A/N: Hello all! I told you guys I would post again! I am so sorry for the month long wait! I am going to college full time and I work! My life is so busy and I tried to find the time to write. I hope you guys like this chapter, it has certainly been a long time. I apologize for that. I mentioned in the past this was a friendship fanfic but I believe my views are shifting! I am sorry if you do not like that. Please tell me what you think of the chapter! I enjoy reading your comments. I hope you guys have a wonderful day! Please enjoy! muah! ;)

-fatalsam

Arthur and Alex may be allies now, but that didn't mean they suddenly got along, no- quite the opposite.

By the afternoon, the storm clouds had rolled out, and in its place was a bright burning sun and deep blue sky. It was hot now, and the humidity from the rain made it feel worse. Both kingdom's knights were drenched with sweat, and even Merlin, who was just standing there on the sidelines of the training grounds, was sweating.

He watched carefully as Arthur and Alex sparred together. They both had great swordsmanship and seemed to be the perfect match for one another. Neither of them had beaten the other for awhile now. Arthur's blows seemed to be a little too harsh, but Alex was just as strong and deflected them well.

Gwaine walked over near Alex and Arthur and yelled over the noise.

"Arthur! We should have Merlin train! I'll teach him!"

If there was anything that Arthur hated worse than vegetables, it was being interrupted while fighting.

Merlin thought Arthur could kill Alex if he wasn't careful. His strength and speed seemed to have heightened after Gwaine's words. They had gotten to the point where Arthur was now performing a strong beat attack on Alex. Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left. Alex kept moving back as he grinded his teeth together. It all happened so quick, and with one flick of the risk, Arthur had disarmed Alex.

Immediately after, Arthur turned to Gwaine, leaving Alex scowling.

"What do you mean? Why do you need to train Merlin?" He held out his hand and Merlin quickly scurried over to give Arthur a rag to wipe up his face.

Meanwhile, Alex was sitting on the ground panting and mouthing Arthur's words, mimicking him. Merlin smirked and threw a spare rag in Alex's face.

"Well..." Gwaine drawled, he is going to need to know how to fight for this upcoming battle. We need all the help we can get."

Arthur seemed shocked. "Merlin isn't fighting, he will be helping Gaius with the injured during the battle."

Gwaine was smirking and Arthur snapped, "what!"

Gwaine laughed, "it's sooo obvious Arthur! You don't want Merlin fighting because you care about him. You don't want him to get hurt." the knight pursed his lips and batted his lashes mockingly.

Merlin didn't like it when people talked about him right in front of him. He shifted uncomfortably and kept his eyes glued to the ground.

The King scoffed. "No, that's ridiculous."

"If it's so ridiculous," Alex spoke up, "then let him fight."

Arthur's face was red and Merlin didn't think it was all from his recent sparring.

"Fine," He spat. He gestured for Merlin to go, "practice with Gwaine."

Gwaine was jumping up and down excitedly like a little kid while Merlin grabbed one of the spare swords.

Arthur was muttering something under his breath as Merlin passed him.

Gwaine put a sweaty arm around Merlin's shoulder and whispered quietly in his ear, "did you see the look on his face? Priceless!" He chuckled.

Merlin faked a laugh, but Gwaine didn't seem to notice. He had never seen Arthur more upset than he was the last couple of days. He'd have to confront him about it later, but he wouldn't be surprised if Arthur didn't even tell him anything.

"You know what's funny Merlin?" Gwaine asked, giggling.

"Hm?" He hummed mindlessly.

"Arthur really thought for a moment that you would go and help Gaius during the battle," Gwaine slapped his own leg and laughed a bit harder. "Of course you wouldn't! He doesn't even know who you are!"

Merlin's chest began to feel tight and it wasn't from the heat. His heart rate sped and he started to panic. What did Gwaine mean? Does he know I am Emrys?

"W-what do you mean h-he doesn't know who I am?"

"Cmon Merlin! You're the type to go be by Arthur's side even in the worst of situations, so it's obvious you aren't going to stay with Gaius."

Merlin sighed in relief, ohhhhh. "Haha, yeah you are so right."

"Of course I am!" Gwaine cheered, "I am always right!"

He clasped a hand on Merlin's shoulder and leaned in to whisper, "I know you aren't the strongest of men buddy, but hopefully I can at least train you some of the basics."

A few pats later, Merlin felt a bit offended. He knew he was not weak. In fact, he was strong, inside and out. Nobody knew though, so he ultimately could not blame them. He wished he didn't have to hide his abilities anymore, but he was not ready to face the truth, and he felt the others weren't either.

Gwaine told Merlin to stay put as he positioned himself a few feet in front of the warlock.

"Okay Merlin, first, I think we should spar and see how you are, what you can do, and what we need to work on." Gwaine got in position and held up his sword. He raised a brow, "You know how to hold a sword right?"

Merlin scoffed, "Of course Gwaine," and then he mirrored his stance.

Merlin was sore from the night before when Alex and him had fought off the bandits. He hadn't over exerted himself like that in a long time. It was good for him though, and any training he could get, he would take.

"Ready?"

Merlin nodded in affirmation, "ready."

