Hello, I bet you guys weren't expecting this! But happy weekend! Here's chapter fourteen!
Enjoy! :)

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"Hello Arthur Pendragon – King of Camelot. It's been a long time dear brother."

As Arthur held his sword out towards his father's former ward, he could feel his entire body begin to shake as he tried to hold his stance. Whether it was from the uncomfortable sense of dread that had suddenly washed over him or because he was angrier than he'd ever been in his entire life, it didn't really matter. Arthur's whole body was going into over drive; his head and heart both pounding in unison.

"Morgana, where is he?" Arthur demanded through gritted teeth. He needed to pull himself together. This may be their only chance to finally locate Merlin and he wasn't going to let his emotions ruin that.

"It appears we have company." Morgana said, momentarily distracted. Turning her head towards the open doors, she focused on the empty corridor. Within seconds, all the occupants within the throne room could hear the distinct sounds of boots storming towards the throne room.

With a flick of her wrist, Morgana's eyes flashed gold and the doors to the room slammed shut. The next moment they could hear the knights pounding on the door and shouting, demanding to be let in.

Another flash of gold from Morgana's eyes and the sound stopped and the doors stopped rattling.

"What did you do?" Arthur commanded, worried that she had done something to the men who were trying to force their way in.

"There's no need to worry Arthur, your knights have not been harmed." She responded, seeing the concern in her brother's eyes. "I simply put a spell on room so we could speak without interruption. I would like to talk with you all in private."

As she spoke, Arthur started cautiously edging his way around the round table to get closer to Morgana. As he started to move his father clasped onto his upper arm in attempt to keep him as far away from her as possible, but Arthur easily shook his father's hand off.

He couldn't see, but he could feel Leon's presence following closely behind him as Gwaine followed them, mimicking their movements along the other side of the table.

"Where is he Morgana?" Arthur repeated the question as he reached the front end of the table, Morgana still standing a good twelve feet away from him. While he remained there to face her, Gwaine and Leon moved to her sides, both still keeping a good distance away.

"I'm sorry dear brother, but you're going to have to be a bit more specific. I do come across a lot of people in my travels, so I'm not quite sure who exactly you are referring to." She replied, an unmistakable smirk tugging at her lips.

Arthur clenched his fist around the hilt of his sword. She was acting as if this was some sort of game. The king squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of pain rolled through his mind. Shaking his head, Arthur put his attention back on Morgana and the cloaked stranger. He made an effort to get a better look at the stranger, whose entire body was completely enclosed in the scarlet cloak, but the feeling of uneasiness forced him to look away after only a few seconds. He couldn't explain why, but a feeling in his gut was telling him that he didn't want to see what was being concealed underneath the cloak.

Looking back at Morgana, she had an amused smile playing on her lips as she observed Arthur's reaction to the figure standing at her side.

"You know exactly who I speak of Morgana. Now where is he?" Arthur fumed, trying to push the feeling of unease out of his mind.

"Oh you mean Merlin?" Morgana finally replied, acting as if she had forgotten all about the manservant.

When Morgana said Merlin's name, Arthur could have sworn he saw the cloaked figure give a small twitch towards Morgana, but when he stole a glance in his direction, the figure remained completely still.

Morgana let out a delighted laugh as she watched Arthur's attention focus back onto her, his face a full of anger and confusion.

"Oh yes, your beloved manservant. We did have quite the time him and I. We had a lot of…. fun together." She grinned, reminiscing over the last three months she'd spent with the manservant.

To his left, Arthur heard Gwaine let out a deep growl. If she wasn't careful with her words, there was nothing Arthur would be able to do to stop his two knights from attacking her.

Morgana, however, completely ignored the disgruntled knights that were on either side of her. Her eyes remained fixated on the man in front of her.

"You know Arthur, the extent of his loyalty for you still amazes me, even after all this time. I now know that he really would die for you in a heartbeat. He would willing give his life for the once and future king." She hissed.

From behind him, Arthur heard the old physician let out a gasp. For a short while, Arthur had completely forgotten that his father and Gaius were also present. Without lowering his sword, Arthur turned his head over his shoulder to see if they were both all right. While they were both completely unharmed and still standing, the look of terror on Gaius' face made it clear that everything was not all right.

Something about the words that Morgana had spoken shook the physician to his very core. With his eyes wide and holding a shaky hand up to his mouth, Gaius looked as if he were about to collapse.

A thousand thoughts were racing through the old man's head as he struggled to keep standing. But there was one the overshadowed all the rest: Morgana knew. She didn't have to spell it out for him, because her words said it all.

He would be willing to give his life for the once and future king.

Not only did she know that Merlin was Emrys, but she knew about the prophecies that were foretold by the druids. And she chose her words carefully, as if it were a experiment to see their response. And from the look of satisfaction on her face, Gaius realized that he'd given her exactly what she wanted.

