Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to BBC
Warnings: someone decided it was "beat-Merlin-day", so expect a lot of physical and verbal abuse towards our beloved warlock.
Chapter 9
"Merlin! You're late again!" Arthur exclaimed, while standing in the middle of his bedchambers.
"Sorry, sire, I had to run some errands for Gaius until late last night. So it was hard to wake up." He stifled a yawn to prove his tiredness.
"Are you an idiot, Merlin? It's already past lunch!" The prince said in exasperation.
"And you survived until now, huh? Guess you are an accomplished Prince, you were able to even get dressed by yourself and grab breakfast too!" The young warlock exclaimed joyfully.
To that, Arthur slapped Merlin's head.
"Ouch! Why did you hit me for stating the truth?"
"Merlin, you're six hours or more late! I should send you to the stocks for that!" He puffed in anger.
"I have a good excuse for that!"
I couldn't sleep last night at all, thinking about the Lady Morgana, our babies, our magic, the kiss she gave me on the cheek. Merlin thought, grinning at the memories from the previous night.
Seeing his servant's clouded expression and silly grin, Arthur hit his head again, to what the other man responded:
"Ouch! That hurts!"
"That's the idea, Merlin!" The prince hissed and added: "You should've been doing your job instead of daydreaming all around the place!"
"Someone is grumpy." The warlock murmured.
"What did you say?" His master asked, visibly irritated.
"Oh, nothing." Merlin answered. The young prince slapped Merlin's head again.
"Owww. What did I do this time?"
"Mumbled some nonsense out of nowhere!" The prince huffed.
"Sire, your level of pratness is higher today. Do you need a drink or a potion to relax?" Merlin inquired.
"No! I need you to properly do your job for a change!" He retorted angrily.
"But I am. I didn't evaded even one single hit you gave me, all out of kindness." He grinned.
"It's more like inability." The prince replied, this time not sounding angry.
"It can be." Merlin said, raising his shoulders and showing his palms. "Tell me, Arthur, what's wrong?"
"Beside the fact that you're an useless servant and I don't know why I haven't fired you yet?" The prince inquired in his prat tone, before adding, in a softer voice: "Father has been really harsh lately. Everything we do seems to enrage him, no matter how insignificant it may be." He said thoughtfully and muttered: "And there's Morgana…"
"But the king being hard to you is not out an extraordinary thing." The young warlock stated.
"Watch your tongue! You're speaking of the king!" The prince adverted.
"We're talking about your father here, parenting isn't one of his kingly duties."
"Sometimes you tell things that aren't completely nonsense, Merlin." Arthur said, narrowing his eyes and added: "Anyway, it isn't as if he was this stressed before someone was enchanted by those fairies." He said in an accusing tone.
"Hey, that was hardly my fault! And you have admitted that!" Merlin protested.
"So that you could keep your head! Seriously, I don't even know why I bother to explain something to you. You're an idiot!" Arthur said, and by then Merlin was already understanding that when the prince was distraught he tended to become even more of a prat. So, the young magician decided to ignore that commentary and said:
"What did he do, Arthur?"
The prince lowered his head and let the concern for his father's actions show as he replied:
"He is constantly irritated. Anything that we do is a reason for him to scold us. You see, I was having a friendly talk with Morgana during lunch and he interrupted us, telling us to stop bickering."
"Morgana …" The your servant repeated her name as if he was saying a sacred word. The young prince merely hit his head again.
"Ouch, it hurts!"
"Do you know what will hurt even more? Having your useless parts ripped from you and having to chew them before your head falls from your neck!" The prince said exalted, remembering Merlin from Uther's threat.
"But I just said her name! That doesn't count as me disobeying the prohibition!" Merlin argued.
"Yes, but if anyone catch you saying her name like that, you'll be as good as dead!"
"Oh, Arthur, I'm flattered. I didn't know that you cared so much about my wellbeing." Merlin replied, grinning at the prince, which elicited another slap and another protest.
"Stop it, Merlin! I already told you why I didn't let Father have your head." He paused briefly, pointing at the warlock's nether regions: "And other parts. But you're abusing your luck by reacting like that to the mere mention of her name!"
"I only 'react like that' when I'm near a clot pole like you, so you can rest assured, I won't get caught." Merlin grinned.
"You aren't taking this seriously, Merlin!" Arthur huffed in irritation. "You deflowered her, do you have any idea of how it is perfectly fine to spill your blood to make amends for your offense?"
