I promise you I have not abandoned this story, it will be finished…eventually!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or any of its characters.

Arthur stayed with Merlin throughout the night, watching over him with Gaius. Merlin had got steadily worse, from loud mutterings and fits of movement; he was now still, locked within his own mind and neither anything Arthur or Gaius did made any difference. They had tried everything, Gaius had tried his limited magic to wake him up, Arthur had joked with him, read to him and even on one occasion which no one would ever know about; had held him and stroked his hair begging him to wake up. None of it had worked and Gaius was beginning to get worried, which was making Arthur worried.

Arthur had never known friendship as deep as the one he shared with Merlin, all his life servants, knights and nobles had bowed before him, never criticising, always complimenting, and always singing his praises. He was, he realised a right spoilt prat, and had been until Merlin had showed up. He taught him to realise that for true friendship you couldn't bring status into that friendship. Despite Merlin being a commoner he had treated Arthur to the disdain he had deserved and nothing had been a bigger reality check to the prince. Slowly through getting to know Merlin, he had changed him, made him into the king he was today, Camelot had a lot to owe Merlin, never mind his magic and all the times he had saved with it.

His initial shock and betrayal he had felt at Merlin's reveal had him questioning everything he had ever known about Merlin. Found him questioning if their friendship had ever been real, if he had ever known Merlin properly. It didn't take long for Arthur to realise that Merlin's character had never changed, he was still the same goofy kind hearted boy he had become best friends with, he just had a side to him that was all powerful and wise that came out to play in times of danger.

Arthur was disrupted from his musings by Gaius's door slamming against the wall as Leon strode purposefully into the room, 'You need to come sire.'

'What's wrong?' Arthur asked never turning his face away from the slumbering Merlin.

'It's Morgana, she's not well, and she's begging to see him when she isn't screaming.'

'Screaming?'

'Yes sire, she seems to be in a lot of pain and is repeating some of the things Merlin was saying earlier,' Leon said.

Arthur had known this was coming; he just hadn't wanted to admit it. They were going to need Morgana to help with Merlin, they were magic mates, if anything could wake Merlin up, it would be her. But Arthur so wanted it to be him, Morgana didn't deserve Merlin, she had put him here, and despite Merlin's obvious love for her, Arthur just couldn't bring himself to trust her, especially after what had been said about the bond between her and Mordred.

'What do you think Gaius?' Arthur asked turning his head to look at Gaius.

'I think that Morgana is his only hope sire. As much as it pains me to admit it,' Gaius said.

Good Arthur thought. I'm not the only one holding a grudge.

'You'll stay with Merlin?' he asked Gaius

'Of course Sire,' Gaius said with a bow of his head 'I will come get you directly if there's any change.'

Arthur nodded in return, then set off after Leon, through the castle and down to the dungeons, it was a long trip, Arthur felt his feet dragging behind him the reluctance to face Morgana in his every movement. As he got closer he could hear something, something high and haunting , it whispered through the walls and struck at his very soul, it wasn't until he descended the stone stairs to the dungeons that he realised the sound was Morgana.

Walking up to her cell, Arthur forced himself to look in. Morgana was huddled against the back wall in the corner, her dress was ripped, done by herself if looking by the state she was clutching it in her hands was anything to go by. Her hair too was in disarray, her hands were alternating between gripping her hair and her dress in anguish. Tear stains littered her cheeks, and the smell of stale vomit reached Arthurs nostrils from the other corner in the cell. Her hands clasped by the magic restraining shackles were obviously not helping her state, as he could see from her wrists that they were red raw from where she had been pulling at them.

Arthur thought he had never seen a sight so heart breaking and pitiful in his life. Despite her actions, he felt sorry for her, Morgana's worst fears had been realised, and she was caged without her magic and without Merlin. Arthur reminded himself with a jolt that this was family, she was his sister, and he slowly felt some of his anger slip away.

'Morgana?' Arthur whispered, and got no response. He tried again.

'Sister?'

Morgana's head whipped up in reply and stared at Arthur with wide terrified emerald eyes.

'Arthur, you came,' she whispered back.

Arthur gave a big sigh and forced himself not to get angry. He rummaged at his belt and then opened the cell and shut it behind him. He walked towards her, noticing her flinch. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her as he used to do, when she had nightmares and she ran to him in the night for comfort. She started to sob, great heaving sobs.

'I'm so sorry,' Morgana whispered.

'Sshh,' Arthur whispered rocking her gently.

'I don't know what happened, one minute I was loving Merlin and the next he was saying Mordred was dangerous and I saw black.'

'You would choose Mordred over Merlin?' Arthur asked her.

'No of course not, I can't live without Merlin, and I'm dying inside knowing what I did to him,' Morgana said.

'Then why did you do it?'

'I don't know, it was just hard to imagine that innocent boy could be such a threat, and all the talk about destiny, my new relationship with Merlin, I felt like everything was closing in on me.'

'I understand,' Arthur said.

'Do you?' Morgana asked hopefully her green eyes searching his.

'Well, I can't begin to imagine what you're going through Morgana, and frankly I don't want to. But all I can think of right now is that my best friend is slowly losing his mind up there and it's your entire fault.'

'I know,' Morgana whispered. Arthur was glad she wasn't trying to deny it.

'Do you really think that Merlin would accuse someone if he had no reason, if he wasn't one hundred per cent sure?'

'No, of course not, Merlin wouldn't play with people's lives like that,' Morgana said.

'Then shouldn't we trust him?' Arthur said.

'Of course, but I loved that boy Arthur, loved him as if he was my own son, and if and when he does attack I won't let him harm you or Merlin or anyone else, but neither do I think I could bring myself to destroy him.'

'And if Merlin could?' Arthur asked 'Would you stop him?'

