Right. First off I need to apologize to those of you who I told that I would have this chapter up this morning. I had to leave the house at eight to get to my 9am lecture, and I forgot to e-mail the chapter to myself before I left. Therefore, when I got to the library with the intention of adding the final touches and putting it up, I didn't have it there. To make it up to you, I worked on chapter 7 instead, so I should be able to have that up very shortly. In the meantime, Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

Chapter 6

Merlin could barely breath. Arthur knew. Arthur had seen him use his magic. What would happen now? Would he turn him in to Uther? Kill him on the spot? He dared not hope that the Prince would actually forgive him for it. Why on earth had he let himself lose control like that? Now it was all over.

He watched as Arthur stared silently at him. There were so many emotions flitting across his face that Merlin found it impossible to read them all. One was prominent though. Anger. Arthur was angry. Oh God. Arthur was furious!

Arthur was getting up. He was standing. He was coming closer. He was falling… Wait? Falling? Merlin's heart skipped a beat. It was as though everything was happening in slow motion, and yet it was over in the blink of an eye- his friend collapsed right in front of his eyes almost before he even realised what was happening.

Merlin immediately forgot his fear; forgot his tiredness; forgot that he himself had also collapsed just a short while ago. He jumped up and ran over to his friend, unable to prevent himself from calling out.

"ARTHUR!" He dove down to kneel at the other man's side, horrified to see blood seeping from a wound on the back of his head- dying his blond hair a deep and dangerous red. No. Oh no. He had done this to Arthur. His magic had thrown him across the camp- Arthur must have hit his head when he landed. This was his fault.

"Arthur. Arthur. Can you hear me?" Merlin raced over to the horses and grabbed his pack. He had a few basic medical supplies in there- Gaius never let him leave without them. "Arthur, you need to wake up. Please Arthur." He was unaware of the tears flowing down his face as he hurried to clean the Prince's wound, desperately securing a linen bandage round his friend's head. Oh, how he wished he had paid more attention to Gaius when the older man had tried to teach him these things. Look where not listening had got him.

Focusing on Arthur's face, he continued to speak.

"Arthur, come on. You need to wake up. You're stronger than this, you've had worse injuries in the past." Nothing. His fear and frustration grew, bursting out in the form of insults. "Come on you stupid prat. I need you to wake up. You may be a clot pole, and an arrogant twit, but I need you. Camelot needs you. You need to wake up!"

He let out a huge sigh of relief as the Prince's eyes flickered slowly open.

"Who are you calling a Prat?"

Merlin couldn't help it. He knelt back, hands clasped together on his lap, and gave a quick laugh of joy before remembering that he had been the cause of this.

"Oh thank God. I thought… I thought you…" Arthur weakly punched him on the arm.

"Come on now, you're not getting rid of me that easily."

When Arthur opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a distraught Merlin wringing his hands together. Grief and guilt were written in his features, tears streaming down his face. Remembering back to how he himself had felt when Merlin had collapsed, all he could do was try to cheer his friend up. Giving a feeble punch, he turned his face towards him.

"Come on now, you're not getting rid of me that easily." The two laughed briefly, Merlin shaking his head in relief.

"No, of course not. It'll probably take at least two knocks to do that."

"Oi!" Bringing his hand to his head, he noticed a bandage wrapped around it. He frowned. "How long was I out?"

"Not long. A few minutes maybe."

Arthur held up an arm. "Here, help me up will you?" Merlin quickly obliged, helping his master to his feet and guiding Arthur over to a large tree. The Prince sat down, leaning his weight against it to make sure that he was secure. The younger man looked down at him, stumbling over his words before he managed to speak.

"I'm so sorry Arthur- I didn't mean to- I didn't even realise…"

"It's fine. I know. You don't have to apologize." Stopping, he looked up at his friend, once again remembering what he had wanted to say.

"You're a sorcerer."

Merlin tensed. "Yes. Well, no. Well, sort of. Well."