Gwaine charged at Merlin with his sword raised and swiped it down. Merlin met his sword with his own above his head, then quickly deflected the attack.

They began to circle each other, each staring evilly into the other's eyes. Merlin could see a little more in his friends' eyes—shock.

"Where'd you learn to do that?"

Merlin shrugged while smirking slyly, "instinct I guess."

Gwaine scoffed, "yeah right."

Merlin looked quickly over his shoulder to make sure that the people were still distracted by Arthur and Alex sparring.

His friend took that as his chance to attack again. Gwaine swiftly swung his sword but Merlin ducked, then took the opportunity to swipe his sword at his opponents legs. Gwaine jumped and gave Merlin a wild look. Merlin knew he was fighting risky, but he knew Gwaine was good and could handle it.

"Trying to chop off my legs!" Gwaine screeched. But Gwaine's bewilderment of Merlin's surprising skills didn't last long, and soon what overtook the man was something of shock.

Merlin abruptly squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his sword. Gwaine watched as it clattered to the ground. The young warlock brought his hands to his head, holding each side of his temple while he gritted his teeth in pain. He emitted a small cry as he opened his mouth, looking like a silent scream.

Gwaine looked over at Arthur to see that he was still sparring with Alex, too busy to notice.

When he glanced back at his friend he saw something that he did not expect to ever see. He saw something so incredibly crazy that his mouth began to mirror Merlin's.

His eyes were shining gold.

It wasn't until Merlin started to shake vigorously that Gwaine chose to act. He had no idea what the hell was happening to his friend, but he knew he had to do something before Arthur saw what was happening.

He gripped his sword and flung it through the air, slicing through Merlin's trousers and into the skin of his right thigh.

Merlin's bloody scream pierced through the air, startling Arthur and Alex and causing them to hurry over in panic.

Gwaine fell to his knees and caught the warlock just as he came down.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, pulling Merlin's face into his chest so his eyes wouldn't be shown, "I did it to save you."

An angry king was stomping through the field, making his way over with a worried looking Alex trailing in his wake.

"What. The. Hell. Gwaine!" He gritted through his teeth. His sword was still in his hand, the blade was facing the crazy knight himself.

"Sire-"

"Do. Not. Sire. Me," Arthur interrupted. His eyes were the wildest that Gwaine had ever seen. "I told you this was not ideal, and look what you did!"

Merlin was shaking rapidly in Gwaine's arms, and he was emitting small whimpers of agony. He felt so bad for his friend, he wasn't sure what was hurting him worse. The wound or whatever the hell was happening to him with magic.

Alex stepped forward, "I will take him to Gaius!" When he reached out to put a hand on the warlock, he was stopped by Arthur's violent grip. The king had grabbed Alex's forearm and embedded the tips of his fingers into the prince's arm. Alex whipped his hand out of his grasp and turned to Arthur with disapproval.

"What is your problem!" Alex yelled.

Arthur's eye twitched a bit from the surprise.

"Excuse me?" The king asked incredulously, "my problem?" Arthur inched closer to Alex's face so that they were almost nose to nose. Both not backing down. "My problem," he spat, "is that you seem to be quite fond of my manservant, too fond."

Alex cracked a chuckle, shaking his head, "wow, I cannot believe I didn't see this before."

"Um..." Gwaine drawled out interrupting the two. "I'm going to bring Merlin to Gaius myself."

He struggled a little getting up, holding Merlin's slack body in his arms. "This boy is much heavier than he looks, heh," he grunted out.

"Okay!" Arthur and Alex said in unison, not daring to break eye contact with one another.

"Ooookay..." Gwaine responded. He turned around with a passed out Merlin and headed back towards the castle.

Arthur dropped his sword and crossed his arms defensively, "what are you going on about?"

Alex had a smug smile on his face. "You like Merlin."

"Pft," Arthur shook his head at that ridiculous statement. "Well of course I do, he is a semi-decent manservant."

"No," Alex shook his head like Arthur wasn't understanding. "You get way too jealous over Merlin. You like like him."

Arthur just stared at the prince in utter disbelief, "like like?" He asked offended. "As in..."

"You love him."

"Woah woah woah," Arthur started backing up, "no, you are wrong. YOU, love Merlin. You're weird." He pointed.

"Weird?" This time Alex was offended. His eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment, "This is not uncommon your majesty."

Arthur's heart rate was speeding up, and the beads of sweat trickling down his forehead was not from training with the prince. What was happening? What was he feeling? Liking Merlin? LOVING Merlin? Did he...? No! That was unheard of, that was against the law. No, no, no, maybe? What?! No!

"I-I need to go." Arthur stated softly, his eyes were glued to the ground. He looked like he was in a daze. "Do not speak like this again to me, or anyone, or else there'll be extreme consequences." Arthur did not look once in Alex's eyes as he turned around and slowly trudged away.

Alex just stood there in his wake. He didn't want to be right, but he believed he was.

Gaius was humming to himself peacefully that morning. He was walking around with a bit of a swing in his step. He thought it was a nice day. The sun was out and it certainly was much better than this morning's mishap with that poor villager. Gaius stood there for a second and shook his head in disbelief. EMRYS was still vivid in his memory. He shuttered at the thought that his boy could be in grave danger. Merlin was like a son to him, and he wasn't sure how this sticky situation would end. There was so much at stake...

