Hey all! This update is a little past due in my opinion. I've had it written for a few days now, but this was the infamous confrontation. I was so nervous about making it just right I made my sister (Omnisession) preview it two or three times after edits. She helped me out a lot. Love ya, sis!

So anyway, I'm excited to get this chapter up. The big things are about to start happening, so I hope you look forward to it!

Reviewer Responses

flyaway213: Lol! I will have to edit that! Glad you caught it. I rewrote that scene like... four times and I guess the line about the charge got lost in translation.

Morena Evensong: Oh believe me, the mirror was designed with a very specific purpose in mind. You'll find out more about its creator soon. And yeah, his reaction was something I really struggled with. The problem is that there is so much conflict in his head. Everything he knows is suddenly clashing against one another and turning everything backwards. I knew right away what he would do, but it was hard to figure out what he would feel.

Healed535: Yep! Foreshadowiiiiiiiing!

Mediatrix: Yeah, that was a mistake on my part. I rewrote that scene a million times so the line just got mixed up and forgotten.

Elfpen: I like hugs! But thank you. :) Complex plots are one of my favorite things about writing. Sometimes I have to reel it in a bit, but this story seemed easier than normal to balance. Characterization is a real pet-peeve with me, so I really work on it and I'm glad it shows! I absolutely love the episode where the druid boy possesses Elyan and we get to see one of the first really large breaks that he is making away from his father's ways. He starts to see the horrible things that were done in his father's name and has promised to stop the first of them. I wanted that to bleed into the story.

Omnisession: Oh don't whine. You're my sister. XD You get to preview some of the chapters. lol

That-is-illogical: Really? Sweet! Glad you like!

CaptainOzone: Woo! I love unexpected things! Thank you! And I'm glad I put the scene with Gwen in there. Originally, I had Arthur mulling things over while, pacing and thinking to himself, but again, I wanted that Guinevere support, and I'm glad I changed it.

helva2260: It's fun writing Arthur as the mildly gullible, arrogant, and oblivious guy that makes us all laught, but I do enjoy writing him with the air of the king that we read about him in the legends. I love the way the writers of the show have transformed him into a real king and it's great fun writing him like that.

Lady Willamina:I enjoy flipping things around. And I also enjoyed toying with the fact of Arthur finding out from a third party about Merlin, however jarring that may be for Arthur himself. I'm really glad that Edlyn and Morven are making you think. :3

Youngest Ones Rule: Thank yew!

Felicity P: Aww, thanks! :D

shadow visor: Oh he's terrified. Poor thing.

1983Sarah: *imitates the Tazmanian devil* I'm glad it was a new way to look at the reveal. :) I wanted to do something a little sideways of the common ideas.

Ash9: Oh it hit him right in the feels. He's a strong man, though. He is the Once and Future King, after all.

servant123: FORESHADOWIIIIIIING! :D I loves it. I love that moment when you think back to the beginning and you're like, "ohhh yeeeaaaaah!"

I don't own Merlin and here we go!

Merlin's back ached when he awoke, and as he righted himself hay stuck to the side of his face. It took him a few moments for the panic to set back in as he looked to his shackled wrists and remembered where he was.

He was in the dungeons for sorcery.

He sat at the back of a large straw-covered floor, the manacles on his thin wrists attached to heavy chains that connected to the wall behind him. A cry pulled his attention upwards and in the barred window at the top of his cell sat Frio Niman. She managed to squeeze through the bars and dropped to the floor in front of him. Suddenly she hopped backwards and left where she stood was some manner of dead rodent. She looked expectantly at him. Merlin smiled weakly. Three days he had been in the cell, and each morning he was greeted by Frio carrying another bit of 'food'. There was a small pile of little dead creatures off to the side. She didn't seem to mind that he was not eating them, and picked at them herself occasionally.

