A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

70. Chapter 70

Merlin's silence was very telling, and it got Arthur's suspicions up far more than anything else had. Seeing that Merlin wasn't going to be answering him, Arthur brought his hands to his hips and turned to Gaius. "Gaius, why don't you tell me. What is that room being used for?" Arthur was going to get himself an answer one way or the other. And Merlin was dead wrong if he thought staying silent on the matter would have been enough to stop Arthur from seeking answers elsewhere.

Merlin was quick to interrupt before Gaius was forced to answer, ready to take his own responsibility for his own choices, or at least ready to take some of the heat off his uncle, "It's mine. Which is why none of my stuff is in the Royal suite. It's because I live here now."

The air in the room seemed to still as everybody froze. The guards searching the room stopped pretending that they weren't listening in to look at Merlin with identical looks of 'WTF'. Gaius brought a hand up to rub at the pounding headache forming in his forehead. He could already feeling this very odd tension in the room starting to form. But the most terrifying aspect was Arthur, who looked as if he'd just been smacked upside the face. Not saying a word, just staring at Merlin as if he didn't know who he was. And Merlin was biting down on his lip, smiling at him sheepishly. And really hoping that he was not going to blow up for the umpteenth time. Did his room really matter when there was so much else going on?

"…Would you care to repeat that." Arthur said, speaking calmly and rationally. Which would be the exact opposite of what he was feeling internally. While this would definitely explain why Merlin's room was empty, it also made absolutely no sense. Was this another stunt from Merlin to get his attention? Trying to get a job didn't work so he thought he'd clear out his stuff instead. Please tell him that this-this absolute imbecile! Did not move his stuff out onto the streets. And then cart it all here to his family's physician. Because really, where would he plan on going, there was no way he was staying here. Was this some kind of joke he wanted no part of? It had better be a joke or so help him...

Arthur was acting so calm and rational that Merlin actually stopped biting his lip and was looking at him weirdly. But since Arthur was being so understanding, he spoke out more firmly, "…I moved out yesterday." He admitted to the prince slowly, starting to wonder if he wanted him to move out. Because there was no chance that Arthur would be acting in this calm manner otherwise. It was just…really too strange for him to contemplate.

Arthur did a complete one eighty, his eyes were flashing sharp and dangerous as he'd waved his arms up in the air, "And you what, decided to move here?" He shouted, almost ignorant of the guards who were watching them far to closely, but he was far to angry to care about the show they were giving. This was not happening! Arthur had literally just thought Merlin might actually be trainable after all and then he goes and pulls this kind of stunt? He just packs up and decides to move into the physician's chamber? And had he said yesterday? Merlin had been gone since yesterday and he hadn't even known it? Fuck that, Arthur was getting a guard detail put on his moron like…yesterday.

Apparently his room 'did' matter when there was so much else going on. Merlin, realizing he'd walked himself into this trap of yelling, decided to yell back, "Well you were the one that told me I couldn't do anything while I was living in your castle!" And he had his face flushed with anger because unlike Arthur, Merlin was very much aware of the knights watching. And he was positive it was only going to be the start of even more rumors circling around him. Probably things like how he was spoiled and thought he was too good for a prince. Ridiculous things that anybody who actually knew him would know was stupid. Merlin didn't think that he was to good for a prince. He 'did' know he was far too good for Arthur.

It took Arthur a second to remember what his moron was talking about. He actually had been the one to say that, yesterday actually when he and Merlin had been fighting over him trying to get a job…Merlin had moved out over that one stupid fight? Arthur felt it when his face turned almost blistering red, unable to believe Merlin would be so petty and go so far, "Are you stupid!" Arthur shouted into his face, wanting to give him a good trashing as he clenched his fists at his side. "You're still in my castle!"

Merlin huffed, crossing his arms over his chest defensively, "Maybe so, but at least I'm under Gaius roof instead of in your prison." It wasn't something Merlin would be at anyway willing to compromise. Arthur could throw his little fit all he wanted, he could scream and rage or even try to throw in whatever princely authority he had over this situation, but Merlin was going to stay put for however long Gaius would allow him to. And maybe Arthur should get his priorities straight as well. This disease running amok was something that he should put his energy towards, not throwing a fit because he just now realized that Merlin was gone.

Arthur wanted to shout that he was about to show Merlin what a real prison was. And how he'd better say goodbye to Gaius because he was about to be locked in his room during the next foreseeable future. But was interrupted before he could.

"Sire," the guard that had been snickering at Merlin earlier interrupted before any fighting could be turned into an outright brawl, and he flashed a hint of a cocky smirk in Merlin's direction. "Pardon my interrupted, but if you wish it, we could go up and search through your consort's…bedchambers."

Merlin went red with his rage because yeah, he bet those guards wanted to check out his room. They probably just wanted to get some more accurate gossip out on the market, and what better way to do it then mock all about how Merlin had downgraded from a suite in the Royal household to a single cot inside of a spare bedroom. "Those are my rooms!" He exclaimed loudly, hands on his hips as he was left shouting at them. "So no, you cannot go up there!" Allowing his anger to control his actions. He probably would have gotten his arse kicked if Arthur wasn't there.

If Arthur hadn't also started yelling before the last word had passed Merlin's lips, "You have heard my consort! Get out!" The prince was barking as he gave his own orders, pointing at the front door. "Guard the door until I've decided we're done here!" Because like hell he was going to allow any of these knights to go rummaging through Merlin's shit. If there was anybody that was going to…going to…go through Merlin's bloody underwear drawer! It was going to be him! Because there had to be some kind of answer in his room as to why he would rather choose this place over the comforts of his suite.

The guards seemed to share a startled look, more surprised than anything that Arthur was kicking them out. They happened to be even more surprise that Arthur was agreeing with Merlin rather than throwing a very extensive three-way search to find any of Merlin's dark or juicy secrets hidden just upstairs. But with the twin flares of Merlin and Arthur on them, the knights put a fist over their hearts before bowing. Then they left to stand guard outside the door until their prince came for them.

As soon as they were gone, Arthur's head was whipping around, face scrunched up in disgust as his eyes landed on Merlin, "You've cannot seriously tell me you left the Royal wing! What is bloody wrong with you! There has never been a Royal that has lived outside there!"

Merlin didn't get the chance to start yelling back, to shout that he wasn't a Royal since he was just Merlin. And it wasn't Arthur's decision, he didn't get a say in what Merlin decided to do. That he would be more than happy to be the first to say no more to the Royal lifestyle. It was way better than being known as the first male peasant to marry another male of the Royal family.

But Arthur was already screaming again as he whipped around to face Gaius, "And you are just what, allowing him to live here?" He demanded, as if he was expecting Gaius to just kick him out right then and there instead of invoking the ire of the Royal prince. After all, hell hath no fury like a prince with his fucking irritating consort.

Gaius didn't rise to the challenge, looking as if he was entire bored with this already. Gaius shrugged one of his shoulders, "He has been keeping me adequate company." He said simply, with an air of nonchalance surrounding him. It was Merlin that certainly kept him on his toes, and forced him into overdrive instead of just living his bland existence day in and day out. After all, somebody had to protect the boy, to lead and guide him, even from himself. Arthur was clearly not up for the job if his first instinct was to start yelling instead of problem fixing.

Arthur's lip curled up in disgust at this answer before he was whipping right back around to demand answers from Merlin, and throwing his arm out to the side, "Dare shall I even ask what was wrong with your suite?"

Arthur couldn't help but glance around Gaius' chambers himself, his lip curling higher up in disgust. He had never really bothered to give it a good look before, it had been the same as long as he could remember. But Gaius had at least dozens and dozens of books slung from one side of the room to the other, all out and in the open. Who knows what kind of material was in them, and there was no telling exactly which of the books Arthur wouldn't approve of his consort reading. Most of them seemed to be medical journals, and who knows if any of them had graphic images of anatomy and disfigurement…things or sights that any other consort would have been kept away from to keep their delicate sensibilities in check, the things that not even Morgana would be able to look at. But Merlin wasn't a woman who'd need to be kept in check. But Gaius did have dozens and dozens of different potions just sitting around. Even Arthur knew how much of a klutz Merlin was, surely Gaius had known as well. This much stuff just laying about was going to be a hazard and would need to be put away, sealed in a glass case somewhere out of his reach. And the dust…couldn't all of this dust cause some kind of health problem? It was amazing enough that Gaius didn't have any breathing issues, but he couldn't risk the same of his consort. It was bad enough when Merlin was just spending his days hanging out here, working on his newfound 'hobby'. It was a whole new playing field now that Merlin thought he was living here.

Which he wasn't, not if Arthur had any say on it. This was not a suitable place for a consort to be living in.

Merlin sneered at Arthur, giving him this very obvious look up and down, "I just found that I prefer the company down here." And he was making it very clear that it was Arthur and his company that he found lacking.

Arthur had so much rage flooding through his body that his face shot straight from this very dark blistering red until he almost looked like a violent shade of purple. Because Arthur happened to be excellent company! He could wine and dine with the best of them, could carry on a conversation with even the most heinous or the most boring of nobles. Was able to be entertaining to the young noble daughters that would frequent the castle as guests with their fathers. Was able to train the dumbest of noble son's-who came to the inner city with dreams of grander just because they were so-and-so's son and was the best where they came from but only because not one person had ever been brave enough to put them in their place. And yet this stupid peasant boy somehow thought he was going to best Arthur at his own games?

He'll fucking show him.

"Well then," Arthur sneered at Merlin, his own eyes showing just how rageful he was about Merlin's clear defiance. "Let's just go and see how great this new room of yours is." Merlin's jaw dropped a little in surprise, not expecting this kind of reaction at all. Sure, he figured it was all gonna go to hell, with Arthur raging as Merlin denied him. But he hadn't expected to see Arthur actually 'in' his room. He would've thought Arthur would avoid it altogether. But was he checking it out because he needed to check off of the rooms for sorcery, or would it be because he wanted to mock Merlin for his own decisions and choices he was making on what to do with his own life.

And then Merlin saw Arthur making his way up the stairs, feet coming down with enough force that dust was kicking up on the stairs as he made his way to Merlin's room. Merlin whipped his head around to give his uncle a 'WTF' is happening right now look.

Gaius seemed to take command and called up the stairs, "And what do you expect to find up there?" A little trickle of worry was starting to go down his spine. Merlin 'had' hidden his magic book away just as Gaius had told him to, hadn't he? It wasn't laying out in the open up there right now, right?

Arthur stopped at the top of the stairs before leaning over the poor railing system, that was something that would need to be fixed if that brat was going to keep ignoring him to spend time here, even if it looked as if it had already been fixed up recently it was still a poor way of doing it from the creaking when Arthur had leaned against it, "I'm looking for material or evidence suggesting the use of enchantment being put into action."

