A/N: Thank you SnidgetHex, GuestM, Buckhunter, Undertheoaktrees, Vanvdreamer, pallysAramisRios, and Guest for reviewing!

Chapter 7

Percival kept a secure arm around Lancelot's chest as they rode. He could feel his friend's ribs even through the extra cloak layer bundled around him, and his heart constricted in anguish all over again. Four months. Four months Lancelot had been subjected to the cruelest treatment while the rest of them went about their lives. Percival knew they had tried their best to find him, that they hadn't just abandoned him out of careless disregard. But it didn't change the fact that Lancelot had been suffering all that time.

Percival held his friend against his own chest. He had lost him once but he silently vowed never to do so again.

Lancelot tossed his head to the side and started to moan.

"Merlin," Percival called as he reined in his horse. "I think he's waking up."

Merlin nudged his horse up alongside Percival's and reached out a hand to Lancelot's face. With a quickly uttered spell, Lancelot fell quiet again.

"Let's pick up the pace," Arthur said. Camelot wasn't much further.

They finally arrived at the castle, their horses' hooves clomping over the cobblestones in an urgent cacophony as they rode right up to the base of the steps. The doors opened and Guinevere came running out. She pulled up short and pressed her hands to her mouth when she spotted Lancelot.

Gwaine and Leon swiftly dismounted and came around to take Lancelot from Percival, though as soon as Percival swung down, he immediately took his friend back into his arms to carry into Gaius's chambers. Everyone followed.

Gaius was already setting out the basic medicinal supplies when they burst into his chambers. No doubt someone had alerted him when the knights had been spotted approaching the lower town. Percival headed for the patient cot while Merlin hurried around the room drawing all the curtains closed. Gaius arched a questioning brow at his actions.

"He's been kept underground for four months," Merlin explained. "The daylight was excruciating for him, so I had to put him to sleep with magic." He then used his magic to light all the candles in the room.

"Then, he's not blind?" Gwen asked from where she stood in the doorway behind the other knights.

"No."

Percival gently laid Lancelot on the cot and then reluctantly stepped back so the two physicians could work. Merlin recounted to Gaius the conditions they'd found Lancelot in as they set to removing his filthy garments and the blindfold. Percival's stomach churned as he once again caught sight of the host of new scars.

"There was a sorcerer who magically healed all the fighters," Merlin went on, expression grim as he took in the various marks. "And that is some kind of magical brand that kept them in line," he said, pointing to the sigil on Lancelot's chest. "But we destroyed the mechanisms for activating it."

Gaius nodded along as he did his own scan of Lancelot's body. "We'll have to look into dealing with that, but at the moment nothing seems life threatening. How much longer will the sleeping spell last?"

"I had to cast it again on our way here, so a bit longer."

"We should clean him up first, then."

"I'll have the servants bring in lots of hot water," Gwen put in, eager to help in any way.

Arthur cleared his throat. "We'll let you tend to him. Keep me informed of his condition."

"Of course, Sire," Gaius replied.

With that, Arthur and the other knights reluctantly left. Percival stayed; he had no intention of letting Lancelot out of his sight for the foreseeable future. Neither Gaius nor Merlin commented on him lingering. They stripped Lancelot of the rest of his clothes and covered him with a light sheet until the buckets of hot water were brought in. Then once the servants had retreated, they folded the sheet down to Lancelot's waist to get started.

"Can I help?" Percival asked.

Gaius handed him the cloth he was holding and then went to pick up the soiled garments. "These are no doubt beyond repair."

As he carried them out, Percival knelt next to the cot and dunked the cloth into the first bucket of water, then wrung it out. Together, he and Merlin carefully wiped the layers of grime from Lancelot's skin, starting with his face and working their way down. At first there was so much that the water barely did anything but smudge it all together. But Gwen had seen fit to include a bar of soap with the water supply, so they lathered some into the cloths and that helped lift the dirt and dried blood.

The first bucket quickly turned brown from the repeated rinsing, so it was good the servants had brought in three. Percival picked up Lancelot's wrist and gently held his arm out over the bucket so he could sluice the soapy grime off his skin. He counted numerous scars and tried to guess what manner of wound could have caused them. There was a jagged patch on both the inside and outside of his wrist, like it'd been impaled.

Lancelot didn't stir throughout any of their ministrations, and his laxness was almost frightening, except that Percival knew it was just Merlin's spell keeping him asleep, which he probably desperately needed. He also imagined Lancelot wouldn't be amenable to being washed like this, but it made Percival feel like he was actually doing something of importance after so long being helpless, and it felt good to wipe away the filth of that place. Hopefully Lancelot would feel a bit better when he woke.

"Lift his head," Merlin directed, and Percival did as told so Merlin could lay a towel underneath. He then grabbed a cup from a shelf and used it to scoop the last of the clean water into Lancelot's hair. It was longer now, curling around his ears and the back of his neck. Percival gently held his head up as Merlin ran his fingers and the soapy water through the dirty locks. Brown water spilled onto the towel and back into the bucket. It wasn't a completely thorough washing in this position, but it certainly got a lot of the grime out.

Merlin used another towel to rub his hair dry as best he could, then swapped out the wet towel underneath and replaced it with a fresh one, and Percival finally laid Lancelot's head back down.

"At least now when he wakes up, he can soak in a real bath for longer than two minutes without having to change out the water," Merlin said, apparently having had the same thought as Percival.

