Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin unfortunately; the BBC does.

First of all I just want to say 'thank you', I got loads of reviews for the last chapter and loads of pointers for what needed to be fixed. A few people asked questions so I just thought I'd answer them, and I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I've had exams the past few weeks and I have been revising at every available opportunity.

superbored85: "Nice touch explaining why Merlin couldn't use magic but I couldn't help but wonder how he knew magical words. (You mentioned that he had been slave for a long time).

Truthfully I hadn't really thought of this when I was writing but I think I wanted Merlin's abilities with magic to be more natural and assertive than anything else. Merlin, as a character in this story, is very unsure of everything and is often worried or scared and I want him to have one aspect of his life that he is sure of.

Merthur Dreamer: "How many chapters do you think 'Learning how to live and to breathe' will have?"

I'm not entirely sure how many chapters this story is going to have because I don't know where this story is going or how it is going to end. I will sit down and figure it out eventually and then post how many chapters it's going to be in one of my author's notes.

Arthur woke in the middle of the night, freezing cold and alone. He sat up, wiping the sleep from his eyes and stretching, allowing his muscles to pop. Realising that Merlin wasn't next to him, Arthur looked around the room quickly realising that the balcony doors were open and letting in the harsh autumn air. Padding slowly over to the doors Arthur wondered why Merlin had left the bed; perhaps he was too warm. Walking over to the balcony Arthur shivered, the cold wrapped it's self around him and he couldn't help but think that it was only Merlin he would freeze his ass off for. The balcony was small, only two square meters with a waist high ridge made of concrete that was about fifty centre-meters wide. It was with his back against wall sat on the ridge that Arthur found Merlin; the moonlight soaked his skin leaving him looking pale and beautiful, blue eyes bored into his as the prince looked at the warlock.
"I was worried." Arthur said quietly, walking to stand beside the warlock, wrapping his arm around the boys shoulder and leaning against the wall. Merlin sighed and lent against the prince resting his head on his chest.
"I'm sorry Arthur." Merlin whispered, and the blonde had a feeling that he wasn't apologising for waking him up.
"What for Merlin, you haven't done anything wrong." Arthur said quietly, not understanding why the warlock was so sad. Merlin was safe now; he had nothing to worry about.
"I'm sorry that I woke you, I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough, I'm sorry that I wasn't brave enough and I'm sorry that I'm broken because I don't think I can ever be fixed." tears were streaming down Merlin's face, soaking Arthur's shirt. Arthur clutched the boy closer to his chest, tears welling up in his own eyes; he didn't understand.
"I don't unders-" the prince started but Merlin cut him off.
"You can't fix me Arthur; I'm not a piece of armour that can just be welded up again. I'm never going to be good enough." Merlin jumped down off the ridge and walked over to the front of the balcony, resting his elbows on the stone and placing his head in his hands. "All I that I can remember about my life is pain and hurt and dark, I was alone and I had no one. I have magic, Arthur. I don't belong here, not with you, not with anyone. It's illegal, i could be killed, you could be killed for harboring me." Merlin spun around to face the blonde, shocked to find tears running down his royal face.
"Please Merlin, don't." Arthur frowned, "I know this is hard for you and it must be difficult, but you can't just leave, you have nowhere to go." Arthur walked over to Merlin, approaching him as one would a wild animal. Embracing the boy Arthur took a deep breath as the warlock buried his face in his neck. "Now," Arthur said quietly, bringing one hand down to run his fingers through the brunette's hair, the soft texture of the strands comforting him. "Are you going to tell me why you're out here, in the freezing cold in the middle of the night?" he asked hoping that the youth would confide in him. Merlin shivered, as if only just noticing the near freezing temperature. Arthur pulled Merlin closer, he had a strong feeling he wasn't going to like what the brunette said.

"I had a nightmare..." Merlin paused for a second before continuing "About the first time Valiant r-" Merlin stopped the word refusing to come out of his mouth.
"Go on." Arthur encouraged, still stroking the boys hair hoping it was giving him the same comfort it was him. Merlin needed to acknowledge what happened to him.
"It was after I met Valiant and it was the first time he..." Merlin tried to continue but instead he let out a huge breath and began sobbing into the princes top mumbling "I cant, I can't, please I can't." over and over again. Arthur shushed he boy knowing all to well how upsetting reliving events in dreams could be.
"I'm sorry Merlin, you don't have to say it, okay." the blonde sank to the floor pulling the boy into his lap and rocking him back and forth, and whispering "I'm sorry."

After a while Arthur realised that the boy he was rocking in his arms was fast asleep so he lifted him and gently placed him in the large bed. After stroking the dark hair from his friend's brow Arthur walked over to his wardrobe and dressed before grabbing the torch from the wall and making his way out of his room and towards the dungeons. Arthur, as a boy had been told many stories about the great dragon, about how his father hunted all of the dragons, killing them although they had done nothing wrong, but the part of the story he remembered most was how he had been told that the greatest of all of the dragons had been trapped to prove a point. Arthur had visited the great dragon once before when he was only six, he had told no one and had run crying from the dungeons the second he had seen the creature. Now, as he descended the steps he was vaguely aware of the childhood fear lurking behind his arrogant armour.

The cave was massive; Arthur had never imagined that a room so big could have existed, but then remembering the size of the dragon he imagined the room to have little leg room for the beast. Arthur stood self-consciously for a moment; how do you address a dragon? Finally he settled on a weak "Hello?" that echoed in to every corner of the cave. The prince heard nothing in response and frowned to himself before realising that his call must have been to quiet, he gathered his strength and courage before trying again "Hello?" he was greeted promptly by the sound of wings beating the air mercilessly.

The dragon was spectacular; wings twice the length of the prince's height and paper thin; the scales that covered his muscles were all shades of green and they glinted in the small amount of sun that could was falling through a hole in the roof. His face was heavy and dark as he glared at the prince, teeth the size of swords bared and ready to defend. Arthur noted curiously that the dragon's eyes were the same colour as Merlin's when he used magic. The dragon frowned before speaking, his voice deep as it ricocheted of every corner of the cavern. "I never expected to see you here again, young Pendragon." Arthur swallowed before looking the beast in the eyes and responding.

"I never expected to see you again either."

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