Thank you for my amazing reviews, I certainly wasn't expecting that! And it's now currently 03:05 on the 1/1/13. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! BOOMSHAKALAKALAKABOOM!

Thank you Rotoshark, Izzy-I.R.T, Vuurlieg, StarWritingFlute2000, Katerina Riley, Method in Madness, AshleighKathryn.

Izzy I understand about the paragraphing, I had to originally repost the first chapter because it decided to bunch it up all together when I first posted, but I will go back and try to fix it. Here is the next chapter for all of you lovely people.

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"Arthur?" he asked gravely.

Arthur walked slowly over and knelt next to the man. He had no visible scars on him but he seemed to have aged older beyond his years. Something had happened to him since the Battle of Camlann, something that had scarred him. Gwaine kept his head down low, not quite looking up at Arthur. Arthur sensed something was troubling him, but the way that Gwaine was averting eye contact meant it had something to do with him.

"Gwaine, are you okay?" he asked quietly, lowering himself so he was level with Gwaine, sitting cross legged. Gwaine looked up for the first time; his grey eyes gave Arthur a hollow look, grim and so full of despair.

"I failed," Gwaine murmured looking down again, "I betrayed the King". His voice was full of remorse and bitterness, which was amplified by his flat tone. A silence fell between the two of them; Arthur was unsure what to say next.

After a while (Arthur wasn't sure how long, time seemed to have no point where he was), Arthur plucked up the courage to break the silence with a single question.

"How did you die?"

Looking up, Gwaine gave Arthur another hollow stare, his eyes getting clouded over with tears. There were a few moments where it looked like he was never going to speak again but then his lips parted slightly and a single word, barely whispered, escaped from his mouth.

"Morgana."

Arthur reverted his mind back to when Morgana had pounced upon him and Merlin for the last time, any trace of dignity that she once had, had vanished. The demeaning and wild look in her eyes, when she thought she had finally succeeded in killing him was inhumane. Her soul had been so tainted from the many years beforehand when she had been the young naïve woman; her spirit had once been so carefree and wild.

He didn't know what had happened to crush her spirit; his last memory of her was a stark contrast to what he knew. All that Arthur knew was that it wasn't Morgana that had tried to kill him. That part of her had been snatched away long ago, all that was left behind was a creature so hell bent on revenge that nothing would stop her. But Merlin had killed her.

Merlin.

That was another mystery about him that Arthur still didn't know about. Morgana's last moments on Earth had been Merlin apologising to her. Some feud had gone on behind his back and judging by the venomous looks they had given each other; it had gone on for years. Underneath the contemptuous looks was a much bigger current of hatred.

"This is no mortal blade. Like yours, it was forged in a dragon's breath."

And it saddened Arthur even further. Merlin had been so much more than the fact that he was Warlock. Even more, Merlin had managed to get a sword forged in the breath of a dragon. Arthur had no idea that the sword he had used so many times had been forged in the breath of a dragon. And more ironically the sword that had killed him had also been forged in the breath of a dragon. No wonder Merlin couldn't save him.

"Gwaine, what did Morgana do you?" Arthur asked cautiously. A single tear rolled down from Gwaine's eye, the pain evident on his face.

"She… tortured me" he said slowly, "she… she wanted to know where… where you were…"

Gwaine let out a big sigh, wiping away more salty tears that had moistened his eyelids.

"I tried not to tell her… but I couldn't bear the pain Arthur!" his voice had risen, his emotions taking control of him. Arthur had never seen this side of Gwaine before; normally he was the life and the laughs of the Knights. This Gwaine sitting in front of him had clearly been holding back much more than he let on.

Arthur wanted to mentally slap himself. Had he really been this oblivious to everyone?

"I'm so sorry Arthur."

Arthur leant forward and embraced Gwaine in his arms.

"I'm sorry!"

