AN: DISCLAIMER – This chapter contains quotes from the show. I DO NOT OWN MERLIN, ALL RIGHTS TO BBC.

That said, here's the long awaited unleashed Gwiane! Enjoy!

Night found Arthur once again sneaking out of an inn and darting off for the black mass of trees. The idea had come to him as they rode into the town that evening. He headed for the clearing where he met the Great Dragon. He wasn't quite sure why – it was very unlikely the beast would be sitting there waiting for him. But it was the only plan he had at the moment.

So consumed was he by his thoughts that he didn't notice the stealthy form following him through the brush. There were other things too he might have noticed if he had been paying more attention. In the silver light of the moon the soft pale colours of new growth glinted from the tips of branches and leaves. But he didn't notice any of it.

A light breeze rustled the leaves as he stepped out into the clearing, glancing around. He pulled out his sword, feeling at least a little better having it in his hand.

'Well this was stupid. There's nothing here but a little torn grass…'

The thought stopped him in his tracks. '…torn up grass, gouges in the soil…'

He moved forward in a daze and knelt, brushing his fingers against the jagged edges of torn soil. The marks looked familiar, very familiar. The only difference from the last time he had seen marks like these was how much larger they were. '…it was not until he received his inheritance…I was forced to stop…' Oh, oh god. 'Dragon tracks…there were dragon tracks that first day…' There was another one. A much smaller one – 'younger' – granted, but still. There were two dragons left in the world.

He stood up and backed away as flashes of memory spun themselves through his mind. '…nothing could survive under all that…' whispered Leon's voice. He heard again the sound of crashing stone in the background. And Merlin, kneeling next to his bag on the ground, the only one who had seen Borden fail in his bid for the egg – .

"Nice place for a midnight stroll, isn't it?"

He wheeled around with his sword at the ready, only to freeze upon seeing who his company was.

For once in his life, Gwaine abstained from the tavern that night. And, actually, it was a good job he had too. He wouldn't have seen the Princess sneak off if he had immersed himself in the mead and comradery of the tavern.

He quickly threw on his boots and grabbed his sword before slipping out to trail the king. 'Where does he think he's going?' Arthur seemed to know, even if he seemed distracted.

The last lone cloud drifted out of the way of the shinning moon. In the silver light, he noticed signs of new growth on the tips of a few scattered branches. The deeper he followed Arthur into the forest, the more numerous those signs grew. Glancing left and right, he attempted to make sense of the strange sight. 'Harvest season is almost upon us. There should not be this much new growth.' It was the type of thing you'd expect in spring, not fall.

Shaking himself, he plunged off after the Princess again. At the edge of a clearing he stopped. He watched with curiosity as Arthur glanced around uncertainly and drew his sword. 'What did he come all the way out here for?'

He watched as Arthur knelt next to a long furrow in the ground and brushed his fingers against it.

Now convinced that Arthur wasn't waiting for someone or something, he stepped out of cover. "Nice place for a midnight stroll, isn't it?" he asked in a loud voice with rakish cheer. He was pleased when Arthur spun around, sword in hand, only to freeze upon seeing him. "I can't help but wonder why you decided to come out here all by your lonesome though…"

"Gwaine,"

The cautious, almost pleading tone in Arthur's voice was the last straw, and he finally snapped. He dropped his rakish grin into an angry sneer, his body tensing. He didn't move his hand to the handle of his own sword though. He had something much better to cut with. "Yes Arthur Pendragon, that's my name."

Arthur bristled at Gwaine's sneering use of his family name. He knew exactly what the man was implying. Narrowing his eyes and gripping the handle of his blade a little tighter he answered. "If you've got something to say, Sir Gwaine, why don't you?"

He saw Gwaine's eyes flick down to the sword in his hand before snapping back up to match his glare. "Oh, I've got plenty of things to say, your highness. But I'd rather know one thing first; what happened between you, Merlin, and that assassin? Oh, and one more thing; just what did you do about it?"

