So, I'm not happy with this chapter either. I think that school has been killing my creativity. If you all read this and tell me it is junk then I will promise you that I won't update until I write something better. It's up to you all. Anywho, as some of might have heard I began another story, it shouldn't be anywhere near as long as this one, though. I wrote it because it was easier to write than this chapter. If you guys wish for me to update that instead of this one then I will try to comply. The same if you want me to just finish this story. Though, honestly, I am not feeling very confident in any of my ideas at this point. It sorta feels like some wacko took a gun to the heads of all of my muses and now I have nothing to work with. Maybe I should just take a sort hiatus. I don't know, review and tell me what you think/want. Oh, and thank you to everyone who has responded to "Why You Don't Mess With Merlin" so nicely, it really is quite amazing.

Morgana had heard from Gwen as she had rushed in to ask her mistress if she could have the rest of the day off that Arthur was back. Gwen had also mentioned that the reason that she needed the day was because Merlin was gravely injured and Gaius needed her help. Of course, Morgana had told her to go to Merlin; that she was fine and could do without her handmaiden.

But as soon as Gwen had hurried back to Gaius' chambers the king's ward made her way to the throne room where she knew Arthur would be heading for, if he wasn't already there. From the look on her servant's face and the fact that a search party had been sent out for them Morgana knew that something bad had happened, and she wanted to know what. And if Merlin was sick or injured then this was no time to be asking him. So she would have to find out from Arthur, who really was the best choice—since she had a feeling that Merlin would downplay his own involvement in everything—despite the fact that he could be a bit thick at times.

She reached the throne room and intended to slip in one of the back ways when she heard the conversation going on in the room.

"Obviously I refused to tell him anything," she heard Arthur say.

She opened the door a bit he that she could see inside the room. Arthur looked pale and haggard, he seemed to be just barely hanging on to consciousness. But what she found more disturbing than the obvious fatigue and grime on Arthur; a clear sign of a difficult experience, was all the emotions that she could read on the prince's face.

He was doing his best to hide them and keep them in check but Morgana had always been able to see through Arthur, though, she doubted Oblivious Uther would notice them.

But they were there and clear. There was desperation, worry and fear, though from or for what exactly she had no idea. There was a mental exhaustion that she really hadn't expected; Arthur never looked as if his brain was about to melt! He never used it that much, after all.

A kind of sadness that a person only ever got after losing someone, or nearly losing them, permeated his face. Immediately Morgana thought of Merlin and just barely stifled a gasp; was he really that bad?

And lastly and definitely the most horrible was a look of someone who was at the end of their rope emotionally. Of someone whose emotions had taken such a beating that they were raw and bleeding. Arthur looked as if he was about to cry; about to break down right there from the sheer weight of his emotions, which was all impossible since Arthur never cried or lost control of himself like this. If he was ever feeling overwhelmed he'd just take his anger out on somebody; most likely Merlin.

Arthur looked terrible, and Morgana couldn't imagine what could possibly have happened to make him seem so vulnerable and hurt. It was rare to see even one of these emotions on his face, let alone see all of them at once.

Morgana was so overcome by what she saw in Arthur that she didn't even have it in her to feel properly annoyed or angry as Uther scoffed at the idea of his son giving up Camelot's secrets.

But the next sentence that came out of Arthur's mouth and the broken tone in which he said it was one that her mind had trouble comprehending fully for several minutes it was so shocking.

"So he… he was going to torture me but thought that-that my servant, Merlin, had to know some of what I know and he de-decided to t-torture him instead."

Merlin stared at Arthur in total shock at what he had said; Merlin was tortured? Morgana couldn't see Uther's face from where she was but she could tell by his response that he detected at least a little bit of his son's distress.

"I'm sorry, my son. It's never easy to watch anyone get tortured, especially someone you know. And it's even more horrific to watch them break; knowing that that might happen to you someday. Everyone has their limits."

