Disclaimer: I cannot begin to express how upset that I am because I don't own Merlin.

A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews! Well.. maybe not so lovely in the sense that your all upset about what's happened. Anyway, here's the next chapter which I got done as quickly as I could. Reviews are loved. =)

The inky blackness that had surrounded Merlin began to part, as he slowly felt himself regaining consciousness.

At first he had no idea where he was, but eventually his blurry vision began to clear and he found himself lying on his bed in Cabin Three. Hundreds of questions started racing through his head, but the one that stuck out the most was how in the world did he get here? He even began contemplating that he was delusional, and still lying out in the forest with Arthur holding him. Pinching himself, Merlin yelped in pain as he realised that he was in fact awake, and not hallucinating.

"You're awake!" Lancelot said sounding quite relived as he stood up from the chair he'd been sitting on. "Wait here and I'll go get the nurse."

In seconds Lancelot had left the cabin, leaving a very sore Merlin alone. Shuffling himself around on the bed so his back touched the wall, Merlin began examining himself to see how badly injured he was. It actually wasn't as bad as he had expected. Aside from the little cuts and abrasions on all over his body, he was in perfect health. Well, besides the very painful lump on the side of his head anyway.

Reaching up, Merlin brushed his fingers gently against the reasonable sized bulge, only to hiss and flinch away in agony. Taking note not to do it again, he sighed and waited patiently until Lancelot came back into the cabin with the nurse.

"How's my patient feeling?" she asked, easing herself onto the bed. Grabbing his wrist, she began to take his pulse.

"Um... a little dizzy and my head really hurts," Merlin muttered in a hoarse voice. He could really do with a drink of water right about now.

"That's completely normal, you took quite a tumble, scared everyone to death you did, especially Uther's son. I couldn't believe my eyes when I found out he carried you all the way from Dragon's Den, mind you that wasn't the smartest choice," she laughed, realising his wrist from her grasp.

"Arthur... carried me?" Merlin asked to double check that he heard correctly.

"Well, not exactly by himself," Lancelot chuckled as he leaned against the wall. "We both sort of took turns, but he insisted on carrying you most of the way. Morgause was going to leave to get some help, but Arthur said that would take too long, so we ended up carrying you all the way back."

Merlin couldn't believe what he was hearing. Arthur had carried him almost all the way from the Dragon's Den? But that was two miles away at least!

"I don't know what to say..." Merlin stated gobsmacked.

"Perhaps don't say anything then?" Lancelot smiled before opening the window, allowing a strong gust of wind to blow inside. The nurse wrote something down on a clipboard she happened to be carrying before heading towards the door.

"Now, I suggest you try and stay awake for the time being," she told him as she went to leave the cabin, but stopped abruptly and turned around. "Before I forget, we haven't been able to get a hold of your mother yet, unfortunately it seems that the phone lines have been knocked down by the oncoming storm. But I promise as soon as we're able to, your mother will be informed and you can go home if you wish."

"Thank you," Merlin said gratefully, as the nurse left the cabin at last. "Do you mind closing that window?"

"Sure thing," Lancelot pulled the window shut, not allowing anymore of the bone chilling wind into the room. Already Merlin could see dark storm clouds forming outside, not to mention all the trees swaying violently from the unexpected weather change.

"Where's Arthur anyway?" Merlin asked, now that the cool wind was no longer circulating in the room.

"In his own cabin, he was really worried about you. The look of terror on his face when you collided with that tree, the way he embraced when you fell unconscious..." Lancelot sighed as he sat down next to him on the bed. "What I'm trying to say is you can't just keep living this lie. Arthur still loves you, so stop pretending you don't still care about him."

"You don't get it do you?" Merlin mumbled. "There's no point."

"Yes, there is," Lancelot retorted.

"No, there's not," Merlin replied.

"Is-"

"Not," Merlin cut in, causing them to chuckle dryly.

"Seriously though, what's the worst that could happen if you told him?" Lancelot asked lowering his voice to a more serious tone.

Merlin had a sudden urge to tell Lancelot everything, but a tiny voice in the back of his head warned him not to. He wasn't willing to risk ruining Arthur's life, hell, he was probably much better without him in it anyway. Uther didn't appear to be the type who would accept that his son wasn't 'perfect', but more of the kind of person who would throw their son out of house and home.

"I don't want to find out," Merlin said at last.

"You really are stubborn, I honestly hope you realise that," Lancelot stated after he rolled his eyes.

"It's one of my many gifts," Merlin replied with a more than strained grin on his face.

"Gift or not, if you don't do something about it soon I will," he said sternly.

