A/N: OH MY GOD I AM TERRIBLE! You all must hate me! I'm so sorry! There is, however, a reason this took so long. I was in a nasty car accident and my friends car was totaled, she broke a finger and I got a concussion, the worst kind, a ten on the scale and all that jazz. And my boyfriend took the "make sure Holly doesn't think like a normal human being for the next month" thing kind of seriously. SO now that my concussion is more or less healed here's your update :)

XXX

Arthur cracked open his eyes, slowly and painfully, the light stabbing at his heavy eyes. He closed them for a few seconds then tried again, more slowly this time.

By the time he got his eyes all the way open, he had managed to maneuver himself into a sitting position. His muscles screamed in protest, sore and stiff from whatever surface he'd been laying on.

He was in his father's main meeting chambers though he had no recollection of going there. The last thing he remembered was waking up in the middle of the night with every intention of going to find Cassie and then nothing.

The room was empty but a mess. Tables and chairs were strew in random patterns as if someone had called an impromptu meeting that set everyone into a panic.

A frown worked its way onto his face and he pushed himself off the floor. His muscles were sore and a groan escaped his mouth. As he stood he noticed the markings on the floor where he'd lain. Scorched into the stone as if by a very strong fire, was a star, its points just touching the edges of a circle.

His frown grew deeper. Something was off here and he needed to find out what it was. Ignoring the pain in his muscles he made his way to the door to push it open. A guard who stood in the hallway jumped when he saw him, the man dropped into a bow before running off down the hall.

"What?" he muttered and started walking after the guard. Something strange was going on and he was determined to find out what it was.

He rounded the corner and ran smack into Sir Leon. "Good, someone who can actually tell me whats going on here" Arthur smiled slightly at his old friend.

But the look on the knight's face was one of horror and confusion, "You… you're awake..." ha stuttered out.

The prince rolled his eyes "Obviously, now can you tell me what's been going on and why I woke up on a floor?" he asked.

Leon looked like he was considering something very hard, his eyebrows knit together and his forehead wrinkled and then he turned and ran.

This time Arthur gave chase, he took off sprinting after Leon. But the taller man had the advantage of longer legs and Arthur couldn't quite catch up to him.

They went up stairs and down long corridors, a pattern that was familiar to Arthur. Finally Leon threw his right shoulder into a set of doors and ran into a room, the Prince right behind him.

"Your highness, Prince Arthur…" Leon gasped out then trailed off as his message made itself obvious.

King Uther stood from his chair slowly, looking over the two men. For the most part the king looked completely normal. His hair was still the light gray it had faded to from the blonde of his younger years and his face was still the stern, regal face of a king, but his eyes, the ones that had once been blue and told all his emotions seemed glazed over, as if he was either very drunk or very tired. The color too had faded from the bright blue they had been to a sort of tired gray.

"Arthur?" he asked, his tone cold.

"Father, please tell me what is going on here? Everyone I've seen has gone running at the sight of me and I woke up on a floor" his son answered, a tiny bit of his annoyance creeping into his voice.

The king raised his eyebrows "You know very well why you woke up on a floor. You are not my son" he glared at the Prince, his faded, glazed eyes narrowed in mistrust and anger.

"What?" Arthur was now confused, annoyed and very sore. He was not in the mood to put up with false accusations.

A pair of guards stepped in through the still open doors and approached the now very unhappy prince.

"Father, what is going on? If this is some kind of joke, I don't find it funny!" he snapped, half desperate.

The king shook his head and turned away from his son. The guards each took one of Arthur's arms and began to drag him out of the room. He struggled and squirmed, shouting at his father to let him go, that this was a mistake but the guards still pulled at him, the two of them able to overcome the weakened prince.

"Leon, you know me! Tell them to let me go, I'm your prince, your friend!" he shouted.

Leon's face took up that thinking expression again, his forehead creasing and his eyebrows knitting together in pity, uncertainty and sadness.

"Sir Leon, help the guards take this thing to the dungeons. I don't want it inhabiting anyone else" Uther snapped, his face still turned towards the window.

"Yes your highness" the knight set his expression and joined the guards who dragged away the prince.

Uther smiled out the window, the demon inside him thrilled that his plan was working. Thrilled that soon Camelot would be a chaos of destruction, that it would soon be his.

XXX

"My feet fricking hurt" Cassie muttered as they trekked back through the woods towards Camelot. The brush underfoot was thick and messy and the horses weren't sure enough of their footing to carry a rider.

