Thank you to my reviewers and the favorites!

I shall continue!

This is definitely AU, please don't kill me for the bad plot change...


Chapter Nine

Feeling the Pain

Week Nine

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After yet another round of tedious pacing, Kilgharrah was more interested in getting his stiff limbs to cooperate that to listen to Gaius' babbling. The constant pacing was starting to wear on the dragon, and flexing and stretching didn't fully help, his forelegs only hurting words and his hind legs seizing up in painful cramps.

Not to mention the bloody chain still locked on his ankle, the rattling whenever it moved was grating his already thin nerves.

Getting comfortable on the straw bed again was difficult, not counting aching limbs or general weariness, sleeping on his side was the only way to remain comfortable, he'd gained quite a bit of weight in the last two weeks and his abdomen was over double the size it had been when he'd first started throwing up just over two months ago.

Gaius was pleased, after relentlessly bugging the old physician, the dragon had managed to get him to admit why he'd been so nervous over this.

Kilgharrah had made it past the two month mark, and was fine.

Mostly because for dragons, being out in the sun gave them energy, and in turn increased their appetite. The weight gain had allowed the babes to grow without pulling too much from the dragon, and that was without counting the fabulous luster his scales had taken on again. Minus the chain and inability to fly without being over balanced, Kilgharrah was mostly back to old self.

*grunt*

Of course there where the babes...

A low sigh made the newly arrived Merlin chuckle, followed by a sympathetic wince as the kicking increased yet again.

"They just won't stay still, will they?"

"No...Merlin...they will not..."

The reply was quiet, sounding weary, and also it held a certain tone of sorrow.

"Less than a month to go."

The attempt at cheering the dragon up failed, a soft whine being the only answer.

"Oh come on, just think for a moment, in less than a month, you'll no long be the only dragon in existence...well you'll still be the only one able to fly and breathe fire, but the babes will grow..."

The dragon had been about to interrupt the teen, but fell silent, his mind grasping the concept fully this time, instead of blowing it away and replacing it with some other unneeded emotion.

Merlin waited for awhile, watching the dragon's head carefully, still unable to tell when he ticked the dragon off or not.

A gentle smile spread the gold lips, erased only briefly by a grimace as a kick hit his upper abdomen, Kilgharrah's breathing hitching a bit before smoothing out.

"They'll be plenty active," Merlin continued, the dragon relaxing under the reassurance, his head settling back onto the straw and eye lids beginning to droop, the gentle smile staying on his face comfortably.

And the alarm bells started blaring.

A group of knights rushed out into the dark courtyard, Arthur shouting orders before dashing over to the tent, grabbing Merlin roughly and dragging him away without a word.

Within moments the men and their horses were gone, but not without a shout reaching the dragon before he drifted into sleep.

"...Morgana and Morgause..."

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Kilgharrah wasn't sure if he was looking forward to not being the last dragon by the end of this month, or the fact that the kicking would cease. One of the babes was quite good at rolling he guessed, and it was really uncomfortable.

The castle was quiet, and Kilgharrah wasn't sure if that was a good thing, not only was Camelot a bit hushed, but the babes had yet to drive him to pacing, which wasn't normal when he'd actually gotten decent sleep that past night.

Before he could ponder much more, Merlin descended the front steps from the main part of the castle, looking tired and peeved, a toad in his hands.

Why there was a toad in his hands, Kilgharrah didn't want to know, but watching Merlin set the toad down and start muttering words to try and put together a spell caught the dragon's attention.

Standing was a little difficult, but not too hard, walking was becoming a bit more of a challenge as his hips had started stretching out, mildly uncomfortably but his tail swayed a bit more than he was used to.

Kilgharrah watched Merlin silently for a moment, eye ridge raising in mild amusement.

"Toad! Pléascadh! Dún an Bóthar!"

The shout was surprisingly quieter than Kilgharrah expected, releasing a puff of rotten smoke and a bit of dust, making the dragon sniff and rub his nose on his foreleg.

"Very original young warlock." The dragon griped sarcastically, "But you might want to cease practicing magic in daylight, you're of no use to me dead."

Merlin smirked, then nodded.

Kilgharrah hesitated, then dropped his head a bit to make sure he had Merlin's full attention.

"I am glad you returned safely, what was the result?"

"Morgana and Morguase were attacking a group of travelers, trying to convince them to smuggle the two into Camelot, little did they know the traverlers were trained men, fully able to fight until Arthur and the Knights stepped in, they fled after..."

Kilgharrah saw the boy glance around nervously, and the dragon raised his head like he was stretching, while in reality he checked the windows and saw no one watching them.

"Go on young warlock."

"They fled after they realized I had learned to deflect immobilizing spells, it took a bit but I managed and no one is the wiser except..."

"Oh?"

"Except for me Great Dragon."

Kilgharrah looked up, Lancelot striding towards Merlin with an apple, playfully glaring at the teen to eat before fully taking the dragon in.

"You weren't kidding Merlin."

Choking on a mouthful, Merlin turned to the guy, "Why would I lie about a dragon?"

Lancelot shrugged, "You're prone to a bit of exageration."

"To get out of revealing things, not get into more lies."

"Uh huh, sure."

