A Labyrinth, their path was completely blocked by it, there was no where else to go, except back, and Arthur still refused. Even if he had never seen anything like it before. It was tall, the green of the bush, so manicured and put together that it might as well be a wall. There were two entrances, one on the left one and on the right, Arthur could not seem to pick which one was the correct path, which would lead them to the Sorcerer. Because obviously, that's what this was, it was a game, Arthur had been tricked into a game, but he would win it, no matter the cost, he would win it.

"This is magic, Arthur," said Merlin, and Arthur already knew this, it was painfully obvious. Arthur did not look over at him, even though he knew Merlin was looking at him, with much seriousness. "We shouldn't go in, you know that..."

"I do know that," said Arthur, as he snapped his head and turned to look at Merlin, suddenly. "But it is too late now, we are here, this is what they wanted."

"I don't give a damn what they wanted," Merlin retorted, and though Arthur planned to look away, he was struck by the intensity in Merlin's eyes. "I want you safe, I don't care about whatever they want...they can go find someone else to get it from."

"But I'm the Prince, I am the greatest prize..."

"Now is not the time for your ego, Arthur, I'm serious," said Merlin, he went to grab Arthur, either by the hand, or by the arm, to probably drag him back, away from here. But Arthur took a step further away.

"It doesn't matter, Merlin...no, it doesn't!" said Arthur, as Merlin opened his mouth to argue again. "Now, either you come with me or you stay here, it's your choice, I would never force..."

"I hate you, I hope you know that," retorted Merlin, as he suddenly took heavy strides, and headed down the right path, Arthur stare after him, for a moment.

"That is completely understandable," he retorted, and started down the left path. "Scream like a girl if you need me!"

He could hear Merlin grumbling, from beside him, somewhere, but thick bush blocked them from seeing each other. It sounded like he called Arthur a Turnip Head, but as that wasn't even a thing, Arthur ignored it. Soon, Merlin's voice was lost to him, and he was deep within the maze, going...possibly, the wrong way, but it was dark, it was dank, and the mist made him feel a bit light headed. Long paths of nothing, followed by dead ends, which made Arthur have to turn around and start again. The rich green of the Labyrinth had started hurting his eyes, and that mixed with the light-headedness he felt, made his stomach turn a little. He knew this was all magic, all created by magic, for some horrible purpose. It was probably to weaken Arthur, so when he was faced with the Sorcerer at last, he didn't stand a chance. He worried for Merlin, as he carried on, he wished they had just followed one path, and stayed together. If Arthur was faring this badly, Merlin, much more gentle than he was, was probably in a much worse off state. And how was he to know if the Sorcerer hadn't gotten to Merlin already? What if something terrible had happened to him while Arthur was stuck there going down the same path three different times? This thought angered Arthur, and he pulled out his sword, about to start chopping, just chopping and seeing what would happen. Would it allow him through, would it magically regrow? Only one way to find out...

But then suddenly he heard the crash of wave upon a shore, and he lowered his sword, but did not put it away, as he waked around what felt like the same corner, and was met with light blue sky and the side of a lake shore. There was a table, just ahead of him, a little wooden one, with two stools and in one of them was Merlin, Arthur, though happy to see he was alright, though looked confused, was now angry...because Arthur had no idea what was going on. Just next to Merlin was the figure in white, though much shorter now than what Arthur had thought, while chasing them. They removed their white hood and Arthur was struck, suddenly, by seeing the same little old lady, with the strange eye and no teeth.

"You! he seethed at her, of course...why was this only to be expected? There had been something off about her, Merlin had noticed it. He strode over to her, and she held up her hand quickly. And before his eyes, she started to sparkle, sparkle so bright, perhaps like the sun, or a star, and then she was growing in front of him, taller, much more like the figure he had seen escaping earlier. Her ugliness also melted away, raveling a much younger, still on the older side, perhaps more his Father's age, woman, with golden brown hair, done up in a bun. Arthur stare at her, confused.

"No swords, please," she spoke, her voice was different, calm and soothing. Arthur, still confused, looked down at the sword in his hand and threw it into the sand, looking back up, to be met with a warm smile from the woman. "I am Agatha, Goddess of Fertility and Keeper of the Hearts."

"You're a Sorceress!" retorted Arthur, finally, his brain put itself back together enough to form at least on rational thought. Be it, maybe not a very good one.

"Goddess," she retorted, soft voice becoming strong and stern, but then it softened again, and she smiled at him. "You have been given a gift, Arthur Pendragon, a chance...to find out whether your love is pure." Arthur stare at her, head feeling dizzy and he wasn't sure he was entirely following. She reached forward and took his shoulder with a small and gentle hand, he didn't think she ought to touch him, but he found himself wordless, as she spun him around. "Sit, you will need rest."

"What are you doing?" he asked, lamely, as she forced him to sit, across from Merlin. She grinned down between them.

"Before you are two cups," she said now, voice booming, loud and famine, yet smooth and soft. Arthur still felt light headed. "One is a deadly poison, which who ever it's drinker may be, dies immediately, the other...only water." Arthur looked over at Merlin, who looked back, looking fairly the same level of concerned, before they both looked down at the goblets that sat between them. "Both liquids must be drunk, both of you may only drink from a single goblet..."

