Arthur lay on the soft grass of what he had christened, 'The Impossible Forest', staring up at the branches above his head. Every so often as the sunlight broke through and blinded him temporarily, he would turn away from the glare and rest his chin on the top of Merlin's head, who was curled up around him like a cat, snoring softly. The prince's hand carefully rose up and he drew his fingers across the warlock's sleeping face, a smile seeping onto his face as Merlin purred low in his throat at the touch. Love swelled in his heart as he watched his warlock dream, him being just as easy to read asleep as he was when conscious.

Some tiny voice in the back of his mind pestered him, telling him that this couldn't be real, that this sort of thing just didn't happen. You didn't just meet the love of your life by chance on a ship to America and within days be completely certain that you would give up your entire life just to be with them. It was something that he had always believed to be completely ridiculous - and just a bit wonderful.

Either way, it was something he was sure he would never have.

His smile stretched wider as Merlin yawned and shuffled closer into him. He needed to learn to stop listening to the voice in his head more often.

He leant down his head to Merlin's ear. 'Hey, Sleepyhead,' he whispered softly.

The warlock hummed and pressed his face more firmly into Arthur's abdomen, snaking his arms around the prince's waist and pulling him closer.

Arthur chuckled. 'You're like a bloody cat.'

At this, Merlin withdrew his face from Arthur's stomach and looked up, squinting in the bright light. 'A cat?' He stated indignantly before shifting himself so he was sitting up a bit more.

'Yes,' Arthur replied, trying to look thoughtful, but just ended up grinning.

Merlin huffed. 'That's like... the least cool animal ever.'

'Pfft, rubbish. Cats are really cool.'

'Oh yeah? Give me one cool thing they can do.'

Arthur frowned as he thought, trying to think of something unique that couldn't just be brushed off. 'They, er. They can lick themselves in really weird places.'

Merlin giggled, a sound that made the prince's heart melt. 'That's not cool. That's creepy.'

'True.'

'So I win. Cats are dull.'

Arthur grinned and without warning, leapt up and pined the warlock to the ground, making him yelp in surprise.. 'But,' he murmured, his mouth brushing against Merlin's own. 'They are also reeeally good at pouncing.'

A blur of movement and a loud 'Oof!' later, and Arthur all of a sudden found himself with his back on the ground, blinking up at a grinning Merlin, who looked far too smug for his liking. 'Obviously not that good, Sire.'

Suddenly, Merlin's face dropped, and before Arthur knew what was going on, the boy rolled off him with a yell, hands digging into his hair, face screwed up in what looked like severe pain.

'Merlin!' Arthur leaped to his side and tried to prise the boy's hands away to get a look at him. 'Merlin, what's the matter? Merlin!'


'Arthur-argh!' Merlin tried to suppress his cries through gritted teeth as the searing pain in his head stabbed repeatedly, like someone was forcing their way into his mind. He fought it bitterly, but it only made it more agonising, getting steadily stronger and more insistent as he tried to keep it out. Eventually, with a final excruciating push, it breached his brain and suddenly Merlin's mind was bursting with a surge of frantic voices.

What the hell?

Far away he could hear Arthur's scared yells but he needed to understand what on earth was going on before he could answer him.

He had never in his life gotten a telepathic message, and he had never made the effort to try and send one, though he knew they were possible. He always figured it worked just as well to send a letter or talk in person if he had anything really important to say. After all, it worked fine for everyone else.

But even with his lack of experience, he knew what was happening the second he heard the first distinctive voice in the sea of words that filled his mind.

Ship. Ship. Ship.

'What?'

Ship. Ship. Ship.

'What do you mean? What about the ship?'

Ship. Ship. Ship.


'MERLIN!' Arthur was panicking quite spectacularly as he near enough screamed at the boy in his arms, who had stopped struggling, but was now just sitting, eyes unfocused and blank. 'What the hell's happening?'

The warlock didn't reply, just stared forwards, past Arthur, behind him, beyond him. The prince's head whipped around, expecting some sort of beast to come out and attack them. But there was nothing. He returned his gaze to Merlin, shaking him roughly. 'Hey! What is it? What happened?'

