Just want to apologise for using they instead of he in some of these chapters XD A couple of people have pointed it out and I'll be trying to correct that mistake

Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying this as much as I am writing it.

This is in Arthur's POV.

Enjoy and R&R if you like it.

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He was alone when he woke up. There was no sign of the thief and the small ball of light that had been around last time to keep an eye on him. Where were they?

Arthur pushed himself up so that he was sitting and pushed back the sheet that covered the 'window' of the building to see Camelot below. He had to say, whoever had him certainly knew how to pick a place to live, this view was almost as good as his back at the castle. Arthur couldn't help but notice that the castle was in full view of where he was, it made him wonder how many nights the thief had spent staring at it, cursing the King for getting guards to chase him every night. It must be tiring.

As his stomach made a noise of complaint, Arthur dropped the sheet and slowly got to his feet. His wounds hurt a lot more than the last time he woke up, he could actually feel ever scar stretch as his body straightened and he was almost tempted to sit back down. Except he was hungry and a hungry Arthur was not someone anyone would want to face.

Just as he went to head for the bags that he suspected contained food, he heard a commotion going on outside and he was quick to pear through a gap by the sheet to see the thief running across the rooftops like he had done so many times before. Arthur watched as he dodged guards without any hesitation, as if he knew where they were and he ran straight towards where Arthur was being kept. Was he stupid? He was leading them straight back to where he lived?

Wait, what was he saying, he wanted them to find him. Arthur could get better treatment back at the castle and the thief would finally be off the streets, Arthur could finally have a good nights rest without having to leave the castle grounds beforehand. He kept watching. Wanting to see what the thief did to escape. Uther had obviously sent out more guards than usual, his Son being the priority to be found and the thief was no doubt the number one suspect who could tell them Arthur's whereabouts.

"Run you idiot," Arthur muttered unconsciously as the thief came his way.

Suddenly the thief dived off the nearest building and straight into one of the lower floors of wherever Arthur was. He could hear the small crash from below and Arthur watched the guards to see them confused, they had no idea where he had gone. Had he been like that? Had the thief simply slipped into a building almost silently and then waited for Arthur to give up? How many times had Arthur come so close to catching him like the guards had just been?

Arthur stepped away from the window and turned to face the noise of someone entering the room. It was the thief. He was breathing a little heavier than usual and his cloak was torn in so many places there was almost no point in wearing it. With a small growl of frustration, he tore it off his body and threw it on the ground to reveal some cuts covering his flesh from where his clothes were damaged.

"Are you okay?" Arthur couldn't help but ask.

The thief apparently had forgotten that Arthur was there since the moment Arthur spoke he had already risen his hand, to do what Arthur didn't know, he could only guess it was a defensive maneuver. Then again, he had seen him use magic before, when he'd made that rope appear. Was the boy standing in front of him really a sorcerer?

"Oh, it's you." The thief lowered his hand and gave a sigh of relief, "I thought they'd followed me."

"No, not this time. They're running around the streets looking like lost chickens," that earned him a small laugh and Arthur smiled in return. "Where were you?" Arthur asked.

"I got word that Frey-" the thief started to say and then froze. "It doesn't matter."

He frowned at the response. Clearly it had mattered enough to leave the confinements of his home and be at risk of getting caught. However Arthur wasn't surprised he hadn't been told anything. The thief didn't trust him just like Arthur didn't trust the thief. "You know, I'm still waiting for you to tell me your name. Give me something to call you at least."

"Why do names matter so much to you? Would it make a difference?" He asked and grabbed a small cloth to dampen with some water. Arthur watched as he stripped himself of his top and began to clean his wounds so not to cause infection. A brief flash of a wound on someone's back came to mind and how much that had been infected, but when Arthur tried to remember more the memory vanished. Who's wound had that been?

"Here, let me help." Arthur grabbed the cloth of the young boy and went around to his back to reach the wounds he was struggling with. Just as he pressed the damp cloth to a cut he noticed a wound that had healed over, a large cut that ran from his shoulder to the middle of his back and the memory that had surfaced before now began to bug him. If the thief was the one who'd been hurt, how had Arthur ended up so close to see the wound and at a point when it had become infected. He hadn't seen the thief that close in weeks.

"Something wrong? You've stopped."

"Nothing …" he muttered and carried on with cleaning his wounds. The only time he could possibly think of that he could have forgotten helping the thief was when he woke up with no memory of the previous night. Had he put a spell on him? Made him forget? "You did something to me," he thought out loud without bothering to hide his concern.

