Title: The City of the Forgotten
Author: TwilightKitsune1-REBORN
Word count: 2,394 Chapter Four (13,989)
Pairing: Morgana/Leon, Gwen/Lancelot, Arthur/Merlin
Rating: M – NC-17
Summary: It's a town like any other on the surface but there's one difference, if you live here you are trying everything you can to stay alive and not strike a deal with the devil. If you do and you can't pay it back it doesn't matter where you hide because when you turn around there will be a man with a gun pointed right at your head asking one last time... Steal, trade, bargain, nothing matters to him except the price you owe, or your head. You have till he's done playing.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but this particular story idea (all character's, locations, or idea's FROM the TV show Merlin are not mine) This is a fan based story and I am making NO profit from it. I'm just borrowing the character's for a bit of fun ;)
Warnings: Modern AU, DARK!Merlin (sort of, may lighten him up later), drug use, some non-con, YAOI (slash), violence, OOC-ness (all over the place), PWP (at times, plot comes and goes), angst (cause that happens in my stories), drama (and lots), ... may be more but this is only the beginning!
Notes: Chapter four for this city has finally been finished! It took me two day's to get this chapter written and it's shorter then my first ch.'s (as I warned). Also, it took a while to get around to writing this but I totally got it :D I may have pulled my plotbunnies out of their holes kicking and screaming but you know ::shrug:: as long as I got this chapter out :) Also, I know, I know, I'm rushing things a bit but... If I followed some time lines I would be working on this story FOREVER! So-ooo if anyone is saying bullet holes take longer to heal I'm basically going along the lines of surgery healing timelines and I've never been shot so I don't know and don't have the patience to work on this story FOREVERS ... So-ooo surgery pains, I know those!... yeah sure it works ::nod nod::

Oh and as always, any helpful feedback and letting me know what you think is always appreciated!

Chapter Four

Maybe it was the gentle breeze that brushed across Merlin's face, or the delicate sound of a wind chime somewhere, but slowly his consciousness began to come back. He felt a numbness, an annoying ache in his arm, and that was all he really needed to be assured he was still alive. He was propped on his uninjured arm and laying on his side in a bed in a decently sized room somewhere... somewhere... Merlin's eyes snapped open when he recalled he still did not know where he was.

This time as his eyes opened he found himself in a new room, not that same backwoods trailer he had been in earlier. He was laying in a large bed that this time had far too many pillows instead of bedcoverings, and a window that was open to the elements. The window was open to the world in Merlin's mind, as the wind chime innocently hung there dancing in a soft breeze as though taunting him. He could feel his frustration starting to build as he tried to push himself up as the beige colored walls brought a new level of annoyance to him.

This however had been one of Merlin's less thought out plans as he fell back onto the mattress with gasp as the pain returned to remind him he had just been shot.

"Merlin?" it was an old man this time that walked through the door, a trey in his hands. Merlin felt himself tense.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Gaius and it would be best if you not thrash about so much if you plan to heal that wound properly." That was all this man, this Gaius said as he placed the tray he was carrying on the nightstand beside Merlin. "I know you, as I'm sure you're used to, being a servant of Uther's. I don't want trouble here."

Merlin's eyes turned to ice as he stared at the man that stood above him at the bedside. He looked at him, the old man in wrinkled looking clothes. They looked handmade, earthy tones seemed to be a favorite of his, which would be no wonder being a hermit hiding in the woods. His hair was grey, and his face showed that he had some years and in his eyes Merlin saw that there was wisdom there but there was no fear. The old man was clever, fearless it would seem too, knowing who Merlin was and still he chose to help and to heal. He didn't even wait for Merlin to indicate the error of this life, showing no fear of either Merlin or Uther...

"You don't want trouble yet you heal me?" Merlin said pushing himself up slightly so he would be sitting further up on the bed. Even if he was injured he'd not give this man an upper hand by letting himself stay vulnerable. 'Yet when it was Arthur I didn't even think to... I'll think about that later!' Merlin berated himself as his mind wondered to Arthur. Where was Arthur?

"Only because I was asked to. Had I seen you on the side of the road..."

Merlin smiled a bitter smile, "You'd have spit on me like everyone else." Merlin couldn't help the cruel laughter that bubbled out, he always laughed when he thought of how others hated and feared him. "I'm not surprised by that master healer Gaius." Merlin finished with a mock.