There was a long pause were Arthur stared into Morgana's eyes willing her not to lie and tell the truth. Arthur could hear his heart thudding in his chest and knew without a doubt that the answer to this question was either going to make his relationship with Morgana strong again or forever ruin it.

'No,' Morgana whispered in reply.

'Well,' Arthur said trying not to show his happiness and relief 'that's all I can ask of you isn't it?'

'Can I see him?' Morgana asked.

'That's the reason I came down, me and Gaius both know you're his only hope.'

'I can see everything he is seeing, it's torturing me,'

'What is he seeing?'

'His worst memories, his blackest thoughts, his fears,' Morgana said, tears starting down her cheek.

'Well let's hope you can fix it then,' Arthur said trying not to let his worry show.

He pulled Morgana up and then slowly whilst looking her in the eye removed her magic binding shackles. Morgana staggered against the wall as her magic rushed back to her, her eyes shone gold and then returned to emerald. With the comfort of her magic she felt a lot better, not nearly whole though, only Merlin could fix that.

'Thank you,' Morgana whispered.

Arthur smiled in reply grasped her hand and the hurried out of the cell and back to Gaius's chambers. Merlin still hadn't changed from when Arthur had left him. Morgana ran to his side and fell to her knees by the bed, grasped Merlin's hand and promptly burst into tears.

'Oh what have I done my love?' Morgana whispered kissing his hand 'Can you ever forgive me?'

'If there's something about Merlin's character that will never change Morgana, it is his power to forgive and to see goodness in people,' Gaius said and patted her hair comfortingly.

'Can you fix him?' Arthur asked 'Merlin said your prowess was in healing magic.'

'I will certainly try,' Morgana said, then surprised both Gaius and Merlin by shifting and straddling Merlin's legs in a rather crude position. Arthur cleared his throat.

'It's necessary,' Morgana said.

'I'm sure it is,' Arthur said and blushed, trying not to stare as his sister straddled his best friend.

Morgana closed her eyes and focused on Merlin. She leaned forward and put both her hands on Merlin's temples and sought him with her mind. Once again she was drawn into the turmoil that was Merlin's mind as he slowly succumbed to madness. His thoughts were all over the place ranging from love to hate and backwards and forwards. One thought was clear though, he loved Morgana, he missed her, he forgave her, and he just wanted to see her again.

'I'm here my love,' Morgana whispered into his mind.

'Morgana, help me,' Merlin's mind voice replied.

'I'm sorry for what I did,' Morgana said.

'We'll talk about it later, now use your magic and our bond as magic mates to bring me out of here,' Merlin instructed.

Morgana didn't need to be told how, healing was her forte, her strong point, and the bond with Merlin was strong. Touch was the essence that kept the bond and themselves alive and it would be touch that she would use to bring him out of his own mind.

'Wel cene hole,' Morgana incanted.

She opened her eyes and Arthur watched as the brilliant gold that had once inspired fear in his heart now inspired hope, as Morgana's golden eyes stared into Merlin's closed ones. Then, eyes still glowing she lowered her head and gently pressed her lips to Merlin's.

When there was no response Morgana began to panic and started to draw away to try again, when suddenly she felt the responding pressure of Merlin's lips on her own. She sighed into their kiss as Merlin slowly sat up and entwined his fingers into Morgana's hair bringing her closer.

Arthur and Gaius turned away to give them privacy despite wanting to rush forward and hug Merlin and tell him how happy they were that he was awake.

Merlin forced himself to draw back from the kiss and rest his forehead against Morgana's. He wanted nothing more than to clasp her to his side and never let her go. He knew they had a lot to talk about but for now, that could wait.

'I'm so sorry Merlin,' Morgana said tears littering her cheeks.

Hearing Morgana's voice Gaius and Arthur turned back round to see both Merlin and Morgana staring lovingly into each other's eyes as if nothing had gone wrong.

'All couples fight,' Merlin said trying to joke.

'Not like us,' Morgana said.

'Well, we're not a normal couple so it stands to reason that our fighting should be normal too,' Merlin said brushing his fingers cross her cheek.

Morgana sighed and tried to address the bridge that was between them,

'I will stand by your reasoning Merlin, I believe you when you say Mordred is dangerous despite how much I want to deny it.'

'I will never ask for something you can't give Morgana, when the time comes, if he does attack, you won't have to be there, I promise,' Merlin said.

Morgana smiled in reply and Merlin shifted her slightly off his lap, in the company of other's their position did border on impropriety.

'It's good to see you awake my boy,' Gaius said.

'It's good to be awake,' Merlin said.

Arthur strode up to him and clasped him on the shoulder and smiled one of his rare smiles. Merlin smiled back and clasped his shoulder too.

'You're never boring Merlin,' Arthur said.

'I'm glad I entertain you,' Merlin said in reply.

Morgana sighed happily and rested her head on Merlin's shoulder. Merlin let go of Arthur and turned his eyes to hers again and gently kissed her forehead.

'You look tired,' Merlin said, Morgana just nodded in reply.

'I suggest you both get some sleep,' Gaius said.

'Him?' Arthur questioned 'He's done nothing but sleep for the past day,'

'Ha!' Merlin said 'If you call that sleeping I don't suggest you try it sometime.'

'Fair enough,' Arthur said.

Merlin smiled again and grasped the hand of a sleepy Morgana and led her out of the room back to their chambers.

'Do you think that's the last of it?' Arthur asked Gaius

'Sire?' Gaius asked confused.

'The last of their trouble making?'

'I highly doubt it sire,' Gaius said.

Arthur smirked; if there's one thing Merlin and his sister had in common it was their talent for causing trouble.

There you go! Hope you liked it. You know what to do! Hit that button and hit me with inspiration!

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