AHAHAHAHA, I TORTURE SOME OF YOU BY SAYING NO SLASH

Disclaimer : I only own Ayleth and the dude who made Merlin a cat. *sob* I reaaaaally am sad about not owning Merlin... but that's what fanart and fanfiction are for!
Warning : Set after season four, Reveal fic, Terribly written spells, Cliffhangers to annoy the heck out of you, Aithusaaaaa (and Kilgharrah), Catboy!Merlin, King Arthur Pratdragon, the Knights of Camelot, GWAINE, and a whole lot of MAGIC~
I'm sorry about any OOCness that may bother you!

Warning there is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of this :D because I was bored lol you have my permission to hate me!

They had prepared all the horses, and were ready to head back to Camelot.

There was only a small problem.

Merlin was still a cat, and they didn't know how to hide that fact. Granted, they hadn't really thought about it up until then, but feeding horses gave you a lot of time to yourself.

Merlin looked around, and jogged up to Arthur when he located him. "Arthur."

Arthur turned around. "Yes, Merlin?"

"How are we going to hide... this?" he asked tentatively, raising and lowering his arms with a flourish, motioning to himself.

Percival walked over, bringing a hand pensively to his chin. Gwaine immediately dropped whatever was in his hands and sidled closer, glaring at the other knight expectantly.

Percival moved his hands towards Merlin's throat, showing him his palms in a calming matter when Merlin flinched. He slowly undid Merlin's red neckerchief, exposing his pale neck. The cat shivered at the sudden chill on his skin. Percival hesitated a few times, looking from Merlin to the frayed scarf a few times. And then he raised it up to Merlin's head, wrapping it there like a strange hat, tying it and covering his ears. Merlin frowned. He could still feel his ears twitching beneath the makeshift hat; this wasn't going to work.

"What about his tail?" Elyan said, appearing next to them.

Gwaine decided that this was his time to shine. He grabbed Merlin's fluffy black tail... and it instantly slithered out of his grasp. He tried again, yet it still flowed out past his fingertips.

"Merlin," he chided.

The boy in question blinked. "What?"

"Please, stop moving your tail."

Merlin frowned, glancing back at his tail. It stilled beneath his gaze. Gwaine huffed out a breath and shot his hand out to grab it once more... and once more it twitched away. Gwaine growled and finally got his hands around Merlin's tail, ignoring Merlin's wince when he tightened his fingers.

"Ow, Gwaine," Merlin forced out through his teeth.

"Sorry Merlin," the knight said, but he didn't even look up, too concentrated on the unruly limb. When he was finally sure that it would succumb to his will, he slowly guided it to the end of Merlin's shirt, and promptly shoved it up, trying to force it past Merlin's belt. Merlin yelped when his innocent tail was contorted into a painful knot in his lower back. He leapt forward, out of Gwaine's painful hands.

"Ow! Gwaine! My tail does not bend that way! Ow!" Merlin shrieked angrily, hopping about and holding his tail against himself protectively. The neckerchief had flown off at some point, not that it had done much good. You could still see the twitching beneath the thin layer of fabric, and there was a strange empty space where his enormous ears would usually be.

Gwaine had the decency to look sheepish as he raised his hands in a placating manner. Merlin glared at him in fury. Gwaine was almost sure he would slap him, but Merlin just turned away sharply, nursing his tail.

"Gwaine," Elyan chided, shaking his head at his friend. "Don't hurt Merlin."

"That wasn't very nice," Percival added, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't laughing a bit. Arthur shook his head and took off after Merlin; not really to see if he was okay, but to make sure that he wasn't about to commit murder.

Merlin was sitting on the ground, grumbling to himself and trying to smooth his tail down. When Arthur dropped a hand on his shoulder, the fur on his tail bristled, effectively invalidating his efforts to smooth it down.

"Try not to kill Gwaine, will you?"

"He could have been gentler," came a muttered reply.

Arthur laughed. "Well, we don't have a way to hide your... ailment, now."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so it's an ailment now?" He became quiet then, stroking his tail. "Prat," he added, as an afterthought.

"Idiot," Arthur said innately.

Merlin allowed himself a smile. He sobered quickly. "How are we going to tell Gwen?"

Arthur stared at him for a moment. Thought of his wife had been pushed back by matters at hand. "I'm thinking you should give her those flowers, Merlin."

He frowned. "Flowers?"

The King rolled his eyes, sighing. "You really are incompetent, Merlin." He stood up without another word, making his way back to his horse. "Oh, and Merlin?" he added, not looking back. "Go pick those flowers."

Merlin's eyes widened and he shot to his feet when recollection hit him. "Yes, Sire!" he called, already disappearing into the tree line. How could he forget that Arthur wanted him to get Gwen flowers? He had to do everything to help them, since their relationship had already nearly shattered, and it was still a little fragile. If he had to dive into the unsafe woods to get some purple flowers for their sake, then he would defeat every enemy before him.

Merlin had been trudging through the soil for around ten minutes when he heard it. It was soft, and he almost missed it, much like when Ayleth spoke to him.

Speaking of which... Ayleth, are you there? he thought, as softly as he could, not knowing if the other presence could take part in their telepathic conversation or not.

I'm here, Merlin, she said, emerging from his pocket.

Did you hear that?

Hear what?

It was sort of like... crying, Merlin decided, not sure about what he had heard.

He heard it again. It was indeed crying; heartbreaking wails that carried through his consciousness, leaving him feeling cold empty. He looked around furtively, trying to place it, but to no avail.

Where is it coming from? Ayleth asked nervously. The sound was unsettling.

Merlin closed his eyes, cocking his head and swiveling his ears, listening with his mind for anything. He reopened his eyes in confusion, not having found anything.

Found anything?