She wanted to see which of them knew about Merlin and his secret, about the prophecies, about his identity as Emrys. And now she knew – Gaius was the only one who knew the truth.

Standing beside him, Uther reached out to Gaius, concerned, but at the same time he was apprehensive. There was something that Gaius knew that the rest of them did not, something that he was hiding. Whatever it was that he was hiding, it made Morgana that much more dangerous.

Arthur finally turned his head back to Morgana when she started speaking again.

"Yes, the once and future king, the man who the prophecies speak of, foretelling that he will one day unite all lands of Albion with the help of the great and powerful Emrys." Morgana recited, practically spitting out the last word, as if the name Emrys was a bad taste upon her tongue.

The instant the name Emrys left her lips, the fire in Arthur's head morphed into an inferno, almost bringing the king to his knees. The name Emrys pulling at the forgotten memories he'd been prodding at for months. The name was like a bubble of air trapped in the depths of a lake, trying to force its way to the surface, fighting to be remembered. But no memories came – just pain.

As difficult as it was, Arthur tried to push the name out of his mind, and as the pain slowly ebbed, he brought himself back up to full height, his eyes instantly connecting once again with Morgana's. The fire hadn't completely departed from his mind, but he could at least manage it at this point.

Arthur's unexpected reaction to Morgana's words took the physician by surprise. As Arthur fought to remain standing, his free hand shot straight up to cradle the left side of his temple.

Arthur's sudden head pain set off a red flag inside of Gaius. In that moment, there was no doubt in the physicians mind that the king's headaches had continued even after Arthur had stopped coming to see him for them.

But there was still something that Gaius was missing, something massive that was staring him straight in the eye. But his mind was drawing a blank, but whatever it was that he was missing, he could feel that it would be their undoing, and they were running out of time.

"Where is he?" Arthur repeated again. He'd had enough of her distractions, Arthur wanted answers - he wanted to know where Merlin was.

But Morgana just chuckled and shook her head like she was finding this entire situation amusing.

"It's remarkable," she mused "you're just as pathetic as that sorry excuse for a manservant was."

As small as the word had been, her use of was didn't escape anyone's attention. What exactly was she insinuating.

At that exact same moment, both Gwaine and Leon had decided they'd had enough of Morgana's incessant prattle, and they both rushed forward brandishing their swords, ready to shut her up themselves.

Arthur should have done something to stop them, they needed her alive if they were ever going to find Merlin. But something told him that they weren't going to make it that far.

It was like Arthur was watching everything happen in slow motion. In his periphery, he could see his two most trusted knights rushing towards Morgana at full speed, but Arthur never took his eyes of Morgana, whose eyes were still firmly locked on him. If he had looked away, he would have missed the look of satisfaction that manifested itself on her face when she realized what was about to happen.

Before Gwaine or Leon could get within five feet of Morgana and the cloaked figure at her side, they collided into an invisible wall that appeared out of nowhere as soon as the two men made contact. It was like Morgana and the figure were trapped inside a giant green shield that was no doubt created by magic to protect them.

The instant the knights hit the barrier, the magical shield threw them fifteen feet backwards, both men came crashing down hard on the stone floor on either side of the throne room. While neither of them were knocked unconscious, both had the breath knocked out of them and were a somewhat dazed from the impact.

Arthur was worried about the state of Gwaine and Leon, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from his sister, who was still smiling. If Arthur had looked away for even a second during Gwaine and Leon's attempted attack he would have easily missed it. He would have missed the look in his sister's eyes when the knights made contact with the barrier, missed the satisfaction, missed the fact that her eyes remained their striking shade of green during the entire attack.

And in that moment Arthur knew - Morgana wasn't the one who was conjuring the barrier.

Seeing the gleam in her eyes only grow, Arthur's eyes warily shifted towards the hooded figure standing at her side. The figure that stood there like a statue, completely silent through everything that had occurred thus far, and who was the main source of Arthur's unease since their unexpected arrival. Whatever this person or creature was, there was something so unnatural and wrong about its very presence, and Arthur didn't want to be anywhere near it.

"You don't like him do you Arthur?" Morgana asked, he voice almost at as whisper as she stepped towards the king, seeing Arthur's uneasiness towards the man standing next to her.

Arthur's eyes darted back to her, unable to completely conceal the fear that was so painfully evident in them.

"I must admit, I am curious about something." Morgana said, only a few feet away from her brother now, whose sword was still raised in her direction.

"I've wondered for quite awhile now what would happen if-" She paused, focusing on the internal debate that was raging on inside of her.

"I really shouldn't, but I have to know – I must know." She confessed. She had made up her mind. With a small smile, she turned her back on Arthur and started making her way towards the cloaked man.

He was a man. Her original question had revealed that much.

She was going to lower the man's hood, but a voice inside Arthur was screaming, telling him to stop her, to do something – anything to keep her from revealing the man underneath the hood.

