Slight homophobia in this chapter...
"NO!" Morgana shrieked while her eyes flashed up into an eerie gold light as the mirror on the wall shattered.
"Morgana!" Kara stated desperately as she tried to calm down the powerful sorceress before her.
Grasping Morgana's shoulders, Kara tried to pull the witch into a soothing embrace but was shoved back against the stone wall. Morgana seethed of anger as she leaned over her table trying to get a hold of herself.
"No," Morgana said in a less frantic tone before shrieking out, "This was not supposed to happen!"
Turning in fury to Kara, Morgana barked, "This was not supposed to happen!"
Morgana spun around to face Kara, "This is your fault. It is your fault that it was Merlin who took the fall when it should have been Arthur...I saw it in my visions!"
"But what we see may not come to pass as it seems..." Kara spoke gently as she sat crouched up against the wall.
"But what I saw is the truth...You have betrayed my trust..."
"I'm sorry, My Lady, but it was not in my hands..." Kara cowered.
"Get out of my sight!" Morgana shouted at her servant.
Kara practically crawled out of the room, not wanting to draw more attention to herself than she normally did.
Morgana placed herself on to the stool to let what Kara just told her sink in. Normally she would have curled up in her bed when something of this size occurred to order her thoughts, but today the cold, hard wood of the chair was perfect since it fell into parallel with her heart.
"If I may, Sire?" Gaius's old voice croaked as his gentle, wrinkled hand beckoned Arthur away from his delirious husband.
Gaius led Arthur out to the hallway outside his chambers and shut the door. Arthur raised his head expectedly as the old man shuffled from one foot to another. They stood there giving each other sad, pensive looks since neither of them wanted to be the first to break the ice.
Arthur spoke first, but all he could manage out was, "You heard him, Gaius..."
"I know," Gaius replied very thoughtfully.
"Will he be alright?" Arthur inquired when Gaius only mangled out two measly words.
"Physically, yes..." Gaius stated in a matter of fact tone, "He will make a full recovery."
"But?" Arthur prompted, trying to encourage the man to give him the truth.
"His memory..."
"What about it? Will he remember? Does he remember anything?" Arthur was getting frustrated. He knew he should not since Gaius was only trying to help, yet his reasoning was not working with his thoughts wrapped so tightly around Merlin.
"I'm afraid that for the time being he does not remember who he is, or who you are..."
"But he remembers my name! Gaius, you heard him say it yourself...how does he not remember who he is or who I am?!"
"I do not know for sure, Sire, considering I have not had the time to thoroughly examine him..."
"But from what you do know is?"
"I fear Merlin only remembers up to a certain point in his life...he does not remember you as a King or a husband, but he does remember you as the Prince and his master..."
"Will he remember?"
"I believe with time he will..."
"But what if he cannot? What will become of him Gaius, of us?" At this point tears had started to form in the corners of Arthur's eyes, yet he did not of the stamina to brush them away.
"You must believe, for the sake of Camelot and your soul, that he does..."
"How? How can I believe that when something I love was ripped away?"
"Because if something can be take easily, it can be regained just as easily as well..." Gaius assured the lost King before him.
"How, though, will we make Merlin remember?"
"To be honest, the best way to do so would be to throw Merlin back into his normal routine, to put him in the position as your husband again..."
"Why do I feel like your not telling me something, Gaius?" Arthur asked more of weariness than anger.
"But I fear that would overwhelm Merlin and keep him from getting the full physical recovery he will need...We may have to reinstitute him in the position he held prior to your marriage."
"So now what? Grant him his position as my servant again?"
"I'm afraid so, Sire." Gaius replied as he lowered his eyes.
"Gaius! I cannot go around pretending to be his master and nothing more! It would be too much-it would hurt to much to-to look upon that face everyday and not be able to kiss those lips...to have him around but to know we are nothing more than servant and master.
"It's self-torture...I do not think I would be able to handle it!"
Arthur sighed, letting out none of the frustration building up inside him.
"But, Sire, we must think of Merlin above all else," Gaius said half-heartedly.
"You're right, Gaius," Arthur remarked while he pinched the bridge of his nose in attempt to hide the tears pouring out of his tear ducts.
"Thank you for understanding, Arthur," Gaius praised as he put a shoulder on his surrogate son-in-law. He hobbled his way to the door and opened it wide enough to see the sleeping form of his nephew on the cot.
"I will back down for now," Arthur said as he let his gaze linger on a helpless Merlin.
Suddenly it hit Arthur what he would be losing for he stated immediately after, "But I will not pretend that nothing has happened between us."
Gaius turned to face Arthur in alarm, but before he could chastise him, Arthur quickly stated, "He will stay here until full physical recovery has been made. Then he will return to his life how it was before this incident."
Arthur swiftly turned his back and walked down the corridor; he would have run down it too hide from Gaius's death glare, but it would not do well for his pride to be seen running from the court physician.
