Here it is at last, Arthur's third and final revelation. I may write a sequel to this at some point if enough people ask for it and if I think I can do both the characters and the actors justice, so maybe not :~

Three Revelations – The Third Revelation

"That is all that can be done sire." Gaius said to the nearly catatonic Crown Prince of Camelot as he finished bandaging Merlin's left shoulder and chest.

"Is he going to be alright?" Arthur whispered never taking his eyes off his friend's, his Merlin's, pale face.

"If he makes it through the night he will make a complete recovery." Gaius spoke with difficulty. "But he is still very weak and he has lost a lot of blood as well…" Gaius trailed off unable to complete the sentence, Arthur nodded.

"Can you help me move him closer to the fire sire?" Gaius asked as the last rays of the sun shone through the window. Arthur looked at him questioningly. "The best chance Merlin has is to be kept warm and hydrated so what little blood he has left is kept moving." Gaius explained.

Arthur looked around the physicians chambers.

I've never noticed how uncomfortable they are before

He noticed the tiny fireplace, the ill fitting windows and the bare stone floors and walls, the room was draughty and freezing at night and Merlin's own room was worse! It didn't even have a fireplace! Quite how Merlin stopped himself from freezing to death normally Arthur had no idea. In his current state however Arthur had no doubt that such conditions would make his death a virtual certainty.

Well he's not staying here, if Merlin needs to be warm, comfortable and well looked after then I am going to be the one to do it. I will fix this!

"I'll take him to my chambers." Arthur commanded as he gently picked the frail body of his friend up off the table.

"Sire?" Gaius asked shocked.

"My chambers are warmer, I'm not going to spare anything that might make the difference between life and…and…." Arthur choked, not even able to whisper the dreaded word he turned and walked swiftly towards his own chambers, the most precious and delicate thing in all the world held safely in his arms.

Sir Bedivere paced outside his Prince's room hating what he was about to do but having no choice in the matter, he knocked and entered before Prince Arthur could command whoever was at the door to leave as he surely would. The room was hot, the fire blazing as if it was mid winter. Arthur sat on the bed with Merlin, his manservant's head rested gently in his lap and he was quietly dabbing at the bandages with a damp cloth to keep the wound from drying out. A small cup was in his other hand.

"Come on Merlin, just a little sip, that's it." Arthur said softly as Merlin automatically took a little sip from the offered cup even though he was still unconscious. Gently replacing the cup Arthur turned slowly to face Sir Bedivere, careful not to disturb Merlin who's head was still nestled in his lap "What do you want?" Arthur spat his tone like ice.

Sir Bedivere gulped noticing the tear tracks on his Prince's face and the way his arms curled protectively around the wounded manservant. "Sire the King requests your presence immediately, he has learned of the ambush and wishes your report in person."

"No"

The one word answer was exactly what Sir Bedivere was afraid of. "Sire, Arthur, the King was most insistent." He said making sure to keep his voice low, he to liked his Prince's goofy manservant and didn't want to upset his recovery.

"I have told you about the ambush in detail Bedivere." Arthur replied softly, his anger at the knight melting in the face of his obvious concern for Merlin. "You can tell him everything that he needs to know and then inform him that I will explain the rest over breakfast tomorrow morning."

Sir Bedivere looked like he would rather face a Questing Beast alone and unarmed than deliver that news to Uther but he bowed respectively and exited the room.

Arthur resumed gently dabbing the bandages, unconsciously his other hand played with Merlin's hair as his mind continued to race. "Please be alright Merlin." He whispered softly. "Please stay with me."

Yeh like he will want to, I shot him with a crossbow! While he was trying to save my life! I'll be lucky if he doesn't spit in my face and leave Camelot forever! Of course he has to be alive to do that which would mean I'd be jumping for joy anyway but still. Oh Merlin how could I have believed that you were going to harm me? After all we've been through together? All the times you've saved my life?

Inwardly Arthur admitted that Merlin had saved his life in more than the traditional sense. Before he had arrived Arthur had been more and more depressed and angry, the weight of his duty was slowly crushing him and he had no release, no one to help him. Morgana and he were to different to be in the same room without trying to kill each other, his father cared nothing for his emotions nor his behaviour when he was out of the public eye and everyone else was either terrified of him or a spineless brown nosing boot licker.

Merlin was never like that

Arthur smiled, his eyes beginning to water again as he remembered so many little things. He had been trying to find boundaries in his personal life and finding none he had been trying to self destruct. To do anything to make someone, anyone, stand up to him, to make him FEEL something! Anything except numbness and duty.

Merlin stood up to me. He stopped me throwing knives at a terrified peasant when the peasant wouldn't even stand up for himself. Yes I sentenced him to the stocks but it was such a thrill, the anger the embarrassment, it made me feel alive again. Merlin answers back, he says no, he calls me a royal prat and insults me…

Arthur continued to run through everything he loved about Merlin but it could all be boiled down to one sentence.

He treats me like Arthur, like a person, not a Prince who must be obeyed and fawned over

Arthur wanted boundaries, Merlin gave them to him. Arthur wanted someone to stand up to him and remind him that he was a person not an emotionless puppet and Merlin did that in spades.

My life was meaningless before you stumbled into it

Arthur was having a very difficult time holding back tears as he was once more hit with the consequences of his mistake.