But from the way he was glaring down at him when he said this, Merlin was pretty sure that Arthur was just using the sorcerer and horrid disease as an excuse to go through his stuff without prompt cause. But before Merlin was able to shout after Arthur to tell him that he knew a lie when he heard one, the prince was already storming into his room.

What. The. Fuck. Merlin thought in this slow repeat in his mind. Because this was clearly more of an overreaction than he had thought Arthur would give him. It almost felt as if this was more than Arthur's worry about any of the people talking if this got out. It felt more like Arthur was pissed, as if Merlin had truly gotten under his skin and personally insulted him by denying his suite…if Merlin knew that was all it took, he would have moved out ages ago.

Merlin was snapped out of his thoughts when Gaius grabbed him by the elbow, looking at him with this serious expression, "What have you done with the magic book I gave you?" It was only by god's Grace that Gaius didn't go smacking him when he saw Merlin's head go round, snapping up to look frantic at the top of the stairs. His door wide open and not one Arthur in sight.

Merlin knew exactly where his magic book was right about now. After not having access to learning his craft for nineteen years, Merlin had been keeping very close tabs on his only source of education. Which was why he knew his book was on his bedroom floor, right next to his door, sticking out from underneath his bed. He had taken it out at some point during the night to flip through, finding that it helped his brain relax so that he could get a decent sleep. But he hadn't bothered to put it up and it was about to bite him in the ass.

Fuck, he should have started looking for any kind of proper spot the second he'd arrived with all his stuff. The wardrobe was such an obvious spot that he couldn't keep it there indefinitely like he'd put it earlier, and the bed he had here had a flat headboard. Unlike the Royal suite's that had a more curved one that he was able to slide the book down into. But it was to late now when Merlin heard Arthur calling for him.

"Merlin," Arthur's voice came down hard and heavy from somewhere in the room, "Come and look at what I found."

Merlin's heart startled to a stop and he was paling a little. Did Arthur sound as if he had just discovered a magic book? Arthur wasn't sounding as if he was particularly angry, or at least no angrier than when he was when he'd gone up there moments before. But he didn't waste no time, nor did he spare his uncle one more glance in his panic before he took off up the stairs.

Merlin burst into his chambers, looking like he was about to go ten rounds with a skilled fighter. And he froze. Because his eyes had just landed on his leather bound magic book sitting innocently on the floor next to his own bed. And Arthur was nowhere near it. Instead the prince was standing with his back toward it, giving Merlin that curled lip of disgust, and tilting his head toward's Merlin's wardrobe.

The door was wide open, exactly how Merlin had left it this morning. He had a single shirt in a heap on the floor-his blue tunic-and the rest of his clothes were flung this way or that way across his floor.

"I found a place where you're supposed to put your things." Arthur sneered, giving him a dry look. "It's called a wardrobe." Then Arthur was turning away from the wardrobe to look at Merlin. Merlin darted his eyes away from his magic book, which was now situated just behind Arthur's line of sight. Merlin laughed with unease, acting as if Arthur's poor joke was actually funny. Anything that would stop Arthur from turning around and seeing the clearly ancient book. Arthur gave him an odd look which made Merlin realize he might have been laughing for to long, and he snapped his jaw shut.

Arthur took a step back, put his hands on his hips and looked around the small space with disgust. It was strange to see Arthur-always acting as if he was so much larger than life itself-in such a small and confined space. But it was no surprise that he obviously thought he was too good to be up here. His consort should obviously be living in style and not a dump. Merlin ignored this though, shooting his eyes back down to the book just two little inches behind Arthur's foot, while the prince was distracted. If Arthur took another step back, he was sure to trip over it. Merlin felt his throat dry up, and a small bead of sweat induced by panic started working its way down the back of his neck.

"I see that George hasn't been around here yet." Arthur scowled, making a poor crack of how it seemed like everything Merlin owned had been thrown up all over the floor. It was a mess up here. Even if all his stuck was put in their proper places, it still would have been a disgrace. How could Merlin possibly be choosing to stay up here? Was the royalty suite really so ill suited for his taste that he'd rather be here instead?

"Uh…no. George hasn't been by yet." Merlin stuttered, shooting his eyes up from the book behind Arthur. Heaven forbid Arthur might have noticed his attention behind him and decide to have a look himself. He almost felt like a dead man walking. And to be honest? He didn't even know if George had noticed he was gone yet. He probably had, and it was not going to be a surprise to Merlin if he did find out later that George had ran all over the castle trying to track him down.

Merlin's breath caught in his throat when he saw Arthur start to take a step back. But then the breath escaped him as Arthur-the back end of his foot hovering over the book-had changed direction at the last minute. Moving forward instead to toe Merlin's white sheets hanging off the bed aside.

And then Arthur was blinking confused, his anger abating for only a moment, "Where's the rest of your stuff?" The room was a mess of items but it seemed far to little. And there was only a few clothes from what he could see, not any personal items that somebody may have after a lifetime. Hell, Arthur himself had more items in his desk than Merlin had in this entire room. But that just made Arthur's resolve more apparent. This entire thing must have been one big joke of Merlin's. He hadn't even thought it out clearly since he'd brought only the bare minimum with him. Obviously, he was trying to make it look real.

Merlin stiffened, an offended look on his face, "This is all my stuff." He snapped back with great defensiveness. Sure, he knew the little bit he had was nothing to a spoiled arse of a prince like Arthur, but he took great pride in what little he did own.

Arthur looked as if he didn't believe Merlin and looked around the small area for himself, this was definitely a joke. It had to be. There was no way that anybody could possibly own so little. Maybe Merlin really had hid his stuff somewhere and this was just his way to make Arthur feel sorry for him. But after a moment of thought, Arthur seemed to get clarity on the situation, "Oooh, I see."

Merlin's head whipped back up now that the prince had turned his attention back to him, but he had no idea what he was talking about this time, "…You see what?" Merlin asked him slowly.

"You did realize that you were moving here, right?" Arthur asked slowly, agitated. "Why did you only bring the bare minimum with you here?" Did nobody explain what was going on to the kid? Did he think he'd just be coming for a brief minute and then would be allowed to return to his home? Surely he realized he'd be here to stay, he couldn't be that stupid. It was just one more thing on Arthur's plate, he would have to send a few guards across the boarder to pack up the rest of Merlin's own belongings. Unless Merlin had decided to not bother with his own stuff because he had figured Arthur would foot the bill for a whole new lifestyle. Which might be easier to just do, it wasn't like Arthur couldn't afford it nor wasn't already having Madame Teresa work on getting a few outfits for Royal events fitted for the boy.

Merlin blinked at him before smiling, a bitter and sarcastic kind of smile, "Awww, honey." He cooed sweetly, making Arthur wince with distaste at the ridiculous nickname Merlin insisted on calling him by sometimes. "That is so cute how you think peasants like me are actually able to own the bare minimum." And he fluttered his eyelashes, really amping up his sarcasm.

…Was. He. Serious? Arthur repeated slowly in his mind, looking back down at the clothes on the floor again. This was pitiful, and this almost made him want to storm off so that he could find Madame Teresa and have a full-on wardrobe commissioned for the boy. Instead of just a few when they were needed to be used outfits. But only the richest of fabrics though, something smooth and elegant to show off the Pendragon family crest he'd make sure was on it. Obviously he knew peasants weren't well off but the little meager belongings on the floor…Arthur had somehow not realized 'just' how vastly his life and Merlin's differed.

"Uh," Arthur made a big show of coughing in his fist, trying to poorly wave off the awkward air around him as he realized his very awful or in other words-social faux pass. He would've never been able to live it down if Merlin was a noble and he'd made a similar ill-advised kind of comment about the state of the belonging they brought to Camelot. "Well, uh…" Arthur spit out the first thing he thought of after side stepping a pair of pants. "I do hope that you haven't been making yourself a nuisance. We aren't taking advantage of Gaius' hospitality, are we?"

Merlin blinked confused, but if that was what Arthur was gonna go with, then he was going to take it. If he could keep him talking, maybe he wouldn't notice the spell book just a foot behind him. "'We' haven't been taking any advantage from Gaius." Merlin corrected him with a raised eyebrow. "But no, Gaius is being very kind doing this for me."

"Good, good." Arthur said, sounding just a bit distracted as he looked around the space for anything else. Merlin was just counting down the seconds that Arthur would give in and go away. But Arthur wasn't down inspecting the room and mentally writing down his own little notes on how poor the condition was. And all of the little nooks and crannies that made it unsuitable for anybody of Merlin's status. It was completely wrong for anybody who was Arthur's consort. Arthur strode over to Merlin bedside table, as if to prove his point, and he jerked open the drawer. Okay, clearly Merlin hadn't brought anything extra with him since his drawers was entirely empty. Continuing on with the conversation while probing at the inside of the drawer-as if he was trying to be able to find some kind of false drawer in the bottom, "So, have you actually been helping Gaius out, or have you just been playing with his stuff while he's working."

Merlin would have already snapped at him to get out of his room if he was just going to be trying to demean him. Would have defended himself that no, he wasn't just goofing off as his uncle does all of the hard work. But he did none of that because he was a little too busy, his head tilted to the side as he tried to keep his magic book in view around the corner of his bed frame. Instead, he said with this very distracted voice, "We've only started really getting into it, but he's already teaching me loads." As he said this, and seeing that Arthur had his back to him as he examined over his bedside table-and really, what was it that he found so fascinating about it?-he let his eyes flash gold. His white sheet hanging off of the bed started to inch further towards the edge of it, the edges hanging off just now brushing against the top of his magic book. "Like…" he started slowly, brain stuttering to a stop as he allowed his distraction to get the best of him.

Merlin's eyes shifted back to blue, the sheet freezing on the very edge of the bed just as Arthur turned around. Merlin smiled thinly but innocently at him, acting as if 'nope, I'm most definitely not using magic while you had your back turned.' He had to bite back a curse as all it would have taken was one more second of movement before the blanket would have fallen over onto his book.

"Like-" Arthur asked slowly, lifting up his eyebrow when Merlin trailed off. He had been expecting some kind of semi-report, some news he might be able to bring to his father if it was actually informative. But he forgot he was talking to Merlin. He hadn't been expecting Merlin to just cut himself off. Poor boy probably didn't know what was going on and was just making things up as he went.

"Like…" Merlin repeated, and it took him one second to realize he had actually been trying to say something. "Right!" Merlin exclaimed with a sudden energy boost that had almost made Arthur's head spin. "Did you know that you can extract the juices inside of a person's stomach? It was so gross." But Merlin was also grinning a little too widely for it to have been to traumatizing. "And Gaius says that he can-"

Arthur interrupted him by harshly slamming his drawer shut, the ill-fitting frame rattling to the force of it, "And why do I care about any of that?" He demanded irritated. Merlin was looking a little too pleased with himself for Arthur's taste. He had sent him to Gaius to keep him out of the way of the disease and away from the crowds to limit the possibility of contracting it. He hadn't sent him to Gaius to get his jollies out. Not to mention, it wasn't right for Merlin to be so pleased when Arthur definitely wasn't. This bedside table alone would have disqualified the room as a place his consort should sleep.

