PAIRING: Merlin/Arthur from the Television Series: Merlin.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the TV Series. I am not making any money. This is for entertainment only. This did not happen. This story is slash fan-fiction. Slash means that the main characters are Gay. If you don't like this sort of story, don't read.
SUMMARY: Rating MA. Romance/Danger Arthur wants Merlin badly but isn't sure that Merlin feels the same so he decides to throw down a challenge. This takes place after Uther marries the Troll in Season 2. The story contains spoilers from that episode. Story contains an OC.. Story contains a male OC.
RATING: MA
AUTHOR: Rufferto9 (rufferto9 )
CHAPTER : 6 of ?

CHAPTER SIX: Six Hours Until Dawn

VERY LATE EVENING *Same day*

They were getting worse, these dreams of hers and so... so real.

She didn't know how to take them or truly what they meant. This time she was alone, surrounded by evil in the shadows. She couldn't get away from the shadows as they held her fast. Dark tendrils coiled around her body and she felt her energy draining away. Morgana tried to struggle but that just made it worse. She was tired but she wouldn't give up fighting. Arthur would expect no less. Why she was thinking of Arthur just then she did not know. All she knew was that the look in his eyes alone was enough to help her keep fighting. She held on to the memory of his kisses, his touch. She clung to how he made her feel when he touched her in place no one had ever dared. She reveled in all the ways she could make his body come alive and conjure that look in his eyes. That look reserved only for her. "Arthur—" she whispered softly.

Her body was hot and tingling. How many times now? What number were they on? Morgana felt something heavy between her legs she'd never felt before and she opened her eyes dazedly. If she could cling to the memory she could get through this. These things wouldn't keep hurting her, resisting her. She tried to move but they pinned her down. Her head hurt, likely from being knocked around on the way down. Down where? She tried to move again but they only tightened around her.

The dungeon walls were slightly damp and from somewhere a light flickered. The stone was so glassy down here you could almost see through it. She lifted her head and stared. The eyes that looked back at her were not her own. They were begging her, pleading with her. "Morgana..."

It was Merlin. She was Merlin, and he looked terrible. There was blood sliding down the side of his face.

She screamed and woke up drenched in sweat.

"Morgana..." Gwen rushed into the room and held her. "Morgana, my dear." She held the sobbing woman in her arms.

LATE EVENING *Same Day*

"Father, will you at least listen to me." Arthur stared hard at Uther and his begging him to understand. They had been talking for the past three hours and he was getting nowhere. His father was extremely stubborn when he wanted to be.

As for Uther, he was defiant and confused. Yes, he knew Samuel was dead and he also remembered seeing him recently and being confused by that as well. He rubbed his forehead. He had to admit that ever since Catrina was exposed his mind felt a bit like it was stuffed with cotton.

"I've not been at my best, Arthur, I know that." Uther admitted with a grimace.

"You married a Troll!" Arthur glared at him.

"I didn't know!" Uther glared back.

"You didn't trust us then. Trust us –NOW-, Father. Please. I know you don't approve of my relationship with Merlin but I need your help. There must be something." Arthur hated having to beg, but he wasn't going to let this thing hurt Merlin any longer.

There was, but Uther was not going to let it go easily. He had buried that part of himself down so far he wasn't sure if he even wanted to revisit it. That's why he was angry, he supposed. Samuel was a long time ago. Sometimes he dreamed about him, but that's all they were... dreams. Why then did he not want to let go of them? "If I help" Uther knew Arthur wasn't going to let this go. His son was just as stubborn as he was. "I need you to give your word on something." It wasn't really the relationship between Merlin and Arthur that Uther was so annoyed about. It was the fact that it could damage the possibility of there ever being another Pendragon.

Arthur exhaled; surprised he'd even got this far with his father. "Tell me what you want."

"I want your word, Arthur, that when the time comes, you will marry a suitable woman and have children. If you swear to me that you will do that, swear on your mother, then I will help you." Uther told him flatly.

Arthur stepped back as if he had been struck. "You want me to give up Merlin? I won't do that!" He shouted angrily.

"I didn't say that, Arthur." Uther folded his arms across his chest. "Just swear to me that you will marry a suitable woman and have a child."

"That's ridiculous! And unfair, what of the woman I marry? I'll never be able to love her as she deserves!" Arthur scoffed at the thought.

"Marriages for people of your station are never for love, Arthur." Uther told him frostily. "Swear it."

