Merlin had had magic from as long as he could remember.

According to his mother he'd been using it since before he could walk – and apparently it'd been hell trying to convince a toddler that levitating his toys was not a 'normal' thing to do. In fact, he'd been seven before he could more or less repress his magic, so until that point Hunith had been doing her best to home-school him.

His first day of primary school was awful.

On the surface, he was an ordinary child, a little shy perhaps from such little exposure to others, but well-meaning and absorbed in the world around him. But children can pick the worst times to be astute, and it was obvious from the start that he was different – other – and so they wanted nothing to do with him. Why would they?

But Merlin was quite used to solitude. His mother had been attentive, but she had her own responsibilities, and she could hardly stay with him constantly.

It had been beginning to look like he would never be happy there, and the temptation to ask to be home-schooled again was one he considered often.

Ironically, if it wasn't for his magic, Merlin probably never would've made friends with Will.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Merlin was relaxing in the fields at the back of his house, a few favourite books resting nearby and his eyes shut as he lay back and soaked in the sun.

Before he knew what was happening, he heard faint yelling coming closer. He sat up and saw William running madly towards him from the other end of the field. They'd never spoken, but Merlin knew him from school, the boy had a strong dislike for authority figures, especially teachers, and he was the self-appointed class clown; able to make a joke out of anything.

"Run, Merlin!" Will yelled at him, and for some reason neither of them could fathom, he gathered up his books and fell into step beside Will as he ran. Glancing over his shoulder, Merlin could see who they were running from: Farmer Ferris, a grouchy old man who owned the land next to Merlin's. From the angry twist of his expression and the speed of his pursuit, Merlin was willing to bet Will had been trespassing.

"What did you do?" Merlin gasped, he led Will around the side of his house and towards the copse of trees to the right.

"I was only messing around," Will replied, "I didn't mean for the chickens to get loose."

Merlin let out a startled burst of laughter, sharing wide grins with Will as he reached the trees. Farmer Ferris wasn't far behind, bursting into the trees with a face like thunder.

There was no way they could get away from him indefinitely, they were seven and he was an angry old man with no patience left for childish fun.

"Get behind that tree!" Merlin whispered, rushing behind one of the bigger oaks. He peered out from behind and in his excitement he forgot to keep that careful restraint on his magic. With eyes glowing an unnatural gold, he watched as his magic moved into the tree roots, the ones in front of the farmer lifting up and tripped him. Will could barely restrain his laughter as the farmer angrily picked himself back up before tripping over again almost immediately.

"Damn kids," he muttered after being tripped for three consecutive steps. With his fists bunched and his eyes narrowed, he turned around and marched away. Grumbling to himself as he hurried off back towards his own farm, but completely unaware of Merlin's intervention.

"How did you do that?" Will demanded, rushing over to Merlin and grabbing him by the shoulders, his blue eyes wide.

"I didn't- uh- I-" Merlin mumbled, terrified. His mother had warned him and warned him what would happen if people found out.

"I promise I won't ever tell anyone," Will told him with a small sincere smile, "we're friends now, right? And friends don't tell each other's secrets."

"We're friends?" Merlin asked, his tone cautious.

"Of course!" Will grinned. "I can tell we'll get on."

"Well…I have magic," he admitted in a quiet rush, all too willing to finally have someone to confide in.

"Woah," Will breathed, "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"That is awesome," he grinned broadly, "I won't tell anyone. Promise."

He held out his pinkie finger, and Merlin slowly did the same.

Will smiled as their fingers twisted together, "Mates?"

"Mates," Merlin agreed, smiling back and feeling hopeful for the first time.

Merlin had only ever frozen time once before – when his mother was rushing around getting ready one morning and she tripped at the top of the stairs, he hadn't even had time to think, he'd just let him magic out long enough to stop her falling, freezing her in mid-air, and then hurried up the stairs to move her back to safe footing before letting time resume – and he wasn't sure it was something he could control.

But, in the split second between doing it and realising what he had done, he was glad.

The world around him was frozen, Arthur was there, barely two metres from the speeding car, his wide-eyes staring at the vehicle's approach. Lance was on the floor with the two others, sprawled on the pavement. No one was looking at Merlin.

He hurried forward a few steps and then let his magic release it's hold, barrelling into Arthur the next moment and sending them both to the ground.

