This one's a follow up to "Sentiment" (archiveofourown dot org /works/3812251/chapters/8601970) by Lywinis. It's part of an overall 'verse we have going, getting it all out in bits and pieces and having a blast doing it.

"Well done, Eggsy," he hears Merlin say. "Harry would be proud."

Eggsy hopes he would be. From his understanding, Merlin would be the man to know, so he decides he can safely take the wizard's word for it. But for the time being, there are prisoners to rescue and a very lovely young princess who owes him a kiss. He jogs through the halls, past the bodies of Valentine's fallen soldiers, until he reaches the first cell. Of course it's locked, needing a number pin to open it.

"Merlin, could you give me a hand here?" he asks.

He waits for some kind of response—the cell door clicking open, a number spoken in his ear, something—but receives only silence.

"Merlin?" he tries again, worriedly. Nothing. "Merlin."

When his third attempt fails to elicit a response, he tears away from the prison door and rockets through the corridors as fast as his legs will carry him. He knows Arthur had worked Merlin over something fierce, but he'd seemed… well, he'd seemed as though he could manage through this. And now Eggsy's beginning to wonder if that hadn't just been a front.

His heart is hammering in his chest as he pulls himself up the jet's stairs and into the cockpit. When he emerges into the cabin, his stomachs sinks like a lead balloon at the sight of Merlin slumped over his console.

"No, no, no, no," Eggsy breathes, hurrying to his side. He slips shaking fingers beneath the wizard's collar, searching for a pulse. "Come on, Merlin. Come on."

It's takes him longer than he'd like to find one and the sluggish thud against his fingers is anything but reassuring. He takes a deep breath, trying to decide what his best course of action would be. Attempt to stabilize Merlin himself? Pilot the jet back to Central straight away? Hope that one of the prisoners is a doctor? He shakes his head, willing himself to calm down. He can't help Merlin like this and he'll be damned if he loses him, too. Deciding that getting Merlin away from the console and lying down is his first step, he pulls the chair back and kneels to take the older man's weight. Merlin may be lean, but he's heavy—the sort of heavy that makes Eggsy wonder, briefly, what he's been hiding under that ridiculous jumper of his. Merlin doesn't stir as Eggsy heaves him over to the sofa, only increasing the young man's worry. With some of the injuries he'd seen, he'd expected something out of him, but there he lies, still and silent as the grave.

"Okay," Eggsy says to himself, unfastening the older man's collar. "Okay, we'll get through this."

"Yes, we will."

Eggsy wonders at Percival's uncanny ability to silently, suddenly appear wherever he's needed, but decides now isn't the time to question it. His breath leaves him in a rush at the sight of Percival and Roxy standing before him. With their timely arrival, Merlin's chances don't seem quite so dire.

"Eggsy, I need you to get us off the ground. Set a course for home. Once we're safely in the air, set the jet on autopilot and join us in the cabin. Roxy, remove the paneling on that back wall, bring me whatever emergency equipment you find there," Percival says, shucking his jacket.

Eggsy shares a look with Roxy, knowing she shares his fears—that they'll have to actually use some of that equipment. But they both know there is no time to dawdle and move quickly to their given tasks. Eggsy slides into the pilot's seat, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder to see what Percival is doing. Instead, he focuses on doing what the older Knight had asked: getting them off the ground and headed home.

"What about the people Valentine held prisoner?" Eggsy calls.

"The other Kingsman have the coordinates and are en route. They'll handle the rest," Percival calls back.

At least that's one thing off his mind. He hadn't fancied the idea of leaving he-doesn't-even-know how many people behind, still locked in those cells. Then there's the matter of the remaining Kingsman. Can they be sure that Percival had chosen correctly? Can they be sure those Knights are really on their side and not the late Arthur's? Percival had been trusted by Merlin. Merlin had been trusted by Harry. And Eggsy trusts Harry. It'll have to do.

The moment Eggsy is able to switch to autopilot, he steps away from the cockpit, coming to join Roxy and Percival in the cabin. The sight which greets him is not a pretty one. Percival is absorbed in his work, fingers deftly wielding needle and thread to sew up reopened wounds. Without the dark pilot's jacket to mask them, Eggsy can see just how extensive Merlin's injuries are.

"It's a wonder he could stand," Roxy says, looking particularly uncomfortable as she mops away blood and puts pressure on the wounds that Percival has yet to see to.

"If he were like anyone else, I'd agree with you," Percival says distractedly.

"Suppose he is stubborn," Eggsy agrees.

"That's not precisely what I meant. Merlin doesn't experience pain the same way as you and I," Percival corrects him, remaining focused even as he speaks. "There was an assignment in the late eighties, the result of which was that Merlin suffered permanent nerve damage. We discovered it when he and I were on an assignment sometime after and a bullet passed through him without him feeling anything more than a slight bit of pressure. He's lucky he didn't bleed out."

