Prompt: Merlin gets hit on the head when bandits attack a hunting trip. When he wakes, he doesn't recognize the knights.
Set sometime when Arthur is king, and Lancelot is alive because he should not have died.
Pain. Merlin groaned. His head hurt more than it had ever hurt before, but he forced his eyes open, wondering where he was.
"He's waking up!" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed. "Merlin. Mate. You had us worried there for a bit, you got wacked on the head pretty hard! Princess here was worried about you, though he'd never admit it. It's a good thing you are awake, you being the physician an all, you can tell us how to treat your wound, we tried but we aren't as good as you."
"Whhh" Merlin tried to say. An unfamiliar face appeared and helped him drink some water. The water helped a bit, and after blinking a few times, he realized that the men surrounding him were dressed in knight uniforms, a mix of chainmail and armour, with bright red capes. Camelot's knights wore red apparently, and he was on his way to Camelot, so this must be connected somehow, but his foggy mind couldn't figure out exactly how. So he tried to speak again, this time worked better. "What's going on? Who are you?"
At his second question, the faces of the men fell, and began to fill with worry. "He must have been hit harder than we thought, we better get him to Gaius." One of the men said. Gaius. Why did that sound familiar?
"Gaius." Merlin spoke aloud, hoping it would trigger his memory. "Gaius. I have to be at Gaius on Wednesday, what day is it today!?"
"Merlin." A big man with no chainmail or armour on his arms spoke. Why didn't he have sleeves? Just because his arms looked liked trees, doesn't mean they can't get injured. Maybe he just wants to show off, those are impressive arms. "Merlin." He was brought out of his thoughts. "What's the last thing you remember?"
He thought a moment, why is his brain so foggy? "Camelot. Mother sent me to Camelot to learn healing from her half brother. Are you Camelot knights?"
"This is bad." A knight said while running his hand through his blond hair. "You arrived at Camelot years ago Merlin." Merlin blinked, trying to process that. "You really don't remember us? We are your friends, I'm Arthur, that's Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, Elyan, and Leon."
At that Merlin started laughing. He couldn't help it, and the blood loss, head wounds really do bleed a lot, made him unable to stop laughing. He looked slightly crazy, covered in blood and laughing so hard he was wiping away tears. "You mean to say, that I, Merlin of Ealdor, am friends with Camelot knights? That's the funniest joke I've ever heard!"
The knights didn't seem to know what to do, so they chuckled a little bit, and the blond one, Arthur apparently, said. "It's no joke, it's certainly a bit surprising considering the first time we met you picked a fight with me, but we really are your friends."
Merlin stared at them all, trying to figure out if he should believe them, and decide it couldn't hurt try and learn more. "Did I win?"
"What?"
"You said I picked a fight with you, did I win?"
"Of course not! I'm a warrior trained from birth, you didn't even get a good hit in!"
"Wow, brag much? How on earth did I become friends with you?"
"I've been asking myself the same question for years now, but we really are friends Merlin."
"Right." Merlin said unbelievingly. "How about you?" He asked the first man he had seen when he woke up. "What was your name again, and how did we supposedly become friends?"
"I'm Gwaine, and we met the way I make most my friends, it started with a bar fight and ended with me in your bed." He winked.
"What!?" Merlin sputtered.
"Gwaine..." A knight groaned. "Don't scare him, he's going through a lot right now."
"Fine fine, I'm sorry Merls, but the look on your face was awesome." Gwaine laughed. "What really happened, was you and princess here," he pointed at Arthur, "got yourselves in a bar fight. I joined in because the odds didn't look good, and I like those odds. I got injured saving princess's back, and I woke up in your bed because you live with the court physician. And you and I polished the shoes of the entire Camelot army. You are a good friend."
Merlin wasn't entirely sure what to say to that, it sounded a bit farfetched, probably missing pieces, or completely made up, so instead he asked, "Why do you call him, umm Arthur, princess?"
"Because he is the king!" Gwaine exclaimed as if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation. Maybe it was reasonable for him, he seems a little, odd. Maybe he's drunk, or has hit his head a few to many times. Wait, "King! I'm friends with a king?!?"
"Yep!"
"Right..." Merlin shook his head, trying to figure what to do with all this new knowledge, or maybe lies. He decided to keep questioning. "You." He said pointing to the bear of a man with bare arms. "How did we become friends?"
