I am so sorry this took so long. Quantum physics is slightly insane, and I have been working a lot. I am so sorry for the time though. This was terrible.

Also, still kind of on the delay note, this chapter is not edited. Hopefully someday it will be, but now it is not, so if you see mistakes, they are all my fault, and not the wonderful starwater13's. Blame me, and me alone. Again, I am terribly sorry.

For all my US readers, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. I am super thankful to all of my readers, no matter where you are from (and especially the reviewers :) you guys really make my day)

Anyhoo, like I said a lot before, I am so sorry. I hope you all like this chapter. The next bit is pretty exciting, so hopefully I will get that soon and you will enjoy it as well. The good news is I am three weeks away from winter break, which means a month of no school and no homework, mostly just fic writing and watching the last episodes of Merlin. Which is slightly depressing to think about, but I also think they are right in ending it here. It is a wonderful series, but I am extremely excited to see how they end it, and I know I'm not going to stop writing about them, so in a way it will live on :)

From that speech you may have noticed I don't own Merlin. I do trust in the real owners though!

Chapter Twenty: Promises

Never in his life had a smile fallen faster from his face then when Merlin looked up from where Arthur had pushed him to see Arthur lying on his back, an arrow sticking out of his chest. Why hadn't he listened to him? Arthur had known something was wrong, but he had been too stupid to trust him. It was all his fault!

Merlin couldn't control his powers as they exploded from him with his rage and sorrow, searching for the owner of the arrow that was currently embedded in his love's chest. He screamed in anger as his magic felt a man standing just behind him and he turned, using his power to drag the man from his hiding place among the trees. If Merlin hadn't been completely lost to rage and sorrow he might have noticed how terrified the dark-skinned man looked as the very earth began to tremble and the bow he had used to shoot Arthur turned to dust. Merlin kept his hand outstretched as he walked towards the man who had shot Arthur, dust and debris swirling around him as he approached, eyes glowing gold and tears streaking down his face. Just as he reached the man he heard a soft voice from behind him.

"Mer…lin" Arthur's weak voice huffed out. Merlin froze, his eyes fading back to blue but tears not stopping. He slowly turned back toward the source of the voice, to see Arthur, arrow still sticking out of his chest, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He looked pale, and there was blood leaking from underneath the hand he had placed over his wound, but he was alive so there was time to save him. Merlin dropped his hand and rushed back over to Arthur's side. His magic was still angry, holding the man down as he moved back to help Arthur. His instincts to protect Arthur were stronger than ever, and they weren't going to let the man who had harmed his destiny get away so easily.

"Arthur," Merlin sobbed, collapsing at Arthur's side. "I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you."

Arthur tried to laugh but it was cut off prematurely as a grimace tore across his perfect face. "Don't kill him." Arthur wheezed, keeping his gaze locked on Merlin's.

"What?"

"You can't kill him." Arthur said, coughing up a small amount of blood as he tried to grab Merlin's arm but ended up falling back down.

"Alright, Arthur. I won't kill him. Just lie down and don't talk. I'm going to fix you."

Arthur obeyed his orders, squeezing his eyes shut as Merlin settled him on the ground and moved to inspect his wound. It wasn't as bad as Merlin had thought at first. The bolt was stuck in his upper chest, not a mortal wound if treated quickly and well. Merlin quickly found the right words and began chanting over the wound, willing the flesh to heal as he slowly pulled the arrow out. Arthur was wheezing and grunting in pain as the bolt was slowly removed from him, but as Merlin's magic did everything it could to keep him safe. When the arrow was finally out and there was barely a mark left, Merlin looked up to see Percival, Gwaine and Lancelot watching him. Arthur was breathing gently, asleep with the aid of Merlin's powers.

As soon as Merlin was satisfied that Arthur was safe for the moment, he quickly turned back to the man who had caused this. Although he was able to keep control this time, he could still feel the wind picking up around him as he walked towards the man still being held down by his power.

"You hurt Arthur." Merlin said, his voice cold, surprising himself with the amount of pleasure he got from the way the large man was trembling as he spoke.

"I didn't mean to." The man said quickly, staring at Merlin with wide eyes.

Merlin tilted his head, watching the other man with curiosity before he realized what had really happened. Arthur had pushed him out of the way, which meant, "You were trying to kill me."

"Yes." The man said, still shaking. "T-t-the king, he offered a large sum for your death, I only wanted to help my family, please, take pity on me."

Merlin growled and pushed the man further into the dirt. "Don't lie to me. You did it for yourself. You almost killed Arthur!"

"Merlin."

Merlin turned quickly as Percival put a hand on his shoulder. "Arthur's going to be fine. Think about what you're doing."

And, as Merlin looked into the man who was his brother in every way except blood's eyes, he did just that. He was abusing his powers, and he knew it. This man may have hurt Arthur, but he had fixed it. Arthur would be okay. He couldn't forget everything he had learned from the Druids now. But he also couldn't let this man get away. He had still hurt Arthur. Uther had gone too far, and he would make sure he knew that.

"Thank you Percival." Merlin said, resting his head against his surrogate brother's chest for a moment before turning back to the assassin still trapped on the ground. "I know what I'm going to do."

"I trust you, Merlin. Just don't do anything you will regret later." Percival said, letting go of Merlin's arm as he walked right up to the trapped man.

"You're lucky I was raised by Druids. Otherwise you'd be dead right now." Merlin said, leaning down so his face was right in front of the assassin's. "Still, I can't just let you go after you try to kill me and injure the man I love. For starters, I'll be taking the money you were given to murder me. I think the people can find much better ways of using it. And let's see, what else?" Merlin said, tapping his chin as gold coins spilled out of a pocket in the man's cloak and into Percival's hands. "Ah yes. I don't really approve of your occupation, so how about this? If you ever try to pick up any weapon again, it will boil at your touch, burning your hands until you finally find a better way to earn a living. And finally, you will tell no one of where you found us, or how you found us."

