A/N: Hello beautiful people from the internet! I'm sorry, so sorry, I'd understand if you wanted to kill me now. I'm sorry for taking so long, I told you school was going to get in the way. I can't believe it took me more than a month to finish with this chapter, but I promise I won't take that long with next one because of... reasons *cough* cliffhanger *cough*. Seriously, guys, thank you so much for the follows, favourites and reviews, they keep me going! Please keep on telling me what you think about the fic and enjoy!

Words without A/N: 3 417

7. When it´s too late

''I want to stand with you on a mountain, I want to bathe with you in the sea, I want to lay like this forever, until the sky falls down on me.'' Savage Garden

''Is Agravaine awake?''

''I don't think so, Pers.''

''Should we check that out or something?''

''Doesn't seem like a good idea, the horses are coming.''

''What if he's awake?''

''He is not. And what is he going to do if he is? Follow us?''

''He could send someone.''

''And that is going to take time, don't worry. Besides, almost every knight is on our side. I doubt they will actually capture us.''

''I guess you're right'' Percival whispered. ''Look, they're coming.''

Leon let out a sigh of relief when he saw Elyan and Gwaine guiding the horses towards them, they had to be slow though, no one should hear them. That was the day they had to leave Camelot to rescue Merlin and Arthur. And, yes, they had to be careful; as Percival had said, Agravaine being awake was a possibility. Plus, some knights were strict, no matter how close they were, they wouldn't let them leave Camelot without Agravaine's permission.

After checking that the horses were packed with everything they needed, they headed to the doors as quietly as possible. Sir Martin was waiting for them and opened the doors with precaution when he saw them.

''Leon, the dawn patrol left around an hour ago, you won't encounter them if you're careful.'' He said when Leon's horse stood next to him. ''If you are worried about anything concerning me, don't. There are a lot of secret tunnels Agravaine knows you are aware of. You could have escaped through one of them without me or anyone noticing. Good luck and bring him back''

''Thank you, Martin.'' Leon said. ''Be careful.''

After that, the four knights of Camelot left quickly, riding carefully at first and hurrying as soon as it seemed safe. They had agreed on having no breaks, they had planned on resting at night and at night only. Each hour that passed was more tiring for them and the horses. But they had to keep moving.

When there was a safe distance between them and Camelot, they slowed down a little. Leon was glad they were moving fast towards their destiny and being calmer gave him time to think. He yawned before anything, oh man, he was tired. The sad thing was that, obviously, he would have to take one watch at night, meaning that he wouldn't sleep well... as the night before... and the night before that one.

Leon was afraid, absolutely terrified. He had directed patrols to find Arthur, but never a mission that big. The thought of failing scared Leon more than he would have liked to admit. But, apparently, he knew how to hide it, as no one had ever noticed how nervous he was every time he left for a quest. He was aware of his strength and wisdom, but thinking about ruining everything was overwhelming.

He couldn't fail on this mission, he would never forgive himself if he did. It was the king of Camelot the whole thing was about, if he and his friends failed, everything would be ruined. Camelot would end up being ruled by Agravaine or, worse, Morgana. No, they couldn't fail. He wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, that Arthur was safe, meaning that Camelot was safe. In the future, Leon wanted to remember all that as an accident, not his fault, not even Gwaine's fault...

Gwaine.

Damn it! Why had he thought about him? For the past days, the simple name of the man made Leon have hours of conflict with himself. At the beginning, he had been absolutely sure about what he wanted: he wasn't going to be with Gwaine. His friend's confession had made him feel totally uncomfortable and guilty for blaming Gwaine; he couldn't understand though, he had never been in love. However, since the night Gwaine had gotten drunk, the conflicts with himself were more unpleasant than ever.

Leon looked at Gwaine, the knight wasn't joking or laughing, there was a serious expression on his face instead. He wondered if his friend was truly okay, he wasn't being himself. He was surely still sad because of the rejection, but he had to get over it, hadn't he? It could have been stress as well... along with a million things inside his head. He will be fine, Leon thought.

''This seems like a good place to rest.'' Percival said when the sun started hiding behind the trees, everyone was too tired to answer. They all sat down, let the horses rest and ate in silence. When it was absolutely dark, except for the fire they had made, they were ready to sleep. Elyan had first watch, Leon was getting the second, which made him somehow happy for having some time to rest, just for a couple of hours.