"I'm Percival." He replied. "I was with Lancelot when you sent for him during the attack of Morgana's immortal army. We met when I pushed some boulders in the way of some Saxons that were trying to kill you all."
Merlin opened and closed his mouths few times like a fish, before asking, "Just how hard was I hit on the head? An immortal army? And isn't Morgana the name of the king's ward? But apparently that guy is the king? I'm going crazy, it's the only explanation."
"You aren't going crazy." The dark skinned knight said. "Camelot is pretty crazy, I didn't believe half the stories I heard when I came back to live there, and I still don't know what's true or not. Does anyone know if the rumour that the late king married a troll is true or not?"
Arthur scowled and the one with curly blond hair couldn't seem to decide between looking grossed out and laughing.
"I take it it true then?"
"It has been forbidden to talk about." Arthur said. At that, some of the knights started laughing. Merlin smiled, but didn't laugh.
"So how did I meet you?"
"I'm Elyan. You met me when you, Arthur, my sister Gwen, and Morgana rescued me from a king who kidnapped me."
"Wait a second, the same Morgana who led an immortal army?"
"Yeah."
"Why would she help rescue you?"
"I don't know for sure, either she wasn't evil yet, or she wanted to sabotage the rescue attempt."
"Ok... Who's next?"
"I'm Lancelot. We met when I saved you from a griffin, a rather ugly and unfriendly beast. I got injured, and woke up in your bed. I wanted to become a knight, but Uther wouldn't allow commoners, so you somehow forged me a seal of nobility. I was a knight for all of one day till my deception was found out. Arthur helped me escape from the dungeons so I could fight the griffin again, I killed it, but Uther wasn't pleased, and I was ashamed of my deceit, so I basically banished myself. We kept in touch with letters, and when I came back with Percy to fight the immortal army, Arthur knighted me. I'm your best friend."
"No I'm your best friend." Another voice said. A few voices argued for a bit till Merlin informed them that his best friend is named Will. At that, they looked sad, and Arthur looked guilty? Odd.
"You." Merlin said. "How did we meet?"
"I'm Leon. "I'm not really sure when the first time met was, I'm afraid. We crossed paths many times with you being Arthur's manservant and me a knight, and it took some time before we could consider each other friends, but I do consider you my friend."
"Wait, I'm Arthur's manservant? But I was supposed to be Gaius's apprentice."
"You are both, you didn't want to be Arthur's servant, but the king insisted after you pushed Arthur out of the way of a thrown dagger, saving his life, and you can't really say no to the king."
"Wow. This is pretty overwhelming."
It was getting late, and Merlin wasn't dying, he was just confused, so they decided to stay the night and head for Camelot at first light. As they set up camp, and tried to cook dinner, they shared more stories about their adventures with Merlin, and he became more comfortable, to the point he mostly believed them when they said they are his friends.
As they settled down in their sleeping rolls, Merlin asked if he had another shirt, as he didn't fancy sleeping in a bloody shirt all night. Leon was closest to Merlin horse, and tossed him a shirt. When he caught it, he took off his shirt without hesitation, and all the knights gasped. Sensing the change in atmosphere, he paused, looking at their shocked faces, and then followed their eyes to his bare chest and and gasped as well.
His chest was full of scars. A nasty looking burn, about the size of a dinner plate right in the centre. A smaller burn, about two or three inches, with burns like lightning radiating from it, overlapping the first burn. Scars that looked like someone wrapped him in chains and then heated the chains, and various other scars, likely from sharp objects like swords and arrows, including one that looked like a failed attempt to slice open his neck.
"That explains why you never take of your shirt in front of us. What happen to you?!!!"
"I don't know! I have no idea how I got these!" Merlin said breathing rapidly.
"Calm down mate, breathe in and out. In and out. It's ok."
"If you're my friends, how do you not know how I got these?! Maybe you aren't my friends!" He said look around in a panic.
"I don't know how we don't know, especially me and Leon since we've known you the longest, but you've been hiding this for a long time, always insisting to bathe out of sight instead of with the rest of us. I wish I knew what happened, if, no, when I find out who did this to you, I will kill them myself!" Arthur exclaimed with murder in his eyes, and all the other knights agreed.