Gaius could only look at Merlin and he felt his heart pity the young man that lay there in his care. He couldn't help but find himself wondering what tortures Uther had put upon this Merlin to make him so cruel, so heartless... and then it dawned on him as he recalled the few simple words Merlin had just spoken You'd have spit on me like everyone else and then he couldn't help but wonder 'Perhaps it was everyone and everything that made him... A self-defense? No it couldn't be that, the world could not have cast him out so cruelly...' "Think what you may, I would have hesitated but I have a sworn obligation to help—"

"To help killers?" Merlin interrupted with a wicked smile. "You know as well as anyone who knows who I am, that is how I became injured."

Gaius smiled, "Why Merlin is that a confession."

Merlin closed his eyes. "My mouth does not open, and I do not speak... Not until I'm needed to. Not until Uther needs my life."

Gaius could almost feel his blood run cold. "Are you that devoted?" Merlin said nothing, suddenly seeming as still as stone. "I was only joking about the confession boy!" at those words Merlin seemed to move a little, his gaze locked on Gaius as though judging his words.

With a nod Merlin finally answered, "It's not devotion..." was all Merlin said before changing the subject. "Does he know you live out here?"

"Uther?" Gaius asked and at Merlin's nod Gaius sighed. "Yes. I have my own debt, my own arrangement with Uther. It was set into place some years ago... Probably before you were even born."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "So he knows you live out here and doesn't care you heal people for free?"

"Heal them or kill them... It's no concern of his." Gaius said as though he were repeating something he had been told.

"One more thing..." Merlin said as he ghosted his fingertips over the top of his shoulder, "Does he know who I am?"

"Does he?... Oh you mean Arthur?" Gaius said with a knowing smile. "No. Arthur has no clue who you are, what you do for a living, but he is wishing very dearly to know what your sign is."

"My... Sign?" Merlin asked confused.

"I have a feeling you two are going to make for an interesting pair when you start moving around a little better... Which by the looks of it should be tomorrow. But let's not push you. First you rest some more and then we'll see how you do." Gaius said handing Merlin a cup of some warm, odd smelling liquid that had been sitting on the trey he carried in.

"What is this?"

"The same thing I gave Arthur to have him get some rest when you reopened you wound, passed out on him, and bleed all over everything... He'd not sleep or leave your side, insisting you'd asked him not to so I had to drug him, as I'm drugging you now. The difference here is, I'm telling you about it and when you go to sleep I'll apply a few ointments to your arm."

"How kind." Merlin said as he eyed the cup in his hand and sniffed at it. It smelled different, more fragrant then any drink he had come across but that was all that he could tell. "I'm to trust this isn't some poison then?"

"Yes, you're to trust the man who has been working to save your life, wouldn't poison you the moment you woke up." Gaius replied.

"Are you always such a rude one?" Merlin said with a smile. He liked this Gaius he decided as he drank from the cup. The old man held no reservation, held nothing back, and spoke his mind. Merlin always did love it when people spoke their mind unafraid... It was so rare.

It didn't take long for the drug to take effect, already felling the room spin by the time he pulled the cup from his lips. Merlin wanted to say that the drink tasted strange, sweet and bitter and dry, but as he opened his mouth his eyes were already closing and Gaius was leaning him back and repositioning the pillows. "It's alright boy, you sleep now and tell me what you want to say later. You're safe here so rest easy. I'll be in to check on you later." Gaius whispered to Merlin, Merlin's eyes already starting to blur.

'Its weird.. That I trust him.' Merlin thought as sleep overtook him and this time he couldn't fight it, didn't fight it, and strangely didn't want to fight it.

X.x.X.x.X

It was a dream, a memory, a forgotten time that seemed so long ago. Merlin was in the garden with Morgana and Morgause, the older he became these times had become rarer and rarer, so as he sat there watching the girls laugh and giggle about some odd nonsense that girls laughed about he found himself breathing in the warm air of summer. Here the air smelled and tasted differently then it normally did, freer almost. Had the city really closed in on him at some point? Did the air really change so much for him now than it was then? 'I can't do anything about it now...' Merlin thought as a bumblebee flitted by.

