One Shot Fanfic

Merlin

Hurt/Comfort and Friendship

Summary: While out on a hunting trip, Arthur, Merlin, and five knights (Lancelot, Gwaine, Leon, Percival, Elyan) get attacked by a group of bandits. Merlin gets injured and the boys take care of him. ((Main 'brotherhood' being Merlin, Arthur, Gwaine, and Lancelot))

Warning: I'm halfway into SEASON 2 right now and apparently haven't got to the mess that is the next seasons. I'm going off my knowledge from other stories and seasons 1 and 2. Also I'm making Lancelot alive and a knight, and adding all the other knights that I've read about: Gwaine, Percival, Leon, and Elyan. Also ARTHUR is a KING in this story and MAGIC IS LEGAL and all the knights and Arthur know about Merlin having magic.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and make no money off of these stories.

Author Notes:

1) This is a new fandom for me, so please be nice about that.

2) I'm working on several other stories at the moment, including a Merlin Sherlock Crossover and an Avengers fanfic with Tony having a brother (Maybe Steve, or Rodey or maybe even Loki and Thor—I don't know yet).

3) Please leave comments and suggestions after reading. All are read and appreciated a great deal. Thanks for all the support I've gotten from reviewers and readers.

My Protective "Brothers"

Merlin flinched as he heard a noise come from the woods to his right. He could feel multiple eyes watching them, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end and leaving him even more edgy and anxious than usual.

He's had this feeling ever since they left Camelot earlier this morning to go on Arthur's impromptu hunting trip. The king has been overwrought lately, causing him to snap out at the nearest person, who was usually his manservant, Merlin. Not that he wasn't used to Arthur's ways, and he'd gratefully take the brunt of the king's anger if it meant he didn't take his stress out on his wife, Gwen, who was Merlin's best friend.

So that's why the usual five knights and Merlin were on their horses at the crack of dawn, riding down the path after their brooding king. Merlin had offered up the suggestion soon after the disastrous council meeting that left Arthur red in the face with anger and several members ready to either cry or punch the king in the face. Arthur, happy to get out of Camelot, readily agreed and called the five knights, Gwaine, Lancelot, Percival, Leon, Elyan, and of course, Merlin, all out at first light the next day to go out on the weeklong hunting trip.

But Merlin has had this pit in his stomach ever since they left Camelot this morning, and the dread just grew with every stride their horses take. He's also been flinching at every sudden and unexpected noise, and he's already been yelled at several times by Arthur for being such a "scaredy cat" and a "girl's petticoat."

Merlin was currently riding a little behind Arthur to his right side with Gwaine on his left and the rest of the knights following close on their heels. Hopefully they'll stop soon for a break, it's noon already and Arthur hasn't stopped yet. Given that they are going farther out and for a longer period of time, it's not that unusual that Arthur would want to go a farther distance the first day so that they don't have to travel as much tomorrow. He just hoped they'd stop soon.

Merlin was tired from being so tense, and from the fact that he was up almost all night long finishing his chores given by Gaius, his uncle and mentor, who's also the court physician. Though a lot of burden was taken off of him now that magic wasn't illegal in the kingdom anymore, so he no longer has to hide his true nature from his family and friends.

It did take awhile for Arthur to fully trust him again after he broke the news to him, but after he got over it their bond was stronger than ever. They now acted even more like brothers, since they don't have any secrets between each other anymore. They still continued their normal bantering and jabs at each other, but both knew they were just playing around. It's been nice, and then Arthur's duties escalated and then we're here. Taking a weeklong hunting trip away from the claustrophobic kingdom and all designated responsibilities, just around friends who were more like family, brothers. It was emancipating.

Trees rustled again to Merlin's right, causing said warlock to flinch away from the tree line and almost run his horse into Gwaine's, who had moved closer to his younger friend after seeing how jittery he was.

Gwaine had to quickly jerk his horse towards the left and steady Merlin at the same time who'd almost fallen off his horse in his fright. "Whoa there, what did my horse ever do to you?" Gwaine joked, while Merlin straightened up on his horse.

"Sorry, thought I heard something," Merlin explained, eyes searching the woods in search of the noisemaker.

"You've been saying that all morning, Merlin," Elyan commented.

"Think it's bandits?" Lancelot asked the rest of the knights, riding up on the other side of Merlin, subconsciously boxing in the young warlock between the knights in an effort to protect him in case of danger.

"It's probably nothing. Merlin's just being a girl. He's afraid of his own shadow for goodness sake," Arthur brushed off the so-called noise and continued ahead of them.

