And here it is, the second chapter as promised!

"We must hurry." Isolade warned, pulling a shimmering golden dagger with a ruby embedded in the hilt from the folds of her skirt.

"Arthur." the Keeper said, using the king's name for the first time in all of their meetings but Arthur ignored him, blocked him out as he worked to focus completely on the task at hand which was proving rather difficult given the fact that his eyes kept being drawn to Merlin's body which was becoming increasingly still as the seconds ticked by.

"Do it!" Arthur cried, almost shouting as Isolade guided him to his knees and raised the blade above her head with both hands. The king's eyes slipped closed and he whispered a silent apology to Gwen for what he was about to do before locking eyes with Isolade once again and giving a jerky nod.

She began to chant in a musical language that all at once made Arthur feel light as air and heavy as lead, he felt a strange sense of calm and acceptance despite the fact that his heart was nearly beating out of his chest. Without fully realizing what he was doing, he clasped his hands behind his back and pushed his chest out giving her an easy target as the knife glowed ever brighter under the influence of her words.

Then several things happened at once that would change the course of destiny forever. Isolade finished the last syllable of the spell, unable to hold back a cry of pain as red light burst from the ruby at the base of the glowing dagger and twined itself around her wrists, binding them together. The Keeper turned his back so as not to watch the moment when the prophecy he'd been trying to bring about for his entire life was completely demolished. And a flash of frantic movement caught the corner of Arthur's eye just as Isolade brought the glowing blade towards his chest with all her strength.

He felt himself tumbling bonelessly to the ground as something solid hit him from the side and flinched as he heard the sickening scrape of metal on bone that meant Isolade's dagger had found its mark. He brought his hands to his chest, breaths heaving in and out as he waited for the pain to hit but it never came. Eventually he realized that the agonized moans and rattling breaths that filled his ears were not his, in fact, he was still perfectly whole and as healthy as he'd been moments before.

He sat up in confusion, looking around as he tried to figure out where everything had gone wrong and froze at the sight of the red-cloaked man crumpled on the ground beside him.

"Leon?" he asked timidly, the reedy whisper all he was able to force past the lump in his throat as he reached forward to brush back the hair that had fallen over the man's face. He hesitated at the last second, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that even after all he'd been through, all he'd been prepared to sacrifice, somehow he'd still ended up alive with the body of yet another trusted friend and advisor laying at his feet.

Grief, guilt, and anger whirled in his eyes as he forced his fingers forward the last several inches and gently pushed the damp curls off his friend's face. Leon was still breathing, but only just, and his skin had turned cold and clammy.

"Leon…" Arthur said again, laying a comforting hand on the knight's arm as he watched his friend struggle painfully for each breath, "I'm sorry, this is all my fault…"

"No." Leon whispered, his voice so quiet that Arthur had trouble making it out even though he was sitting right next to him. He leaned closer and Leon began to speak again, pausing after almost every word as he fought for the strength to go on, "I'm happy… to die… for you. That's… my job… as a knight. S'not your fault… just please… tell my wife… I love her."

After that neither Arthur nor Leon could deny the death rattle that was coming from the knight's lungs or the blood that slowly trailed down his chin from the corner of his mouth. Arthur nodded, forcing his lips into a shaky smile as he tried to appease his dying friend and give him the closure he was so obviously searching for.

Leon had been a part of Arthur's life for as long as the king could remember and somewhere along the way he had become more of a father figure to Arthur than his own had ever been. It felt like he was losing his father all over again but this time it was a hundred times worse because it was entirely his fault that Leon was dying.

"It's okay." Arthur assured, slowly rubbing Leon's arm to comfort him as his breaths came further and further apart. "It will be over soon, just relax."

It was over in a matter of minutes but to Arthur those minutes felt more like years. Leon finally gave up, exhaling for the last time, his eyes slipping closed as the tension left his body forever and Arthur allowed himself to let out the breath he'd been holding. He positioned Leon's arms neatly by his sides, grateful that the knight's red cloak covered the worst of the blood although it was hard to ignore the sickly pink color that had seeped into the sand all around them.

