Arthur didn't mean to fall asleep, but once they'd set up camp, his body suddenly seemed to remember that he hadn't really rested in days. He passed out before Leon had even gotten the campfire

going. As his eyes slid shut, he mentally promised himself he wouldn't sleep long. Just a few minutes. Just a quick nap, and then—

"MERLIN!"

He woke with a start. Around him, everyone was in a panic. He caught a glimpse of Percival, whose voice he had heard, disappearing into the trees. Leon took off after the other knight.

"Gaius! What—"

"It's Merlin, sire!" Gaius helped the king to his feet and started following the other two members of their party as fast as he was able. Arthur took his arm, speeding him along.

"Did someone take him? I don't—"

His words were drowned out by a low, growling sound, as if someone were taking in a deep breath. It reverberated through the trees, but before the last echoes of it could die away, it was followed by a greater and more terrible noise. It was a roar unlike any Arthur had ever heard. The sound of it shook the very forest and it was violent, powerful and raw, but it also sounded… lonely.

"I'll catch up. Go!" Gaius urged him on and Arthur began to run.

He was dreaming. Drowning in a sea of gold. The water was pushing in on him from all sides, swallowing him whole, and as he struggled to stay afloat he caught sight of his fingers, paddling desperately on the surface. The gold was attaching itself to him, crawling up his skin.

"Ic þe healte!" Merlin cried, but it didn't stop. It crept up his neck and over his face and he was suffocating.

His eyes opened but the dream wasn't over. It couldn't be, because when he brought his hands up to his face, he found his arms to be covered in blackness. Something was happening to him, something terrible, and he opened his mouth to try to speak and found that he had no words. His mind was hazy.

This is no dream.

Whatever Kilgharrah had done… it was in its final stages. He had to get away, because he didn't know what was happening but he was having difficulty recalling names—

Gwaine, gods, no—

faces—

I can't remember him, why can't I—

words. He was losing himself and he was terrified that he would hurt someone like he hurt…a woman, he'd hurt a woman he once loved and there were others in the camp that he loved and he had to leave. So he ran as the first drops of rain began to fall, and the sound of it pinging off of his scales drove him even faster. Merlin began to think less and less. He was being followed and that was bad, it felt bad and then with no warning he was dying. It felt like something inside of him was exploding and then everything was black as he roared.

Two scents. Two men, staring at him with huge and wary eyes. He roared again and one of them, the larger, took a half-step back.

"꜡ⱷⱵⱴⱶ꜠!"

They were speaking to him but he couldn't understand, and he bared his teeth at them, a single and generous warning.

The smaller man was moving slowly, making a show of dropping an item dangling from his side, but Emrys didn't understand this either and he advanced, his hackles raised.

"MⱷⱵⱴⱶn?" Another figure emerged from the trees and Emrys paused. For a moment it felt like he knew the word, and more than that, he knew the man. The scent was comforting. Calming. What was the word?

The man was still speaking softly, walking forwards with a hand outstretched. Emrys snorted, backing away slightly.

"Mⱷrlⱶn." He held his hand out in front of Emrys for a moment before touching his snout gently. "Merlin, I'm here."

"Arthur," Emrys tried to say, but he didn't know the words and he thought them instead. Arthur jerked back.

"What is it?" The smaller man stepped forward in concern and it was Leon.

"You didn't hear him?" Arthur had broken into an almost drunken smile. "He knows me."

"It's Merlin. He's still in there," Arthur breathed, staring at the creature in front of him.

The black dragon stared back at him with eyes that glowed gold, pupil-less, in the night. He was small, the king supposed; standing on four legs, he was only two or three feet taller than himself. Its face was narrow, slender like the rest of its form, and framed by beardlike whiskers and a long pair of horns which swept downwards. The body was smooth, graceful, and feline in most respects, including the ridged tail which sprawled over the forest floor. The most impressive of all, though, were the wings. They towered above the clearing, elegant and tinged faintly gold.

As Arthur watched, the dragon's eyes began to change, just slightly. They were no longer an empty glow, but instead developed the catlike slits that Arthur had seen in his friend's eyes after he'd awoken at Avalon.

Gaius arrived then, stopping next to Leon and Percival. He had been breathing heavily but when he saw his ward, the sounds stopped.

"Does he…" Arthur had never heard the physician speechless before.

"I think he's the same," the king gestured to Gaius, who slowly joined him. "I don't think he can speak. Not aloud."

Gaius?

Merlin's voice half-echoed in Arthur's mind, and the king looked to Gaius, expecting an expression of joy at the sound. There was nothing.

"He can talk to you?" Gaius reached out with a trembling hand, and the dragon dipped its head, rubbing at the physician's touch.

"In my head," Arthur paused. "Why just me?"

"Your destinies have always been intertwined. I suspect that that bond is the culprit," Gaius murmured, a happy smile on his face even as tears began to well in his eyes. "Oh, my boy."

Tell him I'm okay. That I feel fine.

"He says—"

"That he's okay. I know." Gaius nodded, pushing a wet strand of hair from his face. The rain had increased from a light drizzle to a downpour, and the dragon nudged at the old man with his snout, pushing him towards the shelter created by his wings.

One by one, the small party of men fell asleep beneath his wing. Emrys sat, his tail curled over his claws, and glanced upwards. The sky was dark, the moon obscured, but there was a solitary hole in the gloom through which a handful of stars shone.

Can't sleep?

It was Arthur's voice in his mind this time and Emrys looked down. The king was sitting and looking for the stars, too.

"You're in my head, too? Is nothing sacred?" He was thrilled when he felt himself laughing—a deep laugh which rumbled through his whole body. Human.

Apparently not. You've become taller than me.

"And stronger."

That remains to be seen.

The mirth faded and Arthur must have sensed it.

Merlin… I need to apologize. I never—

"Don't. You had every right to react like you did."

I just… You can't lie to me again. Please. I trust you more than anyone. No more lies, and no more secrets.

"Then I should tell you…"

What now?

"You're not as good a fighter as you think you are. Or as lucky. Did you honestly think branches fell out of trees that often? Naturally?"

Merlin?

"Yes, sire?"

Shut up.