Arthur growled something unpleasant under his breath. "I wish I was never born your son!" He spat out, furious. Having failed to extract the item from Uther he finally turned abruptly and stormed out. The door was slammed and he stood there for a moment wishing there were things to throw. Why was he so ok with marrying a girl before and still being involved with Merlin and not now? Something had changed. It wasn't FAIR.

He almost went back in and thought the better of it. With an angry huff he turned on his heal and stalked back down the hallway towards his room. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Merlin heading in the other direction. "Merlin!" He called out.

The younger man turned, it was him and Arthur didn't notice that he wasn't smiling.

Arthur strode towards Samuel purposefully. "No luck!" He complained. "Father refuses to cooperate." He glanced up and down the hallway and since they were alone he reached over and dragged Samuel into his arms for a fierce hug. Samuel stiffened, a thing he didn't expect. "What's wrong?" Arthur pulled away, worried.

"Must you do that?" Samuel's voice was a little weird and his eyes were far more penetrating than usual.

"What's the problem?" Arthur shrugged, "No one's around."

"I don't want you to." Samuel said with a finality to his tone that cut through his gut as if it was edged with a knife.

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck in confusion. "Um...sure, I won't do that in public again." He looked at the floor then up at Samuel. "Where are you going? It's time for bed."

"I'm sure you can get ready for bed on your own for now." Samuel said evenly. The look in his eyes was so cold, Arthur was taken aback.

"What is wrong with you?" Arthur demanded. "You can't be wandering about the palace late at night. What if you get attacked by Samuel?"

Samuel smirked. Ah, they'd figured it out. "I've just got something to take care of. Really, Arthur, you're being a bore."

Arthur stared, "A what? I'm ... a ..." His temper was already out of control after the conversation with his father. "A bore, huh?" He shoved Samuel up against the wall, easily overpowering him with superior strength. "Sorry to bore you, Merlin, but I think you owe me a second kiss tonight for that!" He held Samuel fast against the wall and fully intended to kiss soundly. He was thoroughly prepared to deliver a kiss that would have his manservant begging for more instead of this insolent tone.

But instead he just glowered dangerously. He knew this wasn't him, that he couldn't ever force himself on anyone. In any case, Arthur felt weird. There was something wrong. Merlin wasn't doing anything to fight him. He simply stood there and waited to be released. Even more wrong, Arthur couldn't feel anything. Every other time he'd touched Merlin he would feel like his body was on fire. This time, he could be touching anyone. Arthur abruptly pulled away and stared hard at Samuel. He was confused, angry and a little bit disgusted with himself. He should never even have thought about taking what wasn't freely offered.

"Don't touch me again." Samuel said simply, calmly.

Arthur's world crumbled. He stared helplessly at Samuel and felt like a thousand daggers had just been shoved into his heart. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Please forgive me. I should never have done that." He begged. "Please, Merlin."

Samuel simply turned icily and walked away.

Arthur looked after him, unable to process what had just happened. He hadn't gone through with it, why would Merlin be angry with him? He'd come to his senses. "Merlin..." Arthur tried again.

"Take the hint, Arthur." Samuel glared back at him and disappeared down the hallway.

Uther paced in his receiving room. That hadn't gone as well as he expected. Arthur should have sworn. He really should have! While he was fuming there was a tentative knock and he nodded. "Come." Perhaps it was Arthur come back to apologize.

It was not. It was Samuel. Uther looked at him with disgust. "What do you want?"

"Uther.—" Samuel closed the door behind him.

"How dare you call me by my given name! I have not given you leave!" Uther drew himself up proudly.

Samuel waved at the shadows around his face and very briefly his true self was shown to the King. Then he was Merlin again. "I do not have the power to make it permanent." He said with a smile.

"Stay back!" Uther warned. "You took advantage of my state of mind to come back here, didn't you?"

"Yes. And you wanted me to get rid of Merlin for you." Samuel smiled simply. "Mission accomplished, my Uther. But I have always been here, watching over you. Now that I can talk to you, there is something I need from you for my powers to become complete." He took a step towards the King and Uther drew his sword.

"Morgana, really you need to tell Arthur what you've been dreaming." Gwen soothed her gently. "Are you sure the person you are seeing in your dreams is Merlin?"

Morgana flushed, "I'm sure, Gwen. It was him. I just know it."

In the back of her mind she could hear quiet cries of pain and she put her fists up to her forehead and shook her head trying to get rid of the sound.

"I'm hearing him. Merlin."