The car sped on and slammed into the side of the building nearby with a horrendous noise.

"What the-?" Arthur gasped, and Merlin realised he had fallen across him as they landed. He threw himself backwards to sit beside him on the pavement beside Arthur, noting they were on the other side of the car from the others. He pulled in quick breaths as the residual adrenaline pumped through his body and left fine tremors across his hands.

"Are you okay?" Merlin asked, pressing a hand to his own chest to feel his gradually slowing heartbeat.

"Yeah, I- Merlin?" Arthur demanded, his expression, if possible, turned even more incredulous. "What the hell is going on?"

"I just saved your life," Merlin snapped back, "you could be a little more grateful." He pushed himself to his feet, hurrying around the back of the car to where Lance and the two others were getting to their feet.

"Is Arthur…?" Lance asked.

"He's fine," Merlin replied rolling his eyes, "same stupid prat as before."

One of the men laughed, and Merlin looked over to them. "Hey, I'm-"

"You're Merlin," the shorter of the two said, smirking, "Yeah, Arthur mentioned you." Merlin's eyebrows rose in disbelief and the other man snorted another laugh.

"Complained about you is more like it," he chuckled. In Merlin's opinion, both of them seemed entirely too calm considering they'd nearly been hit by a car.

"My name's Bors, that's Kay," the first man said, "we're friends of Arthur's. Listen, thanks you two, that was…yeah."

"No problem," Lance replied, smiling, with a glance at Merlin as if to say 'they're not so bad'.

"What about the driver?" Kay asked, and then everyone was moving over to the wrecked car.

The front bonnet was buckled and the windscreen was smashed, but the driver didn't appear to have any major injuries – well, she didn't seem to be bleeding anywhere other than a cut on her lip where she'd no doubt bitten through it. And as they watched her eyes blinked open and she looked around herself, disorientated.

"Hello Mary," Arthur said. He was standing on the other side of the car by the driver's side.

"Arthur," the woman, Mary, hissed, her face distraught.

"You know each other?" Merlin asked incredulously, but no one responded.

"I believe that constitutes attempted murder," Arthur told her, a scary calm pervading his expression and voice.

"Fuck you," she replied, her eyes brimming with tears, slumping forward in her seat to rest against the deflated airbag in front of her.

"I'll drop the charges," he said after a moment, ignoring the indignant arguments of Kay and Bors behind him, "if you stay away from me. Mary, if anything like this ever happens again, I'll call the police and they'll lock you up. Do you understand?"

"Leave me alone, Pendragon," she sobbed quietly.

Arthur sighed, walking around the back of the car to the others.

Kay and Bors just seemed glad that their friend was alive and they greeted him with jovial grins, but Merlin and Lancelot stood a little way back regarded him cautiously.

"Thank you," Arthur said, his tone slightly grudging, he looked up at them, gaze flicking between them and then resting on Lance, Merlin tried to hide his indignation at that – after all, he was the one who saved Arthur's life – but no doubt failed. "You two can go, if you like." Bors was already on the phone to the emergency services, asking for an ambulance for Mary.

"Sure," Lance agreed, noting Merlin's annoyance, "I guess we'll see you guys at Camden. Try not to get yourselves killed," he shot them a wry grin and kept Merlin a step in front of him as they walked away from the scene.

"Jesus Christ," Merlin muttered as they walked back, "what the hell is up with that guy?"

"Who? Arthur?"

"Yes, Arthur," Merlin snapped back, "I mean, it's not like I just saved his life or anything. He could've at least pretended to appreciate it."

"Forget him, Merlin," Lance suggested, "maybe if you're lucky you'll get a reward or something."

"I didn't do it for a reward," Merlin sighed, "but it'd be nice if he could be a little less hostile."

"Really, Merlin. Just forget about it? Alright?"

Merlin let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

Arthur would be lying if he said he was surprised to find his attempted murderer was Mary Myles, not that he thought she was capable of such violence, but if anyone was going to try and run him over it'd be her.

They'd dated for a month or two, gotten on great, it'd seemed like things were going well, and then she suggested Arthur let her brother Thomas join the football team. From the half-pleading look in her eyes, he'd guessed Thomas must've wanted to join pretty badly, and Arthur always had been a sucker for the people he cared about.

