A/N: Thank you so much for the overwhelming response this story got! As you can see, I have decided to continue this story due to the outstanding reviews (as well as a few threats pertaining to if I didn't continue) I received asking me to continue Nightmares. I'm not quite sure how long this story will be, because I've got a few ideas, but it all depends on the response I get. Now I'm not quite sure whether or not I like this chapter, but I really wanted to get it up for you guys because your feedback really motivated me. So if there is anything you can suggest to make this better, please tell me, your thoughts really count.
Thank you to all that reviewed, you are the best: 01beirke, Guest, naomihirshf, Miharux3 (I know, I so wish there was more of that side of him on the show), MidnaWolf, iceecream456 (I'm honored that you reviewed my story then, that means a lot), BobboTheMonkii, Lesley (Guest), merlinreveal3, Needs More (Guest) (I wrote more (: ), Teshka, Directioneronfire, KmKizmet (thanks for everything), FromTheCouncilOfTimeWizards, Guest, CarolynneRuth, ARTs Ninja Pal (thanks your review meant so much, I really love BAMF!Merlin too), Peabodythecat (yea, I suppose it does seem more "Arthur" to stalk off moodily, thanks because I never would have noticed), cyenthia30 (you will get them eventually I promise), GoldenFireFish, Guest, kirby77dp77 (Guest), rger22 (love your suggestions and keep in eye out throughout this story, they may just come up (; ), Anon (Guest), freshly caught Cornish pixes (your review actually got me to start typing immediately and was why this is up so fast, thank you so much!), don't-even-ask1 (yes someone else pointed that out too but that was needed for the story and thanks for your kind review), .Riptide, Guest, Ciara (Guest), Princess101855
If I accidently left you off please let me know and I will give you a shout out next time.
Thanks to all those who favorite and followed and reviewed: You are the reason I am writing fanfiction instead of doing my homework.
Now without further ado...
Wait hold on, disclaimer. Disclaimer: Don't own Merlin
Ok, now you can read
Nightmares
Arthur's insides turned to ice as he watched Merlin glare at the knight murderously. Arthur was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that his cheerful carefree servant had disappeared, and did not seem like he would come back for quite a long while.
The knight's eyes flashed with fear for a split second before he covered it up quickly with a cruel and bloodthirsty smile.
"Interesting. I didn't know Camelot hired monsters as servants these days."
Everything went silent for a few seconds, until suddenly Merlin let out a roar and his eyes became the color of molten gold. His hands went up in front of him and an invisible force slammed the knight against a tree. Hard.
The knight climbed back up into a standing position again, blood trickling from his lips. "Really got you there. Must be a soft spot-"
But the knight never got to finish his thought, for Merlin slammed him against the tree again. And again. Then he flung him over to another tree and threw him hard against that one. Then threw him at another.
Arthur heard a sickening crack and knew the knight was no more for this world.
Yet Merlin continued to throw him against a tree, over and over again, until finally Arthur had to yell "STOP MERLIN STOP! HE'S DEAD ALREADY! JUST STOP!"
Merlin finally let down his hands and the knight dropped to the ground in a bloody heap. Arthur could hardly even recognize him anymore.
Arthur looked over at Merlin, who seemed just as stunned as he was.
"You-you killed him. You killed him Merlin." Arthur said, looking at his manservant.
"I did. I killed him." Merlin said shakily, looking down at his hands. "I really am a monster, aren't I?"
"Yeah." Arthur answered, then widened his eyes, realizing what he just said.
Merlin only had time to stare incredulously at Arthur before they heard the yells.
XXX
Gwaine was going to kill that sorry excuse for a king. Was going to good and properly kill him. Of course Leon would not approve, but that was no matter. Gwaine could work around that. Elyan could be persuaded and Percival, well Percival usually did whatever Gwaine said. Gwaine would just have to apologize to Gwen afterwards, but that was a small price to pay. Yes, everything should go quite smoothly indeed.
And why is Sir Gwaine, one of the most loyal and trusted Knights of the Round Table, plotting to kill the king, you may ask? Well, the answer to that question is simply the fact that Arthur had messed with Gwaine's friend. Gwaine's best friend. And that was just unacceptable.
Merlin had just woken and run off to find Arthur, and the knights were left standing at the camp, not quite sure what to do with themselves. They knew they must leave for Adoewen soon, yet they also knew that Arthur and Merlin had quite a lot to talk about, and they would probably not be moving anytime in the near future. So they each settled on doing their own thing, just trying to pass the time.