Gaius brought over some heavier blankets that they covered Lancelot with, then he and Merlin went to their books to start researching the magical brand while Percival took a seat on a small stool beside the cot and settled in for his own vigil.

When Lancelot eventually started to wake, Percival held himself still and waited patiently so as not to startle him. Lancelot's face scrunched up as he clawed his way back to consciousness and his eyelids began to flutter open groggily. His brows pinched in confusion as he started to look around.

"Hey," Percival finally said softly. "It's okay, you're back in Camelot, in Gaius's chambers."

Lancelot stared at him for several long moments. Then his eyes began to water and he closed them again. "You actually found me," he whispered.

Percival reached out to give his forearm a grounding squeeze. "We did. I'm so sorry it took so long, but you're home now. It's over."

Gaius and Merlin came over.

"How are you feeling?" Gaius asked, all professional physician.

"I don't know," Lancelot replied. He lifted his head a fraction to look down at himself.

"I know you've been through a terrible ordeal," Gaius continued, "but it's important I know about each of the injuries you sustained."

"The sorcerer healed them all," Lancelot said tonelessly.

"So I've heard. Are you feeling any residual pain from them though?"

Lancelot furrowed his brow. "I don't know. Maybe. What does it matter?"

"There may be some remedies to help with that," Gaius answered. "But I need to understand the nature of each wound and what kind of damage it might have done. The sorcerer may have magically put you back together, but he clearly didn't erase everything."

Lancelot closed his eyes for a moment. "Fine."

Gaius gestured for Percival to vacate his seat so Gaius could sit there instead, and then he pulled back the blankets to Lancelot's waist. At that, the old physician paused, because where to start? There were so many scars… Several even looked as though they had been inflicted on top of older ones. All accumulated in the span of four months.

Percival had to momentarily look away.

"Alright," Gaius began. "How about this one?" He pointed to one high on Lancelot's shoulder.

Lancelot furrowed his brow at it as though in thought. "Sword while in the cage."

"Mm, Merlin, you should write these down." Gaius carefully palpated the area while Merlin rifled around for a blank set of pages to take notes on.

One by one, Gaius catalogued the various wounds on Lancelot's torso, as best he could anyway when it seemed Lancelot couldn't even remember how he'd gotten them all. As if that wasn't bad enough, they were all horrified when he said one scar was from a serket and another from a wilddeoran.

"Let's move on to your back," Gaius said.

Lancelot's expression hardened. "Just…enough," he said tiredly, his entire body beginning to tremble.

"Alright," Gaius relented. "We can do the rest another time."

"Can I have some clothes?" Lancelot mumbled next.

"Maybe you'd like a bath first?" Merlin piped in. "We cleaned you up as best we could, but a good soak with some oils would probably help with the aches."

Lancelot nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Merlin rushed off to get that going and Gaius returned to his worktable.

Lancelot pushed himself upright, pulling the blanket back up to cover his chest and clutching it tightly in a shaky hand. He turned his head toward Percival. "I was afraid you drowned that day."

Percival retook his seat on the stool, expression pained with the memory. "I escaped the river and made it back to Camelot. But not in time for a search party to catch up with you. I'm sorry, I should have looked for you first."

"Not with broken ribs and the onset of pneumonia," Gaius interrupted, shooting him a stern look.

Percival huffed back at him. "I'm fine now." He softened his gaze back toward Lancelot. "I'm sorry."

Lancelot slowly shook his head. "You did the right thing. And I'm glad you're not dead."

The forgiveness didn't make him feel much better.

Merlin returned with a bunch of servants who brought in a tub and started filling it with hot water. Merlin pulled over the privacy screen that divided the room from Gaius's bed to stand in front of the tub instead. When everything was ready, Lancelot stood up from the cot, keeping the blanket tightly wrapped around himself, and started toward the tub. Percival frowned at his unsteady steps; he'd been able to walk alright when they'd left the fortress.

Lancelot suddenly pitched forward, crashing to the floor. Several shouts went up as Percival, Merlin, and Gaius hurried over. Lancelot moaned and curled up on his side, jerking as though with a seizure.

"Lancelot, what's wrong?" Merlin asked in alarm.

"'M sorry," he gasped. "I should have told you." He pressed his face into the floor and bit back another groan. Sweat had begun to bead across his brow.

"Told us what?" Merlin pressed.

"The sorcerer started giving me- some kind of- potion," he said haltingly. "Keep my strength up- for the fights." Lancelot squeezed his eyes shut in a tortured expression that Percival recognized as shame. "I grew dependent on it," he confessed brokenly.

Percival shot a frightened look at Merlin and Gaius. What did that mean?

Both of them looked disturbed at this revelation.

"Do you know what was in it?" Merlin asked.

Lancelot shook his head against the hard floor. "No. I tried not to drink it. I tried…" He broke off with another pained whimper.

"Let's get him back on the cot," Gaius said.

Percival slid his arms beneath his friend and lifted him easily, carrying him back and gently depositing him on the patient bed. "You can help him, right?" Percival asked Gaius and Merlin desperately.

Gaius looked grim as he responded, "There are some tonics I can mix up, but without knowing exactly what he was given, I'm not sure how effective they'll be. The withdrawal will just have to run its course."

Percival looked back at his friend as Lancelot lay on the cot, twitching and shivering. They couldn't have finally found him just to lose him now. They couldn't have.

"We'll do all we can," Gaius promised.