Two hours after laying down to sleep, Elyan woke Leon up as it was his turn. He was exhausted, but had to stay awake for two hours until Gwaine's turn arrived. He sat using a tree as support for his back and yawned a couple of times. Something nice about the situation was how quiet it was, that place was everything but dangerous, it made Leon feel as if time was running quickly, soon enough he would be resting again and waking up some hours later with more energy.

Nothing was actually on his mind, he was too tired to think about anything that wasn't time. His head felt heavy on his neck and he could barely keep his eyes opened. He was slowly losing himself to sleep, slowly slee... no, wait, he had to remain awake for more time. The place was safe, yes, but he couldn't just fall asleep. It was ironically that dilemma that put Leon to sleep.

The knight opened his eyes suddenly when he heard something moving closely and... water falling? He stood up and drew his sword out immediately. Bloody hell, for how long had he been sleeping? He hoped it hadn't been much. He grabbed his sword and started walking towards the sound. He could hear it clearly then, it was dangerously close. He was about to see what was there but...

''Can I get some privacy here?'' Gwaine's voice was heard.

Leon sighed ''Gwaine, what on earth...?''

''Nature was calling.'' The other answered, finishing up and walking towards Leon, he noticed that sword. ''You should put that away, we don't want you to lose sleep, do we?''

''Right, sorry. Do you know for how long I slept?''

''I'm not sure, I woke up and everyone was asleep so I supposed it was my turn, but I had to get rid of the liquids inside my body before...''

''Alright, thanks.'' Leon said, sitting down as before and yawning.

''You know you are sleeping now, don't you?'' Gwaine said, sitting next to his friend.

''I can`t, Gwaine, I missed my turn so I have to do it again.''

''But you're exhausted and I'm already awake, I'll do it.''

''I can't, Gwaine.''

''Why not?''

''I just... are you sure?''

''Sure, no problem.''

Leon sighed and looked downwards. Once again, Gwaine was being nice to him after being treated like nothing. However, Leon was absolutely tired and it was a tempting proposal. ''You don't have a problem with that?''

''None at all.'' Gwaine smiled.

''Alright, but if you're feeling tired or something, just wake me up. Thank you, Gwaine.''

''Sure.'' The other one said.

Leon laid down, he was so relieved to finally get some sleep. Ironically, as soon as his head touched the ground, he felt more awake than ever. He closed his eyes, but couldn't reach sleep at all. He tried rolling over, facing Gwaine, to see if a new position would help, he was about to close his eyes again, but the sight of the other man stopped him.

''Well, hello there.'' Gwaine said with a smile when he noticed that the knight had been staring at him.

''Sorry, I can't sleep.'' Leon said, leaving his position to sit next to his friend. ''I just lost sleep for some strange reason, has it ever happened to you?''

''All of the time.''

''Do you know what that means?''

After a little hesitation, Gwaine answered ''No idea.''

''Well, obviously, I can't go to sleep anymore, do you want to get some rest?''

''Nah, it's alright, I'm not tired either.'' Gwaine said.

The two men remained silent for a moment, it was either a nice or awkward silence, Leon couldn't tell. ''So... do you think dawn is near?'' He asked, it was a stupid question, he knew, but he wanted to get rid of the silence.

''I don't think so, but it's hard to tell as someone fell asleep and...''

''Sorry about that.''

''Hey, I was joking.'' Gwaine said, hitting Leon softly with his elbow. ''I didn't mean it like that.''

''It's fine, I shouldn't have fallen asleep anyways.''

''Not that you could have controlled it. Did you get enough sleep last night?''

''Not much.'' Leon confessed. Not since that night we both know about, he wanted to say.

''It might be stress, try not to worry.''

''But, Gwaine, it's the king and I am leading a mission to rescue him. It's not like one of those times when he got lost in the forest with Merlin, this is much more serious, I think I can be...''

''You have never failed.''

''What?''

''Come on, are you seriously going to say you have failed?''

''I may have, everyone fails sometimes, Gwaine.''

''I don't believe that.''

''Maybe I'm just too afraid to do so.'' Leon said, lowering his head.

''Scared? Why?''

''Just because... I don't know. We all, once in our lives, make a big mistake, a huge mistake we cannot repair. I am afraid because you never know what you big mistake will be, I always think about that.'' Leon confessed, surprised that it had been that easy to confess his greatest fear.

They stayed in silence again; Gwaine looked at Leon lovingly and spoke. ''We will rescue Merlin and Arthur, you know why? Because you will be guiding us, because it wouldn't be the first time you saved the king, because you're Sir Leon and I trust you can do it.''

''You just... you trust we can do it?'' Leon asked, feeling touched.

''No, I trust you can do it. Look at me, I'm an idiot. Now, look at you, you have been a knight for so many years. The others will kill me if they ever get to know I'm telling you this, but we all admire you; you are pretty much immortal and the greatest knight there is. Leon, if there's someone who can save the king, it's you.''

''Are you sure you aren't just being nice to me?'' Leon asked, knowing that Gwaine was telling the truth, but opposing to believe so.

''Why would I lie to you?'' Gwaine said, the other didn't reply. ''Sorry, I know it's uncomfortable for you when I...''

''It's alright, Gwaine, thank you for trusting me.''

''Of course.'' The other whispered. Silenced ruled for another minute, Leon noticed that Gwaine was uneasy, as if he wanted to say something. After struggling for a while, he managed to speak. ''Look... I... erm wanted to apologise about... about the other night.''

''Oh, how come?''

''I said a lot of stupid things and acted like an idiot, as usual.''

''It's fine, Gwaine.''

''It's not. You were right about me acting like a child having to stop.''

''That was just my bad mood speaking, Gwaine, you don't have to do this. You said you didn't want to talk about this, it's fine.''

''Alright, so it's all good?''

''It's all good.'' Leon said, offering his friend a little smile. A question began to form in his mind, should he ask Gwaine that? It was definitely a stupid question; the other man could get angry at him. Was the possible answer worth the risk? Well, Leon was about to find out. ''Hey, this might be a stupid question, but... do you actually remember things about that night?''

To his surprise, Gwaine laughed. It was a beautiful laugh, natural, careless and full of life, just like the man it belonged to. ''A few things, to be honest.''

''That can't be true!'' Leon laughed back. ''You always do and say so many things drunk you never remember.''

''Oh, please, as if I ever stopped doing stupid things.''

''Well... I have to agree.'' Leon said, smiling. He was glad things weren't weird with Gwaine.

''At least I'm not the only one.''

''Are you implying something?''

''No, sorry, it's just one of my favourite stories.'' Gwaine giggled.

''What is it? Can I hear about... oh, God, Gwaine, it is about me?'' Leon asked and the other blushed. ''Ah, come on.''

''Alright, alright, I will.'' Gwaine said, laughing again. ''Well, some time ago, when I first joined the knights actually, I asked Gwen to tell me embarrassing stories about everyone in Camelot...''

''Oh, dear God.''

''And she told me that this one time, you wore nothing more and nothing less than a dress!''

''She didn't tell you that!''

''She did!'' Gwaine laughed hard, closing his eyes and throwing his head back.

''It was to escape... I told her to never mention it.'' Leon blushed.

''You should know I'm a special case.'' Gwaine answered with a smile. ''I need to ask you something serious, Leon... was it a beautiful dress?''

Leon roared with laughter, ignoring the fact that Percival and Elyan were sleeping next to them completely. He remembered when Elyan moaned and complained. ''Hey, there's people sleeping here.''

''I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Elyan.'' Leon said quickly. Both he and Gwaine stopped laughing automatically. He cleared his throat before whispering. ''But yes, it was indeed a beautiful dress.''

Gwaine covered his mouth and Leon tried to laugh quietly. For a while, both of them completely forgot about how tired they were; sleep was an unknown and distant word. For hours and hours, they joked and shared stories. It was when they realised dawn was near that they woke Percival up and tried to sleep to recover their energies.

''We are going to be so tired tomorrow.'' Leon said, laying down and smiling at Gwaine, as if the matter wasn't important.

''We're going to be fine, I'm sure.'' Gwaine smiled back, using his arm as a pillow and yawning. ''Good night, Leon.''

''Sleep well, Gwaine.'' The blond answered, looking at his friend and the stars before closing his eyes. He felt in peace and harmony, even with closed eyes, he could feel the moonlight, the little fire and all the leaves beneath him. Leon was aware of his breathing and heartbeat, excited yet confident. There was something inside him, something inside his mind that woke every emotion up. His head wasn't a battlefield anymore, everything inside it was calm and peaceful.

