Arthur should be telling Gwaine to stop, telling him that despite what this man had done to kill him in cold blood would be wrong- because that's what Merlin would tell him. The young king had not moved from his cradled position around his friend, and he felt no embarrassment for anyone seeing him behave like this either. In fact, he was rather surprised at the lack of judgement he felt. To think that Merlin, his most valued friend, was gone- well, he couldn't. He just couldn't imagine it. Merlin had been there at his side for not even his whole life, and yet it felt like he had. Arthur couldn't very well remember the times of his life that didn't have Merlin in. He had always bounced back, always survived, always been the braver one.
Arthur didn't realise his eyes were moist till he felt a coolness on his hand. He brought his bruised fingers up to his eye removing all traces of the tears. He settled there, eyes closed and hand half way over his face- content to sit there forever before…
"Quit crying on me you p-prat" Were the words that just reached Arthur's ears. A croaky quiet voice that came from the figure he was still cradling.
"Merlin?!" He asked, his tone utter astonishment.
Upon hearing this Gwaine dropped Eernseth almost immediately, leaving the scrawny man to rummage around on the floor as his lungs tried to function. The Irish man was over by the two in a flash and so was Leon who smiled at the scene that was unfolding.
"Merlin! Welcome back mate." Gwaine said, full of relief.
"So I'm not dead then?" Merlin's croaky voice asked.
"Sorry, not this time!" Gwaine chortled.
"Shame- should've known though; waking up to dollop head's face here was no heaven!"
"Merlin!" Arthur scolded jokily, before adding "Think you can stand?"
"Let's find out" Merlin replied bravely. Arthur and Leon held his sides as his feet managed to find the floor. Feeling a little wobbly, Merlin managed to stand without looking too bad- his eyes still had a darkness to them, his face still too pale, and his posture stooped but he was alive, and to Arthur that was the thing to focus on.
"What do we do about him?" Merlin queried speaking out as he stood for himself. He glanced at Eernseth who was still huddled on the floor in a state of disorientation from Gwaine's treatment.
"I say we make him regret the day he was ever born." Gwaine commented, granting even a nod from Leon. Seeing how Arthur was distracted through fussing over Merlin, Gwaine pulled up his sleeves and readied his fists, before circling round to get this guy. A moment passed.
"Are you kidding me?" Gwaine growled "He's gone!"
"What?" Arthur asked, astounded.
"Looks like he was too quick for us." Leon explained regretfully "We should've seen that coming."
"We can only hope that he doesn't cause any damage elsewhere." Merlin pointed out.
"Somehow I don't think we should put much faith in that" Arthur remarked and with solemn looks from everyone, the group slowly made their way out of the castle, all supporting each other as they went.