Sorry for the wait. It's really hard to give Death his moments in this story, but I'm trying.

Enjoy.

Percival carried Merlin as they marched on to find the Remotas flower. Since he was the strongest out of the entire knights, he was given the job of carrying their injured friend. The knight's legs were starting to hurt from walking so much, although his arms had only just started to hurt since Merlin was so light weighted. Up ahead Arthur stopped. He signalled the other knights to check the area around them to see if it was safe to stop. After a couple of moments, they all nodded. Letting out a deep breath that he hadn't known he was holding, Percival lay Merlin down on the ground and started to make him comfortable.

"Gwaine, Elyan, go get some fire food to cook lunch. Percival, how's Merlin..." Arthur said, then wandered over to his servant and fellow knight. The other two knights nodded to their Prince and wandered off, swords in hands.

Gwaine and Elyan wandered for about a minute – out of the others sight – before they started to collect firewood. Elyan looked around at the small clearing they had stumbled upon. The midday sun poured through the small gaps in the old trees, which hadn't seen human life for a long time. The sun trickled down onto the soil stained ground with its brown crunchy leaves. The chunky and all so mighty trees were tall and sturdy, standing still for all eternity, never to take one step from where they grew. Some trees were slightly thinner and had grown in a way that made them twist around one another as if it was a ritual dance frozen in time. A leaf fell off a tree that Elyan was kneeling by and he watched it fall. The leaf broke free from its place on the tree and twisted down in slow motion as if time was slowing just for Elyan to watch it – towards the ground where it would lie until it decayed. It twirled and turned, hypnotising him and reminding him of his beloved sister Guinevere and the day she was born - so loud, so small and with no understanding of the world. However, she was now the opposite of those things. So quiet, so grown, so understanding of the world.

Elyan lost his balance when a stick flew into the side of his head. Falling onto his side gently, he looked and saw Gwaine smiling.

"What were you daydreaming about?" the man asked, picking up another chunk of wood. Elyan smiled at his daydream that quickly started to slip away from his mind.

"My sister... I find myself missing her more than ever at this moment in time," he said standing up.

"You're not like most big brothers Elyan, mate," Gwaine said throwing a rotten twig behind him. Elyan frowned.

"What do you mean by that?" Elyan asked something inside starting to boil. He narrowed his eyes at his friend. Gwaine raised his hands in defence, sensing Elyan's anger and dropping all his wood.

"I'm just saying – I mean, you don't mind that she's kissed all the knights but Percival," he said starting to pick up his wood again.

"All the knights?" Elyan repeated shocked.

"But Percival... But she made up for him by kissing Merlin once," Gwaine added.

"Merlin?" Elyan repeated.

"On the lips."

"Lips!"

"Arthur on the lips, Lancelot on the lips, Merlin on the lips, Leon on the check from when they were younger, and me one the check... Your sister gets around a bit doesn't she?" Gwaine said innocently, meaning nothing by it.

Something snapped inside Elyan and a new feeling of uncontrollable rage and anger rampaged through his body like a wild dog.

"Take that back!" Elyan spat, standing threateningly with his hand on his sword. He let the wood he once held drop to the floor.

"Elyan I –" Gwaine didn't even get to finish his sentence, as Elyan drew his sword and ran at him. In defence and in instinct, Gwaine drew his sword and blocked Elyan's sword as it came crashing towards him. By the look on his friends face as he kicked him backwards and jumped to his feet, Gwaine knew that drawing his sword told Elyan that he challenged him... when he didn't even want to fight!

Governed by rage, Elyan and ran forwards, his sword point aimed for Gwaine's heart. Slapping Elyan's sword to the side with his own, Gwaine then smacked his side into his attacker. Elyan stumbled sideward's and then charged again. Their swords clashed several times and Elyan forced his opponent backwards. Tripping, Gwaine fell down flat on his back, and Elyan drove his sword through Gwaine's left leg. A painful scream burst through the knight's lungs and out of his mouth, leaving no air afterwards. Elyan pulled his sword free from the flesh on Gwaine's leg and raised it high – only to have it pulled from his grip. He turned and found his face was met by someone's fist. The punch was hard and painful, but quick and damaging. With his vision blurred, he managed to make out that the man was Leon. Tumbling backwards, he was caught by Lancelot. Elyan rolled his eyes to Gwaine.

"'I'm sorry Gwaine..." he murmured under his breath, before passing out.

"Looks like these forests do make people turn on one another," Arthur said, standing a little away from the group. "We better move on."

"Bet you ten souls this Gwaine guy gets his revenge," Death said, hitting his fist on the arm of his armchair. Merlin rolled his eyes. He didn't know how long he had been talking to Death – as Tom explained earlier, there is no time in the room he lives in – but in the time that he had been with him, he had learnt that Death wasn't all that serious.

"No comment," Merlin said, resting his chin on his hand.