Merlin's face twitched, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 'I don't... I don't know.' He trailed off, his frown intensifying, his features taking on the annoyed, worried expression of a person trying to understand something really important, but making no sense of it at all. 'It's...Morgana. I don't..'

Arthur blinked. 'Morgana? What about her?'

Merlin growled in frustration as he welded his eyes shut tight in concentration. 'I don't know. I can't..hear...' The boy's face twisted in pain again, making Arthur involuntarily move his hand up to cup his jaw, smoothing out the lines on his skin.

'Shhh.. it's okay,'

Merlin calmed down a bit under Arthur's touch, but did not open his eyes. 'I can hear her. Something has happened, I think. She's a bit frantic. Okay, make that a lot franti-'

He cut off as his eyes flew open and a jolt of fear struck Arthur's heart as they locked onto him, terrified.

'The ship, it... oh god there's something wrong with the ship. And Morgana...' Merlin choked on his words and a sudden flow of tears started spilling over his cheeks. 'Oh god, she's...she's...'

'What?' Arthur shouted, feeling himself going mad with utter terror. He still had no idea what the hell was going on. 'WHAT?'

'She's ...she's dead.'

Arthur's shouts cut off and he stilled. For a few seconds, they just stared at each other, Merlin returned to normal, like whatever had just attacked his brain had just left abruptly.

Then, Arthur stood up quickly and pulled Merlin up with him. The boy's feet scrambled underneath him to try and steady himself, his face white and cheeks still wet with disbelieving tears.

'Come on.' Arthur shook his head, his voice cracked and his face strained, like it was taking all his effort not to scream. 'We need to find out what the hell's going on.' He shot to the door that still stood, seemingly in mid-air, his hand reaching for the handle.

Suddenly, Merlin surged forward in realisation. 'Arthur!' he cried, his arm stretched out to the prince. 'No!'

But it was too late, as Arthur's hand twisted the knob with a click and he was instantly thrown aside violently, through the doorway and out into the corridor on the other side.


'Arthur!' Merlin ran through, the force of the change in gravity causing him to slam into the wall opposite. The air was knocked from him, leaving him winded and gasping for breath on the floor, shakily reaching for the back of his head.

It came back sticky but he did not look to see what with.

Instead he swallowed harshly, forcing himself upright and over to where Arthur lay, dazed, but still conscious a few feet away. Suppressing the urge to punch him for being so stupid, Merlin grabbed his arm and yelled into his face. 'We need to get out of here! Arthur! Arthur, are you listening to me? ARTHUR!'


Arthur stared up at Merlin, watching his lips move frantically, forming words that he could not understand. His head hurt, but he didn't feel to see if it was injured, as he was too busy trying to mentally block out the roaring in his ears. It grew louder and louder, a painful pressure building in his mind. Oh wouldn't it just be quiet?

He blinked in what felt like slow motion, his brain working slowly but somehow requiring more effort to function. Like his thoughts were all walking through treacle, trying to move to the appropriate parts of his mind but failing, as all their attempts to move were hindered as another force pushed against them.

Frustrated, Arthur shook his head, trying to clear it, before silently crying out as a strong wave of nausea ploughed through it, making him feel so intensely ill that he wanted to be sick. But no. He had to find out what was wrong with Merlin first, as he focused his gaze back on the warlock in front of him, whose mouth had sped up, speaking words that Arthur still couldn't decipher. He growled impatiently. Why was that so difficult? He wasn't some idiot who couldn't understand what was being said to him so plainly. He was the crowned prince for pity's sake. He didn't have time for incompetence. His father already thought he was a fool, no need to prove him right

A sudden sadness swept over him at that thought. The recollection that his father was now hunting down Merlin and him just because they might have fallen in love. A bit. And quite hard, going by the banging in Arthur's head.

'Arthur.'

