Hello, dear readers! Wow, I completely forgot about this story! I've been focusing a lot recently on Sherlock and Pewdiepie - not Merlin. I kind of forgot about fanfiction yesterday, as I'd wanted to write this yesterday, but completely forgot. I have absolutely NO excuses for my tardiness, so I'm just going to accept my fate. I think I'm also starting to accept the fact that I can't keep to a schedule. Sorry! Anyway, I've finally posted this chapter! I can't say when the next one will be up, but I can say that I think the next 'chapter' will be the last. Finally, I hope you enjoy chapter 7 of Captive, written purely for all of you who I love so much :)

- Livvy xxx

Three weeks later, Merlin woke up. He was surrounded by his closest friends, Gaius, Gwen, Arthur and the knights, but he felt a bit overcrowded and tremendously confused. Just a second ago he was helping Arthur with the lock on his cell, now he was in his own cot in Gaius' chambers. That made no sense!

He moved to sit up, but a fire blazed in his chest, preventing him from doing so. Also, a hand gently pushed him back.

"Welcome back," said the owner of the hand. It was Arthur. Gwen immediately broke into floods of tears and she left the room with the knights, leaving just Arthur, Gaius and Merlin in the room.

"Merlin? Oh, he's done it again, Gaius," Arthur said, sighing as if disappointed. Merlin just stared at him, confused and lost in his own head.

"I don't think so. I think he's with us," Gaius disagreed. He placed a hand on the back of Merlin's head and used the other to pour some water down his throat. The boy drank it, but didn't take his eyes off of his master.

"Um... Is he okay?" Arthur asked, becoming slightly disturbed by the dark blue eyes which were staring straight into his own.

"Seems to be. Try talking to him directly."

"Merlin? Are you... Are you feeling okay?" Arthur asked, hesitantly. Merlin blinked and snapped put of his trance-like state, immediately looking away, embarrassed.

"Yeah... Yeah, I guess I'm fine."

"Hey," Merlin looked back at Arthur, "do you... Remember what happened?"

"...Yes."

Arthur and Gaius shared a look and Gaius pressed Merlin to continue.

"Why were you there, Merlin? What happened?"

"I... I don't know why I was there. But the man in charge was really interested in me. He was a sick man, tortured innocent people for the fun of it. I guess I was just his latest victim," Merlin looked into the physician's eyes as he spoke, saying 'this isn't the whole truth. I'm talking about magic' with just his eyes, luckily Gaius understood and quickly sent away Arthur.

"Horrid indeed. Arthur, I think Merlin might be in need of some sleeping aid. Unfortunately, I do not have the proper ingredients. Do you think you could get the items on this list for me?" He handed over a piece of paper from the book in his lap and Arthur nodded and hurried off. Merlin smiled sadly at his willingness to help with a false task.

"Now, tell me everything."

"I was kidnapped for my powers. He wanted them for himself, whether that meant me being his slave or whether it required my powers to be extracted by unnatural means. Of course, I refused to serve him, and he locked me away in a cell with..."

"With?"

"Magic suppressing manacles," Merlin managed. The memory of the pain those things had put him through made him shiver and cringe. Where were they now? Did Arthur have them?

"What?! How did you possibly manage?"

"With difficulty, I won't lie."

"What else happened?"

"He did the more traditional torture," Merlin indicated his chest "and left me to die, waiting for me to cave in to his demands under the pain from the manacles and the gash. Having my magic suppressed felt as though my soul was breaking, Gaius. I was close to giving in. Eventually, Arthur and Gwaine came, but I can't remember anything after that."

"Where are the manacles now?"

"I think Arthur has them. I refused to leave them there because I knew that if they would stay there in that hellish place then they would be used again on the next poor soul who ended up trapped in there."

"That was very brave of you, Merlin. I'm so proud of your strength." Merlin scoffed.

"Thank you, Gaius. But unfortunately, I'm feeling tremendously weak at present, and I don't think I can talk for much longer."

"I understand. I need to examine those manacles. I don't know if it's done any permanent damage to your magic having them on that long."

"I used magic to unlock the lock, but... But then... I passed out."

"I see... Arthur should be back shortly, so get some rest and start thinking of your answers."

"Answers?"

"Well, he's going to question you about what happened, so start thinking of answers to his questions."

"Okay," Merlin relaxed visibly as Gaius left the room to see if he had any books on manacles. Unlikely. It seemed as though a trip to the library might be necessary.

Merlin started thinking. Answers... Ugh. He'd never been a good liar. Arthur could usually see through most of his lies. What happened to him? That would be Arthur's first question. Merlin didn't have to lie about his chest, but his wrists? No normal manacles would leave burns as those had. So, how would he lie about that? Next question would probably be something like what did Nomed want? Of course, Arthur knew about Nomed's reputation with magical people, so that would be difficult to lie about. Perhaps... Perhaps it was time.

Perhaps it was time to tell Arthur.