DISCLAIMER - Don't own Merlin, never will own Merlin, life sucks then you die :)
No one really slept well that night. After Merlin had told some of his story, he did feel a little bit lighter but with his memories he was greeted with more nightmares. These nightmares caused not only Gwen, but also Percival and Arthur to come to help him. Not that any of them blamed the little boy but it was tiring. Gwaine was no better, memories of his abusive father were surfacing with Merlin's story and he too found himself running to Uther and Percival in the middle of the night. By morning, Uther found himself sharing a bed with Gwaine and Morgana, both having been afraid to go back to their own rooms. Elyan was found outside Gwen's room by Lancelot, Elyan resembled the look of a half asleep guard dog. Gaius had busied himself in the infirmary, to keep himself from getting worried. Arthur and Gwen were in bed with Merlin cuddled between them holding tightly onto his bear.
As Percival prepared breakfast he was greeted by the tired and worn faces as they individually entered. Arthur was the first to arrive, immediately going for the coffee. Percival was worried when Arthur poured lot's of sugar into his.
"Thought you didn't like that stuff?" Percival casually commented, trying to get Arthur to speak. The young man scoffed
"I don't." He said stiffly "But dad says it does wonders keeping you awake so... what have I got to lose?" He responded. Percival grabbed his own cup of tea and sat next to Arthur
"Your sanity for one, how about I make you a cuppa instead?" He suggested, but Arthur just shook his head.
"That'll make me sleep, and I can't...not without knowing..." He trailed off, but Percival knew what he was going to say.
"So hard to believe. Little Merlin, that powerful, it's just... unbelievable!" He whispered in awe. Arthur gave an unenthusiastic scoff.
"No. That's not unbelievable it's what those people did to him that's unbelievable. I mean he could have only been what... FIVE when all of this happened. At that age I was far too concerned with math's homework. And Merlin... God... he was already fearing his life!" Arthur exclaimed. Percival put a strong hand on Arthur shoulder and squeezed. It wasn't much, but after all they had heard night before, anything would be better than the memories. They sat in silence for a while longer before the kitchen began to fill. Lancelot came in with his arm around a sleepy Gwaine's shoulder, the boy looked as though he hadn't slept all night, and Percival was pretty confident he literally hadn't. Opening his spare arm, he offered Gwaine the seat next to him and the boy quickly fell into his arms. Percival wrapped his arm around the now shaking Gwaine and gently rubbed his head.
"I found him wandering outside your bedroom, obviously didn't want to wake Uther up again." Lancelot explained. Percival gave a small nod and effortlessly lifted Gwaine from the seat onto his knee. He ignored the teens protests as he settled him. Turning Gwaine's chin to look up at him, Percival gave him a gentle look. "I can tell you've had a bad night, there's no shame in needing help every once in a while." He gave the younger boy a small smile in order to soothe him and thankfully the boy did settle down and relaxed on Percival's knees. Shortly after this, Gwen came in with Merlin in her arms, the boy gently resting his sleepy head on the woman's shoulder. The boy didn't appear to be fully lucid, so none of the kitchen group tried to strike a conversation. The rest soon came trickling in. Morgana and Elyan arrived within moments of each other; Elyan going to sit next to Gwen and Morgana ; strangely willingly, going to sit next to her brother, soaking in all of the comfort he could give. Uther had retrieved Gaius from the infirmary earlier and both were the last to arrive. Merlin feeling more awake now silently sat in the chair next to Gwen, looking at his knees trying to avoid anyone's eyes. The silence was deafening so Percival thought it best to make breakfast
"Well then, who's hungry?" He announced half heartedly. No one spoke at first until Uther spoke up.
"I think... we had best wait for some time yet, I don't believe anyone is particularly hungry as of yet." It was a blatant lie, they were all slightly hungry, but until they knew the rest of Merlin's story they couldn't eat. Their imaginations were going crazy over the time between his parent's murder and his arrival. But because of Merlin's response the night before, no one was particularly interested in pressing the poor boy as of yet. Luckily however, Merlin himself had an inkling about what he should do:
"You...you want t...to hear... the rest of my... story d...don't you?" The boy stuttered. His voice was only small but everyone in the room turned to him. Gwen put an arm round his shoulders tightly.
"We wouldn't mind it Merlin... but we don't want to pressure you... you have a choice what you want to say and we won't force you to say anything you don't want to." She spoke softly. But Merlin shook his head and signed, his voice still croaky from the long night
"I need to tell... It's not right letting everyone worry over what you think might happen." He begged. The group looked at one another and Arthur nodded at Merlin
"Alright Merlin, but remember, if you want to stop at any time, then we're ok with it ." He ensured. Merlin nodded and continued his story
"W...well after that, I was on my own for a long time. I soon learned that I couldn't trust other people b...because, nearly everyone I met tried to hurt me or make me do things I didn't want." Gwen gasped at that
"Merlin, what kind of things... did people make you do?" She asked instantly fearing he was hurt or abused in some way. Merlin thought for a moment
"Lots of people said I was really good at being in...innocent so they wanted me to go to shops and distract owners so they could take stuff." He replied. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief, as did the others all fearing the possibility of abuse. Uther offered Merlin a hand to allow the boy to continue. Merlin nodded for an answer
"I was 6 when a tall lady took me to a big building which I found out was an orphanage. She said to Sister S-A-R-A-H that I was either a runaway or a homeless boy. I didn't tell her my name in case she knew who I was so she left me in the orphanage. Sister S-A-R-A-H was really nice but the other kids weren't." Here Merlin paused, and Gwaine guessed that not very nice was an understatement on Merlin's part and was slightly worried.
"Was this the orphanage before you came to us Merlin?" Morgana asked. Merlin shook his head
"No, it was the first of 5 different ones. It was the better ones because of Sister S-A-R-A-H, But I didn't like the other kids. They called me names like Freak and Unwanted. These kids never even knew about my powers. I'd been there 5 months when the worst thing happened." Merlin took a breath and spoke for a short while "There... th... there was a... man. Had... a gun." There were a number of harsh breaths at this. Gwen was instantly worried once more and slipped Merlin on her knee "Sister S...Sarah... saved us." he paused once more and used his hands for the last bit " I saw him kill her." The room was silent. Morgana and Gwen had tears once more down their faces, and surprisingly so did most of the males. Gwaine was leant into Percival's side trying to cover his sobs but failing, as Arthur could hear them over the other side of the room and struggled to control his own. The only one not crying was Merlin, mostly because he'd used most of his tears last night and also it wasn't as shocking considering he dreamt about it every night. He brought everybody's attention back to him. "It wasn't so bad after that, but in my 4th orphanage, the boy's saw me use my powers. They weren't happy. Every time something strange happened, even if it wasn't me, they would...punish me in some way." Percival caught Merlin's attention gently
"Merlin what... how exactly did they punish you?" He asked warily. Merlin looked at Percival with shining eyes
"Just... push...pushing and hitt...hitting mostly... but... some...sometimes th...they would use knive...knives and water...once they... threw... threw me in... river..." Percival gently released Gwaine and gathered Merlin his arms removing him from Gwen's knees and putting him on his own, attaching Gwaine to his side again, allowing Gwaine to also latch on a hand. "That was when I stopped talking. They'd still blame me, but I had less chance of someone else catching on. Then, I came here." Then Merlin smiled "I...I'm happy... now." He stuttered. The group all awwed at his words and all standing up decided a group hug was in order. Merlin's giggling from the middle was music to their ears. They all made silent vows that, even though Merlin's life had been crappy up until now, they were going to allow him to enjoy the rest until he was old and wrinkly. That was a promise.
And end it there. I know crummy place to end it, but the next part has story focus on another character, Gwaine, so here was a good point to end it for now. Thanks to all for reviewing and keeping up even with my Very long hiatus, which I'm sorry but was out of my control due to technical difficulties with my PC. But I'm back for a little bit. I'll aim to update some time this week or next cause I have no internet for the next few days unfortunately. But there may be another chapter coming along soon.
Thanks again
Krissystvs :)
