A/N - Hiiiiiiiiii! I'm Back! Did you miss me? I'm really sorry this is late, but Jay fell down the stairs and Me being the awesome friend that I am, decided to help her out (Worst mistake I ever made) but Here is chapter Eight!

Previously -

Mordred being Mordred, and having Balinor as a father, learned to never give up, so he did the only thing he could do to and tripped Merlin up using magic... again.

The laughter died down as they watched Merlin fall to the floor. Melanie looked towards her Father before they both started shuffling away from Mordred, who stood there and watched as his brother stood and turned around.

Mordred realised that Merlin must have knocked his head on the floor, as there was a bleeding cut on his forehead, he had a split lip and his nose had started bleeding. Mordred gulped nervously as he watched his brother swipe his hand over his swollen lip, staining his hand with blood.

One thought ran through Mordred's head at that moment:

"Shit,... I'm so fucked"

Prince Merlin of Mageia

"Mordred, Mordred, Mordred" Merlin drawled out, wiping his bloody nose, "You never learn, do you?"

"M-merlin, brother, y-you know I-I didn't mean it" Mordred stuttered out, slowly walking backwards as his brother advanced on him.

"You always said that even as a child" Merlin muttered, smirking darkly as he looked at his brother, "Oh, is poor Mordred scared?" He taunted

"No!" Mordred growled back, stopping in his tracks to face his brother.

Merlin stopped advancing on his brother and tilted his head to the side, curiosity playing on his face. Balinor and Melanie looked at each other, wondering what the eldest prince was up to, whilst the people stayed quiet, also waiting to see what would happen.

"Finally grown a backbone, dear brother?" Merlin laughed, eyes sparkling with flecks of gold.

"Merlin, son, calm down" Balinor butted in, inwardly flinching as his son's golden gaze set on him.

"Why, dear father?" The eldest prince asked, as the gold in his eyes became more dominant to the point where you could hardly see his sea-blue eyes any longer. They looked on in wonder as Merlin's injuries faded away the more his eyes became golden. Merlin's now golden eyes flicked back to his brother's form.

Melanie stepped forward towards her father and whispered in his ear, "It's best to let him deal with this, Father. Mordred should have known better that to embarrass Merlin in front of the people, and now he must learn for his actions." She tugged on his sleeve, as a child would to gain their parents attention, and was rewarded with a look of confusion on her father's face.

"But why is he this way? He would not dare hurt his brother—"

"Of course he wouldn't!" Melanie cut her father off, fury written on her features. She took a deep breath and her face became emotionless once more. "But he is angry, and this is the only way he knows of to deal with his anger. He is not the little boy that you know any longer, he's changed. We all have, for better or for worse." She continued, "You'll just have to deal with it."

Balinor stayed silent for a minute, pondering her words. Recognition hit him as he turned back to his daughter, "He misses that boy, doesn't he?!" He whispered furiously

Melanie winced at her father's tone, "Don't you dare take that tone with me, father!" She whispered back with the same tone, and smiled smugly at her father's face.

Balinor looked at his daughter, a look of shock placed on his face. "You take after your mother too much, you know that?" He breathed out

Melanie just smiled sweetly at her father, before sighing, "He does love him father, that wasn't an act. He truly cares for the prince of Camelot"

"But why?!" Came the furious whisper of her father's reply.

'Why, indeed' Thought Melanie, "Why does anyone love someone?" She asked rhetorically

Balinor opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it. He mulled over his daughter's words

Melanie smiled at her success

Pain

That's all that registers in his mind

Pain. Hate. Anger.

The pain of the cuts on his face. The pain of losing his mother. The pain of losing his siblings. The pain of losing his kingdom. His knights. His friends. Then moving from one place to another to another. Friends lost, friends gained just to lose them all over again.

The pain of separation from him

The anger at Uther for trying to kill his brother, for succeeding in killing his mother

'It's all his fault. This is all his fault. He killed my mother. He tried to kill Mordred. He waged war on all magic kind. Killed so many magic users. He separated MY family from me so that I never saw them. He made me grow up too soon.

So. Much. Pain

So. Much. Anger.

SO. MUCH. HATE

And all for one man. One cruel and unjust man who struck fear into those who betray him is now a shallow, pitiful, worthless existence who sits in his room ignoring the world because of his own failures.

And now my brother, my dear sweet brother, dares to trip me up embarrassing me in front of the townspeople?!

HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER, THAN TO MESS WITH THOSE WHO ARE HURTING!

