A/N: Your support never ceases, huh? Well, thanks :D I don't have much to say about this chapter…Just, you know

Read and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. BBC does. As you should now.

CHAPTER 13: RENEWING ANGEL

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Freya opened her eyes to the blinding light of the morning sun. Something on her nightstand was making an annoying sound and Freya blinked a few times until she realized that it was only her phone which was ringing.

She sat up in confusion. Who on earth would call her this early on a Sunday morning? It was only six o'clock after all and she did not know that many people to begin with.

With a frown, she reached over to grab her phone and looked at the caller idea.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she read 'Gaius' on it.

Freya knew that Gaius worked in the college which Merlin was visiting, but she had never really talked to the man. They had only exchanged phone numbers in case there was an emergency with Merlin.

It couldn't be…

Instantly, Freya's heart sped up as she pressed the answering button.

"Um, hello? Here is Freya" she said, unsure of how to begin their conversation.

"Good morning, girl, Gaius speaking. I'm sorry if I woke you" The old man's voice echoed through the phone.

"Ah, don't worry about it. How can I help you?" Freya asked, anxious of what might have happened to Merlin.

Gaius seemed to hesitate for a moment, but when he answered, his voice was steady and calm.

"It's about Merlin. I don't… I cannot explain it but I feel like he might need your help. I am on a seminar today, so, if it isn't too much trouble, could you please look after him? I believe his situation is not looking so well…"

Freya hitched a breath and tightened her grip around the phone. This wasn't sounding good.

"I will help, Gaius! But, could you possibly tell me what exactly happened?"

"I am afraid I cannot. But you'll find out once you get to him. I don't know where Merlin is at the moment, but you should start looking in his room or in my patient room."

Freya stayed silent for a moment, still not quite comprehending the situation.

"If you can't tell me what happened and you don't know where Merlin is at the moment…How do you know that he needs help?"

There was silence on the other end, before Gaius sighed. "I am truly sorry, but I can't answer that. It would be good if you hurried, Freya."

Freya nodded until she remembered that the other couldn't see that. "Yes I will. Good bye, Gaius."

"Good day, my girl. And good luck."

…

…

…

…

Half an hour later, Freya stood in one of the college's hallways, with no idea where to actually go. She had never been here and this college was plain huge.

Just when she was about to round a corner, she heard a gasp that made her heart ache.

"M-merlin, hold on. I'll get help, I'll get you help…"

Freya quickly ducked around the corner again and hid in the shadows of a locker as Arthur suddenly stumbled along. It was a horrifying sight.

The blonde was pale and shaking, blood covered his white shirt. His usually steely eyes were clouded a little and they were red, as if tears had pricked at them.

Freya found herself panicking and she wanted to run towards Arthur, shake him and ask about Merlin, but she decided otherwise. There would only be more questions to answer and she would definitively arrive later at Merlin's side. Maybe too late.

So she just waited until Arthur was out of sight before she rushed around the corner and sprinted away into the direction the other had come from.

The girl soon stood in front of a white door and she noticed the red fingerprints on the door handle. So that must be where Arthur had come from.

Freya slid inside and looked around, soon spotting a mop of raven hair. She was afraid to come closer but she was even more afraid of what could happen if she didn't. So she took a deep breath and stepped closer to the bed.

The sight was horrifying, if that wasn't underestimated.

Blood, everywhere. A face paler than death and a sense of darkness thickening the air. Merlin's aura was still present, so he had to be alive. But something was incomplete about him… Broken… Realization dawned on her and Freya's knees suddenly felt very weak, her whole body trembled in shock. "I-It's his wings…"

Immediately, she was by the angel's side and gripped his cold hand, pressing it tightly and touching his motionless face with a shaking hand of hers.

"Oh Merlin… How can I help you? In this state…" She trailed of, not wanting to think about the possible. Soon, tears ran down the girl's cheek, but she ignored them. She had to be strong now, for Merlin, if not for herself.

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Arthur couldn't think straight. Actually, he couldn't think at all, he was basically just walking around, hoping to stumble across Gaius. The fact that he probably looked like death himself didn't even occur to him.

That was, until he met his father.

"Arthur? What happened to you?!" Disbelief was evident in his voice. Concern less so.

Arthur stopped and slowly turned around, annoyed at his father for keeping him from his search. "It's nothing. I've got to find Gaius." He mumbled and continued stumbling into some random direction.

"Arthur! What's up with this nonsense?! You look terrible! Tell me what happened!" Uther demanded, walking up to his son with furrowed brows. He gripped his arm and forced him to stop, taking in the condition of his son.

