Merlin stared helplessly in front of him after hearing the news about Uther. Gaius and Arthur sneaked a glance at each other at which Gaius pushed a vial in Merlin's hand. "Here, drink this."

Merlin slowly came back from his daze, looking up from the comforter to his old friend and then eyeing the vial suspiciously. "Do I want to know what's in here?"

Probably not," Gaius said with a shrug. "But it'll make you feel better."

Merlin uncorked the glass bottle, drinking the liquid down in one go. It tasted horribly but the results were instant. His head throbbed less and he could focus more. Arthur sat down on the bed next to him, grabbing the vial out of his hands and placing it on the nightstand before reaching out to Merlin's hands and cradling them into his own.

"This wasn't how I wanted it to go." Arthur softly began before clearing his throat. "I went to the cave to look for you, I'm sorry I scared you." Arthur brought Merlin's hands up to leave a kiss on them.

Merlin lifted his head. "You did scare me. I wasn't expecting anyone, and wasn't expecting you. It wasn't Thursday."

"I know," Arthur answered with down casted eyes.

"Why didn't you send a message?"

"There wasn't time." Arthur answered. "And I needed to tell you in person. I couldn't risk anything going wrong now, not now everything is almost over."

Merlin was silent for a while and Arthur looked up to Gaius again.

"How?"

Arthur turned back to Merlin. "How, Merlin?"

Merlin cleared his throat. "What happened. To –"

He couldn't finish the sentence, couldn't say the name.

Arthur looked away, starting at the window. "He went out riding two days ago, it was one of those days again that he just packed up and went away on his horse. We didn't think any of it, as you know it was a common thing now."

Merlin lightly nodded his head.

"But then a group of patrolling guards found him, not far from the castle actually. Barely alive and he had quite some serious wounds. We gather he must've been thrown off his horse and after that being stepped on by the horse. He's in and out of consciousness and quite delirious at times, and,"

Arthur swallowed, debating with himself to say the next thing or not.

"And?" Merlin said.

Arthur swallowed. "And he keeps calling out your name." Arthur moved his head back to look at Merlin once more after feeling him tensing up. "But he can't get to you, not ever again. It's almost over."

Merlin sagged in relief against the pillows.

~oOoOo~

Merlin couldn't get any sleep. Arthur was passed out next to him on the bed, but he wasn't able to sleep even if he desperately wanted too. His mind kept going into circles. Uther was dying. How long he waited to hear those words. That man has ruined the past years of his life, ruined his chance to live happily with Arthur, made him run away of the life he used to love so much and made him hide in a cave where he feared for his life every day.

He couldn't wait for that man to leave his life for good, but he knew he also had to do something.

Something that scared him, but at the same time he knew he had to do it if he was ever being able to move on from all of this.

Gently he raised the covers and slid his legs over the edge of the bed. He looked over his shoulder to see if it roused Arthur, because he knew Arthur would talk him out of it if he knew what he was about to do, perhaps even physically hold him back.

Only when he was certain that Arthur was still vast asleep he slipped off the bed and threw on some clothes before moving out of the room.

The hallways still looked the same and his memories flooded back like he'd never left. He knew which way to go.

The hallways were mostly dark, a few candles lit here and there. Peering out of the window he saw the moon high in the sky and he figured it must be late already, but he didn't care.

Just a few more turns to take and he knew he would be at Uther's bedchambers. His heart started to beat harder and faster with each step he took. He admitted to himself that he was petrified, he didn't want to face the person that made his life miserable, but he also knew he needed to do it.

Before he even realized it, he found himself in front of the door. He hand reached out to the handle but just lingered in the air for a few solid seconds. Merlin swallowed past the lump in his throat and took a deep breath in. He could do this.

His fingers flexed and slowly his fingers curled around the handle. He now just needed to find the courage within him to push the handle down.

But the handle went down and Merlin's eyes widened; he certainly wasn't the one doing it. He let go of the handle as if he just burned himself and stared wide-eyed as the door opened. It couldn't be Uther, Arthur himself told him he wasn't able to stand.

Merlin shuffled back slowly. His breathing picked up with every inch that the door opened more and then his breath hitched as he saw the one coming out of the room.

"Jonathan!"

Merlin flew his former manservant around his neck and the poor man's eyes opened wide at being caught off guard.

"Merlin," Jon breathed out, wrapping his arms around the other man in a warm hug. "It's been so long."

Merlin released Jonathan and stood back a bit, he looked around to see if that bench still stood where he last seen it all those years ago and when he saw it was there, he gestured to it.

Both men sat down.

"I've heard the other servants already gossiping about your return and I went to see you, but both Gaius and Arthur said it wasn't a good time because of," Jonathan gestured to the bandage still wrapped around Merlin's head. "but I was happy to hear you were back again. That must mean you've heard about –" Jonathan's eyes went to the doors of Uther's bedchamber.

Merlin's eyes followed his and then he gazed to the ground, his fingers fidgeting in each other. "I actually didn't know until I came here."

Jonathan frowned.

Merlin gave a light chuckle. "I'm still as clumsy as I've always been," he pointed to the bandage. "This is because I heard someone approach me at the cave, and I was always alert at the cave, so when I backed away I slipped and," Merlin shrugged. "The rest is history."

"Oh," Jon said.

"I only heard about, about," Merlin breathed a deep sigh. "About Uther when I woke up."

Jonathan nodded sympathetically, but then frowned. "But why were you going to," he waved to door. "You shouldn't, Merlin. Please."

Merlin reached out to catch one of Jonathan's hand. "It's something I must do. I need to face him, because I need to get some closure. And going to him is the only way I can get that."

Jonathan bit his lip. He was always the one to find Merlin in a defeated position whenever Uther had his way. He wanted to prevent his friend of going through that ever again, but he also could understand Merlin's reason.

Jon exhaled. "I've just went in to replace the candles, he was – still then. Perhaps now is as good a time as any."

Merlin nodded, already standing up. He turned to his friend as he stood at the door. "Just, don't tell Arthur. I'll do it later."

Then Merlin opened the door and went inside.