"He does! Doesn't he!" the Grim Reaper exclaimed jumping up and down in his chair. He soon stopped as he sensed something wrong with Merlin. "What is it? Annoyed that you don't own any souls to bet with?"

"The next bit is where it all starts to go wrong," Merlin said, staring into the fire and watching it crackle and burn. "Is this fire from hell?" he asked. Tom looked to the fire.

"Do you really think heaven has fire at all, let alone fire as fierce and evilly taunting as this?" Tom Scythe asked. Merlin nodded, sitting up straight.

"Thought so."

"Now, tell me how it all goes wrong... I love it when things for you petty humans go wrong," Tom cooed. Merlin looked up at Death, and even though he couldn't see is face, he knew that there was a Cheshire cat grin on his face.

Percival carried Merlin down the small hill in the forest, trying not to slip or let any of the trees branches touch Merlin. Everything was evil, everything around them was going to try and break them apart. Everything and everyone.

"Which way now?"Gwaine said, turning with his arm spread wide. Percival placed Merlin on the ground and looked at what Gwaine meant.

There were two choices, go through one tunnel that might be littered with Wildren, or go through another tunnel and come out closer to the ruined castle without any problems at all.

"I say we go this way," Gwaine said, trotting down towards the left hand cave. Lancelot nodded.

"I agree," Arthur said, walking forwards, Lancelot following.

"Wait," Leon said causing them to stop. "We should go this way," he said pointing to the right. The three look from their cave to the one Leon chose.

"Why?" Arthur said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Because it doesn't smell like human flesh maybe? Or maybe because I feel a breeze coming through it, meaning that there' a way out the other side?"he explained a little too angrily. It wasn't his fault he was angry, the Prince was just being... well, careless.

"No Leon, it's this way. I'm the Prince and I'm telling you we are going this way," said the Prince as he turned to walk into the tunnel.

"But if you are wrong Sire," Leon said, pushing the matter, walking forwards, "we would be in serious trouble, and it would be hard to get around with Merlin," he said, pointing at Merlin. Something flickered in Arthur's eyes for just a moment as he looked at the boy lying still on the ground.

"Leave him," Gwaine said, his words close to what was going through Arthur's head.

"Kill him," Lancelot said the exact words that were going through Arthur's head.

"What? You can't!" Elyan said standing up and drawing his sword as Arthur did. The Prince of Camelot walked over to his friend and went to bring his sword down on him. Leon and Elyan were frozen in horror whilst Gwaine and Lancelot just accepted this...

"And here you are now!" Tom Scythe exclaimed happily with his arms open wide, gesturing to the small room. The young Warlock stared at him blankly.

"No," he said shaking his head. Death dropped his arms. "I don't die there... There is still one person who shall not change... And deserves more mention," Merlin explained gravely.

"Like you," Tom said, and Merlin nodded.

Percival grabbed Arthur's arm. The Prince's face snapped round to look at him and the world around them frozen for this moment of good and bad to understand who is who. Percival fierily grabbed Arthur's sword and yanked it from his grasp. He then threw it behind him and made himself as big as possible.

"Don't. Hurt. The. Servant," he said, growling from the back of his voice. "All he's ever done is served you loyally. Don't be the death of him."

Arthur took Percival's words in and walked away from Merlin. He picked up his sword, and he, Gwaine and Lancelot walked towards the tunnel they want to go through.

"You three are the closest to Merlin out of us all," Leon said, watching them go. Arthur caught his words and spun round viciously, snarling.

"He is not one of us! He'll never be one of us, or accepted by us!" With that, the three were gone, leaving the others speechless.

"So you didn't die there?" Tom asked, trying to get it round his empty skull.

"Nope," Merlin popped the 'p'.

"Damn! I hoped you died," he said, going into a sulk like a three-year-old. Merlin raised his eyebrow.

"Look on the bright side," Merlin said, and Death perked up, listening. "My death is still to come," he said, putting on his best goofy smile. With his arms still cross over his chest, Death said:

"You're dead, stop smiling."

"Smile... It confuses people."

"Hurry up and get to the bit where you die."

Leon was first to walk out of the tunnel and take a deep breath of air. Elyan came put next, then Percival.

"I told you our tunnel was the right one," Leon said proudly. Percival sat Merlin down up against a rock.

"But that means that the other tunnel was the one with Wildren," Elyan said.

"Not like we have to go back for them or anything is it," Leon slapped Elyan's arm and they laughed.

"Too true!"

"We have to go back for them," a voice from the side said. The two knights turned to Percival.

"Err, why?" they both chorused together.

"Because Merlin would go back for them, because they're his friends and they are ours as well. No matter what happens, no matter how much we are consumed by the evil that is tearing us apart we have to remember: we left friends, we will return friends," he explained and went to pick Merlin up.

"Why you so keen on making sure we get through this together?" Elyan asked. Percival picked up Merlin, walked towards the tunnel's mouth and turned round.

"Because that's Merlin job, but he isn't well enough to do his job… So hasn't someone got to do his job for him?"

What do we think?

Review please!