"What's with all the blood?! Wait, let's sit down…" He trailed of and led the younger one to a bench which stood in a corner. When they both were seated and Arthur had controlled his breathing, so that he could answer his father's questions, Uther continued:

"First of all, is that your blood? Is that why you were searching for Gaius?"

Arthur quickly shook his head and started to explain: "It's Merlin, my friend. He is badly injured, that's why I need Gaius. Now."

"Why didn't you just take him to the hospital?"

Arthur sighed and looked away, not knowing how to explain this situation correctly. He didn't even know what happened himself…

"I just had the feeling I shouldn't…" The blonde mumbled and scratched the back of his head.

Uther was silent for a moment, but then he nodded and took out his cellphone. "I take it that Gaius is not in his room." He said while typing in the doctor's phone number.

Everything was silent for a moment, before Gaius voice was heard on the other end. "Hello? Uther, is that you calling?"

"Yes, it's me. Where are you? We're having an emergency here." Uther said, sounding quite impatient despite his controlled features.

Arthur was quite surprised, if he was honest. Why was his father so concerned about Merlin? And why didn't he question his decision not to take Merlin to the hospital? It seemed like everyone in his life knew something about Merlin that he didn't.

"I'm sorry, but I'm on a seminar today. I think I told you that, though…" Gaius' voice echoed through the phone, surprisingly calm despite the remark about an emergency.

Before Uther could reply anything, the old man continued: "But do not worry, I am already informed about the emergency and called for a substitute. She should already be by the patient's side."

Uther smiled, a knowing smile in Arthur's eyes, and he shook his head in an amused manner. "I expected no less of you, Gaius." With that he hung up and turned to Arthur.

His son was staring at the phone with wide eyes, confused to no end. How would Gaius know about that? He had found Merlin and he hadn't seen anything but his father yet?! This just wasn't possible…

Maybe Gaius had visionary powers?

How ridiculous.

"You should clean yourself up, Arthur. I can hear the first students. "His father reminded him and patted his son on the shoulder as he stood up and left, a rare smile on his lips.

Arthur was just sitting there, staring into nothing, even as he heard the mumbling of students in the other hallways and the opening of doors.

He decided that, now, his world was officially not making any sense anymore.

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Freya felt the air around her. How it filled her lungs and left them again, a never ending circle.

Her eyes rested on Merlin, her brows were furrowed in concentration. This had to be working, Merlin's live depended on it.

She had always been good at healing, she wanted to help people so it probably lay in her nature. But this… This was a whole new level. Cuts and breaks were now problems, neither were diseases.

But restoring someone else's wings? It was branded as impossible under the normal angels. Usually only arch angels had the power to do something like that. But Freya didn't have much of a choice now. She could at least try, right?

She took a deep breath and laid her shaking hands on the raven haired's shoulders, gripping them tightly. Glowing light coated over her fingers and emerged onto Merlin's shoulders, then his chest and eventually onto his limbs.

But when it reached his face, Freya had to look at it and her heart started to ache. She had to close her eyes for a second and when she opened them again, the glowing light had vanished.

Freya sighed and removed her hands. This wasn't working, she thought, her shoulders slumped in defeat.

What had she thought? That she had the power of an arch angel? That she would be able to save Merlin and fulfill Gaius expectations?

She couldn't do anything…

…

Suddenly, Merlin stirred on the bed, his face scrunched up in pain. Freya shook her head to clear her mind, grim determination taking over.

She simply had to try again. How could she dare to give up so soon? How could she live like that, knowing that she hadn't tried enough?

With new determination, Freya laid her hands back onto the angel's shoulders and she closed her eyes.

She searched for the power within her and led it to her fingertips. Then she could feel it expanding. Over the shoulders, the chest, the limps and eventually reaching the face. Just a bit more, and Merlin would fully be covered.

Now all that was left was to work on the specific injuries. Freya looked Merlin over and watched in satisfaction as the big wound on his leg closed. It happened slowly and Freya could feel herself getting tired, but it worked. It really worked!

Just when she started to smile, her knees gave out and Freya found herself kneeling the floor, her hands having left Merlin and thus stopping the healing.

With a curse, Freya pulled herself up, ignoring the dizziness. She had to continue, it was almost done!

With a frown, the girl set down next to the angel and once again gripped his shoulders. "Let's finish this…" She murmured and closed her eyes in concentration.

When her power was working on Merlin again, she opened her eyes, just to jump from the bed with a high pitched scream.

Piercing blue eyes were staring directly at her, a deepness in them which displayed a strange kind of wisdom. Freya couldn't remember that it had been there before.