Leon and Percival just shrugged their shoulders at the others and continued on, after quickly scanning the trees for any threats.

Merlin has steadily become like a younger brother to all of the knights, one they would take care of and protect when he's threatened. Since he was a good deal younger than all of them it strengthened their case even more. Merlin was about 19 years old, still a baby in their eyes, while Arthur and Elyan were 23, Gwaine and Lancelot were both 24, Percival was 26, and Leon was the oldest at 28 years old. All were a fair amount older than Merlin.

So, they all felt overprotective of the young servant, especially after they found out about his magic. They've even had to step in a few times when those who still don't accept magic in their kingdom approach Merlin and want to start a row. Also in fights they always push Merlin behind them, but now that they knew about his magic they'd let him help them out more than once, behind their guard of course.

So now that their "little brother" was edgy and spooked, they'd gather around him ready to protect and reassure him in case it turned out to be nothing.

"What's got you so spooked today, Merlin? You've been really tense today," Lancelot asked, nudging the young warlock with his horse.

"I don't know, I just…I have this feeling. I don't know, I can't explain it," Merlin stuttered.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Merlin," Gwaine reassured, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder before yelling up at Arthur. "Hey princess? Think we could take a break?"

Arthur just huffed and continued ahead, shaking his head.

"I'll take that as a no. What do you think Leon?" Gwaine moved up ahead of them and turned slightly so he could see the oldest knight.

"About what? The noise Merlin heard? Or the fact that you practically insulted our king in hopes of stopping to take a break?" Leon threw back, shooting Gwaine a disapproving look before riding up ahead of the group to catch up to Arthur.

Now Arthur and Leon were up ahead a ways in front of them, leaving Lancelot and Gwaine in front of their little group, and Percival, Elyan, and Merlin in the back. The latter hanging behind, after having slowed down when he'd begun to look in the direction of the woods again.

"Aww come on, he knows I was just joking with him. Right Merlin?" Gwaine whined, turning to his best friend in hopes of some support. But all he was met with was silence, Merlin too engrossed by the forest and the noise he swear he heard. "Merlin?"

At Gwaine's concerned shout, Lancelot and the other two knights slowed down to glance towards their friend. "Merlin? Hey, what's wrong? Did you hear something again?" Lancelot asked.

Merlin nodded distracted, "I think I see something…"

And suddenly an arrow pierced Merlin's shoulder, sending the warlock sprawling off his horse and slamming hard into the ground. At the impact, all air was forced from his lungs leaving Merlin gasping and struggling to catch his breath through the white-hot waves of agony emitting from his injured shoulder. All he was aware of was several shouts coming from his friends around him and the pain.

Gwaine was the first to react, having already been staring at Merlin waiting for his answer before a sudden arrow came shooting out from the woods in the same direction Merlin that had been looking in. "MERLIN!" he screamed, jumping off his horse and unsheathing his sword and ran towards his fallen friend, who was gasping for breath on the ground. But he was stopped by a bandit, who jumping in front of him brandishing a metal sword.

At Gwaine's yell, everyone else jarred into action, jumping off their own horses, unsheathing their swords, and began fighting the bandits that came barreling out of the woods towards them.

Hearing shouts come from behind them, Leon and Arthur turned around about ready to yell back at their loud friends, when they saw the scene before them. "MERLIN!" Arthur yelled out and speed towards the fight, jumping off his horse and into battle as soon as he reached them with Leon close behind.

Hands grabbed Merlin from behind, dragging him backwards, sending a fresh wave of pain through his shoulder and causing him to let out a startled and pained yell. "ARTH…UR…GWA…INE!" he cried out, scared a bandit was dragging him off to his execution. Tears poured down his face, both from pain and fear, distorting his vision. "LANC…ELOT! ARTH…UR! HELP!"

Abruptly the hands dragging him backwards were gone, dropping him back to the ground on his injured shoulder, black spots danced in front of his vision as he fought the wave of agony rolling through him. He grabbed his shoulder, trying to squelch the pain coming from it, but the act was futile.

Through the waves of pain, watery eyes, and black spots, Merlin caught sight of a familiar face swimming in front of his eyes. Lancelot? Gwaine? Arthur? He just wanted the pain to stop so he could clearly think and maybe magically heal some of his wound, which was still on fire.

"MER…LIN…ERLIN…MERLIN!" the voice shouted out, catching his attention as his vision finally cleared.

"Lanc…elot," he gasped out. It was Lancelot. He's come to help him, thank the great Dragonlord! Lancelot will protect him. He'll be okay now.

"Merlin, you're going to be fine. The others can handle the rest of the bandits, so we'll be fine. If—well…when I put the arrow out of your shoulder, will you be able to heal yourself? At least a little bit?" Lancelot asked slowly, making sure Merlin understood this line of thinking.

Merlin slowly nodded, before tensing up readying himself for the pain to come.

Lancelot placed a hand on Merlin's collarbone and chest keeping him in place and grabbed the arrow with his other hand. "On three. One…Two…Three…"

Circumspectly, Lancelot ripped the arrow out of Merlin's shoulder and threw it to his right.

Merlin shot up in the air, gripping his shoulder tightly, fighting the black spots dancing in his vision as his arm fought the fire of pain once again. Tears streamed down his face, and he choked on an unexpected sob. He's never been in this much pain before.

He sat there gasping, trying to catch his breath and calm himself down enough so he could heal his shoulder. He leaned back and was caught by a warm and sturdy chest behind him, causing him to shoot up again out of the man's arms in shock and fear, which sent a fresh ocean of pain down his arm. He let loose another sob, unable to choke it down in time.

"Shhh…You're okay….Shhhh," a voice behind him soothed, other hands pressed him down onto the man's chest again. He just squeezed his eyes closed and took deep breaths trying to calm the pain and keep himself from hyperventilating, since he was already on the verge of a panic attack. "Just breathe…shh…you're okay…everyone's okay…"

Merlin choked back another sob, pressing his face into the man's neck and attempted to curl his legs up close to him. But when he was stopped, legs being straightened out against his will, his resolve broke and he cried out in anguish. Hasn't he already been through enough, can't he just curl up on whomever was sitting behind him and sleep. Tears rain down his face, the dam breaking down for the final time, leaving him sobbing into the person's neck.

"Shh, calm down. You're alright, just breathe," the voice behind him soothed as hand ran through his hair in a comforting manner, brushing back some strands from his damp, sweat ridden forehead. "Yeah bro just breathe," the new voice above him coached.

"Hur..ts…hurts" he choked out, gasping against the pain in his left shoulder.

"I know, but you'll be okay. Once the pain dies down, you can heal most of it and you'll be fine. You just need to breathe through it," the main voice reassured.

"Arthur, I have to wrap it up. He's losing a lot of blood, and since he probably won't be able to heal it for a while given his condition we'll have to wrap it. Maybe that'll help the pain," a voice—Lancelot?—called out from in front of Merlin.

The body behind him sighed, "Fine, just hurry up. He's in enough pain already. Gwaine, help me hold him," the pers—Arthur commanded.

"Okay, Merlin. We're just going to wrap your shoulder to help stanch the bleeding, okay? Take a deep breath," Lancelot explained while moving to Merlin's side, while new hands clamped on his legs and an arm tightened around his waist holding him immobile.

"One..two…three!" Suddenly his arm was slightly lifted and his wound was wrapped and tied off tightly, sending another bought of pain over him and causing the young warlock to black out for a few minutes.

When he came back to his senses, a hand was once again running through his short brown hair, another was rubbing soothing circles on his chest—helping his breathing to slow down from it's quickened pace—and the last hand was planted firmly on his ankle rubbing up and down his leg trying to sooth him.

"He can't travel right now, we need to set up camp," a voice called out from above, probably Gwaine.

"Yeah, okay. We can rest here a couple hours and then we can turn back towards Camelot. Hopefully, we can make it there before nightfall," Arthur answered from behind Merlin.

"No…I'll be…fine. We should…keep going," Merlin breathlessly interjected, softly shaking his head. After he heals his wound, he'll be fine. It'll probably be healed in a couple of days with his magic. He just needs to rest for a few hours and he can begin the healing process, so there's no need to go all the way back to Camelot for him to get his shoulder treated, when he'll have it healed in the same amount of time it'd take them to travel back there. "I just need to heal it…we don't have to go…back. It'll be healed in a couple…days anyway."

"May I suggest, Sire, that we rest a few hours and if Merlin still isn't able to heal himself, then we turn around and head back to Camelot. Then we won't waste a useless trip back home, if Merlin is able to heal it himself," Lancelot offered, knowing the true extent of his friend's powers and knows without a doubt Merlin will be able to heal himself given time to rest.

Arthur sighed, "Very well. But we can't stay here, we need to have the cover of the forest in case more bandits attack."

Lancelot nodded. "I agree, we can set up temporary camp a little farther into the woods behind you and rest a few hours. When Leon, Percival, and Elyan are finished corralling the horses we can move deeper into the forest. But how are we going to move Merlin, Sire?" he commented.

