Here's the second part. I actually have started planning the poison chapter, so that one should be up in a few days... hopefully.
So, thanks for reading, leave me a comment if you can, and thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited last chapter.
I still don't own 'em.
Bye!
Gaius arrived around mid-day the next day, following Leon and Elyan, Percival bringing up the rear. Arthur sat up from his slumped position on the ground, keeping one hand wrapped tightly around Merlin's ice-cold ankle, shielding his eyes from the sun. Gwaine sat to his right, back against a log, his eyes darting around, looking for an unseen threat. Merlin lay between the two, head resting in Gwaine's lap, wrapped in a half-dozen blankets, still feebly quaking.
It wasn't lost on Arthur how similar this was to the Dorocha, but where the Dorocha killed everything in their wake, this attack seemed to be only on Merlin. Gwaine and Arthur had spent two days watching, waiting for whatever went after Merlin, but neither had been attacked. And seeing his friends return without incident just proved that Merlin had been targeted. Arthur just wanted to know why.
"Has he gotten any worse?" Gaius asked the moment he was within hearing distance, struggling to kneel next to Merlin.
"No, but…" Arthur trailed off, gesturing for Gwaine to pull the blankets away from Merlin's face, showing off the pale flesh underneath, and looked up at Gaius to gauge his reaction. "He's turning blue, Gaius."
"Is this why you sent for me?" Gaius asked slowly, face hard to read, his blue eyes scanning the pale, blue flesh.
"Yes," Arthur answered nodding. "I haven't told him yet, but it's going to become obvious."
"Has he awoken at all?" Gaius looked up, his eyes settling on Arthur's.
"A few moments here or there," Arthur replied running a hand through his hair. "Can you tell what's causing it?"
"It reminds me of the Dorocha," Gaius murmured studying Merlin closer, "but I don't think they have been summoned again."
"I thought that, too, but this seems different." Arthur explained his suspicions, once again trying to gauge the older man's reaction. Gaius merely nodded, resting a hand against Merlin's neck. A curious expression crossed his face and he reached for his bag. "What is it?"
"I have seen this before," Gaius explained taking an old, green, leather-bound book from his bag. He flipped through the pages, stopping somewhere in the middle. "This is sidhe magic," Gaius stated after a long pause, turning the book to show Arthur a hand drawn picture of a sharp featured creature bathed in blue light.
"Why would the sidhe attack Merlin?" Arthur gave Gaius an incredulous look, his eyes darting to his servant.
"I do not know, sire," Gaius replied softly, turning his book back towards himself, resting it in his lap. The king could tell he was lying, the older man refused to meet his eyes, but when he opened his mouth to question Gaius further he felt Merlin move against him, distracting him from his inquires.
"Hey," Gwaine said softly, speaking for the first time, running a hand through Merlin's hair. "Are you okay?" Merlin opened his mouth to respond, thought better of it, and nodded. He turned his head, bottle blue eyes settling on Gaius, and he smiled.
"You're going to be fine, Merlin," Gaius informed the younger man, and Merlin nodded again.
"Do you have any idea how to make him well?" Arthur questioned worriedly, his eyes locked on Merlin's faintly blue face.
"One," Gaius admitted with a sigh, turning his attention back to Arthur, "but it can be dangerous."
"What is it?" Arthur was willing to do whatever he had to, to insure Merlin's safety. He hated admitting it, but Merlin was the first friend he ever had, one that actually treated him like a human and not Uther Pendragon's son, and Arthur could not bear to imagine anything horrible happening to his friend.
"There is a lake," Gaius started softly, uncertainly. "A very special lake, it's depths the entrance of a very special, very rare place. In order to cure Merlin, he must be submerged in that lake."
"I can do that," Arthur replied nodding already pushing himself to his feet. Halfway up, Gaius grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. "What?" Arthur noted the worried, almost terrified look on the older man's face.
"You don't understand, Arthur," Gaius started softly, leaning forward. "In order to save Merlin, you must kill him."
"What?" Arthur was certain he had heard wrong. What Gaius was suggesting could not possibly be true. He wasn't going to kill Merlin.
"That's not going to happen," Gwaine said sharply, leaning almost protectively over Merlin. "You'll have to pry him from my cold, dead arms if you even try." He shot Arthur a sharp look, and the blond glared in return.
"It's the only way to save him," Gaius insisted sitting back on his heels, running a hand through his long hair. "He is freezing from the inside out and will continue to do so until he..." Gaius trailed off, sadness washing over his face. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but it has to be done."
Arthur was conflicted. He wanted Merlin to get better, he truly did, but not at the expense of killing him. With a sigh, he glanced down at his friend, Merlin's blue eyes trained on Arthur, no doubt listening carefully to their conversation, and the king knew what he had to do.