Merlin's smile dropped in an instinct as he was forced to remember exactly why he was hating Arthur so much, "I suppose that you wouldn't." He said, disgusted as he saw the prince nudging one of his tunics out of his path. As it he was afraid to touch it. Was this what all of the townspeople had felt as the knights had stormed through their town? He had thought it was growing quite disorienting when the guards had first bursted into Gaius' and started throwing his stuff across the room to find something that wasn't even there. But it was far too entirely different to see it being done to his own room upstairs, to see Arthur knocking his stuff out of his way to make a path for him to walk. If it was that difficult to get through his room, he was more than welcomed to leave it! It was vile to see it, feeling as if Arthur was leaving behind a trace of slime in his wake, contaminating all that he touched. So deeply that it would take forever for Merlin to clean it out so that he'd be able to sleep in peace again.

"Yes well, I'm trying to conduct my search and your jabbering is a distraction." Arthur said pointedly. He was trying-in vain-to figure out why Merlin would possibly choose to stay here but nothing stood out to him. But Arthur was finding himself getting drawn into what it was Merlin was going on about. Anything to be able to understand…this. And he couldn't waste what few minutes he was able to spare from the main search to deal with this sudden situation.

"Forgive me," Merlin said dryly. "I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut as you go digging your hands around in my underwear drawer." The drawer in question had a distinct lack of any undergarments as the three he had was also on the floor, balled into a ball underneath his bed somewhere, thank god. Minus the fourth pair that he was wearing. Heaven forbid he'd literally have to see Arthur pawing around on his underwear.

"I'm not-!" Arthur started, his face going that funny shade of purple again at just the mere mention of being caught anywhere near him and his underwear. And just to make that be perfectly clear, He. Was. Not. Looking. For. Merlin's. Underwear. He was searching the space for the real reason that Merlin would choose to stay here instead. Wait, no, that wasn't right! He was here looking for any kind of sign that magic was being practiced! Yeah! That was it… "Just stay there and shut up for once!" Arthur barked bossily, turning toward the bed to search it.

Arthur roughly lifted up one of the pillows on the bed to search under them, as if Merlin would be dumb enough to hide something in such an obvious spot. But Merlin took this chance while he had it, with the pillow now covering half of Arthur's face, he allowed his eyes to flash gold again. And this time, Merlin managed to give a magical tug on the edge of the blanket, causing the rest of the sheet to slip off the bed. Arthur threw the pillow on the bed, looking agitated as if he had really thought for one second that he would have found something juicy underneath it. Merlin snapped his head up with the most innocent expression he could muster when the prince looked back at him. Arthur glowered at Merlin as if he was displeased that he wasn't putting up more of a fuss about something. Then he was dropping to his knees, not giving up on his search yet as he looked under the bed.

With his head under the bed, Merlin took this chance to look exasperated with him. At least his book had been covered up so Arthur had no chance of seeing it from the angle that he was in. Not unless he jerked that specific sheet out of his way.

"You know," Merlin called down under to him as he arched his neck to try and see him from around the bed frame. "As fun as this has been, I'm sure that you can see that I haven't been hiding anything between my bedcovers. So I suppose that means you can go now." He tried to rush him up. Just on the off chance it might be discovered if Arthur kept going on the way he was.

"I'm not quite done yet." Arthur said with this grudging undertone. He stood up from the other side of the bed and with large steps, strode straight past Merlin and back to the wardrobe.

"You already checked there!" the unwanted consort of Camelot exclaimed as he watched the prince push the door open wider for him to get a better view. Arthur scowled when he heard the door giving a loud creek. Any kind of wardrobe in the Royal suite wouldn't ever have dared to creek like that. Especially since the Royal hinges were carefully oiled every other week. It was just one more mark about how unsuitable this room was. It was a huge insult that Gaius wasn't able to offer better accommodations for a Royal guest. It was an even bigger insult that this was where Merlin rather stay.

Arthur's eyes shot down to the poor tunic on the floor of the wardrobe, the one thing that had actually made it inside, "You know," the prince said as his scowl hardened. "I cannot help but notice-when I was combing through your suite-that you've decided to leave your wedding clothes behind."

Which was absolutely nuts to Arthur. Did his moron not realize how much those clothes had been worth? Or how much effort and time had gone into fastening them into the proper wedding outfit. And then he just left them. If anything, he could have sold them to pay for better accommodations! But then he would have to beat Merlin's arse if he was in the marketplace and found them on top of some seller's rack.

Merlin shrugged nonchalant, apparently not seeing the big deal about leaving behind the stuff that was just going to weigh him down as it wasn't like he was ever going to wear them again, "I suppose that I've decided that they weren't suited to my taste." Merlin did not appreciate the reminder that Arthur once again, had been in his room without being invited. But whatever, he could keep that one room if he wanted. Merlin wanted nothing to do with it any longer.

Arthur whipped his head around to glare at him with his eyes flashing, unable to believe just how much insolence this boy had in his body, "Not suited to your taste!" He shouted out at him. "They were made out of one of the rarest clothes developed in this kingdom. Kings themselves would fall all over their own feet to have something made for them out of that material!" Not even Arthur's clothes had been made with the same material. He had opted for silk, something he was much more familiar with compared to the satin type of sheer fabric that Merlin had been gifted with.

Merlin shrugged and he didn't look nearly as impressed as he should be. "It was itchy." He said blandly. It was probably because he was not used to such soft fabrics touching on his skin. Wasn't used to seeing such a soft touch or brightly colored dyed fabrics. His peasant clothes were much more muted in color and not nearly as thick or as heavy. Seriously, was it really necessary to wear so many layers?

Itchy, Arthur mused that over in his head as he felt his eye twitching. His consort claimed the most sought after cloth-so rare that only someone of his status could even afford to look at them, yet alone have enough brought to the castle and fixed into wedding clothes-was itchy. He left it behind 'because' it was… itchy. No matter which way Arthur spun those words, he could not understand them. How could somebody just dismiss the riches he'd been given!

This was enough. If Merlin was trying to show him some kind of point, if Merlin was trying to prove something with this stupid stunt of his, then he had gotten the message across. "Ok, Merlin." Arthur said, turning his nose up at the mere thought of wherever Merlin thought he was going with this. "I think that I've more than entertained you enough. I will have your manservant come and collect all of your…belongings," he cast a disgruntled look at the few items spread around the room. He would definitely need to remedy that at some point, a consort shouldn't have less clothes than there were days in the week. "So that you can move back into the inner palace."

With any luck, his consort would be moved back in before the day was out. It shouldn't take long to move Merlin's few possessions back into place. And once he'd got settled back in, Arthur could get to work on actually filling out his suite. God, he couldn't have his consort having less than the peasants on the street did. Even if Merlin had brushed aside all Arthur had offered him earlier, it was still his responsibility to make sure the brat only received the best…maybe he should just burn what he brought with him and have Madame Teresa work up a whole new completely done wardrobe. Show off some of the Pendragon wealth that Merlin kept denying was his.

Merlin couldn't rebuff him if he had nothing else to wear. It was either wear what Arthur was providing him or run around naked for all he cared.

Deciding for himself that this conversation was over, Arthur returned his attention to the wardrobe and started knocking on the walls, as if he was trying to find some hidden hole in the wall. Because of course a real sorcerer would hide their magical belongings much better than out in the open. But Merlin was no sorcerer, Arthur knew that for sure. It was just to crazy of an idea, but he still wasn't entirely convinced that what was on the floor was really the only things Merlin owned. He had to have more, had to be just trying to get Arthur to feel guilty. For what? Because Arthur had told him that another woman would be involved in their lives someday? Or because he thought he had some leg to stand on with the flower thing, trying to make some sort of guilt trip on Arthur over how he'd tried taking the flower.

"Wait…what?" Merlin startled, straightening up and looking truly baffled by Arthur and his sudden declaration. Not that he should, this was just like Arthur. Trying to take command and boss him around like one of those many mindless drones roaming around the castle disguised by their armor. "I am not moving back!" And that was just that. Arthur would have to throw him over his shoulder before literally carrying him back to that…room…just to get him to move from this spot. And Merlin would literally fight him every step of the way, would claw at his legs and back until they'd look just as Merlin felt on the inside. All cut up and ruined. And even then Merlin would just leave again as soon as Arthur had left him, it wasn't like the prince could keep his eye on him all the time.

Arthur stopped his knocking on the wooden wardrobe, ear pressed against the frame to hear for any spots that might just be hollow enough to fit something behind it, to blink at Merlin confused. "What?" He asked, having not expected Merlin to fight him on this. He had figured Merlin was just doing that really stupid things girls did. Where they tried to go 'test' a guy to see if they would come running after them if they threw a hissy fit and tried to leave. Well, that was what Arthur was doing right now. Merlin was here having his hissy fir. And he was here to drag Merlin back to where he was supposed to be. Clearly their ground rules would need to be noted and be enforced into Merlin's skull. And a new one added of course after this stunt: Merlin was not allowed to leave the castle without his permission. "Of course you're coming! I think whatever point you're trying to make to me by coming here has clearly been made. So there is no reason to subject yourself to staying here."

Merlin gave Arthur this look that said he was thinking the prince must have been the most dumbest person on the planet, "You think I'm 'subjecting' myself to stay here?" Merlin was scrunching up his nose in disgust. His room here was practically a luxury compared to his home in Ealdor. Even if he'd rather be back there, at least here he had a bed and not just a spot curled up in front of the hearth. "And I'm definitely not staying here for you! I want to be here for me!"

Okay, sure, Merlin thought. He had made the decision to move down here because he had enough of Arthur. He couldn't stand being around that spoiled prince for any amount of time without wanting to hit him. All of it was to much, and he had needed to get out just to breath and find himself again. Arthur was what had made him leave. But it was Merlin that was deciding to stay. Deciding to make a fresh start the only way that he could, even if Arthur kept trying to drag him back into that awful life of hardship. He might still be stuck in it but at least he could spend his nights away, getting some time to himself to be able to recharge after a long day of dealing with whatever issue's Arthur had with him for that day. This move was going to be the best thing for Merlin and his mentality in the long run.

It was to bad that Arthur didn't share nearly the same sentiment. The prince pulled away from the wardrobe and threw his arm out to gesture out to the greater part of the room. "You can't 'possibly' want to stay here!" He exclaimed loudly. Just the smell in here was enough to turn Arthur off. Like the scent of peasant. He couldn't see why anybody would want to stay in a single room above where a physician worked. Surely all the potions and their fumes would soak up through the floors.

