This is longer than my usual chapters, but I always tend to get carried away when Merlin and Arthur have heart-to-heart talks. And so there's a brief hand holding here but this is not a Merthur fic. I intended it as a gesture of comfort, not romance. (But if you ship it, go ahead and read it that way haha) xD Okay, read on!

If Gaius had been furious before, now, he was absolutely livid. Upon further examination, he found that the young prince's injuries went beyond the extent that he'd anticipated.

The court physician noted every injury he found on scrap bit of scroll, so that he could be sure to treat them all. The list seemed to be endless, including an infected stab wound on his right thigh, the marks of a whip being dragged across his back, and a rather nasty burn from what appeared to be a hot fireplace poker on his left side. Some of the wounds had already healed, leaving the boy with jagged scars all over his body. It was a twisted kind of miracle that no one had been able to see what was so plainly in front of them, to help him sooner.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Merlin woke, and got out of bed almost immediately, resulting in a rather severe dizzy spell. After taking a moment to get his bearings, he walked back to Prince Arthur's chambers. Gaius was sitting in a chair beside the bed, but stood when his ward entered, hoping he'd look better. Much to his dismay, the opposite was true. It wasn't much of a surprise, though, he'd only been gone an hour.

"Sit, Merlin." He gestured to his abandoned chair, and his concern grew when Merlin didn't protest, simply taking his seat quietly.

"So fill me in." The young man said, gesturing to the paper in his guardian's hand, the one that filled him with dread as he realized how much was written on it.

"It's not good." Instead of reading everything to him, he handed the paper to Merlin. The boy blinked a few times then read it, looking to his friend as his guilt began to fester, taking root deep within his heart.

"How could I have not known?"

"It seems all of suffered from a severe case of selective blindness this time."

Merlin sighed, shaking his head. It felt like he was crying, but no tears came. So his breathing hitched unsteadily and his shoulders shook, and he let the note slip from his fingers out onto the floor. Arthur's wounds had been tended to, and hopefully he'd heal completely, though that was unlikely. But it'd all scar, there was no way around that, and it seemed the scars would go deeper than skin. The young warlock knew it'd take a long while for the scars Uther had left on his heart to fade.

"I'm going to go make him a stronger pain draught, but I'll have to go buy the herbs I need. Can you look after him?" Merlin nodded, and there were no more words to be exchanged as Gaius left the room. With a golden glint in his eyes and a firm whisper of "Obsignari iubet!", the young warlock sealed the door to the room.

After that, Gaius came and went as need be while Merlin sat faithfully at his master's side, opening the door only for his guardian. The sun was beginning to set when the prince finally began to stir. His breathing hitched unsteadily for a moment, then he opened his eyes.

He immediately panicked, bolting upright, then crying out in pain as he gripped at his broken ribs.

"Lay back!" The manservant pushed him down into his pillows, and as the pain lessened in intensity, Arthur quieted.

Merlin let out a sigh. "You gave us all a terrible fright."

Arthur ignored the remark, and Merlin could see the pain in his eyes shift to fear. "Where is my father?"

Merlin's stomach twisted in knots. How did he not recognize that before now? Thinking back, it had been obvious. Arthur's voice pulled him out of his reverie.

"Where is he?!"

Merlin laid a hand on Arthur's shoulder, and the prince flinched under his light touch. Realizing what he had done, Arthur was ashamed and refused to meet his manservant's gaze.

"You're safe, Arthur. I promise." Their eyes met, but Arthur didn't seem to able to comprehend the sentence. "He's not going to hurt you again." At this, the blonde turned his head away. "You don't have to be ashamed of it, Arthur. It wasn't your fault. You know that, don't you?" Merlin pulled his chair closer and sat in it, finding that standing was becoming increasingly difficult. "Please tell me you understand that."

Already knowing the answer that the prince wasn't willing to give, Merlin stopped pressing him, and the room fell quiet once more as Arthur was dragged back into the darkness of sleep.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Another day passed with Arthur in and out of coherence. He developed a fever from his infected wound, which thankfully, Gaius and Merlin were able to keep at a reasonable temperature until it finally broke. Late that night, Arthur woke and pushed himself into a slightly more upright position, just enough to not jar his aching ribs.

His movement alerted Merlin, who had nearly dozed off. "What happened?" Arthur inquired. Merlin blinked, and it seemed like he was searching for words.

"Well… your father… he-"

"I know," Arthur cut in sharply, wincing as he aggravated his ribs, "I mean, while I was out. I vaugely remember finding it hard to breathe, then you came in, and I suppose you must have been binding my ribs, then… nothing. Oh, and I remember you telling me I was…"

"Was what?"

"Safe."

"Oh, yeah," Merlin answered almost sheepishly. "Well, you are."

"How?" Despite his attempt to hide it, Arthur's voice cracked as the lump in his throat grew bigger.

"Gaius, mostly. It's over now, Arthur, all of it. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

"I don't understand, how did he-?"

"Don't underestimate Gaius. He has a way with things that not even I can fully understand."

"And… how long ago was that morning?"

"Only a couple of days, not this morning, but the morning before."

"Don't tell me you've been here the enitre time?"

"No, I had to leave for an hour that first morning." Arthur sighed, and the ache became a sharp pain for a little more than a moment before dulling again.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I've told you, I'm always going to be at your side. Protecting you."

"It seems I've underestimated you yet again. Though I'm hardly surprised this time. But you cannot protect me from the king. I should be able to stand up for myself."

"That's the thing, you don't have to! You always seem to think that this life, this burden, this… destiny is yours to bear alone. But you aren't alone, Arthur. If you keep travelling this road by yourself, it's going to destroy you and the future of Camelot with it. It's okay to need a little help sometimes, to take even a small bit of the weight off your shoulders. And most of the time, you won't even need that much, you're quite capable. Sometimes, all you'll need is a hand to guide you." Merlin held out his hand, and after a few seconds of thought, Arthur took it tentatively.

"Somehow, you always seem to have the best words in the worst of times."

"Well, I'm a rubbish servant, so I suppose I have to be good at something else to make up for it." He squeezed the prince's hand gently before releasing it, sitting back with a goofy grin on his face. Arthur found himself smiling too.

"I suppose so." Arthur let out a chuckle before realizing what the consequence would be. He curled in slightly on himself, sealing his lips shut tightly to avoid any exclamation of pain.

"Don't speak anymore. I'm sure it's painful. So, I guess I'll just… tell a story then?"

He waited until Arthur gave him a gentle smile and a half-hearted eye roll to continue. Uncertainly, the manservant began filling the silence. "Uh, okay, so once upon a time, there was a… kingdom. It was a rather wonderful place, and in it, there was a rather… for lack of a better word, wonderful prince. This prince, however, was hopelessly lost without his manservant, a man who was so fantastic, so absoluely amazing, so-" He was stopped short by Arthur's raised eyebrow, feigning annoyance, but Merlin knew he loved it. "Okay, okay, anyways, the kingdom was under attack. By… a dragon." It was only after the words came out of his mouth that Merlin realized where this story was going to go.

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