And at last we have chapter eleven. Look out for the author's note at the end!
Enjoy! :)
"No. He's still alive." Arthur declared, the conviction unwavering in his voice.
"Are you certain Arthur? How could Merlin possibly survive a magical attack of that magnitude?" Leon replied, not sounding completely convinced himself.
"To be honest I'm not entirely sure how he managed it." Arthur responded, running his fingers through his hair.
"I honestly though he was dead. When the final burst of energy exploded from Morgana, the force of it threw Merlin's body against the wall, and with the injuries he had already sustained I didn't think – there was no way –" he stumbled on his words, unable to find the right one to explain to them just how terrible it was or how bad Merlin's injuries had been. Taking a deep breath, the prince steadied himself.
"But he was alive. He was unconscious, but even from where I was chained to the wall I could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing, and once Morgana picked herself up off the ground she could see it too."
As Arthur continued to push through his memories, but they once again started to turn hazy as a ripple of fire shot through his head. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Arthur waited for the pain to pass.
"What happened to Morgana after the…explosion?" Gwen asked, curious about the effect the burst of energy had on the woman she had once considered a friend.
"Well when the last of the energy snapped out of her she collapsed to the floor and got sick. It took her a couple of minutes, but eventually she was able to gather herself." Arthur explained, trying to push the memory of Morgana's screams out of his head.
"I'm amazed that she was even able to remain conscious after it was over. Expelling such a considerable amount of uncontrolled magical energy from her body should have been enough to knock her out for at least an hour." Gaius explained.
"Well maybe she didn't release as much energy as Arthur originally thought she did." Gwen added in, hoping that it would explain how Merlin was able to survive.
"The force of it was enough to not only lift Merlin's body into the air and hold it there, but to then throw his already broken body against the wall with such a force that the wall itself cracked on impact." Arthur snapped, all of the sudden out of breath.
Both Gwen and Leon were taken aback by the sudden outburst. With a sigh Arthur dropped his head into his hands again and started massaging his temple, trying to ease the fire in his head that only seemed to be getting worse again.
Quietly Gwen excused herself, saying that she had just remembered something that needed to be done. Once the three men were alone, Gaius continued.
"If what you say is true Arthur, then we have a serious problem." Arthur glanced up at the aging physician, wondering how things could possibly get any worse.
"If Morgana truly released that amount of energy and was still able to remain conscious when it ended, then she is considerably more powerful than any of us could have ever imagined." Gaius explained, the worry clear in his voice. "Making her more dangerous than any threat that Camelot has ever faced."
"But if she's as powerful as you say she is Gaius, then why didn't she just kill Arthur when she had the chance?" Leon interjected.
Gaius and Arthur made eye contact once again, instantly realizing that they both knew the answer to Leon's question.
"She has a plan." Arthur gulped, still looking at Gaius as the older man gave him a sad smile.
"Morgana letting me go free was her first hint and the note she left for me in the clearing was the second." Arthur said as he turned back to Leon.
"But do not fret; you will be seeing us soon." Gaius whispered, repeating the words from the note that had been burned into his head after reading and rereading it over and over again in the days since Arthur's return.
"She….she has a plan." Leon stammered. "Well that's not good."
Arthur let out a small chuckle. "No Leon it's not. And if she is as powerful as Gaius says she is, then we are all in trouble.
"And what makes it even worse -" Arthur began. "I fear that Merlin lies at center of this new plan of hers. I don't know what it was, but something happened that day to change Morgana's mind."
While Arthur and Leon both looked worried about what Morgana could possibly have planned, Gaius looked as if he were about to be sick, because while Leon and Arthur remained oblivious, he knew what it was that changed Morgana's mind; she knew that Merlin had magic.
While Gaius should have been more concerned about the obvious effect the wound on the back Arthur's head was having to the prince's memories, he couldn't help but be thankful that he couldn't remember what happened.
Merlin clearly used his magic in front of both Morgana and Arthur in an attempt to escape and rescue Arthur, but it evidently failed. It was the only thing that could possibly explain Morgana finding out about Merlin, nothing else made sense. But that meant that somewhere deep inside Arthur's head, hidden deep in his forgotten memories, was the truth that Merlin was a sorcerer.
Before anything else could be said there was a knock at the door.
"Leon, could you –" Arthur sighed.
With a nod Leon went to see who was at the door.
"Who is it Leon?" Arthur asked rubbing his eyes as the ache in his head finally started to ebb.
But it wasn't Leon who replied to Arthur's question; instead it was another familiar voice.
"Hello Arthur."
Arthur's head instantly snapped up upon hearing his father's voice. It may have been months since he had last heard it, but there was no doubt that it was his.
If Arthur was going to be honest, he had half expected to see Uther standing there in his bedclothes looking just as broken and forlorn as he had been when Arthur last saw him. But the man standing in front of him looked just like Arthur could remember him looking his entire life. He once again looked like the king of Camelot – like his father.
"Father?" He asked, looking both relieved and shocked at his father's sudden appearance. The last time he saw his father, he had been a mere shell of the man he had once been; unresponsive and confined to his room day in and day out.
"Hello son." Uther beamed, the smile growing on his face taking Arthur by surprise.
That's when Arthur first noticed it, the change in Uther Pendragon. When his father had just been standing in the middle of the room he didn't notice it at first. But as the smile grew on his face, the change in the king became blatantly obvious. While he still held himself in the same kingly manner, something inside the man had shifted during Arthur's absence.
Arthur could only watch on in silence as his father made his way to the far side of the room, past Gaius, and seated himself on the edge of the bed right next to his son.
"My son." Uther reached forward, resting both of his hands on Arthur's shoulders. "You have no idea how happy it is to see you." The king admitted as he reached his right hand up and rested it against his son's neck. To small touch sent a familiar fiery ache through Arthur's head, but he quickly pushed it in away, determined to ignore it for the time being.
His father's affectionate actions were already unexpected, but his father's next move completely took him by surprise. In one swift movement, Uther Pendragon leaned forward and enveloped Arthur in his arms.
It wasn't like the father and son had never hugged before, but it had been when Arthur was much younger, and the feeling put into the current embrace was completely different from the once he had received when he was a boy.
"I though I was never going to see you again." Uther said, still holding onto his son tightly as tears ran down his face.
It was Uther's words that finally snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. He had been too shocked by his father's sudden show of affection to respond, but when he finally came back to his senses, Arthur reached around his father's body and held on just as tightly. It was like every bit of worry, frustration, sadness, and anger towards his father since Morgana's betrayal completely washed over him in that moment, but the feeling of happiness and joy rose up and beat out all the rest as a few warm tears escaped his eyes and ran down his face.
He wasn't sure how long they had remained there in the embrace, but when they finally pulled away, they realized that Leon and Gaius had left at some point and they alone. They spent the next few hours talking about Arthur's condition and what had been happening around Camelot since his disappearance all those weeks ago
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It had been three days since Arthur first woke up and to be honest, he felt like he was about to explode.
Besides the wound on the back of his head that needed to be rebadged twice a day, Arthur was more or less good as new. The majority of the time Arthur was surrounded by some combination of his father, Gwen, Gaius, Leon, and Gwaine, but during those few times he was left alone, all he could do was think. Think about what he should have done and what he needed to do now that he was better.
So it was on the morning of the forth day that Arthur decided to bring it up. He figured that the bigger the audience that was present the better chance he would have at being taken seriously. So he decided to take his chances when Uther, Gwaine, and Gaius were all in his room that morning.
"Gwaine, I want you and Leon to take me back to the clearing where you guys found me." Arthur announced, trying to be as nonchalant and serious as possible.
The three men who had previously been in conversation with each other all turned to look at the prince like he had all of the sudden sprouted a second head.
"You can't be serious Arthur." The king replied, but upon seeing the look on his son's face, Uther realized that he was being completely serious.
"That's completely out of the question Arthur, you're still recovering and you need your rest. Besides, with Morgana still on the lose it's not safe for you to leave the citadel." Uther insisted.
Arthur had been planning on that being his answer so he turned to the old physician.
"Gaius, in your profession opinion as my physician, do you think I have recovered enough to be able to go for a short ride in the company of Sir Gwaine and Sir Leon?"
"I well – " Gaius paused, looking back and forth between the father and son, unsure of what he should say. The last place he wanted to be in that moment was stuck in the middle of one of their arguments.
"Be honest Gaius, is Arthur really well enough for something like this?" Uther asked, urging the physician to continue.
"Well besides the gash on the back of his head, which appears to be healing quite nicely, Arthur seems fairly healthy. I think that as long as he's in the company of Gwaine and Leon and doesn't push himself too hard, I think a short trip out of the city might actually be good for him Sire." When Gaius finally finished, Arthur was practically beaming.
"But there's still the issue of Morgana." Uther pointed out.
"Father, we both know that if Morgana wanted me dead that I would be - me being here right now is proof of that." When Arthur saw Uther's face fall, he knew he had won that argument.
"But why?" That was the one question Arthur hadn't been expecting. Gaius and Gwaine shifted uncomfortably. It was the topic that Arthur and Uther had avoided taking about for three days.
"You know why." Arthur responded with a sigh and continued. "By some miracle it hasn't rained since my return and I need to see it there's any –" But he stopped.
He had gone over the events of that day with Gwaine and Leon multiple times, and each time they made it clear that there were no signs of Morgana. It wasn't like he didn't trust them, but he just needed to see it for himself. And with each passing day their chances of finding anything were dwindling.
"It's just something I need to do father."
It was moments like these that made Arthur thankful for the change in his father since his disappearance. If he had come to his father with such a request a year ago, Uther would have immediately shut him down and forbid him from going, which would have naturally ended with Arthur going anyways.