Trying to smile, Merlin slowly lifted himself off the bed and walked across the room without saying a word. Looking out the window towards Cabin Four, he prayed to see Arthur staring back, but he wasn't. Instead, though, he appeared to be lying on Merlin's old bed, facing the wall clutching a pillow.

His heartstrings throbbed with a deep pain as Merlin stared at Arthur through the clear glass. Arthur didn't deserve any of this, not one bit. Glancing upwards towards the sky he realised that it was almost night time and that he'd been unconscious for hours.

After standing up for too long, Merlin's head began to throb with pain.

"Are you okay?" Lancelot asked helping Merlin back to his bed.

"Define 'okay'," Merlin mumbled as he laid his head on the pillow, allowing tiredness to overcome him.

"Morgause and the others should be coming back from the walk by now, so I should probably go and meet up with everyone at the dining hall. Is there anything you would like me to get before I go?"

For a moment, Merlin had no idea that he was being spoken too until Lancelot slapped him somewhat lightly on the side of his cheek, bringing him back to reality instantly.

"Don't fall asleep," Lancelot warned.

"I won't!" Merlin rubbed his cheek thoroughly. "Could I have my water bottle and some pen and paper?"

"Paper?" Lancelot queered, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well if I'm going to stay awake, I'd like something to do rather than be bored out of my mind for who knows how long," Merlin responded. Seconds later Lancelot had grabbed his bottle of water from across the room, as well as a notebook and a blue pen that had been tucked away in his own bag.

"I'll see you later," Lancelot smiled and opened the cabin door, allowing a vicious wind to flow throughout the room.

As he left the room, Merlin took the pen firmly in his hand, staring intensely at the paper. Taking a deep breath he pressed the blue pen down against the flat surface and began writing.

*

He didn't want to move, let alone breathe, as Arthur clutched the pillow closer to his chest, imagining it was Merlin. Just seeing him in his arms unconscious and helpless made Arthur feel as if he'd lost the most important person in his life, and trying to forget about him altogether made him feel even worse.

What had he done wrong for Merlin to hate him so much? After everything that happened, the campfire, that night he held Merlin tight, did that all mean nothing to him? Was it just his way of teasing Arthur over his sexuality? No, Merlin wasn't like that... but then why would he do such a thing?

Over the years it had taken him a long time to admit that he was bisexual. The only person that knew was Morgana because if his father were even to find out... Arthur tried not to think about what might happen. All that did matter, though, was that Uther never found out.

Wiping away the tears that had saturated his face with the pillow, Arthur eased himself off his bed and headed towards the dining hall where Morgause and the others would be soon.

Dark clouds circled above as the sudden gust of wind caught Arthur off guard, almost causing him to fall off the dirt path and into a bush.

As he past Cabin Three, Arthur couldn't help but stop and wonder if Merlin was alright. He was almost tempted to go inside to find out, but he decided it was best not too – that and his legs wouldn't allow him to move towards the door.

Continuing down the dirt path until he reached the dining hall, Arthur sat himself down next to Lancelot who was already inside.

"How are you feeling?" Lancelot asked sounding quite concerned.

"Exhausted," Arthur admitted truthfully. His legs burned like fury as he shifted them into a more comfortable position. After walking so far with Merlin stung across his back, it wasn't surprising that his muscles ached. "How's... How's Merlin?"

The reassuring smile that spread across Lancelot's face gave him the answer he needed.

"He's fine. Well, if you can call being stubborn and a large bump on his head fine," Lancelot chuckled as he walked over into the kitchen, grabbing two glasses and pouring water into both.

"So nothing new then?" Arthur asked sarcastically as he took the glass out of Lancelot's hand, gulping down the cool liquid in one go.

"Not really, no," Lancelot took a sip of his own water.

"That's good..." Arthur smiled to himself at the good news. A gust of wind filled the dining room as the door flew open, allowing Morgause and the others inside.

"Lancelot, Arthur," she panted closing the door once everybody was inside. "How's Merlin doing?"

"He's fine," Lancelot replied as Gwen sat down next to him.

"Good," Morgause stated before glancing at everyone in the hall as they sat down. "I'm sorry that today has been cut short, but due to unforeseen circumstances I had no choice. Now, first of all, can someone explain to me how Merlin fell down that hill?" Morgause tapped her fingers on the table repeatedly until Morgana spoke up.

"Nimueh pushed him, that's now," Morgana shot daggers and Nimueh with her eyes.

"I did not!" Nimueh sounded completely offended by her remark, but calmed herself down as she stared straight at Morgause, who was waiting patiently for an explanation. "As I was walking back down the hill, I lost control of my legs, which caused me to start running down the hill unexpectedly. I had no way to stop myself, and regrettably Merlin was in the way at the time. I feel dreadfully sorry for what has happened," Nimueh explained, sounding as if she couldn't care less about what had happened to Merlin.

