Welcome to yet another chapter!

A few Notes:

-Yes, to the awesome person who reviewed, part of the summary is taken from the Panic! At the Disco Song, The Calender. It was part of what inspired this fic along with the idea of the The End episode from Supernatural (hint, hint)

-When Mordred speaks its only through mental communication, which is like 'this'; hopefully that wasn't confusing in the last couple chapters

No more notes, I have nothing left to say. Enjoy!

The lyrics at the beginning: The Killers, All These Things That I've Done

Chapter 4: Nothing's Permanent

I want to stand up, I want to let go

You know, you know, no you don't, you don't

I want to shine on in the hearts of men

I want to mean it from the back of my broken hand

Another head aches, another heart breaks

And my affection, well, it comes and goes

I need direction to perfection, no no no no

Over and in, last call for sin

While everyone's lost, the battle is won

With all these things that I've done

Sir Leon sat saddled on his horse in the middle of the woods. There were five men on horses around him each wearing some form of tiredness on their faces. They were one of five groups of men that had left Camelot three days ago after King Arthur ordered the surrounding villages searched for the missing courtier. Leon had taken his group in the western direction and it seemed that they would never reach the outlying villages.

"We will stop and set up camp here." He could hear the relieved sighs from the men around him and he had to hold back one of his own. He slid of his horse onto his feet and began hitting his legs, trying to get the feeling back in his thighs. Hard work like this was not new to him, but it did not mean he ever looked forward to it.

Thankfully this would most likely be the last day before they started to head back. They only had a few more hours to go until they reached the outer most village, Raknor, and then they would be done with their mission. Leon only hoped that the other groups had been more successful.

The lance struck the knight in the chest, the wood fractured into thousands of pieces, and the knight was thrown from the horse. His body hit the ground full force, his armor clanking in the dirt. The crowd 'oh'-ed in sympathy but their focus was quickly taken as they turned to cheer for the winner of that round, Lancelot.

Arthur, sitting in the King's chair, clapped along with the crowd proud of his knight that just took out another one of Prince Boyle's knights. Prince Boyle, who was sitting in a chair next to Gwen, looked to be having a good time too even though his knight just lost. Gwen was cheering enthusiastically for Lancelot.

Merlin stood behind and to the right of Arthur's chair, his hands clasped behind his back. He was clapping earlier when Sir Elyan decimated three of Boyle's knights in a row, and he was clapping earlier when Sir Percival advanced to the semi-final rounds, but he was not clapping now. No one noticed, they were too busy watching the match and Lancelot, but Arthur. Merlin felt that Gwen's cheering was enough for the both of them.

"I have to say Sire that your knights are the first I've met that actual live up to the tales told about them." Boyle said as the cheering died down and Lancelot made it off the main grounds. "They are quite impressive as is the rest of your kingdom." If his gaze slide over to Merlin for a second no one noticed.

Arthur nodded appreciatively to Boyle before standing up. The crowd instantly quieted. "Tomorrow will be the final round between Sir Lancelot and Sir Percival. May the best knight win!"

The cheers were deafening.

"Though I regret to write this my ruling on this matter still stands: Duke Bale and his company are no longer permitted to trade in Camelot land. Since you have been insistent in this matter and do not trust nor follow my ruling over my own land, you leave me no choice: for this day hence, all trade routes in Camelot shall be closed to the Kingdom of Lauith until further notice."

Signed,

Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot

King Richardson crumbled up the letter in his hand. His frustration and his humiliation were evident on his face, many of the servants cleared out of the room to perform other duties. The Duke was the only one who was still present in the room besides the king; he already read the letter.

"They cannot be allowed to deface us like this," he said from his standing position in front of the king's chair. "Sire." He added with an afterthought.

The king threw the letter to the ground. "King Arthur," he spat the name. "Clearly believes that this kingdom is not as worthy or strong as his or would not have sent such a—such a letter! I will not be made a fool of by some Pendragon who has only been on the throne for a month!"

The Duke did not even try to hold back his smile. "What will be your action Sire?"

"I will be travelling to speak with an old friend." The king stepped down from his chair. "And you will continue to trade in Camelot despite King Arthur's ruling." The Duke bowed and walked away.

A figure, which stood silently behind a pillar in servant garb, flittered away as the King stormed out of his throne room. The servant not seen again.

Lancelot pulled the sweat filled tunic off of his head and tossed it on the floor. The sun was sinking in the sky, last rays of light filtering in through his window casting oranges, reds, and pinks throughout the room. He plopped down onto his bed and began taking off his boots.

A knock sounded at his door.

"Enter."

Light, clicking steps and the whooshing sound on velvet on stone echoed in his room. He looked up and saw Guinevere standing in the middle of the room. The sunlight wrapped around her pale blue grown and around her skin making her look as if she was glowing.

Lancelot though that maybe she truly was an angel. "Hey." He breathed out and mentally scolded himself for sounding like an idiot. Guinevere gave him a small smile and Lancelot felt his chest tighten.

"Hey." Gwen's voice was just as quiet not wanting to break whatever was between them at this moment. She locked eyes with Lancelot and the smile began bigger. They stared at each other.

The sounds of clanking armor sounded outside the door and broke the silence in the room. Gwen visibly jumped and tried to remember why she was here.

"I wanted to, uh, congratulate you on your victories today." She fiddled nervously with the sleeve of her gown, which she still was not used to wearing. "It—you were quite impressive."

"Thank you Milady, your complaints are taken in high regard," He realized he was sitting down in a room while a lady, the queen, was standing. He jumped from the bed as if it was on fire. "I apologize; I never offered you a seat."

"It's alright Lancelot I spent the entire day sitting," next to my husband, sitting next to my husband. "I should really be going anyways. I just wanted to wish you luck tomorrow. Not that you'll need it or that I want Percival to get hurt. I don't! It's just I want you to win, but it'd be fine if Percival won too, just not as…good as you winning…" Gwen shuffled in her expensive gown in the center of the room.

Lancelot could not help but think how ridiculous this was, that a queen should be nervous around a knight. "I understand and thank you. I shall tell Percival that—"

His door flew open. "Sir Lancelot!" It was Agravaine. "Milady!" He quickly bowed, not expecting to see the queen in the knight's room, especially with Lancelot not wearing a shirt. Gwen turned to look back at Lancelot and noticed his lack of dress and what the guard must think.

"Oh! Oh no it's just…I just—"

Agravaine cut her off politely as he could. "It's fine Milady, but it's urgent the King sent me." Lancelot stood straighter fearing Camelot was in danger. "His royal servant, Merlin has collapsed again. The king wished me to inform you immediately."

Gwen gasped and Lancelot quickly left the room.

To say that Agravaine was happy would be an understatement.

It had been a very difficult past few months. When Morgana finally rebelled from underneath Uther's reign and broke all ties with the Pendragons, Agravaine had left his home and traveled to Camelot. He had made it to the castle a week later, but by that time, Morgana had been thrown off the throne and Arthur wore the crown. He had gone on a search for Morgana and found her, broken, poor, and living alone in a hut.

He walked into that hut and found her curled on a make shift bed. She was curled around herself, crying, and in tattered, bloody clothes. He had walked over and laid down next her and curled around her protectively. And as he held her, shaking in his arms, he made the decision that he would everything in his power to make sure she was never alone and broken like that again.

Mordred had contacted her a few days later and Agravaine went to offer his services to Arthur and to help bring down the Pendragon reign from the inside.

The missing courtier was just the first part.

And now he had the perfect weapon to use against Arthur.

Gwen and Lancelot.

It was too quiet. Arthur, since he could remember, was always surrounded with noise. There were never any moments expect when he was asleep when there wasn't someone talking to him or people running about. It was a busy castle. When he became older the silence was filled by his knights through the sounds of fighting, yelling, and training. And five years ago he was given a servant named Merlin and his every waking moment was filled with his voice. Merlin as always talking and when he wasn't talking he was making a racket falling and running into objects.

Arthur was sitting by his servant now.

It was completely silent.

Merlin was lying prone on his bed. His head was propped up on several pillows, a cold, wet cloth was on his forehead, and his chest slowly rose and fell. Arthur sat on a chair he had pulled up next to the bed. His hands were folded next to Merlin's right side.

'There's nothing more that I can do.'

Arthur replayed the words Gaius had said to him a few hours ago. He had heard the pain in Gaius's voice and Arthur knew how much it hurt to watch someone you loved suffer without being able to do anything.

'Have you ever seen this before?'

'No.'

Arthur ran a hand tiredly over his face.

Merlin grumbled something and shifted. Arthur watched as Merlin's face twisted in pain and then relaxed again. He took the rag off of his head, dipped it in the cooler water, and then placed it back on Merlin's head. He looked at his servant, his friend, lying on the bed and could not help but remember how he looked earlier.

He had just changed out of his ceremonial clothes he had to wear when in public for the jousting tournament and was making his way to the kitchens. Usually, the king would call for a maid or his personal servant to get him food, but Arthur was stuck sitting down all day and he just wanted to take the walk himself. He came to the second set of stairs and stopped.

There were clothes, his clothes, thrown about the stairs. His eyes landed on the bottom on the stairs and saw a body twisted on the floor. The body had messy black hair, a worn blue shirt, a neckerchief, and brown pants; there was a pool of red mixed in with the inky black hair. He ran down the stairs and dropped down beside his servant, calling for help.

