A/N: Well, this one is another reveal… you all know by now how much I love reveals. Many thanks to lexi1220 for the prompt- keep the ideas coming, guys! :)
Quick Info: Uther is still King, Merlin's magic is still a secret, and (just to change it up a bit) Morgana is still good.
Drabble 18- Troubled Dreams
Darkness shrouded the room, united but for a slice of moonlight which fell through the window and slid across the body of the sleeping man. The night was quiet, interrupted only by the tossing and turning of the room's lanky owner. By his sides, his hands clenched and unclenched; under his eyelids, his eyes moved rapidly, turning the skin almost transparent with erratic flashes of gold.
As the night progressed, a great storm came out of nowhere. The wind howled and the rain pounded against the room's only window, which was slowly being overcome by a creeping frost even though it was mid-summer. Lightning joined the moon in illuminating the night sky; the harsh flashes of light made the servant look sickly. In the corner of the room, a potted plant exploded- one shard of clay embedded itself in the wall just inches from the man's head.
The man slept on, twitching as if in pain underneath his sheets. Sweat gleamed on his pale face. In the corners of the room, the shadows came alive, peeling off the walls and dancing through the moonlight with unnatural speed and grace. The man suddenly screamed and jerked to the side. With a loud thump, he fell to the floor. His eyes flew open, blue once more.
Catching sight of the chaos in the room, he raised one hand and in a shaky voice banished the storm and shadows. His eyes flashed gold once more, and the night returned to normal. Blood dripped from one hand where he'd landed on a pointed shard of the pot; with another muttered spell, the plant reassembled itself.
Still shaking, he got up from the floor and sat heavily on the edge of his bed. Wearily, he buried his head in his hands. He did not go back to sleep.
"Quite a storm last night," Gaius commented that morning at breakfast. Merlin made a vague hum and offered no further comment.
"A little odd for this time of year, but no matter," Gaius continued, carrying his bowl of oatmeal to the table and taking a seat. "All that rain will be good for the herbs. I don't suppose you could go gather some today? Worthroot always flowers after storms."
"Yeah," Merlin said, picking at his breakfast half-heartedly. "No probem."
Gaius frowned. "Are you okay, Merlin? You seem a little tired." It was true- Merlin sported impressive purple bags under his eyes, making his already-pale complexion seem almost translucent.
"Yeah," Merlin waved away his concern and gave his mentor a smile. "Just had a busy day yesterday, that's all."
"About that," Gaius frowned again, fixing Merlin with a disapproving stare. "I know you're busy, and I wish you'd try to get home earlier." He raised a hand to silence Merlin, who'd opened his mouth to protest, and carried on. "But when a late night can't be avoided, could you try to be a little quieter? You made quite a racket last night."
"Of course," Merlin flashed the physician a winning smile. "Sorry for waking you up."
"Hump. You're going to be late if you don't stop playing with your food, you know."
Merlin quickly shoveled some oatmeal into his mouth, giving Gaius a thumbs-up. Then he tossed his bowl in the sink, muttered a cleaning spell under his breath, and left.
Gaius watched his ward leave, concern briefly crossing his face. There was something Merlin wasn't telling him, he was sure of it. But what?
Arthur was in a bad mood that morning. An awful storm had woken him up the previous night, and he'd started the day waiting on a late manservant. It also happened to be the Lady Morgana's birthday, and he knew he'd never hear the end of it if he was late to pick her up for their traditional outing, e.g., Merlin needed to hurry up or gods help him he would-
Just at that moment, the door opened.
"Finally," Arthur growled. "You took forever. Did you get lost?"
"Good morning to you, too," Morgana's voice chastened. Arthur spun around from his spot by his desk, face flushing as he spotted the woman.
"Ah," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Good morning, Morgana. Happy birthday."
"You were supposed to meet me by the stables a half hour ago," Morgana said pointedly. "Or did you get lost?"
Arthur scowled. "No, Merlin just can't get up on time." As he spoke, the door swung open again and Merlin walked in, balancing a large tray of food in one hand. Before Arthur could scold him, Merlin spoke.
"You try hurrying anywhere with ten pounds of food weighing you down," Merlin quipped cheerfully. "Lady Morgana! Happy Birthday!"
"Thank you, Merlin," Morgana smiled, helping him unload the tray. "Eat up quickly, Arthur, or I'm leaving without you," she added. Then she was gone, leaving Arthur fuming and Merlin smiling.