So they were walking. And had been for the last hour. Merlin had continued his talk with Linda and her uncle, they discussed magic and spells and the horrors of the great purge and Cassie didn't know whether to be bored or sick.

"Are you alright my lady?" Lancelot asked in his polite quiet tone.

Cassie smiled at him "Yeah, I'm fine" she shrugged and continued pulling on the reigns of her horse. The mare had decided it was snack time and was intent on eating all the leaves off the little bush in front of it.

Lancelot cracked a smile "Here" he took the reins out of her hands and gave them a firm pull. The horses head snapped up and another pull and it began to trot behind them.

She groaned and rolled her eyes "Why do I suck with horses?" she asked no one in particular, though she earned a strange look from the knight she was with.

"Look!" Merlin called out from ahead of them. everyone in their little party turned to him and their eyes followed to where he was pointing. Through a break in the trees, Camelot was visible.

"We're a few hours walk away, leave the horses here and come on" Linda's uncle took charge.

"Finally" Cassie muttered under her breath even though her nerves spiked at the view of the castle. Arthur was in there, possibly possessed and definitely in trouble, and she had to fix it.

XXX

"Are you sure your highness?" the kings advisor asked, his brow furrowed in uncertainty and confusion. The king had imposed several new taxes and laws in the past three hours alone and everyone in court was starting to worry.

The taxes were far more than the people could pay and the laws were simply ridiculous. Everyone in the room was more than a little suspicious over the king's sudden change.

He had always been such a fair ruler, good to his people and good to his court. His only insanity had been about magic, but all his advisors had been present for his wife's death and understood that Uther's war on all things magical was extremely personal.

But this, this was new and very strange.

"Yes, I am sure" the king snapped in answer to the advisors uncertainty. He wore his full crown, which in itself was unusual as he usually found it too heavy and annoying.

"Sire" Gaius put in tentatively as all the other advisors did their best to keep their faces clear and stare at the table in front of them.

The King turned his gray lifeless eyes to the old physician "Yes?" he inquired, his voice as cold as his eyes.

"I think we've all noticed you've been acting a bit strange today. And I am concerned as a friend that it is the stress over your son" he said, giving voice to the thought that was going through the rest of the room's heads. The thought that no one else had dared voice.

And the King gave them good reason. "Gaius, go and pack your things. Be gone by sundown, you are banished from Camelot and return on pain of death" he snapped.

The rest of the room was shocked, jaws dropped and people's heads snapped up from their staring contest with the table. Gaius was Uther's most trusted advisor and had been with the King the longest.

Gaius himself looked shocked as well, staring at the King for a long second before turning wordlessly and walking out of the room.

He could only hope Merlin was having better luck.

XXX

"This can't be right" Merlin exclaimed as he read over the announcements of the new laws and taxes imposed on the people.

"What's it say?" Cassie asked, leaning up on her tip-toes to look over his shoulder at the fancily scripted list of new laws.

"Uther's imposing all these ridiculous taxes. It's so unlike him" he said, continuing to frown down at the paper.

"Could it be…?" Lancelot asked, trailing off, not wanting to accuse his king out loud.

Linda looked to her uncle who nodded gravely, "The demon I summoned is very greedy. He will use his greed to create unrest and destruction" he explained and Cassie got the urge to punch him in the gut.

She took a deep breath, he was their only shot at getting rid of this demon thing and for now she had no choice but to trust him.

They were standing in a main part of town and already receiving strange looks from the people milling about near them.

"Your highness!" a middle aged man bowed to Cassie. She smiled back at him tightly and he straightened up "You are in the kings favor and the people are upset with the taxes and laws he has imposed. It is unlike him and we suspect it is because of his son-" he started but Cassie cut him off

"Wait, his son? What do you mean?" she asked, her panic rising in her chest.

The man gave her a sympathetic look before explaining "The Prince has been possessed by a terrible monster and is locked up in the dungeons. We fear that the King is upset over this and imposed the laws in a fit of anger."

Cassie sucked in a quick breath. How could this have happened? If Arthur was truly possessed what was Uther doing? And if he wasn't, then what was going to happen to him?

The man, oblivious to her inner musings, continued "If you can sway him in any way, make him see the peoples point of view or revoke the laws we would be eternally grateful" he said, giving her a timid smile.

She forced a smile of her own "I will try my best" she told him.