"But I just passed Merlin in the halls, he looked fine?" said Gwen with a frown.

Morgana started to cry herself, "He's in such pain, Gwen." Her body wracked with shivers.

"Come on." Gwen helped Morgana up even though she was ready for bed. "He's probably still up. Hopefully we won't interrupt them doing er.. well. Whatever it is they do."

Morgana doubled over just then and clutched her head with another scream of pain. "Ahhhhh!"

Arthur slowly walked back to his room, unable to understand just what had happened when he heard Morgana scream. He turned and ran to her chamber, thankful for something to take his mind off of Samuel's hurtful words.

He found Gwen holding Morgana in her arms and rocking her gently. "Arthur!" Gwen smiled at the Prince nervously. "She's having some kind of episode."

Arthur knelt down and touched Morgana's shoulder gently. "It's me, what's wrong? Please tell us what's happening."

"It's Merlin, Arthur." Morgana clutched the Prince's arm. "He's in terrible pain. We need to find him!"

Arthur exchanged a glance with Gwen who just shrugged helplessly. "I don't know where he is. He's not in my room right now."

"I saw him seeking an audience with Uther as I was finishing up my chores." Gwen said to Arthur.

Arthur frowned and helped up his sister. "Let's go find him then and then you can see that he's perfectly fine, Morgana and maybe we can all get some sleep."

The three burst in on the receiving room only to Uther being held in Samuel's arms. "That's it, my King. Sleep, my dear."

Arthur couldn't believe what he was seeing! Merlin with Uther? His father. How had that happened? He was just about to go off on a rage bender when Morgana laid her hands on Arthur's shoulder. She was now steady and calm.

As for Gwen, she simply stood there, open mouthed and wished Lance were there. He would know what to do.

"Arthur." Morgana said sharply. "That's not Merlin. Look at his eyes."

And now that he did, Arthur saw it too. They were black and hard. In fact, there was nothing Merlin-like about this person except his look. Arthur drew his sword. "Where is Merlin! Unhand my father!" He stalked forward with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

They circled each other with Samuel holding the King as leverage and Arthur ready to attack. They traded a few attacks and Samuel skillfully parried. A couple of times he even sent Arthur skidding across the room. "You can't win. I'm going stronger by the hour!" Samuel laughed heartily. "When the new dawn comes, I will be whole again!" He cackled.

What did that mean? Arthur's blood chilled. Did he kill Merlin? "I am not letting that happen!" He lunged again and was parried just as easily as the other times.

"Fool!" Samuel snerked. He couldn't maintain his form much longer and suddenly the necromancer dissipated into shadows which then seeped into the floor. Uther collapsed on the ground, victim of a sleep spell.

"Father!" Arthur rushed to Uther's side.

Gaius was in the process of mixing up something to wake Uther up but in the meantime they didn't have much time to find Merlin. It was six hours until Dawn.

After some discussion amongst themselves, Morgana had a thought. "I think I might know." Morgana tells Arthur. "I had a dream. I think he may be in the cells below where Uther used to keep magic user prisoners."

"She could be right." Gaius agreed. "I'm told there is residual dark energy down there and perhaps Samuel tapped into that power. Gwen and I will watch over Uther. You two go find him."

The bells were tolling midnight even as Arthur and Morgana took the torches and some guards with them to search the catacombs below Camelot for Merlin.

The floor was cold. Merlin wondered how long he'd been down there. It couldn't' have been that long because he wasn't starving or dying of thirst. He was bound by magic, that much he was certain. His head hurt and he had cried a little but now it was time to think about his situation and figure out a way out of this. No one was going to be down here to save him. In fact, he was pretty sure no one even knew where he was. He just hoped Arthur was okay and didn't let that guy get too close.

He tried to speak some magic to get out of the bonds but they just tightened and it was getting harder to stay conscious every time he woke up. "Graaah!" He cursed to nothing in particular. The last thing he wanted to be was a 'damsel in distress' that Arthur had to rescue. There had to be something he could do.

He remembered what he'd done to transform the dog and wondered suddenly if he could do it to himself. If he could just do that he could turn into something smaller and slip out of the bonds! Samuel, after all, was draining him for his magic. He couldn't let anyone find him like this.

Merlin concentrated hard again and again trying to will the strength out of him. If Samuel was doing something to hurt Arthur he'd make him pay for it! That was a feeling that Merlin could use, it gave him power and strength when he thought of Arthur being in danger. He tried to conjure up all the times that Arthur had been in danger and wrapped them up into a little ball of power within his heart. He didn't like thinking of those times but he thought about them now and drew upon their power.