Beneath blood and new wounds, Eggsy sees a spot of scar tissue on Merlin's right side, just below his ribcage, and wonders.

"There are times when he feels no pain. Then there are times when the pain he feels is… amplified. And because of that, Arthur had him pulled from active field duty by the nineties," Percival explains. He wipes at his forehead with the back of his hand. "So while some of it is certainly the fact that he will bull through anything that he thinks he needs to, I'm certain that this had a hand in helping. Or hurting, rather."

It feels strange, Eggsy thinks, to stand and watch the two of them work because there's nothing he can do to help, nothing he can do that wouldn't be getting in the way. He almost doesn't want to look on as Percival continues to try to put Merlin back together as best he's able, like shoving everything back into place and stitching him up will see him right as rain. Arthur had certainly known what he was doing when he'd tied Merlin to that chair. Even with the threat of Merlin's timer sending the encrypted files straight to the other Knights, he'd taken his time. Probably enjoyed it, too.

"Shit," Percival mutters, eyeing the monitor beside him. "Eggsy, you recall how to work the bag valve mask?"

"Yeah, is he…?" Eggsy wonders aloud, grabbing the item in question.

"No," Percival says, a little too fiercely. "But he's having some difficulty breathing on his own, so let's fix that before it becomes any more of a problem."

They'd been taught this, but putting it into practice on the man who'd tested them on it is surreal. Eggsy squeezes the bag at consistent five second intervals, his gaze darting between Percival and Roxy's faces before he glances down at Merlin. Not once since Eggsy had found him has he so much as twitched. The images from Kentucky still fresh in his mind, Eggsy does whatever Percival asks, praying it will be enough to get them back to Morgana in time.

Their return flight had seemed to last a hell of a lot longer than the flight there, but at long last they touch down. Morgana is waiting for them on the tarmac, stretcher and aids at the ready, her expression tense, her mouth drawn into a thin, unhappy line. The second the jet's door is opened and the stairs lowered, she takes over, commanding her troops like a General at war.

Eggsy has respected Morgana since the moment he'd met her and it's in moments like these that he knows everyone around him shares in that respect. He stands back with Percival and Roxy, watching as they load Merlin onto the stretcher. They follow behind the stretcher as Percival relates back to Morgana everything they'd been able to do for him. When they reach the doors to the infirmary, however, their progress is halted.

Morgana leaves them there, disappearing inside to take her patient to surgery and requesting that the three of them get some rest; it's going to be a long wait. The three of them hover at the doors, standing silently, the weight of everything that's happened today bearing down upon them. After a few minutes of this, Percival turns to cast his gaze at them.

"You two go get cleaned up. Get something to eat. Sleep," he instructs. "I'll stand watch."

"We can wait here," Roxy insists.

"We won't be hearing anything any time soon. You've both had… quite a day. You'd do well to give yourselves time to recover," Percival counters.

"How're we supposed to relax? Harry's dead. Arthur betrayed us. Merlin's…" Eggsy says, gesturing towards the door.

"You need time to decompress," Percival says, his voice monotone but his eyes somber. "Go."

"Uncle Martin—" Roxy starts.

"Go," Percival repeats, firmer this time. After a beat he sighs, resting his hands on Roxy's shoulders. "I promise I'll come get both of you when there's word. Now, go, please."

Roxy seems to give in at that, offering him a reluctant nod, and Eggsy finds himself following her example. They leave Percival standing at the doors, his back to them as he stands like a statue and waits. As they're walking through the halls—which seem so eerily empty now—Eggsy thinks to ask about what had caught his attention.

"Percival's your uncle?"

Roxy looks up as though she were surprised he'd even spoken. "Not exactly."

Eggsy waits for an explanation. She sighs, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"The previous Lancelot, James Spencer, was my uncle," she says slowly. "Percival—Martin—was his…"

"Oh," Eggsy says, a bit dumbly. It's like the further he looks, the more layers of hurt he uncovers to this day. "How long?"

"Years," Roxy says with a tired shrug. "Since I was little. He was always Uncle Martin to me. Their relationship was never anything official—it wasn't allowed in Kingsman—but I always knew."

There are a few moments of silence between them.

"I think Merlin and Harry might've," Eggsy blurts. "I don't have any proof, and maybe they weren't, but—"

"They were," Roxy confirms. "Sometimes my uncles would speak of them when they thought I wasn't listening. But I was."

The rest of the walk is made in silence. They return to the barracks; the ones for recruits, despite the fact that neither of them are anymore. Especially not after today. The room is empty, all the beds free, but they sit shoulder to shoulder on one bed, not feeling particularly like being alone. It's a gradual shift—a hand on the knee, an arm around the shoulders—until they wind up hugging each other fiercely, drawing strength and comfort from one another in the silence of the barracks and the wake of all that's happened.

Today has been the first of what they know will be a series of bad days. But they've come this far together and they will go further yet.