"What would this something be?"

"You made me forget," the thief tensed up at those words and moved away from Arthur. "Don't deny it," Arthur grabbed him by the arm and turned the thief to face him. "What did you make me forget?"

"Why do you think I did such a thing? We've only been this close now and one time in the shed."

"You're lying through your teeth. I've seen that wound before," he didn't need to explain which one. "I have one night missing where I can't remember a thing and a memory that doesn't fit in anywhere. You do the math. What happened? Did I catch you and you made me forget, is that it?"

"You don't want to know Arthur. Honestly … it's better left in the past."

"How come you get to know and I don't? You're keeping me in the dark. You won't tell me your name, your helping me for no reason and now you tell me something happened and I'm not allowed to remember it? That's not fair! Tell me what happened. Take the spell off." Arthur gripped his arm harder as he tried to move away, "And don't even think about casting another spell. Stop hiding behind your magic."

"I'm not hiding behind my magic!"

"Yes, you are. You use it to escape my men so you can hide in this place. You use it to make people forget things just for your convenience and whenever someone wants to know something about you, you send them to sleep. Now tell me, what happened that night?"

"You're not going to like it," he muttered and raised his hand to Arthur's head. "Gemynegian."

Arthur clutched onto his arm as a warm spark came into his head and a scene played out in front of him. He was himself but he wasn't controlling what he was doing and Arthur watched as he tended to the thief's wound near the castle walls. What shocked him most was when the thief revealed himself, clearly that had been the moment he decided to rid Arthur of his memories as he did the one thing that Arthur never expected. He kissed him. It wasn't even a peck on the lips and Arthur hadn't pushed him away. If anything, Arthur had been the one to deepen the kiss and hadn't been the one to pull away.

When the memory ended with the thief whispering a spell against his lips, Arthur blinked in the present day to find himself sat on the floor, the thief held firmly in his grasp. His breathing was deep and he could barely see straight, but one thing was for sure that he didn't need that memory. It made this entire situation a lot more complicated. How the thief had kept such a cool head about all this was beyond him. Just looking at him now Arthur could feel his heart beat faster in his chest and he would never admit it but that had been one hell of a kiss.

"Are you okay?" He asked Arthur with worry in his big blue eyes.

"Why did you make me forget?" Arthur replied with a question instead of answering.

"You saw who I was and knew how weak I would be, I couldn't risk you sending out the guards the next night with the knowledge that I couldn't escape easily. Besides, it was embarrassing."

"Just because it was embarrassing doesn't mean you make someone forget an entire night!" Arthur exclaimed and pulled the thief closer in anger, hating him for the spell he had used.

"You're hurting me," he moaned and tried to get away. At least in these situations Arthur had the upper hand. He had strength on his side whereas the thief didn't. "Arthur let go."

"No. Not until you explain what happened."

"You know what happened, the memories should be back, I didn't keep anything hidden from you." He explained and wrapped his hand around Arthur's, attempting to loosen his hold.

"The kiss. Explain the kiss. Why on earth would you kiss me?" Arthur watched as the thief blushed and dropped their gaze to the floor, hiding all signs of emotion from him. "Did you only do it because I would be forgetting a few moments later? Was I some experiment to you?" He shook the thief when he didn't answer, "Look at me and tell me."

"Please let go," came a small whisper beside Arthur and he looked to see the small light hovering there. "Let him go. Please." His hold released the thief who immediately shuffled back along the floor until he was hidden in the shadows. The light quickly followed and turned into a small person who lightly brushed the thief's hair from his face as he hugged his knees to his chest. "It's okay. You're okay."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean …" Arthur didn't understand what had just happened but clearly whatever he'd done had upset the boy in ways he couldn't imagine. He watched as the thief lifted his gaze from the floor to meet his, the small figure in front of him lighting up the blue eyes that Arthur knew he'd never forget, they looked so lost and venerable.

Arthur had always imagined the thief to be strong and wise, to never be afraid of anything. Night after night he had taunted the guards, daring them to give him a challenge, laughing if one of them dared threaten him with a weapon. Yet here he was, hiding in the dark when confronted by someone who meant him no harm, just simply wanted to know why he'd been kissed.

"Don't you think two people who have shared a kiss should be on a first name basis?" Arthur tried to lighten the mood and tilted his head a little to see the thief better in the light. "You already know mine."

"Tell him," came the small voice from before who was now back in a ball shape.

"Merlin," replied the thief and sat up a little straight. "My name is Merlin."