If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought that the knight had simply laid down to take a nap beside the water, but he did know better and the peacefulness of Leon's expression did little to ease his sorrow. The tears finally came, spilling over and leaving burning trails where they rolled down his cheeks but he found some small comfort in the fact that Leon's death hadn't been entirely in vain, at least the spell had been completed, at least Merlin would still—

Then he froze, remembering that a simple blood sacrifice was not enough to satisfy the conditions of this particular spell, Isolade had been abundantly clear that it must be one of royal blood. At that realization white-hot rage began to burn through him because it meant that Leon's death truly had been meaningless and, not only that, but his last chance to save Merlin had been wasted.

He stood, anger clouding his vision as he staggered towards Isolade, ready to kill her with his bare hands for costing him the lives of not one but two of his closest friends. She was on her hands and knees in the sand, gasping for air as the aftereffects of the spell ran their course but she glanced up as he drew near, rubbing her wrists where the power of the magic had charred the skin almost beyond recognition.

"What have you done?" Arthur asked, his voice dangerously low as manic rage built in his wild eyes.

"I—" Isolade began but Arthur grabbed her by the throat before she had a chance to finish, pulling her to her feet and asking the question again, his voice high-pitched and crazed with grief.

"What have you done?!"

She kicked her legs, trying to break his hold but that only made him squeeze tighter, his fingers digging into her flesh as he cut off her air supply completely, anger blinding him to everything but her face.

"You killed Leon," he yelled, shaking her like a rag doll, "and for what? Now Merlin can never be saved!"

"Stop Arthur," she choked out, her face turning purple as she clawed at the king's iron grip on her throat, "he will live."

"Don't lie to me!" Arthur cried, not caring that he was screaming or that he'd allowed his rage to build until he was in a place completely beyond any sort of logical reasoning.

Her struggling intensified for a few seconds and then she went completely limp but he didn't ease his grip at all, she deserved to die for what she had done and he was going to avenge his friends if it was the last thing he did. He heard the Keeper's warning growl behind him and suddenly found himself flying through the air, grunting as he landed heavily on the ground a few feet away.

"That's my daughter," The Keeper said authoritatively, "don't ever lay your hands on her again!" And then as an afterthought, "She wasn't lying you know, your friend will live."

"What?" Arthur asked in confusion, the fall having extinguished most of his anger and brought him back to his senses, "But I thought…"

"It appears that you were not the only one in this party with royal blood and Leon's sacrifice seems to have been just enough to do the job."

Then everything that Leon had ever shared about his home in Mercia or why he had left it to become a knight suddenly made much more sense. As the youngest son of a younger son chances were slim that he would ever inherit the throne and, knowing Leon, the man had probably never harbored a desire to rule anyway. He'd decided to come to Camelot to be a knight rather than stay home and abide by all the rules and traditions of court, having to be gracious and courteous to everyone despite the fact that they treated him with disgust and disdain, as if he was no better than the dirt on their shoes.

Leon had made a wise choice, Arthur could see it now, one he himself might have made if he'd found himself in a similar situation. It was far better to become a knight and be respected for your skill and integrity than to be the laughingstock of your relatives simply because of your birth order. Leon had made his choice and Arthur would have to respect it no matter how much he wished it was him lying on the sand, Leon had died a hero and, from his oldest knight, Arthur would have expected no less.

A shout from Gwaine brought Arthur out of his thoughts and he turned in time to see Merlin pushing himself to his feet. He started forward, ready to do what he wasn't sure, he'd worked so hard and waited so long for this moment and now that it was here he didn't know if he wanted to hug Merlin or slap him for being such a sacrificial idiot.

The boy looked different somehow, taller and more filled out than he'd ever been before, and he moved with a lithe grace and an aura of power that were almost intimidating. His eyes, which had been entirely blue the last time Arthur had seen them, were now shot through with sparks of gold that snapped and swirled with every movement. His skin was so pale it was nearly translucent and the scars and bruises that had marred it before were gone, leaving it fresh and smooth as a blanket of new fallen snow.

He wore a solemn expression on his face, accentuated by the lock of raven hair that had fallen in front of one of his eyes and Arthur hesitated for a second, unsure of how to react to this new version of his friend but he needn't have worried. The doubts barely had time to take root before a smile burst across Merlin's face and they were hugging, squeezing each other as if they never wanted to let go and, to be honest, neither of them did.

After a few seconds they were joined by Gwaine and they laughed, really laughed for the first time in a long time, reveling in the fact that they were together once again and for those few precious moments, nothing was able to stifle the pure, unadulterated joy that they shared.

Let me know what you thought, I decided to be nice and leave it on a positive note.