The party ended. Arthur was 20. Crown Prince. Merlin was given some spending money. And now things were back to normal. Mostly.

"What does 'parsimonious' mean?" Arthur asked.

Merlin blinked.

"You there? Invisible George?"

"My name's not 'George.'"

"I knew you were there."

"I don't understand why you're not more wigged out by this," Merlin replied, folding himself into the window seat.

"If I'm going to be crazy, then I may as well make use of it, right?"

"Frugal."

"Beg your pardon?"

"'Parsimonious' means 'frugal.'"

"Right. Thanks then." The prince went back to ignoring him. As was his new method of dealing with the issue.

"I'm not in your imagination, you know," Merlin snapped.

"Right then."

"If I were, I would know what you're thinking. Which I don't. Nor do I want to. If you even do that bit. Thinking."

"Watch your tongue—"

"Or else?" he taunted. "You'll cut out my invisible tongue?"

"Nothing so crass," the prince replied mildly. "I'll just ignore you until my imagination decides that you're not needed."

Merlin snorted. "Of course. Because that's what you do with all of your problems—ignore them until they've gone. Worked so well with Vivianne, I recall."

"Hey!" Arthur looked up. "How do you know that."

"I thought I was your subconscious."

Arthur glowered. "Shut up."

"Are you my shadow?"

"Hardly."

"Are you my conscience."

"You wouldn't beat on that kid from your history class if I were."

"He deserves it." Arthur shrugged, sitting up to look towards Merlin's voice. "Are you my supernatural bodyguard?"

Merlin froze. "Not likely."

Arthur frowned. "Wait. You are, aren't you."

"Um. No. No I'm really not."

"Yes you are. I remember at my party—who pushed me out of the way when I was going to get stabbed?"

"Certainly wasn't me. I wouldn't want to touch you," Merlin deflected quickly, not wanting Arthur to follow this line of thought.

"Everyone wants to touch me."

"Only because you're the prince. If you weren't, no one would look at you twice."

Arthur leaned back into the pillows of his bed. "Thanks for that." He picked his laptop back up and settled it on his lap.

Merlin immediately felt bad. "Sorry. I didn't mean to go that far."

Arthur didn't reply.

Merlin sighed and smacked his palm against his forehead. "I'm sorry. Listen, I didn't really mean to say that."

"It's fine," Arthur said with deceptive casualness.

"Forgive me."

"I don't need to forgive my imagination."

Merlin glared and turned himself into a fly to crawl beneath the door. Kay and Bedivere were just outside the room and down the hall a bit anyway. Secreting himself away into his magic room, he threw up shields and practise exploding things.

When he'd tired himself out, he returned to Arthur's room as a dog and curled up next to his side while he napped. He didn't bother moving when there was a knock at the door. Stretching out, he shoved at Arthur's thigh and then plopped himself across his stomach.

"Uuff," Arthur complained.

"Sire?"

"I'm coming." He sat up and glared at Merlin. "Where did you come from? I could have used you to back me up when my conscience was making fun of me."

Merlin wuffed.

"You'll have to stay here. It's time for supper."

Crawling off the prince, he circled and curled up on Arthur's pillow.

"I sleep on that, you know," he said wryly, running fingers through his hair. "I hope you don't have flees."

He threw the dog one last glance as he walked out the door. Merlin quickly changed into a fly and disappeared around a corner ahead of Arthur and his entourage before changing back to himself and merging in. Kay glared at him. Merlin shrugged.

Dinner was more light-hearted than usual, due to Morgana's presence. She teased Arthur about everything, bringing up childhood memories that even Uther laughed at. Merlin allowed himself to snicker quietly when everyone else was laughing.

"You know," Morgana said, "I think Aunt Ygraine would be proud of you, Arthur."

Uther immediately froze and Arthur's gaze dropped to his plate. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

Morgana looked away, scowling. "Sorry," she said eventually.

Uther murmured something that was supposed to be soothing and Arthur stuffed a bite of food into his mouth. Merlin cocked his head, scooting closer. He didn't really know anything about Arthur's mother. Except that she'd died shortly after Arthur had been born. Nibbling on his lip, he made a mental note to look it up on his computer.

The opportunity happened sooner than he'd thought. Arthur was sick for the day and thus, stayed home from Uni. Merlin had grumbled enough that Kay waved him away and said to take some time off; he'd been on duty for too long anyway.