The next thing he knew Morgana was screaming and Merlin felt his blood run cold. He now remembered what memory this was, what day he was reliving, and as he turned his head quickly to see her and try to get up to run to her, the ground sank below him and he felt himself falling away. "Noo!" He cried and felt his panic rise. As he threw one of his arms out to try and catch the side of the earth as it rose around him a gun appeared, pointed at him.

It was instinct that made him jump backwards, away from what he had been moving towards and back into the sinking earth. As he felt himself being buried he looked up. He felt anger beginning to burn inside him and that's when he saw that the one holding the gun with a smile was him. He tried to move forward, tried to see if the him in the dream with the gun was just holding it for him, but as Merlin moved the smile grew wider and the look turned insane. Merlin tried to open his mouth to say something but as soon as the thought entered his mind the other Merlin shook his head. "Does that ever work? Come now Merlin... It's just a bit of fun, I mean work." he said with a cold laugh as he cocked the gun and for a second time in Merlin's life he felt fear.

As the blast sounded in Merlin's ears he was already trying to jump out of the bed he had been laying in and nearly knocked Arthur over who had been sitting at the edge. "Merlin? Hey, you alright you look pale as a ghost?" Arthur asked as he gently held onto the shaking Merlin being mindful of Merlin's injured shoulder but not letting him move or thrash about anymore then he just had.

Merlin could feel his body shaking, could feel his arm ache at the sudden movements but as he sat there tucked in Arthur's arms he felt his heart beginning to quiet. Without thinking about it, and seeing no reason not to since he was already here, Merlin laid his head down on Arthur's chest and just breathed in Arthur's scent. 'Like summer almost' Merlin thought amused at Arthur's cologne.

They stayed like that for some time just sitting there in each other's embrace. Arthur was tracing invisible designs on Merlin's back and resting his chin on Merlin's head, while Merlin just leaned on Arthur for something even Merlin wasn't sure of. "Arthur..." Merlin finally said and broke their silent little world as he pushed away.

"Oh." Arthur just said as he loosened his hold so Merlin could ease back on the bed. "Are you feeling better?"

Merlin said nothing as he looked away and just started biting at his nails, a habit that Uther had always thought "unseemly" or "disgusting" but he could never help it. "Arthur... Who do you think I am?"

Arthur just looked at him confused before, "You're Merlin."

Merlin just looked at Arthur. 'Pure eyes' "How do you think I got shot Arthur!"

"Are you in trouble Merlin? I know a guy that's a cop and I'm sure he could help you if you need it! He's a great guy really, and if you need help Merlin, if your life is in danger then he'll help you!"

Merlin looked at Arthur and saw the desperation there, the concern, for him. Merlin had to look away because for the first time in his life he felt guilt for everything he had done. "I'm not in danger Arthur... I'm probably one of the safest people you'll meet in this city."

Arthur reached for Merlin and as soon as his fingers brushed Merlin's arm Merlin pulled back as though he had been burned. "Then how'd you get shot?"

Merlin closed his eyes, and he regretted starting this conversation. "Well there was a gun... I didn't see who shot me." Merlin hated himself.

"So someone just shot you?" Arthur asked as he moved closer to Merlin as though to take him in his arms again.

"There's more to it than that... but I'm tired, being shot and all takes a lot out of a person." Merlin lied as he started to lay back.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

"I want you to take care of yourself. While you've showered, which I'm thankful for, go shave and eat and whatever else you do for a living."

"And then just go home and worry about you?"

Merlin looked away, no one ever asked him what to do... "Do what you want after you do what you ineed/i to do."

"Then I'll be back." Arthur said and before either could do anything, as though he didn't even think it through himself, Arthur leaned forward and placed his lips on Merlin's forehead for a moment. A small kiss, an innocent kiss, but still Merlin's heart skipped a beat.

Merlin felt heat burn his cheeks and as Arthur stood hands up in surrender Merlin was already sitting up with embarrassment written all over his face. Arthur ran for the door and he was already on the other side when a pillow from the bed found itself flying through the air.

"Idiot." Merlin whispered as he brushed his fingertips over where Arthur's lips had only been for a moment. A smile twitched at Merlin's lips before he pushed it down and laid back on the bed.

End Chapter Four