But this new Uther was seriously considering whether or not he would let Arthur go riding off into the woods only a week after being returned to Camelot after being kidnapped and held hostage by Morgana. And it wasn't like his son was just going for a ride into the woods because he was getting antsy and restless; they all knew why he wanted to go back to the clearing.
"Okay." Arthur heard Uther say barely above a whisper.
"Thank you father." Arthur said, relief washing over him.
"But you have two hours. Two hours and I want you back here."
Arthur quickly agreed to the to the terms and told Gwaine to go inform Leon to ready the horses and that he would meet them at the stables in twenty minutes.
In a matter of minutes Arthur found himself alone again. Gwaine had gone off to find Leon and Uther and Gaius made their exit shortly after.
That was how Arthur found himself standing in the middle of his room completely alone.
For the first time since his return to Camelot, Arthur felt the full force of Merlin's absence.
After a few minutes of struggling to dress himself, Arthur was finally ready to head down to the stables, but before he left, a flash of red caught his eye. Turning around Arthur eyed the familiar red neckerchief that was on his bedside table. For three days it had never left his side.
Before he realized what he was doing, Arthur found himself walking across the room towards the table. Picking up the neckerchief, that was still tied off from the last time it was around its owner's neck, Arthur carefully put his right hand through the loop, twisted it off, and put his hand in through the second hole till the cloth was double wrapped securely around his wrist.
Without another though, Arthur grabbed his sword off the table and started making his way down the familiar path to the stables.
When he got there, both Leon and Gwaine instantly recognized the unmistakable red cloth around the prince's wrist, but neither of them said anything about it.
In an odd way the presence of the neckerchief made all three men feel better, it was like a little piece of Merlin was there with them.
The entire way to the clearing they rode in silence, which was only another reminder of Merlin's absence. As the rode through the tress, the three men half expected their favorite manservant and friend to jump in with some comment just to break the silence, but alas, they continued to ride in complete.
After about twenty minutes Leon finally announced that the clearing was just ahead. When they finally reached the tree line, the dismounted their horses and entered the clearing on foot.
Before entering the clearing, Arthur couldn't exactly remember his knights finding him that afternoon, but suddenly he could remember it clear as day.
After circling around the clearing a couple of time, Arthur had to admit that Gwaine and Leon had been right in their initial assessment, there was no sign of Morgana entering or leaving the clearing after dropping Arthur off that day.
Walking back to the center of the clearing Arthur kneeled down and picked up the forgotten arrow that had been holding the note and neckerchief in place for Arthur.
Fiddling with the arrow in his fingers Arthur let out a sigh.
"So what do we do now?" Gwaine asked, as the two knights approached Arthur from behind.
Arthur knew it was hopeless. He had been a knight of Camelot for enough years to know when there was no chance of tracking someone down when they had made sure to cover their tracks this well. He knew it was hopeless and that Gwaine and Leon probably realized it too.
But Merlin never gave up on Arthur, even when everything seemed lost, Merlin always believed in Arthur. So now it was Arthur's turn, and there was no way he was going to give up on Merlin.
"Well isn't it obvious?" Arthur asked with the knights still at his back.
"We're going to keep searching." Arthur admitted.
"Well that's excellent, because some strong words would have been exchanged if you had said anything different." Gwaine said with a laugh, smacking Leon in the back.
"But where do we even begin looking?" Leon asked, clearly uncertain about their current lack of a plan for finding their missing friend.
"For right now it doesn't matter, tonight we'll head back to Camelot and come up with a plan of action, but we're not giving up on Merlin." Arthur declared.
Arthur turned his head around to look at the two knights that he trusted above all the rest.
"I know you're in Gwaine, but what about you Leon?" Arthur asked, not entirely sure what the man's answer would be.
"Merlin never gave up on us, always riding into danger at our sides when he knew there was every chance that he wouldn't return, and he was always there for us when we needed him most. I'm sure as hell not giving up on Merlin now when he needs us. So you can count me in." Leon answered without hesitation.
Gwaine immediately let out a cheer and flung an arm around his fellow knight.
With a smile Arthur turned back around and slowly stood up with the arrow still in his hand.
"Don't worry Merlin, we're coming for you." Arthur said under his breath.
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A/N: And there's chapter eleven. First things first, sorry if there's a little OOC-ness as far as Uther is concerned, but to be honest I couldn't help myself!
As far as the story goes, I've decided on a bit of a change in my plans that will put an extra chapter in before we get to said chapter. If you don't know what chapter I'm speaking of then head back to the A/N in chapter ten to find out! :)
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, leave me a review, tell me what you think, or tell me what you think might happen next :D
Just another reminder that I leave updates on my author's page throughout the week with progress about the upcoming chapter.
I guess that's all for now, so I guess I'll see you guys next Saturday! :D