Chapter 4

"Don't worry, Arthur. I'll track everyone down for you. I'm on the train now, I'll be there in a few hours."

"Thank you so much, dad," Arthur was using the phone of the person in the bed beside him. They hadn't been in the ferry accident and had already been in the hospital for a few days.

"I'll see you soon."

"Wait, dad. Where have you left the kids?"

"Gaius is looking after them all."

"All of them?"

"Yes. He's more than happy to for the night. Alright, Arthur, give this phone back to whichever poor person it belongs to. I'll be there in a few hours to speak to you."

"Ok. See you soon, dad." He passed the phone back to the man beside him, "Thank you so much."

"Hey, no worries. I've read about the accident online. It must be hard for you to be split up from your loved ones. Bet you've never been involved in something like this before."

Arthur laughed aloud and the man looked at him. "Sorry," Arthur said, "But my medical history would take longer to read than the history of the entire Earth."

"Accident prone, are you?"

"You could say that."

"So being in hospital is like second nature for you?"

Arthur nodded, "Pretty much a second home."

"I don't envy you. I've only been here a few days and I'm dying to go home."

"Never been in before?"

"Never. Guess I must be lucky. Sorry, what's your name?"

"Arthur."

"Arthur… I recognise you. Have we met?"

"I don't live around here so, I doubt it."

"Why else would I know you? You're not famous, are you?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Well, what do you do?"

"I own a hotel business with my friends."

"Albion!"

"Yeah," Arthur smiled, "That's the one."

"My partner and I have a room booked in a few weeks. We're really excited."

"Oh yeah? Which one? England or Ireland?"

"England. The original."

"Any special occasion?"

"Needed somewhere to stay on a business trip. And my partner was in an accident as a child. He's been paralyzed from the waist down ever since. We figured after years of putting up with decent hotels, it was time to try the best in the country."

"I hope it lives up to expectations."

"It's amazing to meet you. We've always been so impressed with everything you've done and everything you believe in. In a strange way, we can relate to your situation. Except you're a lot more inspirational."

"Thank you."

"You must hear that from a lot of people."

"I hear a lot of amazing stories," Arthur said, "And if my life has taught me anything, it's that every person's story is important. I try to remember what they tell me about themselves. Not what they tell me about me."

The man smiled.

"What's your name?" Arthur asked.

"Daegal."

"Well, it's lovely to meet you."

"I hope you don't mind me asking but, how many managers are there, exactly?"

"Nine of us. Well, hopefully. We were all in Ireland for the opening so we were all on that ferry when it sunk. We're all split up."

"You were on the phone to your dad, right?"

Arthur nodded, "He's going to try and track down where everyone is."

"You're lucky to have such a big family."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that size isn't important?" Arthur smiled, "It's about the connections you have with each other. How many people do you consider to be in your family?"

"Well, there's me, my partner, my sister, his sister and their dad so only five."

"Do you think you need anyone else?"

"No."

"Then you're just as lucky as me."

Daegal smiled, "I know I'm prying again but your husband, Merlin. He only has one leg, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"My partner really looks up to him. As soon as he read an article in the paper once and read all about your story."

"There are articles about our story?"

Daegal nodded, "Didn't you know?"

"We tried to keep that private. Our hotel isn't there for people to visit out of sympathy. And we never wanted people constantly bombarding us with questions. How much do you know?"

"Your uncle was behind a load of attacks against you, right?"

Arthur frowned. He had no idea any of that had been released to press, "I guess things have a way of getting out even when you don't want them to."

"It must be so hard for you. I mean, my boyfriend was already injured when I met him and that's hard enough for me. To watch him suffer through something-"

"It wasn't easy," Arthur admitted, "But I didn't have a choice."

"No. I guess not. He'll be alright, you know. I'm sure of it."

"I appreciate that."

Arthur continued to chat to Daegal for hours until his father arrived looking flustered and stressed.

"Dad!"

"Arthur, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Have you found everyone?"

"Most. I've called every hospital that victims of the attack have been taken to. Morgana and Lancelot are both in the same hospital not too far away from here. Guinevere and Elyan are in this country too but a little further away. Percival is in a hospital in Ireland."

"And the others? Gwaine? Leon?" Arthur hesitated, "Merlin?"

"I haven't been able to track them. But everywhere I've called has said that there are dozens of people there without ID on them so can't be named."

"Merlin's in Ireland," Arthur said, "All the boats came from Ireland."

"I'll call again in a minute, alright?"

"Are you sure you contacted them all?" Arthur asked, "I've heard there are five or six."

"The articles I've read have all named six," Daegal said helpfully.

"I called the remaining five," Uther reassured.

"Five! Dad, there might be someone else here too!"

Uther looked mortified, "Of course. I'm so sorry, Arthur. I was just so worried, I wasn't thinking. I'll go and ask now. Two seconds."

