A/N:
probably no good but at least I posted, anyways pls review I promise it'll get better.
Merlin did what the king had instructed, he lead Alex and his men to their assigned rooms in the guest chambers. He walked quietly with the upmost propriety like every good servant should when guests arrived. Although he didn't need to act like this with Alex and his men, he still needed to keep up pretenses around the other lords and servants that passed by. He navigated through the corridors with the Knights in tow and Alex by his side, his cape bellowing out behind him. As he walked, he had an air of dignity about him. Those who walked past couldn't keep their eyes off of his practically glowing form. He was the ideal prince, one who was handsome, a true warrior, fair and just, and loved by all of his people. Those who glanced at him had to take a double take, not just because his cape wasn't the Pendragon red, but because of how he carried himself. With sovereignty.
He would make a great king, Merlin thought. It was about time he took his father's place.
They finally arrived at the rooms assigned to them. Each receiving their own comfortable chambers with of course Alex's being the one fit for a prince.
"Where's your luggage?" Merlin asked when he noticed that none of the Knights had brought a bag with them.
"Oh," Alex looked around at each one of his Knights, suddenly now noticing that in fact, none of them had bags.
"We've never really... you know." He shrugged, blushing from embarrassment.
Merlin tried not to look so surprised but his facial features betrayed him in the end when he couldn't hold it in. He gaped, staring wide eyed at the Prince.
"Are you saying that you've never..." Alex looked down at the ground in shame.
Merlin turned to look at the others but they quickly diverted their eyes, finding the marble floors a lot more interesting.
"So, you guys haven't either?"
A few shakes of the head was all he needed to know.
"Wow," he breathed, still too dumbfounded by this shocking revelation to form proper words.
"I thought you would have known, Merlin." Matthew spoke up softly, seeming quite sad. "We make no peace with other kingdoms so how do you expect us to have visited one before? How were we supposed to know what to bring?"
A wave a guilt washed over Merlin's stunned face, contorting his features to one of pity.
"I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." He stuttered.
Alex shook his head, "No, no you didn't offend us." He reassured.
Merlin nodded in understanding but that still didn't help the pang of guilt that had settled in his gut.
"Besides," he spoke up, sounding more cheerful, "I could just buy clothes here."
"Yeah," Merlin agreed, but then he remembered something, "could you not just teleport back home to grab your things?"
A look of worry crossed all five of the Knights features as they exchanged looks, most of them glancing towards Cade and Alex.
That confirmed his suspicions.
"So its true," Merlin uttered, "you guys know about Cade."
Cade himself, nodded in confirmation, "They do."
"Does..."
"No." Alex quickly added as if he had read his mind. "Neither of them know."
If they were thinking of the same people, than this could be used to their advantage.
"We shouldn't talk about this here," Merlin spoke while looking around to make sure no one was around.
"I agree," Alex responded, "we should talk about this in my chambers though, come on." He gestured for Merlin to open his room. Once done so, they all filed into the big, luxurious, red filled room.
Alex closed the door as his Knights settled around the wooden dining table before he too joined the group.
"Now," he began, "what do you guys suggest we do?"
"I'm sorry Alex but can this wait?" Cade asked with a pout in his lips, interrupting the beginning of their immediately instigated meeting. "We haven't even gotten the proper chance to reunite with Merlin."
Alex rolled his eyes, "fine." He grumbled. "Make it quick."
Cade beamed, turning malicious eyes on Merlin whose smile quickly turned into a frown of fear.
The knight advanced forward with a wicked grin, causing Merlin to back up a few steps, but unfortunately, the back of his knees hit the edge of the bed, giving Cade the advantage.
Merlin was familiar with Cade's ways, he always tended to tackle Merlin in Arudus with the same tactics. The familiarity of the situation made a warm feeling spread throughout his stomach but it didn't last long and soon turned back to an uneasy sensation when Cade yelled out a war cry.
Merlin's frantic eyes sought out Alex's in less than a second, any sort of help would be appreciated. But all he saw was amusement, in fact, all the Knights including Mason seemed intrigued.
He had no more time to think about it when Cade's body crashed into his with full force.
Merlin grunted as he fell back and onto the bed with a heavy Cade in full out chainmail and armor on top of him.
He gasped when the air was knocked out of his lungs, the weight of the man on top of him was unpleasant.
They always used to wrestle like this. Merlin would knee Cade and get the opening to flip the other over, triumphantly whooping in the end, but this time it felt different, especially when Merlin didn't have the time to fight back.
Cade gripped onto Merlin's wrists and held them above the warlock's head. Merlin struggled against his friend but his attempts were futile.
He looked up at the man on top of him, expecting to see his friend there, but it wasn't Cade, no, it was the last person he ever expected to see. Someone he only ever dreamed about in his nightmares.
The man staring back at him was no longer his friend, but Merek.
Merek, the sorcerer who had beaten him, molested him.
Merek, the man who had dealt the killing blow to his heart.
His offender, his killer.
And he was right above him. Even if it was really Cade it still didn't look like him, and the position they were in brought forth old memories that he thought were lost to him forever.
Experiences he never wanted to resurface.
He shuffled against the man on top of him, kicking his legs in a haste, trying desperately to free himself from the grip the encompassed his wrists. A grip that felt all too familiar to him. His heart rate sped, thumping wildly in his chest he was almost sure the whole room could hear. He hadn't thought about Merek in a while, hadn't dreamt about him in years, hadn't said his name since the games until yesterday, on the balcony with Alex. Why was this happening to him now?
The deep, throaty chuckle that came from the illusion rang through his ears. He inwardly cringed as he felt his hot breath ghost over his cheek. He wanted this to end, wanted to be freed.