"But I was enchanted! It isn't like I 'offended' her willingly. Not that I would mind to do it with my clear mind." Merlin smiled mischievously.
"MERLIN!" Arthur cried out, indignant.
"Not that she'd want it, though. I think she'd probably beat the living soul out of me." He smiled in a goofy way. That dismissal of the idea wasn't enough, the prince grabbed the first object he could – which was an empty metal mug – and hit the servant's head with it.
That time, Merlin felt the world spin with the blow and had trouble keeping balance. He held his head between his hands and waited for the dizziness to pass before being able to hear Arthur's words:
"Don't you ever say that again, Merlin! Not even as a joke!" The prince was utterly enraged, his face was red and he took another breath before saying: "She is like a sister to me, I won't allow you to disrespect her like that!"
"Merlin, look at me." The prince commanded and his servant obeyed once he was able to think again. Arthur added: "You can never see nor touch her, you cannot have any sort of affections for her, you can't be her friend, in fact, you can't be anything of hers. Are we understood?"
"Yes, sire." Merlin lowered his head and answered.
"There's one more thing. The only reason I haven't personally killed you was because you both were out of your minds." The prince said in a disheartened tone.
"Yes, sire." The younger man replied. After a few moments of silence, he hesitantly asked:
"Do you have feelings for her, Arthur? I mean, romantic feelings."
"Do you have a death wish today, Merlin?" The prince retorted, annoyed.
"No, it's just …" He couldn't find the words so Arthur said:
"Guilt for ruining her life? Or do you actually care at all?"
"Both, I think." The warlock answered sincerely.
"I've spent most of my life believing I'd marry her, Merlin." The prince sighed, too tired to start another petty fight. "I tried to get used to the idea and when we discovered of her pregnancy, I thought it was the right thing to do, as none of you were at fault." He confessed.
"So, as you don't know if you are able to make an heir without my aid – as you cannot even get properly dressed in the morning without me – you just decided to go on and have a fully ready family?" Merlin joked, but in part he was jealous about the idea of Arthur marrying Morgana.
"MERLIN!" The prince thrown a bucket at the servant. The warlock took the blow and said:
"Sorry, I take back what I said. I believe in you, Arthur. I know you're plenty capable of making your own heirs."
"What's wrong with you today?!"
"Nothing, I guess. I'm normally like this." Merlin grinned widely at him.
"And to think that here I was, explaining my reasoning to you! You're an idiot!"
"You mean you were telling me your feelings." Merlin stated.
"No, absolutely not!" The prince snorted and said: "Only girls talk about their feelings, Merlin."
"Anyway, you were saying …" The servant gestured for the prince to continue, which he did, after grunting something inaudible:
"I was saying that I proposed a marriage to Morgana, because it was the right thing to do." He said, and inside Merlin was flinching, but didn't show, only waited for the prince to clear his thoughts: "But father refused it, saying that he had already promised me to another." Arthur said and his friend could notice the sadness in his voice.
"So you won't get married?" Merlin asked to be sure.
"No, we won't." Arthur sighed and the warlock didn't like it, because that could mean that Arthur indeed had feelings for Morgana, even though he wasn't allowed to act based on them, pretty much like Merlin himself.
"Not that I wanted to, I was just being honorable!" The blond-haired man added with a renewed energy, continuing: "Imagine how my life would be a living hell having Morgana as my wife! She would want to rule in my stead, that cheeky woman! Can you picture it, Merlin?"
"Yes, sire." He answered and his tone irritated Arthur because it was slightly disrespectful, even though he was keeping his proper conduct as a servant.
"Just shut up, Merlin!" And this time the prince only thrown him his dirty laundry.
The servant caught them all in midair, but one of the shirts fell right on his face, to which Merlin commented:
"Arthur, I have something extremely serious to tell you."
"What is it, Merlin?" The prince said, annoyed.
"I think there's a dead animal attached to you, especially under your armpits!" He said, making a surprised face.
"MERLIN!" The prince exclaimed and chased after his manservant, to hit him again.
"So you have finally returned, Gaius." Merlin said, eating what seemed to be his dinner. He offered some for his mentor. The old man took a seat at the table, glancing at the physician's quarters in order to make sure that his ward hadn't burnt the place while he was gone.