Merlin has been everything I needed to fill the void, to help me shoulder the immense weight of my duty. He never had to. He never had to save my life, he never had to stand up to me. Even when father made him my manservant he still didn't have to help me carry this load, this crushing responsibility. But he didn't even ask, he just waltzed in and took half of the load.. He made it so that I could feel alive again. Everything he's done, all the pain he's gone through for me and I've repaid him by killing him. Merlin I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry!"

Arthur's body began to shake with repressed sobs as the guilt and shame came back full force, eating him alive as he looked down and saw his pale and broken manservant. No quirky smile was on his lips, no tender insults to remind him what a prat he was being, just a cold and broken body in constant pain and all because he, Arthur, had thought that his Merlin was going to kill him. The guilt trebled as he realised the ridiculousness of that. Even if Merlin was a sorcerer he had had thousands of opportunities to do harm to Arthur, Uther, even Camelot in it's entirety and he had never taken any of them.

He never took any of them no matter how difficult staying here was and yet I betrayed him at the first sign that our friendship would not be plain sailing

The guilt faded to be replaced with the slow burning of shame and self loathing. From their intensity Arthur decided that this was probably what it felt like to be burnt at the stake.

All in all Arthur was actually glad for the distraction that the door slamming open offered him. Carefully sliding Merlin into a sitting position against the headboard Arthur turned round ready to unleash his full fury against the person who was foolish enough to disturb them.

His father beat him to it.

"When I command you come to me immediately I expect you to obey! Or have you forgotten who's court your in?" Uther thundered.

"Merlin was gravely injured saving my life, AGAIN, and he may not survive the night so you will have to excuse me if I find his life more important that telling you what you have already heard from Bedivere!" Arthur thundered back, his temper was far more difficult to rouse than Uther's but when he did get angry no one could tell the difference between father and son.

"You refuse my command for a servant??!!" Uther screamed incredulously.

"I refuse your command for my friend!" Arthur screamed back.

"He is just a servant. He is NOT your friend!" Uther tried to get his temper under control lest the two of them come to blows

"And Le Fay was just a knight and not yours?" Arthur replied quietly, his voice may have been back to normal but his ice blue eyes showed the intensity of his fury.

"That is completely different." Uther replied taken off balance by Arthur bringing up things from before he was even born.

"How? Le Fay was simply a knight, he had no right to talk back to you, to defy you, to make you realise that you were still a person as well as a king."

"He was my advisor he had every right!"

"Then as soon as I take the throne I shall make Merlin mine!"

Uther was shocked to stillness by that declaration, it was the same as the one he had issued to his own father decades ago, the one his wife Igrane had whispered as the solution to what his father saw as Le Fay's disrespect of Crown Prince Uther Pendragon. Now more than ever he saw is heart, his all, his Igrane in the face of his son. Arthur favoured her in looks he had known that for years but the fierce protectiveness his son was radiating reminded him so much of his beloved wife he had to leave the room before he broke down.

"We will speak more of this tomorrow." Uther declared as regally as he could before retreating out of the door.

Arthur was stunned, he had been prepared to fight and be thrown in the dungeons, he had not expected to make his father back down.

"Did you mean it?" Arthur whipped around to face the bed, Merlin's eyes were open. They were his usual cobalt blue and glistening with unshed tears but now that he looked closely Arthur could still see flecks of gold. He could still see the magic that was as much a part of his friend, his Merlin, as breathing was.

"Did you mean it?" Merlin pleaded brokenly.

Arthur realised that Merlin had never expected to wake up again. Even if he did he was probably certain that Prince Arthur would stand by and watch as the evil sorcerer Merlin was burned alive.

Arthur flew to the bed and pulled his Merlin to him in a tight embrace.

"Merlin I'm sorry!" Arthur whispered quietly into his friends ear "I'm so so sorry! I don't care that you're a sorcerer! I'll keep your secret! I tried to use your magic book to heal you but the spells wouldn't work for me. I was so afraid that you wouldn't wake up, that you would leave me, that I would never get to tell you how sorry I am, and how much I want you to stay."

"You tried to use magic to save me? Merlin gasped disbelievingly.

"I couldn't get the spell to work." Arthur admitted brokenly. "I tried and tried, I willed it with everything I have but the spell just wouldn't work. I had to get Gaius to do it."

Merlin was still stunned that Arthur had tried to use magic to save him. That more than anything including standing up to Uther and keeping his secret revealed to him how sorry Arthur was, and how much he meant to him. "It's alright, you tried and that's what matters." Merlin whispered back. "Do I still have a place here?"

"I don't know how you can still look at me." Arthur replied his voice heavy with sorrow. "But you're my friend, my soul, my all, my Merlin. Your welcome here as long as you want to stay."

Merlin felt the rush of pleasure and love accelerate his healing, Arthur knew about his magic and he was still his friend. "I'm happy to be your servant until the day I die." Merlin declared sleepily as his wound caught up with him.

Arthur leaned in and pressed a kiss to the forehead of his friend, his Merlin. He couldn't believe how innocent and pure Merlin's heart was, to forgive him so readily and to stay with him after all that had happened. "Sleep Merlin." He ordered. "I'll watch over you, no harm will come to you as long as I live, I swear it."

Arthur laid them both down on the bed and pulled his Merlin into a tight embrace, watching as his cobalt blue eyes closed in a peaceful sleep.

Arthur's third revelation was that he loved Merlin, and he never wanted to let him go