Merlin leaned back against the wall. Pretty soon, guards would come and fetch him for his rendezvous with the pyre, he was sure. Or perhaps Arthur was to be kind and send him to the chopping block instead. Frio fluttered onto Merlin's shoulder and began to preen through his hair, picking out hay and generally running her beak gently along his scalp as though he were her newly-hatched chick.

She was his only company these three days. His cell was not barred as several were in the dungeons. He was in the cell reserved for the most dangerous of criminals. It was a room entirely encased in stone. The only window in the room was set upon a steep slope to prevent any attempt of escape. The door to the rest of the dungeons was heavy and made of wood. It was likely that the guards outside didn't even know who they were guarding.

The door would be a mild obstacle in Merlin's potential escape, had he planned one. He had blasted escape routes through material far more impressive. But he couldn't seem to find the motivation to use his magic. He didn't even try.

His reverie was broken by a wing slapping him in the face. He chuckled a little and lifted her off his shoulder by her belly and placed her in his lap. She nestled down as though covering her eggs. Merlin stroked her back absently and looked up at the window.

After a moment, a black figure obscured the light flowing into the room Merlin squinted at it and could barely make out the form of Colsweart staring down at him. He waved a little and Frio perked up to look at the hawk as well. After pecking at the ground a few times, the bird vanished once again.

Merlin's thoughts screeched to a halt as he heard voices outside the cell. Frio hopped from his lap and stood in front of him, her feathers puffing up around her body. After a moment, the door opened and Arthur stepped into the cell, holding a large sack in the hand that wasn't bundled in bandages. Merlin immediately stared at the floor. In front of him, Frio opened her beak wide and spread her massive wings as she had against Edlyn days before. She squeaked at Arthur a few times, following his every move as he shut the door behind him and leaned back against it.

Arthur eyed the bird and set the cloth package on the floor before squatting down on his haunches, his face impassive as he looked over his servant (having to crane his body around to see him behind Frio's spread wings).

His skin was covered with dust and dirt from sleeping, and his eyes were underlined with heavy bags. Only three days had passed and yet Arthur thought the man already looked thinner. He glanced behind him at the plates that had been tossed into the cell but never touched. Then his eyes wandered to the pile of dead rodents and he couldn't help but smirk.

"At least you've been well-fed," he joked quietly. Merlin didn't stir. Arthur reached into the bag and produced a water skin. "You're probably thirsty. I know the water they give you is pretty minimal."

Merlin finally looked up, eying the water skin hungrily. Arthur stood and took a step toward Merlin but was stopped when Frio let out a shriek and dug her beak into the toe of one of his boots. Arthur jumped back a bit and examined the damage, feeling rather grateful that one of his toes had not been in that particular part of the shoe.

Merlin looked down at Frio and she suddenly calmed, folding her wings back at her sides, shaking herself, and then hopping over to nestle into his lap again. Arthur smirked at the interaction and took another step toward Merlin, extending the water skin. Merlin looked at it suspiciously for a moment and Arthur rolled his eyes. "You're in my dungeons, Merlin. I'm not going to poison you."

Merlin immediately grabbed the water skin and began to empty the contents into his mouth as quickly as he could get it down his throat.

"Careful," laughed Arthur, sitting down a few feet from the prisoner. "You'll throw it all up."

Merlin wished Arthur's light mood would comfort him, and yet it didn't. Arthur didn't seem as though he had come in to release him with a forced apology. The king was oddly laid back. He stared at Arthur for a moment, offering the water skin to Frio, who pecked at the drops as they slowly spilled from the small opening. There was a silence that followed and the king's laid-back attitude seemed to evaporate. The air around them became suddenly tense. Arthur stared into Merlin's eyes as though attempting to decode them. After a moment, Merlin averted his eyes to one of the walls, unable to bear Arthur's tumultuous gaze.

"Do you know what outed you?" asked Arthur suddenly. Merlin looked up at him as he reached behind him at the sack he had brought in.

"Arthur, you have to believe-!"

