Pff, had a massive writers block and just wanted to get this chapter out of the way.
"We have been confirmed that the Mercian prince is in surgery right now. The prince has been rescued out of the now collapsed Le Fey residence…"
Balinor moved his head from the tv on the opposite wall and placed his hand on Hunith's where she had placed them in her lap. He saw her gaze down and Balinor knew that she was holding back tears. They just heard the news that Merlin had been rushed into surgery, for what he wasn't entirely sure. Everything happened so fast. How the news already knew so quickly, god only knows.
"It'll be okay, love. He will be alright." Balinor murmured.
Hunith just shook her head a tiny bit. How could he be alright after such a long time in the burning house?
"W-what if he won't be?" She whispered, looking up to Balinor she had a worried expression on her face. "His lung, oh my god, his weak lung. How, Bali, how can our son be injured again. He barely got over the shooting."
Balinor sighed deeply and moved his head towards the clock next to the tv. He wouldn't know how his son would get out of the surgery. Only time would tell, literally.
~oOoOo~
Balinor looked at the figure in the hospital bed, she was looking so peaceful but Balinor knew it wouldn't get any better. With a sigh he moved a bit forward, wrapping the hand into his own. "Morgana," Balinor said, again accompanied with a heavy sigh. "What happened to you?" Balinor murmured to no one in particular, he knew Morgana couldn't hear him anymore. She was there in the bed, but wasn't with them anymore. The doctor explained to him earlier that the extensive brain damage was irreversible and he and Mordred were put on the dreaded task to decide when the machines would be turned off.
After hearing that, he requested Mordred for some time alone with his niece and Mordred only nodded before moving out into the hallway.
And now he was alone with his niece who he had always adored. He had no idea about Morgana's jealous tendencies towards their family. He couldn't understand how someone would willingly want to have all the responsibility of ruling a country. Wanting it so much that she had killed her own parents and had wanted to kill his to achieve that goal.
But all that didn't matter now. Her time has come to an end and Balinor felt a tear welling up at the corner of his eye. He didn't forgive her. No, that wasn't the case at all, but she was his niece and he had always loved her dearly. If only he knew what she had been thinking all those years, maybe… maybe he could've done something, could've helped her?
A soft knock made him snap out of his own thoughts and he saw Lancelot standing in the door opening when he turned his head.
"The prince is out of surgery." Lancelot told the king and stepped out of the room again.
Balinor squeezed the hand one last time before standing up. He wanted to know how his son was.
~oOoOo~
The doctor walked up to the pair in the still empty hospital room. "Your majesties," he said, accompanied with a small tilt of his head. "Surgery thankfully wasn't needed."
Hunith heaved a sigh of relief.
"What exactly happened?" Balinor questioned. He knew his son had a lot of smoke inhalation, but was further kept in the dark why exactly his son needed the surgery. He still had all his trust in the medical staff, but everything went so fast that he couldn't understand all that went on.
"When your son was brought in his heart was very erratic, we feared for cardiac arrest. We wanted to have everything nearby but thankfully it settled after we administered some medicines. Besides that, we needed to be cautious with his lung due to them being already weakened. We just wanted to have all options nearby if needed, because he might've needed intubation in case of a close up airway or emergency surgery on his lung, but it wasn't needed." The doctor took a moment to see if the two people in front of him understood what he had said. Once he got a nod of the head from the king he continued. "We thought the prince had a third degree burn on his leg, but thankfully that only seems to be not as severe. It'll take some time to heal, but the prognosis is good, it'll probably won't even scar." The doctor waited a few seconds before continuing. "We need to see the prince awake to make a clear plan for the recovery of the smoke inhalation."
Balinor took a big breath. "Okay." Balinor said, "When will he be back in the room?"
"He could be here any minute now. Just be sure that he'll keep the oxygen on. He could be a bit disorientated due to the vast amount of smoke inhalation, and we're not exactly sure how long it'll last. Just make sure to call us if at any moment he'll seem to have trouble breathing."
"We will do that, thank you doctor." Balinor held out his hand and the doctor shook it before leaving the room again.
Balinor grabbed Hunith close to him, "He'll be alright, love. He will be." Balinor said once more. He didn't know if he reassured his fiancé with those words, or himself.
~oOoOo~
Arthur was being wheeled into Merlin's room by his mother. It was almost fourteen hours after the fire, and he felt like a lifetime had passed.
His mother bent down and pressed a kiss on top of his head and then left the room, closing the door behind her. Arthur was now alone in the room with Merlin and he gently pushed the wheelchair forward until he was at the bed. Merlin was resting, he supposed, as Merlin's eyes were drawn close. He was already warned by everyone that could it could take Merlin a long while to wake up. Merlin's body had far more healing to do than his had to do.
Gently, Arthur reached his hand out to grasp Merlin's and folded his other hand on top of Merlin's as well. Merlin's hand felt a little bit cold and he made it his personal mission to warm it again.
"Hey," Arthur said after a moment of silence. He hoped that in some miraculous way, his boyfriend would greet him back but that was a bit too wishful on his part. Unfortunally, his boyfriend's eyes remained closed.
It was fine for now as he still saw Merlin's chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm.