The story continues.

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This is from Arthurs point of view.

Merlin had been acting strangely lately, well more strange than usual anyway. He had been quieter, more withdrawn and if possible clumsier. Arthur had no idea was going on, and to be frank he did not have time for his manservant's quirks, there was simply too much going on. Between his father's orders and his other royal duties, Arthur felt the need to let off more steam than was strictly necessary. Unfortunately, one of the ways he did that was harassing Merlin.

He did have another reason to torture Merlin, other than amusement (though that was the main reason). The servant had gotten too close. They had almost become friends!

A prince and a servant could never be friends. Social etiquette aside, a prince's friends were always in danger and to Arthur's surprise and mortification, he simply couldn't lose Merlin.

Merlin was, despite his blatant insolence to the prince, the most loyal, caring and generally nice person you could ever meet. He had already proven to have an unhealthy obsession with saving Arthur's arse, despite danger to himself.

Arthur realised after that beast had bitten him he simply couldn't lose the one person he trusted most, he couldn't lose his best friend. Therefore, Arthur decided that instead of going through the pain of losing Merlin he would push him away instead and after the Cedric incident he had almost succeeded.

But did Arthur Pendragon learn his lesson?

No, he did not. He treated Merlin worse than ever and Merlin shouldered it all, loyal as always, no worse for wear. Or so Arthur had thought.

So when Merlin suddenly collapsed, half way through one of his rants, Arthur had been overtaken by a confused panic. What the hell was wrong with Merlin?

He had been fine a few moments ago, hadn't he?

As he picked Merlin up, intent on carrying him straight to Geius and getting some answers, three shocking realisations came to him and they in turn lead to five questions.

Merlin was far lighter than he should have been. How much had he been eating?

There were dark circles under his sunken eyes. How much had he been sleeping?

There was a fever raging behind his forehead. How did he get so sick?

Why didn't Arthur notice any of this?!

And where the hell was Merlin's neckerchief?!

The last guestion... well we were all thinking it!

The next chapters soon.

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