Title: Nightmares
Description: Merlin looks like he's been through hell and back. His face is pale, he has huge eye bags, and he almost never genuinely smiles anymore. Not that Arthur has said anything about it (yet). But, he's worried. Something is wrong. And he's going to find out what. Oh yeah, and they also get kidnapped.
Word Count: 2,050
Part: 2/3

So, I know I said two parts before, but I think this is actually going to be three parts! Sorry. I'll get part three posted next Saturday!

"Another hunting trip? Seriously Arthur."

"Oh, don't be such a girl Merlin! We haven't been on a hunting trip in months. I think we're due for another one."

Arthur tried his best to act as normal as possible, but Merlin was looking really bad, so he added a short, "Although, I don't suppose we'll need your useless backside scaring away all the animals."

Merlin looked at him like he'd lost his mind, before he replied, "Like I could leave you on your own for even a day. You'd get yourself kidnapped. Or killed."

"I won't be alone. I've got my knights, and we certainly don't need you to hunt."

"But who'll cook your dinner? Not any of you, you can't cook."

"We'll be fine. I'm sure I can handle Leon's cooking for a couple days."

"Leon is going to cook your food?"

"Well, I'm certainly not letting Gwaine cook."

"No. Im going with you."

Arthur, knowing there was no way he could convince Merlin to stay behind, simply said, "I'll expect you bright and early tomorrow then Merlin."

"Yes, sire," he said, making Arthur's title sound like an insult.

Merlin walked out to the others after getting his horse ready.

"Where's Mordred?" Merlin asked the knights, unable to see him anywhere. He was counting on him to help hide his nightmares, as Lancelot was sick and unable to come with them.

"He hasn't shown up yet. We aren't sure where he's at," Arthur replied.

"That's not like him. He's usually the first one here."

"I know. Maybe he caught whatever Lancelot has? We'll have to leave him if he isn't here soon, though."

"I'll go look for him," Merlin offered.

Arthur nods his approval. "Okay, you've got ten minutes. If you can't find him in that time, come back."

"Okay."

"Mordred?" Merlin called, checking the knights chambers first. He called again, and when there was no reply, he slowly creaked open the door.

When he looked about his room, he saw nobody in there. His bed didn't look slept in and his armor was gone. There was no sign of him. It's like he just disappeared.

Discouraged, Merlin shut the door and ran to the physicians chambers next. When he didn't find the Druid there, he looked in the armory and the training grounds. Both places turned up empty. Sighing, he headed back to the knights, already a little over the ten minutes he'd been given.

"You're late," Arthur said upon seeing him.

"I couldn't find him."

"I guess we'll just have to leave without him," Arthur said.

Once Merlin was on his horse, they left, without any sign of Mordred.

"This is a good place to spend the night," Arthur said, noticing the darkening sky.

They all dismounted their horses and started setting up camp. Merlin went to collect firewood, and when he returned, he dreaded building the fire. Now, he wasn't afraid of fire. I mean, okay, maybe a little. But he could push through it and build a fire. He brushed away any dead leaves or other flammable things on the ground. He then built a barrier of stones and put some tinder in the middle, to catch a spark. Once he had a flame, be began adding some sticks to build up the fire. He was very careful when doing this. The knights didn't notice, he hid it so well, but he was always skittish around a flame.

He started on dinner next, making a soup from some vegetables, spices, and the meat that the knights got earlier in the day. Once dinner was ready, he got himself the first potion and went to sit as far away from the fire as he could without freezing. The rest of the evening was uneventful. Once the fire had died down a little, the knights one by one headed to bed. Gwaine had been the first one to take watch.

Merlin was nervous as he was trying to sleep, hoping that whoever was on guard while he was having a nightmare, wouldn't notice him. Thankfully, he fell asleep pretty quickly, however, his dreams were all nightmares.

"You were never my friend you traitor!" Arthur yelled.

"No! That's not true. I was- am your friend, Arthur!"

"You betrayed me," he continued, as if Merlin hadn't said anything.

"No, no. I would never betray you! I'd rather die."

"Well that's just what's going to happen!"

Suddenly, Merlin found himself on a pyre, burning. It was just so hot. The smoke was filling his lungs and the smell of burning flesh was filling his nose. He looked to his left and Freya was there, burning with him. He tried to call out to her, but his voice wouldn't work. Then he heard voices.

"You worthless monster! I can't believe I was your friend." cried someone. Lancelot.

Again, Merlin's voice wouldn't work.

"You've betrayed us all!" Gwen yelled, and a chorus of voices followed with their own insults. Gwaine, Leon, Percival, Elyan, Will, his mother, and even Balinor, just to name a few.

Merlin tried to yell, yet again. He wanted to say: "No! I would never hurt you. You're my friends! Please believe me..." But his voice just wouldn't work. He was burning. Freya's screaming voice was drowned out by another. Mordred. He was also burning. And then he was talking.

"This is your fault Merlin! You're the reason I was caught and am burning!"

Merlin tried to cry, but his tears dried up almost immediately from the heat of the fire. His body was in pain. He heard another scream. It wasn't Freya or Mordred. It was him. He was screaming. And then he woke up.