Elyan was wondering what Arthur and Merlin were talking about and how this would affect their friendship (if there even was one in the first place). Percival was speculating on what Merlin's dreams could possibly consist of and was being haunted by his own childhood nightmares as he sat there flexing his muscles. Leon was going over the proper etiquette and rules a knight of chivalry should follow in his mind as a good soldier should in times of boredom. And Gwaine was imagining inventive and graphic ways for King Arthur to be brutally murdered in his sleep, or preferably when he was awake and could feel pain.
So lost in their own thoughts were they, that they didn't even notice the dozens of knights in purple cloaks sneaking around to circle their campsite.
Finally, one of the enemy knights made a sign with his hand and all the soldiers in purple cloaks charged the Camelot campsite.
The knights were broken out of their reveries, and Gwaine out of a perfectly good image of Arthur being slowly pulled apart by two really strong men (Percival and his twin, maybe), by the war cries coming from the invading knights. The Knights of the Round Table jumped to their feet and started attacking the purple-cloaked knights, who weren't holding anything back. Eventually the enemy knights won by sheer numbers, and captured each of Camelot's knights and forced them on their knees.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said a purple cloaked knight, who seemed to be the leader. "A bunch of soldiers on a patrol possibly? But, no, you seem to be wearing the crest of Camelot. You must be the King's entourage for his journey to Adoewen. Too bad you will never make it."
"Who are you?" brave Sir Leon asked. "How do you know who we are?"
"My, my, I would have thought Camelot's best knights would have recognized the crest of Adowen by now, seeing as we have it adorned on our cloaks."
"We recognized it, we just know it cannot really be true. You can't be knights from Adoewen." Sir Leon answered back defiantly.
Actually Sir Gwaine had not realized it, but didn't think this would be the most appropriate time to bring up his lack of skill in memorizing the crests of different kingdoms. He just never really thought he would need that in life. Well, life's certainly having a good laugh in his face right now.
"You don't believe it's true?" the knight said in mock incredulity. "And why is that?"
"You must be bandits." Sir Leon said. "Bandits who have stolen the cloaks of Adoewen's knights in an attempt to deceive us into believing that Adoewen may not want to discuss peace. We will not fall for your trickery."
"You just wish that were true." The knight said with a wicked smile. "Alas, we are the real knights of Adoewen and we definitely do not want to discuss peace."
"Then what do you want to discuss?" Sir Leon said slowly, pronouncing every word like it could be his last.
"We want to, and will, take your kingdom. Discussion will not be necessary."
The knight beckoned another knight over and was handed a crossbow. "Now, which one of you should I kill first to get me one step closer in obtaining your kingdom? It'll be much easier without all of you pesky knights in the way. Don't worry; your death will be quick and mostly painless. We like to get things done fast and efficiently in Adoewen."
"You will never succeed. Our king will come for us." Sir Elyan said. "You failed to capture him. As long as he and his legacy live, Camelot will never fall."
"Oh right, did I forget to mention that?" The knight said, his cruel smile getting wider. "Your king is being, shall we say, taken care of by one of our best knights, who never fails. I'm afraid he is probably dead as we speak."
"You're lying!" Elyan said.
"No, I'm not. He wasn't that hard to find really. He was just sitting there talking to some man in a brown jacket. You really don't leave him with much protection. It's no matter, though. They're probably both dead now."
That was when Gwaine decided that he couldn't take it anymore. It's hard enough knowing that Arthur is dead and that the kingdom and all they've worked to build will most likely fall within the next few days, but now knowing that Merlin is quite possibly dead as well. That just drove Gwaine to the breaking point.
He let out a bloodcurdling scream and charged the knight, breaking away from whatever poor soul was trying to hold him back. Camelot's other knights followed his example, and soon the air was filled with the shouts of soldiers fighting for their lives.
That was when Arthur and Merlin showed up.
XXX
After the day Arthur was having (or night technically, seeing as it was dawn right now) watching 4 of his knights charge dozens of enemy knights with no chance of winning whatsoever didn't not surprise him one bit.
So in true King Arthur form, he ran down into the fray to try and save his men, chances be damned. Everything was so chaotic, no one seemed to notice that the supposedly dead king and servant had appeared and were not, well, dead.
That was until the lead knight decided to turn around and spy Arthur fighting an Adoewen knight with his sword.
XXX
That's not right. The bloodthirsty knight thought to himself. He shouldn't be alive. Something must be done about that.
Briefly going through his options, the knight finally decided on something to do. He quickly turned around and grabbed the first Camelot knight he saw and held him in a wicked death grip.