"Where is he?" He asked again, his voice shaking, no longer having the strength and force it had only a few minutes before hand. With every step she took towards the man, the feeling of unease in the room only seemed to grow, her very presence affecting the hooded man as she got closer.

Finally Morgana was directly in front of the man, completely blocking Arthur's view, which to be honest, he was somewhat thankful for. Slowly reaching her hands up, careful not to actually touch the figure standing before her, Morgana slid the tips of her fingers along the inside of the hood. But before making another movement to remove the hood, she stole a glance over her shoulder, her eyes connecting once again with her brother's, a small but triumphant smile on her lips.

"Oh dear brother, you've missed what's been in front of your eyes this entire time – what's been standing right here in front of you."

Arthur's heart sank. It wasn't possible. There's no way that that cloaked figure could possibly be – it couldn't be him. He would have fought; he wouldn't have stood there at her side, remaining completely silent and obedient to his deranged sister. And the feeling of uneasiness radiating off the cloaked figure, that wasn't him, it was the exact opposite of him. He was warm and full of joy; like an obnoxious sun that wouldn't go away even when you told it to. He wasn't this cold and unnatural thing that was standing before him now. It couldn't be him.

But the twisted grin on Morgana's face told a completely different story; it was saying that this was her final move; it was saying that she had won.

Turning back to the task at hand, Morgana slowly lifted the hood up and back off the man's head standing before her.

Though Arthur couldn't see the man's face, Gwaine and Leon, who had managed to finally recover from their attack, had an unobstructed view of the man beneath the cloak. Arthur's eyes quickly darted back and forth between the two knights, whose faces looked like they had just seen a ghost. And not just that, but they looked as if they were going to be sick.

Finally Arthur's eyes rested back on where Morgana was standing. Looking back over her shoulder, Morgana slowly backed away from the cloaked figure, finally giving Arthur a clear view of the man he'd been searching for.

Though the hood was down, the man's face was still hidden from Arthur; his head was hanging down, chin resting against his chest. On top of that, the mess of raven hair on his head was doing a decent job at hiding the features of his face from Arthur's gaze.

But even so, there was no doubt in Arthur's mind that it was him – that the person standing before him was the same man they'd been searching for the last three months.

It was Merlin.

By this point, Morgana was a good ten feet away from the manservant, the grin still present on her face, but Arthur acted as if she wasn't even there. His attention was completely focused on Merlin.

He was torn. On one hand his body was telling him to run forward and shake Merlin out of whatever trance Morgana had put him under. But the other side of him was warning Arthur to stay far away from his long lost manservant, because there was something obviously wrong with him. But Arthur remained right where he was, unable to move his feet either way. After what felt like an eternity, Arthur finally realized that he needed to do something.

Arthur gave a small cough to clear his throat, unaware that it had been so dry up till that point.

"Merlin?" Arthur muttered, hoping that the manservant would respond, that he would show some form of recognition.

In the very next moment, Merlin's entire body went rigid, but not a word was said. Even from Arthur's distance, he could see Merlin shaking from underneath the heavy scarlet cloak. He decided to try again.

"Merlin?" He asked again, this time a little louder.

The servant's head instantly snapped up as his arms snapped out to his sides, his wrists bending backwards and his fingers cringing and bending as if he were in pain. The sudden movement caused the scarlet cloak that had been concealing him, to come sliding off him, falling into a heap on the floor at his feet.

In spite of Merlin's sudden movements, Arthur's eyes remained focused on his face. If he hadn't known the man standing before him so well, it was very possible that he wouldn't have recognized him.

His face was hollow, almost sunken in, looking like he hadn't been fed properly in quite some time. And on his cheek was a long pink scare that had not been there before hand. The servant's raven hair had grown too, it was much more unruly and considerably longer than his usual short cut.

But his eyes still remained clamped shut, almost as if he were fighting to keep them closed.

"Merlin." Arthur repeated again, his voice full of grief at seeing his friend in his current state. It was breaking his heart; this wasn't Merlin. What on earth did Morgana do to him?

But the sound of Arthur saying his name a third time struck a chord inside of him and the man in front of him couldn't keep his eyes shut any longer.

At last Merlin's eyes shot open.

Gone was the familiar blue eyes Arthur had come to know over their many years together.

Instead, two black orbs replaced them, and they were staring straight at Arthur.

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A/N: So here's the story, as I started working on this earlier this afternoon, I soon realized that it was getting a bit long. So by the time I reached the halfway point, it was already 2k before I even revised it (and as you can see it still ended up being around 3k). So in the end I decided to split this part of the story into two chapters instead of one.
But do not worry, you won't have to wait till next weekend to get part two (I may be mean, but definitely not that mean). So hopefully I'll have part two up for you guys either tomorrow night or Sunday night.
Anyways, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
See you all soon! :)