Eagerly, he took off to his room and booted up the computer, settling on his bed-cum-cot. The transformation to a more comfortable mattress had been surprisingly easy. He logged in and easily spent the next hour searching for information on Arthur's mum. All he had gleaned was that she came from the upper echelons of society, Uther courted her for a long time before marrying her, they had the most beautiful wedding, and died shortly after giving birth to Arthur, their only child.

Merlin was just about to give up after almost three hours of searching, when he stumbled across a forum that was discussing the issue. Scanning the topic briefly, his brow furrowed and he shook his head. That made no sense. Scrolling back up to the top, Merlin began reading again.

"I heard sum rumours about Arthur's Mum. And I was just wondering if u guys knew more about it."

"She died shortly after he was born."

"I heard Queen Ygraine was barren."

"Wut! That's not possible. Then where did our lovely Arthur come from?"

Merlin gagged.

"King Uther made sure she had some 'help' getting preggers."

"Wat u talking about. U make no sense."

"Shut up Artlover. Coldice5 is just being careful. They're talking about 'cigam.' Spelled backwards."

"Oooooh! No way! That makes no sense. He hates... 'Cigam.'"

"Duh. That's why it's outlawed. He tried to help his wife after everything else failed. And when 'cigam' got her killed, he hated it."

Merlin sucked in a breath and slapped the machine closed. Shit. If that were true... Then...

"Falcon, come to my office please."

Merlin jumped, catching his breath. "Yes, sire." Scrambling off his bed, he made his way to Uther's office.

"Falcon," Uther said as he entered, not bothering to look up.

"Yes, your majesty." He took his customary seat before the king.

"You know, when I entrusted you with your own computer, I expected a level of trust heretofore unseen."

Merlin found his mouth suddenly dry and his palms sweating. "Y-yes, Sire."

"Therefore, I expected a level of privacy."

ShitShitShitShit. "Sire, I-"

"If you had questions, is it not better to go to the source than to seek answers from rumour?"

"I...didn't want to overstep my-"

"Do you know why I banned magic, Falcon?"

Merlin winced. "B-because of your w-wife, Sire?"

Uther shook his head. "No. Because of pain."

"Pain?" Merlin echoed, looking up in surprise.

"Pain. I lost my wife and it has caused my family incredible pain. Arthur has grown up without a mother. I have lost the love of my life."

Merlin dropped his gaze, feeling uncomfortable with the king's admission, despite his stone-like expression.

"And this is all because the sorceress whose help I had enlisted neglected to mention that helping Ygraine get pregnant might weaken her enough to not survive the birth."

Silence.

"Now do you understand why magic is evil? Now do you understand why removing this temptation from our society is a blessing and not a punishment?" Uther's eyes bored into his miserable head, and there was nothing that Merlin could say that Uther would listen to to change mind.

"Yes, Sire."

"Good. Now I don't want to see you looking up anything more on the topic. Go."

Merlin nodded, a little ashamed and a little aghast at the thought that the king was keeping tabs on his internet usage. Figures that he would have some way to track

what Merlin was looking at. He bowed and backed out of Uther's office, the king already ignoring him.

The colder months slouched past, and the first warm day, Arthur announced to his empty (save for Merlin) room that he was going swimming. Merlin followed after the prince, wrapped up in a book. After nearly bumping into the man, he shrunk the book and put it in a pocket, frowning as he saw they were heading to the garage instead of the swimming pool. Merlin opened his mouth to say something and then gave a crooked grin as the prince crept around a corner. He was obviously trying to escape his guards. Though, Merlin thought wryly, there was no way to skirt the video cameras. They did make it to the garage unnoticed by human eye, though as they slipped out the door, Merlin acting quickly so as not to have the door shut on him, Uther's voice sighed in his ear.

"I trust you to guard my son?"

"Yes, your majesty," Merlin murmured.

Arthur crept into one of the older cars, slipping a key into the ignition. Merlin bit his lip and scrambled in when Arthur put the windows down. He cranked up some awful radio station and pulled out, speeding away, incognito.

He relaxed back into the seat, feet hanging out the window, feeling lighter than he had in months. Maybe it was because he was in the 'outside' world and the only places he'd seen were Arthur's school, Arthur's room, his own room, and his practice room. Maybe he really had become as stir-crazy as the poor prince, what with graduation coming soon.

