Bonjour, mes amours! Merci de cliquer sur ma petite histoire belle. Cela signifie beaucoup pour moi, même si vous ne laissez pas un examen mais s'il vous plaît. Merci! And now those horrible disclaimers, warnings, etc. LOL. Hope you like my French.

Warnings: Slash, boy/boy love, possible character death, uncensored swearing. I do love to swear. LOL If you have a problem, turn back now. If not, please, enjoy.

Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, possibly Gwen/Morgana but it may be stuff you have to read between the lines to find.

Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Merlin.

Falls, Shivers, And Undeniable Concern:

Chapter One: Falls That Kill

Merlin grabbed Arthur's wrist to prevent him from touching the strange, glowing plant in the middle of the forest. "Arthur," he hissed. The prince chuckled and tried again, merely to piss Merlin off. Merlin pulled him back and glared at him. Several of the knights that had accompanied them on their hunt moved forward to examine the plant. "That could be dangerous. Gaius told me about something like that plant. It…Oh, what's it do?"

Arthur laughed at Merlin's forgetfulness before growing serious and saying, "We'll have to sketch it and post a guard to make sure no one touches it before Gaius identifies it. Gerald, sketch the plant, please, then you and Kay take the drawing to the physician. Merlin and I will keep guard until your return."

Merlin nearly groaned. The knights were gone after thirty minutes of drawing the plant and having Arthur check it over to make sure it didn't look off. They sat down on the ground three feet from the plant and Arthur began to carefully polish his sword out of boredom. Merlin lied out and stared at the sky for the same reason. Arthur nudged him when his sword was polished to perfection. He ignored him. The prince nudged him again. "Merlin, did you complete all your chores before we left?"

"The ones that mattered, yeah," Merlin replied. "Packed your bags, cleaned your rooms, cleaned the stables, tended the horses…That stuff." He yawned and Arthur frowned.

"I gave you more chores than that," he pointed out, slightly confused.

"The others could wait and I didn't have time," Merlin said as his eyes drooped. Arthur got to his feet and kicked Merlin's feet. "What? I'm tired."

"The urgency of those chores does not matter. What matters is that you failed to follow all my orders. Sometimes, I think you're just too dumb to remember than I am the prince. I am in charge of you. You cannot pick the orders you want to follow. You must follow all of them," Arthur said firmly. Merlin propped himself up on his elbows to stare at him. "You will apologize for being so disobedient."

"No! I didn't have time!" Merlin repeated angrily. "You're getting mad over nothing!" He really hated when Arthur got bored. He always started a fight, no matter how tired or hungry Merlin was.

"I am not! Merlin, you are my servant! You will do as you're told! Every order will be followed to the letter! Is that clear?" Arthur yelled firmly. He kicked him again, this time a little more firmly but only in hopes of getting a rise out of his manservant. He was very bored.

Merlin stood up and shoved him. "Don't kick me!" Arthur shoved back, a part of him always enjoyed when Merlin fought with him despite his anger. And Merlin's anger? It was hilarious. His ears went red and he almost laughed at how it looked. "I did the ones that mattered! I'll get the others done when we get back! Why can't you be happy with that?"

"Because if you were a proper servant, you would have gotten them all done with time to spare!" Arthur yelled back, loving how Merlin's entire face went red at the sadly truthful words. "I have half a mind to fire you and hire someone with proper breeding and training!" Merlin felt a bit of hurt go through him. He knew Arthur was a bit disappointed by his lack of skills as a manservant but to know he actually wanted to fire him…That was a knife in his heart. Arthur felt a twinge of guilt at the hurt in Merlin's eyes but couldn't stop now. He had to give Merlin an opportunity to fight back. "Well? Say something?"

*"I just remembered what that plant does. It kills the person who touches it. Very slowly, very painfully," Merlin said truthfully when he couldn't actually reply to his threat. Arthur frowned at turned to look at the plant. "Strange, with its appearance being so beautiful."

"Yeah," Arthur replied. "Of course, Morgana is lovely but she'd kill someone if they made her break a nail." Merlin couldn't help but chuckle. He squatted next to the plant and examined the pinkish-red flowers and glowing green leaves and stems. "Get back from that, idiot." Arthur grabbed the back of his neck scarf to pull him up but all that did was throw him off balance. The prince tried to pull him up but he fell onto the plant before he could. "Merlin!"*

Merlin jumped back and looked himself over. "Um, I'm okay, I think." Arthur drew his sword and cut the flowers to pieces, partially to keep others safe and partially to soothe his anger and guilt. He hated that Merlin had fallen on that disgusting plant because of him. "That was unnecessary."

"It'll keep anyone else from touching it. Get on your horse. We're getting you to Gaius." Arthur sat with Merlin through the thorough examination Gaius performed. That exam showed nothing wrong with Merlin but he still ordered Merlin to bath thoroughly and let him know if he started feeling strange. After a long, hot bath with Arthur watching him protectively, he went with Arthur to his chambers and set about getting him ready for bed, happy to have escaped certain death.

The next day, he was still feeling just fine. He was able to do all his chores and cater to Arthur's every whim per usual and even help Gaius a little. He laughed and talked with Guinevere, played Arthur's game where he pretended to berate him and see who ran out of clever quips first, and watched Morgana try to make Arthur's face redden with anger. She succeeded several times. He knew everyone was watching him carefully though, silently praying he didn't suddenly collapse or something like Gaius had warned them he might do. He hated being watched but appreciated the concern.

After that day, everyone stopped watching so closely, since Gaius said he was probably in the clear if there were no signs of anything being wrong by then. He made it through most of the second day without incident. Then he noticed his hands shaking as he was pouring Arthur's wine to have with his dinner. He frowned and glanced at his prince to ask if he was imagining it. His vision blurred suddenly. He swayed and dropped the pitcher. Arthur stood up. "What's wrong?"

Arthur gasped as Merlin collapsed, losing consciousness before he hit the ground. Arthur dropped to his knees beside him and began to shake him worriedly. Fear made him numb, desperation made him shake as much as Merlin, and his heart thundered so loud, he already heard it when Guinevere came running. He only noticed her presence when she began to desperately ask what happened to her friend. He turned his heard to look at her standing in the doorway with wide eyes and Morgana now beside her. "Get Gaius! Now!"

TBC

LOL. I guess Merlin isn't so healthy now. Thanks for reading. :D Reviews would be lovely, si c'est pas trop compliqué.

*Okay, I just wanted to tell ya'll that I almost wrote the little scene with the stars next to it to have Arthur shove Merlin into the plant, which I couldn't decide what to name, btw. LOL. But this story is supposed to play with Arthur's head in a different, cause mental growth for the prat, yada-yada. But point is I just wanted to tell ya'll that. Also, if anyone wants, I can rewrite this chapter to include that alternative scene after I finish this story. But only after.