden eyes.
Even with the pain he was in, Arthur's natural thought was to hate magic. Uther had taught him that his whole life... But as his eyes met Merlin's, he began to question that. He felt his pain lessen somewhat.
Merlin was... healing him? Surely he knew what this meant? If Merlin used magic, and Arthur did survive, that could mean the end of Merlin's life, and he would know that. But rather than keep his secret, and his life safe... Merlin was choosing to save him. The servant's words raged through Arthur's mind like wildfire. 'No. No, you're not going to die, Arthur. You're going to live, and you're going to become king, and you're going to set of a chain of events that brings about peace.'
Arthur finaly relaxed slightly. The pain wasn't gone, but he no longer felt his life slipping away. He looked up at Merlin through wondering, curious, and a bit scared eyes. "You... have you been... I mean, all this time?" he asked, mumbling his words.
"I'm not sorry," Merlin whispered in reply, his eyes slipping shut. "It wasn't my choice, I was born with it. I never practiced witchcraft, I promise. I've used it for you, only to help you," the young man said what seemed like a rehearsed line. Shaking himself out of his trance, he didn't think about what would happen, or magic, or if any of the people watching had seen, just gently held the crimson covered mouse, stood, walked, left, un-knowingly having tears streaming from his eyes.
Arthur was a bit shocked by Merlin's confession. Suddenly, he found himself wondering if his father had been wrong all this time. Merlin had been born with magic. There had been oh-so-many times where he could have used it for evil. He could have killed Uther with it... he could have ended the slaughter of people like himself... but instead, he'd let the king live. In many events, he'd even saved him from other magic users.
Finally, Arthur spoke. "I didn't ask you do apologize." He stayed still where he was, feeling tired, shocked and drained of all energy, but he would live... probably, and with a new insight on cats and Merlin. Arthur contemplated asking why Merlin hadn't been honest with him since the start. Then again... in Merlin's place, Arthur wouldn't have said anything either. "So... all those times I thought you were a half-witted fool..." Arthur spoke softly, "I've been so blind, and my father's been so wrong..."
Merlin kept walking, as if hypnotized, or sleep walking. He sneaked into the castle, passing the guards quietly with his head dropped. "Arthur," he whispered quietly as he clumsily started to jog up the stairs. "Are you okay now?" was all he managed to wheeze past the lump growing in his throat, like invisible hands trying to steal his oxygen. The terror of the situation hit him. The helplessness in the courtyard, and everything else since then.
Arthur propped himself up carefully, poking at where the holes in his make-shift shirt were. His insides weren't... out. He wasn't losing blood like a waterfall. Yes, all things considered, he was 'okay.' Still sore, but okay. "Yes, thank you," he spoke in a timid, quite voice like a... mouse. He frowned at the comparison.
Arthur was a bit surprised to see that Merlin looked more frightened by this than he himself did. "Merlin, I'm not going to tell my father, if that's what you're worried about." Suddenly, a thought hit him. What if, even though Merlin had saved his life... what if he didn't help him turn human again? He gulped back that fear. He trusted Merlin... there seemed to be no one else who he could trust.
"Look Merlin, I'm trusting you, and I promise you can trust me." He put one paw on Merlin's thumb, in a comforting jesture, though he didn't know what good it would do, as he was a mouse.
Merlin wanted to reply, he really did, but he didn't exactly trust his voice. The panic moved up his throat like something thick, heavy, making it hard to breathe. So he didn't speak, he tried to collect himself, tried to stay calm and think, because he still had things to do, still had to save Arthur, still had to change him back... A sob broke from his throat and he immediately clamped a hand over his mouth. Curling his fingers slightly over the prince in a carefully protective manor, he sped up. "I do trust you," he finally forced out hastily, as convingly as he could.
Arthur frowned and cocked his head to one side. He pushed Merlin's fingers out of his way so he could see the servant-wizard's face. "No... you don't," he said quietly. He didn't know why, but that hurt... more than he'd thought it would. Why did it matter if Merlin trusted him or not? And another thing he wondered, why did he care how Merlin felt? He realized it was because Merlin had always cared how he felt. Even when he'd been an arrogant 'prat' as Merlin had called him.
"You've always told me I'd be a great king, but what it a king without the trust of his people-his friends? Merlin, if you don't trust me... after everything, then why should anyone?" Arthur asked, summoning his own wisdom. He hated that he'd found out about Merlin's gift when he was a mouse... but life didn't always go as he wanted it, so he would make the best of it. 'Besides,' he mused, 'I'm less threatening this way.'
"You do have my trust," Merlin croaked in reply. "I swear," he whispered brokenly. He wasn't surprised at the wisdom in Arthur's words. Not at all. In fact, it was a relief, because after these years, he was speaking without handing out a backhanded compliment. His friends, Merlin, had seen it in him all along, and there it was. "It's just-" his voice puttered out yet again, and he found himself outside of Gaius' chambers, tear tracks on his face, blood on his hands. Finally he looked down to meet the Princes gaze, and the intensity in his eyes shown the battle within. So many emotions, so many thoughts, fears, and just one overall plea. A plea for understanding.
Arthur nodded. Merlin had been hiding a secret for so long, not knowing what would happen if anyone ever found out. Now Arthur knew. It was Merlin's life that was at stake, and yet, he came into the castle everyday... knowing that one slip-up could mean his death. Yet he'd come... and for Arthur, of all reasons. "Thank you, Merlin," Arthur spoke quietly.
The prince stared at the tear-stained face of the warlock. He'd always taken Merlin's tears as a sign of weakness... now he understood that he'd been wrong. Merlin had no one who understood. He'd been alone, and in peril all his life. Arthur discovered that going back to 'normal' once this was over would be very hard. Pretending not to know this... especially around Uther, would be difficult. But he could, and would do it. As Merlin had been loyal to him, so he would be.