When Arthur woke up that morning, he felt a strange warmth next to him, something he had he felt before.
"Merlin?" he asked, eyes flashing open to see his ex-manservant. Merlin smiled up at him.
"It's not me," he said softly, sweetly, and in only the way Merlin could.
"Please." Arthur was actually begging. "Please, tell me you're here." He wrapped his arms around Merlin, surprised to find he was solid, unlike his other hallucinations.
Merlin smiled again. "I'm not, Arthur. I'm sorry."
"No." Arthur sat up as Merlin disappeared. "Merlin!"
Ever since the day that Arthur had left Merlin bleeding out on the ground, the king had been having hallucinations. All of them were of Merlin.
Arthur shook his head and jumped straight up. Without so much as a cry of pain, he bashed his head against one bedpost.
"Arthur, stop it!"
He smiled and continued to hit his head on the wood.
"Please, Arthur, you're hurting yourself!"
When he felt blood dripping, he knew what was to come.
"You clotpole," whispered Merlin, standing there with tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. The warlock walked over to the king and yanked him away from the offending carpentry before retracting away like he'd been burned. "Never do that again!"
Arthur smiled and tried to reach out to Merlin, who promptly took a step back. With a frown replacing his smile, Arthur shook his head. "No promises, love. You know it's my only way to see your beautiful face again."
Merlin glared. "You're not even seeing it."
"It's close enough."
Merlin shook his head. "If you want to see me, you'll have to find me."
Arthur tried touching him again, his voice becoming increasingly desperate. "I've tried, I've tried everything, and I can't! Why can't I find you?"
The hallucination sighed as he stepped further out of the king's reach. "Because I don't want to be found."
Merlin disappeared.
"Three, two, one!" cried Amelia. "Ready or not, here I come!"
The eight year old raced around for a bit, looking, before smirking and muttering a few choice words. Her eyes flashed gold, and a glowing path appeared. She followed it.
"Found you, Tommy!" she cried as she swept the two year old up into her arms. He squealed in delight before babbling away in toddler gibberish.
She followed another way the glowing path led, and soon found Lily, too, who pouted with indignation and claimed rather loudly, " 'Melia cheated!"
Kelvin wasn't as easy to find as the others, him being up in a tree and all, but when they did, he threw a worse fit than Lily.
"You used magic," he accused, pointing a finger in Amelia's face, making her go cross-eyed. "You cheated! I'm gonna tell!"
"No!" Amelia shrieked. If he told Angel, she would be punished. If he told Morgana, she would be scolded. If he told Emrys…
Kelvin ran back into their camp, heading straight into the third tent on the left. Amelia scrambled after him, the younger ones toddling behind slowly.
"…But she cheated, Emrys!"
"I know. I'll talk to her." Amelia stiffened, hearing those words just as she was about to enter the tent. Feeling a bit bolder than she felt and looked, she promptly strode in and screamed with dignity:
"I didn't do it!"
Kelvin glared as Emrys chuckled. "Kelvin," said the warlock with a smile. "Why don't you check on Thomas and Lily while we talk in here?"
The boy gave her an "I got you" smirk as he passed her, whereas she glared. "You'll pay."
"Amelia." She cringed. Emrys never yelled, but you knew you were in for it when he got that tone of voice. It was low and deadly, and just made you want the ground to swallow you up. "You know cheating is wrong."
She hung her head. "Yes, Emrys. I'm sorry, Emrys."
She heard him snort. "No need to be so formal, kid."
"Sorry, Emrys."
"Do I really scare you that much? If I was your age, I would be outside right now having a fist-fight with Kelvin for tattling."
She looked up, only to see that he wasn't angry. His clouded-over blue eyes showed a small amount of amusement. She instantly relaxed.
"I think I'll go do that now," Amelia said with a smirk. Emrys, however, grabbed her by the shoulder.
"No magic, though. You know it's an unfair advantage."
"Okay."
"Don't beat him too much."
She smiled. "I won't. Thanks Emrys."
Merlin smiled, even though he couldn't see her's. "Anytime. Now go get him!" He slapped her on the back and heard her run off. Normally, he would go out and make sure the fight didn't get too dirty, but something was holding him back. Something…magical? He wasn't sure.
Angel appeared a little later. "Really, Emrys? Really? Now Kelvin has a split lip and Amelia has a scraped knee. What were you thinking?"
"That Amelia shouldn't have gone for the face?"
"Emrys!"
"C'mon, would you rather them being pushovers? We both know that they'll get together when their older." He rolled his blind eyes. "They're madly in love."
She shook her head, in either amusement, acknowledgement, or disbelief as Merlin stood up and groped about, finally finding her shoulders. She sighed and led him out to the campfire where only Kelvin and Amelia sat glaring at each other from across the flames.
"Where's Morgana?" Angel asked.
"Giving the brats a bath," mumbled Kelvin.
Merlin glowered in his direction. "They're not brats, Kelvin. You should know that."
The boy gulped, hearing that tone. "Of course, Emrys."
Merlin was going to say something else, but was cut off by a loud scream.
"St-aaaaaaaaaap, 'Gana!" Lily cried as Morgana dragged her near the shallow river. Thomas held her hand quietly, making no protests.
" 'Gana, I don't want a bath!" the little girl yelled. Morgana picked her up, dropping Thomas's hand, and pretended to smell her hair.
"Ah, but you need one!" Morgana poked Lily in the stomach, making her giggle and momentarily forget her small tantrum.
Thomas, meanwhile, tugged on her trousers (living in the woods would be hell with a dress, so Morgana wore men's clothes, as did Angel, Lily, and Amelia). " 'Gana," he whispered. " 'Gana!"
"…And what would Emrys think? He won't like you if you're all smelly."
" 'Gana!" Thomas tried again.
She smiled and looked down. "Yes, Tommy?"
Before the toddler could answer, however, a chain-mail clad man fell at their feet. With one blood-encrusted hand, he reached up. Morgana screamed as she saw his face.
It wasn't the gore on his face that made her scream, nor the expression he held, but what his face identified him as.
It was Sir Gwaine.
A/N: Hellos everyone! Here is the chapter!
And I would like to thank my Beta, TruffleHead, for beta-ing. So...THANK YOU! :D
Oh and note: this is Merthur.
And another note: Merlin is blind in this fic. I elaborate more on this in the next chapter.
And thanks to all you guys that reviewed, followed, and favorited! Cookies for you! (But no muffins, because they're evil)
So? Shall I continue it? (I'm going to ask this after every chapter, so you might as well answer.) Shall I?