A/N: Hello beautiful people from the internet! I'm so so so so incredibly sorry for taking so long, I know I promised I would try and I did, but damn school keeps getting in the way... anyways, we're getting closer to the end and I just wanted to thank you for all the favourites, follows and reviews; I know I always say that, but it's something nice knowing you guys like what I write, thank you!

Words without A/N: 2 422

10. The rescue, part two

''Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am whole again.'' The Cure

''What in the actual hell is going on?'' A guard screamed with confusion when Leon appeared in front of him. But he received no answer, as the knight killed him as soon as he arrived.

Leon stared at the corpse and had to take a few deep breaths, he realised how tired he was and that he hadn't rested in ages. He noticed the door in front of him, a door that surely lead to Gwaine. He tried to push it, but it was closed; the checked the guard's corpse and found a key inside his pocket. He grabbed it and opened the door quickly.

His plan was to enter and immediately kill anyone who would stand on his way, but he froze as soon as he entered the room. When he opened the door, he saw a body on the floor; it was lying on its stomach, revealing a back full of blood, Leon couldn't even see wounds, just blood. He couldn't see the face either, but it was that messy brown hair what told him it was Gwaine. He's dead, he thought, feeling his heart suddenly stopping.

''Ah, take a look at that, Benny.'' A tall and fat man said, Leon looked at him disgusted and ready to kill; next to him there was a smaller man. ''How many times have these knights bothered us, Benny? And... oh, come on, Sir Gwaine, turn around so you can introduce us to your little friend.''

Those last words gave Leon a little hope and let him breathe again. After that, Gwaine moaned weakly, he was clearly alive... but no one knew for how long he'd remain like that. The blond raised his sword and started walking very slowly towards Gwaine.

''You are under arrest for slavery trading and keeping the king of Camelot under your power.'' The knight tried to sound strong. ''Don't try to fight, it will be better if you give up.''

''Ha! Giving up... tell me, my dear knight, how do you pretend to succeed?'' The criminal asked, taking his sword out.

''We already have.'' Leon answered, standing protectively next to Gwaine. ''King Arthur is now free.''

''Obviously, but my men outside outnumber yours and I'm very certain you haven't encountered Brutus.''

Leon half smiled; he was sure most of the criminal's men were dead and, if Brutus was the giant, he had taken care of that. He spoke again: ''Put your sword down, it's over.''

''Of course it's not over, my dear. No knight of Camelot will live, King Arthur will have a special cell so he will be more comfortable while waiting for Lady Morgana...''

''None of that will happen.'' Leon tried to sound harsh, even though he was losing control, his enemy was walking calmly around the room and headed to the door, about to leave.

''So, tell me...'' The slave trader started, opening the door. ''Where you and your friends already here or did you just enter now?''

''We just entered. And you should stay here, I'm warning you.'' Leon threatened. He wanted to chase him down, but he didn't want to leave Gwaine's side.

''Well, it seems like my dear Sir Gwaine is a liar.'' Gradel laughed, not feeling afraid. He was sure he had everything under his control; little did he know his life and business were over. He smiled. ''Benny, kill them.'' He said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Leon wondered how a skinny, tiny man would kill two knights. He started turning towards him, but he was pushed and fell down. That was Benny's advantage: he was fast. Leon was about to grab his sword, that had flown away, but he saw the servant walking towards Gwaine with a knife. He got up quickly and ran, he grabbed his enemy and held him against a wall.

Benny couldn't move; Leon's intentions were to keep him there until he gave up. He was succeeding, his confidence came back, his tiny enemy was getting uncomfortable. But Gwaine moaned, the other knight didn't expect that, so he turned his head around. Benny took the chance to free the hand that was holding the knife and stabbed Leon's arm.

That was a surprise for the knight, which completely distracted him, allowing his fast enemy to let himself free. On that occasion, he didn't go for the weakest in the room, he looked at Leon with rage and held his knife tightly. He had every intention to attack the knight, but Leon held both of his wrists to stop him; he also tried to hit Benny's stomach with his knee, but the other had thought of that before and was faster, leaving the other with no air. The knight fell down and heard his enemy laugh.

''My master makes it look like as if I was a tiny and useless man. But I'm more than that. You two will just be a part of the many knights of Camelot I've killed.'' Benny said, grabbing Leon's sword quickly, and stood in front of the blond.

The knight looked at him, not scared to die, scared because Gwaine's life was in danger. But he was paralysed, he didn't know what to do... and it all happened in a couple of heartbeats.

He stopped looking at Benny and directed his eyes to who was on the floor: Gwaine. His eyes were wide open, he was looking directly at Leon, with fear. The blond looked into those beautiful deep eyes that seemed dark brown one moment, and hazel the other. He saw so much love and faith there that he felt courage flooding his body. In less than a second, he was up with his sword back and Benny's body was on the floor, still and expressionless.

''Oh God, Gwaine.'' Leon got to mutter. He dropped his sword again when making sure Benny was dead, and ran towards Gwaine, who looked more like a corpse than the servant. The knight kneeled and held the other one's head with his hands, barely feeling the pain on his arm. Gwaine was covered in blood, his cheek was swollen, he was cold and obviously in pain... still, he managed to smile. ''Gwaine, thanks God you're alive.''

''Leon...'' He whispered in the weakest voice.

''It's me, Gwaine, you're safe now.'' Leon said, he felt tears forming inside his eyes. He caressed the other man's face softly and repeated. ''You're safe now.''

''Are Merlin and Arthur...?''

''They're safe, you don't need to worry. I'm here.''

''How did you find me?'' Gwaine asked, breathing with difficulty.

''I will always find you, Gwaine, always.'' Leon said, allowing the tears roll down his cheeks, he was finally with his love. ''How could I leave you behind?''

Gwaine smiled and made a huge effort to raise his hand and put one of Leon's curls back in place. Then, he directed it to his shoulder and whispered. ''Your arm.''

Leon smiled. Gwaine was worried about his arm while his own body had countless wounds and was covered in blood.

''Leon, it's cold in here.'' Gwaine said, alarming the other.

''Shh, it's not. I'm going to take what's left of your shirt off, alright? And I'm giving you mine. Then, we're leaving this place.'' Leon said quickly; Arthur was safe, but they were still in danger. As carefully as he could, he took Gwaine's shirt off, it was easy because it had hardened with the dried blood and was ripped on the back.

''I lied to you.'' Gwaine when Leon started taking his own shirt off.

''What are you saying?'' Leon asked.

''You asked me if I knew what losing sleep meant...'' He coughed and looked at the other with loving eyes. ''Truth is, I do. I started losing sleep when I realised I was absolutely in love with you.''

Leon smiled and kissed Gwaine on the forehead. ''We're leaving this place and you're not leaving my side again, ever.'' He whispered and helped the other inside the shirt. Then, he put his armour back on, the metal was cold against his skin. ''Can you walk?''

''I think so.'' Gwaine said.

The blond helped him out. They stood up together and Leon made Gwaine put his arm around his shoulders, just like in the night Gwaine had gotten drunk. He was also holding his sword tightly, enemies might still appear. He began walking, but Gwaine collapsed as soon as he tried to take a step.

''I'm just slowing you down.'' Gwaine said, trying to stand up again. ''Go without me. Hurry, I'll try to hold them here.''

''Don't be an idiot, Gwaine.'' Leon said, alarmed. ''We don't know how many are still alive. And I'm not leaving you.''

''I'll try to follow you, just go and...''

''I already let you leave my side once and see what happened! I'm not making the same mistake twice!'' Leon screamed. He looked down and took a deep breath, then he stared at Gwaine and spoke more calmly. ''You can't ask me to leave you behind. You almost died because of me, I'm not letting you do that again; I would never forgive myself.''

''Leon, I...''