Before his thoughts could travel any further it was interrupted by none other than...

"Gwaine!" Gaius put a hand over his heart from being startled by the door, but once he noticed who the limp figure in Gwaine's arms was he immediately hustled over. "Merlin! My boy! What happened? Who did this to him?"

Gwaine diverted his eyes the moment Gaius reached them.

"Here, put him here!" Gaius directed urgently while pointing towards the empty cot in the corner of the room.

Gwaine obeyed and carefully laid Merlin down, he slowly arranged his limbs straight and spoke reassuringly, "it'll be okay."

The handsome knight backed away to let Gaius in and sighed, "I hurt him Gaius."

The old physician turned to look at the knight with horror stricken eyes for just a moment before turning back around to tend to Merlin's leg wound. He cut Merlin's pants just above the wound site, and carefully began to poor some water in order to clean it out.

"I presume it was an accident?"

Gwaine held his hands behind his back while rocking back and forth. "Errrrr not quite?"

Gaius sighed, "do not play with me boy, just spit it out." He gave him a quick glare.

"Okay! I cut him on purpose! But, before you get mad, I did it..." Gwaine took a deep breath, "to save him."

Gaius was now patting the wound with a damp cloth, and Gwaine could see how easily the cloth turned from white to crimson red. The pang in his heart made him start to feel guilty.

"To save him?" Gaius turned to Gwaine, "What could Merlin possibly need sav-"

"The pyre."

Gaius stilled in shock and dropped the bloody rag to the floor. It made a gross wet slap as it landed, knocking Gaius back into focus.

As the physician bent down to grab the rag Gwaine spoke again, "We were sparring together and his eyes started to turn gold and he was in so much pain Gaius-"

"It was just the sun reflecting in his eye..."

"I know what I saw Gaius!" Gwaine snapped, he knew he was being lied to. Gaius flinched from the sudden burst of anger from the knight but tried to keep his composure. "Magic or not, Merlin is my closest friend and I will always, ALWAYS, protect him." He spat.

Gaius could tell Gwaine meant what he said. The dark haired lad stood tall and mighty, his chest was out, his chin was raised, and his eyes were dead serious and locked on his own. His eyes were saying I dare you to challenge me.

"And if Arthur found out?"

"I have no problem defying my king." Gwaine proudly responded.

Gaius couldn't tell if that made him a bad knight or a good one. Perhaps a good man but a bad knight.

"Hand me the jar with the green lid please."

Gwaine was taken aback for a moment before turning around to browse through the many concoctions that Gaius had on his wooden table. Once he found the green lidded container, he grabbed it and handed it to a thankful Gaius's outstretched hand.

"In this little body," Gaius murmured while unscrewing the jar and staring at his ward with loving eyes, "is the most powerful man you will ever meet."

Gwaine gulped and blinked a couple times. He wasn't sure he heard that correctly. "I'm sorry, most powerful?"

Gaius hummed.

"M-most powerful!?"

"Mhm," Gaius hummed again, "the only warlock in existence."

Gwaine's mouth was gaping open by now and his eyes were bulging out of their sockets. He was in complete shock as he stared at Merlin. His best friend.

"That man... right in front of me..." Gwaine gulped, "Is the most powerful man on this earth?"

Gaius was gently rubbing a thick cloudy paste on Merlin's raw wound. "Yes, I believe so."

Gwaine had finally snapped out of his shock, and his eyebrows were up in disapproval. "Then why the fuck is he here out of all places?"

Gaius snapped a fierce glare at Gwaine, "I do not tolerate that sort of foul language in this room young man!"

The knight's face went grim, "sorry sorry, my bad. I just don't understand why such a powerful sorcerer would be in a place that would kill him so fast if they only knew what he truly was..."

"Well," The physician smirked and raised a questioning brow, "wouldn't that be the last place you'd ever look for a sorcerer?"

Gwaine shrugged his shoulders in agreement, "well, I suppose nobody would question Arthur Pendragon's manservant of being a bloody sorcerer."

Gaius was staring at Gwaine, seeming to evaluate him, but the knight shifting uneasily under his gaze.

"Son, do you remember the story you explained this morning at your meeting?"

"Uhh," Gwaine pondered for a moment, "the one about the king and the sorcerer that..."

Once the knight's eyes widened in realization, Gaius knew he had figured it out.

"Wait! Are you saying..."

Gaius nodded.

"That Merlin and Arthur are-"

"Yes."

"The two that will unite the lands?"

"Ye-"

"MERLIN IS EMRYS!"

"Shush!" Gaius picked up a clean rag and slapped it on Gwaine's shoulder. "Keep your mouth shut!"

"I can't believe this," Gwaine shook his head and took a seat next to Merlin's bed. He put his elbows on his knees and threw his head in his hands. He let out a defeated groan. "This is too much for my little brain to grasp."

Gaius pat the lads shoulder reassuringly, "there there, take all the time you need."

Gwaine sighed, "this war just got ten times more complicated..."