It had taken a fairly big sedative to get Uther to stop raving, the brothers honestly couldn't help noticing his psych was slipping. Ever so slightly. Every time Morgana showed up, it slipped just a little more. It took a few days for things to become normal, the fact that Merlin had survived him tumble was a perfect miracle and it couldn't come come at a better time.

With Morgana showing up panic had begun to spread, however the miraculous recovery of their prince helped immensely. Gwen had practically bowled Merlin over when she saw him walking through the halls, luckily nobody but the princes were present so nobody could object to the prince being hugged by a servant.

Arthur was currently being forced to go through historical records for the last 20 years in order to make sure nothing had be wrongfully cataloged. He had no idea why Geofery couldn't do it but Uther had ordered one of the princes to. Merlin had been gone faster than a race horse. Something about writing to Elena, Merlin wrote to her at least once a month, sometimes more depending on how fast their letters were delivered. Arthur had managed to glimpse a few of them for things he could tease his brother about but they were completely innocent.

Most of them contained updates on what each of them were doing in their lives, updates on each of the kingdoms and simple stories off their small adventures. Nothing even remotely romantic, but he could tell the feeling was there.

After he had finished with he horrible job he made his way over to Merlin's room, it was almost the end of the month, meaning Merlin would most likely be writing to Elena and Arthur could tease him as punishment for leaving him to to do the hateful job. Of course he knew this would just mean Merlin would tease him about Gwen but he found he didn't mind too much. They were both much to obvious to deny such claims.

When he entered the room what he didn't expect to see was Merlin sitting at his desk with an extremely pale face and dark rings around his eyes. How did that happen so quickly?

"Arthur!" Merlin jumped trying to hide his face

"Merlin what the hell, you look like you haven't slept in a week!" Arthur exclaimed, "You looked fine a few hours ago"

"Make up" Merlin sighed, obviously deciding there was no point in even trying to lie.

"You wear make up?" Arthur replied covering a smirk, Merlin glared. the younger prince dug out a small bag of powder and quickly smeared it over his features, efficiently giving him a healthy glow.

"It's to cover up the paleness and dark circles" Merlin explained, "So people don't react the way you just did"

"Your not sleeping well I take it" Arthur sighed, sitting down at Merlin's table, the younger prince nodded.

"Merlin I'm worried about you" Arthur sighed sitting down on his brothers bed, "These nightmares keep coming back, it's just like..."

"Morgana?" Merlin finished, "No, I don't often have vision dreams, I haven't had once since before she left its just...normal nightmares"

"What are they about at the moment?" Arthur asked gently, Merlin blushed.

"Elena" He admitted quietly, Arthur smirked.

"No! Not like that!" Merlin exclaimed realising his mistake, "I dream that she sees me using magic"

"And she hates you because of it?" Arthur suggested, Merlin groaned, head in his hands, nodding tiredly. Arthur could see his dilemma, he could hardly lie about something so huge to somebody so important to him, but he couldn't tell her either.

"Then there's those bloody crystals" Merlin continued

"Crystals?" Arthur asked

"Every time I have a nightmare they encase me, trap me inside them and they burn" He explained, "it's been happening ever since the Crystal of Neahtid and even more after my visit to the cave..."

Those crystals always worried Arthur. He felt a wave of guilt crash down on him when he remembered it was him who handed the Crystal of Neahtid to Merlin in the first place, starting off this whole thing. Nothing effected Merlin so negatively as those crystals.

...

Arthur knew he couldn't tell father about Merlin, he was cracking as it was. But at the same time he couldn't let Merlin continue this way. He had no choice. It was late now, the sun having set hours ago. Arthur would be going to bed now on a normal night but not now, he had a mission.

The sleeping draught in his pocket felt very heavy.

As expected he found Merlin awake, laying on his stomach with one of his books infront of the fireplace on the thick fur rug. He glanced up at Arthur before going back to his book, he looked exhausted, Arthur barely had to conceal pouring the potion into a goblet of water before he sat down with his brother, handing it to him. After a little while he laid down on his stomach next his Merlin and looked at the book he was reading. It was his magic book. Arthur screwed up his nose at all the funny letters.

"You can read this?" He said finally, Merlin laughed

"Of course it's not hard" Merlin laughed taking a sip from the goblet, the drug was powerful, but slow acting. It would take a little while to take effect. Arthur didn't mind he was curious, for the next half an hour Merlin did his best to translate and teach Arthur to read the strange symbols and letters. Explaining the strange illustrations and doing his best to play 'teacher'.

"Your name has a magical equivalent you know" Merlin pipped up, blinking slowly.

"It does?" Arthur blinked

"Yeah, Arthur means Stone Bear" Merlin yawned, "Merlin means...hawk..."

"Strong bear for me and wise hawk for you" Arthur mused, "sounds fitting"

"Mmmh" Merlin mumbled, head dropping onto the soft mat, the drug was taking effect, the rug was warm, Arthur didn't have the heart to move him. Instead he closed Merlin's magic book and placed it back on the shelves before grabbing a random book on history and settling back down on his stomach. He figured it was best to wait here, just incase Merlin had a nightmare. Unfortunately the warmth of the fire soon got to the elder Prince as well.

The next morning Uther came to Merlin's room hoping the younger could tell him why Arthur was not in his chambers, thats where he found them. Both fast asleep, curled up next to one another next to a long forgotten book and fire.

Yay for brotherly love!

I know that you might be thinking I over use crystals and nightmares but believe me, they will be relevant later!