Thank you to all my reviewers! And thanks to caldera32 for mentioning Merlin Wiki to me.
This was originally a very long chapter, too long in fact so I decided to split it. It may seem like a filler but its all necessary information. The next chapter will have lots of action in it.
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Arthur realised that he was being prodded. At first he just thought it was a strange side effect to his dream, and it wasn't until a very annoyed voice shouted 'Arthur!' in his ear that he realised the prodding was very much reality. Grumbling, he raised his head, fully expecting to see Merlin looking down on him. Instead he was met by a very confused looking Gwaine. All the memories from the previous day came flooding back to him in an instant.
'Gwaine! You're alive!' Arthur cried, sitting up so quickly it made his head spin. Gwaine looked at him as though he was insane.
'Of course I am! I only got bitten on my hand! Did you lot think I was going to peg it?' Gwaine asked jokingly. When Arthur didn't reply, Gwaine realised he was being serious. Looking at all the people gathered round his sick bed, his stomach lurched.
'Um, how sick was I?' He said, almost inaudibly. Arthur bowed his head.
'So sick that Gaius said you'd be dead by morning.' Gwaine couldn't stop his mouth gaping like a fish.
'Arthur…..what time is it?' Gwen suddenly mumbled, causing the two men to jump. Arthur rubbed her shoulder and replied:
'Morning. Gwen wake up, something's happened.' Gwen's eyes shot open suddenly.
'Gwaine! Is he? Oh no I fell asleep. Oh gosh-'
'Guinevere, calm down. Look' Arthur soothed her and pointed to Gwaine. Gwen's hand flew to her mouth as her eyes watered. Without warning, she threw her arms round the knight and kept muttering on her breath. Arthur watched her before rousing the others.
'I don't understand it. Gwaine, you were a dead man!' Leon exclaimed as he shook Gwaine's hand.
'Well lucky for you I know how to cheat death' Gwaine said with a wink.
'Gaius, is there some explanation for this?' Arthur asked, puzzled. It wasn't that he wasn't thrilled to see Gwaine alive and chatty, it was just well, he was on his deathbed mere hours ago. Something wasn't right.
'I can only say that we should be thankful, sire. To make a miraculous recovery is indeed rare, and the fact that Gwaine has made one is indeed a reason to celebrate' Gaius replied, although Arthur knew that there was something the old man was keeping from him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, like most things that had happened that morning. Gwaine shuffled about in his bed, trying to get up when he suddenly stopped.
'Hey guys, I just wanted to ask, am I that undesirable?' He asked. The others stared.
'What do you mean by that?' Percival raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh.
'Well you know, I thought everyone that cared about me was here.' Arthur thought the guy had gone completely insane and perhaps he wasn't fully recovered after all.
'They are, you idiot' Elyan told him. Gwaine shook his head.
'Well then, where's Merlin?' Everyone in the room froze. No one had noticed the absence of the ever optimistic manservant. Arthur mentally slapped himself. That must have been it! Merlin wasn't there. 'You do know where Merlin is, don't you?' Gwaine continued, starting to worry when no one would meet his eye.
'We just assumed he was here' Gwen said quietly, guilt consuming her. She knew Merlin was probably the closest to Gwaine, and that he was probably having a hard time. He must have gone off to grieve in private.
'Just assumed he was here?' Gwaine repeated, almost mockingly. Elyan fired up.
'Hey! Leave her alone, she's speaking for all of us' Arthur stood still. After realising Merlin wasn't there he was becomingly increasingly worried about his manservant. He was momentarily distracted by Gwaine leaving his bed.
'What do you think you are doing?' Gaius shouted as Gwaine reached down to put his boots on.
'I'm going to find Merlin. I'm not dead, and you said I've made a miraculous recovery. I'm going to find my friend and show him somebody cared enough to notice he was missing.' Arthur's head snapped towards Gwaine as he heard the last few words of that sentence. Anger bubbled through him and he grabbed Gwaine by the collar of his shirt.
'Do not think you are the only one who cares for Merlin!' Arthur yelled his eyes wide. 'Do you not know how it feels to know you've let down your best friend!? Don't ever say that again.' Arthur released Gwaine and it took him a few moments to realise what he had done. The whole room was staring at him in shock. 'Gwaine, I'm sorry, I-'
'It's alight Arthur. Are you coming?' Gwaine said quietly. Arthur nodded.
'We'll search the castle' Leon added, as the two left the room, an uneasy silence falling over them.
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When Merlin had opened his eyes, he had found himself lying outside of Camelot's walls. Knowing full well that he would be pounded with questions about his current state of appearance, he decided to find a stream to wash up before making his way back. With the reassurance that Gwaine was alive, Merlin allowed himself a few minutes to think happy thoughts before planning for what he had to do later that night.
'Nothing is ever simple' He muttered to himself.
After several long minutes he found a rather small pool of water underneath a tree. Realising that it was probably better than nothing, he wandered over to it. Gazing at his reflection he discovered he'd come off rather worse than he'd originally thought. His face had a large cut that was still oozing blood and his jaw was bruised. Blood covered nearly every inch of his arm, and to his dismay Merlin saw the first signs of an infection. I'll have to hide that one he thought grimly.
His shoulder was killing him. When he had woken up it had been nothing more than a dull ache, and he had been grateful for that, but know it seemed almost unbearable. He made a mental note to steal a pain killing potion from Gaius.
After a while he'd finally managed to make himself look decent and he could easily say he'd taken a tumble down some stairs. It's a believable story he mused, remembering how often Arthur made that joke. He patched up his arm with his blue neckerchief and set off slowly to the gates of Camelot.