And Merlin turned defensive, his eyes flashed as he clenched his hands into fists, "And why wouldn't I?" Merlin demanded, daring Arthur to tell him why the suite was so much better than his room here. But he also didn't bother waiting for Arthur to explain himself, already yelling at him before he could give a proper answer. "At least I don't have an arse as my next door neighbor!"

Because that was all Arthur had been to him this entire time. Nothing more than his awful neighbor from Hell. An unfortunate neighbor that Merlin was glad to be away from, now if only Arthur would stop bloody chasing him across the city! He wasn't going to let Arthur ruin this for him just as he had ruined everything else already! He'd ruined Merlin, he'd trodded all over those stupid innocent little daydreams he'd had growing up about finding safety in somebody. Somebody that he could be 'entirely' himself with. Merlin was blaming his mother for that, all those stories she used to tell him about people trapped in towers being rescued by her prince. But he wasn't going to wait around for some random person to rescue him. This was him trying to rescue himself and he wasn't going to allow Arthur to take that away from him.

Arthur ground down his teeth at once again being called an arse, but he buckled down on his resolve, "You are not staying here!" Arthur was yelling at him so loudly that Gaius could probably hear them from downstairs. But he was adamant about this. Merlin was going to come with him one way or the other. Arthur was going to get him out of this hellhole and back into the comfort and luxury that a Royal sound have.

"Oh, yes I am!" Merlin shouted back with huge defiance written on every inch of his features. Like hell he was going to let Arthur dictate his life. He could throw his little hissy fit, Merlin was going to stay right here. Arthur be damned.

Arthur teeth gnashed down so hard that it felt like his brain was hurting. "You cannot begin to tell me that Gaius seriously didn't mind you just moving yourself in?" This would all go so much easier if he could get Merlin to walk out of here on his own. But-Arthur shot his gaze down Merlin's form-the boy definitely wasn't a heavy person. It wouldn't be to hard to just throw him over his shoulder and go carrying him out. The issue would be the flaring he'd no doubt do. And the people watching Arthur as he struggled in vain to control his defiant consort. Plus, there had to be some kind of logical reason as for why Gaius would agree to something like this. Maybe he just didn't want to tell Camelot's newest consort 'No' when Merlin had came begging for a room.

Merlin crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head away from the prince, "He doesn't mind at all! In fact, he was practically begging me to stay with him!" Merlin was pure lying through his teeth but he didn't care in the least. Anything to show Arthur that he was doing just fine on his own, show him that he had survived nineteen years of his life without him. He didn't need him to show up now acting as if he was trying to play hero when he wasn't interested in the job whenever Merlin was actually doing what he was told for once.

"Is that right." Arthur sneered down at him in mild disgust. Well fine then, Arthur thought hatefully. He wasn't going to sit here and beg Merlin to come back for him. If Merlin wanted to stay down here and wallow then that was exactly what he was going to do. "Fine then!" he shouted at him. "If you wanna stay here than just stay here!" Maybe, Arthur thought angrily to himself, Merlin would come back with him willingly and he wouldn't have to drag him to his room. If he thought Arthur was going to beg, if he thought Arthur would just leave him here on his lonesome, then maybe he would come back like a dog with it's tail between his legs. Maybe he'd return like a good dog when coming home to his master. "But don't you dare say that I didn't try and save you!"

Merlin blinked back in surprise, having been thinking it would be so much harder than that was. He honestly expected them to delve into a fist fight if Arthur even tried to touch him to drag him back to that hellhole. But he shook off his surprise in disgust, yeah. Like Arthur was trying to 'save him'. He was just trying to save his own damn reputation. He wouldn't want to be known as the guy who chased his consort off so early on in their marriage, "I've never asked for you to save me!" Merlin was shouting back, ready to throw hands on the off chance that this was just one of Arthur's tricks.

Arthur's eye twitched when he realized that this was going to be much harder than he'd thought it was. He had half thought Merlin was going to throw himself down to his knees and beg for him. To admit that he had made a mistake by not accepting Arthur's generous offer. Fucking brat, he couldn't even do that right! Maybe he just needed a bit more time of it. To live here for a few days and realize he needed Arthur's generosity far more than he needed Merlin's cooperation. But in the mean time, he grudgingly realized that he would be needing to change the guard's schedule. To have them roaming the halls outside of Gaius' chambers several times a night just to make sure his brat was being safe in case a rabid fan or insane murderer tried to bust in to see their consort. It wasn't like Gaius had any kind of good security in place. He would go doing it himself but he did not have the time to waste if Merlin was going to be this stupid by being stubborn.

"What are you doing now!" Merlin shouted at him because Arthur had turned back to his wardrobe. "I'm not hiding anything so can you kindly fuck off and get out!" He pointed to the door as if to show just how agitated he was. Just how much he wanted Arthur to just leave his space and not come back. Didn't he have other houses to check or something? It was surely other peasants out there that he'd be able to waste his time tormenting other than himself.

"Nothing to hide, huh?" Arthur sneered, not ready to go just yet. He was determined to find something to punish Merlin for. To have some reason to drag him back to his suite in the Royal chamber. Despite his attitude given to Merlin, he truly did not want to just leave the boy in this pig's pit. And that was when he saw it, something sticking out of the top shelf that he hadn't noticed because of how much arguing he had been doing with Merlin the moron. He didn't hesitate to reach up and pull it down from the shelf, looking at the little lotus flower carved into the top of it. And one little shake to hear the rattling going on inside was what it took to realize this was going to be exactly what he was looking for. A nasty smirk spread on his face, so caught up with looking at the box that he didn't hear Merlin when his breath caught in his throat.

Merlin could only watch with numb surprise as Arthur shook around his box like it was nothing more than his plaything. Somehow, Merlin had been so panicked about hiding his magic book away from Arthur's view, that he had forgotten all about his chest. It hadn't occurred to him that Arthur would stumble across it in his search. It hadn't occurred to him that he would be forced to watch Arthur handling it with clumsy fingers. Behaving as if he was more of a brute than a prince, looking so satisfied. As if he had just stumbled upon what he thought Merlin's biggest secret was.

"Don't touch that!" The scream wretched it's way straight out of Merlin's throat before he'd even known it was coming. And only after he had seen Arthur start toying with the latch to try and tug it open. His eyes were focused onto his chest with the intensity of what had to be a thousand suns. But he didn't dare try and launch himself at it. The little chest was already a delicate little thing and he feared it would be broken if he tried to wrestle it out of Arthur's hands. But…Arthur's hands, groping and touching all over his stuff. He wasn't able to suppress the shiver of disgust from roiling down his spine.

Arthur's head whipped up, his nasty smirk pausing in surprise at the sudden outburst as he hadn't such a huge reaction. But seeing Merlin and his freaked out face just seemed to make him more excited, a smug smirk appearing on his face, giving him the look of a true bully. Or it might be the look of an abuser, the person in power asserting himself over his very much weaker counterpart, "Why?" He asked him in this almost gleeful and taunting tone, pleased that he had found something that had actually got some kind of reaction out of Merlin. "Do you have something that you don't want me to see in here?"

Seeing that smug look did something to the insides of Merlin, it felt as if his organs were rearranging themselves and he was pretty sure he was going to be sick all over Arthur's pretty leather skinned boots, "It's private!" he forced out, reaching out to try and take back his chest from Arthur's hands. But Arthur was able to block him quite easily, twisting around so that his broad shoulder was in Merlin's path.

"I really do need to check everything for any signs of magic." Arthur told him, feeling the way Merlin was trying to peer over the top of his shoulder at the chest, pushing up against his back. But from the glee in Arthur's voice, Merlin was pretty sure that was just a ruse to have just cause for taking away his chest. He didn't hesitate to keep moving so that he had his shoulder in the way every time Merlin was trying to reach around him. Or reach under his arms to grasp at it, the chest always just out of reach of the boy and his grasping and desperate fingers. "If you have nothing to be hiding, then there's really no reason for me to not have a little look see."

Which were true words that had literally been spoken by every person who didn't know the concept of privacy. Now, Arthur didn't really think he was going to open this chest to find any witchcraft. He wasn't expecting to find a vial of blood or animal/baby bones that would be used in some kind of ritualistic spell. And he wasn't expecting folded bits of paper with ancient language written across it, nor was it going to be weird herbs mixed up together to make some evil concoction that was going to be used to hurt his people. But if Merlin was going to act like he was, there just had to be something really good in this chest. Maybe a really juicy secret or something embarrassing that he wouldn't want Arthur to see. But that just made Arthur crave to see it more. Maybe he could use whatever it is to make Merlin be a bit more agreeable to Arthur's way of seeing things, give him less problems to deal with and all.

Arthur went to unhooking the latch again to get his first glimpse into the chest. The latch popped open right when Merlin let out some kind of war cry and launched himself on top of Arthur's back like he had when he tried to stop Arthur from leaving during the 'flower' incident. Only this time, Arthur was ready for him and didn't fall over. He was able to brace himself against the wardrobe, ignoring all the ways Merlin had his legs wrapped around his waist from behind, his upper body laying out over his shoulder as he tried to stretch himself far enough to get his hands onto the chest.

The chest popping open made an audible clicking kind of sound that caused both of them to freeze and look at the chest, the lid of it casting dark shadows over the contents from the way it was tilted forward, as if they thought it was about to come alive and start pealing all of the flesh off of their bones piece by piece. All it took was a slip of Arthur's finger for the lid to pop up all the way. And Arthur stared hard into the chest, completely ignoring the small bits and bobs of the few meager possessions on the bottom. His eye's fell to the larger one laying out on top of everything else, and he could feel his hand starting to shake. There was a pulse going off in his eardrums like his heartbeat. This…this was not possible.

"W-what is this?" Arthur asked as could feel it when his skin drained itself of color, and his hand twitched as if to go for his sword only to realize he had no sword on him. Arthur hadn't thought for one moment that he may actually need it at Gaius. Need it for Merlin. Like he'd said earlier, he wouldn't want to find out later that he had skipped out on the real sorcerer's location because he dismissed the odds of it being so incredibly unlikely. "Who have you been cursing?"

He couldn't hear anything except the roaring in his ears and he couldn't see anything at all except for the weird little doll thing situated on top of the other odds and ends that he did not want to go through right now. It would be weird herbs and ancient languages that not even he would be able to understand, or at least that was what he would guess. But the doll…all those pins sticking out of it…and this might just be his imagination, but with the way the shadows from the tilted lid was cast, he could have sworn it looked like blood for a second there. Arthur would be the first to say he knew next to nothing about magic or how witches got their kicks but this…this did not look good for Merlin.

Merlin who was currently sliding his way down his back, hands still on Arthur's broad shoulders to keep balance till he made it to his feet. "What are you talking about?" Merlin asked, looking truly taken aback by what the prince had said. Curses? Merlin might be a sorcerer but he didn't exactly go around with plans to curse anybody.

