Set immediately after The Diamond of the Day, Part 2; some scenes in the episode either didn't occur or were slightly altered. I'm sure you can figure out which.

"Your Majesty, it's time." Leon approached the queen slowly, standing behind her as she looked over the battlements in the vague direction of Camlann. Gwen had been quiet the last few days since Eira's execution. She'd sent out as many search parties as she dared with Camelot's depleted manpower and Morgana still on the loose. After Percival returned with Gwaine, they had pulled the others back, since none were turning up any sign of her husband or her best friend.

Gwen turned and smiled wanly at the First Knight. She knew she had to do this, but she still felt it was premature. She still didn't fell like Arthur was dead, just unforgivably delayed. She nodded and took one last look in the direction of the battlefield before she stepped toward the throne room.


Two days later, Gwen visited Gaius for some headache powders. She'd stepped into Arthur's shoes on a temporary basis before, but this was different. All the older nobles on the Council were already pushing her to remarry. They claimed it was for her own protection, but strangely enough the men they were all suggesting were either relations or, in some way, obligated to them. Gwen had finally called a halt to the blatant attempts to take over the throne by threatening to exile from the court the next Council member who so much as suggested a wedding before she'd been able to properly mourn Arthur's loss.

"Seriously, Gaius, the must think I'm an idiot who can't see through their ploys. I may not have been born or raised a noble, but I saw the truth of these men long ago. They don't hide their selfish motives from the servants because they don't matter to them." Gwen rubbed her temples. Hiding in Gaius' chambers was her best chance to get away from the leeches. At this point, she'd rather deal with the actual leeches in the tank Merlin hated so much.

Thinking of that stupid leech tank brought Merlin to her mind. She could look through the door to his room and see the tank near the bed occupied by a catatonic Gwaine. Gwen wasn't the only person to lose loved ones in the battle. Gaius had lost the son of his heart. Merlin was still missing. Her husband, and her best friend were just gone. She stood up suddenly. "I'm going to sit with Gwaine. Has there been any change yet?"

"No, Majesty." Gaius shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid he's still locked in whatever torture Morgana put him through. I think he would have died from it if Percival hadn't found him when he did, but I can't get rid of the poison shrouding his mind. It would take a stronger magic than I ever had. Maybe Merlin can if … when he returns."

She smiled, bit her lip, and nodded. "When, Gaius. When. We'll get one of them back, surely." Gwen sat next to the man who had become one of Arthur's most loyal knights, for all that he lived to irritate his "Princess", and held his hand while she silently let the tears she only shed in these chambers fall.

Lady Sunny found her there a short time later. Leon's mother had been indispensable each time before that Gwen had taken over for Arthur, but this time she had proven herself a treasure beyond measure. She wore a simple day dress today with her greying red hair bound up with the favorite faded green ribbon she'd had for years. Gwen was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the great lady sit on Merlin's bed until she laid her hand over the one holding Gwaine's. "Gwen, it's time for lunch." Lady Sunny had been given standing orders years before to not refer to Gwen with an honorific if they were alone or among friends. The woman had helped raise her, after all. Grand titles seemed silly to be used by someone who had changed your diapers when you were a child and swatted your behind.

"Thank you, Sunny. I'm really not hungry, though."

Sunny smiled gently, "I know, dear, but you have to eat. So do I, so you're going to eat with me. Come on." She untangled Gwen's hand from Gwaine's and pulled the queen out of her chair.

Gwen let her, too tired emotionally to protest. Sunny closed the door to Merlin's chamber after them, leaving it partly open so Gaius could still keep an eye on the knight inside. Gaius nodded at Sunny. He'd been the one to send for her, knowing Gwen wouldn't argue with her as she would with so many others. The two women were nearly at the door when it was pushed open and Leon tumbled through. "Gaius!" He got out of the way of a bedraggled Merlin supporting one side of an unconscious Arthur with Percival propping up the other side of the king.

"Arthur!" The king's name was called by both Gwen and Gaius, Gaius following it up with "Merlin, Percival, get him on the cot." The healer leaned down on one side of the prone king after the two men had laid him down. "Merlin, did the Sidhe heal him?"

Merlin took a deep breath, "To an extent, yes. They saved his life and removed the sword fragment, healing him well enough for me to get him here, but he's still got injuries. I tried treating the remaining fever as we traveled, but there are still pockets of Saxons about to avoid. We couldn't move quickly, I'm sorry." He collapsed into one of the chairs and put his head in his hands. "I think it's mostly time and rest that he needs now, to recover, but there is still a slight fever. The wound is closing, but doesn't look bad. I couldn't smell or see anything off anyways, no gangrene or anything."

Gaius lifted the tunic and mail from Arthur's wound to examine it. He looked up when his gentle prodding elicited a groan from the king. Arthur's eyes fluttered open and he looked straight into Gaius'. "Your majesty, I told you Merlin would take care of you."

Arthur snorted a bit, "He brought me to some bloody, nasty fairies. And a dragon. I know there was a dragon." His eyes wandered over and he saw Gwen standing with her hands clasped in front of her mouth, tears shining in her eyes. "My fair Guinevere."