The man's face broke into a huge smile and the mood in the street seemed to ease, making Cassie realize that everyone had been watching and listening in anticipation. "Thank you so much my lady" the man dropped into another bow before moving on to tell people about her promise.

She looked back at the rest of the group, "Okay then" she said.

"I'm sure once we figure all this out it will be easy to ask the King to revoke the laws" Lancelot said encouragingly.

"We have to get going. The sooner we work this demon out, the better" Linda's uncle snapped and turned towards the castle.

Merlin shrugged at Cassie before turning to follow them.

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. So now she had to rescue her boyfriend, kill a demon and save a kingdom. No pressure or anything.

XXX

The chain pulled tight at the bolt in the wall with a groaning sound as its prisoner pulled at it to no avail. It was stuck in the wall good and tight.

Arthur groaned. He was annoyed, he was hungry, he was worried and worst of all he was bored. The dungeons were cold and dank but that wasn't what was bothering him.

The thought that was nagging at his conscience was why Cassie hadn't come to help him yet. Normally she'd be in the middle of something like this, her and Merlin cooking up some kind of crazy plan to get him out of this.

Maybe she believed he was possessed or something like the rest of them. Maybe she didn't want to come see him because she was afraid of him.

He quickly shook that thought away telling himself that Cassie wasn't a coward, she was the kind of woman who would want to see it for herself before writing him off.

He heard a rustling from the hallway outside his cell and immediately strained at his chain again, stretching as far across the cell as he could in an attempt to peek out the door to see who it was.

The sound grew louder and sounded like footsteps, thick soled boots, the sound growing louder as it came nearer.

Arthur almost dared to smile, he knew only one person who wore boots like that, and she was the only person he wanted to see right then.

The footsteps stopped outside the door and Arthur looked up, letting the smile pull his mouth up at the corners.

"Did you miss me?" the grinning girl at the door asked.

XXX

Merlin and Linda crept along a hallway towards the King's meeting hall. They'd situated Linda's uncle in her room, hidden with a few spells to jam the door.

They needed to get an eye and an ear on the inside to observe Uther to see if he was truly possessed or if Arthur was. Linda and her Uncle had told Cassie not to go see him just in case he was but Merlin knew her better than that and knew she would go anyway.

He kept quiet and only hoped she was smart about it. Then again it was Cassie, she was always smart.

He continued creeping along the hall behind Linda, his ears alerted to any and all noises. They were technically allowed to be in the castle but with the stress level high, everyone was suspicious of everyone else.

It was exactly what the demon would want. Unrest, suspicion, and it would ultimately lead to destruction.

They were about to round a corner when Merlin heard someone coming down the corridor. He quickly grabbed Linda's arm and yanked her back towards him, he looked around for a side hall or some kind of nook in the wall where they could hide but saw nothing and the footsteps were coming closer. The castle was flooded with light through the windows and there were no shadows to hide in.

The footsteps were drawing closer so he did the first thing that popped into his head, he tightened his hold on Linda's wrist, yanked her into him and kissed her.

She made a surprised squeak before freezing for the longest second ever then slowly, shyly returned the kiss. The footsteps came around the corner they had been about to turn down and stopped abruptly.

Someone coughed uncomfortably, and the two broke apart, Merlin shooting her an apologetic look which she either didn't see or ignored.

In front of them was one of the king's advisors accompanied by a knight. And the two were looking at them with a mixture of suspicion and embarrassment.

Merlin cleared his throat "Uh, sorry, we uh, thought it was an out of the way corridor" he said sheepishly.

The knight recognized him from training and smirked at him while the advisor reddened and huffed off in the opposite direction. The knight gave him a last wink before taking off after the advisor.

"Sorry about that" Merlin started, turning to Linda who had been quiet this time, probably with embarrassment.

She shook her head, her red curls bouncing slightly as she did so "It's quite alright, let's just find someone who can help your prince" she said.

He nodded and turned back down the hallway, an idea striking him. "Come on let's go this way" he said turning them around to go the opposite direction.

"What? The kings meeting chamber is that way!" Linda insisted, following him reluctantly.

Merlin sent a sly grin back at her, "I have something better" he said and led the way up to Gaius's chambers.

The old man answered the door and gasped in surprise "Come in, come in" he ushered the two though his door, poking his head out to look in both directions to make sure no one saw them before shutting it.

"What's going on?" he asked, sitting down at the table with Linda as Merlin stayed standing, on the verge of pacing.