It had taken a while but Merlin had finally managed to make it through the lower town. The sun wasn't very high in the sky so with any luck Merlin would be able to slip in unnoticed and play happy families when the others woke up.
Unfortunately, luck never seemed to be on his side. No sooner had he entered the castle, he was cornered by a half angry, half worried Arthur and a yelling Gwaine.
'Where the hell have you been?' Gwaine yelled. 'I woke up, from death, to find you gone! I thought you'd died, well maybe not that but-' Gwaine's eyes suddenly took in Merlin's face. 'God's Merlin, what happened to you?' Damn, maybe he hadn't done a good enough job of cleaning himself up.
'Oh you know the usual. Falling down some stairs.' Merlin put on a grin, even though his jaw pained him to do so. Arthur spoke up.
'Merlin' he said quietly. 'Don't ever do that again. We were worried sick.' Merlin didn't hide the look of shock on his face at Arthur's concern.
'My my Arthur are you-'
'No Merlin, I'm not' Merlin jumped at the harshness in his voice. 'You turn up like nothing is wrong when you have a bloodied face and are battered and bruised all over and we were worried, Merlin. I think Gaius nearly had a heart attack when it dawned on us! And we are not going anywhere until you tell us where you've been.' The three men stood awkwardly.
'I wanted some air, so I left. It was dark and I tripped down some stairs. I must have knocked myself out because when I woke up it was morning.' Merlin said, pleased with his lie. He then added, 'But you can't expect me to be sorry for not warning you, you never seem to worry when I go off sometimes.' Arthur looked down at the floor.
'Yeh Merlin, that's going to change. I feel bad, we all feel bad about not really noticing. I think it's got something to do with stress.' Gwaine amended.
'And the fact that you've been acting a bit strange since we got back from hunting.' Arthur added. Merlin tensed a bit but it went unnoticed by the others.
'Well I'm back now,' Merlin said, desperately wanting to escape their company. 'Can we go and see Gaius? If he's so worried then I'm sure seeing me is going to reassure him.' Arthur nodded. They began to make they trek to the physician's quarters. Gwaine put an arm round Merlin's back and he couldn't help but cry out in pain.
'Merlin?' Gwaine's concerned voice reached his ears. 'What's wrong?'
'I think it's from where I fell, it hurts a bit.' Merlin grimaced. Arthur suddenly picked him up and put him over his shoulder. Merlin cried out. 'What are you doing?'
'Seeing as you can barely walk, I'm carrying you. We'll get to Gaius a whole lot quicker then.' Arthur replied, marching at full speed.
'But there's nothing wrong with me!' Merlin told Arthur. Arthur rolled his eyes.
'I'm not an idiot Merlin. You're hurt and, what the devil have you done to your arm?!' Merlin shut his eyes. This cannot be happening. He thought. Arthur can't know.
'I fell down the stairs.'
'You do not get these types of injuries from falling down some stairs.' Arthur scolded.
'He's right Merlin, what happened?' Gwaine asked.
'They were sharp stairs.' Merlin replied stubbornly. Arthur sighed as he walked through the door to Gaius' room.
'Sire have you-oh! Merlin!' Gaius cried as he saw what Arthur was carrying.
'I'm fine, really I'm fine.' Merlin grumbled. Arthur prodded his shoulder. 'OW!'
'Hmm, that's not really fine is it Merlin?' Arthur said smugly. Merlin glared at him. Arthur turned to Gaius. 'He said he fell down some stairs, but he clearly didn't.' Then, so only Gaius could hear. 'I think there's something he's not telling us'
'Once you've finished gossiping, I would clearly like some assistance.' Merlin said, trying to apply some salve to his back. Gaius sighed and wandered over. Taking one look at Merlin's back he exclaimed loudly.
'If you weren't hurt, I'd wallop you over the head right now.' Arthur look shocked.
'Why?' Merlin asked.
'For pretending nothing is wrong!' Gaius shouted. 'Sire, if you would leave, I would like to have a few words with my ward.'
'Oh, yes of course Gaius.' He turned to leave. 'Oh and Gaius, if you have the time could you please prepare some extra headache medicine? I have a feeling that Queen Annis' court will need some tomorrow, what will all the drinking.'
'Of course sire.' Gaius replied as the king and Gwaine left. After the door had shut, Gaius rounded on Merlin.
'What?' Merlin asked, innocently. Gaius raised his eyebrows.
'Merlin, there will come a time when you will realise that I never miss a trick. What have you done? Gwaine was a dead man yesterday, and know he walks as well as you or me. I know that such recoveries do not happen often. So tell me, whose life did you trade?' Of all the things, Merlin was not expecting that.
'P-pardon?' Merlin asked, honest.
'I know that you went to the isle of the blessed to save Gwaine. I will ask you again Merlin, whose life did you trade?' Merlin's eyes widened.
'Gaius! I swear I haven't travelled there!' He supposed that he did trade Annis' life for Gwaine's, a decision that he wished he didn't have to make. But he never wanted to see that place again. Gaius' eyes softened.
'Alright Merlin. I just can't bear to loose you. I will not ask you how you got those injuries. I just want you to know, if things ever get out of hand, then I am always here for you my boy.' Gaius gave him a small smile and turned to continue potion making.
Merlin sighed. I know you are Gaius, that's the reason I can't tell you anything.
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I promise you this was all relevant! Next chapter should be up soon, lots of angst/whump/bromance coming up!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. UK readers, who is looking forward to Merlin tonight? YAY!