With a few words in the old religion and a flash of his eyes, the spell was complete. This man would never hurt another again. Merlin smiled down at the man who had stopped trembling and was now glaring at him with a mixture of hatred and disbelief. Merlin stood up, releasing him and saying, "Run back to Uther. Tell him that I send my best, and that I will be visiting his vaults soon. If he still has the money to pay for assassins, then he can afford to take better care of his people, but until he realizes this, I will remain their protector, no matter how many useless assassins he sends after me."

The assassin gave him one last frightened glance as Merlin's eyes glowed once again, ensuring that the assassin really would do as he was told, before running back towards the city. Merlin watched the direction he had run until he could no longer hear the pants and crashes as the man tried to get away from him as quickly as possible. When everything was silent, Merlin took a deep breath, and turned back to where Percival, Gwaine, and Lancelot had gathered around Arthur's sleeping body. He wiped away the tears that were still clinging to his face before he hurried back to Arthur's side.

"He's fine, Merlin. There's not even a mark." Lancelot said, smiling at Merlin and showing him the flawless, blood-covered skin of his love. "You kept him safe."

"If it wasn't for me, it wouldn't have happened at all." Merlin replied, running a hand gently across Arthur's brow.

"This wasn't your fault, Merlin. The only one to blame is Uther, don't forget that. He loves you, and he wouldn't want it to have happened any other way." Percival said, giving Merlin a one-armed hug. Merlin nodded slowly and said, "Let's get him home."

The other's nodded, and Percival lifted Arthur up very carefully. Merlin stayed next to Arthur's head, watching him as he took each breath and thanking the gods each time he did.

Arthur woke in their camp, feeling rather amazing for having just been shot. He slowly reached a hand up to the spot on his chest where the arrow had been, but felt nothing. No arrow, not even any bandages or scars. He opened his eyes, and tried to look down at the lack of injury, but it was the same. There was no mark. He definitely had been shot though, so how was this possible? He answered his own question as he turned his head further and saw Merlin asleep next to him, breathing gently as his face was illuminated by the flickering fire. Of course he would be fine, he had the almighty Emrys looking after him.

Arthur couldn't help but be amazed as once again his love proved to be even more amazing than he had previously believed. He rolled to his side slowly, reaching a hand out and gently pushing a few stray strands of hair back out of Merlin's face. Apparently Merlin hadn't been sleeping very deeply as his eyes slowly blinked open, finally clearing and meeting Arthur's.

"You're awake!" Merlin exclaimed with a smile, "How do you feel? Do you need anything? It doesn't hurt anywhere, does it?"

"Merlin, I'm fine. Stop being such a mother hen. There's not even any pain. You saved me."

"I put you in danger." Merlin said with a frown.

"I've been in danger ever since I was born. At least now I've got you to keep me safe when I do get hurt. That was not your fault. You saved my life, Merlin."

Merlin gave him a sad smile. "Part of me wants to lock you up in a tower where I could at least know you would be safe. Just protect you for the rest of my life. I could keep you safe forever, but you would hate me so much, and I couldn't live with myself."

Arthur frowned. He couldn't image staying in a tower for the rest of his life, but he knew what Merlin meant. He had the same feelings for Merlin. Merlin had been hurt so much in such a short time, but Arthur knew that Merlin would keep risking his life for every person who needed him. Still, it was terrifying to watch someone he loved so much risk so much so often.

"One day," Arthur said, taking Merlin's hand. "We'll live in a castle. And we'll have hundreds of guards to protect us. They'll be the best trained guards in the entire land, and we'll be able to be safe and take care of the people."

Merlin smiled back at him, wiping a tear away before he said, "That sounds lovely, Arthur. Just promise me that you'll do your best to stay safe until then, okay?"

"Merlin, I'm never going to leave your side. As long as you keep risking your life, I'll be right behind you. We can keep each other safe until then. Everything will be fine. We have a destiny, remember?"

Merlin nodded, snuggling against Arthur. "I know. And I will protect you forever. I just can't imagine loosing you, Arthur. I've lost so much, but I can't lose you. I love you, Arthur. You know that right?"

"Of course. And I love you, Merlin. You've done more for me than anyone else, even though you should have let me die the first time we met. I'm never going to let anyone take you from me, or me from you. I will promise that."

"I was made to protect you, Arthur. And I will never let anything get in the way of that."

Arthur sighed and smiled as he settled against Merlin, wrapping himself gently around the warlock, before quickly falling back into a dreamless sleep.

Back in Camelot, Uther was furious. Just hours ago Myror had returned to the city, missing not only Emrys' head, but also all the gold he had given him to bring the sorcerer's head. He had muttered some infuriating message from Emrys before trying to run once more. Before he could even reach the doors the guards had grabbed him, making Uther wonder what the young dragon lord had done to Myror to make him so much more pathetic than he had been when Uther first met him.

What had been most infuriating though, was that Myror could tell him absolutely nothing of Arthur, Emrys, or any of Emrys' evil associates. As soon as his message was complete he could only gasp and choke whenever questioned about the sorcerer he was sent to kill. Uther felt he had been doing the man a kindness by ending his life. He supposed it was a tad unnecessary, but it had calmed him down a bit, and now Myror wouldn't have to face the rest of his life as a failed assassin. The pathetic worm should be thankful for Uther's charity.

But Myror's head was no replacement for Emrys'. He had to have some weakness, and as soon as Uther found it, he would make sure the filthy magic user never saw the light of another dawn.