"My god, Merlin! Don't surprise me like that!" Freya gasped out, trying to slow her heartbeat down.

The raven haired groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing his aching back. His mind was fuzzy and he felt incredibly weak, but to his surprise there was no actual pain.

The last thing he remembered was that he had passed out in that alleyway, after he had-

What had he done?! Morgause, what happened to her? He remembered that red circle and it had seemed like the fallen angel had been sinking into the ground….

Oh well, he had probably gone insane long ago.

When Merlin cast his gaze on the dark haired girl that was standing not far away from him, he only realized what had happened.

"You healed me." He said, eyebrows raised in surprise and a smile tugged on his lips at seeing Freya again. It had been quite long ago since the meeting at the lake…

Freya blushed a little and averted her eyes, but then she shuffled towards the bed, sitting down next to Merlin. "Yeah, I did… How are you feeling?" She asked, casting a concerned gaze all over him.

Merlin stretched his arms and flexed his fingers. "Actually… I feel alright. Thank you so much, Freya." He exclaimed happily, beaming at the blushing girl. "I would've been done for without you."

Freya returned his smile and felt a warm feeling inside her chest. "I'm glad I could help you."

"So you are an angel as well?" Merlin asked, breathing in the lovely scent of the girl next to him. She was an angel, even though she was hiding her wings right now, he was sure of it.

"Kind of." Freya replied, her smile growing sad. Would Merlin still be this nice to her if he knew?

"You don't happen to know how exactly I came here, do you?" Merlin asked, looking around and recognizing it as Gaius patient room. He wondered why the old man wasn't here.

Freya just shrugged and tugged at a strand of her hair. "I guess it was Arthur, but I don't really know what happened."

The raven haired nodded, guessing that this made sense. But then Arthur would have seen him in this rather bad shape, which surely would lead to annoying questions. This could have gone better, but at least Morgause wasn't bothering them anymore. If just he knew what he had done…

"Gaius just called me and said that he wasn't here to take care of you, so I came instead." Freya continued in a light voice.

Merlin chuckled. That explained some things. "And you just came? It's not even seven, is it?" Merlin asked, not able to keep the amusement out of his voice. Freya blushed a little more, but nonetheless she smiled at Merlin. "The time didn't matter, you needed help so I came." She just said.

The other was silent for a moment, but then he slowly grabbed the girl's hand and entwined there fingers. "You know I'd do the same for you, right?"

They sat in silence for a moment, just the cold morning air between them.

After a while, Merlin spoke up again. "But you really did a great job in healing me. I imagine it wasn't easy"

Freya sighed and nodded, suddenly remembering how tired she actually was. "Would you…show me your wings? Just so I can check if I did everything right, of course."

"Of course, my hoodie is ruined anyway." He said with a grin and carefully unfolded his wings.

Freya had thought that this morning had held enough surprises in store. Apparently, she was mistaken.

"A-are they supposed to look like that?! I'm so sorry, I did something wrong!" Freya pressed out and stared at Merlin's wings wide eyed.

They were bigger than a normal angel's, much bigger and formed in a different way. Also there were some golden feathers between the snow white ones, making it look like the sun shining through clouds.

But this wasn't the only thing which had changed. Merlin's eye color was golden, which was like it was supposed to be of course. But Freya had looked at him the whole time, he did not take the contact lenses out! And they couldn't have melted, Merlin did not seem angry in the least.

Trying to grasp what she was seeing, it took Freya a moment to notice the glowing symbol on the back of the raven haired's hand.

It was a dragon, expanding its tail over the thumb and breathing fire onto the pinky finger.

Merlin's mouth was wide agape. He saw his reflection in the window and noticed his various changes. He raised his hand and touched brushed over one of the now golden feathers. It felt so unreal.

"What am I?" He breathed out in surprise, staring at the symbol on the back of his left hand.

Then he reflected on, well everything:

A destiny…Arthur Pendragon….three fallen angels…a guardian angel, Gaius…..'How can I get rid of them?'…..a red circle…bleeding fingertips...defeating Morgause…a red circle...a strange voice…ban them from earth….Kilgarrah….'I wonder...Just the thoughts of an old angel'….'what are you?'…a red circle, these words…'that wasn't something a mere guardian angel would do'…Not something a mere guardian angel would do…a mere guardian angel…'Only arch angels can accomplish such a thing'…. Only arch angels, not a mere guardian angel…

Suddenly everything snapped into place.

It was absurd of course, totally unthinkable and actually impossible. But it was the only thing that made sense, if everything of this made sense at all.