Arthur sighed sadly as Uther left. "What's wrong?" Daegal asked him, "Aren't you happy you might find the rest of your friends?"

"I would be, except I know for a fact that Merlin isn't here so he's still missing."

"Leon is here," Uther returned, "He's in this hospital."

"That's great. I think Gwaine will be with Percival. They were together last I saw. So that means it's only Merlin we need to track down. Naturally."

"Give it a few hours, and I'll call everywhere again," Uther said, "If he isn't awake and doesn't have ID, they won't be able to identify him. Give it time."

"It's been over a day."

"Arthur, there's nothing we can do until things have calmed down. So use that time to get yourself better."

"Go and find Leon," Arthur requested, "Tell him what we know."

"It'll be alright, Arthur," Uther clapped his son on the shoulder as he stood and left.

"Arthur?" Daegal asked.

"Yeah?"

"I want to help."

"You can't help."

"I can. My sister has loads of connections in Ireland. She used to live there. I'll call her, ask what she can do. We'll find your friends."

"You don't need to do that."

"If I was ever separated from my family in an accident like that storm, it would tear me apart. And we've looked up to you all since you opened Albion. If there's anyone we want to help, it's you."

"Thank you."

"I'll give her a call now."

"He must have been in the wreckage."

"He can't have been. That happened miles away, didn't it?"

"It was yesterday, darling."

"Come on, we have to pick him up. Poor thing."

"Alright. Call it in, I'll get us over there."

"Careful, sweetie. Don't scare him."

The couple had been out on their large motorboat, just enjoying the fresh air when they'd caught sight of someone floating in the very, very far distance. Immediately, they'd started moving their boat towards the figure until they were close enough to make out more details.

"Do you think he's alright?"

"Who knows how long he's been floating out here alone," the woman said, "Do you think he's still alive?"

"Don't say that! Shout out to him."

The woman twisted around and called, "Excuse me? Are you ok? Hello!"

The man didn't move.

"Get closer, dear."

The man manoeuvred the boat closer to the person in the water. "Can you reach?"

The woman shuffled towards to edge of the boat and placed a hand on the figure's shoulder and shook him gently, "Oh he's frozen." The person only groaned a little bit and sighed.

"Move out the way, darling, we'll get him in the boat."

"Be careful, dear."

They clambered out of their seats into the back section of the motorboat. Very gently, the man lifted the person out the water, off the piece of wood he was clinging on to, and into the boat. The woman opened a little door in the floor of the boat and produced a towel which she then wrapped around the person. He moaned quietly, coughed a few times and opened his eyes. After taking in his surroundings, the man gasped and tried to move away but the kind woman soothed, "No, it's ok. We'll take you home. Were you caught in the storm?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry to inconvenience you," his voice shook.

"Don't be silly. Are you hurt?"

"Erm… I'm not sure."

"Don't worry. We've been in contact with the lifeguard team on land," the man climbed back into the driver's seat and held up a walkie-talkie, "They'll have an ambulance waiting for you when we get there." He started up the boat again.

"How- how far away are we?"

"Two or three hours. You'd never have managed to swim there," the woman said, clearly trying to be nice.

"Here. Have another blanket. Get yourself nice and warm."

He smiled and happily allowed himself to be wrapped up in a second throw.

"How are you feeling, honey?"

"Cold," he admitted, "Sore. Scared and tired."

The woman cooed sympathetically, "There's nothing to worry about, alright? Darling, did you bring the flask?"

The man nodded and took his attention away from steering the boat to throw his wife a large flask of hot tea. She poured some into the lid and helped Merlin take a sip. His fingers were numb and shaking so even if he had been able to get a hold on the cup, he probably would have spilled it anyway.

"Is that better?" the woman asked.

"Much," Merlin said quietly, "Thank you for being so kind."

"We couldn't just have left you out here to freeze now, could we? Here, have another sip."

Merlin lapped up a few more sips of tea and then lay back exhausted.

"You get some rest," the woman said sweetly, "You're perfectly safe."

Merlin nodded, "Thank you."

"Nothing!" Arthur hung up his dad's phone for at least the fifteenth time. He and Leon were in the back of Uther's car the day after he'd arrived there as he drove to the hospital nearby so they could find Morgana and Lancelot.

"Arthur, you have to calm down," Uther scolded.

"That's easy for you to say," Arthur said, "You already know where all your loved ones are."

"You think I don't love Merlin?" Uther asked as he stopped his car in the car park.

Arthur stared at him, "I-"

"Arthur, there were nine of you involved in that accident. And there are four young children at home waiting for you. We have to worry about every single one of them. One at a time, Arthur. That's the only way we can do this. For once, Merlin can't be first."

Arthur sighed and followed Leon into the hospital. They'd been told over the phone that both Morgana and Lancelot were free to go home whenever so long as they took it easy. Lancelot had suffered from a pretty bad head injury and Morgana had gone a long time without oxygen. They needed time to recover. The plan was that Uther would stay in his car, continuing to contact as many people as he could for information on the others while Arthur found Lancelot and Leon got Morgana.