Nightfall found the three deep in the woods, camped out in a small clearing while Merlin made dinner. They'd taken no knights with them, by Morgana's request, but if they hadn't returned in another three days several soldiers were under strict instructions to set out after them.
These outings were perhaps Morgana's favorite birthday tradition. Every year, Arthur found some natural wonder to show her; last year, he'd taken her to a cavern made almost entirely of crystals. The year before, they'd travelled to see a forest on the edges of the kingdom where the flowers grew to be two meters tall (Uther had insisted they take knights with them that year, as it'd been further away, but it'd still been fun). The year before that, they'd visited the mountains for the breath taking view, and so on. Exploring the wilderness was hardly a "lady-like" activity, so it was the one time out of the year Uther let Morgana indulge. She loved every minute of it.
When she returned, there would be a feast and Arthur would give her a more material gift, like a new dress or some jewelry, but in her mind this was his real gift. She had a feeling it was in his mind, too.
In their little camping spot, Morgana watched her two companions with a small smile. Arthur was relaxed against a tree, doing his two favorite things: polishing his sword and arguing with Merlin. Merlin was kneeling in the center of the clearing, making a delicious-smelling stew and occasionally waving his ladle to emphasize a point to Arthur. Gwen might have come with them, but her father had fallen ill and she'd stayed behind to care for him. Even with the maid's absence, the relaxing normalcy of it all was clearly as much a comfort to Arthur as it was to Morgana, but she'd never called him out on it.
We should do something to celebrate Merlin's birthday, she mused. I should mention it to Arthur.
"They aren't real, so it's irrelevant," Arthur was saying, rolling his eyes.
"But if they were," Merlin protested.
"They aren't."
"They could be!"
"They're not."
"You have no imagination," Merlin complained, filling three bowls with stew. "You live in a land full of magic and you can't even entertain the idea that you might be wrong."
"I fight magic, Merlin, so I dare say I've had more exposure to it than you have," Arthur crowed, accepting his food from the manservant. Merlin handed the other to Morgana, grumbling under his breath about something-or-other that Morgana didn't quite catch.
Despite their bickering, she felt at peace. Even Arthur's ignorance of her abilities couldn't damper her mood; it was nice to know some things never changed.
When Arthur woke, the moon was high in the sky. Crawling from his sleeping bag, he stumbled over to where Merlin sat, keeping watch. Despite the circles under his eyes and the give-away exhaustion in his stooped shoulders, the manservant was still very much awake, eyes flickering steadily around the surrounding forest.
"You were supposed to wake me up hours ago," Arthur said, breaking the silence. Merlin started a little, looking back at Arthur in surprise.
"What's the point? I'm not tired," Merlin bluffed. "You might as well get all the sleep you can."
"Were you planning at going to bed at all?" Arthur asked irritably. "And don't give me all that 'you're not tired' nonsense, you look ready to drop."
"I.." Merlin squirmed uncomfortably. "I'd rather keep watch."
"Go sleep," Arthur rolled his eyes, plopping down next to his servant. "I'll keep watch."
"But-"
"That's an order, Merlin."
Sulkily, Merlin got up and crawled into his own sleeping bag. Arthur could tell from the rigidness of the servant's shoulders that he was trying to stay awake. Idiot, Arthur grumbled mentally. He's going to fall off his horse tomorrow from exhaustion just to prove a point to me.
A quiet hour passed. Arthur noted with satisfaction that by the end of it, Merlin's exhaustion had gotten the best of him and he'd nodded off. With that settled, he turned his attention back to the forest. There was little need to keep watch, in truth. Arthur always chose the safest parts of the territory to take Morgana, just in case, and had the knights comb the region for trouble a week in advance as an extra measure. Even without knights, they couldn't be safer. Still, Uther always felt better knowing that they kept watch, so the prince would humor him accordingly.
Under the moon, the prince shivered. It was unusually cold for summer- cold enough to make him wish he'd brought a jacket. Weird. Had it been this cold when he'd woken? Surely not. He would have noticed… right? Like the temperature's just going to drop twenty degrees, Arthur scoffed. It's far more likely I just didn't notice. Still, even with this obviously sound logic, the royal couldn't shake his unease.