The last thought he had before he felt his body shift was that it would have been nice to have figured out what kind of animal to turn into before doing so. It would also have been nice if he realized his clothes were not going to come with him.

Arthur and Morgana searched and searched until they heard a chattering sound down a hallway. He shone the torch light down the hallway and to their great surprise they saw Merlin lying there, totally naked and unconscious. Further down the hallway they heard a rumbling. The shadows seemed to come alive with wicked tendrils, whipping towards Merlin.

Arthur acted fast and ran to pick Merlin up. He didn't waste any time and hauled Merlin over his shoulder. Oof! He was heavier than he looked.

Morgana squeaked, "Be careful, he's hurt!"

"I know that." Arthur swung a sword at a lashing tendril. "We can't fight these things! Run!"

And they did. The tendrils followed after them but could not go further as Dawn had come and they could not reach areas of the palace that were bathed in sunlight.

Merlin was put into one of the stretchers in Gaius' workplace, his wounds cleaned and dressed. The King was laying on another. Arthur worried over both of them but it was on Merlin that his gaze remained the most. "Is he going to be okay?" Arthur begged of Gaius.

"He's weak." Gaius told Arthur. "That man, Samuel was using his energy. He just needs to rest. You can't do anything more here, Arthur. Your father Is under a sleeping spell which I am working to undo. You must rest yourself if you are going to be any help."

Arthur looked down at Merlin and willed him to open his eyes. "I can't leave him!"

"How's anyone supposed to sleep around here with all this noise?" Merlin mumbled.

"Merlin!" Arthur ecstatic reply warmed his heart. They gazed at each other for a long moment and Gaius rolled his eyes and pointedly looked away. This gave Arthur all the courage to lean in and kiss Merlin gently but briefly. "That one doesn't count. Welcome back and don't EVER do that to me again!" His eyes flashed as he ran his fingers through Merlin's hair gently. "Are you alright?"

"Never better..." Merlin groaned as he tried to move. "What happened? Did you talk to Uther?" He looked over and saw Uther lying still. "Oh."

"Just worry about getting better." Arthur said sternly. "The guards are searching through Uther's chambers with Morgana's help."

"Morgana?" Merlin was confused now. Giaus gave Arthur a drink to administer to Merlin. Arthur helped Merlin rise to drink it.

"Little complicated to explain, I'll tell you later. Why were you naked?" Arthur demanded.

"Uh..." Merlin's head throbbed a bit. "It helped to get out of the bonds I was in."

It was a lame excuse but Arthur bought it. "As long as no one did anything to you?"

"No, Arthur. Nothing like that." Merlin shook his head.

"If you're satisfied, can you please leave Merlin alone to rest now, Arthur? Merlin tell him to get some sleep." Gaius huffed from the background.

"He's right you know." Merlin told Arthur gently. "This isn't over and you need to be at full strength."

"I'm not leaving you until Samuel is dead." Arthur said stonily.

Eventually Arthur agreed to sleep in Merlin's old room if Merlin's cot was moved there. He lay down on the uncomfortable bed and squirmed. "How do you sleep here?"

"I'm usually dead tired." Merlin muttered from the cot.

"From what? You're the laziest servant I've ever had." Arthur said jokingly.

They lay there for a while, both trying to sleep.

"Arthur?"

"What?"

"Did you do anything with fake me?"

Arthur looked over. "No." Not –really-.

"Good."

Arthur had to smile at the response which meant of course that Merlin would have been jealous. His world was back and that was all that mattered.

"Arthur?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Arthur's heart jumped and he was off the small bed in a minute and kneeling by the cot. "Say that again?" He demanded and Merlin laughed softly.

"I love you."

Arthur's smile was more brilliant than the sun itself coming out. "I love you too."

Merlin lifted himself up and offered his lips. It was the sixth kiss and Arthur knew it was real. He let Merlin slip into his mouth and flick around within. He let Merlin be as forceful or gentle as he wished. In this case, it was gentle since Merlin hadn't the strength for anything else. It was a sweet, beautiful kiss the sixth kiss and it filled him with a sense of relief. They'd figure out everything. It would work. It had to... this was all he ever wanted. He tried to encourage Merlin to respond a little more until he realized that his love had fallen asleep.

/Fallen Asleep/

That settles it. That kiss didn't count either and he would wrangle another one before the day was done.

**TBC**