"Shut up, Merlin," snapped Arthur. It was a common saying between the men, but there was an edge of rage in his tone this time. From the bag he removed a familiar wooden frame. He looked at the front for a moment before spinning it around to face the servant. Merlin looked the mirror over, recognizing the druid-scored edges of the frame. He stared at it for a moment before he realized that the mirror reflected nothing sitting in his lap. He looked down to Frio, who had stopped sipping at the water and had begun to blithely preen herself. He then looked back to the mirror and then to Arthur.

Arthur craned his neck over the top of the frame to stare at Merlin's reflection. "Seems you are the only one in the world that will reflect in this." When the king looked back up, he found himself mildly surprised at the tears that were leaking from Merlin's eyes, though his face was schooled into a emotionless expression. "Emrys..."

Merlin let out a breath and looked to the walls again, anywhere but the king. He sucked air back into his lungs and his chest tightened. Arthur could tell the young man was being wracked by barely-controlled sobs. Arthur leaned his arms on the top of the frame and rested his chin on them.

"I've told you countless times that you're an idiot, Merlin," said Arthur, his tone oddly somber, "but this tops everything you've ever done." Merlin looked up to him. "What, you come to the heart of the fight against magic and figure that the best thing to do is open a magic book?" Merlin shook his head. Arthur thought for a moment. "Then... you learned magic sometime in Ealdor, perhaps from your friend, and then you're stupid enough to come here?"

"Are you going to kill me?" Merlin's voice was hoarse and dry and it cracked when he spoke.

Arthur frowned at him, his resolve faltering when he heard the despair in the man's voice. "I haven't decided yet." It was almost a challenge. He was challenging Merlin to give him a reason not to. Merlin found that the answer to said challenge was not immediately apparent even in his mind. Arthur tilted his head to one side. "Answer my question, Merlin." The warlock took a moment and then shook his head. Arthur threw up his hands. "Then where did this all start?"

Merlin looked up at him and then after a long moment, said, "I was born with magic." Arthur stared at him as though he didn't quite believe him. "I could use magic before I could walk and talk."

Arthur set the mirror to the side and fixed him with a long stare. In Merlin's lap, Frio looked at him and hunched her head down between her wings, her feathers puffing up, as though she grew suspicious of him again. "It's a strange thing, to be sure." Arthur folded his arms across his chest. He spoke as though this was not news to him.

Merlin shrugged. "I spent the first ten years of my life thinking I was a monster." This time he met Arthur's eyes.

They fell into silence again as Arthur thought, and Merlin tried not to think. Arthur leaned his elbows on his knees and played with a piece of straw. "I've spoken with Gaius many times these last few days. The morning after you were arrested, he was practically pounding my door off its hinges." A ghost of a smile passed quickly to and from Merlin's mouth. "He told me the same thing; that you were born with magic." He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing into a glare. "I can't decide if you are telling me the truth, or if you've just gotten your stories straight." He leaned back again and tossed the piece of straw back onto the cold floor. "Not that there's any way to really verify that. You've kept things so well disguised." The glare returned. "You are better at deception than I ever imagined."

The shaking returned to Merlin's shoulders and more liquid made its slow way down his porcelain cheeks. Something in Arthur clenched in pain at the look on his servant's face. A different part of him reveled in the revenge for the king's humiliation.

Arthur looked to the ceiling. "Gaius reminded me of something he told me not too long ago. He said that one day I would understand all that the people of my kingdom have done for me." He looked back to Merlin. "Was he referring to you?"

Arthur leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees again and staring intently into Merlin's blue eyes. "Tell me," he ordered. "What has the great Emrys done for me, Merlin?"

Merlin flinched at Arthur's use of the name, but then his eyebrows went up. Was he truly giving him an opportunity? His mind spun for a few seconds, trying to thing of anything that he could say that would be believable. Unfortunately, his magic all being done behind Arthur's back made examples hard to come by. Something in his mind clicked and he shifted, sitting up straighter. Frio hopped out of his lap and began slowly circling Arthur, keeping her eyes on him at all times.