His heart clenched painfully and the bile rise in his throat. '…I never want to see you EVER again, sorcerer!'

"I don't need to explain my treatment of my manservant to you Gwaine!" he snapped before he had a chance to think. The moment the words left his mouth though, he cursed the damn thing over and over.

Gwaine looked murderous as he prowled closer. "Who ever said anything about how you treat Merlin Princess?" he asked in a deadly whisper.

Every colourful curse he could imagine chased it's way around inside his head. He couldn't help but feel like after everything, he had still learned nothing at all.

"So what exactly are you insinuating then?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Gwaine prowled a few steps closer, his eyes flashing. "What should I be accusing you of?"

"Nothing happened,"

"Something happened," said Gwaine. "The only question I have is what?"

"Nothing happened. Merlin managed to save me and kill the assassin."

"That must've been quite the show. A skinny guy like Merlin who can't wield a blade to save his life, and he still manages to kill an assassin," said Gwaine. His hand moved almost lazily to the hilt of his sword. "Especially when that assassin had magic."

He felt himself tense up, ready for whatever was going to happen. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop this from escalating, it was already too far gone for that. And he couldn't marshal his thoughts well enough to do so anyway. "…he…didn't use magic on Merlin.." It was the best he could come up with.

"Really? You expect me to believe that this guy was stupid enough to just leave Merlin be as he tried to kill you? Even you can't be that stupid Princess."

He couldn't help it as his anger spiked. "Watch how you speak to me, Sir Gwaine. I am still your King," he snapped.

Gwaine's eyes glinted and the last wall holding him back finally broke. Before he knew what was happening, there was a ring of steel. The clearing filled with a musical, echoing clang as he blocked Gwaine's attack.

"Is that what you told him when you turned on him?" demanded Gwaine over their locked blades.

The rouge shoved him with all his might. Their blades screeching as they ground against each other. In an instant he spun away from the furious knight, trying to stay out of range. 'I don't want to do this…Merlin wouldn't want for us to fight like this.'

"I'll admit that I was angry when I found out," he said, trying to buy for time. He couldn't see any way out of the situation, and that worried him. Part of him was ragging at Gwaine's actions. The other part was sneering at him, telling him that he deserved this, and so much more. "But I did not harm him. He left – "

"You expect me to believe that?" Gwaine snarled as they traded more blows. He was trying to make him fight, but he kept disengaging as quickly as he could and moving back out of range. "You expect me to believe that he up and left right after you found out?"

He wanted to say 'yes, I do', but he knew it wasn't true. They both knew it wasn't as easy as that.

Gwaine hacked at him remorselessly. "I swear to you that I did not hurt him," he said around his laboured breathing as he fended off the attack.

The rouge only growled menacingly before finally getting one over on him. His blade clashed with his sword hand in a dramatic flourish, and he knew he was had. It was Gwaine's signature move, one he had never been able to properly block.

Gwiane grabbed his liberated sword before elbowing him in the throat. He choked on the sudden lack of air and crashed to the ground. Gwaine stood over him, his own gleaming blade pointed at his chest.

"That's where your wrong Princess. You did hurt him, because you turned on him. Even though you know that he would never turn on you."

A lump formed in his throat, cutting off any reply he might have given. He could only gaze up into Gwaine's dark, flashing eyes in horror. There was nothing to say, nothing he could defend. Because he was right.

Without warning Gwaine swung his stollen blade into the air and stabbed it into the ground next to his face. He would be lying if he said he did not flinch.

"I know what that blade is," said Gwaine, voice cold as shards of ice. "I heard the stories. He's the one that led you to it, the one who made you believe in yourself again." He paused for breath, a look of absolute disgust crossing his face. "You didn't deserve it. You don't deserve him, and you certainly don't deserve his blade."

With that, Gwaine turned on his heel and marched out of the clearing, never once turning to glance back. He stayed for hours, staring at the gleaming blade. He felt fate laughing as it mocked him, the runes for "cast me away" glinting dully at him in the moonlight.

AN: O_o

What did I just do?