"How long has he been in there?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin didn't lift his head from the table. "Hours."

He'd tried to peek in on Arthur a couple times, but Arthur had somehow managed to barricade the door with Merlin's wardrobe and screamed at Merlin anytime he tried to open the door.

"Here it is," Gaius exclaimed. "The spell you heard. A spell for de-aging. It should wear off in three weeks."

"And if it doesn't?" Merlin asked.

"There's a fairly simple spell that can change him to normal," Gaius said.

"Sorcery is illegal," Gwaine said.

"Yes, it is," Gaius mused. "But if it's that or Arthur stays six forever, then we may have no choice."

"Who do we know that can do magic that we could even trust?" Gwaine asked. "All the sorcerers I've known are dirty rotten scoundrels, just like most nobles. Power tends to ruin people."

"Well, most power does tend to corrupt, but I know an old sorcerer we can convince to help us if the need arises," Gaius said.

"No," Merlin said. He would not become Dragoon again. He would rather die. He'd fix Arthur as himself if that was what it came down to. He hated being eighty years old.

"Now, Merlin, we may have no choice," Gaius said.

"No!"

"Merlin…" Gaius warned.

"I hate it. You can't make me!" Merlin said.

Gwaine patted Merlin's shoulder. "Hopefully it'll never come to using magic. Bye, Arthur!"

"Bye, Gwaine!" Arthur called.

Merlin glared at his slammed door. This was all Arthur's fault. Why couldn't Merlin's life be normal for once? Why did Arthur always have to get in trouble?

It was almost two o'clock in the morning, and Arthur still hadn't let anyone into the room. Merlin was growing increasingly fed up. He wanted to go to sleep. He knocked on the door. "Arthur, please, let me in. This is my room now. I live here. You can stay too, but I need to go to bed."

"No!" Arthur said. He sounded dangerously close to tears.

"Arthur, I won't hurt you," Merlin said. "I'm just tired and I want to sleep."

"I know!" Arthur cried.

"Then what's wrong?" Merlin asked.

Arthur sniffled. "Nothing."

"Can you push the wardrobe out of the way, and we can talk about it face to face?" Merlin asked.

"Why?" Arthur demanded.

Merlin gritted his teeth and sighed. He turned to Gaius, who was still poring over his books. "What are you doing?"

"Looking over succession laws," Gaius said. "We need to find some way to keep Agravaine from taking over the country while Arthur's still six."

"I think six-year-old Arthur needs you a little more right now," Merlin said.

"No, I don't!" Arthur shouted.

"I suppose you're right." Gaius got to his feet and walked over to the door. "Arthur, I need you to push the wardrobe away from the door and let us in."

"No."

"Do it now before I count to three," Gaius said. "One…two…"

The scraping of the wardrobe being moved reverberated through the door. Merlin relaxed. Finally, he would get his room back.

The door opened. Arthur had his arms crossed and he was scowling. "You have a magic book under your floorboards."

Merlin jumped. "What? No, I… I don't… how did you…"

"It has funky spells in it that don't do anything when I say them. Oh, and there's a staff too and I put a scorch mark on the wall with it, but you deserve it for not telling me you had magic stuff," Arthur said.

"How did…that's not…how did you even get the staff to work?" Merlin stammered. "How did you find it?"

"'Cause I wanted to show you what cupboards are for," Arthur said.

"What are you going to do about the magic?" Merlin asked dumbly. As if begging for the judgement of tiny Arthur was the same as the judgement of big Arthur.

Arthur's chin trembled. "I wanna go to bed." He dove forward and wrapped his arms around Gaius. "I want Sir Bear."

"There, there, now." Gaius patted Arthur's head. "Merlin will find Sir Bear for you."

"What?"

"To make up for the fact that he lied about his magic stuff," Gaius said.

"But I don't—" Merlin started.

Gaius grabbed Merlin's shoulder and drew him away. "Merlin. If we have any luck, Arthur won't remember any of this when he becomes old again."

"I doubt that. I remember everything when I alter my age," Merlin said.

"Well, even if he does, perhaps he'll be more open to it all now that he's younger. Regardless, there's nothing we can do about it now. The fact alone that he's asking for bed instead of answers is a marvel," Gaius said.

Merlin sighed. Gaius was right. "Who's Sir Bear?"

"He's a stuffed bear Arthur used to love. He couldn't sleep without it. Uther wanted to force him to grow up and tried to throw it on the fire, but I saved Sir Bear from the pyre. Arthur eventually didn't need Sir Bear anymore, so we hid him in the vaults. I need you to go to Arthur's chambers, get his keys, and retrieve Sir Bear from the vaults for him."

"The vaults," Merlin said.

"Yes," Gaius said.

"In the middle of the night."

Gaius nodded.

"For a stuffed bear."

"Better get going," Gaius said.

Merlin wilted. "Can't he sleep without the bear?"

Gaius shook his head. "He'll have terrible nightmares."

Merlin sighed. "Fine. I'll go get Sir Bear for Arthur."

Gaius patted his shoulder. "Good boy."

Merlin clutched Arthur's keys tightly. If nothing else, he could use this against Arthur when he was normal again. If he even wanted to talk to him afterwards.

Merlin stopped in the middle of the corridor and hauled open the door that led down into the vaults.

"Merlin!" Agravaine exclaimed. "What are you doing getting into the vaults?"

Merlin jumped and resisted the urge to swear. Leech. If he cared about Arthur so much, why was he only sticking around now that Uther was catatonic? "I'm getting something for Arthur."

"I thought Arthur hadn't returned to Camelot," Agravaine said.

"He hasn't. It's complicated," Merlin said.

Agravaine grabbed his arms. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do this without confirmation."

"I'm afraid you don't have the authorization to stop me," Merlin snapped. "I'm on direct orders from the regent to retrieve something from the vaults. I am authorized to be there. You are not. Now let go of me or I'll make you explain to Arthur why his mission failed and he almost died."

Agravaine let go of his arm, frowning. "I will be bringing this up with the prince."

"Feel free." Merlin stalked down the staircase, slamming the door behind him.

The staircase was fairly well lit. He had no trouble making his way down the stairs, no matter how tired he was. He heaved a sigh as he drew into the vaults and into view of the guards in front of the door.

They drew themselves up. "Merlin," one of them said. "What are you doing here?"

"I need something for Arthur," Merlin said.

"All right. Don't take too long." They stood away from the door.

Merlin stepped forward and fumbled with the keys for a while before finding the right key. The door swung open with a creak.

Merlin stepped into the vaults and over to the nearest shelf. This might take a while.

The crystal of Neahtid sat innocuously on the shelf, but Merlin gave it a wide berth regardless. There were so many magic books he wanted to flip through, but he couldn't with the guards watching. There were quite a few artifacts that oozed menace, and many he just couldn't make sense of.

Merlin's leg bumped a container that swayed and fell. Muffled shouting filled the air. Merlin hurriedly righted the goblin's prison and paused.

A large trunk sat behind the goblin's prison, the lid barely cracked open. A small, soft bear foot stuck out of the lid.

Merlin darted forward and heaved the lid open. On top of a pile of toys and old clothes, a stuffed bear lay, one missing eye causing it to wink up at him. He snatched it up. It didn't feel magical at all. It had to be Sir Bear. He sorted through the clothes and grabbed a large bundle of ones that looked like they would fit Arthur.

Part of him wanted to search through the entire trunk, but most of him just wanted to go to bed. He tucked the clothes under his arm and made his way out of the vaults.

"Is that some sort of evil bear?" one of the guards asked.

"No," Merlin laughed. "It's some of Arthur's old things. He suggested I get it for my brother."

"I didn't know you had a brother," the guard said.

"Neither did I!" Merlin laughed with him, then headed up the stairs. He flung the door open.

"Oof." Agravaine stood there on the other side of the door, holding his nose.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "What are you doing there?" He skirted around Agravaine into the open hall.

"Waiting to see if you were up to any nefarious deeds," Agravaine said. "Is that a stuffed bear?"

"Your observation skills are without measure, my lord," Merlin said.

"This is your important mission? Stealing the prince's old things?"

Merlin gritted his teeth. He couldn't wait for the day when Agravaine left. "I'm not stealing. I have Arthur's permission to take these things for my brother Tom."

"How could you have gotten Arthur's permission when he's out of town?" Agravaine asked.

"He's not out of town," Merlin said.

"I find that odd," Agravaine said. "I was told he did not return with the knights."

Merlin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Maybe he told us to say that so he didn't have to speak to you. Good night, Agravaine." He stalked down the corridor, bear in hand.

Merlin returned to find Gaius and Arthur sitting next to each other on the steps to Merlin's room, Arthur's head pillowed on Gaius's arm and his eyes almost closed. He smiled and held the bear out to Arthur. "I have Sir Bear."

Arthur sat up hurriedly. He snatched Sir Bear and clutched him to his chest. His eyes drooped again and he yawned.

Merlin sorted through the clothes he had grabbed and pulled out a nightshirt. "Want me to get you ready for bed?"

Arthur nodded.

Gaius helped Arthur to his feet. Merlin deposited the rest of the clothes on a nearby table and helped Arthur charge, which was difficult as Arthur was very reluctant to let go of Sir Bear. As soon as he was charged, he turned into Merlin's bedroom and dove onto Merlin's bed.

Merlin's mouth flattened. Arthur was curled up in his bed, Sir Bear wrapped in his arms. The room was far cleaner than Merlin had left it, but the floorboards above his hiding place had been moved, the magic book and the staff lying on the floor next to it. Like Arthur had said, there was a scorch mark on the wall. The wardrobe was askew, one of the doors hanging open.

Gaius stood at Merlin's shoulder. "I guess you've got a sleeping buddy."

"I guess so," Merlin said. "I have been telling everyone he's my brother, so I probably deserve it." He was too tired to fight Arthur on this. "Good night, Gaius."

"Good night, Merlin. Sleep well. You've done a good job today."

Merlin smiled. He closed the door and changed into his night clothes, then wedged himself into bed next to Arthur. Despite the uncomfortable position he was forced into, he drifted off almost immediately.

A/N: I know we all like to think that Gwaine would just immediately accept magic and Merlin because they're friends and Gwaine's been around but given how the show portrayed Gwaine's reaction to Dragoon and other things, I really don't think that would be the case canon-wise.