Merlin held out one hand. "Fromum feohgiftum fæder bearme. Fromum feohgiftum..."(1)This blue eyes flashed a vibrant gold, and Arthur swallowed the fright that came upon him at the sight. It reminded him of Morgana.

In the center of Merlin's palm, a light began to shine. The speck of light was soon engulfed in a sphere of soft blue light, like a glass bauble. Arthur's eyes were then drawn to his right where a larger version of the ball in Merlin's hand floated in the air at his eye-level. It floated lazily around the room and Frio suddenly began to chase it. Arthur stood and stared at it with wide eyes, turning as it circled the room. He whipped around to look at his servant again, his face looking even paler in the blue light of his spell.

"It was you," he whispered. "All those years ago. In the cave. Even then..." Arthur trailed off and Merlin averted his gaze.

He shot to his feet and interlocked his fingers behind his head, as though the information would spill out of his skull if he took his hands away. The light passed in front of his eyes again, followed by an energetic Frio. Arthur turned and looked back to Merlin as the sorcerer tossed the small bauble of magic about between his shackled hands.

"'Then believe'," Arthur whispered. Merlin looked up at him. Arthur took a moment longer to stare at the small sphere of light before marching toward his servant. Merlin shrank against the wall and the light vanished. Behind him, he could hear Frio screech angrily at him.

Arthur unlocked Merlin's shackles and pulled him to his feet. The man was unsteady, though it was only in part due to his lack of nutrition. It was as though he were floating in a dream. He had been discovered and he was now being released. He had been taking the time these last few days to come to term with the idea that soon he would be handed his death sentence and now he was a free man.

But there was something in the king's eyes that hadn't been there previously. Merlin had always assumed that once he was discovered, he would see hatred and anger. What he saw there now tore at his heart more than he ever thought those two emotions could; fear. Arthur would never admit it, Merlin knew, but he was afraid of his servant. Perhaps, he was almost as afraid of Merlin as Merlin was of himself.

A morbid thought appeared in Merlin's head and before he could stop himself he asked, "Sire, why didn't you execute me the day after you found out?"

Arthur took a long moment to ponder the question. "Ten years of loyal service is almost enough to balance out ten years of lies." He looked at Merlin again and his gaze was heavy. "But not entirely. I couldn't do nothing, but I didn't know what I should do either."

Merlin paused. "If you didn't know what you were going to do with me, Arthur... why did you throw me in the dungeon?"

Arthur stooped to pick up the mirror, the water skin, and the sack. "To see if you'd run." He stuffed the items in the bag and left the cell, leaving a rather dumbfounded look on Merlin's face. "And you're repairing the damage your bird did to my boot!" He called from the stairs.

Colsweart screeched as he perched himself on the windowsill and puffed up at the sight of Edlyn who sat nearby. She stood and backed away. "Morven!" she cried.

Morven jumped out of bed where he had been relaxing and hurried to the window. Colsweart jumped into Morven's arm and the druid retrieved a beige feather from between his claws. Morven's face fell, but Edlyn seemed pleased with the gift. "It seems Frio Niman was more useful than we thought." Morven moved back into the room and returned to his bed. Colsweart hopped onto the blankets and settled himself next to where Morven reclined, nudging his hand and cooing sadly. Morven looked to his sister as she scribbled madly upon a piece of parchment.

When she had finished, she stood and moved to the window holding the pendant around her neck aloft. Closing her eyes she began to chant quietly.

"Ærendboc acylcan to gemæcca æfteronfond. Acylcan to læppa habban gehwæt... (2)"

1: "With his father's friends by fee and gift." This is Merlin wiki's translation of the light orb spell that Merlin used to guide Arthur through the caves in The Poisoned Chalice.

2. "Received this message, my other half. Send away to whomever holds the other piece." I apologize if I butchered that spell. I went with a VOS grammatical structure because the literal translations I've found don't really seem to support much of anything. lol

Alright, hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you think! I'll see you soon!