I now have a beta so hope this helps. Thank you to jeanshard for her help.
On the actual anniversary of Merlin's disappearance, Arthur went to work as usual.
Morgana had tried to get him to stay at home, but he couldn't stand to. Lance and Leon kept popping into his office with cups of coffee and attempts at support. Arthur found himself grateful for their lingering; he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts.
Leon was in the room when Arthur's phone bleeped to say a message had been received. Arthur knew it was from Merlin's captors as he now had two phones so no messages or calls could be delayed when they tried to contact him about Merlin.
Sure enough there was another massage.
"As you don't have visiting rights we have arranged for you to receive a parcel from your loved one. It will arrive today at 13.00hrs."
There was no photo this time.
Leon called the police just before the parcel was due to arrive. When Oswain arrived and with him was a police sniffer dog, to ensure they weren't being trapped by a bomb in the parcel. The wait was agonising, until the parcel arrived at one pm. The parcel had been delivered to their office and a false name and address had been provided by the sender. After the parcel was checked over it was opened by Oswain, using gloves so the packaging could be checked for finger prints. Wrapped in tissue inside the small box, was four teeth and a message saying that they were from Merlin. The sender had also mentioned that the blood on them could be checked to show the teeth actually did belong to Merlin, and were 'fresh' samples.
Arthur was beside himself he had never felt so helpless.
By the next day the teeth had been checked and found to be Merlin's from the DNA in the blood. The search was once more upgraded to try to trace where they came from. As the blood was fresh it did at least prove that Merlin was still alive.
Once more Arthur's friends tried to support him the best they could. Gwaine agreed to stay with Hunith and not go back abroad, he had seen enough of the shady side of the east sex trade to last him a lifetime.
Even though he had not found Merlin, his time had not been wasted as he had found 7 people from England and the USA and got them returned to their families during his year abroad. But, being Gwaine, he'd managed to make a bit of a show of himself and it was getting dangerous for him to continue. He vowed to return if there was any suspicion that Merlin was there at a later date.
Over the next year Merlin became becoming weaker and weaker. He had always been thin, enough to worry his mother, but was now skin and bones. His open sores were getting larger and his badly healed fractures gave him a lot of pain. Several ribs had been broken at different times and his teeth had begun to fall out, as well four loose ones that Edwin had removed to send off a few days ago. Morbid mementos, the best he could give to the people who might worry about him.
His left ear hurt all the time and puss was coming out of it. His eyes were locked shut each morning, and he was losing all motivation to open them.
But he fought on as best he could. Still he wasn't stupid; he knew he wouldn't last much longer.
Then, one morning Morgause visited again and took glee in telling him that his mother had been hit by a car. He hadn't believed her, but she described it in such detail he was convinced it was to vivid to be a lie. Morgause told him that his mother had been stuck underneath the car, and it had taken hours to get her free. Merlin heard how she had suffered in hospital, and she he had died three days later.
Once he heard that he decided to give up the constant pain, beatings, sexual abuse and loneliness.
He stopped eating, far past a point of hunger now.
He started to drift in and out of consciousness and was starting to hallucinate.
He hadn't dreamt of anything since he had come here, which was why was so confused when he heard a lot of shouting outside his door. The door was flung open, flooding the room with light. As usual, it took a while for the pain in his eyes to bleed away so he could make sense of the shapes at the door. He was far more used to darkness.
He lay there, expecting another beating, but instead one of the men spoke softly to him asking his name.
Merlin wondered what new game they were playing and tried to move away, crying in pain from his wrist and leg. The man stopped and again spoke to him, and Merlin could barely hear him it was so soft. Merlin thought he heard the man saying they had were going to free him but that couldn't be true. He had been sleeping, dreaming, hoping, dead.
Then he saw that a second man had something large and metal in his hands and he was coming closer. Merlin cowered expecting to be hit, but then he couldn't believe his eyes the chains were being cut! He began to think that perhaps he had been found!
It was just under two years from the time Merlin had been kidnapped to when a policeman arrived at Arthur's office asking to speak to him.
Before seeing him, he asked Lance if there was someone in the building who was close to Arthur.
Lance called for Leon expecting and preparing himself for the worse. Lance then rang through to Arthur's office and told him that a police officer had come to speak to him.
Arthur, like Lance, immediately started to fear the worse and by the time the detective was in front of Arthur, the blond man was pale and shaking.
"Mr Pendragon my name is Detective Kay Brown" The police officer said kindly. "I have come to give you some good news concerning your husband, Merlin Pendragon. He has been found and at present is being taken to The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford."
Arthur stared at the officer he recognised him from previous court cases, but it wasn't until Leon reacted that the words sank in.
"Found….is he a..alive?"
"Yes he is in a critical condition. I'm afraid the hospital have him on the critical list but his is alive. We can take you there now if you would like to come with us"
He then turned to speak to Leon
"Are you a close friend Sir?"
"Best friend and his brother in law" Leon said back protectively. "I can accompany Arthur there" Leon's training in the courts kicked in and he found he was able to be calmer than Arthur.
"I was about to suggest you did. Can you arrange for someone to follow us later with an overnight bag Mr Pendragon?"
Arthur was too busy try to piece himself together to be of any use.
"Off course I will ring Arthur's sister. Does Merlin's mother know? She lives in Wales" Leon asked, hoping she did as he didn't want to tell her over the phone.
"One of the local lads has been sent to tell her and take her to Oxford don't worry"
Arthur was still sat in a daze, but then all of a sudden the information sank in and he stood up "Can we go now?"
"Of course. We have a car outside Sir"
With that, Arthur left the room at a run. He couldn't believe that he was going to see Merlin again after all this time, and he was afraid if he wasn't quick enough it would be taken away from him.
Leon and police officer followed.
Leon shouted at Lance to cancel his appointments for the rest of the day and not to tell anyone anything until he heard from him, with that he disappeared from sight.
As soon as they were in the car they set off through the city traffic. The detective sat in the front by the driver and he turned round and said to the two men.
"I understand that Mr Pendragon is a dangerous position but not much more. The doctors will give you a full update when you arrive" He looked uncomfortable. It has been made clear to me, however, that he has lost a considerable amount of weight and is physically impaired"
"He's a fighter" Arthur whispered, more to himself than anything else. "He will pull though. He's got to" Arthur looked desperate.
Leon was on the phone to Morgana explaining what had happened Arthur heard her screech in joy. Leon also told her that Merlin's condition was critical and the Hunith had been informed. Leon had to force Morgana not to tell anyone else yet, because the police wanted only necessary people to know as yet. Leon then asked her to collect an overnight bag for Arthur. He asked her not to drive herself but to either get someone else to or get a taxi.