Leon didn't know what he was feeling, he just knew that, if he could, he would spend the rest of his life as that. He forced his smile to disappear before losing consciousness and falling asleep.

After some hours of rest, the knights woke up at dawn and rode slower and calmer than the day before; the horse were tired as well, so they couldn't force them much. Hours passed rapidly and they all had the strange feeling that they were closer than expected.

When the sun was setting, the knights decided to continue walking, they had to leave the horses because it would have been too noisy otherwise. The sun was hiding behind the trees as they walked quietly; something inside Leon was telling him to be very careful. In just a matter of minutes, night arrived and they noticed something they hadn't seen before: fire. They couldn't have seen it in the sunlight, of course.

''This is it, we're here.'' Leon said. ''Be careful, it's tremendously close.''

They walked towards the light and took a look at the place, it was bigger than any other illegal fortress they had ever seen. The knights took their swords out, ready for battle; however, after hiding behind some trees, Leon noticed something: the place seemed empty. That was wrong, so wrong, shouldn't there be guards outside? Even a couple of noises, anything to let them know the place was guarded.

''We can see what we need, but...'' Percival started.

''I know, it's strange. Let's continue slowly, it could be a trap, be careful.'' Leon said and kept on walking.

''What the...?'' Percival said when he stepped on something, before he could see what it was, a big rock was thrown directly at him and hit his head. Hard. He lost consciousness immediately and someone screamed from inside the fortress.

''Grab him and run!'' Leon shouted desperately. Of course it had been a trap, those men had the king of Camelot under their power, they were obviously expecting the knights. Elyan and Gwaine carried Percival, following Leon, who was trying to find a place to hide. A bunch of people had already run out of the fortress and began looking for the knights, it was just a matter of minutes before they found them.

''Look, there's a hole over here!'' Elyan said, stopping abruptly behind a big tree. He jumped inside to make sure it wasn't a trap and nodded. Leon and Gwaine worked hard to put Percival with him, safe in his arms. Elyan looked at them with concern and horror just after they did. ''There is space just for one more person.''

Leon sighed desperately; luckily, their enemies were looking for them somewhere else. ''Don't worry, Gwaine and I will...''

''Get in there.'' Gwaine interrupted confidently.

''What?''

''You heard me. We just have another minute or two if we're lucky enough, we can't lose any more time. Get in there now.''

''Gwaine, what about you?''

''I will be okay.''

''How?'' Leon asked terrified and repeated. ''Gwaine, what about you?''

''What we need is a distraction.''

''No. Don't you dare to...''

''Leon ,think about it, they are not going to stop looking until they find at least one. We're useless if they get us all.''

''Are you crazy? They will do anything to know where we are or...''

''You need to rescue Merlin and Arthur, forget about me.''

''I will go instead, Gwaine.'' Leon pleaded, almost crying and more afraid than ever. But the other man stopped him with a hand on his chest.

''No, I made my choice long ago, Leon, and I choose you, your life. Get them, I know you can.'' Gwaine said and, without a warning, he grabbed Leon's face with his other hand and kissed him. It couldn't have lasted for more than a second, but it was the best one any of them had ever had. The unexpected kiss was passionate yet delicate, Gwaine's mischievous tongue entering Leon's mouth made it delicious as well. Gwaine finished it and looked at the other man with tears in his eyes. ''I'm sorry.'' He whispered before pushing Leon inside the hole and running towards the enemy.

''No! Gwaine!'' Leon shouted, ready to chase him, but being stopped by Elyan.

''He is right, Leon, they're not going to find us if he goes.'' Elyan pleaded. ''I don't want him to leave either, but it's for Arthur, please.''

It was true, sadly true. Leon remained in silence, feeling tears roll down his cheeks. The noises of the pursuit stopped, they had found Gwaine. Why had he let that happen? If he hadn't been so surprised by the kiss, he would have made a smart choice, make Gwaine stay. But no, he had stood there like an idiot and allowed himself to be pushed. It was late, too late.

Then he realised.

He loved Gwaine.

Why? Why had he been so stupid? Why did he have to realise that when he was probably going to lose Gwaine? He wanted to follow him, save him, protect him... but Elyan was right, they had to wait and plan everything again, Arthur and Merlin would have to wait... Gwaine would have to wait. Leon probably didn't deserve him. No, of course he didn't. Gwaine was willing to risk his life for him and Leon couldn't even make a kiss last more than a second.

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TheLoner7