Then, they'd all be driving back down to head to home, picking up Gwen and Elyan along the way. Once back home, they'd have to figure out how to get their friends stuck in Ireland back.

"Lance!" Arthur walked into the bay he was on, "How are you?"

"Glad to see you, that's for sure. How is everyone?"

"Everyone I've heard from is as well as they can be. Ready to get out of here?"

"Never been readier. Have you heard from Gwen?"

"We're going to pick her up on the way home."

"Oh thank goodness."

Arthur smiled tightly, wishing he could be so relieved about the person he was married to. "Come on, then. Let's go."

Arthur hugged his sister tightly the second he saw her, clutching onto Leon's arm for support. "What happened to you? You were right there with us."

Morgana's face fell and she clenched her jaw. Leon looked at her curiously, apparently he hadn't asked.

"I erm, while we were swimming, I saw someone that looked like they needed help. So I went over to them but," she swallowed thickly, "They were dead, Arthur."

Leon wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

"I wanted to help them out, I thought they would have deserved that. But I never made it."

"Oh, Morgs," Arthur took his sister, "You tried. No one can ask more of you than that."

The four headed out to the car and piled into it after hugging and greeting Uther. They were fortunate he had such a big car else there wouldn't have been the space for everyone. It was strange how happy they could all be given the few days they'd just had. As cheesy as it sounded, it felt like they really could do anything together.

Gwen and Elyan were waiting in the foyer of the hospital they were in. Elyan had a single crutch just for a bit of extra help with walking but apart from that, they both looked fine. There was a general bit of happy celebration at being reunited, then they were all in the car once more on the way home. It was a quiet journey. Most of the noise came from Arthur ringing the Irish hospitals for any updates. Everyone else was resting or thinking silently.

"Gwaine is with Percival," Arthur said tightly as they got out the car at Gaius' house after a very long drive, "He was pretty badly hurt and they say he won't be leaving for quite a while."

The others shared a look before getting out the car too. Gwaine was badly hurt. Gwaine had been with Merlin before the ferry had tipped. And Merlin was missing. Did that mean that whatever had injured Gwaine had injured Merlin too? It all felt deeply unfair. To begin with, they'd all been separated and it had been one of the hardest things they had to deal with. Two days of trying to focus on themselves but worrying about everything else. Not even being able to text the people they cared about most.

Now, however, Morgana had Leon back, Lancelot was with Gwen, even Gwaine and Percival were together even though they were in a different country. And while Arthur still had Morgana, she wasn't the person he really wanted to see. She had Leon as well. Right now, Arthur didn't have anyone else. And wherever Merlin was, he had no one.

Arthur had gone into Gaius' house, put a brave face on for the little children who were clearly so upset by everything, then found his dogs before kneeling beside Eira. "How do you fancy coming to stay with me for a bit?"

She looked up at him tearfully.

"A little birdie told me that you are very good at looking after doggies. And there's no way I can remember how to do everything by myself. Will you help me?"

She nodded a little bit sadly.

Arthur took her hand, "You know what? I just heard from your daddy. He thinks they'll be back home in no time. But shall I tell you a secret?"

Eira nodded again.

"They've got themselves stuck in Ireland! How silly is that?" Eira giggled a little bit and Arthur continued, "So they're going to stay there for a bit until we can get over and rescue them because they're acting like little scared baby girls. Must be because you're not there to look after them. Come on, then. Have you got any bags to bring with you?"

Arthur loaded all of Eira's things into his car, secured Killi and Aithusa in the back seats, then let Eira hop in the front. She was the oldest of all the children in the family but only by a year. She'd been adopted when she was three with the hopes of giving her a better childhood than what she would have had in care.

"Uncle Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"What are we having for tea?"

Arthur smiled, "What would you like?"

"I don't know."

"What do you normally have?"

"Pasta?"

"With what?"

Eira shrugged, "Don't know."

"Alright, do you like meatballs?"

"Tomato sauce is yucky."

Arthur chuckled, "Ok. What about cheese sauce?"

Eira nodded. "Can we make it together?"

"Of course. Do you usually help make tea?"

Eira nodded.

"I bet they're super healthy, are they? Loads of vegetables?"

"Gross."

"What vegetables do you like?"

"The green one. Br- brok- brosilly?"

"Broccoli?"

"Little green trees," Eira decided.

"Anything else?"

"Snowmen noses."

"Cooked?"

"No! And yellow peas."

"Yellow peas?" Arthur thought about that to try and figure out what she meant, "Sweetcorn! So you like little green trees, snowmen noses and yellow peas. Do you want them with tea tonight?"

"No," Eira scowled, "I always have them. One night off?"

"Nothing healthy at all?"

"For once?" she asked cheekily.

Arthur laughed, "Alright. But just tonight and don't tell your daddy."