"Merlin, please, brother, I didn't mean it. You know what I'm like—" Mordred started, but got cut off by his brother

"But that's the thing see, Brother," Merlin drawled out sweetly, "I don't. I haven't seen you since you were but a boy, barely old enough to wipe his own arse let alone know his mistakes. So how could I know what you're like?"

Mordred stayed quiet, which in turn earned him a smirk off Merlin. By this point Merlin was furious, but didn't show it. He wanted Mordred to learn his lesson, but to humiliate him as he did Merlin?

Just the icing on the cake, really

'What am I doing?!' He screamed but no sound came out of his mouth. 'RUN, MORDRED, RUN'

So much anguish inside

So much pain

Merlin stopped in front of his brother, staring into his eyes, as Mordred stared back, fingers twitching for an invisible sword at his side.

Silence reigned in the courtyard as both brothers stared at each other. After a while, the gold reseeded from Merlin's eyes. Blinking, Merlin stepped back from his brother, smirk fading from his face as his brother took in a deep breath.

"I think the games over now Mordred" Merlin stated quietly, as his eyes flitted around him. He shook his head as his sister caught his eyes and opened her mouth to speak. He looked back at Mordred before turning and walking back into the castle.

"Everyone continue with your chores!" Balinor roared before following his son into the castle.

Melanie turned to Mordred, "Now you know not to anger him" She said, cuffing him on the back of his head. She shook her head, disappointment etched on to her smooth face before walking calmly back to the castle to find her brother and father.

Mordred stood there in shock, staring at where his brother stood just minutes ago, as the people walked passed him, before he finally plucked up enough courage to follow his siblings and father and apologise to his brother.

Merlin all but ran back to his chambers, slamming the door open and close making the guards posted outside the door jump and wince at the sound. He locked the door with his magic and leaned on his table, his breath leaving him erratically. His temper started to flare up, making his eyes go gold and every object in his room float up into the air until Merlin couldn't control it any longer and screamed, making everything in his room shatter to pieces.

He stood there panting as everything crashed back onto the floor, his eyes receding back to their normal blue. His legs buckled under him and he slowly sank to the ground, knees drawing up to hold his head, as the guards tried to open the door, failing to as it was locked.

He sat there sobbing into his knees, the mighty warlock, crying for his lover.

Prince Arthur, Regent of Camelot

For once, it was his own decision to carry on with his life.

Merlin wasn't there to make him feel better any more. And, dare he say it his friends, the knights, Gaius and Gwen had all but left him to deal with his pain in silence.

It was truly frustrating to see that his world collapsed and shattered when Merlin had gone, but to see his friends give up on him? He felt as if the only reason they put up with him and stood by the kingdom was for Merlin, and not loyalty to him! He was the King!

'Probably true though,' He thought, with a heavy heart, 'Merlin doesn't demand loyalty, but has somehow succeeded in the gift by being his natural self, unlike me. He sees the good in people, and in return does good things, whereas I just make things worse.

'Like a true Pendragon' He finished bitterly.

Arthur sat on his chair, leaning on his desk, head held up by his hand, while his right hand held a feather pen, twirling it around and around.

His thoughts swirled around inside his head, jumbling together as he tried to make sense of his life now that the main foundation was gone. He always thought back to five things:

1. Merlin is a Prince

2. Merlin lied….. again

3. His father tried to kill his brother

4. His father succeeded in killing his mother

5. Camelot is a dark place without Merlin.

He sighed. No matter what, his thoughts always went back to Merlin and his incapability to live without him. He stood and walked to his window, staring out into the courtyard, as if he was waiting for his warlock to walk across the courtyard at any given moment, stare up to the window and smile the smile only reserved for his prince, and make everything better.

"But Merlin isn't here. And when he comes back, Father will die." He said aloud, eyes still looking outside towards his people.

They milled about, but seemed to lack the happiness that radiated when Merlin was here,

'It seems even Camelot's people can't live without Merlin either.' He mused to himself, before turning away from the window. He walked towards his door, took in a deep breath, opened the door and walked out.

Camelot needed her King and her Warlock, but for now she'd have to deal with just her King.

A/N- I'm starting to notice that I have a thing for cliffhangers, don't you?

Review please? Otherwise you make Merlin sad. And nobody likes it when he's sad, and Arthur'd kill you if you made Merlin shed tears. Not to mention the Knights would skin you alive, Gwen would be disappointed and Gaius would probably poison you, just for kicks. And Hunith will probably go all BAMF! Mother style!

Until next time, My Lovelies.

- AllThingsMagical321