"That is not what happened," Morgana retorted, standing up and walking over towards Nimueh. "I know what I saw, and I saw you run down that hill, bumping directly into Merlin on purpose."

"Girls," Morgause interrupted before the matter went any further. "There is no need to argue. Whether, or not, Nimueh did it on purpose, she has apologized and that's all that matters."

"But-"Morgana pushed, but was cut short by Morgause.

"If you push this any further, I will be forced to tell your father."

Arthur watched as his stepsister rotated dramatically on the spot and sat down next to him, muttering incoherently under her breath.

"Now, for time being, I would greatly appreciate if everyone could stay here until after dinner," Morgause said, only for everyone to groan in annoyance.

For the next hour all Arthur could think about was Merlin, even with Morgana's rant about Nimueh, he was unphased by the world. The wind howled louder outside and the sun disappeared completely from sight as the storm clouds swallowed it from existence.

Raindrops began pelting against the dining hall's tin roof as the dinner was served, twenty minutes later. Watercress soup. Arthur honestly couldn't think of anything more delicious, and yet unfulfilling. Pushing the bowl aside, he got up off from the table and decided to turn in for the night.

Dashing through the rain and wind, Arthur ran down the dirt path until he reached Cabin Four. Getting inside as quickly as possible and closing the door behind him, Arthur flicked on the light so he could see past his face.

The rain was really coming down by now, not to mention the wind that had already torn a few bushes out of the ground outside his window.

Something on the floor caught Arthur's attention. A piece of paper folded up with his name written across it. Picking it off the floor he began to unfold it, curious about who dared enter his cabin without permission. Once Arthur had opened it, he sat himself down on the bed and began reading through what seemed to be a letter.

Arthur,

Before I begin there's something you need to know. I love you. Those three words are something I've grown accustom to over these past few days and even though I told you otherwise, believe me when I say that I truly do love you with all my heart.

These past few days have been hard on me, and probably even harder on you. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I respect and care for you far too much to do that intentionally.

It's funny, but I find it much easier talking to you like this than actually speaking to you... Not that I don't enjoy speaking to you. It's just that, a few days ago I was forced to do something that affected both of us. Nimueh blackmailed me into breaking up with you. She said that if I didn't then she would tell your father all about us, and I couldn't have that. I didn't want your life to be ruined over something that probably wouldn't have lasted long anyway.

Since then I've contemplated telling you so many times, especially today when Freya kissed me. I saw how broken up you were, however, I did not kiss her back and I suspect Nimueh and Valiant had something to do with it.

Great, now I'm shaking. Can you believe that? I'm getting nervous just writing a letter to you.

Since the very first moment I laid eyes on you all I could think was that you were a spoiled prat, but then I saw something in you, something I never expected to see. A good person.

For the last few years, I'd given up on finding someone that would love me. Then I found you and, for the first time ever, I fell head over heels, or in our case, me tipping a canoe upside down.

I honestly hope you don't consider this being too girly, me sending you a letter but stay with me as I try to get my point across.

Every smile I've made around you and every breath I taken was for you, and you alone. No one else, no matter how hard they try, can take back what little time I had with you.

But, as with many things, I fear those times will never come back. That's why I've decided to go back to my home in Ealdor. It shouldn't take long, maybe the rest of the night on foot, but I'll make it eventually.

There's one thing I'd like you to do though, but I'm not saying you 'have to' in the sense. It's more up to you, I can't force you what you do and don't want to do.

Before you scrunch this up, let me say this one last time. I love you, I love you, I love you. Please remember me...

Yours forever,

Merlin

Tucking the note inside his pocket, Arthur rushed outside towards Cabin Three. That one thought looping inside his head. Merlin still loved him.

Fumbling for the handle he pushed the door open to reveal the dark interior. Pressing the light switch, Arthur waited for the blub to illuminate the room, but it remained dead; obviously it had blown a fuse.

As the rain found its way inside the cabin, a flash of lightning filled the air, illuminating the empty room.

Arthur collapsed to the ground in ball as the sudden realisation of the matter sunk in.

Merlin was gone.

To be continued...

A/N: I know, you all hate me for that evil cliffhanger. I can't help it, I'm just so good at it! Oh, and before you review I want to ask you all something. Have any of you had a dream where you have been transported to where Arthur and Merlin live, or them to modern days and kissed one, or both, in your dreams? 'Cause I had a dream like that last night . I was so depressed when I woke up finding out that it was nothing but my imagination... =(