They explained what Linda's uncle, Michael, had told them. Linda herself stayed mostly quiet, biting at her cuticles, her eyes darting between the old man and the young one. Merlin began to pace and Gaius fingered the worn cover of one of the books on demonology that were strewn across the table.

"It makes sense" he admitted, "Uther has been making laws and imposing taxes that have everyone worried. The people can't pay them! And saying no one can wear white on Fridays is simply ridiculous" the old man ranted.

As comical as the moment was, they were far too serious to laugh. If something wasn't done soon, Camelot would be in chaos.

XXX

"Cassie!" Arthur said, surprise making him smile like an idiot.

"The one and only" she smiled and opened the door, stopping just inside, just out of his reach. "What's going on here?" she asked.

Arthur shrugged and sat back dropping his head into his hands "That's just it, I have no idea!" he said pushing his blonde hair out of his face.

"Well you could start by telling me why you're chained to a wall" she suggested dryly. She didn't want to be mean to Arthur, in all honesty she wanted to run to him and kiss him and hold him and singlehandedly yank the chain off his foot to get him out of that hell hole. But she knew she needed to be careful. He could be possessed and one wrong move and she'd be next.

He launched into the story and Cassie felt her heart contract as his confusion and panic. "And you won't even come near me, what's wrong with me? What have I done?" he asked, his face contorted in confusion and pain.

That was the last straw for her, "Fuck it" she muttered and crossed the room to him quickly, squatting down so she was level with him and taking his face in her hands and looking him right in the eyes. Eyes that were the same color blue as the sky over the ocean, the same color they'd always been. "There is nothing wrong with you and you haven't done anything, understand me?" she said fiercely.

His eyes darted to her lips before he answered her "Yes."

And then she kissed him, it was a full of the worry, panic, longing, anger and love that they'd both gone through in the past few days. Her hands tangled in his hair as his wrapped around her waist to pull her flush against him, his lips moving against hers with an unforgiving force.

"Come on, lets get you out of here" she said pulling away and picking up the key ring she'd dropped.

As much as Arthur wanted to get out of the disgusting cell he was in, he shook his head. "If we break me out, we're breaking laws. Fix whatever's going on here and then get me out of here" he told her.

She glared at him, her hazel eyes narrowing until she looked truly terrifying, despite her size "I hate it when you're right" she said before kissing him again quickly and hurrying back out of the dungeons, leaving Arthur much as before.

Except that now he was smiling, he was still bored and still worried and still annoyed. But he was also hopeful. He knew that someone would fix this and that they were working on it.

He leaned back against the wall and sighed, closing his eyes to finally get some much needed sleep.

XXX

"Okay, here's the plan" Cassie announced walking into Gaius's chambers and catching everyone in the room by surprise, "We're gonna pull like a snatch and grab. We kidnap Uther, claim he has a nasty headache, which he probably should seeing as he's possessed, then we perform the exorcism or whatever it is, kill the demon and have him fix everything" she said quickly all on one breath.

The rest of the room looked at her, eyebrows raised. After a moment Gaius nodded "It could work" he agreed.

The princess flashed a grin and flopped down on one of the benches as they began to plan a kidnapping that was about as steady as a grenade with the pin out.

XXX

Uther stood at the window in his chamber looking out over the courtyard. Two of the Knights were fighting a group of about seven or eight men from the lower town.

The men had attacked the knights insisting an audience with the king to tell him the laws and taxes were unfair. The king had instructed the knights to keep all the townspeople out of the castle, insisting he would see no one.

And the men had gotten angry and a fight had broken out.

He smiled, the demon inside him thrilled at the violence and thrilled at the potential to lead to destruction. He wanted to see Camelot burn, he wanted to see the mass civil war this would start. Then he wanted to watch as surrounding kingdoms take advantage of Camelot's weakness and send in their armies to take over. And then he wanted to watch as Uther wallowed in the misery he would feel from the death of his son and the loss of the kingdom he had fought so hard to build.

The demon wasn't simply out for destruction. He was out for revenge. Revenge for Uther's persecution of any and all things magic. He was out for revenge for the man who had employed the demon killers and sent his kind into hell before turning on the magic users and killing them all too.

And the destruction of Camelot was the perfect way for him to do just that.

A short chuckle escaped his lips as one of the knights flipped one of the men over his shoulder, the man landing neck first on the ground with a sickening crack and laid there unmoving.

The fight stopped and everyone gathered around to see the dead man. "Let it begin" the king murmured with a smile before letting the curtain drop closed.