The sun on his face was nice and the breeze whipping through the car was brilliant, Merlin still in his suit. Smoothing his hands over his chest, the clothes became a light cotton t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He frowned as the surroundings became familiar. He sat up straight, pulling his feet in as he realised they were near his home and gaped in dread as they passed Ealdor Med, a shrine-like display next to a street lamp where Merlin had made his display. Shit.
Collapsing back into the plush seat, the sun didn't seem so bright or the sky so blue as Arthur pulled to a stop at the beach where Merlin had spent many happy afternoons with Will, Gwen, and later Lance.

Not that Arthur knew that.

The prince threw a hat on and adjusted his sunglasses before getting out of the car and moseying down to the beach. Merlin was forced to follow. Unless he wanted to be accused of negligence. And subsequently lose his head should anything happen to Arthur.

He followed Arthur down towards the waves, the latter tugging off his shirt before flopping down in the sand, the shirt bunched under his head. Merlin sat next to him, knees tucked up against his chest, glaring at the sun. He's not thought to bring sunglasses. He didn't even own a pair anymore. There was probably one among his things at his mum's house. She wouldn't have thrown them away. Not everything. He sat straighter as the thought struck him. He COULD get them... There was that spell...

Merlin held out his hand and closed his eyes against the brightness focusing on bringing the shades to him, whispering the words. No luck. He sighed and moved away from Arthur to try again, whispering louder until he felt the weight in his hands, blinking in surprise. "Ha." There they were. He was grinning before he even realised, moving back next to the prince who was napping, arms behind his head.

"How about that," Merlin said triumphantly to his sleeping form.

Nudging the prince after a half hour so he wouldn't burn, Merlin strayed down closer to the waves, enjoying the cold bite of ocean around his ankles. There were two figures surfing down by the other end of the beach, another sunbather, but that was it as far as company went. Merlin sighed, the sun now dimmed through the dark lenses. Will had tried to teach him to surf once. Merlin couldn't do it without a bit of magic to help him stay on the board. He snickered humourlessly.

Flopping back, the sand was warm and the sun considerately hid itself half behind a cloud. Before long, voices, dream-like, were running through his head. Will laughing, calling Lance a sodding romantic. Just ask Gwen out already. Merlin smiled. Lance had fancied Gwen for the longest time. Lance probably turned red because he was stuttering and protesting. Will pressed him, there was nothing to hold him back. Will's voice trailed off. 'Hey. Hey Lance. It's a Pendragon car.'

"So," Lance replied, voice casually tight. "You brought me over here to tell me to ask Gwen out. Let's go back and get her."

Silent a moment, Will's voice was harsh and angry. "No, I don't think so. This wanker deserves some retribution."

"Will, that's not a good idea."

"Shut-up, Lance. You weren't there. You weren't there when they arrested him! Merlin! He was only... He was only helping. And they came and arrested him. You weren't there."

"I know," Lance's voice was low and echoed somewhere far from Merlin. "But it doesn't mean—"

"No, you know what. Sod off, mate."

It was only when there was a loud banging noise that Merlin woke with a start, realising this wasn't just a dream. "Shit..." He was on his feet and running towards where Arthur had parked the car.

Will was wailing away on Arthur's car like it was everything in life he hated, his face red with exertion and anger. Lance kept trying to grab him and hold him back. Gwen and Arthur were now on their feet and sprinting towards the car.

"Will!" Merlin yelled.

Will froze, as if struck. "What...?"

But then Arthur arrived, yelling, "What the fuck! What are you doing to my car!"

"Revenge, you self-satisfied rich arse!"

Arthur's eyes went wide, clearly affronted and then jabbed a finger at Will. "If you don't stop, mate, I'm going to charge you with assault. And I do hope you know who I am."

"The sodding prince of England," Will mocked in a high voice, screwing up his face.

Arthur's darkened with anger. "Don't make me call the police on you."

"Why not?" Will challenged, giving the tail-lights another whack, shattering the plastic. "It's what you did to Merlin."

"Merlin?" Arthur paused, confused.

Gwen was panting next to Lance, trying to murmur to Will that this wasn't the way, wasn't the right thing to do, wasn't...

"Shut up, Gwen. He killed him."

"Killed who? I don't even who what you're talking about,"

"Don't play stupid, prince," Will roared, advancing on the prince. "You got our mate killed, all because of Daddy's rules about magic!"

"If he was using magic," Arthur retorted, "then he deserved his punishment."