It took some time, but Merlin calmed down a bit. Not taking his eyes off his chest, he said. "However I got these, it must have been really painful. I.. I don't know if I want to remember."
"I don't know that I'd want to remember pain like that either, but if you don't remember anything, you won't remember all the good times that I know we've had." Gwaine said.
Merlin took some time to let the reality of his marred chest sink in, and then twisted his head to look at his back and grimaced.
"How's it look back there mate?"
"It's just as bad. I wonder what caused this one, it looks kinda odd." He turned around so they could all see. Among the chain burns and other scars, there was an indent a few centimetres deep that looked like a weird burn, more black than red, and with black, veiny scars radiating out from it.
There were a few more gasps, and some of the knights started to look sick. The ones who didn't pale looked confusedly at the ones who did. Merlin turned back around and waited for them to recover themselves. Once they got their wits about them, Leon asked. "Merlin, have you ever heard of a serkets?"
"I've heard stories, but I'm not sure what's true and what's not."
"A serket is something like an oversized scorpion, and it's sting is fatal. A painful, certain death. If someone gets stung, Gaius gives them a potion to make their death quicker and hopefully less painful. I've heard horror stories of people who get stung while alone, being in untellable pain for days before they succumb. Knights who have survived torture at enemy hands without breaking, begging for death moments after a sting. I have only seen that scar on corpses."
"That can't be true." Merlin laughed nervously.
"It's true. Nothing can cure a serket sting. No skilled physician, only death. Some of the older knights, the ones that remember before The Purge, say that not even magic can save you after a sting. I have no idea how true that is or not, but I have never heard of someone living to tell the tale."
"I guess I'm the exception to the rule. Some of the stories you tell of me, I sound pretty lucky, maybe that's it."
The camp settled down into uneasy silence. Leon's words echoing in everyone's minds, as well as the startling realization that not only does Merlin have more scars than the rest of them, more scars than fighting knights, he got all of them since he moved to Camelot and they never even noticed.
Night watch was arranged, and everyone not guarding the camp tried to sleep. It took some time, and lots of tossing and turning was heard, but eventually the sound of snores filled the air.
During Lancelot's watch, Merlin woke up to relive himself, and when he returned, Lance motioned for him to sit with him. He didn't really want to, sleep is sweet, but curiosity convinced him. Lance spoke quietly. "We really are best friends. I know more about you than others."
They sat in silence for a bit, and then Merlin asked. "If you know so much about me, how did I get these scars?"
Lance sighed. "I don't know everything, mainly bits and pieces, but I do know that you kept them secret because they have something to do with other secret."
"My other secret?" He asked suspiciously.
"Don't worry, I haven't told a soul and I never will. Not long after we met," he looked around, and lowered his voice to an almost inaudible level. "I saw you kill the griffin with magic."
Merlin gasped silently.
"I promised to keep it secret years ago, and I've kept that promise. You don't need to be scared."
"Ok." Merlin said shakily. "Does... does anyone else know?"
"Gaius knows, since the first day you met. And someone named Kilgarah."
"Kilgarah?"
"Yeah," Lance laughed. "You don't like him very much, apparently he is a useless, cryptic, overgrown lizard."
"What?"
"You complain about him sometimes. Apparently when you ask him for advice, he gives you cryptic riddles. He's a terrible babysitter, and you wonder about his sanity. You refused to explain more about him when I ask, and when I wanted to meet him, you refused to let me."
"I wonder who he is."
"I'd still like to meet him one day."
"He sure sounds like an interesting person to meet." Merlin giggled quietly, and Lance joined him.
Once they sobered up, Lance said. "This whole situation would be easier if you weren't so secretive. Despite me and Gaius knowing your secret, you don't tells us much. You often forget that we are here for you, or you worry that you are burdening us with your problems. It's not a burden, I'm here for you because I want to, you are my best friend."
They sit in comfortable silence for some time, listening to the night sounds of the forest. Merlin may not have his memory, but he still has his friends. No matter what the future throws at him, whether it's adjusting to years of his life being missing, or answering difficult questions about his scars if his memory returns, it'll be ok. The most powerful warlock in the world can handle it with his friends at his side.
A/N This was my very first Merlin fanfic, I hope you enjoyed! I'm pretty sure this is cannon compliant, but I've read so many fanfics, I can't be certain. Thanks for reading!