The fall of Camelot was getting closer every second, and he was not going to let it slip through his fingers this time.
XXX
Merlin had just watched the battle in silence, not quite sure what he should do. He had seen Arthur immediately run down to help his knights without a moment's hesitation.
I wonder if Arthur would ever do something like that for me, now that he knows what a monster I am. Merlin thought to himself.
That was another problem Merlin was grappling with. If Arthur now knew his secret, what was stopping him from snapping his fingers and making the whole lot of Adoewen knights turn into frogs or flies or something?
Maybe it was the way Arthur looked at him when he first learned about his magic. Or what he said when he saw Merlin brutally murder that killer knight. Maybe it was because Merlin was just so shocked and overwhelmed that he didn't know quite what to do with himself.
So there the young warlock stood, staring at the battle, yet not taking anything in, too lost in his own thoughts to notice much. That was until he heard someone yell "STOP OR HE DIES!" snapping Merlin out of his thoughts and bringing him back down to reality.
What Merlin saw shocked him. One of Adoewen's knights, supposedly the leader considering all of Adoewen's knights stopped immediately and turned to him, with all of Camelot's knights following suit, had his arm around Sir Gwaine's neck and his knife held out.
"EVERYONE STOP FIGHTING OR I KILL HIM WITH ONE CUT!"
Gwaine was struggling furiously, but alas he could not break free of the knight's death grip.
"NOW HERE'S WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! EVERYONE WILL LAY DOWN THEIR SWORDS AND KING ARTHUR TELLS ME HOW HE IS STILL ALIVE, AND THEN WILL HAND THE KINGDOM OVER TO ME! FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE CONDITIONS WILL RESULT IN THE DEATH OF THIS KNIGHT RIGHT HERE! CAMELOT'S KNIGHTS ARE TOO LOYAL TO ONE ANOTHER TO ALLOW ONE OF THEIR OWN TO DIE, SO HOPEFULLY MY TERMS WILL BE FOLLOWED CORRECTLY! NOW, DROP YOUR SWORDS!"
Merlin stood stock still as all the knights began to lower their swords. No one seemed to have noticed him yet, though it seemed as though he could feel a pair of eyes trained on him, watching his every move. He scanned the crowd of knights to see who it was and finally his eyes fell upon another's.
It was Arthur.
Arthur was looking at him, trying to make him understand something.
'What?' Merlin mouthed, not getting it. The Adoewen knight was still yelling orders and Gwaine was still struggling, and the knights were still laying down their swords, yet in all that movement, Merlin was focused on one thing. A small, almost imperceptible shake of Arthur's head, in the direction of Adoewen knights. And suddenly Merlin knew exactly what Arthur wanted him to do.
Merlin held up his hands and whispered a few powerful words of the Old Religion, and as his eyes turned the color of molten gold, all of Adoewen's knights began to sink into the Earth, while Camelot's stayed safe on hard land.
The Earth was merciless to the plight of the Adoewen knights, who were struggling relentlessly, but to no avail. They were sinking, and they were sinking fast. All except one.
The lead knight still had a strong hold on Gwaine, so strong that Merlin knew Gwaine would surely be pulled into the Earth if that knight began sinking.
"That's right, I forgot about you." the enemy knight said, staring up at Merlin in disgust. "Well, I can say for sure I did not see that one coming. Thought you were just some harmless peasant. I guess I'll just have to adjust my plans to-"
"You may want to let go of him." Merlin said, in a deep and dangerous voice that completely undermined the "harmless peasant" assumption.
"Now, why would I want to do that?" the knight said, a smug look crossing his face.
"Are you going to let go of him?" Merlin asked calmly. Too calmly.
"What? I'm sorry; I must not have heard you right. I thought I heard a peasant ordering a knight around. No matter what type of magical powers you have, I still have control over you."
"Are you going to let go of him, yes or no?" Merlin asked again.
"No, I don't think I will." The knight said, smiling. "In fact…" and with that, the evil knight from Adoewen shoved his knife into Gwaine's stomach, causing Gwaine to yell and double up in pain.
"Wrong answer."
And with that Merlin threw his arms out to his sides and the knight from Adoewen exploded, fire leaping towards the sky and blood splattering everywhere, and causing a bigger BANG then what any of them had ever heard before.
A/N: As I said, I'm not sure how good it is so any feedback you have would be really appreciated. I'm really excited to write the next chapter though. Reactions are coming your way, so stick around! Thanks and have a good day!