A-ha! Merlin's voice finally broke through his hazy ears, sweeping the roar away like a brush. His voice had a habit of doing that to him, clearing away all the pointless crap from Arthur's mind, leaving him clear-headed and able to think. His thoughts were suddenly set free and Arthur's eyes squeezed shut at the intensity of the everything coming back to him in a rush.

'Wrong. Wrong. There's something wrong...'

'What?' Arthur asked himself, 'what's wrong?'

'There's something wrong... something wrong with the ship.

Morgana.

Morgana.

Morgana.

Dead.

Morgana.'

'Morgana.' Arthur felt the vibration in his throat, indicating he had said that out loud. He opened his eyes, right into Merlin's terrified ones. Something shot through Arthur like electricity, shocking him into movement and he leapt up. Merlin jumped back in surprise, before standing also and grabbing Arthur's arm again. 'Arthur, we need to GO.'


'Morgana.' Arthur repeated, his voice shaking.

The warlock felt a sob rising in his throat but he refused to let it out. There wasn't time. They needed to find out what the hell was going on and get out of this damn corridor. He could feel the tremors underneath his feet and he knew it was only a matter of time before there would be no corridor at all. And if they didn't leave RIGHT NOW, there would be no them.

He had known something was wrong when he felt Morgana's panicked voice break through, like she was prising it open with invisible fingers. It was at that moment that he realised how wrong he'd been about Arthur's step-sister. She had in fact learnt and was capable of a hell of a lot more than Merlin had assumed she was. She had breached his mind and sent a message to him. It was mostly incoherent, and almost impossible to understand, but it was still telepathy. And it wasn't exactly simple magic.

He recognised her voice easily enough, but he could only hear bursts of speech, and in that, he could only register a few words.

Ship.

Ship.

Wrong.

Get out.

Get out.

Where are you?

WHERE'S ARTHUR?

He couldn't reply back, he was barely able to keep the connection going once he had realised what was happening. He tried to send her confirmation that they were both okay, that Arthur was with him and they were safe. But he couldn't guarantee that she'd heard him.

Then, a last cry of, 'GET OUT!' before everything went silent.

The connection hadn't broken, but snapped. Like a twig underneath a boot. Morgana had disappeared along with her voice, and Merlin knew that he would never hear it again.

'Morgana...dead...'

Suddenly, a deafening crash erupted from somewhere below them, and Merlin watched in horror as the walls started to shake and crack, dust and plaster spiting out at them. The ground rumbled from beneath their feet and a loud, muffled sound of groaning metal echoed down the hall.

'That's it.' Merlin stopped pulling on Arthur and instead got behind him and physically pushed him down towards the end of the corridor. This seemed to snap Arthur out of his muttering and he moved of his own accord, They both broke into sprints as the crashes around them got louder, and by the time they had reached the stairs, the ceiling where they had been standing collapsed in on itself. Merlin glanced back briefly and his heart clenched as he watched to the door to his forest disappear under a layer of debris and thick dust. He felt Arthur grab his arm as his eyes started to water and allowed himself to be pulled up the metal stairway to the floor above.


It was absolute chaos.

The ship was filled with people running, calling out for their children, crying in fear as the terrifying sounds of screaming metal filled the air, and the once steady rocking of the ship now throwing people violently from side to side as the waves smashed into the structure from every angle.

Merlin and Arthur ran through it all, fixated only on a destination. They needed to get above deck, and they needed to find Will.

The noise made Arthur disorientated, but he focused himself of finding each stairwell as they moved through the huge ship, pulling Merlin along roughly, not allowing him from his grasp in fear of losing him. The warlock didn't protest to being forced along, too busy frantically scanning each room they past through for his best friend. Some part of him feared that he might have been caught already, and his fate had already been carried out, but he refused to listen to it. He couldn't think like that. He needed to find him. He couldn't lose him.

Finally, they stumbled onto the deck, panting harshly as relief washed over them. It was short-lived, however, as they saw that the drama was even less controlled above deck than below it.

Men in white uniforms were dashing around, trying to keep the crowds calm, but their shouts were drowned out by the hundreds of passengers, who were far too terrified to listen to any kind of reason or order.