Hold on.... Merlin closed his eyes again, searching for that warm place within him were his magic could be accessed. When he reopened his eyes, they were golden. "Ábeþecian dréorignes."

As his irises faded back to blue, a ripple went through the air, searching within each tree and beneath each rock. They waited for a few seconds in silence, occasionally glancing around at strange sounds.

Merlin let his eyelids slide shut yet again and listened for the sound. When the wail made itself heard, more desperate sounding than the last; his eyes flew open and he took a step in the direction it would be. It's this way.

Is this wise, Merlin? Shouldn't we just go get the flowers?

Why, are you scared? Merlin teased. We can look for flowers along the way.

Ayleth huffed. Had she been human, Merlin could imagine her crossing her arms. Alright.

The warlock grinned and set off to find the source of the great sorrow.

Ayleth had noticed a small patch of flowers next to a tree. As much as Merlin wanted to go on, since he could feel just how close they were (as well as the increased amount of magic in the air), but he knew that his duty was to help Arthur first.

Merlin picked a good bunch of the flowers and held them awkwardly in his hand. They were nice flowers, almost like roses, but they had no thorns along their stems, and were a deep vibrant purple. Merlin was pretty sure roses didn't come in that colour. Either way, Merlin had nowhere to put them, so he ended up carrying them in one arm, trying not to crush them as he and Ayleth went off to find whoever was sad.

Do you think these are enough? Ayleth asked, eying the bouquet.

Maybe... Tell me if you see any others. It would help if they looked different, Merlin added, not wanting too many of the same flower.

They were trying to avoid the subject that was taking up most of the space within their minds; the sad creature had a lot of magic, and its sadness spread out for kilometres, so Arthur and the knights probably felt it too; they just wouldn't know what they were feeling. It was also rather unsettling to think about.

Merlin froze as the wailing suddenly got louder. They hadn't moved, so...

Merlin! Ayleth shrieked. He instantly turned around, to come face to face with their assailant. Only... there was nothing there. He whirled around, but ended up making a full circle when he came across nothing.

What is it? he asked, still not knowing what had scared his friend.

It's... it's here, Merlin. It's here.

Yep, I know that, Merlin murmured, still spinning around, bur more slowly as to not miss anything.

No, Merlin, I mean... it's here, as in, right next to us.

Merlin turned again to frown at her. How do you know?

Can't you feel it? the mouse asked frantically, glancing around.

Feel what?

Oh, well then you obviously can't feel it...

Merlin raised an eyebrow. He could feel a lot of different things at once, and simply wasn't sure which Ayleth was scared of. He could feel her fear, slowly but surely drowning out her other thoughts; he could feel the intense magic flowing around them, causing the magic inside of him to stir; and he could feel an unspeakable sadness, one that could bring a man to his knees if it were all directed at him at once. As it was, the strong feeling was spread out across the forest, diluting it a little. If he concentrated hard enough, he could feel a presence... but it was so faint, it was barely there. Well, it was actually an enormously powerful presence, but it was masking itself, and was simply so grand that it was hard to sense.

What exactly do you feel, Ayleth?

She stared at him with wide eyes. He felt a pang of sadness flow through his mind from hers. I feel... a predator looming above me... like I did... when my parents died.

Merlin suddenly regretted asking. He crouched down and took Ayleth in his hand protectively. I won't let anything happen to you, he vowed. The tiny mouse trembled. Besides, I don't think it's quite here exactly; I feel it a little farther off. That was a lie. Merlin could feel the presence alarmingly close, but he was trying to get Ayleth to calm down. He was trying hard not to panic for her sake.

That didn't stop him from thinking up the words of a protective spell.

There was suddenly a snapping sound coming from the right, and Merlin spun around violently. His frayed nerves caused him to be guided by his instincts and he stuck his hand out offensively, the magic already tickling his fingertips.

He stayed that way for a while, shielding Ayleth with his body and waiting with narrowed eyes.

There were a few rustling sounds erupting from all around them, making it impossible to locate the source.

Where is it? Merlin muttered nervously, still looking around spasmodically, following his twitching ears.

Merlin, I don't like this... Ayleth whispered, trembling in his hand. We should go back....

The lamenting reignited at her words, stronger than before, causing a few stray tears to prick at Merlin's eyes.

There was a sudden thump from behind them that silenced the wails. Merlin felt the presence once more; it was here. He slowly turned around to face it, hand still outstretched.

It stepped out towards him, crystalline tears dripping from its large eyes. It was panting slightly, as if it had been running for a long time. Merlin blinked in shock at its long snout, taking a small step back as it approached. He could feel a nervous purr wanting to escape his throat, but he didn't let it out. He gazed with wide eyes at the incredibly sad creature in front of him, noticing a few patches of raw skin on its sides where the white hide had been ripped away.

It didn't seem to think of him as a threat as it moved closer, limping slightly. Merlin didn't move as it rested its large head on his shoulder. He could feel the massive amount of magic emanating from it, the power enhanced by the raw feelings gushing from its thoughts.

Merlin allowed it to cry onto his shoulder, holding the flowers limply in one hand and Ayleth in the other, waiting for the grief ridden animal to calm down.

Woo, not too much fluff here XD kudos if you can guess what the thing is :)
I would have uploaded this earlier, but my sister stole the computer right as I was having an epiphanic (which is totally a word) moment.

Again, I'm still stealing ideas from xXMistressMadHatterXx (idea stolen : covering Merlin's ears with his neckerchief and shoving his tail up his shirt.) I just mutated it a little bit c:

Yes, this was meant to be a cliffhanger. I actually meant to do it this time. lol please don't hate me.
I was going to just say what it was and start the cliff there... but where's the fun in that? XD

Please review (and please don't hate me lol) !