"I'll carry him." Gwaine and Arthur said at the exact same time.

"Come on Princess, I can take him," Gwaine argued, feeling protective over his injured best friend, his "brother." He dragged his fingers again through Merlin's hair.

"No, you need to help get all the horses tied up and gather wood for the fire so we can eat. I'll carry Merlin," Arthur finalized, leaving no room for arguments. "As soon as the others get back with the horses, we'll move."

So the quartet sat there, Merlin slumped against the king on the verge of unconsciousness, while the others tried to do what little they could to make him as comfortable as possible. With nothing else to do but wait on the other knights, they all pondered their thoughts, thinking back over everything that had transpired.

Merlin drifted in and out of consciousness, sometimes catching snippets of conversation, but mostly he just burrowed into Arthur's chest and tried to stay as still as possible as to not flare up his injury even more. His shoulder's dulled down to annoying, yet still painful, throbbing by now. He should be able to heal it soon, now that his head's cleared somewhat.

Gwaine was busy fretting over his best friend, circled around the two nestled on the ground, checking the wrap to make sure it was tight enough, and also keeping a careful eye on Merlin's breathing. He couldn't stay still for very long, too anxious to sit down. He kept scanning the forest around them for more bandits that might take advantage of their weak position. If he'd been more on guard and less focused on telling his usual stories, maybe he would've spotted the bandits sooner and Merlin wouldn't be hurt…

Lancelot couldn't help share some of the blame for what happened. If he had just listened to Merlin sooner, or stuck by his friend's side after confessing his fears and concerns, maybe he wouldn't have been injured. If only he'd been more cautious…

Arthur felt downright miserable, wallowing in guilt. He'd been so obsessed with getting farther away from the kingdom, where he felt so restrained with everyone's eyes always on him, that he failed to protect his men, his friends, and especially his manservant and best friend. Merlin had been right in the first place too, there had been something out in the woods, and if he'd just taken a second to consider his friend's warning then making he wouldn't be rolling in pain on his chest.

The young warlock knew what they were thinking, having been around them all for far too long to not be aware of how they were blaming themselves. If their silence was anything to go by, he was on the right track by thinking that. "Shut up," he mumbled, adjusting his sitting position on Arthur's chest.

The trio paused whatever they were doing in surprise and puzzlement and turned towards their injured friend.

"What?" Arthur questioned, looking down at his manservant.

"What was that Merlin?" Lancelot asked, moving closer to catch the response.

"I said, shut up," he repeated, cracking his eyes open—when did he close them?—to meet his friends' concerned gazes.

"Maybe he hit his head when he fell off his horse?" Gwaine offered, just as confused as the rest of them.

"I know what you're thinking, so stop it. It wasn't any of your faults," Merlin explained and they all relaxed, now knowing what their friend's mutterings were about.

"Yes, it was. If I hadn't had brushed off your concerns earlier, you wouldn't be injured," Arthur tightened his arms around Merlin.

"No, it's my fault. If I had been more vigilant, I would've spotted them sooner," Gwaine confessed, eyes boring into the ground in shame and guilt.

"No, it's mine. If I had been a better friend and listened to you, then I couldn't prevented your injury," Lancelot grabbed Merlin's hand, admitting his sorrows and guilt.

"Are you all done? It wasn't any of your faults; get that through your thick heads. It was no one's fault, these things just happen and they will continue to happen in the future. I'll be fine as soon as I heal myself, so all of you shut up about whose fault it was," Merlin asserted, looking each one of them in the eye before collapsing back on Arthur's chest. "Make sure you relay that message to the rest of the idiots too."

The three men shared awed looks, which turned into fond smiles at Merlin's behavior. Each sharing a laugh over Merlin's head.

Merlin slowly brought his hand to his shoulder and started chanting in a different language, performing the healing spell since he finally built up the energy to do so. His shoulder started to glow a soft yellow before the light died out, leaving his wound mostly healed. "There, all better now," he commented loud enough for the three men to hear and understand that he'd healed himself as much as possible at that moment; each sharing a relieved nod.

Now, it was just a superficial wound due to the magic used. Merlin's hand slipped away from his shoulder and he passed out due to the physically and mental exhaustion his body's be put through in the past half hour. He drifted off to unconsciousness, leaving his friend's to take care of him and trusting them to protect him if needed. He was going to be okay, and so would the others now that he was fine.

His "brothers" would watch over him and keep him safe as he rested. He'd trust them with his life just as they would trust him with their lives as well. That's what brothers are for after all.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment on your way out. (: