Evermore

Chapter 4: Essentials from the Heart

Characters~ Arthur & Merlin

Disclaimer~ Yeah—don't own Merlin in any way, shape, or form. (Arthur does XD)

Warnings~ young prince!Arthur and young poor!Merlin, some OOC because they're kids, and fluffy slash/shounen-ai ~wO

Music on My Mind~ Rhythm of Love by The Plain White T's (don't own)

Notes from the KIT-chan~

Sorry for it took so long for this update—things got hectic after SAT(I)'s—what with finals and the assload of projects my teachers decided to give me the week before. :P And then came along swim practice... 6_6";

But now I'm back~ :D

As for this chapter...all I can say is fluff...another character...cars...and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, to whoever's read it (don't own btw). ;D

That is all. w

Enjoy~ :D

.::.*~K. Shadow~*.::.

~o~

Since that day, Merlin had indeed kept true to his promise, as he visited the young Prince almost every afternoon in his mansion in time to have play dates with him under his mother's consent, during her work shifts later in the day.

"Come on!" Arthur had laughed, pulling the raven in through the threshold of his room.

Almost instantly, Merlin's eyes had widened with disbelief as he stepped barefoot onto the carpet to see what seemed like thousands of new, shiny toys scattered about the room, just waiting to be picked up and played with.

The raven paused and pursed his lips. "This is..." he murmured in awe.

But before he could say anything more, the blonde had already rushed towards him with two small remote controls in his hands, a camouflage green fighter pilot's hat sitting on the latter's head. "Here," he beamed, giving one to him in that instant.

At that moment, Merlin had frowned and curiously took the control in his palm, examining its levers and antenna.

"What is it?" he asked, eagerly flipping it over to look at the screws.

But Arthur had only smiled. "I'll show you."

Before long, the raven had glanced up in time to see the blonde turn and point his remote at a shiny red fire truck at the corner of the room, effortlessly switching a lever on the control.

And Merlin had almost flinched back entirely when the vehicle had started to veer off in an instant, red and blue lights flashing and sirens wailing.

"Wow..." he'd muttered softly, his mouth dropping open in wonder. "That's..."

As he raised his head to look directly into Arthur's eyes, the prince had chuckled amusedly at him, then pointed at another car stationed at the other side of the room—a blue monster truck with flames on the sides.

"Feel free to see if you can make yours move, too," he laughed.

Immediately Merlin's eyes had bulged even more. "You mean this one's—"

"Yeah."

His mouth dropped. "It's so shiny..."

"Why don't you give it a try?" Arthur insisted expectantly, beaming at him once more.

Silence.

The raven couldn't help but pause, taking some time to absorb all that was happening at that present moment—the once-in-a-lifetime privilege that he was being given now...that he knew for a fact he would never be able to experience again in his own home.

It had been a long while before he'd brought himself to give a small smile of delight and gazed eagerly at Arthur, who'd nodded once with much approval.

With that, Merlin had glanced down at his remote inquisitively before finally pointing it over at the truck and carefully switching both levers, causing the vehicle's wheels to eventually speed up and squeal as it accelerated forward by the threshold next to the blonde's fire truck.

By the time it'd stopped, the raven had smiled elatedly, shifting his gaze back at the prince to see a proud but clever smirk appear on his fair face in an instant.

"Race you," Arthur had finally said after another minute, darting his eyes over at him with a somewhat competitive look that seemed very interesting to Merlin at that moment...

Before long, both had found themselves grinning smugly at each other before quickly pressing the levers on their controls and listening as their trucks sped on instantaneously.

Within seconds, the two boys had already sprinted out the door and into the hallway.

~o~

In the next half-hour, Arthur and Merlin had been seen rushing excitedly through the halls of the manor, just barely avoiding the numerous servants and maids that passed them carrying various items in their hands.

Zoom.

"Oh my!"

Zip.

"Good heavens!"

Screech. "What the devil—"

Crash.

"Do be careful, young masters!"

"Sorry!" both cried in unison before quickly turning to continue chasing after their cars.

Soon, it had come to a point where red had begun to overtake blue, and Arthur started to laugh victoriously.

"Can't catch me, Merlin!" the blonde drawled.

At that moment, a determined gleam immediately grew in the raven's eyes, and in just seconds, his car began to move even faster until it almost zipped past Arthur's, causing the Prince's own eyes bulge in awe and incredulity. "What the—" he'd begun to protest, darting his eyes from the monster truck to him. "How did you—"

In that instant, Merlin chuckled cunningly and glanced back at him, grinning mischievously. "You were saying?"

Arthur smirked and laughed at the raven, his sapphire blue irises bouncing. "Oh, we'll see about that!"

With that, he looked down at his fire truck, making it accelerate even faster.

At this, Merlin couldn't help but start to laugh as well and continued run as fast as he could, control in hand.

~o~

The "race" they were having at the moment went on like this for about ten minutes more—and it seemed that it would have gone forever, despite the two flights of stairs the two had swiftly sprinted down on.

...had it not been for that one person that Merlin had accidentally bumped into.

Thump.

"What in the name of Julius Caesar—"

Before long, Merlin had found himself sitting on the floor, rubbing his head gingerly before looking up to see a tall, noble-looking man brushing his leg with a discontent expression on his rigid face.

At that moment, Merlin's eyes widened upon meeting the latter's irked and awfully disgruntled gaze, and quickly began to blurt out apologies on instinct, as if he were giving an executioner numerous excuses not to chop his head off or burn him alive at the stake.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to bump into—"

After a while, the raven was silent when he'd been getting no replies and instead noticed him looking over behind him with a quite displeased expression on his face.

At this, Merlin had sharply held his breath, then glanced over his shoulder in a daze to see Arthur staring straight into Uther's eyes with a rigid, composed countenance.

Almost instantly, the atmosphere surrounding them had, all of a sudden, grown rather...uneasy and volatile, as if all were at a serious standstill at that point.

~o~

Merlin had quickly darted his eyes towards the nobleman, worriedly exchanging glances between them.

It hadn't been more than another minute when Arthur had finally swallowed and spoke in a hoarse, even tone. "This is Merlin, sire. The maid Mrs. Emrys's son? He's here under my permission to spend the afternoon with me."

No response.

In that instant, Merlin reluctantly turned around to see the nobleman scrutinizing his stern gaze on him, and immediately, he'd raised his hand to scratch his head nervously, simpering at the latter.

"H-hello, sir. It's an honour to meet you."

But he didn't reply. Instead, the man frowned and blew a huff before making his way past the two.

"Carry on," he grumbled impatiently.

As he passed them, the raven couldn't help but gulp before looking at Arthur with intimidated, questioning eyes.

At this, Arthur let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes at the raven, taking his hand and leading him into the kitchen.

"Come here, you."

~o~

At that point, the two were now sitting at the kitchen table, helping themselves to delicious vanilla bean ice cream Arthur had managed to obtain from the fridge.

"Who was that?" Merlin brought himself to ask, swallowing another spoonful's worth. "He also scared me half to death back there."

In that instant, the blonde exhaled sharply, wiping his mouth with his sleeve before putting down his ice cream. "My father," he replied in an unwavering tone.

Almost immediately, the raven started to choke on his ice cream, Arthur reaching over instinctively to pat his back.

"Goodness, Merlin, don't go and kill yourself over it. It's not like you offended him by just standing there like you were some deer in headlights."

Merlin coughed and took a deep breath, then looked over at Arthur with a half-anxious expression on his face. "Does that mean he hates me now?"

The prince paused to laugh. "No—of course he doesn't, you twat."

The raven gazed at him incredulously. "What makes you say that? Judging by how he looked at me a few minutes ago, it seemed like he was thinking about dragging me to the Tower of London right then and there."

At that moment, Arthur began to laugh even louder and patted the other's shoulder. "He wasn't," the blonde chuckled. "He was just observing, that's all—just so until he'd get to know you better."

Merlin frowned and gave him a dubious look.

The prince smirked. "Don't worry. He does that with all my friends, so it's perfectly normal."

In response, the raven raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, you're the Prince of Wales, for crying out loud. How many real friends could you possibly have?"

Instantly, Arthur grew quiet all of a sudden and narrowed his eyes at the latter.

At that point, Merlin was laughing at him. But that wasn't until the blonde abruptly reached over to grab him in a chokehold, giving him a good noogie that instant.

"Oh, I can name one."

The nine-year-old let out a sharp cry and began to wriggle under the other's grasp. "Hey—hey!"

The blonde smirked mischievously, then chuckled and let go of the raven, who'd sputtered indignantly before pouting at him, his high cheekbones now distinct and well-defined.

At that moment, Arthur couldn't help but grin amusedly at the sight, then pursed his lips. "Wait—missed a spot," he added, reaching over to mess up the other's hair even more.

Merlin rolled his eyes and exhaled sharply at him. "Thanks a lot," he drawled sarcastically, finally reaching up to take the other's hand off his head.

In that instant, the Prince gazed playfully into the raven's eyes, then lowered his head and let out a sigh.

"So, then...how much time do we have left?"

Silence.

Then Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to peer over at the wall clock on the other side of the room. "Well...Mum's probably going to be done with her shift in a few hours, so..."

But midway through his sentence, he'd paused abruptly as soon as Arthur had quickly raised his head and froze when all of a sudden the sound of brisk, running footsteps in the hall could be heard from a short distance, getting louder and louder as the minutes passed—as if the source itself were almost rushing towards them that instant.

Before the raven could say anything more, a female voice had echoed through the corridors.

"ARTHUR!" it shrieked demandingly.

At that moment, he raised an eyebrow, glancing back to see the blonde exhale sharply and bury his face in his palms.

"Oh, sod..." he'd heard the latter mutter under his breath. "She's here."

Merlin frowned in confusion, facing him with an inquisitive expression on his face. "Who's she?"

Arthur sighed, then took his hand, swiftly getting out of his seat to drag him out of the kitchen. "The witch," he whispered, stepping out into the hall. "Let's go before she casts curses on us and takes us to her lair."

But the raven only stared at the blonde with utter perplexity. "Witch?" he asked bewilderedly. "What do you mean, witch—"

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Immediately the two had stopped in their tracks. Then after a while, they'd cringed slightly before reluctantly bringing themselves to turn around and see a short, green-eyed little girl with an alabaster complexion and long, dark brown hair standing in the middle of the threshold behind them, scrutinizing a quite intimidating gaze on both boys with slender arms crossed over her chest in impatience.

She couldn't have been more than about Molly's age, but that instant, Merlin also couldn't help but gulp upon meeting her intent stare, while Arthur had just put his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes before letting out an exasperated sigh.

~o~

Later on before the two had known it, they'd been dragged upstairs into the girl's room to join her in one of her extravagant—or rather infamous, in Arthur's perspective—tea parties with numerous stuffed animals and porcelain dolls surrounding them at a small table.

At that moment, the prince had let out an aggravated groan, leaning back on his bean bag chair with his hands over his face and exhaling sharply.

But the girl had merely ignored his implied protest, keeping her gaze still on the blue-eyed raven sitting across from her. For a minute, her expression was curious as she eagerly watched him lower his eyes tentatively to sip his "tea" in silence. Then she smiled and glanced down at her hands, folded primly on her lap.

"So...who's your new friend?" the brunette asked with a small laugh. "I don't believe we've met."

At that moment, Merlin cleared his throat, quickly putting his cup down. "Uh...Merlin. Merlin Emrys, my lady," he replied humbly.

Arthur rolled his eyes that instant, as she'd begun to giggle. "He's sweet..."

The raven smiled shyly.

The blonde sighed, darting his eyes at him. "You really don't have to address her like that, you know. She's just my cousin, for crying out loud—"

"Oh, let him!" the green-eyed girl cut in, waving the latter off as she grinned contentedly at Merlin. "It makes me feel...loved. I like him already."

At that moment, Merlin's cheeks flushed a little, and Arthur did nothing but slowly shake his head at the two of them.

Soon, the brunette couldn't help but laugh lightly, then turned to tug persistently on Arthur's sleeve. "Well, what are you waiting for, you twat? Introduce me!" she demanded impatiently.

In that instant, Arthur groaned in disbelief, then stared wearily at Merlin before exhaling sharply and hand-gesturing to his adorable younger cousin.

"Her Grace and Cuteness," the blonde began unenthusiastically with indifferent eyes. "Morgana le Fay, Duchess of Edinburgh and all that is—"

"LOUDER!" the brunette hissed.

At that moment, Arthur sighed, rolling his eyes again. "Fluff and rainbows..." he finished flatly.

Merlin chuckled, wiping his mouth with his wrist after taking yet another sip of his "tea," which had actually been cold apple juice made from concentrate.

Morgana giggled, leaning back against her chair to look at the raven again. "That's quite all right—it's a pleasure to meet you either way, Merlin," she spoke with a smile. "Can I get you some more tea?" she asked with an expectant expression on her face.

At this, he shrank back slightly at her offer. "Er...I'm fine, thanks—"

"Nonsense!" the Duchess of Edinburgh cut in abruptly, taking Merlin's cup and leaving the room to refill it.

When all was finally silent again, Arthur took a deep breath and put his hand over his eyes.

"Does she visit often?" Merlin laughed.

"She's been living here since the day we moved in, thank you very much," the prince groaned.

That instant, the raven tilted his head curiously. "But didn't you say that she was your cousin—"

Arthur sighed. "Father is very fond of Uncle," he answered bleakly. "Which is why every summer, they always come along with us on vacations."

Merlin chuckled. "I see...and you haven't gotten used to her yet?"

"Not in a lifetime," he grumbled with another sharp exhale. "She's almost like the little sister I'd wish I'd never have."

Soon, the door had creaked open again, and Morgana could be seen walking back through the threshold in her majestic purple gown, with a newly refilled cup of "tea" in hand. "Here you go!" she'd exclaimed gleefully, stretching her arm out to give it to the raven.

Merlin had grinned genuinely at the latter, gratefully taking the tea from her and leaning back on the baby blue bean bag chair that he was sitting on.

At that moment, the brunette smiled at him, moving over to grab one of her stuffed animals before taking her own seat.

~o~

It hadn't been more than a short while until Morgana had finally let out an exasperated sigh and darted her eyes towards Arthur.

"Cousin..." she whined at the blonde, hugging her teddy bear. "I'm bored. Play 'Little Prince' with me?" she asked timidly.

"No," Arthur replied curtly, keeping his hand to his forehead. "You've already held me here against my will for almost half an hour straight—what more could you possibly want?"

Not that The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery wasn't his all-time favourite book to read...but eh—it was Morgana.

At this, she had pouted at him before turning to look expectantly at Merlin. "Fine, then. I'm sure Merlin wants to play..."

That instant, Merlin took another sip of tea and courteously put down his half-empty cup, looking up at her with curious eyes. "Er...all right, I guess. Just—how do you play?"

It was silent for a moment.

In just seconds, the brunette and blonde had stiffened where they were, eyes wide and mouths dropped open in incredulity while he had looked back at the two of them with a merely oblivious expression on his face.

"What?" he'd asked, shrugging once at both.

There was a pause.

Arthur pursed his lips, then opened his mouth to speak carefully. "Merlin...don't tell me you've never heard of TheLittlePrince before."

At this, the nine-year-old had frowned, slowly shaking his head at the latter.

Morgana mused that instant, trying to consider the other's response. "Haven't you read it at the very least? With your mum when you were little?"

Merlin shook his head again. "No—I haven't," he replied in an honest tone, shrugging his shoulders. "To tell you the truth...I don't even know how to read yet."

In that instant, Arthur's eyes had bulged with disbelief. "What?"

"Haven't you gone to school?" Morgana asked eagerly, staring at him with hopeful eyes.

But the raven only frowned and shook his head again. "Mum couldn't afford it," he murmured sadly.

Another minute's silence.

And only then did the blonde's eyes soften as he'd come to realise and understand for the first time...the earliest glimpse of a reality his friend had and would always come to face every day of his impoverished life—the privileges he'd had now that the other would never get and become so painfully deprived of...

At that moment, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh turned to look at each other inquisitively, then back at Merlin, who'd returned their gazes with perplexity.

Then it hadn't been until after a while when Morgana had gotten up from her seat all of a sudden, grabbing the nine-year-old's hand and yanking him up to his feet.

"That settles it," the brunette had spoken in a firm, confident voice as she began to lead him away. "This calls for rather desperate measures—you're coming with me this instant."

Almost immediately, the raven's mouth dropped open in surprise as he had instantaneously found himself being dragged towards the doorway by the little girl. At this, his breath had hitched as he apprehensively glanced back at Arthur with flustered, inquisitive eyes, only to see the condescending blonde smirk mischievously at him, making a curt signal in front of his neck with his hand that noted him clearly to shut up that minute.

And with that, Merlin had sighed in defeat as he was forcibly taken down into the corridor.

Morgana to the rescue.

~o~

That afternoon, it was almost a wonder to see that the young raven had spent the rest of his evening in the duchess's room, constantly listening to her as she persistently ranted on about the alphabet, repeatedly showing him countless pictures of animals to him from an enormous variety of colouring books.

It was as if he was being treated as a flunk-out student, for goodness sake—and Morgana had instantly transformed into the most skilled, erudite tutor in the world, dressed in a quite flamboyant pixie princess outfit—wings included. Not to mention the fact that how Merlin had often began to question himself soon after whether he was still awake or not, as he'd begun to picture himself in some messed-up fairy tale of some sort.

And while all this was happening, Arthur himself had just sat there in the background, amusedly watching the whole thing as it was happening that instant.

Before long, Merlin had finally brought himself to glance back at him for a minute with mock-intimidated eyes, mouthing out the words, "Help me" in wide, horrified eyes.

But then all of a sudden Morgana had walked over with her sparkling magic wand, snapping it swiftly on the tabletop enough to make the raven jump in his seat.

"Keep writing!" the young duchess commanded stridently. "Your M's look like N's, for goodness sake!"

At that moment, the blonde had stifled a chuckle from behind, while Merlin sighed and picks up his pencil again to write.

Soon enough, it came to a point where Arthur had walked over to sit next to the raven and smirked as he watched him struggle to write his whole name in neat, refined manuscript.

"Need some help?" the prince chuckled as the other's hand had begun to tremble slightly of writer's cramp.

Merlin winced, briefly darting his eyes at him. "Write my name for me?" he asked in a frantic, timid tone.

Arthur sighed and rolled his eyes playfully at the raven, then courteously took the pencil and began to write effortlessly in the notebook, Merlin eyeing him from his seat.

But as soon as the blonde had finished, he'd leaned over his shoulder to peer at the blank page, only to see the word "Gandalf" written in neat handwriting on the top right corner of the paper.

In that instant, Merlin had frowned glancing up to see Arthur grinning wryly at him.

"Very funny," he sighed sarcastically.

The prince chuckled.

~o~

Later on, it had indeed reached a limit where Morgana had finally called it quits, skipping over to her tiny bookshelf to take out her children's copy of TheLittlePrince—in pop-up version, handing it to Merlin and eagerly plopping down on the bed beside him.

And in the time that passed, both Arthur and Morgana had explained to the latter the point of the game "Little Prince," how each of them would take turns reading excerpts from the story itself and at the same time assuming different roles of various characters on the way, which had been the main reason why Morgana had often referred to it as "play" instead of "read" in her own terms.

"I'll be the Fox when his part comes around," the young duchess had announced proudly with a smile. "He's my favourite character of the whole story."

Merlin smiled and nodded once, looking back at her with a hopeful gleam in his shining blue eyes. "All right," he replied, opening the book to the first page.

But just before the reading had begun, he paused for a minute to curiously glance up at the other two beside him. "Who am I going to be, then?" the raven asked eagerly, shifting his gaze between both the blonde and brunette.

At this, Morgana had thought briefly, then glanced back at his older cousin.

"Hm. That's a good question—because usually Arthur and I would take on random roles for the rest of the characters along the way, since it'd be just the two of us," she replied musingly. "But now that there are three, I guess I'd want you to take one of the bigger parts so you can get more practice and the most important pieces of the story since you haven't read this yet."

The duchess frowned as she pondered for a second, putting a finger over her mouth. "Huh..." It hadn't been more than a minute when she'd snapped her fingers upon reaching an idea and she'd turned to look at Merlin again with her face lit up with excitement.

"I know—you can be the Little Prince himself!" she beamed gleefully. "You'd be more than perfect for his role!"

In that instant, Arthur's face grew discontent, and he'd frowned upon hearing his cousin's declaration. "But I'm the Prince," he'd remarked in protest, frowning at her with disdain.

"And now you're not," Morgana replied unwaveringly at him. "Now you're that narrator pilot whose plane crashed in the Sahara desert, since one: you read so well, and two: haven't you been telling me for days now how much you've wanted to become a pilot someday? Well, there you are. Besides," she grinned cunningly, lightly jabbing a finger flat on his chest. "You're already the Prince in real life," she laughed.

At this, the blonde's expression became sheepish for just a moment, then he'd reached over to grab the book from Merlin, who'd chuckled softly at the latter's reaction.

Almost immediately, Arthur's breath had hitched slightly upon seeing the genuine smile that had appeared on his friend's face at that moment, but before long, he'd cleared his throat and managed to compose himself with a warm smile, glancing down to begin reading the fine text on the page in front of him.

"Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book..."

~o~

They'd done nothing more but read for the next hour, taking turns per page as the story swept the three of them away into a faraway land of imagination...where even for just a brief moment, there had been no worries or things to complain about—the pure joy of getting caught into the adventure of the Little Prince himself.

And pretty soon, night-time had already fallen, and at the same time, Morgana could be seen nodding off for a second, all tuckered out from the fun they'd had just earlier that afternoon.

Even Arthur and Merlin had been exhausted as well, their eyelids dropping slightly every now and then, yawns filling the room.

The raven sighed as Morgana insisted him to take on her role for her, tired as she was, and he had shaken his head before reading the Fox's next quote in a slow, drowsy tone.

"It is...on-ly with the he-art that one can see right-ly...what is eh...ehh-sennn-tial is in-vis-uhh-ble to the eye..."

At that moment, he'd stopped abruptly when the blonde beside him had suddenly raised his head to look at him with a curious, longing stare.

Then the door had opened that instant, with his mother standing by the threshold, her eyes softening as she watched the children settled by the bed, Morgana half-asleep next to her son.

"Merlin—time to go home, love," Hunith had called in a gentle voice.

In that instant, the raven yawned, then nodded once, closing the book and carefully placing down on the side before standing up on his feet.

As he rose up from the bed, Morgana had stirred, rubbed her eyes, and sighed. "Come back to-mor-row to finish the book, then?" she asked drowsily.

At that moment, Merlin chuckled, gingerly taking her hand into his. "Of course, my lady."

She smiled slightly, then yawned.

The raven took a deep breath, getting up from the bed to come along with his mother.

But before he'd noticed that minute, Arthur had already gotten up and rushed after Merlin.

"Wait—hold on a second," he spoke unwaveringly. Then he'd paused for a moment before looking up at his friend's mother and pursed his lips, eyes innocent.

"I just need to give him something," the blonde clarified in a respectful tone. "Could he come with me for a few minutes?"

At this, Hunith smiled, briefly exchanging glances between her son and the Prince. "Of course, dear," she replied cordially.

In that instant, Arthur grinned back at her, then took Merlin's hand and began leading him downstairs into the kitchen.

~o~

Merlin watched curiously as Arthur reached above the counter to grab a plastic bag filled with treats before he'd turned around to give it to him.

"Here's something for later," the blonde spoke amicably, handing the little blue gift to the raven.

At that moment, Merlin had beamed at him in delight, eagerly taking it from his hands. "Wow...thanks, Arthur. Molly and the others will probably like these for sure."

At this, the Prince gave a warm smile, his eyes glimmering as he gazed at the latter's euphoric demeanour. "No problem," he'd replied proudly. "Hopefully they liked that last batch of cookies from the other day as well."

The raven chuckled, his sapphire irises almost bouncing. "Oh, they most certainly did—which reminds me: they actually wanted me to thank you very much for the sweets and that you should come over and play with them again sometime."

The blonde laughed back, his eyes still on the other's grinning face. "Really? Well, that's a promise to keep then."

Merlin grinned.

After a moment, Arthur finally sighed, then grew silent for a minute as he watched the pure delight that lit up the other's face at that moment.

"...you know...you're very lucky to have so many siblings that love you and look up to you, Merlin," he'd finally spoken after another minute's worth of observation.

In that instant, the nine-year-old paused, looking back at him with a confused but curious expression on his face. "Really? Er...why's that?"

In response, the prince had pursed his lips, briefly turning away from the latter.

"Well...I don't have any brothers or sisters to share my toys with, so...it gets kind of lonely sometimes," he murmured, his countenance a bit sad.

At this, the raven stiffened, eyes soft but surprised. "Arthur..." he began in a hushed tone.

No response.

Merlin shifted his gaze for a moment, then darted his eyes back towards Arthur. "What are you talking about?" he continued, lightly prodding the blonde with his elbow with a playful look on his face. "Why...you're the Prince of Wales, for heaven's sake. You don't need your own siblings to give praise to you every now and then...you've already got all of England—the rest of the world, even. What more could you ask for?"

In that instant, the Pendragon sighed, slightly lowering his head. "That's exactly it," he replied sullenly. "It's not the same. No one there recognises me for who I really am as a person—just the next heir to the throne that the King will end up passing down one day...a mere figurehead to England's government, like my own father is right now."

The raven winced, then put his hand on the latter's shoulder. "Well, you've always got me and Morgana..." he added with a small but hopeful smile.

At this, Arthur frowned, immediately putting his hand to his forehead and letting out a dissatisfied groan as his cousin's name had reached his ears.

In that instant, Merlin laughed, patting the blonde's arm. Then he let out a small sigh, gazing up at the window to look up at the stars that illuminated the night sky outside.

"...it's just like the little prince and the roses again," the raven chuckled.

At that moment, Arthur stiffened, raising his head up to look at him with wide eyes.

Merlin had nodded once to the Pendragon, then glanced down at his feet on the floor. "Huh. You could say that you could have all the friends in the world...just like how a man could grow as many roses as he wants to..." He paused, then shifted his gaze towards the prince. "But to me—well, I guess it's true that no matter how you go about it, it'll always be the ones you truly cared about in the end..."

Arthur held his breath.

At this, the raven had grinned. "I mean...it's not like I don't already think of you as a brother, too. You've probably been the one person I've actually spent the most time with in one day."

In that instant, the blonde chuckled softly, raising his head to smile at him. "...thanks, Merlin," he murmured, reaching over to carefully take his finger in his palm once more.

At that moment, Merlin beamed at the prince, a genuine expression on his face.

Arthur's eyes softened.

But before they knew it, Hunith's kind voice could already be heard, emanating from the front door.

"Merlin! Time to go, love!"

In that instant, the raven had sighed, raising his head to look at Arthur longingly. "Bye," he murmured just above a hushed whisper at the blonde.

In response, the young prince couldn't help but smile with sad eyes before finally letting go of his best friend's hand to lead him back out into the hallway.

"Bye," he replied in a soft tone, looking after the latter as he had made his way down the other end of the corridor.

~o~

Only then did I begin to understand for the first time...just what that Fox from the storybook had really meant about seeing what's important from the heart instead of looking at it with your own eyes like most people usually do.

I watched as Merlin reunited with his mother again and as he waved to the servant holding the door for them before they'd stepped out into the darkness of the night.

Though at that moment, I couldn't help but feel a little sad inside. It was always depressing to see a friend go, even if you do know that you'll see him again the next day.

But then again...I had absolutely no idea what tomorrow had in store for either of us. All I had recognised at that point was that Merlin Emrys was truly my best friend from that day forth, and nothing in the world could possibly change that.

~o~

Music on My Mind~ 1, 2, 3, 4 by The Plain White T's (also don't own XD)

Notes from the KIT-chan~

Review? ^_^";

The next update will be up as soon as possible—I promise you guys that. X"D And the story of The Little Prince will definitely play a big part in the next chapter to come as well. ~wO

In addition to that, Arthur and Merlin will be spending lots more time with each other and only begin to learn even more about each other's pasts as this story goes on. (ICE-BREAKER! XD and a memory lapse, perhaps? ;D)

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter~ ^_^

.::.*~K. Shadow~*.::.