A/N: alright I'm back!~ Sorry bout the delay, it was mum's birthday last week and she wanted to go to the cabin. There's no electric there so I couldn't post this 'till today.. I think this story will be 8-10 chapters long, at least that's what I'm aiming for anyway :p

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin..obviously (I've been forgetting to put these.)

Warning: BoyxBoy..although none in this chapter *pouts*

Days went by after Merlin got locked up. People started following a routine, by half eight Gaius was up and searching for a cure to his ward's enchantment, around noon Arthur would come in and harass the physician asking if he'd found anything yet, then the prince would storm off and complete his duties as quickly as possible. At five o'clock on the dot everyday Arthur would head down to the dungeons and visit with Merlin, trying to get him to wake up. Merlin after the first two weeks or so gradually started to have conversations with the prince, though he refused to let the manservant go or say who enchanted him in the first place. He would however say what he thought on matters like marriage,love, work. Some of the answers were the same way the real Merlin felt, others...not so much. The prince would stay until half nine then he made his way to his chambers for bed. Gaius would continue searching until around midnight before he gave up for the day.

One late evening Arthur sat by the imposter and asked. "Why won't you tell me who did this to him?"

The fake Merlin grimanced and said "I couldn't even if I wanted too. Although, I'm starting to see that my mistress was wrong about you, and Camelot. I can hear them you know... The thoughts of people in thier day to day lives." Merlin looked out the window and smiled. "Even your father is nicer than people think, although his grudge against magic is understandable. He truly cares for his people."

"If you can't tell me, why not release him?" The prince pleaded.

"Sorry prince-y no can do. It's apart of the spell, just obeying orders."

The prince sighed and changed subjects.

And this cycle repeated for three weeks. Arthur was beginning to give up hope, Gaius was suffering from sleep deprivation... One day Arthur couldn't stand it anymore he had to confide to someone, anyone! Even if that person was... Morgana.

XoxoxOxOxoOxoxXO

The prince made his way through the dark castle feeling depressed and alone. He felt that if he could explain his situation to someone he'd feel better. He couldn't keep up the facade that he was alright, keep laughing at the knights jokes when he wanted to cry, eat when he was never hungry. He never could have guessed that losing Merlin would affect him as much as it did!

Arthur blinked and realized that he was standing in front of Morgana's door, he'd been doing this a lot lately, just thinking and ending up in places with no recollection of actually walking there. He sighed and knocked on the door.

There was a soft tap of heels to the ground and then Gwen opened the door smiling. "Arthur! I mean, um, sire! What are you doing here? Wait, no, that's obvious if your here of all places..Morgana's inside getting dressed if you'll just wait a second, if that's alright with you."

The prince smiled sadly Gwen's ramblings reminding him of Merlin's inane babble. "Guinevere, breathe. It's fine, let me in when she's done."

The door promptly closed, leaving Arthur alone. After about ten minutes Gwen opened the door again and waved the prince in.

Morgana was sitting on the edge of her bed in her light blue nightgown. "Arthur, what brings you here?"

"It's about Merlin." he huffed.

The two girls shared a sly smile "Did you finally realize you love him?" They said in unison, they laughed at thier timing.

The prince's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in an un-prince-like manner before stuttering a "How'd you know that?...How do people keep figuring that out!"

The girls laughed it was very rare to see Arthur the person and not the stuck up prince that he was raised to be.

"We've known" Answered Gwen, "For awhile now actually. Who else knows?"

"Gwaine."

Arthur stood there dumbly for a minute before regaining his thoughts and sullenly said. "That's not what I wanted to talk about. Merlin's been... he's been enchanted."

Gwen shot a disapproving glare at Morgana, the woman shook her head 'no' and looked at Arthur shocked.

"Enchanted how?" the witches eyes narrowed as she tried to think of who would cast a spell on loveable little Merlin.

"He isn't himself. It's like someone locked the real Merlin up and replaced him with a total jerk. He punched me, told me he hated me. Destroyed Gaius's lab equipment. And ran around making a fool of himself... or of Merlin's self. It's like it's setting out to ruin his life."

Morgana thought long and hard. 'How could someone with magic that powerful gotten into the castle without me noticing? Let alone cast it without me feeling a thing!'

"Where is he now?" she queried.

Arthur looked at Morgana, she was like a sister to him, not that he'd ever tell her that to her face.. He could feel his eyes watering and tried to hold the tears back. "He's in the dungeons. He's been there for the past three weeks. He's a danger to others... and to himself. The servants all know what happened but they didn't tell anyone of royal status, they feared he'd lose his job...or worse." The first of many tears began to fall down the prince's cheeks, he wiped at them half-heartedly before he was swept into a hug by the two girls. He rested his head on Morgana's shoulder as she rubbed his back soothingly. "It's o.k. Arthur. Gaius will cure him.. He'll be himself in no time." The two stood there for ages, Gwen whispering reasurring nothings, and Morgana rubbing his back and talking sense into him, until Arthur finally stopped crying. He needed that, it felt good to let go for a few minutes.

"Arthur, you should head to bed. Around noon we can go see Gaius together and maybe he'll have a solution by then."

The prince nodded and made his way out of the room heading to his chambers.

When Arthur left the room Morgana Grabbed a dress and threw it on, then quickly grabbed her, determined to see Merlin.

"Morgana...are you going to try and cure him?"

"Yes..I need you to come along actually."

The servant girl nodded and followed her mistress to the dungeons.

The guards looked shocked to see the king's ward at such a time and fumbled a greeting." What is M'lady doing here at such an hour?"

"I've come to see Merlin."

The guards stiffened at the name. "I'm sorry but the prince has forbidden-"

She glared menacingly at the guard. "I have permission from prince Arthur to be here. If you don't let me in to see Merlin I will gladly go wake the prince up and have him come down here and have you explain why I wasn't allowed passage." The guard looked like he was going to faint but led her to the cell Merlin was locked in, he opened it up and went to leave before remembering the prince's warning. "The prince said the collar must remain on the boys neck. It prevents him from using magic." And then he left.

The two walked in and the words hit them. "Did he just say magic? Merlin has magic?" Morgana couldn't believe it, she obviously needed to train her powers more. She was missing magic users left and right.

The young warlock was resting on the hay sleeping rather peacefully. He looked fine, but that didn't mean anything. "Gwen. I'm going to do a few spells to see what spell was cast. Make sure the guards don't see me use magic."

Gwen stood watch all the while worrying about Merlin.

Morgana crouched in front of Merlin and started casting spells of different natures... he wasn't possessed , it wasn't harming him... then she cast a spell meant to free the mind when she ran into interference. So that's what it was. His mind was locked up!

"Gwen I've found the problem, his minds kind of locked up within itself. It's a horrid spell it's meant to trap you in your mind with your worst fears coming true. It's called magic swap."

"Magic swap?" Gwen questioned.

"Yeah, it's when a magic-user gets locked into their minds and the sorcerer that cast the spell can take over them. Merlin's magic fights the intruder and causes harm to his body while the other persons magic slowly takes over them... it's serious. He could die if left like this for too long."

"Is there anything you can do?"

Morgana thought for a minute. "I might be able to go into his mind and free him..." She thought about Arthur and how he wept openly in front of her for the first time. "No, I will free him. For Arthur." She placed a palm on Merlin's forehead and her eyes glowed Gold. "Lig dom dul isteach in a intinn, agus é saor ó a spell"

XOXOxoxoXOXOXXO

Morgana looked around she was in a kind of black nothingness. She walked foreword until she came across a door. She cracked it open hearing voices.

"Merlin your so pathetic. I could never love you. No one could. It's why I sent you to Camelot! Because your such a freak!"

That voice... she'd heard it before. It was Hunith! Morgana felt furry boil in her and stormed into the room. It was the prince's chambers... Hunith didn't spare her a glance as she stepped up next to her looking at the door with the slot in it. She looked inside to see Merlin crying. "Merlin? Is that you?" Merlin rolled over and stared at her. "Go on, tell me how useless I am like everyone else!"

Morgana shook her head and smiled. "Merlin. Your enchanted. This is all a spell! You need to wake up."

Merlin stared at her before hope began to enter his eyes. "Really? It's a spell? Wait how are you here then?"

Morgana smiled sweetly "Oh Merlin. I have magic. It's what those droughts Gaius gives me are for, to prevent it from growing to much."

"You...have magic?" Merlin wondered.

"Yes. Now I need you to come back with me. Arthur's a wreck! He openly cried in front of Gwen and I earlier today, over you."

"Over me? Why would he..."

"Because he loves you idiot, you've been under this spell for three weeks. He fears he'll never see his Merlin again."

Merlin stood up and walked over to the door, the fake Hunith was still ranting but he tuned her out. "Get me out of here the doors locked. I want to see Arthur." He spoke, determened to get free.

Morgana smiled and went to unlock the door, but the moment her hand touched the lock the fake Hunith finally took notice of her. She shrieked Intruder! And threw Morgana out of Merlin's mind. "Merlin! Remember, Arthur loves you!"

She could faintly here Merlin's pleas of come back fading into the distance.

XoOXXOXOoxxoO

Gwen hovered over Morgana fretting, she was twitching, that's not normal. Morgana gasped and opened her eyes. "Morgana! For the love of Camelot. Are you alright? Did you do it?"

"No. I found him and spoke with him. He now knows he's under a spell and nothing he's seeing or hearing is real. But the spell is too strong."

Gwen looked at Merlin sadly.

"I need to find Gaius."

The two ran to the physician's chambers as fast as they could, hoping to catch him before he gave up for the night.

XoXOXOOX

"GAIUS!" Morgana shouted when she entered.

The old man jumped, nearly falling off his bench. "Morgana? Gwen? What is it? Trying to scare the life out of an old man?" he was irritated you could feel that with every page he read he was growing more frustrated.

Morgana walked over to the cluttered table and took a seat. "Merlin's under the magic swap."

Gaius sat there shocked, his eyebrows raising dramaticly. "Are you sure Morgana?"

"Yes, I went into his mind.. he's locked up. But the magic is too strong for me to break."

Gaius got up and climbed the ladder on the left side of the room, bringing him up to the landing he fell off of when Merlin first came to Camelot. He grabbed a book off of the massive shelf and climbed back down, searching the pages when he reached the bottom.

He flipped through hundreds of pages until he found the one he was looking for. "aha! It says that the longer the magic swap is in place the stronger the spell gets." He flipped another page looking for a cure or counter-spell. "Oh dear."

"What is it?" Gwen asked nervously.

"It says that after two weeks of being under the spell the only way to break it is to go to a shrine near Belfast, it's called the claire de lune, it's a place similar to the isle of the blessed. It says that if he goes here and his love casts this counter-spell that the enchantment will break. But Merlin would have to fight the sorcerer controlling him once his mind is free."

"Arthur? Cast a spell? I don't think he would, not even for Merlin." Gwen muttered.

"Arthur? The prince is his love? There's no hope then." Gaius felt dread wash over him.

Morgana sighed. "We will come back tomorrow with Arthur. Act like you just found the answer when we get here around noon."

Gaius nodded. "It's up to Arthur if he wants Merlin back or not. We'll see if he loves him enough to break the law."

The only thing left to do now is wait and see what the prince will do.

A/N: Yeeeppppp I'm not sure how good this chapter came out. eh. Tell me what you think. If I get complaints I ll probably come back and rewrite this in better detail or something. :P Again, the language for spells was in Irish.

Translation:

"Lig dom dul isteach in a intinn, agus é saor ó a spell"

"Let me enter his mind, and free him from his spell."