Another quiet hour passed. A very quiet hour. The leaves didn't rustle; every animal in the forest seemed to have fallen mute. Arthur stood and drew his sword, comforted by the reassuring weight and the sharp shnick of metal-on-sheath that reassured him he hadn't gone deaf. He began to pace, drawing further comfort from the crunch of leaves under his boots and the faint crackle of the frost-covered ground.
Wait a minute… frost? Blinking, he spun around, heart pounding. Sure enough, the warm ground was inexplicitly being slowly covered by creeping, spindly wisps of white frost. Even as he watched, it spread further, until he was standing on the edge of a perfect circle of frost.
Magic. His throat closed with fear and anger- how dare magic try to ruin Morgana's birthday? He wouldn't let it. He'd take care of this himself- Morgana would never have to know. He crept over to where Merlin slept, hating the sound of his boots on the unnatural frost as he went.
"Merlin," he hissed. The manservant rolled over, now facing the prince, but didn't wake. To Arthur's surprise, Merlin seemed to be in the middle of a bad nightmare; his skin was covered in sweat, despite lying on the frosted ground, and his eyes moved rapidly under his eyelids. His hands were clenched so tightly into fists his knuckles had turned white, and the edge of one hand was stained with barely-noticeable streaks of blood.
Arthur couldn't imagine what bad memories Merlin might have to fuel any horrible nightmare; another surge of red-hot anger coiled in his chest when he realized this, too, had to be the work of the mystery sorcerer.
"Merlin," Arthur tried again, a little louder, sinking into a crouch so that his weight was back on his heels. "Merlin, wake up. We're under attack." Merlin slept on.
Above the three campers, a slow wind started, rustling through the trees and making leaves flutter to the ground. The slight breeze quickly picked up, until the trees groaned under its weight and Arthur was struggling to stay upright. Still, by some miracle, Morgana and Merlin stayed asleep.
Forget keeping Morgana in the dark- clearly this magician wasn't going to come peacefully. He spun around, one knee braced on the ground, and faced the king's ward.
"Morgana! MORGANA, WAKE UP!"
No response. You've got to be kidding me, Arthur grumbled. The wind was loud, but surely he was louder. It was incredible the wind hadn't woken her up as it was.
"MORG- agh!" His second attempt dissolved into a string of cursing when something small and sharp hit hip just above one eyebrow, likely launched by the wind. With one hand, he cupped the offending object before it could be swept away. The other flew to his forehead- it came away slick with blood. Looking down, he recognized the broken remains of one of Gaius's sleeping droughts. He'd forgotten Morgana sometimes took them. No wonder she's sleeping like the dead.
Swearing again, Arthur turned back to Merlin.
"MERLIN!" The servant writhed as if in pain, fear on his face at Arthur's voice. Under his eyelids, there was a flash of gold.
Arthur recoiled as if he'd been struck. A trick of the light- must be, has to be- fighting the wind and struggling to see through the blood that dripped into one eye, Arthur grabbed Merlin by the shoulder and shook him roughly.
With a start, Merlin jolted awake. He reeled back, tangled in his bedding. His eyes were wide and glazed with fear.
"Merlin! It's okay, it was just a-" Before Arthur could finish, Merlin caught sight of him.
With a desperate cry, the manservant threw his hands up. His eyes turned gold. Arthur felt himself fly back and slam into a tree, hard. For a dangerous second, his vision swam with black. Over the wind, he heard Merlin sobbing.
"I swear, it wasn't me," the manservant was crying. "I'd never try to kill you, I swear, please don't tell Uther. I stopped him, I'm trying to help-"
Arthur thought he might be sick. He no longer felt his throbbing side or the stinging of his cut. He couldn't look directly at Merlin- the wind made his eyes water- but his mind made sure he never looked away from Merlin's gold eyes. They were there, imprinted behind his eyelids, burned into his memory. Two thoughts pounded against his skull:
Merlin has magic.
His nightmare is about me.
He wasn't sure which realization hurt more.
*Bonus: Sometimes I ask my sister, who also watches Merlin, to read over these shorts and edit them a bit. When she read this, she wrote her own ending, which I'm going to include because I thought it was hilarious. Here it is:
Arthur realized it didn't matter if Merlin had magic, they'd stuck together this far and his loyalties were clear anyway. Thus, the two went back to the castle, legalized magic, and Morgana never had to hide her gift either which saved a lot of trouble, including Arthur's not-death and her assassination attempt on Emrys. Also, Mordred was pretty chill too.