Arthur jerked back to the present and his hand slid over to Merlin's.

A Few Hours Earlier

Merlin was not paying attention as he walked down the halls of Camelot. He had just gotten back from the tournament and his head was busy trying to decide what to do about Gwen and Lancelot. He could see it, the way Gwen looked at him, as if he were the center of the world. She loved him and it was only a matter of time. He wished he knew what to do about it though or even if he had the right to interfere.

So it was no surprise that Merlin had not seen Prince Boyle walking in his path. They collided and Merlin hit the ground hard, which jarred him from his thoughts and back into reality.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The strong voice of Prince Boyle sounded from above Merlin. He looked up to see a hand extended to him and he was pulled back onto his feet.

"Thanks." Merlin gave the Prince an awkward smile and the Prince nodded back.

"You serve King Arthur correct?"

"Yep, I serve the pr—" Merlin stopped himself. "The King, I've been his servant for five years now."

Prince Boyle's face changed at that statement, but Merlin could not place the look. "I request then that I see you in my chambers after dinner."

Merlin knew better to object. "Yes, Sire."

The Prince continued walking down the hallway and Merlin could not help but think what an odd conversation that was and that there was some subtle context that he missed. He shrugged and continued down the hallway and waved towards Percival, who was approaching him. The knight waved back but seemed to be in a hurry, so Merlin did not say anything.

Percival rounded the corner and Merlin took one step down the stairs before the visions hit.

"I think it's time we go Arthur." Gwen stated form her position in the chair next to Arthur's. Arthur's gaze stayed fixed on Merlin who was still unconscious or asleep, Arthur could not tell the difference the only thing that mattered was that Merlin was not present.

Gwen laid a light hand on Arthur's shoulder, her eyes were filled with unshed tears. "Arthur?" He turned his head slowly to meet hers. They reflected pain at each other. "It's late, you missed dinner, it's time to go."

"No." Arthur's voice was a register lower from not being used for a few hours. "I'm going to stay here."

Gwen applied more pressure on his shoulder in comfort. "I know he's your friend, he's my friend too, but you need to sleep you have a kingdom to run." Arthur shook his head and turned his attention back to the sleeping man.

"I know Gwen, but I can't—I can't just leave him. He, he wouldn't leave me." There was finality in his voice.

"Please Arthur, you're king." Her voice was more demanding.

"I'm not-!" Arthur stopped himself from yelling. "I'm not leaving him." Arthur continued to watch Merlin as Gwen watched Arthur. It was becoming a more common occurrence. She did not want to sleep in the bed alone, she wanted, needed to sleep next to her husband.

"Arthur—"

"Just go Gwen!" He snapped and there was an underlying frustration in his voice that was not attributed to the situation at hand. Gwen stood up and left the room, shutting the door quickly behind her.

Arthur reached over and grasped Merlin's hand.

"Please, please wake up Merlin." He looked down at their joined hands. "I—I can't watch you suffer like this. There are things that I need to talk to you about that I can't handle myself. You need to get better."

Merlin did not stir and Arthur did not let go of his hand.

Sir Leon and his company had reached the outlying village of Raknor early the next morning. The company had split up, each man talking a difference house until the entire town's people had been questioned. The question began like all the rest, with the people knowing nothing about a courtier or a group of at least five men on horseback.

"A company of men?" The man was a few inches shorter than Leon, with darker hair and light blue eyes. His wife stood by his side. "I saw something like that a few days ago, Sir."

Leon instantly perked up. "Do you see where they were headed or haw many there were?"

The man shook his head. "I only saw them in the forest, in the distance while I was getting wood. I couldn't make the number out but they were clearly headed south of here, into Essetir Sir."

Leon thanked the man, but was troubled. The next village the gourp would hit would be Elador, which was officially in Essetir, King Lot's kingdom. They would be trespassing into another King's lands in Camelot colors and if they were caught, it could be seen as an act of war.

Leon had order the men to go back and report to King Arthur that the men were heading towards Essetir. Leon stayed behind and began traveling to Elador hoping for more answers, leaving his cloak behind.

Two Days Later

Leon had arrived in Elador. The name of the village sounded familiar to him, but for the life of him he could not remember from where he had heard it. He packed up his small camp, saddled the horse, and traveled the hour he was away from Elador.

The first strange thing he noticed was the lack of animals. He had seen a bird, a squirrel, or a rabbit for the past two hours of his journey and it was sending of warning bells in his head. He had been a knight, what seemed like forever, which signs to take into account and animals were always a good source for signs. They sensed things he could not.

He slowed down his horse as he reached the top of hill, which would allow him to see over the village. The trees cleared and he saw clear, blue sky once more. Clear blue sky that was covered with smoke. He looked down at the village below to see the place set ablaze.

The plot thickens...!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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