Oh, yeah, never mind that an innocent person who just happens to be your son's servant was tortured! Did you even stop to think that that might be why he looks like he's been through hell; not because of fear for himself? Morgana thought. Now she was angry, angry because her guardian couldn't see what was staring him in the face. Angry because of what Merlin had had to go through. And angry because she couldn't just barge in and comfort Arthur like she wanted. She should've just entered the room through its normal entrance.

Arthur must have been feeling roughly the same way because the next thing that Morgana knew the prince was nearly yelling at his father.

"He didn't break, father! That man tortured him nearly to the point of death and he still didn't break! He didn't tell the sorcerer a single thing that could be used against Camelot! I don't know if I could've been that strong. And this all came from a servant who a little over a week ago you told me to let die."

Arthur stared at his father for a moment before putting his head in his hand as if he was in pain. And Morgana figured that he probably was since she noticed a spot of blood on his head that she hadn't been able to see before. And as she looked the prince over she noticed other signs of his ordeal.

She had already been aware of the dirt that covered him and how exhausted he looked, but as she narrowed her gaze she could see white bandages covering his wrists, which had small dots of blood on them. She could also see that some blood had trickled down the side of his face, though why Uther hadn't noticed it by now and ordered him to go and see Gaius she had no idea.

If Arthur looked bad then Morgana could only wonder with horror how terrible Merlin must look.

Arthur lifted up his head and said in a soft voice that she had never heard come from him before,

"Last I saw of my servant he looked half dead. I dare any knight, or noble, or royal, or servant to go through the same thing he did and not be very, very close to breaking. Because I swear to you, father, he wasn't."

Arthur turned on his heels and left and Morgana wondered again what could have possibly happened to cause this reaction from someone who was normally very respectful to Uther. She knew that his words told her some of what had happened, but she highly doubted that this was all of it. Arthur looked as if he couldn't register everything properly; as if he was so far beyond his breaking point that he didn't understand everything fully. And Morgana had to admit that that scared her some.

For a moment the king's ward simply thought about everything that she had heard, and then she came to a decision and walked confidently after the boy she thought of as an immature younger brother. Arthur needed help, she realized, and who better than her to be the one to give it? After all, she was pretty proud of him for standing up to his father without needing any encouragement from her; maybe he was growing up. Or maybe it was just another phase.

Arthur found that his head no longer hurt and that, in fact, almost his whole body felt numb, but he didn't care. He wanted to see Merlin and he wanted to see him now, and damn everything else.

His vision was blurry at the edges and at some point in time he had realized that the world kept on spinning for some reason, but once again he didn't bloody-well care. He had gotten his talk with his father over with and now he honestly felt like he was going to black out any minute but he still had yet to find out if Merlin was going to be okay.

It wasn't until he reached the door to the physician's chambers that he came to the conclusion that knowing whether or not Merlin was going to live could be a bad thing. What if he's dying? What if he's already dead? What if he's awake and feeling better but hates me for not getting him out of there in time? All these thoughts were spinning in and out of Arthur's head and he really wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. Nothing made any sense.

But as he heard the sound of someone coming down the very same corridor he was in and some small part of his brain realized that he should move before he's seen standing there like an idiot, he turned the handle on the door and stepped in.

Gaius and Gwen were both hunched over a person lying on the cot that the physician always reserved for patients. Arthur couldn't see anything of the person that they were attending and wasn't sure that he wanted to.

But they must've heard him for they both turned around. "Sire!" Gaius exclaimed. Arthur noticed the concerned look that crossed his face and realized that he had no idea of how bad he looked.

"How-how is he, Gaius?"

Gwen and Gaius shared a glance and then stepped away from Merlin.

It was different from when he'd last seen Merlin. All the blood had been washed off so he could see with a painfully perfect clarity what damage had been done. Almost as if he was in a dream Arthur walked over and knelt beside the bed that Merlin was on.

His back was covered in deep, angry, red lacerations. Blood still oozed, albeit rather slowly, from all the cuts and horrible-looking welts. From what Arthur could see Gaius had been putting some sort of ointment or salve on them; perhaps to reduce the swelling that he could see taking place, or to get rid of infection, or maybe to ease the pain. Arthur didn't know which.