"Of course," he told her, and she gave him a deep relieved kiss, "but he'll have to try out first," he added, she frowned as she pulled back. "Everyone has to try out, Mary, I can't just let him on the team because he's your brother, that wouldn't be fair." She huffed but let it go when he gave her another kiss.

It was a few days later, when Thomas tried out, that things started going downhill.

First of all, the kid sucked. He couldn't kick a ball in a straight line, lacked any sort of communication skills and seemed determined to doing everything himself. There was no way in hell Arthur would've let him join after that performance, a fact he conveyed in no uncertain terms.

"But Mary said you'd let me join!" Thomas snapped back, angrily. "She said you'd promised."

"I did no such thing," Arthur said, mildly amused by his reaction.

"You're such a snob," Thomas spat at him as he stormed away.

It was less than a week after that when Arthur returned to his room one evening to find the place had been totally trashed. A note was left of his dresser: Let me join or I'll make your life hell –Thomas.

Arthur could hardly believe the boy's stupidity.

He called up campus police, and they came over. One look at the trashed room and the note (that Thomas had damn well signed, as if they needed more proof) and Thomas was banned from the university.

Mary had been furious. She'd broken up with him that same night and threatened all sorts of things against him.

Arthur hadn't really expected her to do anything though.

It was only because of their past that he didn't call the police. He knew she was emotionally fraught, Thomas must've been devastated to be thrown out of one of the best universities in the country, and that meant he could excuse her actions this one time. He meant what he said though; if she did anything else then he'd make sure she was held accountable.

"You alright, Arthur?" Bors asked once he was finished on the phone.

"Yeah, fine," Arthur replied, although he honestly wasn't. As if nearly getting run over by an angry ex wasn't bad enough, of course it had to be Merlin that saved him. He'd thought he was fixedly against Merlin, that he could start to hate the self-righteous idiot, but now all that was mixed up with gratitude and relief – and disbelief – that he'd saved his life. How was he supposed to act now? He owed Merlin his life, whether he liked it or not, and surely that demanded a truce between them.

Arthur honestly didn't know. It wasn't a feeling he much liked.

"That was a close one, eh?" Kay chuckled. "You got any other angry exes stashed away about to try and kill us?"

"Thankfully, not," Arthur replied.

Finally they heard the wail of the ambulance and the flash of its lights as it approached.

"Let's just sort this mess out so I can get some sleep."

Arthur woke up to the shrill ring of his mobile. The tone seemed to reverberate in his skull, as if to throw his hangover into sharper relief.

"What is it?" Arthur groaned into the receiver.

"Arthur."

At once Uther's stiff tone caught his attention, and he cleared his throat and sat upright in surprise. "Father. What is it?" He glanced at his clock to learn it was already 8.30am, though his lie-in could no doubt be excused by the stressful events of the previous night.

"I have been informed that Mary Myles tried to run you over in her car last night."

"Don't throw her out, father," Arthur demanded immediately, "she was confused and angry and-"

"It has already been done," Uther replied, his tone cutting, allowing for no argument. "When were you going to tell me?"

"When I woke up?" Arthur suggested as he was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You were asleep," Uther stated after a moment.

"Yes, I was. Is there something I can help you with father?"

"I've arranged a meeting for ten o'clock this morning. You will be there."

"Yes, father," he agreed, too distracted by his own needs to be paying much attention; his mouth tasted revolting and he knew he needed something to eat and drink before attempting any other sort of interaction with anyone.

"Is that all, father?...Father?" It took a moment for him to realise that Uther had already hung up.

Merlin was late. That of itself was normal enough. But now Merlin was late for his second lesson with Professor Gaius, and he knew that couldn't be a good thing.

He burst into Gaius's workshop, out of breath with his satchel slipping off his shoulder and his hair still a messy bedhead.

"Sorry I'm late," Merlin said immediately. He had to blink a couple of times before realising that the figure standing next to Gaius was, in fact, a real person and not a figment of his imagination.

Gaius and his visitor turned to Merlin. The visitor was young, no doubt another student, and she was uncommonly pretty. Her smile was small and amused as she looked him over, and he took the opportunity to do the same to her.

She had curly brown hair done up in a neat bun, with a few loose strands hanging down around her face. Her brown eyes look warm and kind and everything about her seemed nice and welcoming. She was wearing a red blouse with faded jeans, and stood angled slightly towards Gaius like they'd been talking, before Merlin's entrance.

"Speak of the devil," Gaius chuckled, "Guinevere, this is the new student I was just telling you about; Merlin. Merlin, meet Guinevere."

"Gwen," she said, walking forward and offering him her hand. He took it and shook quickly, running a hand across his messy hair in an attempt to flatten it afterwards.

"Nice to meet you," he said, smiling broadly, "are you another one of Gaius's students?"

"Gaius doesn't have any other students," she told him, rolling her eyes, "so I was a little surprised when I found out he'd be teaching you."

"Indeed, Gwen is very helpful, and I'd have been lucky to teach her. But, alas, her interest is in the arts, not much for science. I sometimes have her help out with my experiments," Gaius regarded her affectionately, seeming somewhat like a proud father.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be nice having you around," Merlin told her honestly, "Professor Gaius can be a little…" he trailed off as the man in question arched one white eyebrow in warning. "Well," he amended, as Gwen smirked, "I'm sure you know him better than me."

"Quite," she agreed, turning back to Gaius, "I've got another lecture to get to in twenty minutes, so I better be going." She turned to Merlin, "I'm sure I'll see you around."

"I hope so," Merlin replied and she beamed at him pleasantly, a slight blush rising across his cheeks. And then she grabbed a coat from the rack by the door and left, calling out a cheerful goodbye over her shoulder. "Gwen seems nice," Merlin remarked, following Gaius over to one of the crowded worktops.

"You won't distract me that easily," Gaius told him, stern but amused, "why were you late?"

"There was a bit of an incident last night," Merlin shrugged, "Lance and I got back pretty late so I guess I slept in a bit."

"What sort of incident?" Gaius demanded, turning to face him head-on.

"It was-"

"Did you use your magic?" Gaius asked him, as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Merlin couldn't stop himself from gaping. "Of course I know about your magic, you idiot boy, your mother told me all about it."

"What? But-"

"Don't deny it," Gaius told him warningly, "you might be able to fool all those oblivious people outside, but I know everything that goes on in my workshop. So? Did you use your magic?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"You're not supposed to use it in public!" Gaius berated him.

"I was saving someone's life!" Merlin told him, slightly ticked off. "I couldn't help it. Sometimes it just…happens," he shrugged helplessly.

"You didn't use an incantation?" Gaius asked cautiously.

"You mean like a spell?" Merlin returned incredulously. "No. I don't know any spells. I didn't even know they existed."

"Your magic is entirely natural ability?"

"Yeah," Merlin admitted, "I can use it sometimes, but usually it just happens when I lose control and forget to stop it."

"So what did you do last night?"

"Well, Lance and I were walking home from the pub, and this woman tried to run over Arthur and his mates. We tried to get there in time but I would've been too late and she'd have hit Arthur so I…uh, I froze time for, like, a second and-"

"Impossible," Gaius said, but his eyes were already wide with wonder.

"What's impossible?" Merlin asked curiously.

"Freezing time."

"No it isn't," Merlin corrected, "I did it before, a few years ago when mum nearly fell down the stairs."

Gaius said nothing, but he walked over to one of the comfier chairs and sat down. "You better take a seat, lad, and tell me everything you know about this magic of yours."

Merlin, for once, wasn't running late. Nor was he lost, incapacitated, or exhausted. He was on his way to Uther's office after being informed, by a way of a messenger arriving at Gaius's workshop, that he had a meeting with Uther at ten o'clock that morning.

And, after a brief moment of thought, he was pretty sure he knew why.

He arrived at the office and entered into the waiting room, sparing a quick smile for the pleasant receptionist. Lancelot was already sat there, seeming cautious and bemused.

"Merlin," Lance greeted him, glancing up at the clock on the wall: 9.56am, "you're early."

Merlin laughed, dropping into the seat next to his, after a moment he couldn't resist inquiring, "Do you know why we're here?"

"I guess it'll be about last night," Lance shrugged.

"Yeah, but why would they want to talk to us?"

"I don't know, Merlin," Lance told him tolerantly, "but if you're patient, maybe we'll find out in a minute."

A few seconds after, Ruth called out that they could enter, and with a shared smirk, they two lads entered Uther's office, all trepidation buried beneath a careful layer of self-confidence.