Sorry this wasn't up yesterday. I was at a karate tournament and was planning on updating when I got back, but I had an awful headache and couldn't bare to look at a screen for too long.

The Disappearance of Arthur Pendragon

"Stop it." Morgana told him.

"I am not doing anything."

"Yes you are. You are thinking about Arthur." She looked over to him. "He is just being a prat and the sooner he realises that the better."

Merlin sighed heavily. He was still really worried about him. He hadn't seen or spoken to him since he told him that he was being an ass. He knew that she was trying to distract him by saying that they should at least start thinking of their wedding plans. It wasn't a bad idea but it wasn't distracting him.

"Just I … wish there was something I could do. He was there for me when my father died. I feel useless because I cannot help him."

She reached out and grabbed his hand. "Unfortunately that is Arthur. He has always kept things to himself. Even from the age 10, he was doing it. I don't really think he was ever really allowed to express himself."

Merlin couldn't even start to imagine what it must have been like to grow up knowing that one day you would take the throne. The idea was daunting at the age of 19. The thought that he was actually king now scared him. He was sure he was going to get so many things wrong.

"Suppose."

Morgana brought her chair closer to him. "Look, we don't have to do this if you don't want to. It is a nice day. We could spend it in the gardens. Maybe learn a bit of magic."

"What more do we have to learn?"

She got up. "Well your father told me that you never stop learning magic. It is a life time study."

He nodded before getting out of his chair and taking her hand again. "The gardens it is."

They raced down the halls, weaving in between the servants. He thought that he had heard his mother shout at them for running but it had been the most carefree that he had felt in a long time.

"This is a lovely spot." Gwen said as she looked out on the view.

Arthur finished drinking before he nodded. "I passed it while out hunting recently. I said to myself, you know who would love it here. Gwen would love it here."

She blushed slightly. He really did surprise her some times. She would never put him down to be a romantic but when he came up to her with a basket, asking her for her company, she had said yes. She had obviously cleared it with Morgana first off. She had told her that it was fine as she was going to try and distract Merlin's attention from Arthur.

If anything, Gwen knew how much everyone was blaming themselves over what happened. It was an accident that it ended the way it did. After all the attempts, someone was going to die soon. She was glad that it wasn't Merlin but she could see how Uther's death had affected Arthur. Maybe it affected him worse than if they were still on better terms.

Even now she was sure that Arthur hadn't forgiven his father for the circumstance of his birth. She was even sure that he had started to blame himself for all the people that died because of Uther's grief.

"I think it is just nice to get out of the castle once in a while." She bit her lip, debating about her next sentence. "All this nonsense is going to have to end soon. They cannot blame themselves for the rest of their lives and you can't blame yourself and them. You will have to come to terms with it as well."

"He had both his parents. You had both of yours. I have tried my best to make him proud of me. He died thinking that I hated him."

"I doubt that Arthur. I doubt he would ever think that you hated him. There is one thing that you and him could not ever change. You were his son and that alone made him proud. You have two ways of thinking about it. One, Uther could have not done what he did and the Pendragons would have ended with him. Two, for him to do what he did to give your mother the child she desperately wanted and the heir to carry on his family name."

Arthur just stared out to the distance.

She continued to talk. "Balinor had told me a bit about your mother. He had seen the looks we gave each other. He told me that I share her kind heart. He told me that from the moment she had found out she was betrothed to your father, she planned out everything, from her wedding to what she would call her children. He even told me that Uther had caught on to the fact that she wanted to name her first born son Arthur. Apparently he hated the name but he still called you it anyway."

"And what I am suppose to do with that information?" He stared into his cup.

"The things we do for love are usually the worst. If there is one thing that I can tell you about your father's actions, there were for love."

He looked at her for the first time since the start of the conversation. He wondered what he ever did to deserve her love. She was right and he had just realised how much of an idiot he had been. No it wasn't their fault that he had died. He was going to die one day. Like Merlin, it was just a bit sooner than he would have wanted it to be.

"Why not wait till it is light? You won't be able to see anything now." Leon asked him.

"Don't worry. I can use a little magic and make it seem like it is daylight."

When Gwen had ran into his chambers, telling them that Arthur could be in trouble, Merlin had set off as soon as he could to try and find him. Morgana had comforted her and told him where they were to start their search.

"Not to worry you at all sire, but some of the knights are still a little … unsure about the use of magic."

"I know that. But we in times that are changing. They need to see this new world instead of the old. I know that it is hard for them to but I will make this new world."

He heard Leon slow down rather than see him. He knew maybe he had said a bit too much but it was true. They were going to enter a new world, a new age. It was just he had to bring it around.

Merlin let up balls of light up when they reached the spot Gwen had talked about. He started to look for any sign of a struggle or the direction they could have gone, or a sign for Arthur. At this moment in time, he would love to find him, hopefully the worst injured.

There were bodies lying around and Merlin took the time to turn each of them, just making sure that they weren't him.

"Sire, there is no sign."

"Keep looking."

Lancelot came up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Merlin, there is nothing more we can do tonight. We can return at sun rise but there is very little we can do now, even with the light you have given us."

Merlin sighed heavily and was about to turn to him when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He waved his hand to move one of the balls over and ran down the short decline to see what it was. He soon realised that it was a scrap of a tunic. He looked more and managed to find Arthur's sword and scabbard.

It was bad and he knew it.