Certain parts of Merlin's back had been bandaged up but most of it was still uncovered. As Arthur leaned in to see Merlin's face something caught his eye. On his left shoulder, which thankfully the whip hadn't damaged, he could see a tiny white line.

Arthur's mind suddenly jerked back to the underground cell; to when Merlin was about to get punished for his silence Arthur had seen undeniable evidence that the boy had been whipped before. Obviously this mark of his previous torment had been left unmarred by his most recent and therefore was as plain as day if you actually looked.

The prince still couldn't believe that he had gone through the same thing twice; that he hadn't broken out of the fear that would stem from his painful past. Arthur still wondered how and when exactly those horrible marks had been made, but now wasn't the time to ask his servant.

He put his hand on Merlin's bare and unharmed shoulder as he took the whole of the boy in. If it weren't for the deep state of unconsciousness that he was in then Arthur was sure that he would be in unendurable agony again. He looked just as bloodless as before and his face still had those lines of pain on it, as if, even where he was, he could still feel some of it.

The future king; the man who was supposed to unite all of Albion in peace, could feel tears coming to his eyes as he stared at his friend, his friend who had gone through far, far too much. But Arthur pushed back the tears, for he knew that once they started then they wouldn't stop.

"Oh, Merlin, how could anyone find it in their heart to do this to you?" he asked quietly.

He stood up and backed away from his unconscious servant, sniffed slightly and turned to Gaius. "Will he be all right?"

Gaius simply chose that moment to stare at Arthur's head. "Sire, why don't I take a look at you? You don't seem to be in very good shape yourself."

Arthur glared at the physician. He was feeling strange; first he had felt horrible, and then he had felt like he was going to faint, and then he had felt numb, and now it seemed he was getting his second wind. Anger tended to do that for him.

"Gaius," he said with a warning in his voice; second wind or no he still wasn't up to the older man's stalling.

The man sighed. "If I answer your question will you allow me to look at your head?" he asked.

"Yes."

Gaius looked over at Gwen and nodded towards Merlin and the girl went over and began applying something to his back.

"We are treating his wounds for infection, but it doesn't seem too bad yet; I think I managed to catch it in time.

"He's lost a lot of blood and I'm doing all I can for that as well, which unfortunately isn't much.

"Gwen and I have been able to get a little bit of water down his throat, but no food. That seems to be the biggest problem. His body is so weak that he can't handle the strain that lack of food and water will put on it. But as long as I can manage to get some sustenance into him, and keep him from losing any more blood, and keep the fever he has down, well, then he should be fine." He turned to look at his ward.

For some reason Arthur didn't quite believe the old man; he hadn't told him everything. "Gaius," he said again, "what aren't you telling me?"

He turned back to look at the prince and Arthur was surprised by the fear and pain that he saw in his eyes. "I said he 'should' be fine, Arthur, but the true is…he's not. And currently he doesn't look like he ever will be again."

Arthur froze; a feeling of dread coming over him for what seemed like the millionth time in just a few days. Slowly, afraid of the answer he might get, he asked, "What do you mean?"

Gaius had a look of deep regret; as if he really didn't want to tell him this, in his eyes. "What I mean is, instead of getting better, Merlin is only getting worse. And I don't know why. If I can't do something to change the state of his health soon, Merlin is going to die."

There you go; Merlin isn't out of the woods yet. Well, he is out of Camelot's woods, but...oh, you know what I mean. I just want you all to know that the bit where Arthur's feelings of exhaustion and numbness and such change is real. It's true, as a girl, or just perhaps as a human being, I have felt what it is like to have drastic changes in how I'm feeling physically when my brain and body have been through a lot. That all happens when the brain and body just don't know how to react because they're so drained. So, I wasn't being unrealistic. Please review and tell me what you think of my rather pathetic chapter, and also make sure to tell me if you think I should take a break for my story's own good.