"I was urgently called in the morning, before you woke up. I went to a distant village where a plague seemed to be spread." The old man retorted.
"Thank you, Merlin." Gaius thanked as the young warlock passed him a bowl of the gruel he was eating.
"Merlin, I want you to tell, in fact, give me a full report about last night's lessons with Morgana." The physician said.
"Can it wait after supper?" His ward asked, trying to gain time to think about a story to tell to his mentor.
"Sure, it has been an eventful day, that can wait a little bit."
The both of them ate in silence, while Merlin's mind run wild, thinking about the possible lies he would tell and, hopefully, Gaius would believe in. During that time, the old man observed the visible distress in his ward's features and he immediately knew that something was wrong.
"In our first lesson she tried to control her magic and that's all. She didn't do it, control, I mean." Merlin said nervously.
"Humrum." Gaius replied, raising his eyebrow and added: "Did she seemed suspicious about your identity, I mean, after you gave her the crystal?"
"What? Crystal? Suspicious? No, Gaius, not at all." Merlin quickly dismissed his concerns.
"Meeerlin! I know you're lying!" Gaius scolded him and proceeded: "Go ahead, tell me the truth."
"But I told you the truth, I swear!"
"Merlin, I have to report to Uther about Morgana's lessons and you have your destiny to look after! If you meddled Morgana with your destiny, by telling her the entire truth –" Merlin gasped in horror at how precisely right the old man was and what magic had he performed to be able to tell exactly what the young warlock had done "– you have to be sincere to me! I'll have to think and talk to Morgana in order to maintain the same story when the king questions her too!"
"Fine, Gaius, I told her everything."
"I should have known that you wouldn't be able to keep your disguise." Gaius sighed and covered his face with his hands.
"Hey, I can impersonate you perfectly, Gaius. Look!" Merlin said, raising a single eyebrow, much like Gaius did.
The old physician whacked his head, to which Merlin protested:
"Ouch, Gaius, why did you do that?"
"Because your impersonation is ridiculous!" He exclaimed and added: "And you couldn't keep your secrets from Morgana!"
"But I thought you were fine with that! That you expected it from me!" Merlin said, touching his newly acquired bump.
"No, I had faith that you could keep one more secret, instead of risking everything!" Gaius scolded him.
"Wait a moment, Gaius. You were the one that said Morgana should learn how to control her magic and that I was the best suited to teach her! Why couldn't she know the entire truth too? What's so wrong or dangerous about her knowing if she is in the same position as I am?"
"Merlin, she's the king's ward! It's obviously your situations aren't the same! Your head would be chopped immediately if someone found out about your magic and would tell the king!"
"I know, but Morgana won't tell a soul, she promised me!" He said, exalted.
"Merlin, I'm aware that you're fond of her. I've known Morgana for her entire life and I can tell she has a good heart and wouldn't willingly betray your secret. But you must also remember that she is impulsive! What if she decides to tell Arthur before he is ready? She can potentially ruin your destiny!"
"She won't! And that can easily be solved, I can explain to her, I'm sure she'll understand!" Merlin stood his ground in the argument.
"No, Merlin, I'll explain to her, once I have spoken about what she should say to Uther when he questions her." Gaius told him in a somber tone.
"Gaius, it wasn't right to keep lying to her face! She already carries my child, why shouldn't she also share the truth about her magic and my destiny?" The young man inquired.
"Is that what this is all about? Your feelings for her, Merlin?"
"No! It's because it's the right thing to do and I was raised by my mother to do what was right!"
"Without thinking of the consequences?" Gaius questioned him, raising his eyebrow.
"What can go wrong if they think that it's you who is teaching her?" He said it tiredly.
"Many things, my boy. If someone were to enter her bedchambers while you were there, without your blood crystal on your neck, you'd suffer an horrible punishment. Think about this, Merlin, if I warn you, if I want you to keep secrets, it's because I care about you." Gaius reasoned with him.
"I know, Gaius. But I can still help Morgana and not being caught with her. I'll use my magic to lock the door and stop sounds from coming out. I'll even teach her how to do it too. I promise I'll be cautious." The young man pleaded.
"The same way you're cautious about keeping your magic a secret?" Gaius inquired.
"Hey, I have been able to do it for a while now. Only you, Morgana and Kilgharrah know about it." Merlin gave him a goofy grin.
"Let's hope it remains like this for longer." Was Gaius's reply.