"Don't lie to me!" Arthur was suddenly shouting out loud, honestly wondering why he hadn't yelled for the guards already to go arrest Merlin…oh god, his father had married him off to a psychotic sorcerer going around killing his people. He whipped around to try and comfort the sorcerer-Merlin blinking at him so innocently, looking baffled by this turn of events-and Arthur's hands tightened on to the chest. He didn't know what kind of magic tricks Merlin might have up his sleeve but he was still bigger than him, could still use this chest thing filled with wizard goods to knock the boy out. One hard slam against Merlin's temple should do the trick…

"Will you stop screaming at me and tell me what your problem is this time?!" Merlin was shouting back before Arthur had the chance to enact his plan. And sure, Merlin hated the fact that Arthur was touching all over his little chest. It was like he had been violated, as if Arthur had walked in while he was trying to get dressed and saw him naked. It would be a very vulnerable situation that he wanted to have no part of. But Arthur's whole fit attack going on was enough to distract him from trying to get the chest back.

"This!" Arthur shouted madly, shaking the box harshly at his consort…was he still his consort? No, he couldn't be. Arthur not that long ago had told his father that the people would talk if Merlin was killed so soon, believed to be murdered by the prince himself as to free up the space for someone more worthy in his eyes. But good god, he would never be able to live it down if the word got out that Arthur had been literally married to one of the demons of hell. A sorcerer. A devil masked by innocence and confusion. And the single one question Arthur had now…was why hadn't he attacked Merlin yet? Subdued him before he could use one of his magic tricks on him to mess with his mind. If he hadn't already.

Merlin blinked, the reason Arthur was acting so crazy not really sinking in quite yet, "My… memory box?" He asked slowly, looking back to Arthur with a frown. Because that was what he had taken to calling it. His memory box, his little piece of home in what he was considering to be a war torn place with all of the adversaries he had against him.

Arthur froze, staring down his nose at Merlin as if he wasn't comprehending what he had just said. "A…memory box?" He asked slowly, looking down at the 'sorcerer' that he had sworn to protect simply because he was His. But sorcery…that was something not even he could protect him from. Something demonic and evil and would take his soul if he didn't act quickly. But…a memory box? Arthur was peering back into the box confused but nope, the doll was still resting on top of all the other items. The pins sticking out of them, he knew a voodoo doll when he saw one. And he was only able to feel sorrow for not stopping this sorcerer before he was able to curse some poor sod with unimaginable pain. "That is one of those voodoo dolls! You can't lie your way out of this one! What the hell were you thinking practicing…practicing magic!" And Arthur just shivered thinking about the poor sod. Especially since he could see a rather large pin sticking right out of the doll's groin area.

Arthur lifted up the box, prepared to bash the boy over the head with it when he stopped in his tracks. Merlin was…Merlin was laughing at him? What on earth was Merlin laughing for? Did he suffer some kind of mental ailment that Arthur had been unaware of? If Merlin was laughing, it should have been a manic kind of laughing, the laughter of somebody who'd just got caught and was now getting prepared to cast some awful curse on him or, oh god! Forget being a sorcerer, had Merlin been the one to curse the city! And…why was he still laughing? Like he thought this entire situation was funny. He even had a hand on his wardrobe to hold himself up, one arm was wrapped around his stomach as if he thought his rib was going to burst. Arthur slowly put the box over his head back down, looking at Merlin baffled. He definitely wasn't getting a 'I'm a sorcerer so I'm going to kill the unsuspecting prince now' kind of vibe from him.

When Merlin's cries of laughter slowly died down, he gave Arthur a smirk, "Maybe you should take another look at the doll." Sure, Merlin had felt a flash of panic shooting into his very soul when he realized Arthur had been accusing him of being a sorcerer, and he had wondered what he had done that got him caught. But the way Arthur had shook the chest at him, one would have thought Merlin was hiding away the bones of a puppy etched in salt from a graveyard and put all that effect into cursing one guy. It was ridiculous, not to mention Merlin knew he didn't have a thing in the chest that would claim he actually was a sorcerer. Well…except for the doll…which he suppose he couldn't fault Arthur for thinking he was a sorcerer-unknowingly being right-by seeing it. There had been a reason that he hadn't wanted Gaius to find it earlier. "And tell me, have you been feeling any mysteries pain that you can't explain?"

Any…unexplainable pains? Arthur repeated the words over in his head blankly, not sure what that was supposed to mean. Nor did he know why he was 'negotiating'-was that what he was doing?-with a sorcerer. He should be sounding the alarms, getting the guards back in here and having Merlin clasped in chains to bring to his father. But…Merlin…and those earnest blue eyes? Arthur felt himself start to doubt under their gaze and decided he could spare a moment to look back into the box of occult items. Just to make sure he was right before he condemned an innocent man to the pyre. It only took him but a moment to see the similarities with the reddish mop of 'hair' to the little coil sword on it's waist. Plus Merlin's odd words painted a complete picture.

"Hey!" Arthur exclaimed, looking as if he was highly offended as he shoved the box right under Merlin's nose so the other boy could get a look at it. "My hair is not that color!" His hair was a natural golden blonde, thank you very much. His hair was not red. Not even in the sunlight did it look that particular shade of godawful red.

Merlin blinked at him, unable to believe that Arthur really thought he cared enough to go and find an exact match. It was even more odd because it felt like he had temporarily forgotten the whole 'let's accuse Merlin of being a sorcerer' bit. He was surprised he wasn't being hauled off to the dungeons at this exact moment. "Oh, I am so sorry." Merlin told the prince, but his voice spoke volumes of how sarcastic he was being. "That I didn't waste my day away just so I could find the exact match."

Arthur clenched his jaw, "So what," the prince demanded in a rough tone not ready to admit he had been so utterly wrong. "You're not going around being a sorcerer but you're just what, sticking pins into a voodoo me?" was Merlin a sorcerer or not? Because none of this was making sense. Like there was no possible way that he could have cast a curse if he couldn't even do a voodoo doll correctly because Arthur had not been experiencing any odd aches or pains in his joints. And definitely not in his…he shot his eyes to the pin sticking out of doll Arthur's groin. So Arthur knew nothing about magic or how it was done but he imagined a voodoo doll would have been simpler to cast than a city wide disease.

"Er, no…I'm…not?" He made it sound like this question, but after everything the prince had done to him, Merlin found it surprisingly easy to lie about himself. Far easier than when he had to lie to the king and tell him outright that he wasn't a sorcerer that first day Merlin had arrived in the city. Maybe he was getting better at this whole lying thing…he still felt his heart going up a notch in panic, thinking he might not be convincing enough.

But that seemed to be good enough for the prince because his muscles started to relax some. Arthur couldn't believe how stupid he was being, of course Merlin wasn't any kind of sorcerer! His father would have seen right through it from the start. Besides, there was no way Merlin knew anything about witchcraft, Arthur probably knew more about it then he did. But…there was still one thing that was bothering him, Arthur looked down at the box again and wrinkled his nose. The doll looked more like a toy now than an evil sorcerer's tool, "Then what exactly is this all about?" He held up the box again to indicate what he meant.

Merlin rolled his eyes before giving him a dead stare, "Well, I'm pretty sure that if I try stabbing you, I will end up getting arrested for treason or something. So I went with the next best thing. At least a doll doesn't try to have me 'punished'." He mocked the way that Arthur had once claimed he would have to go getting creative with his punishments since the stocks were out. One couldn't exactly go locking their consort's in the middle of town square in the one place that was dedicated sorely for the fools of the city.

Arthur seemed to know exactly what he had meant because he scowled at Merlin. Stupid boy, thinking Arthur would have him put into the dungeons for sticking him with one of the little pins. No, he'd just drag the boy out for a new training session, see how his 'mace work was coming along'. "And what exactly have I done to you that makes you want to stick the pins in me?" Arthur demanded, shaking the box hard enough for what was inside to start rattling. Pins were definitely something new, he'd never known anybody who wanted to go sticking needles into him.

Merlin was wincing at the careless way that Arthur was treating his possessions. He was glancing down at the box before returning his glare up to Arthur, "Are you seriously asking me that? The better question is 'what haven't you done that would make me want to stick a pin in you?' But if you must know." Merlin said as he crossed his arms defensively over his chest. "I did happen to buy the doll right after you dragged me away from my job searching."

Okay, maybe it was before Arthur had been able to find him and drag him away. But that didn't negate anything. He had still been job searching when he'd came across the doll so it was all Arthur's fault he had it in the first place. If Arthur wasn't such an arse, Merlin would have had no reason to buy such a thing like it.

Arthur clenched his jaw, unable to believe that they were coming back around to that all over again when he thought he'd made himself perfectly clear on what he thought of his consort working. He was even more perturbed by the thought that Merlin was seriously blaming him. It was Merlin that had bought the doll, brought it here, and then he was the one that stuck pins in it! And now he really wanted to cross his legs, that pin that stuck out of doll Arthur's groin was looking more and more disturbing. "You do not get to tell me you are still upset about that!" And he shook the box more roughly than he had before because damn, the brat could hold one hell of a grudge, couldn't he?

"Of course I'm still upset about it!" Merlin exclaimed. He didn't think he would ever be able to forget how humiliated he was when Arthur had dragged him through the town and back to their rooms. As if he had done something wrong. As if he was an erect child that needed to be punished to show just how wrong he was. It was why he had moved to Gaius' after all, unwilling or unable to put up with so much disrespect. It was bad enough in the town but to have it being done inside of what was supposed to be a new home…some things just had to give. Like now. Merlin had his eyes drop to the chest in Arthur's hands and made a grab for it. "Now, give me back my chest before you break it!"

He got his hands on the chest and everything should have been alright, right? He should've got his chest, held it to his own chest, before making Arthur leave. There was nowhere else to search, he had no reason to be here for a moment longer so he should go, right?

Wrong.

"Hey, I'm not done yet!" Arthur said, pulling the box away from Merlin's grasp. Or at least he tried. Merlin was relentless and wouldn't let it go, so all Arthur succeeded in doing was pulling Merlin along with him. Still, Arthur was practically scolding him as he said, "I've still got to go through all this just to make sure that your story checks out, so let go!"

Arthur wasn't ready to leave quite yet, wasn't ready to allow Merlin to dictate what went on and what didn't. It was all part of training the obedience into Merlin. He would leave only if and when he was damn good and ready. Not when Merlin commanded him to. If Merlin couldn't follow simple directions when Arthur told them to him over something like this, he couldn't very well expect Merlin to listen to him during something actually important.

But Merlin put up one hell of a fight, his nails clawing into the chest as he tried to yank it out of Arthur's grip, "There's nothing in there so let it go!" He yelled back and within just a few seconds, the two boys had a game of tug a war going on, both dragging the chest back and forth and unwilling to be the one to give in and let it go.