Arthur looked around helplessly. This couldn't be happening.

A sudden vision flashed in his mind of Morgana scoffing when the captain had declared that the ship was actually unsinkable. The man had looked immensely put out by her action, and left rather swiftly. If people had tails, Arthur had mused that his would be hanging low between his legs. He remembered laughing at that image, and his sister turning to him, a grinning stretching out on her face as they shared the moment.

Arthur blinked back tears as a rush of grief flowed as it finally hit him that his sister was dead. Morgana had been the most important person in his life, and for so long, he hadn't even realised it. He just hoped that wherever she was now, she knew how much he loved her, and how much it hurt to know he would never see her again.


'Merlin!'

The warlock's head whipped around, a fierce hope igniting inside of him as he searched the crowd furiously for the source of the voice. 'Will!' He yelled. 'Will, where are you?!'

'Merlin!'

He locked onto the voice and his hand slipped from Arthur's as he sprinted in pursuit of it, darting past bodies and objects like they weren't even there, his eyes scanning the faces of each person he passed.

'Merlin, come back!' Arthur shouted, heart leaping as the warlock ran off into the crowds. He shot after him, desperately trying to keep him in sight. 'Merlin! Please, stop!'


Will darted from person to person, forcefully pushing his way across the deck, frantically searching for his best friend.

He had lost Sebastian eventually after leading him down the opposite hallway to Merlin and Arthur, but once had had found somewhere to hide, he had absolutely no idea how he was going to get back to them. Uther had obviously sent down more men, as they stalked the area where Will hid, upturning crates and ransacking every corner. The boy had kept them busy for most of the time, before eventually they got so frustrated that they searched without a thought as to what they were destroying. Will had had to flee again once they had found where he crouched behind a wardrobe, and that time it hadn't been so easy to shake them off. For hours he outran and outsmarted them, trying to tire them so they would eventually leave. However, running had exhausted Will too, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.

1 hour earlier

Will had no hope of preventing himself ploughing into the woman as he flew around another corner, and in the seconds it took for him to recover from the unexpected collision, his mind caught up with his eyes and he did a double take.

'What the ruddy hell are you doing down here?'

Morgana scoffed and rolled her eyes. 'Saving your ass actually.' She grabbed his arm and yanked him into a room at the side. Once closed, she whipped out a small key and locked it with a click. 'There.' She had said, turning to face the bewildered man before her. 'All safe.'

Will opened his mouth to retort, but it then occurred to him that she might have just saved his life. 'Erm,' he stuttered, hands gesturing awkwardly. 'Thankyou.'

'You're welcome,' she smiled, before leaning against the door she had just locked. 'Now,' her face turned a bit more sinister, sending an unexpected ripple of unease through Will. 'Were the hell is my brother?'

Will didn't bother asking how she knew that he would have anything to do with Arthur. He had seen enough about this woman from the all the royal scandals to know not to be surprised. 'I'm assuming you mean The Royal Pain-In-My-Backside.' Will sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'He is with my friend. We're kind of on the run from Uther and his band of not-so-merry men. I got busy distracting Little Johnny, and they ran for it.'

Morgana rolled her eyes and Will's face broke into a grin. 'These Robin Hood references doing anything for you?'

'They are so bad it hurts to exist.' She replied, exasperatedly.

'Ah, well.' Will shrugged, still grinning. 'I do my best.'

The Lady smiled despite herself but she sobered quickly. 'So he's safe?'

'Yeah, pretty sure they're both okay. Merlin's an idiot but I'll be damned if he can't get himself out of a bad situation.'

'Good.' Morgana sighed, sliding down the door as she lowered herself to the ground.

Will followed suit, settling himself on a the lid of a crate. 'So.' He looked up at the woman on the ground. 'I don't think we've been properly introduced.'

She rose an eyebrow, but held out her hand dutifully. 'Morgana Pendragon.'

Will reached out and shook it, resisting the urge to do an exaggerated bow at the regal way in which she declared her name. 'It's a pleasure, M'Lady. I am William. But if you ever actually call me William, I'm afraid we can't be friends.'

Morgana chuckled as she withdrew her hand. 'I'll keep that it mind.'

Suddenly, they were both thrown forwards and a deafening crash vibrated through the ship. Will smashed his head on the side of a metal bar and he hissed in pain, his hand hovering over where it had hit, not wanting to touch it in case it had cracked. He looked up to see Morgana lying dazed on the floor, but she seemed perfectly okay.

'Bloody hell. What on earth was that?'

Will shook his head. 'No freaking clu-' He was cut off as another wave of force blew it's way through the room, this time blasting apart boxes mere metres from where they lay.

Will scrambled to Morgana's side, shielding her from the fragments that were flying at them from every direction. 'What's happening?!' He yelled over the noise.

'I don't know!' Morgana shouted back. 'But we have to get out!'

Will nodded, eyes darting around. He got to his feet and, grabbing the key that lay at Morgana's feet, quickly unlocked the door.

When it was open, however, he was instantly thrown backward into the room.

'Will!' Morgana rushed to his side. The boy blinked up at her, eyes trying to focus but failing.

He groaned and shut his eyes. 'Well,' he muttered. 'That wasn't fun.'

'Oh c'mon.' Morgana pulled him to his feet and together they fled from the room, running down the corridor towards a stairwell.

Once they were up on deck, Will broke free of her grasp to run and see what had happened. Morgana followed close behind, keeping up quite easily despite her long gown flowing around her ankles.

They reached the front of the ship and Will's feet suddenly slipped from underneath him without warning. He fell hard on his back with a cry. Morgana was stood at his side, staring out in front of her. 'You have got to be kidding me.' She breathed.

'What?' Will grunted and sat up. 'What happened?' He looked up at her, but her attention wasn't on him. He followed her gaze and with a hitch in his throat, breathed out a whistle. 'Holy shit.'

Before them was the clear source of the collision. An iceburg the size of a house towered over the ship, shadowing it from the moon behind it. Will's heads kept tilting upwards as he followed it to the top. The ship groaned and shook underneath him, and the vibrations caused huge chunks of ice to lodge free and crash down on the front of the deck.

Will got to his feet and stood closer to Morgana, who was staring at the huge object with wide eyes.

They stood in silence for a few minutes before Will said the only thing he could think of saying.

'How the hell, did they miss that?'

Morgana snapped out of her trance and turned to look at the boy. 'Because this ship is captained by a man who cares more about the impression of the King than he does about the safety of over 2000 passengers.' She said, her tone blunt but with an underlying tremor of rage. 'That's how.'

Will swallowed. 'He sounds swell.'

Morgana nodded stiffly. 'We need to find Arthur and Merlin. We need to stick together.'

'I hear yah,' Will murmured distractedly, before her words triggered something in his mind. 'Oh heck.'

'What?'

Without a word, Will turned on his heel and sprinted back the way they'd came. 'William!' Morgana roared, her hands clenched at her sides. The boy slowed down to a stop and turned his head, his face hard. 'I told you-'

'Where are you going?' Morgana demanded. 'Do you know where they are?'

'Yes.' Will replied immediately.

'Where?'

'A place that Merlin knows. It's where he would have gone to keep Arthur safe.' He said hurriedly. 'But it's not... it's not..' He exhaled impatiently. 'It's not exactly on the ship.' He met Morgana's eyes, his own flashing dangerously. 'It's a portal to somewhere he created. He's magic, and he needed somewhere he could go to practise without being found out.'

Morgana noticed the boy's sudden change in demeanour and waved her hand vaguely. 'Oh don't worry, I know Merlin's magic. And no I'm not going to tell Uther so you can stop looking at me like I'm on trial.'

The hostility in Will's face vanished, replaced by shock. 'You know about Merlin? How?'

'Because I'm the same, and I could sense it the second I met him.' Morgana strode forward, her stance wide as she shortened the distance between them swiftly.

'Right,' Will shook his head to clear it. 'This place isn't on the ship, so they wouldn't have heard or felt the crashes. Don't you see?' He started moving back again. 'They won't know what's going on!'