Merlin tried to shove the boy, only succeeding in dropping his apple that rolled away into the dirt and making Lancelot laugh.

"Nice try but Arthur wasn't lying at you being unable to hold your own in a fight."

"I can to hold my own, just in a slightly different way."

Lancelot chuckled, then turned as a door banged and loud cursing met their ears via echoes.

"I'd forgotten how loud this castle could be."

Kilgharrah snorted, drawing their attention, "You have no idea young knight."

"Knight?"

The dragon nodded as Merlin rolled his eyes, noting the hidden yet obvious riddle in the dragon's tone.

"Not a knight yet, Arhtur's still a Royal Prat."

"Not yet but one day."

"Not helping Kilgharrah."

"That was never my intention young warlock." The dragon replied before more swearing preceded a head clutching male who was obviously hungover.

"By the gods I hate-"

"Drinking?" Came Merlin.

"No, drinking games." corrected Lancelot.

The guy groaned, looking rather pale, "No I hate waking up! The drinking is fine and the games even better...but...oww..if I could just sleep through this...oh that would be lovely..."

Lancelot and Merlin couldn't help but laugh, and laugh loudly, earning a hiss and more cursing from the disheveled drinker.

"Stop please! I beg you! Please make it stop!"

"Gwaine!"

Gwaine yelled in frustration, clutching his head as he fell to his knees...

At Arthur's feet.

"What in the bloody hell is wrong with you?"

Lancelot cleared his throat seeing as Gwaine was unable to cease rocking back and forth and swearing.

"I believe sire there was a bit too much ale in Gwaine's celebration last night."

Arthur shook his head, hands on his hips as he watched Gwaine know lie curled on the courtyard stones, whimpering pathetically.

"Don't let him go to a tavern tonight, my father wishes to speak with all of you." Arthur ordered, pointedly meeting Lancelot's gaze as the other nodded, walking away after shaking his head at Gwaine.

Kilgharrah watched him go with a bit of irritation lacing his next words.

"Who else is here Merlin besides these two?"

"Umm...Elyan, Gwen's brother; and...Percival? Is that right Lancelot?"

The other nodded before dragging Gwaine to his feet, beginning to half carry him back to his room, wondering aloud why he had left in the first place and receiving a curse in return.

Gwen came to them next with her stranger of a brother following, just as Kilgharrah had turned to find some place to doze for the next few hours, planning on taking advantage of the lack on movement in his abdomen.

And the dragon's legs buckled.

xxx

One of Gaius' ramblings had mentioned Kilgharrah's high tolerance to pain but not numbness, a halfway good sign for the delivery...Kilgharrah couldn't remember what numbness had to do with it, but he hoped the shooting pain that radiated from his abdomen wasn't what would actually happen.

He felt like he was being torn apart from the inside out.

The babes were thrashing now, either making up for the lack of movement earlier as punishment...

Or by the look in Gaius' eyes something was seriously wrong.

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Merlin lay collapsed on a blanket spread out on the straw, sleeping off a too strong spell that had worn out the boy quickly, leaving him drained and unconscious.

Kilgharrah had stumbled because of his newly swollen ankles and wrists, stiffness setting in and the dragon lost control as the movement drew him to go dizzy and be unable to compensate for his limbs' lack of mobility.

The pain was from the babies struggling, the fall had damaged something internally and affected something.

Merlin had nearly killed himself trying to heal the dragon...

Gaius begged that it had worked, Kilgharrah sleeping restlessly in the middle of the courtyard for now, Merlin having to draw on the dragon's strength to remain conscious enough to complete the spell.

A low groan preceded Kilgharrah forcing himself to his feet stiffly, nearly crawling onto the soft straw exhaustedly before flopping onto his side.

"What...happened?"

"You fell, I'd warned you about moving too fast."

"Mmm...Merlin?"

"Unconscious, sleeping off a powerful healing spell, he'll be fine by morning."

"..."

Gaius paused after Kilgharrah mumbled something softly, eyes drifting shut once more.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"The...babes..."

Gaius hesitated, the dragon's speech was slow and slurred, Gaius hoped that was just from exhaustion.

"Resting for now I believe, I...don't know if the healing spell truly made things perfectly alright...but once Merlin was done the thrashing calmed after a moment and they seemed to settle peacefully."

The dragon's gaze drifted away, his mind trying to search through his own body, forcing enough magic forward, he searched harder...and felt that all lied well, at least until the babes woke up.

A weary yawn slid past him, Merlin must have added a light sleeping spell to the babes themselves to let Kilgharrah rest. The magic residue on the healing spell fogged the dragon's mind, but he was able to note the sleeping spell hadn't harmed the babes at all, calming them after the trauma instead.

"Just get some rest Kilgharrah, tomorrow you have to make up for missing two meals today."

The dragon snorted weakly, shifting his head before succumbing to the healing spell's call for sleep.

Gaius watched silently, the dragon's breathing slowing and deepening, moments later the physician noticed Kilgharrah and Merlin were breathing in time with each other.

A rather amusing sight, but both now slept deeply.

The old man let them be, softly blowing out the last of the candles and heading to his own bed and rest.

Who knew what tomorrow would bring?


Sorry for the wait!

Don't kill me!