I've gone and forgotten to write the disclaimer. sorry about that.
disclaimer: this is a non-profit piece of literature written from an idea that hit me on the head in the middle of a rather depressing lecture about native american-US federal government relations in the 1800s. I own nothing Merlin.
-kwyl
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"You said he was awake." Merlin's eyes snapped open at the growl in Arthur's voice.
"He was! But if Merlin's sleeping, let him. He needs his rest." Gwen squared her shoulders and glared at Arthur. "I'm not afraid of you, Arthur Pendragon!"
"I can smell it on you," Arthur retorted, voice dipping dangerously low.
"Oh...Merlin's awake," Gwen mumbled, looking down to the floor, and Arthur whirled to sit at Merlin's bedside.
"Merlin."
"I'm sorry: I can't get up," Merlin said, managing to hide most of his sarcasm. "But I'll still manage to get everything done-"
"You're not doing anything," Arthur growled. He cleared his throat. "Gwen, give us a moment." Gwen threw Merlin an uncertain look, and he nodded. She left, her fading footsteps leading into ringing silence.
"You look well," Merlin said. "I mean, physically. You look horribly depressed, but you're in one piece."
"I came to apologize," Arthur said, stiff and formal, his gaze fixated above Merlin's head. Merlin turned to look, but there was nothing behind him but the wall. "I'm sorry."
"So…what happened?" Merlin tried to pull himself into a sitting up position.
"I was feeling a bit stressed and wanted to see someone else suffer." He paused. "You saved Sir Erec's life."
"Well, I'm not dead," Merlin answered, offering a huge smile. "Put it behind us?" Arthur smiled back, allowing relief to show through.
"You really shouldn't be such an idiot, you know. Fighting me when I was in a temper..."
"Temper or not, you're just a prat," Merlin replied. Arthur shook his head as he stood up.
"I should be leaving; you're needing sleep. I am sorry about all of this-"
"Sorry?" Merlin looked at Arthur with deserved suspicion. Two apologies was a bit of an overkill- especially for Arthur.
"Don't forget who I was," Arthur continued. "Good-bye." Something uneasy moved in Merlin's stomach as Arthur left, something that felt a bit like déjà vu.
It wasn't until he woke in the middle of the night that he figured out where he had seen Arthur's demeanor. It had happened just weeks ago…
…when Merlin'd been planning on sacrificing his life to save his mother…