"No..." Merlin whimpered in such distress that he could have sworn he felt a cold liquid run down his cheek.
Was he crying?
In response, the hands gripped tighter, so tight that Merlin felt his wrists would tear in half from the brute force.
The warlock knew Cade would never hurt him, would never intentionally try to harm him. He wondered briefly if what he was experiencing had anything to do with magic or maybe his mind. Perhaps he had gone mad, crazy, maybe he had become loony.
At first, Alex watched the spectacle with utter amusement, laughing along with the others playfully as Cade tackled their dearly missed friend, but Alex's smile faded all too soon when he noticed Merlin wasn't reciprocating the same feelings, nor did he seem to be having fun or enjoying Cade's playful antics.
He watched on as the blonde knight gained the upper hand, restraining Merlin from using his hands against him. Cade laughed humorously at Merlin's useless attempts at gaining the upper hand. But somehow, the Knight was oblivious to Merlin's pained expression. Something was wrong.
The moment the prince heard his truest friends broken voice, a sickening whine that escaped his quivering lips, Alex was quick to speak.
"Cade stop." He commanded.
He attracted the attentions of his other Knights when they detected the hidden anguish in their Prince's voice.
They watched on as Alex practically sneered at the dirty blonde.
"Cade," he growled, "get off of him."
The Knight responded by throwing his head back with a howl of laughter, seemingly to mistaken Merlin's rapid struggles with an act of teasingly fighting back.
"Why?" Cade almost practically shouted, laughing some more, apparently missing the tears streaming down Merlin's face, but Alex caught them, the Prince saw them. "We're having fun!" He cheered.
The Prince had enough with trying to verbally command his friend to get off of the warlock. He resorted to physically prying the knight off of him. He started walking forward, making his way towards the two before things got out of hand.
"Get off of him now before-"
But he was too late, the inevitable was doomed to happen, and the prince wasn't even surprised to see Cade fly back through the air, barreling into a dumbstruck Lucas.
Both toppled over, Lucas taking the more brunt of the fall.
Matthew and Mason rushed to their friend's sides, and then, once he saw Cade and Lucas stir, he made his way towards the frightened warlock.
"Merlin," he soothed, slowly sitting down on the bed beside his friend. The dip in the bed caused by Alex's sudden weight caused Merlin to snap out of his stupor and focus his tear filled eyes on Alex's face.
"A-Alex?" He choked out in a sob that nearly broke Alex's heart. He hated seeing his friend look so broken, so small, almost childlike.
"Yeah," he smiled softly, "its me."
The Prince gazed in the warlocks eyes, brushing his black, sweaty fringe across his forehead.
"Tell me what happened Merlin," the Prince muttered, "tell me what's wrong."
"Merek," he choked out, another sob escaping his lips, "I-I saw Merek."
Alex turned his head towards his comrades, his eyes immediately settled on Cade's guilty face. His shoulders drooped as he stared at the upset warlock, mouth slightly ajar from shock at what he had just done to Merlin, even if it wasn't fully his fault.
Everything seemed to slot into place before Alex's eyes. Merlin was scared because he saw Merek on top of him, not Cade. The way the knight held him down must have been similar to the way Merek forcefully pinned him to the floor back on Arudus. It all seemed to make a little more sense except to why Merlin saw that abomination instead of his old friend.
Lucas stepped forward, running the back of his head in the process.
"What happened?" His voice came out stressed, "Why did he do that?"
"He was scared," Alex answered.
"Of what?" Matthew pressed forward.
"Of me." Cade practically whispered. He stared at no where in particular, looking extremely dejected.
"No," Alex quickly shook his head, "not you, Cade."
The Knight scoffed, still refusing to meet his captain's eyes.
"Yeah right, you saw for yourself Alex, you even warmed me to get off of him." He rubbed a hand over his face in exasperation, "He was crying for goodness sake!"
Alex stood up abruptly, turning intense eyes onto his comrade.
"Cade..." when the knight refused to look at him he shouted again, "Cade!"
The blonde finally looked up, meeting Alex's eyes with empty ones of his own.
"What?" He practically spat.
Alex sighed, willing above all else that his knight would understand him, "all he saw above him was Merek, not you Cade."
The man furrowed his brows.
"Merek?" He asked incredulously.
Alex nodded.
"Impossible, I was the one looking-"
"Sometimes," Lord Mason began, drawing everyone's attention towards him from the deep rumble of his voice. "The mind plays tricks on us. Sometimes when you live through a familiar situation, things change, and we relive experiences. Fear overcomes us and makes us see things that aren't really there, morphing objects or people to our mind's liking."
Everyone glanced over at Merlin who still hadn't moved from his spot on the bed. He was lying limply on his back, staring blankly at the bland ceiling, with tear stained cheeks, looking as if he was in a totally different world.
"Or..." eyes shifted towards Cade when the sorcerer began to speak, "magic is behind this."
Alex stepped forward, a look of worry on his face.
"What are you saying?" He dared to ask.
Cade shrugged sheepishly, "all I'm saying is that maybe this was no trick of the brain, perhaps this was, James's doing."
"James's doing?" Alex asked, "you sure?"
Cade pondered it for a moment.
"No, you can never be too sure, but, It's possible that this is James' first move against us, maybe he wants to mess with Merlin's sanity, make him vulnerable enough to not be able to be his strongest when using his magic."
"Yeah," Lucas agreed, "think about it, who's stronger? A frightened and vulnerable Merlin, or a confident and powerful Emrys who knows what he's doing?"
No one said anything, but they all secretly agreed on the latter.