A special thanks to Frostivy for your review, it means a lot!
I unfortunatly do not own Merlin. Or Loki.
The next morning, Merlin woke up quite uncomfortable. When he took notice of his body, he realized that he was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, book in his arms. Why am I on the floor? Merlin stuffed the book back under the floorboard, stood up, and stretched.
He looked over to see Loki sound asleep, curled up into a little ball, black hair poking out from underneath the covers.
Without wanting to wake him, Merlin scribbled a note on a piece of paper saying that he was going to be out for a while, and will be back as quick as he could. He also mentioned that Loki needed to stay out of trouble until he got back.
When he put the folded note on the pillow, Merlin exited his room, quickly closing the door behind him. Gaius wasn't there. Guess I'm going to have to get my own breakfast. Oh, never mind. Gaius had also left a note folded on a plate. Merlin picked it up to read it.
'Merlin, I will be out for several hours, I need to fetch something. I have gotten breakfast for you, all that excitement yesterday would make anyone hungry.
Hope your foot gets better, Gaius.'
Merlin furrowed his brow. He doesn't remember hurting his foot. Then he remembered that he had faked it to get Loki in.
He folded the note back up, and ate the lukewarm food gratefully.
After that, he headed over to the prince's room.
"Morning, sire." "Mmm." The prince grumbled from underneath his sheets. As Arthur slowly got out of bed, Merlin picked out a tunic and a pair of trousers and set them on the bed. When Arthur grabbed them to change, Merlin straightened up the bed, and went to fix him up a quick breakfast.
On his return, Arthur was sitting at his desk, sifting through papers. "Whatcha doing, Arthur?" Merlin asked as he set the golden plate down. "Nothing." Merlin had to hide an exasperated sigh. He quickly tidied up the rest of the room, and then turned towards Arthur. "Will there be anything else?" He asked, hands clasped behind his back. "No, nothing at the moment, thank you." He answered, not looking up from the papers. Merlin bowed his head and turned to leave the room. "Merlin?" "Sire?" "Any hard feelings from yesterday?" "No, of course not, sire. Did you find anything?" "No, what ever it was is gone."
When Merlin got back to his room, Gaius was still not yet back.
Once back inside, he saw that Loki was still sleeping. Oh my goodness. Not even Arthur can sleep like that. He walked over to the bed and gently poked him in the side. He twisted around in the sheets, but he didn't wake.
Losing his patience, Merlin conjured up a splash of water that cascaded down onto Loki's face. He bolted up, spluttering. "Was that really necessary?" Loki grumbled at Merlin's amused expression. Loki ran a hand through his hair, slicking it back out of his face. "Sorry. But it was funny." Loki glared as he stood up. He waved his hand over the bed, which was wet. Now it wasn't. But Loki still was.
Loki shook himself like a dog. Water splattered Merlin's face before he could cover it in time. Loki used a spell to dry the rest of him out.
Merlin sat down on the dry bed, wiping the water from his face with his sleeve. "Ok, its morning, you promised." Loki took a second to recall what he promised. "Oh, yes. I remember now. I went out in search of the beast, and it didn't go so well." "Details, Loki. I need details!" He sighed. "Well, I was wandering around, trying to track it, and it found me." "Of course." "I tried to defend myself, but it was too fast." "Fast?" Merlin said. "Let me finish. Not fast like running. It breathed a foul toxin or something. I think it ruins you short term memory of it and slows you down." "Then why do you remember it?" "Its breath must affect only humans, so I was fine." Merlin opened his mouth, and then closed it. "That's why your prince doesn't recall anything. Since I am close to human, its breath still knocked me out." Loki shook his head.
"Should I tell Arthur?" "You should, but I don't know what you would say." Loki put his head in his hand. "I could say that Gaius and I were doing research and found it all in a book." Merlin suggested. Loki shrugged. "I guess it'll have to do. Good thing he's not too bright." "Hey, don't say that, who knows who might be listening." "Please, you think it all the time." "Well, if I do, I keep it in here." Merlin tapped his head and rushed out the door, leaving Loki sitting there on the bed, smirking.
Merlin made his way back to Arthur's quarters. When he got there, he entered the room, and found Arthur in deep conversation with Gaius. "Yes sire." Gaius nodded and turned to leave. "Merlin, here you are, we were just about to start looking for you." Arthur said when they met eyes. Gaius acknowledged the boy as he left.
He took a few steps forward. "Did you need something, Arthur?" "Yes. Do you have any leads of what it was yesterday? Gaius said that you were looking for something." "Yes, I found a book that had something that looked like it." "How do you know what it looks like?" Arthur asked. "I asked around to find someone who saw it and I showed them the picture, and they knew which one it was." Merlin thought quickly. "Alright then. Tell me." Arthur leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. "It's a really big lizard looking thing-" "Yes, we got that part." "Let me finish. It has a venomous breath that clears your memory of it and makes you slow. I think that is what happened to you that day." Merlin concluded.
Arthur shifted forward to put his hands clasped on his desk. He frowned in concentration. "What do you suppose that we should do?" Merlin asked. "Send another group of knights out." "What about its breath?" "We'll deal with that when it comes up." Arthur dismissed Merlin with a wave of his hand. "I'll have to speak with my father about that. Thank you, Merlin." Merlin nodded and left him sitting there.
Merlin went back to Gaius'. "Merlin?" "Yes, Gaius?" "How did you find out what you know about the creature? I looked in all my books and couldn't find anything close to what you described." "Well, wait, how do you know what I told Arthur? Were you listening to us?" Merlin was near outraged. "Merlin. I heard what you were going to talk about and I couldn't help myself. I was also concerned about what we are up against. Please, Merlin, how did you find out?"
He thought about what to say. He couldn't give Loki up. Not like that. "I went out and looked for it." He studied his feet. Gaius sighed and walked over to him. "That was very dangerous. It could have found you and gotten you. But how did you find out the memory clearing thing?" "I think my magic kept it from affecting me too much so I still have some recollection of the encounter." Gaius finally seemed satisfied, so he patted him on the shoulder once and went over to busy himself with what not.
Once he got into his room, Loki appeared from the corner to greet him. "You do have a very fast brain." He complemented. "Thank you for not ratting me out." He added. "Of course. I couldn't have done that. I have to thank you for helping us with the monster." Loki smiled and ran over to him and wrapped his arms Merlin's waist. He nuzzled his head into Merlin's stomach.
When he got over the initial shock, he returned the hug.
Loki drew away and went over to the bed. "I'm hungry." Loki said as he looked out the window. Merlin nodded. "Sure. I have to help Arthur with his dinner first, then I'll be back."