"Arthur." Gwen knelt on the floor next to her husband, heedless of the fabric of her dress. She took his hand. "You certainly took your time getting home from battle, my lord."

"I'm sorry, my dear. Merlin took me on a tour of the kingdom. There was a dragon. Did I mention that?"

Merlin groaned. "Seriously, Arthur. Must you keep going on about the dragon?"

"Well, given the fact that I supposedly killed him, and he was right there talking to you, yes."

"Gwen, make him stop." Merlin pleaded with his friend to distract her husband, "Kiss him or something just to make him stop talking about Kilgarrah."

Arthur smiled at his wife, "Or just kiss me anyway because I've missed you." He winced when Gaius poked a very tender spot.

"Oh, you are impossible, Arthur." Gwen leaned over her husband and gave him a gentle kiss, pulling back when he would have deepened it. "More when you feel better. Incentive to get well," she whispered in his ear. Arthur grinned a bit dopily and let his eyes close, falling asleep in a few heartbeats. "Gaius?" she asked, concerned about how quickly Arthur had passed out.

Gaius shook his head. "Nothing to worry about. He's weak and still suffering a bit of fever. Merlin's diagnosis was spot-on. We're going to have to make sure he's comfortable and gets plenty of rest." Gaius stood up. "I have some medicines that will help strengthen him." He shuffled off to the cabinet that held some of his more potent medicines to find one that would help Arthur.

Merlin leaned back in the chair he was occupying, "Speaking of rest, Percival, want to drag me to my bed? I can't move." Merlin opened his eyes after he realized none of the others in the room were speaking or even moving. He saw them all looking at each other nervously. "What is it?"

The others all looked at Gwen expectantly. None of them, not even Lady Sunny, wanted to be the one to tell Merlin about the knight currently in a bad way. "It's Gwaine, Merlin. He's in your bed right now. He ran into Morgana and she tortured him with something."

Merlin blanched, his normally pale complexion going sheet-white at her words. "Gwaine?"

"Gaius thinks it's some kind of venom. He found bite marks. He called it a nathair. The same thing she used on Elyan." Leon darted a quick look at Gwen. All of her friends were careful when mentioning her brother around her.

Merlin frowned, "But Elyan got better."

Gaius had come close enough to hear their conversation, "I don't believe Elyan was given as high a dosage of venom as Gwaine. I found many more bite marks on Gwaine than I did Elyan. The torture must have been unbearable. I think he's still locked inside it." Gaius measured out a potion on a spoon and opened Arthur's mouth so he could dribble it in his mouth. "You'll have to remove the poison, my boy. I don't have the power to."

"Gaius, I-" Merlin realized what his foster father and Arthur had said and who was around and his eyes went wide. "Gaius-" he choked out.

Gwen patted his knee, "We all know, Merlin. About your magic. Don't worry."

"It explains a lot." Leon added.

Percival just grinned and shrugged, "I'd figured it out years ago."

Lady Sunny smiled gently at the manservant and shook her head, "I've known you too long now to believe there's a wicked bone in your body, my boy. Besides, if you wanted to hurt us, you've had seven years to do it."

Merlin slumped in his chair, relief making him weak. "I've hated keeping it a secret." He sat straight as he looked toward the door to his room. "I'm going to go check on Gwaine." He stood up and took a step toward his room before he turned around and knelt down to give Gwen a hug. "Thank you," he whispered.

Gwen knew it was because she had accepted him and his magic. Merlin had always been both strong and surprisingly fragile at the same time. Now Gwen knew why. He had been hiding a secret that he was sure would have them all hating him if they found out. Gwen returned the hug and squeezed him hard around the middle. "Thank you for bringing my husband home. And yourself. Don't ever go missing like that again or you'll be in big trouble."

Merlin pulled back and smiled, "The stocks?"

"Worse, I'll make you wash all of the knights' dirty socks."

Merlin grinned at his best friend and queen, "Now, that's just being mean."

Gwen laid her head on his shoulder for a few moments, one arm around him and her hand holding her husband's while she knelt on the floor in Gaius' quarters. Gwaine was still in a coma. The kingdom would have to get used to the idea that the king they had just declared dead was no longer dead, but was also not going to be running around with a sword for the foreseeable future. Merlin had magic, and they'd have to deal with the fact that the king's best friend was a sorcerer at some point. There were still Saxons running around the kingdom. Camelot would have to rebuild their army so their more martial neighbors wouldn't get any ideas that it was ripe for the plucking.

But Arthur was back, and so was Merlin. Merlin would be able to help Gwaine, Gwen was sure of that. Leon and the other knights were more than capable of keeping the kingdom safe while Arthur and the rest of the other injured recovered. The people of Camelot were strong and resilient.

Gwen wasn't jumping for joy right now, but she was happy and hopeful. She had her husband, her best friend, and hope for the future of Camelot and their friends.


Well, this is it, the "end". I want to thank all of you who have accompanied me on this journey. It's been a blast and I've had fun even when struggling to write something I thought was good enough to publish.

I know that no one actually ended up getting punished here, but I really wanted to call back to the first, accidental, chapter of this story. Besides, this way I got to rewrite the end of the last episode like I've been wanting to, and I got to have Gwen threaten Merlin with punishment. :D