He drew in deep breath and softly asked, "What do you want to do, Merlin?" Ultimately it wasn't anyone's decision but Merlin's, and if he was lucid enough to understand what they were saying, he was lucid enough to decide whether or not he wanted to die.
Merlin was quiet for a long moment, and Arthur almost thought he wasn't going to answer, but finally he stammered, I-I w-want y-you t-to d-d-do i-it."
"Alright," Arthur stated nodding, ignoring the outraged look on Gwaine's face, "we'll ride out at dawn." He tried to stand, but Merlin grabbed him, ice-cold skin nearly burning Arthur's wrist, and with surprising strength he yanked Arthur down. "Merlin, what is it?"
"I-I w-w-want y-y-you to d-do i-it," he whispered, blue eyes locked on blue.
"Merlin, I…"
"P-please, Arthur." With those two words, Arthur felt his resolve crumble and he nodded. Merlin weakly smiled, releasing Arthur.
The blond stood, turning to Gaius. "Where is this lake?"
"I'll show you," Gaius responded struggling to his feet.
"I'm coming with," Gwaine volunteered staying on the ground. It was almost like he didn't trust Arthur.
"No," Arthur replied evenly, "you and the others are to go back to Camelot."
"Like hell we are," Percival exclaimed and he, Elyan, and Leon moved forward, the latter two looking as if they were about to argue, too.
"Arthur is quite right," Gaius commented before Arthur could order his knights to stand down. "It is far too dangerous for all of us. The sidhe are not creatures you want to test, and with this many swords…" he gestured to the knights. "It would be best if Arthur and I went alone with Merlin."
"Sire…" Leon started but Arthur held up his hand, cutting the knight off.
"You four are to go back to Camelot, but…" Arthur trailed off, glancing down at Merlin, "but if you do not hear from us in two days time you come find us. Do I make myself clear?" They wanted to argue, he could tell, but it would only waste time they most likely did not have, so reluctantly Leon, Percival, and Elyan agreed.
Arthur turned to Gwaine, expecting a response from him, but he merely glared at the ground, stubbornly and uncharacteristically refusing to speak. The blond took a step forward, hand raised. "Gwaine…"
"If he dies," Gwaine started looking up at the king, his eyes darker than usual, "then you die." He then looked away, ignoring the aghast looks on the other knights and Gaius' faces. Arthur merely stared at the dark-haired knight for a long moment before turning to Gaius and saying, "We leave at dawn."
Merlin
Arthur could feel the magic buzzing in the air the moment they were within seeing distance of the lake. It made him feel very uncomfortable, his hand hovering near his sword, his other arm tightening around a still shivering Merlin. He knew it was from years of being raised to fear and destroy magic, knew it most likely wouldn't hurt him, at least he hoped it wouldn't. A part of him wanted to believe magic wasn't all bad, Gaius and a few other magic users had proven that to him, but he couldn't easily let go of prejudice that had been ingrained into his mind over two decades.
"How does this work exactly?" Arthur asked needing to get his mind off the magic surrounding him.
"He will have to be submerged into the lake," Gaius explained from beside Arthur, ducking to avoid a low hanging branch.
"For how long?" Arthur didn't want to think how long someone had to be held under water before they stopped breathing.
"You will know," Gaius replied evasively, pulling on his reins to bring his horse to a stop. At Arthur's questioning look, Gaius said, "We need to walk the rest of the way."
Arthur nodded, carefully getting off his horse, making sure he kept Merlin from falling. Once on the ground, the blond gingerly helped his friend down, keeping a firm grip on him when his legs threatened to give out on him.
The trio walked towards the lake, Arthur supporting Merlin, Gaius clutching tightly to his bag as he looked around. Something felt familiar about the lake, almost as if Arthur had been here before, but he couldn't recall the memory.
"Something wrong, sire?" Gaius questioned curiously.
"No, it's just…" Arthur trailed off, looking around. "Does this place feel familiar to you?"
Instead of answering, Gaius hurriedly said, "Here we are." Arthur furrowed his eyebrows at the physician's reaction, filing it away for later.
As Gaius tended to Merlin, Arthur removed his armor and boots, laying them next to a rock. He turned to see Gaius take off Merlin's blankets, jacket, and boots, the younger man weakly complaining when the light, warm breeze hit his exposed, even bluer skin, his shivering becoming worse.
"He's ice cold," Gaius commented allowing Arthur to take Merlin's weight.
"Not for long," Arthur muttered hopeful, guiding Merlin towards the lake. "Are you sure this is going to work?" he asked glancing back at Gaius, his toes on the edge of the water. He needed to make sure this was actually going to help Merlin and not end in his death.
"I would not be here if I weren't sure," Gaius replied his eyes flicking to Merlin. Arthur knew Gaius treated Merlin like his son, would do just about anything for him, and for that Arthur knew he could trust the older man.