"Just," Arthur breathed out, giving one more mighty tug of the box. "Let. Go!" And Merlin jerked it at the same time. There was a loud crash as the angle of their holds caused the box to slip right through their fingers. It then landed with a loud smashing sound, upside down, on the floor right between them. The contents of the chest was in a heap, buried underneath it. And there was a brief second where both Arthur and Merlin just stared at the mess between them silently. Arthur with an exasperated, now look what you've done, kind of expression on his face. And Merlin…Merlin was stone faced.

He didn't even bother looking at Arthur as he slowly sunk down to his knees onto the floor to access the damage of his stuff for himself. The chest was already old enough, he noted as he carefully picked the chest up off of the floor, so it was no surprise to find that one of the hinges had popped off. Now the lid was askew and even when Merlin played around with it, he found it refusing to close straight anymore. Merlin had to take a steadying, slow breath even as he started to feel a roaring in his eardrums. Then he set the little chest to the side and went back to accessing all of the rest of his stuff that laid in one big pile where the chest had been.

It only took half a glance for him to know that everything was ruined. He had spent the last bits of his gold coins for this…and Arthur had ruined it all within seconds. The small glass bottles that held the herbs and crushed up flowers that smelt like home was shattered into nothingness. The dirt small enough was already sinking into the cracks of the floor boards and into the underneath. The few little flower petals still remaining was tattered and torn like dust in the wind. Even the flower that Gwen had given him hadn't been spared, it's petals dyed grey from the dirt. The purple bit of cloth that had the raven crest symbolizing the home he grew up in had a rip right across the middle, some of the leftover pins that he hadn't made in the doll causing it from their harsh tumble across the ground. Even that stupid Arthur doll had a rip in its chest, from the pins being shoved through all the way at harsh angels, causing the stuffing to spill out of it's chest. Just like Arthur's heart, Merlin thought vaguely, it didn't have one.

Merlin didn't say anything when he felt more than saw Arthur's presence when the prince cast a shadow over him by looming directly over where he was kneeling. He just wanted him to go. To leave and never be able to go darkening his doorstep ever again. He didn't even notice when his hands started to shake and evidently, neither did Arthur.

"You could have just told me it was nothing but a bunch of junk." Arthur said with the kind of disdain sniff that only somebody born with a silver spoon in their mouth could have. "You should have just tossed it. Don't know why'd you made such a big fuss over nothing." And he toed at the crushed up herb dust as if he was to scared to get any closer to the peasant items. As if it was the dust that was disease and not the prince himself.

And Merlin could have sworn he'd just been stabbed in his lungs with a dagger, was able to feel the piercing pain go through his chest as he realized…Arthur didn't care. Arthur did not see Merlin on his knees, did not see his despondent face. Did not see the way that he looked as if the rug had literally been yanked right out from underneath his feet. It hurt him plenty. More than it had when he saw that the prince had switched his favor. More than he'd been upset as he saw Arthur leading Clarissa away for their first dance. More than he had been humiliated as Arthur lectured him again and again, first by the job and then with the flower. And now about his room and his stuff and…nothing he did was going to make him happy. Nothing he did was going to make him see Merlin's silent screams to get him out of this hellhole. Nothing he did was going to get Arthur to 'see' him. Really see him.

Merlin bowed his head lowly, not getting up from his position on the floor and allowing his bangs to cast a low shadow across his face so that his eye's could not be seen. "Get out." He said in this low and deadly voice. The kind of voice that someday-when he had grown and came fully into his own-would send kings into a quiver within their own bootstraps.

But for now, it didn't carry quite the same effect and Arthur didn't leave. Too busy with looking at him baffled, putting one hand onto his hip and lifting the other to scratch across his hairline, "Excuse me?" Arthur asked him, wondering if Merlin was forgetting his place all over again. Now see, this was why his little pet needed to be trained. Why he needed to be reminded that Arthur was the one who went around giving orders to people. Not the other way around.

But before Arthur could grab Merlin by the scruff of his neck, jerk him around a little to remind him of Arthur's superior strength, to show Merlin that it was best to listen to him and his instructions if he wanted to stay out of trouble, Merlin's head snapped up in this almost violent manner. Arthur nearly reeled back in shock when he saw the tears that had started to build in the corners of Merlin's eyes, looking as if they were seconds from spilling out completely and pouring down his cheeks.

"GET OUT!" Merlin practically roared before grabbing the first thing his hand touched. But unfortunately, it was the Arthur dolly. And he threw it as hard as he could at Arthur but all it did was bounce harmlessly off his chest, with more stuffing spilling out of the cut directly in the middle of it's chest, and hitting the floor with a silent splat.

Arthur stared down at the torn up dolly at his feet in disbelief, vaguely noticing that the arm was also starting to rip off, only hanging on by a thread. And then he looked up at Merlin still on his knees, breathing so harshly that his chest was heaving up and down. And that was when Arthur decided to do the stupid choice instead of the smart one. Clearly the boy needed a firm hand and Arthur would be the one to give it to him, "You cannot talk to me like tha-"

Maybe if given the chance, Arthur seriously would have tossed Merlin over his knee and gave his arse a sound whipping. For real this time, to teach the brat some damn respect for others. But Merlin made his move first and reacted much faster before Arthur had any kind of chance to.

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Merlin practically roared, almost spitting fire from how angry he was. He snatched up the closest thing that was to him again, unfortunately his pillow that had slid off the bed during Arthur's searching of his room earlier. It hit Arthur in the face with a loud slapping sound, leaving the prince with a 'WTF is happening' expression as the pillow landed harmlessly at his feet but Merlin wasn't done yet. He wanted more. He wanted to hurt Arthur. To show him that his actions had consequences and Merlin wasn't interested in playing his little games of 'who's the boss around here.' "Get out! Get out! Get out!" Merlin shouted, sounding as if he had finally snapped and gone off the deep end.

And then Merlin was grabbing his chest, the hardest thing he had in reached and heaved it over his head. Arthur had to duck out of the doorway, slamming it shut before he got hit with it. He heard a loud smashing sound as it hit against the door, wincing as it no doubt ruined it even more than it already was.

And then Arthur could hear Merlin as he was clearly shouting from the other side of the door, "You have ruined everything, Arthur Pendragon!" And then there was nothing but silence on the other side. Eerily quiet silence that didn't sit well with Arthur but he didn't dare go inside again.

X

Arthur ended up going back downstairs as there was only so long he could stand in the doorway debating rather or not he should go back in. But in the end, he decided that it was not worth it. Let Merlin stay in there all by his lonesome to wallow over a bunch of random junk.

When Arthur emerged from the bottom of the staircase, it was to see Gaius staring at him in a stern manner, peering over the uppermost top of his glasses. Arthur would forever deny the bit of heat starting to creep up the back of his neck as he realized Gaius must have been able to hear Merlin yelling at him. And must have realized Arthur had left without putting Merlin in his place.

Arthur cleared his throat, holding his head a bit higher as he stepped further into the room while pretending-to himself and to Gaius-that everything was completely normal, "So," said the prince. "How long do you think it will be before you can find a cure?"

Merlin could have his little fit but until he was back to normal, Arthur was going to be down here doing the real work. Finding out who the real sorcerer was to stop this plague before it went nuclear instead of the false sorcerer that apparently liked sticking pins into a doll version of his groin.

Gaius didn't seem to be ready to let it go, his eyes sharping on Arthur, "Well I'm sure that I can move much faster if I didn't have my sire antagonizing my helper."

Well, that was the oddest 'fuck off' without actually saying the words that Arthur had ever heard of. And it was clear, the prince thought as he cleared his throat, that he was not going to be able to just ignore what had happened upstairs. "…I understand." Arthur said, because that was exactly what he had been doing up there. He'd allowed himself to enjoy antagonizing Merlin instead of doing what he was supposed to be doing. And now look at where it had gotten him. An unstable consort locked in his room. A physician that clearly disapproved of Arthur's tactics when trying to train the boy. And himself sporting a bruised ego. And he had to wonder if outside the chambers, the guards had also heard the ending of their fight. Arthur cast a look back up the stairs before turning back to Gaius, "I really do hope that Merlin really has been giving you some assistance. And haven't just been getting in your way. If he's too much of a problem, I can have him sent back to the Royal suites."

"Nonsense." Gaius said, frowning deeply at him. It was almost enough to bring shame to Arthur's features, which he definitely did not have anything to be ashamed of. It was Merlin who should feel shamed! Throwing stuff at his prince, at his husband, as if Arthur himself was nothing more than a scoundrel that had just broken in to steal his crappy stuff. "The boy is quite inquisitive." Gaius continued on talking. "I do find him quite refreshing."

Arthur found that very much hard to believe that anything Merlin could do was possibly 'refreshing' whatever that meant…other than that smart mouth of his. How in the world he thought he could get away with yelling at Arthur…he'd have to think of a proper way to punish him later. If he had time between searching for the sorcerer. He just had to find a new tactic for getting him out of that room and back to where he belonged so that he could be reminded of his place.

"And you are really allowing him to live here in this place?" Arthur asked. It wouldn't surprise him if this was some kind of trick Merlin was pulling off just to mess with him. And Arthur wouldn't stand for Merlin to be throwing this kind of fit, distracting Arthur away from trying to save his kingdom for some kind of prank gone wrong. "He's not just pulling a ridiculous stunt on me to get my attention, is he?"

"I believe that Merlin has had enough of your attention." Gaius said sternly, making Arthur freeze. It was just a bunch of old junk! There was no reason for Merlin to yell at him like it was some kind of sacred object that he had just destroyed. Nor should Gaius be bringing it up and throwing it in his face like this. "And I doubt whatever you did up there is ridiculous to him. I don't think I've ever heard Merlin screaming like that before."

So they were going to have 'that' kind of conversation. Where Gaius was mistaking himself for Arthur's father and trying to dictate how he should treat his belongings. His Merlin. It was also clear that Merlin might not be as unstable as he thought he was. Maybe Merlin had some kind of manipulative streak if he was able to somehow get Gaius onto his side.

"And you know him so well?" Arthur asked as he carefully avoiding saying exactly what he'd done up there. Because seriously, why was a box of old junk so important to Merlin? Arthur really should storm up there, throw that door open, and remind Merlin that he was talking to his princely husband. And these little acts of defiance…clearly Arthur had been too lenient with him. Since Merlin had somehow gone from throwing punches at him in public spaces to yelling at him over trash. So dramatic. And it wasn't like Gaius knew Merlin better than he did! If Arthur had a choice, he sure would be more than happy to ditch Merlin here, show him that his luxuries had to be earned instead of just given to him like they have been.

"I know him plenty enough to allow him to live here." Gaius said, and Arthur could swear the old physician had been spending far to much time with Merlin because for a second there, he had sounded almost exactly like him. A bit too sarcastic for what Arthur considered to be a casual conversation. "Besides, he does keep an old man company when I'm not on spending hours trying to find cures to these mysterious diseases."

