No. 12: It'll be fun, they said / torture / made to watch / begging
Whumpees: Elyan, Gwaine
(A/N: Takes place around S4E12)
Elyan's screams were heard across the castle. They did nothing to stop Morgana from using the Nathair serpent to find out where Arthur had gone, distracting her men from the latest attack on Camelot.
The Southron guards weren't cautious at all as they moved Elyan from the torture chamber into the dungeon, where he was caught by a concerned Gwaine and Gaius. Gaius immediately knew what had happened (one doesn't forget the blank look of terror that all Nathair victims have), and they immediately set out to make Elyan as comfortable as possible, setting him against the wall.
The first day without food wasn't too bad. Gwaine passed the time inspecting the cell for weaknesses. Elyan continued to sit there with a blank look on his face, and Gaius had parked himself closest to the door, as if expecting Arthur and Merlin to waltz in at any point and save them. Gwaine hoped that they made it out OK… they at least made it to the forest border of Camelot.
The second day without food was more difficult. Minutes passed and it felt like hours. At some point in the early afternoon, a guard had stopped by with a miniscule amount of water in a cup. Gwaine gave most of it to Elyan and Gaius… they needed it more than he did.
The third day without food was hard. Gaius mostly slept, and Elyan continued his staring contest with the wall. Gwaine paced, and sat, and napped, and paced again… he was a constant ball of energy. He just felt so powerless about the whole thing.
The fourth day without food brought a surprise visitor: Morgana. After some pleading and staring, Gwaine finally got the chance to do something about their food situation. Turns out he just needed to survive a fight an indeterminate number of Southrons, and they'd get some food. To be honest, he'd rather be here, getting beat up and feeling as if he's doing something productive, than to stay back in the cell staring at the ceiling.
Gwaine certainly had his work cut out for him. After he knocked out the first opponent, the next two stepped up. He watched them walk up, cataloguing their movements and looking for potential weaknesses. He had the adrenaline from the first fight to thank, because in his head, he didn't have weaknesses. He couldn't afford to.
Gwaine stumbled into the cell, the precious bits of moldy bread in his hands. He couldn't wait to share them with Elyan and Gaius.
"Thank you, dear boy," Gaius was the first to mutter ask as Gwaine shoved some bits into his hands and into Elyan's hands.
"Where were you? What happened?" Elyan seemed a little more awake after their time apart. Between bites of bread, Gwaine told them about the fight. Gaius of course, always the physician, made him take off his shirt and catalogue his injuries. Naming the fact that he now had two bruised shoulders, a cracked rib, and a head injury seemed to bring them out into the spotlight a bit more, and as the adrenaline left his body, Gwaine started to shake. He tried sitting and laying down, ending up in a slumped position against the wall. "At least we can eat," he thought. "At least today has something to it." Gwaine just didn't know how long he could keep this up.
The second day of fighting seemed to stretch on. Seeing Morgana's smirk as she shoved the wooden sword in his hands made him angry, made him want to fight – so that was something. Sleeping on a cold stone floor made all of his wounds scream at him that morning, and he was pretty sure he had a fever as well, because it didn't seem that cold after a while. Add it to the list of ailments, he supposed.
Gaius was the worrisome one. That morning, he hadn't wanted to get up after laying down, and he seemed to be shutting down, bit by bit. He mostly slept and when he was awake, didn't say much. Gwaine needed to get them as much food as possible by today, and maybe – just maybe – that'd help Gaius perk up. After some sleep, Elyan seemed to bounce back a bit as well after his Nathair adventures.
Gwaine looked at his pathetic wooden sword and looked at the two new opponents. "What the hell," he said. "Be a knight of Camelot – it'll be fun, they said. Get away from fighting strangers, they said."
He straightened. "Bring it on."
-Fin-