''Don't, Gwaine, just come so we can get out.'' The blond whispered. The other didn't complain, he got up and allowed himself to be helped. When Leon made sure they could walk alright, he spoke softly. ''Let's just get the hell out of here.''

Walking was hard and painful for both of them. Leon had his wound that was just days old and a newly added one on his shoulder. Gwaine was weak and completely useless because of all the wounds. Climbing up the stairs was probably the hardest part; but they still had a corridor, another set of stairs, and more than half of the fortress in front of them.

They got nervous when they were leaving the dungeons and noticed that their friends were still fighting. The clash of swords and bodies falling could be heard. Leon held his sword up and made Gwaine get closer, he might have to protect him. Some rooms were clear, it seemed like the fight was happening near the door, their only way out.

They reached the first hall they had been in. A bunch of guards were blocking the door while another group was fighting the knights, the king and his servant. Three advanced towards Leon and Gwaine as soon as they appeared. The blond had to use all his strength to fight them off and protect the other.

Silence fell when Arthur killed the most important person in the fortress: Gradel. Everyone stood still for a few moments; then, every enemy of Camelot advanced with rage towards the others. Even the ones protecting the doors advanced, they didn't care if they got out or not, they just wanted to kill. Obviously, most of them tried to attack Arthur, but that didn't mean Gwaine and Leon weren't targets anymore.

''Watch out!'' Gwaine screamed, stepping aside so Leon could fight better. He fell down because of the weakness. When he saw that it had made the other one feel uneasy, he tried to calm him down. ''Keep going, Leon, I'm fine''

The other nodded and continued. He felt confident again, he was fighting with grace and the amount of enemies was getting smaller. He had Gwaine protected as well... but that didn't last much. Leon took a quick glance at the other, he saw him trying to stand up helping himself with a wall, he wasn't really in danger. Some guards ran to them, but he fought with great strength and didn't let anyone get close to Gwaine. However, some did see how strong he was, so they tried surrounding him.

The knight did his best, he managed to handle most of them. But the last one was a tough guy, he didn't even let Leon recover from killing one, he just threw himself at him and became crazy with his sword. Leon was trying his hardest, but he was weak, tired, worried and in pain. The strong man made Leon trip and fall down, sending his sword away. He put the tip of his in the knight's throat and raised it to give him a deadly stab.

But someone ran to him and pushed him to the floor, saving Leon's life. That someone was Gwaine, who had managed to stand up and somehow run to the guard, falling down with his arms around him. That hurt like hell, but Gwaine wasn't going to let him get Leon. However, the guard was stronger, he stood up easily and decided to kick Gwaine on the stomach to keep him still. The kick made the knight lose air and stay on the floor.

The guard smiled with satisfaction; but Leon, who had stood up and grabbed his sword, stabbed him before he could turn around. As the dead body of the guard collapsed, Leon kneeled to see Gwaine, who was unconscious but alive. He tried to lift him, but he was so weak and slow that they were probably going to get killed. When he had advanced a few steps and lost all hopes of getting out of that place, Arthur appeared and helped him with Gwaine.

''The others are taking care of the rest, let's get him out of here.'' The king said. Leon nodded and kept on walking. In a matter of seconds, they were out of the fortress, they would reach the horses soon.

In five minutes, everyone was far away from the fortress and were getting ready to leave. Percival put Gwaine in front of Leon when he had climbed up his horse. Leon held the unconscious Gwaine as the other had done with him days ago during the first mission.

''Come on, Gwaine. Stay with me, idiot.'' Leon whispered to Gwaine's ear as they rode to Camelot. Leon could call Gwaine an idiot in three different ways. One appeared when he was really acting like one and the blond had to snap at him. The second one was a little more careless, he wouldn't think about it twice; it would happen when Gwaine made a joke or a stupid comment. The last one had appeared a while ago, Leon would call him an idiot with utter adoration and loving eyes.

If they didn't hurry, his idiot was probably not going to make it.

TheLoner7