Gwaine was taking first watch. He hadn't really wanted to do it, but it was his turn. He looked over at Merlin, who was tossing and turning in his sleep. Gwaine thought about waking him, but he figured any sleep was better than none, especially when one looked as bad as Merlin did. Then he started speaking.

"Freya, no. Not you too," he muttered.

He wasn't very loud, certainly not loud enough to wake the others. Gwaine now believed the man was having a nightmare.

That must be what's been wrong. He's been having nightmares and he isn't sleeping well.

Still, Gwaine hoped it would go away soon and that Merlin would sleep soundly the rest of the night, so he didn't wake him.

"No! Lancelot, I'm still your friend. Please, you promised it didn't matter," the man cried, still dreaming.

Gwaine got up to go wake his friend, no longer confident he would get back to a regular sleep. There was another short pause and then he spoke again, louder this time.

"No! I would never hurt you. You're my friends! Please believe me..."

His voice got quieter near the end, but the damage was done. His yelling had woken the rest of the group.

"What's going on?" Elyan asked as the group woke fully.

"Merlin's having a nightmare," Gwaine explained, walking over to his friend, who was still tossing and turning.

"I was just about to wake him up."

"Is this what's been bothering him?" Arthur asked.

"I'd assume so. What else could it be?" Gwaine replied.

"It makes sense." Leon said.

Merlin started crying. Gwaine was crouching by his friend now, about to shake him awake, when Merlin suddenly screamed and sat up abruptly. He was breathing quickly, but was calming down. He noticed Gwaine.

"Gwaine?" he asked, wiping the tears from his face.

"It's okay. You were just having a nightmare."

"Oh," he looked around at the awake knights.

"Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, I'm not usually very loud and-"

"Merlin," Arthur cut him off, "Is this what's been bothering you? Nightmares?"

Merlin nodded slowly. Nobody asked, but they were all wondering what he was dreaming about. Nightmares weren't usually the root of the problem, but a symptom.

"Why don't you try getting back to sleep, aye mate?" Gwaine tried.

Merlin shook his head, "No. It's fine, I'm not usually able to fall back asleep. You can all go back to bed, I'll take watch for the rest of the night."

They all nodded their agreements, not because they'd be able to sleep themselves, but because they knew Merlin needed to be alone for a while. They all lay back down on their bedrolls, not getting any sleep. They'd though Merlin might, understandably, start crying, but he simple took several deep breaths and told himself things like "it's not real" and "it was just a nightmare." After that, he was just sitting in silence until sunrise. By that time, the knights had inevitably fallen asleep.

Once the sun was high enough in the sky, Merlin got up to make breakfast. He didn't wake the knights, feeling bad about their lack of sleep the night before. The knights woke on their own to the smell of a delicious breakfast.

Nobody says anything about the previous night. That is, until Gwaine says something about it.

"What're your nightmares about Merlin?" Gwaine asked, and the knights all looked horrified that he'd said something about last night.

Merlin looked at the knight. He wasn't surprised by the question, but he was dreading having to answer it.

"Nothing," he said, "Just a silly fear I have. But it's nothing, I'm fine."

"Merlin, that didn't look like nothing. You were- are, obviously going through something and we want to help. Let us help you."

Merlin looked away.

"This isn't something you can help me with. No one can."

"At least let us try," Gwaine persisted.

Merlin shook his head, "There's nothing you can do. Gaius has tried giving me sleeping draughts, but they just keep me from waking up."

"We can help you with your fear then. Maybe if you face it, it'll go away."

"This isn't something you can just face, Gwaine!" he yelled, then immediately regretted it, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I just- You can't help me with this. It's okay."

No one else had dared to speak during this conversation. Gwaine was about to continue, saying: "At least tell us what you're dreaming about so we can try to help" when an arrow shot Merlin in the arm. No one knew it yet, but it was covered in a sleeping potion. He yelled out in pain, falling from his horse. Thankfully, the only injuries that came from the fall were some bruises. He fell asleep quickly, despite trying to fight the potion.

Before anyone knew it, they were surrounded. There were so many attackers, both men and women. Too many. They were badly outnumbered. At least a dozen archers aimed their bows at the knights, and the were forced to get off their horses and put down their weapons.

"Bind Emrys," the obvious leader commanded.

They brought forth shackles that bound one's magic, and put them on Merlin's wrists. Next, one of them tore the arrow out of his arm and healed the wound. Magically. There was noting left except for a scar and a hole in his sleeve.

"Who are you!" Arthur yelled, struggling against the men binding his hands behind his back with rope, as was done to the other knights.

"Not important," the man said, "But what is important, is your servant."

He chuckled to himself, as if he'd just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"Why? He's just a servant. He shouldn't be of any importance to you!"

The man laughed again, but didn't speak to Arthur anymore.

"Get them in the cart," he ordered, bringing Arthur's attention to the "cart" in question.

It was more like a cage on wheels if you asked him. They led them into the cage, one by one, and tied their hands (that were still behind their backs) to the bars of the cage. Merlin, however, wasn't tied to the cart and was thrown in the middle of the cage.

"He should wake up soon, it wasn't a strong sleeping potion," one of their attackers said.

The cart started moving. There were lots of men and women walking next to and behind their cage, only proving how hard it would be to escape. The knights settled in, unsure of how long they would be in the cage.