Gaius stood facing the door that Arthur had left him gaping at, and he would have stood there for hours if it had not been for the rustling of bed sheets behind him.
"Is he gone?" Merlin's croaking voice inquired as Gaius turned to face him.
"Yes, I believe so, my boy," Gaius moved to come closer to Merlin and seated himself in the same stool that Arthur was seated in moments before.
"Sometimes I cannot believe that prat...back to work the minute I feel better, seriously? Does he even know what I have to go through everyday to his is royal backside?!" Merlin grumbled more to himself since he knew Gaius was never keen on listening to his complaints.
But what Merlin did not know was that Gaius was listening in more detail today than he normally does. As Merlin tried to reach out for the glass of water at his bedside, Gaius immediately stood up to give it to him. Merlin greedily took the tin cup and gulped the contents down in one sip.
"Merlin, you need to slow! Only moments ago you were unconscious..."
Merlin snorted at the statement, sending some of the water out of his mouth. Wiping his chin, Merlin stated, "We both know I've been through far worse."
"You have, Merlin, but the after effects have been nothing nearly as close to this magnitude..."
"What do you mean, Gaius?" Merlin asked concern rippling on his face, "Is it Arthur? Is he okay? He did not seem okay...In fact I feel like he was under some spell or enchantment..."
Beckoning Gaius forward, Merlin leaned up a bit so he could whisper in his godfather's ear, "He thought we were married..."
Gaius's eyebrows shot up higher than ever as Merlin leaned back to his previous position before continuing.
"I don't understand where he could have gotten such a crazy idea from! Oh, if Uther heard Arthur say that, he would have chopped my head off seconds after Arthur said that. Married to a servant...To a manservant..." Merlin stated as bile started to work its way up his throat.
"That's just inhumane! I mean really, Gaius, one man can't marry another: that's just...sick..." Merlin spat as Gaius shuffled in his seat uneasily.
Being Merlin apparently means that he was oblivious and was not able to pick up on other people's discomfort.
"There has to be an enchantment involved..." Merlin furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think of a way to break the curse.
"Who could have cast such an enchantment, Merlin?" Gaius said to distract himself more than to humor Merlin.
"I'm not sure...It could have been one of the druids..."
"Druids?"
"Yeah, the druids...you know? From when me and Morgana were trying to escape from Arthur and his men?"
Merlin was starting get flustered, especially now that Gaius looked even more shocked than he did before.
"Wha-When was this from, Merlin?" Gaius began to inquire.
"You really don't remember?! It was like this morning when Uther sent a search party out to find Morgana."
"No, Merlin, I really don't...Enlighten me, would you?"
Merlin chuckled., "Wow, Gaius, you're old, but you're not that old! I decided that she needed help with her...you know...magic? So I sent her to the Druids..."
Gaius suddenly remembered the particular event Merlin was talking about. But that had occurred over five years ago! So this must mean that Merlin had lost a minimum of fives years out of his memory, which would explain why Merlin was able to remember Arthur but not remember Arthur at the same time. A lot could happen in five years.
Gaius let out a frustrated sigh before commenting, "I fear I do recall that event now..."
Merlin yawned as he lay back down on the small bed; he gazed at his mentor expectantly, so Gaius continued his investigation.
"Merlin, what I about to ask you will sound crazy beyond belief, but please can you just answer it truthfully...just to humor your old man?"
Merlin nodded as his eyelids started to close themselves, but he forced them to stay awake.
"What is the last thing your remember?" Gaius held his breath as he waited for a reply.
Merlin's eyes remained closed for few moments as his eyebrows knitted together while he concentrated.
Finally giving up to fatigue, Merlin stated before drifting off to sleep, "Nothing..."
"Morgana? Morgana, are you in there?" Arthur knocked quietly on the heavy wooden door, or at least as quietly as he could that the knocks could be heard on the other side.
Arthur sighed and turned his back to lean against the door, "Look, Morgana, I know you are in there...Just...Look...I need you right now..."
There was a sound of shuffling on the other side of the door, and for a moment, Arthur actually let himself hope. But that moment passed when the sound stopped.
"There. I admit it, and if you could just let me drop this pride game for one second and help me, not as an advisor to a king but as a sister to a brother, I would really appreciate it..."
Still no response came from Morgana's side of the door, so Arthur pushed off the door and said, "Well I'm going to sleep now...If you want to help me, you know where to find me..."
Arthur dragged his feet over the stone floor as he made his way to his chambers.
Morgana stood with her back against her bedroom door for moments after Arthur had left.
A sister to a brother...
That thought kept nagging her mind as guilt began to pool in her stomach. It was going to be a long night for all of the Pendragons.
So I kind of forgot that I actually have a fic going :S So I typed this up all of today *stupidme*