Merlin winced. He didn't know, he didn't know, he... "Will!"

Will froze again, looking around.

Ghosting over to his friend as Lance and Gwen looked at him strangely, Merlin touched his friend's shoulder gently. Will spun. "M-merlin?" he choked out.

Gwen's eyes went wide, Lance gripping her hand.

"Will, this isn't the way," Merlin whispered.

"He killed you! He fucking killed you, Merlin!" Will yelled into the air, voice breaking.

A sob choked out of Gwen and Lance looked away, his body stiff.

"He didn't."

"He's the bloody prince!"

"He didn't know," Merlin soothed.

"Where are you?" Will asked, sounding lost and lonely. "Where are you? We miss you."

"Merlin!" Gwen shouted, moving towards Will to hear. "Merlin, is that you?"

"I love you. I love you all," Merlin promised, heart breaking. "Tell my mum I love her. Don't be sad. I love you. Sorry I never said..."

"Merlin, you idiot!" Will yelled.

"Merlin!" Gwen shouted.

"Gwen, my sweet Gwen," Merlin murmured.

"What's going on?" Arthur demanded, stepping forward. "What—"

"Hush," Will barked. "Merlin? Merlin, what are you?"

"I'm here, Will. But only for a short time," Merlin said sadly. "I've got to be going. Give my love to mum."

"Merlin, Merlin wait!" Gwen protested, tears streaming down her face.

"Merlin!" Lance yelled, joining in. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I wasn't there!"

Merlin laughed. "Lance, it's fine. Hardly your fault, mate." He waited a moment, looking at his friends who were looking everywhere but at him. Arthur stood off to the side, looking a little lost, not recognising his voice from all the times that he'd talked to him. He dropped his head, finally noticing the tears that were falling down his face.

"Merlin?" Will breathed, looking around as if he would see him. "Merlin?"

"Merlin?" Gwen asked, her voice high and worried.

"Merlin!" His friends shouted his name and all he could do was crouch down next to the ruined bumper of the car and cry silently. Gwen's sobs struck his heart each time and even Will let out a few broken coughs that sounded more like crying. Lance squeezed his eyes shut like he was trying to keep the tears in. He couldn't... He ghosted up past Arthur, whispering, "Go." into his ear.

Arthur started and then scuffed a foot awkwardly, backing away from the trio too involved in their reopened wounds of grief to notice him. As he unlocked he front door, he opened his mouth, but Merlin whispered, "Just go" to him and they were off back to the palace.

Merlin spent the rest of the day as a dog, curled up in Arthur's lap, sharing the space with his laptop, needing the human contact.

"Hm, so that's who they meant," Arthur mused to himself.

Merlin looked up, his dog eyes catching his own image, a childhood photo, on the screen, along with a news article about his death.

"It wasn't my fault," Arthur said stoutly, trying to convince himself. "He looks stupid, has big ears, and hardly dangerous." His free hand stroked Merlin's head. "It wasn't my fault."

Merlin wuufed quietly, nuzzling his hand.

"You know, don't you, Brown?"

Merlin assumed that meant him. Arthur was, of course, brilliant at naming his pets. He rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't my fault. I didn't know what those idiots were talking about."

Merlin stretched a leg out into the prince's abdomen.

Who grunted. "What? It's not my fault they went nutters on me. I didn't know about their mate." Arthur was quiet, staring at Merlin's picture. "He didn't sound like too bad of a chap, you know? He was just trying to help." Arthur sighed and closed the lap-top, leaning back into the pillows of his bed to nap.

"Did you have fun this afternoon?" Uther asked lightly, his tone suggesting that he knew everything already.

"I did."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Arthur replied in the same casual tone. "Went to the beach."

Silence.

Arthur broke first. "Listen, about the car, I can explain."

Uther looked up finally. "The car? What's wrong with it. Looked fine to me."

Arthur blinked. "Oh. Um. Then."

Merlin nibbled his lip as Arthur worked to extricate himself from the situation. He hoped that it wouldn't attract attention to him. He'd fixed the car. If Uther had seen that and known what had happened, then he would be killed. Dead. Deceased. For real. And he wouldn't be any sort of ghost to tell his friends that he loved them.

"Something wrong, Arthur?"

"What? Oh, no. No, it's fine." Arthur returned to his dinner and small-talk that didn't mean anything continued for the rest of dinner.