"I am…an arch angel…" Merlin mumbled still not quite believing it despite something deep within him told it was true.

Merlin looked away from his reflection and at Freya, who still stared at him in shock.

After a while, she smiled and grabbed his hand, the one with the dragon symbol on it. "I'm not sure if I understand it, but I know that it must be true. You always had this air around you, suggesting that you were so much more than the eye could see."

Merlin just shook his head and changed back, pleased to see that the symbol had vanished and that his eyes were back to their cerulean color. At least he didn't have to always change his contact lenses now. And he really had to go see Gaius about this…

When Freya noticed the frown in the other's face, she leaned a little closer and rested her forehead against his. "Hey, don't think about it too much. Sooner or later, you well get behind it. For the moment, just…" She paused for a moment and closed her warm hazel eyes "…stay safe."

They sat in silence, both lost in their thoughts when suddenly a loud voice interrupted.

"Merlin!"

Freya opened her eyes and backed away from merlin, a small smile playing on her lips. "I should go. Let's meet at the lake, shortly before sunset" She whispered and placed a burning kiss on his cheek.

Merlin blushed and grinned sheepishly. "I'll be there."

When Freya opened the door, Arthur stood outside. Still nervous but now thankfully without blood. "Hello, Arthur. You can take over now." Freya said as she passed him and hurried down the hallway.

Arthur looked after her with a raised eye brow, than looked back at Merlin.

The sight honestly wasn't like he expected it to be. Merlin looked bloody and his clothes were torn, but he wasn't pale anymore, sat upright and was smiling.

His relief was so big and overwhelming, even if he tried, he would never be able to express it in words. So he just grinned and decided for teasing.

"Your girlfriend is Gaius' substitute? I didn't know you were into nurses"

Merlin blushed and poked his tongue out at his protégé. "Prat."

Arthur walked over to his friend and sat down next to him, just barely able to keep himself from throwing his arms around the younger one.

"You didn't even deny it" He said with a smirk and captured Merlin in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles over his head.

"Ouch! Stop it, I'm injured, remember?" He whined, but couldn't keep himself from chuckling. It was nice that Arthur showed his affection. Still, he would have preferred a hug.

Arthur stopped and regained some distance, looking Merlin over skeptical. "Are you sure you should be sitting up like that?"

Merlin just laughed it off and waved his hand dismissively. "It's no big deal, really." There really was no reason for Arthur to worry about him, he was fine. Merlin was more surprised that Arthur didn't start asking questions about what happened last night. It would surely come later.

"No big deal?! You almost died!" Arthur hissed, concern firmly hidden behind a glare.

Now it was Merlin's time to frown. Why was Arthur so angry all of a sudden? "Hey, aren't you overreacting a little bit?"

Arthur kept silent turning his head away, balling his hand into fists. Of course he was and he knew, but there were so many emotions inside him, he didn't know how to deal with them.

"Really, I'm perfectly alright now, see? I'm not going to die so easily, you don't have to worry so much. You know, I'm practically, immor-"

Merlin ended abruptly, hands instantly rushing up to the burning skin of his left cheek. He had a hard time preventing tears from falling, his inner feelings in turmoil.

First, he nearly died, then he discovered that he had somehow become an arch angel and now, Arthur had slapped him.

When he cast his watery eyes upwards, he noticed that Arthur looked very much like he was feeling. Confused, angry, frightened and shocked.

"You are not. Immortal I mean." The blonde said softly, his eyes looking like they wanted to cry as well. "Just because you're not in pain, doesn't mean you're alright."

He sat back down, next to Merlin, much nearer this time and Merlin just looked at him, waiting.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to hit you."

Merlin just smiled, having never been angry at Arthur to begin with. "I guess I kind of deserved it."

Arthur grinned and patted his friend's shoulder. "You deserve it whenever you open your mouth" he joked but his expression soon became serious again.

"I won't ask you what happened to you, as I know what answer I'll get." Merlin sighed, but nodded and grabbed his friend's hand. "Would you believe me if I told you I was forbidden to talk about it by, let's say, some kind of law?"

Arthur looked into the raven haired's eyes for a moment, before he smiled and said: "What are you, some kind of secret agent?"

Merlin just chuckled and looked off into the distance.

"If I told you, we'd both be as good as dead."

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A/N: Now there are only 7 chapters left, but it feels like I just got started :D

The next two chapters will be kind of easygoing, with some friendship and romance (Freylin as well as Arwen). You could say, that's kind of like the calm before the storm :)

Until next time~

By DarkChain