Knight in combat, brother in arms, and the bond between them that Gwaine thought he had shattered. Arthur realised what Gwaine was saying but he knew Gwaine wouldn't have done so otherwise. Gwaine was the noble one, always putting himself out to help others. Gwaine, the man who had defied his fathers orders and come back to Camelot to save his life. Gwaine who was loyal to Camelot, the Knights and him. He knew in his heart that Gwaine would never put Arthur in danger. And Arthur realised in that moment that he wasn't the only one that needed to let go.

"I forgive you."

Gwaine sat up and faced Arthur properly for the first time. Arthur knew he owed it to Gwaine to explain as much as he knew, no matter how long it took.

"Morgana isn't the reason why I'm here. Merlin killed Morgana."

"Merlin?" Gwaine asked mystified.

"I've been thinking the same thing ever since I found out," Arthur suddenly felt giddy, as a new surge of memories rushed to his brain. Merlin waking him up in the morning, Merlin juggling at Queen Annis's court, Merlin beating him at gambling in the tavern.

"Found out?" Gwaine was beginning to act more composed, his composure had changed as though a great weight had been lifted from his chest. Although he was still subdued, Arthur had noticed the change in him.

"Merlin. He has magic." There was a short silence before-

"-magic! I knew it!" Gwaine said and then gave Arthur a small watery smile, "no wonder he wanted to go to the Valley of the Fallen Kings".

The Valley of the Fallen Kings. Yet another mystery about Merlin to be solved.

"When was this?" Arthur asked.

"Just before the Battle of Camlann, I travelled with him to the Valley of the Fallen Kings so that he could enter some cave. He refused to let me aid him any further and made me go back for you Arthur," Gwaine recounted, his eyes beginning to well up with tears once more, "Merlin didn't tell me what he was doing, but it most of been of the upmost importance to go right before the battle".

"Yes," Arthur replied, a searing guilt washed over him as he remembered the moment when Merlin asked if he could leave Arthur for the day. Arthur then felt himself getting hotter and hotter at the fact he admitted something that he hadn't told Merlin, but would have liked too.

"I thought you were the bravest man I'd ever met."

Arthur didn't like praising Merlin out loud; it would have been admitting that Merlin was right.

"I guess I was wrong".

I guess I was wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Arthur was wrong about everything. Everything he thought he knew had been turned in its head. Magic. Magic was what had shaped his world and Arthur had merely pushed it aside. His father's views had been enforced upon him, granted, but Arthur had shook them off slightly and had a more slanted view on magic. He also realised it wasn't magic that had corrupted Morgana, nor any of the people it had touched.

It was power. The power that magic gave to people corrupted them. Morgana wanted to rule over Camelot in her own vicious reign because of the wealth and power it had offered her. Magic was what had fueled this need for power.

Yet magic is what had saved his life on countless occasions. Arthur couldn't make up his mind on if he should trust magic or not.

And realising that magic could be good or bad, he realised that all the worries that had been shrouding his mind about Merlin had vanished. Merlin had always been with him, through the good and the bad. Magic hadn't corrupted him, it had strengthened him.

Holding onto this new thought, Arthur allowed any worries he had regarding magic drain slowly from him and a new sense of hope begin to flicker in his heart.

Gwaine too looked much happier realising that he hadn't brought Morgana to Arthur's death, but rather Morgana to her own death.

Arthur didn't need to look up to realise that the woman was watching him.

"I understand now, magic doesn't corrupt people, it is the power that magic brings which corrupts the people," he said slowly.

Arthur finally understood what had been troubling him for so long. His father had been wrong. Arthur knew Gwen was a fair and just person who would rule wisely over Camelot. He put all of his faith into that she would make the right decisions. Everything was going to be okay.

Standing up, he felt a lot more confident than when he had first arrived in this place. Gwaine slowly got onto two knees for leaning against Arthur for support in standing up.

"I'm ready," Arthur said to the woman. She smiled at them both, her presence was filling Arthur with ease and the confirmation that he needed.

"I know you are," she replied, "You both are".

And with that, they both followed her away from the clearing.

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Thank you for staying with me through this chapter, hopefully the next chapter should either have a bit more action, answer some of your questions or both. Happy new year!