"Spit it out Merlin!"

"Technically? No, I'm a Warlock." Arthur raised his eyebrow.

"A warlock?" Merlin nodded. "There's a difference?" Another nod. Arthur sighed. "Well, not that it matters as far as my father is concerned."

"Are you… going to tell him?" For a second, Arthur froze. That thought hadn't even occurred to him. Strange- ordinarily that would be the first thing on his mind in such a situation. Maybe it was just because this was Merlin? Then he realised something he hadn't before.

"Is that why you never told me?"

The self-proclaimed warlock seemed confused by this response. "Well, yeah. Lately anyway. At first it was because you were such an obnoxious prat. Not that you've changed much." Arthur had to hold back a grin at that. Even in such a situation, Merlin was still cracking jokes.

"Watch it you idiot. I still haven't forgiven you for keeping this hidden from me all this time. You've got a lot of making up to do. But, in answer to your question- no, I won't tell him."

Arthur watched as Merlin considered this for a second, surprised when he suddenly burst out with an entirely unexpected comment.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head harder than we thought?"

"Pretty sure Merlin. Why?"

"Well, it's just that- considering how much of a clot pole you usually are- you seem to be taking this quite calmly. I'm still half expecting you to burst into a giant rant and try to punch me any second now." The boy paused. "Oh no, you're going to punch me now aren't you?" This time, Arthur didn't quite manage to hold back the snort that burst from him.

"Oh please, do you really think I'd try and punch a weakling like you? You're not even worth it- one touch and you'd be flat on your back unable to move." The two of them gave a brief laugh.

All jokes aside though, what Merlin had said was true. If this had been anyone else, he would have immediately yelled out about how they had betrayed both himself and the whole of Camelot, before dragging the person before his father. For some reason though, things just felt different now. He had always known that there was something strange about Merlin, right from the first time the two of them had met. And now he knew why. And for some reason, Merlin's magic wasn't as big a surprise to him as it should be. In fact, it felt… right. Like everything had just clicked into place. Merlin wasn't evil. Magic wasn't evil. The law was wrong. His father was wrong. All doubts Arthur had previously had on the topic washed away- gone in the blink of an eye because of this one new piece of information.

He turned to Merlin, his eyes glinting with this newfound certainty. There were so many things he wanted to know.

"So- what does it feel like? To use magic that is?" He could tell that Merlin was surprised by this sudden turn of events, but he didn't care. He wanted to know everything. "Come on, tell me."

"What does it feel like?" This time, it was the Prince's turn to nod. "That's a tough one to describe." The young manservant sat himself down facing his master, joy evident on his face at being able to finally share this secret with his friend, exhaustion completely forgotten for the time being. "Sometimes it feels like you're floating in a river- everything just comes so easily, and you just go along with it, riding the currents. At other times it's like you're a bird flying in a storm- like you're battling against the wind and the rain and the lightning, and the only thing keeping you up in the air is your will and perseverance. It's like you're a part of nature, connected to everything in the world and yet completely separate. It's like… It's like nothing words could ever explain. It's just…" He struggled to find the right word. "Amazing."

Arthur closed his eyes, trying to imagine, allowing this new knowledge to seep through his entire being. In a way, it reminded him of the exhilaration he felt while fighting- it could be hard, but in a way it was so very easy to find the flow of battle and go along with it. Merlin's description of magic sounded wonderful. To think that such a short time ago he had believed such a thing to be evil and corrupting. The very idea seemed ludicrous now. He opened his eyes again.

"So when did you first use magic? What made you decide to try it?"

Merlin just looked at him, a smile plastered across his face as though he found the idea laughable.

"I didn't just decide to. It's a part of me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I said- It's a part of me. I've been using magic since I was born."

So there you go. I hope you liked it. To be honest with you, even I actually thought that Arthur would have a rant. But this acceptance of the whole thing just seemed to flow. I hope it worked.

Please feel free to review- it really helps my enthusiasm :)