'If you go back down there then you're going to get yourself killed.' Morgana stated. 'We can't just go and get them.'

Will stared at her, fury rising within him. 'Well, you might not be, but I bloody well am!' He turned himself around again, but before he had a chance to advance, there was another loud smash and they were both thrown to the ground. Morgana whipped her head around and saw more ice falling from the iceburg, but this time in larger chunks, and one had fallen down on the front barrier and ripped it clean off. The ship screeched in protest and all of a sudden began to tilt.

'Oh Jesus.' Morgana looked over at Will, who was trying to get back up again, only to be forced back down by another tremor. She could hear him snarl furiously in frustration, but she was grateful that he wasn't able to get down to the lower decks. She crawled closer to him and pulled them both up. 'I know how to get to them.' She said, hands tight on Will's shoulders, forcing him to look at her. 'But you need to trust me and you need to promise to not go downstairs.' She saw a glint of hope spark in his eyes as he stared at her for a moment, before nodding. 'Okay.' He agreed. 'Hit me.'

Morgana searched his face for any sign of deceit. Upon finding none, she smiled and darted to the side of the deck, throwing herself down cross-legged and shut her eyes. Will followed her, kneeling in front of where she sat. 'What the hell are you doing?'

'Sending Merlin a message,' she replied, obviously trying to calm herself down as she breathed slowly.

'How the hell are you going to do that?'

'With a lot of concentration and a tiny bit of telepathy.'

Will considered this for a moment. 'You're sending him a mind message.' He stated.

'Yep.' Morgana answered with a enunciation on the 'p'. 'And by the way this is very very difficult and probably a little bit dangerous so I would appreciate it if you could keep all gasps of surprise and helpless screaming to a minimum.'

Will rolled his eyes, but didn't argue. Morgana frowned deeply and pressed her fingers to her head.

'Done this before?' Will couldn't help asking, clinging onto the side of a crate to keep himself from falling over as the ship rocked violently, ice sliding across the deck and smashing into the barriers on either side.

'Nope,' she replied, teeth gritted. Morgana screwed her eyes up tighter and tried to concentrate.

Merlin.

Merlin.

Merlin.

Come on, wizard boy with the gorgeous hair, where are you?

Will watched as bits of paint and rubble started to rain down from the masts above them, and he bit the inside of his lip. He hoped beyond hope that this woman knew what she was doing.

'Got him!' Morgana cried triumphantly.

'Thank God.' Will sighed. He tried to smile at her, but her eyes were still shut tight, an expression passing over her features that sent a stab to his chest. 'What's wrong?'

She didn't reply, but grunted dismissively. Will bristled a bit at the disregard but didn't speak again.

A minute later, she cried out in pain, and Will was at her side instantly, supporting her as she near enough collapsed on the floor. 'Christ.' He gasped, trying not to panic. He held her in his arms as she fitted, face twisted in agony but still fierce with concentration. What ever the hell she was doing, it hurt. A lot.

Will shut his eyes and he held her. 'Come Merlin you idiot. Answer your bloody telepathic phone.'

Morgana suddenly fell silent, taking a large inhale of breath like she was about to dive underwater, hands flying to her head as if she was trying to keep it from falling apart, before letting it out, mouth shaping so it came out as a scream of, 'GET OUT!' before she went limp and her hands dropped from her face down to her sides.

Will froze for a split second, before wasting no time spinning himself around so he could lay her on her back on the wooden floor, sweeping her long hair out of the way impatiently.

'Oh no you don't.' He gritted his teeth and placed two hands over one another on her chest, pressing down sharply four times before taking a large gasp of air, and leaning over to force it into her lungs. 'You bloody well aren't going to die on me, Morgana Pendragon.'

He repeated this several times, with no avail. Terror slowly began to rise inside of him, but it was swiftly replaced with anger, and started putting all his weight onto each pump of her heart. 'Come on. Come on!.' Another lungful of air. Another four pumps. More air. Pump. Air. Pump. Air.

'COME ON!' Will screamed at her, tears dropping from his eyes and making salty pools on her gown.

Pump. Air. Pump. Air.

Pump. Air. Pump. Air.

Pump. Air. Pump. Air.

…..

…..

…..

He stared down her pale face. It didn't move. Her eyes were open slightly, but Will flinched from the sight of them looking so dead.

Pump. Air.

Pump. Air.

…..

'Please,' he whispered, falling back on the barrier behind him. 'Please, this can't be happening.'

…..

…..

…..

…..

…..

Cough. Splutter.

Will looked up in disbelief, tears overflowing down his cheeks.

Cough. Groan.

'Morgana!' He leapt to her side, gently slipping his hand underneath her head. She moaned softly and her eyes fluttered open.

'Oh thank Christ.' Will bowed his head, exhaling shakily. He wiped his eyes hastily with his free hand and sniffed hard. 'Right.' He lifted her up and placed her head on his lap. 'You're a fucking idiot you know that? I bloody hope whatever you did was worth basically dying for.'

Morgana tried to laugh, but her throat felt closed off, allowing only the smallest amount of air through. Every breath she took, she wheezed, and her head felt like it was resting in molten lava.

'Me too.' She managed, her eyes meeting Will's. Her lips turned upwards a fraction in a small smile. 'Thankyou.'

Will stared down at her, before clearing his throat a bit awkwardly. 'Yeah, well. You're welcome.'

The blood pumped in his ears as he bolted past the captain's cabin yet again, having circled the entire deck at least twice in his search for his friend, but still Merlin pushed on, helplessly determined to find him. His voice had turned ragged from his desperate calling out, his ears throbbing as he tried to listen past the insanity that surrounded him for the one person he needed to hear.


Will. Will. Will. Oh God, where are you?

'MERLIN!'

He spun round. 'Will! Where are you?!'

And then he was there, right in front of him. Merlin cried out in relief and fell into the boy's arms. Will buried his face in his friend's shoulder, clinging to him with all his strength. 'Christ, Merlin you're a hard man to find.'

'As are you,' the warlock laughed shakily before hugging Will even tighter. He gasped out a sob. 'I thought you'd been found or something I thought..Oh God Will, I thought you were fucking dead.'Will didn't reply, just held Merlin as he cried into his coat, his eyes shut tight as he tried to calm himself down. It was fine. Merlin was here. Merlin was safe. It was fine.


Arthur finally caught up with them and let out a relieved huff as he saw that Merlin was alright. He couldn't help a slight smile creeping onto his face at the sight of the warlock clinging to Will like a spider monkey, his face screwed up in the boy's shoulder. At least Merlin hadn't scared him out of his wits for nothing.

'Arthur!'

He froze, his breath hitching as Morgana appeared at their side. She frowned at him, cocking her head to one side. 'What's wrong?'

He didn't reply, just strode over and threw himself at her, clamping his arms around her firmly. She toppled a bit at the unexpected attack but hugged him back, hard. They stayed like that for a few moments before the woman pushed away and looked her brother in the eyes. 'What's the matter? What was that for?'

Arthur's eyes filled with tears that he blinked back quickly before they had a chance to fall. 'I thought you were dead,' he said, his voice rough. 'Merlin said...' He sniffed harshly. 'The connection broke and he looked so scared...' Unable to swallow the sobs in his throat, Morgana pulled him back into her. Arthur clung to her desperately, shoulders shaking as he tried to calm himself down.

'Shhh, Arthur,' she murmured. 'It's okay now.'

'What happened?'

Morgana closed her eyes briefly before speaking again. 'It's a long story. I did something I probably shouldn't done and it... kind of killed me. Literally.' Arthur stiffened, but didn't say anything. Morgana pulled herself away from her brother to look him in the eyes. 'But I'm fine Arthur. I'm okay. If it wasn't for Will, I most definitely wouldn't be.'

Arthur ducked his head staring at the ground as he wiped his watery eyes and cheeks. He met her gaze again. She smiled. 'He saved my life, Arthur.'

Arthur stared at her for a long moment, registering her words. He drew his eyes away, and stared dumbly over her shoulder at Will, who still had Merlin locked in a fierce embrace. Every single ounce of hostility he had felt for the boy melted away as he approached him, his hand still trembling.

'Will.'

The boy finally released Merlin, but still clasped hold of the warlock's hand as he regarded Arthur. 'Yes?'

The prince said nothing as he strode over and enveloped the startled boy in a bone-crushing hug. Will 'oof'ed as the air was knocked out of him, but returned it all the same, locking eyes with Morgana over his shoulder and raising his eyebrows in question. The woman just smiled, her eyes shining with emotion as she watched Arthur press his face into Will's shoulder. 'Thankyou.' The prince's voice cracked slightly, but he managed to keep it level.

'No problem, mate.' Will patted Arthur's shoulder and they broke apart. Arthur held his gaze for a moment more before nodding and retreating back to his sister's side, hand clasping hers firmly. Morgana squeezed lightly, before looking over to Merlin, who was still standing close to Will, but staring at her like he'd seen a ghost.

'It's okay, Merlin.' She soothed. 'We'll be okay.'

Merlin nodded once, eyes falling to the ground. Will pressed himself closer to the boy protectively.

All of a sudden, an amplified voice boomed across the ship, the source of it impossible to locate as it seemed to blast out from every direction.

'All passengers will remain calm. I repeat, all passengers will REMAIN CALM. Please will all first class passengers make their way to the North deck of the ship, and all others, please remain on the South side until further notice. Thankyou.'

'They're evacuating the ship.' Arthur said. It then occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea why. He turned to Morgana. 'What exactly happened?'

'The ship crashed into an iceburg.' She replied, lamely. 'I know it sounds a bit... unlikely, but there you go.' She locked her gaze with her brother. 'It's going down, Arthur.'

The prince nodded, keeping himself calm. It was surprisingly easy for him to fall back on his military-like state of mind, and for once, he was actually grateful for his father's paranoid training programs. 'Uther will be wanting to get the royal's off first. No doubt he'll want all his sponsors on the first load of boats.'

His sister nodded, her face flashing in instinctive anger before she swept it away quickly. Arthur shifted so him and Morgana were closer to the other two. He looked at them all individually before speaking. 'We cannot get split up, you hear? Do not let any one of us out of your sight.'

Will and Merlin nodded their agreement, but Morgana frowned worriedly.

Arthur met his sister's eyes, and immediately saw the question in them, mostly because it was a fear in his own mind too.

He knew that neither Will nor Merlin would get off this ship alive if they waited until their turn to board the lifeboats. Both him and Morgana had both seen how few there were to spare, and there was no chance that there would be enough down to Third Class.

But Arthur was not going to let that happen. He'd force them on to one if it came down to it.

Will and Merlin would get on that boat with them one way or another, he'd make sure of it.

'C'mon,' Arthur said, firmly, taking his place next to Merlin. He slipped his hand into the warlock's and the boy clasped it tightly, welding himself to Arthur's side as the prince huffed out a long breath and shot the other two an encouraging smile that came out more like a grimace. 'Look on the bright side. Who'd believe that we would ever live to see the Titanic sink, hmm?'

And with that, he strode off in the direction of the North deck, Merlin stumbling in tow.

Will nudged Morgana lightly. 'So much for not letting anyone out of your sight, huh?' He joked, half-heartedly.

The woman swallowed her fear and forced out a chuckle. Strangely, it helped a bit. 'Come on,' she said, taking his hand as they started to jog to catch up with the other two.


Authors note:

The shit, as they say, is going down.

Now, I have a worry that sprouted in my head a I was reading this back, that events might have happened a bit too quick for some people's liking, and so I would really appreciate it if you could let me know if you thought it was too rushed.

Sorry for almost killing off Morgana! Originally I was going to leave her dead but then that kind of broke my heart and little so I wrote her back in.

Is it bad to fall in love with one of your own characters? Probably, but I feel I can make the exception for Will, as he is just the definition of awesome.

Please let me know if you liked it!