With a deep breath, he dragged Merlin into the lake. The water was neither warm nor cold, and again Arthur felt a familiarity, but he still couldn't place why and it was bothering him. He decided not to dwell on it now, he had more pressing matters to attend to, and glanced down at Merlin.
"I am very sorry about this," he whispered before plunging the younger man into the water. It took a few moments, but finally, despite knowing what was going on, Merlin started to weakly struggle against Arthur's hold, trying to get back to the surface, needing air.
"I'm sorry," Arthur murmured holding him down, forcing himself to keep looking at Merlin, trying to remind himself that this was actually helping his friend.
When the younger man stopped struggling, Arthur very nearly panicked, almost dragged him from the lake and back to land, but Gaius called, "Wait, sire! Just wait!"
"I'm trying," Arthur snarled fighting his impulses, keeping a hold of Merlin. It was quiet for a minute, then two, and three, but finally, just when Arthur was about to say 'forget it' and get Merlin out, he heard a haunting, blood curling scream and a gust of blue erupted from the lake, surrounding Arthur.
"Now sire," Gaius said and Arthur didn't need any more prompting. He wrapped his arms around Merlin's suddenly much warmer skin, dragging him from the lake and towards the shore.
"He's not breathing," Arthur said gently setting his friend on the ground. He dropped down next to Merlin, Gaius dropping down next to him, and the two started trying to get Merlin breathing again. "What was that scream?" Arthur asked between breaths.
"That was the sidhe that attacked Merlin," Gaius responded pressing down on Merlin's chest, trying to force the water from his lungs. "Its spell was broken." Arthur merely nodded, returning to his task at hand.
"Come on, Merlin," Arthur whispered, breathing more air into his lungs, "breathe. Come on." He already lost his mother, his father, his sister; he was not losing the closest thing to a best friend he had ever had; losing Merlin was not an option.
Finally, Merlin gasped, coughing painfully. Arthur let out a shaky breath as he allowed Gaius to turn the younger man on his side. As water was forced from Merlin's lungs, Arthur rested a hand on his shoulder and murmured, "You're okay. You're going to be okay."
Merlin
Merlin laid horizontally across his bed, reveling in the fact that he was actually warm again. He actually had a new appreciation for the summer time, and would never complain about the heat again. Well, he probably would, but he'd definitely keep his complaints to the bare minimum.
According to Gaius, who had been hovering like a mother hen since the lake incident, he had been attacked because of his track record with the sidhe. He had killed three (of course, he couldn't exactly count Sophia and her father), thwarting the plan of a higher sidhe elder in the process, so really he was actually surprised they waited this long to come after him.
Someone knocked at his door, and Merlin sat up, calling, "Come in!"
The door opened and Arthur walked in and asked, "Are you going to just lie around all day?"
"It's kind of hard to do things when my over-protective mentor and prat of a king won't let me leave my chambers. Or when Gwaine is standing outside the door, waiting for me to try to sneak out, only to escort me back inside."
"You nearly died, Merlin," Arthur replied trying and failing to sound nonchalant.
"I nearly died a lot," Merlin retorted softly.
"Yes, about that." Arthur took a seat at the foot of Merlin's bed, meeting his eyes. "Are you going to tell me what you did to make the sidhe attack you?"
"It must be my charming personality," Merlin replied with an easy shrug, a smile on his face.
"Oh, sure, because it's so charming," Arthur teased but he still sounded skeptical. He suddenly became serious and said, "If you're in a trouble."
"I'm not," the younger man answered quickly, shaking his head. "I can promise you that Arthur. It's probably all the times I've saved your royal backside. Or maybe they thought I was you."
"Yeah, right." Arthur chuckled, obviously finding the idea absurd. "That'll be the day."
"I resent that."
Arthur grinned, getting to his feet. He started towards the door but stopped, turning to face his servant again. "Have I ever been to that lake, Merlin?"
"Why?" Was there a possibility that he was starting to remember almost drowning as a result of Sophia and her father? Why, after so many years, it was starting to come back Merlin didn't know, but he figured he should get all the facts before he tried to explain why he lied.
"It just felt familiar," Arthur responded shrugging. "I don't know. Perhaps I went when I was a child." He spared Merlin one final look, something unreadable on his face, but finally he sighed and said, "If you almost die again I'll kill you myself."
As he walked out, Merlin called, "Wouldn't that be a little counterproductive?"
"Five syllables? Impressive." Arthur raised his eyebrows, and, with a smirk, closed the door behind him.
P.S. I have tried to keep this mainly cannon throughout each chapter, but a lot of you keep asking for a reveal chapter. So, my question is how many of you actually want to see me attempt a reveal chapter? If enough of you want one I may actually try to write it.
See ya!