This was probably Gaius trying to tell Arthur it was time he left. But he didn't. Arthur was pretty sure there had to be some kind of reason that Gaius would allow this. He wasn't like most of the other money grabbers that hung around the Royal family, and Gaius was already paid quite handsomely for doing his job so he doubted Merlin would be paying anything substantial for the room. He had no money, peasants never did, and Arthur hadn't gotten any invoice for money for a room. And as always, Arthur came to his own conclusion for what was happening.

"You know," Arthur said, figuring that it would be easy enough to get Gaius to do the dirty work for him. Forget about Merlin learning his lesson and making him realize he didn't have any of the luxuries here that he had when he was in Arthur's direct care. If Gaius kicked him out, then he had nowhere else to go and would return to Arthur willingly. Without any of the fuss or pomp of putting of a fight. Like a dog returning to it's master with it's tail shot between his legs. "There is no reason to start entertaining him just because he's Camelot's consort. All you have to do is tell him no and I will be more than happy to return him back to where he's supposed to be."

This was the only reason Arthur could think that Gaius would actually agree to this. There was no way he was just 'keeping' him around because Merlin kept him 'entertained'. He probably did but Arthur doubted it would be because of his 'great' conversation skills. Or maybe Merlin had even gone so far as to demand Gaius take him on. And if that was the case, then Arthur would go upstairs right now and drag Merlin back to the main castle. The people watching be damned. Gaius was a respected member of the court and he wouldn't have his consort demeaning that. His consort had already been spoiled enough considering he hadn't found a proper time to punish him for his insubordination. He wouldn't allow Gaius' generosity go to the kid's head as well.

"You seem to be misunderstanding." Gaius told Arthur, looking less than tolerant about Arthur's own behavior. "I am not doing this because he's a consort. I'm doing this simply because I want to. You've seen to forget that Merlin is not accustomed to your life. I think all he needs is some time away. Being thrown into the deep end like he has…to have some time to himself is the least we can give him so that he can get use to it all."

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed together. He did not like the idea of actually leaving him here with Gaius. He would have thought Merlin'd run out after him by now when he realized he was serious about leaving him to rot in such a desolate place these chambers could be. But Gaius' words did have…some kind of appeal to them. He found himself wavering on rather or not it was a good idea for Merlin to actually live here. At least until he got his head better screwed on. Gaius did have a point. He was new to this life, and it would explain why he was always acting out. Arthur had just gone assuming that Merlin would be to happy with his riches to ever go back to 'peasant' life but maybe a break would do him some good.

"Do you think having him here would really be better for him?" Arthur asked not the man himself but the physician for his expertise. "I can bring him back to his room and have him be draped in gold. But he will still keep acting out like he has, won't he? It'll be better for his mental health, correct?" If Merlin needed to have some time away from the castle to get these outbursts of his to stop, then it would be better in the long run. And it wouldn't be forever. Just a few weeks until Merlin got to be more accustomed to royalty. He would still need a guard stationed for his protection but …

Gaius went with it, figuring this would be the best chance for Arthur to let Merlin stay for the time being. "Yes, sire. I fear that the boy might be suffering a mental affliction. That is why he needs to stay here, so that I'll be able to better monitor his symptoms. And I fear that the stressful lifestyle you live in is only causing his outbursts to grow more and more as time passes."

Arthur gave one short harsh nod of his head. A mental affliction made all kinds of sense to him. Nobody with a brain would treat Arthur the way he has, and clearly Gaius needed to do what he could to have him fixed. "Alright, I will allow it. For now." Arthur agreed. "But he will still need to perform his duties as consort whenever I need him. That is my stimulation for allowing him to stay here and Gaius, my father cannot know about this. He'll have the boy in the dungeons strung up by his thumbs to keep his outbursts at bay. I'm sure that you can come up with a better way to make him be more corporative."

Arthur didn't care if Gaius gave Merlin some kind of potion that drugged him up. He didn't care if all they did was talk for hours and hours about Merlin's 'feelings'. Or whatever it was Gaius planned on doing to him. As long as it would stop him from causing trouble, he was willing to try anything. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen the mental break as it was coming. No wonder Merlin was always yelling at him or doing things normal people wouldn't do. This was clearly out of Arthur's comfort zone. Let Gaius deal with it.

"Of course, sire." Gaius bowed his head to the prince. "Your father will never hear about this from me." It was just one more thing he was keeping from the king. One more thing that Arthur was keeping from him because he didn't want his father to know how much he was struggling to keep Merlin in line.

Arthur left after that, figuring it was time for him to get back on with the search party. As well as giving his guards standing outside the door strict instructions that nothing they had heard of here today was to get out or Arthur would have their heads. And Gaius turned to the stairs, "He's gone, Merlin! Get back down here!" The aged physician called up to his nephew.

X

Back upstairs, Merlin wiped harshly under his eyes to get rid of the tear tracks after letting a few slip free. And then he steadied himself and carefully placed his chest back onto the top shelf of his wardrobe. After Arthur had left, Merlin had painstakingly swept each and every piece he could back into the box. The lid still refused to close on it's own but he at least had it all contained in one spot. Just a reminder now to not let himself have anything instead of fond memories of where he had came from.

Hoping that his eyes weren't too red from the short time mourning that he had, Merlin went down the stairs to meet with his uncle. Merlin was apparently unsuccessful with cleaning up his appearance because Gaius frowned as soon as he saw him. Merlin glanced around, not sure if he would really be able to contain himself if he saw Arthur again. But trust to his word, the prince had vacated the area. Good.

"So, where were we?" Merlin asked, ready to jump straight back into what they were doing long before Arthur had showed up just so he could wreck Merlin's heart all over again. Just how many times would Merlin have to endure Arthur's superiority complex before he went and did something drastic? Merlin strode to the table he and Gaius had been working on before their interruption, hoping that he was not wearing his heart on his sleeve. Or on his face where all could see his pain as clear as the day sky.

Gaius wasn't able to brush it aside as easily as Merlin though, "Merlin, what on earth was happening up there?" He demanded. It had to be bad if Gaius was easily able to convince Arthur that Merlin had a mental affliction. It wasn't his best story but it did buy them a bit of time before Arthur figured it out and tried to drag Merlin somewhere that was clearly a bad situation. "Did he find your book?"

If only, Merlin thought with a bitter smile. He felt as if it would probably be easier to explain if he had. Rather than admit how callous the prince was, how he didn't even care that he'd broken Merlin's stuff. It didn't matter what it was! It could have been an already broken teacup but that wouldn't be the point. It was Merlin's and Arthur had ruined it just like he ruined everything. "Would I still be standing here if he had?"

Arthur was probably wishing the doll he had found really was a voodoo doll. At least then he would have a good enough reason to get rid of him. After all, Merlin apparently couldn't do everything right. Couldn't even throw the damn chest to hit Arthur before he managed to get out of range. And as much as he hated lying to Gaius…again…he didn't want any of the pity that he knew would come. Like he'd said before, he could handle this. What was one broken chest compared to…fuck it, who was he kidding. He'd only had that chest for like half a day but he had been thinking that it could be his little getaway. Some kind of bits and pieces he could collect from home. To try and make his life not suck as horribly as it was for even a moment. Of course Arthur would be the one to taint that.

Gaius wasn't to be distracted though, as he knew something had gone down up there. It was Arthur that looked as white as a sheet as he had first returned down the stairs, looking as if he was in a state of shock over whatever had just happened. And Merlin? It was most obvious that he was trying to hold back tears of dismay. "Clearly," Gaius said firmly. "There is a reason I had to lie and explain to Arthur that you have to stay here to be healed of your 'mental affliction'." But considering the look on Merlin's face, Gaius was pretty sure he would have protested if Arthur had tried to push the matter and insist on Merlin coming with him. Merlin wasn't going anywhere if he had a say in it.

Merlin seemed to pale a little, "You did what! Why would you do that!" He already had the prince treating him awfully. Like he thought Merlin was somebody that needed direction. As if he thought he could tell Merlin what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. If you add a mental affliction in that…Merlin didn't want to know how much worse Arthur was going to get towards him. It had already been bad enough without Arthur thinking Merlin had something actually wrong with him!

"Well if I didn't, he was preparing to drag you back with him." Gaius snapped back at his nephew. "I had to give him some reason for you to stay. It was either a mental affliction or there would have been another fight between you two. Only inside my chambers instead of the marketplace." He was of course, referring to the time Merlin and Arthur had gone at it with maces.

"So he's a liar to, good to know." Merlin said grudgingly. Merlin could say everything about Arthur was wrong: he was arrogant, rude, and was more of an arse than anybody he knew. He also had no respect for other people or their personal belongings, treating everything that he came across as if it was destined to be nothing more than his plaything. Including him. But he could honestly say that he didn't think Arthur had ever actually 'lied' to him. He had now if he'd been talking to Gaius about taking him back. He had already told Merlin he didn't have to go back. But then again, he was probably more relieved than Merlin that he wouldn't be there anymore. Somehow, it was just the cherry on top of his really crappy cake.

"Merlin," Gaius started and Merlin was coming to know that tone very well. It was the 'should we talk about this' kind of tone that he absolutely hated with every fiber of his being. No, he did not want to talk about that arse. No, there was nothing between him and Arthur that Gaius needed to get himself to be involved in. No, Merlin could defend himself without Gaius there.

"I think that I need to hide my book." Merlin cut in before Gaius could really start in on his lecture. Hiding the book was very important in that moment. Much more important than talking about somebody that Merlin wanted to forget even existed…Merlin half wished it was his book that Arthur had been able to stumble across. He could talk his way out of a false voodoo doll but there was no way he'd be able to talk his way out of a leather bound book of witchcraft. At least then his piece of Ealdor wouldn't be nothing more than broken bits of glass, fabric, and dirt. Merlin might be preparing to get burned at the stake but at least he could carry with him something not even Arthur had taken from him. His home.

His little piece of Ealdor.

"Merlin, that book should have been hidden ages ago." Gaius said sternly. "And you've already managed to escape the guards from finding it one time. You shouldn't be tempting fate as you have been."

Fate, Merlin thought, was a funny thing. It was according to the dragon under the city, according to the fates themselves, that it was up to Merlin to use his magic to protect and keep Arthur safe until the day he became the king. And by becoming king, Arthur would be able to stop magic from becoming nothing more than ruins. But Merlin could see none of this great king that Arthur was supposed to be. If this was how their 'great king' would be acting then Merlin wanted nothing to do with any of it. But…maybe he didn't have to. Just maybe Merlin could use his magic for his own purposes despite what destiny said. Maybe he didn't need Arthur at all…

"Okay, just stay with me here." Merlin said as he planted his hands onto the table that was between them. "But what if we used the book instead?" This was the perfect distraction for Merlin. Because if he had gone upstairs to go looking for a spot for his book, he would just end up getting his chest back out and staring at the ruined pieces. This would be the safer option because he truly feared his magic was going to come out like a roar if he was stuck up there. With it. With the reminder that not even his own personal belongings was safe from Arthur. You would've thought he had got the message with the neckerchief. But no, it had taken his chest being ripped right out of his hands for the message to sink in. Nothing was safe. Not even him.

Gaius didn't like it, but it looked as if Merlin needed the distraction. Plus, Gaius could not allow a remark like that to go past, not before telling Merlin what an awful idea that would be, "Don't be stupid." He told the boy sharply to put it out of his mind. It was a pure miracle that despite whatever had happened upstairs just now, Arthur had walked out without any knowledge of the sorcerer in their midst. And Merlin really was going to be tempting fate if he dragged that book out instead of allowing the science to do the work.

Merlin bucked up at that word, stupid. That was all he ever seemed to be. He couldn't be a consort. He was to stupid to know how he'd was supposed to do one council meeting. He was stupid to go to a dance nobody wanted him at. He was stupid to go out looking for a job nobody was willing to hire him for. He was stupid to wear a flower when it could have put Gwen at risk. He was stupid to move out with no notice because he had put Gaius in the middle of it all. But he wasn't being stupid about this. Magic was all he knew, even if he didn't always understand it. "If I am supposed to have this kind of legacy, then what is it for me to do with?" He was pleading with Gaius to explain things to him. To tell him what he was supposed to use his magic for if not to help people. Why did he have to use it just to save Arthur's unworthy hide? Why shouldn't he use it, to make something for himself that he could feel proud of. Instead of this never ending cycle of misery. "You always tell me my magic isn't for playing tricks. So surely I should be using whatever skills I have to help where I can."

Gaius had science. But all Merlin had was this magic he wasn't even allowed to use half the time without being criticized for it. Just one more thing he was probably too 'stupid' to be able to understand.

"Your 'skills' will only draw attention down to us." Gaius lectures, not wanting to give any inch on the matter. They had somehow got lucky this time and Gaius doubted they would be so lucky the second time. "You are mad to think of doing it when the king is literally on a search for sorcerer's! When the king's own son, your husband might I add, was just here and almost caught you! How he didn't will be forever a mystery. But your life is destined for more than just throwing it away when all you need to be is patient!" Gaius was adamant he would find the cure without magic. He would just need a little bit of time to do it.

Merlin wanted to laugh. Destined? It came back to that, didn't it? He was destined to be this great sorcerer, destined to help bring all of the magic back to the land, and yet he was not allowed to use his magic to do some bit of good in the world. Surely he was able to do 'something' more than what Arthur was doing with his time. All Arthur was doing was going around destroying people's personal items. It was items he couldn't even replace because he didn't have any more coins and like hell he was going to get it from Arthur. "But I'm not throwing my life away!" Merlin argued with his uncle. "If I'm destined to be a great and powerful warlock, then how can I do it if I do not start practicing?"

Warlock, not sorcerer. Because warlock's were special, were rare. Powerful beings who could do amazing things, if given the chance. Or at least that was what the dragon had called him that one time and he had latched onto it. Plus, he didn't want to disappoint. Not the dragon. Not Gaius. He didn't want to disappoint himself. Didn't want to just fade away as if he didn't matter, as if nobody saw him. Like he was now.

Gaius seemed almost exasperated as he was snatching up one of his ladles, to stir around his potion that had been sitting untouched for far to long, but he did look as if he would rather wack the stubbornness out of Merlin with if it he could, "There will come a time to be when your skills will be needed as well as recognized."

Merlin was almost hysterical, a wide grin of manic disbelief crossing his face as he brought his hands up to wrap around the back of his head after pushing away from the table. "Are you kidding me?" Merlin asked, the hysterical heard in his voice because Gaius wasn't even listening to a single thing he said. Just like how Arthur never listened to a single thing he said. Like how Arthur had refused to leave his room until Merlin was screaming at him to the point of tears. "How long am I going to be expected to wait?" How long did the people think he was going to continue taking on the abuse-how long did Arthur think he could go treating him like an unwanted piece of trash luggage-before something in him snapped to send him off the deep end. He felt like he was already starting to fall off a cliff that he never wanted to be on in the first place, just waiting for the edge to crumble and send him to his death.

Gaius pointed his ladle sharply at Merlin until it was just inches from his nose, causing the consort to go cross eyed to be able to look at it, "Patience is a virtue, Merlin." Was his oh so helpful advice. Or in other words, advice that didn't help Merlin at all.

And all it did was rile Merlin up even more as he argued against his uncle, "Sitting by and doing nothing? That's a virtue?" He harshly asked in frustration. He was impatient and he was agitated. He needed out of this place, he needed out of this castle. Hell, he even felt the need to get out of the damn city altogether. But he couldn't leave. Arthur may want to run around-leaving nothing but this destruction in his wake, a dark part still full of anger at his lost collection whispered into the back of his mind-but he actually wanted to do something productive. Wanted to find this sorcerer and put an end to their plague long before Arthur even got off his high horse.

"Your time will come." Gaius spoke out with this frustratingly calm voice. It made Merlin want to scream, because even he was starting to feel like the crazy one compared to his calm uncle. "And until it does, you're a consort. So that means that you cannot just go running to do whatever you want. Your actions have the consequences and you need to think things through not only for your own good but for the good of the people as well."

The good of the people, Merlin thought with a sour expression. What good was the people if they were all dead? The same people who taunted him in the streets, who pointed or laughed at him because he dared to be married off to their 'precious' Prince Arthur. The nobles who openly scorned him or shoved him into walls to show just how 'superior' they were to him. To think those were the people that Uncle Gaius thought was his responsibility. He hated that it was the truth. The people who hated him were his responsibility rather he liked it or not and not because he was married to anybody who wore a crown. They were because he had the power to do something, the power to change their fates even if he wondered if he could change his own.

"I didn't ask to be a consort." Merlin spoke to his uncle in a soft and solemn tone. The kind of lonely tone that would inspire many, many cuddles from a future king in the years that would come.

"You didn't ask to be a sorcerer either." Gaius told him back sternly and Merlin let out this frustrated sigh. Because that was a totally different matter. Merlin had been a sorcerer all in life. He knew he was making thing's move across the room before he could walk or talk. Knew that he was changing the colors of his favorite childhood toys-few as they had managed to get him-just for his own amusement long before he realized just how dangerous it would be if he was seen. And he knew that someday-hopefully many years to now and not because he had gotten caught after all that time-he would die still being the sorcerer he was born as. Even if he did have his reservations, wonder why he was the one 'chosen' to be Arthur's protector, wondered if the fates had made some kind of mistake, or even wondered if his powers made him some kind of monster…he didn't think he would be able to give them up if he had a choice. His magic was apart of him. Being a consort…wasn't. He never planned on being consort. He never planned on being Arthur's consort. And that was something he would give up in less time than a heart could beat…if only he had the chance.

"But I am." Merlin said firmly, needing to just be heard by…somebody! Somebody that did know that he was here for more than what it was they felt like doing with him. To be more, because he 'needed' to be more than some bit of a consort only here for Arthur to have somebody new to pick on. "And if I have tried then I probably could have saved that man we saw today." The farmer boy, the one that had turned him into Arthur just so he could have a few gold coins to lace his pockets with anew. Not that Merlin could blame him. Some people were in no position to let that kind of opportunity to pass, even if it pissed him off for being the butt of it. But maybe if Merlin was just allowed to be himself, if he could show off his magic instead of hiding himself away in here, maybe he could save a few lives of his own. Maybe people-Arthur-would not hate him so much if they knew he had the power to stop this. Somehow. It was just this pipe dream but the way his life was now, the pipe dreams were literally all he had.

Gaius sounded exasperated as he said, "I do know that it's very tempting to use the way you find the easiest Merlin," feeling as if they had already had a similar conversation not that long ago. But he would say it again and again if he had to just to get it drilled into his nephew's skull. "But magic is not always the answer. And taking the time to think before you act would be a wiser course of action."

"Thinking?" Merlin asked, leaning over the table between them, hands planted firmly on the surface to keep his balance. "I don't have the time for that when people are dying right now. I can save people! I can…" he trailed off slowly. All he wanted to do was use his magic to help people, to do something with the only thing he had. But how could he save anybody when he couldn't even stop Arthur from what he did. When he couldn't even stop the bull-headed man from wrecking and smashing his things. His home. His Ealdor.

"And then what?" Gaius demanded, getting a touch heated himself over their continuous argument. "You save one life and then what? It will still be another life afterwards that needs to be saved. Like I said before, our best bet is going to be discovering how this illness has been spread. And then we can cut it off at the source before anymore people are able to contract it."

That wasn't good enough for Merlin, who was allowing his feelings for Arthur as well as his intense need to do something cloud over his judgment and get the best of him. He threw his arm out to the side, so agitated that there wasn't a thing on this planet that could have kept him still, "Arthur is out there right now and he's looking for the sorcerer!"

"And like I said, Arthur is never going to find them no matter how hard he's searching for them." Gaius said sternly. Because a sorcerer that was able to come up with something like this-something he had never even seen of or heard of before in his many decades-and be able to enact it successfully…Gaius might go so far as to say he was impressed if it wasn't going around killing all of the townspeople. It was exactly why he was here, and why Merlin couldn't use his magic. Science was the key when magic was not an option.

Merlin had to take a large shuddering breath to calm himself down-to let go of the image burned in his mind of his chest, broken and ruined and shattered and pieces of itself lost between the cracks of the floorboard-almost like himself in a way. Arthur could hate him all he wanted. But he had to calm himself down and let it go because like Gaius had said, the people's lives were at stake. Well not really let it go. But he buried it deep beneath the surface of his heart, just one more scratch on the delicate instrument among the many he had gotten since he'd arrived in Camelot, But he couldn't allow himself to get caught up in Arthur and his antagonistic manner towards him to stop him. Merlin clenched his hands into fists but said, "So, where exactly were we?" He could break down later, when he could afford that moment to himself.

Gaius pointed his ladle down at the cauldron he's been stirring his potion in, "What we've been doing. Hoping that science will find us the answer before this disease kills us all." he got back to work stirring up the mixture as Merlin watched the progress.

Gaius seemed pretty sure about this science thing, but even as Merlin watched and paid attention to the instructions given to him, he still couldn't stop the niggling of doubt in the back of his mind. Because shouldn't magic be used to fix a problem caused by magic? Would it not be faster if Merlin started trying to practice a few healing spells instead of this continuous running of scientific tests? Should he not be doing something more pro-active, if only so he could pretend-he was getting good at that, pretending-that his life was going any better than the people's who were actually dying.