Something cold and a lot like horror suddenly struck Arthur, like a blow to the gut, and he looked up and stare at the woman. "Why would you do this?" he demanded. "What wrong have we done to you?"

"It is not that I do this to you, but for you," said the woman, as she smiled down at him. Arthur wanted to get up, to strangle her, but he found he was much too tired to so much as lift a foot. Clearly, this was magic doing it's work. "Do you still have the ribbon I gave you?" Arthur looked down now, because he did not, he looked over at Merlin, and frowned, he had given it to him, and Merlin had given it to Gaius, who probably threw it away, without doubt. They're eyes met for a second, and then suddenly Merlin was reaching into his jacket pocket and pulled the ribbon from it's depths. He placed it on the table before him, and a strange sort of feeling washed over Arthur now, it hit him like a wave of the lake, warming the back of his neck. The woman beamed down at it. "Very good...it has been enchanted, of course," she spoke, and her words sounded sweet, but the meaning disgusted Arthur. "If the ribbon turns red, it means the love is true...if it turns black, then there is no hope, the love is doomed."

Merlin took in a ragged, hard breath suddenly, and his eyes, which had been on Arthur for some time now, looked up at the woman. "So...one of us has to drink the poison, to find out if our love is true?"

Agatha nodded. "It is very simple...Merlin." She said his name so strangely, like it was foreign to her, yet has spoken Arthur's like she might have been a long lost Aunt. She took several steps back now. "Good luck...to both of you."

Merlin turned back to Arthur and rubbed a worried hand over his face. Arthur stare forward, looking at him. He felt stupid now, and so, so sorry, for having dragged them here. "This is my fault," he admitted, without allowing his ego or pride to get in the way. They hardly mattered now, now that one of them was about to die, at least. And he wondered, why they couldn't just get up and leave, to run, but he had a feeling that Agatha might have thought of that, might have done this very many times before, and it might be that Arthur could not stand, as he could not feel his legs. "I should have listened to you, I should have turned back...I let myself get distracted, my ego get in the way..."

"That's not surprising for you," said Merlin, and it was a retort, but not one Arthur would get mad at, as this...well, this would be their last moments together. This thought, it did something to Arthur, it made him very angry all of a sudden, and then the anger washed away almost at once, and he...he just felt sadness, more sadness than he had ever felt in his life. Merlin seemed to understand this, and reached over and touched the back of Arthur's hand, he wanted to recoil, to be alone, but he did not, he would not allow himself. "We...we have to figure this out, I don't think she is going to let us leave."

"No, I don't think so," Arthur agreed, because he had already considered this. "It's simple, Merlin, I will drink the poison."

"But how do we know which is the poison?" said Merlin, looking between cups. "And no, you won't, I will drink it."

"Shut up, Merlin," said Arthur, sternly. "No you will not."

"You're a Prince, Arthur!" argued Merlin. "You can't...just die, you will one day be King."

"What kind of King would I be then?" said Arthur, picking up both cups into his hands. "What if I just...drink from both cups?"

"No, I don't think so," said Merlin, looking behind him, to where Agatha stood and watched. "I think she would stop you, and you're not drinking it, Arthur. I'm serious."

"Merlin, I can't let you die for me," said Arthur, as he set the cups back down, he thought of sniffing them, but there was no way to tell for sure, which the poison was. Most poisons, according to Gaius, had no smell. "This is my fault, my foolishness, I must pay the price, not you."

"But you're the Prince, you're important...-"

"I thought you didn't care about rank, Merlin," said Arthur, looking at him, with a smirk. Merlin looked up and smiled, there was no smirk there, no game, he just smiled.

"I don't," he said, simply, and then grabbed for the cups. "If we both can only drink from one and all the liquid has to be drunk...why don't we just...put it all into one?" he offered then, and Arthur knitted his eyebrows, in thought. "That way we know it's poisoned and then I-"

"And then I will drink it," said Arthur, seriously. "That's good...you're smarter than you look."

"And you're fatter than you look," said Merlin, but still held the same smile as before. Arthur shook his head, as he watched Merlin tip one cup into the other.

"I am about to die and that's the last thing you say to me?"

Merlin shrugged his shoulders, and bit his lip, with the same smile, but now a bit more coy. "I want to give you a lasting memory, something to remember me by..."

"I don't think I could ever forget you," said Arthur, and he had tried to make that an insult, he really had, but he couldn't. It was completely true, in the best way possible. Merlin was unique in a way that he could make Arthur enraged, furious, just by giving him a look, but then he could sooth him, and make him laugh in the very next moment, by the scandalous, bold things he said, or just by simply looking at Arthur in a way that only he could. He could knock him down and then pick him up in the same sentence, all while looking at him like Arthur was nothing, yet everything all at the same time. With his mysterious, blue eyes from hell...or perhaps not hell at all.

Suddenly though, Merlin's Devil laden eyes widened, and he pointed behind Arthur. "Look out!" he shouted, and Arthur, broken from his thoughts, his head a bit in a loll, looked back and...there was nothing there. He turned back around to see Merlin has taken the cup in his hands once more, the only cup...the cup with the poison.

"NO!" He shouted, and he tried to get up, he tried to move, to reach across the table and stop him. But his legs were frozen and he was helpless, just completely helpless. The idea of dying was better than this, that was less scary than this. Arthur could take many things, but not this. "MERLIN...NO..."

"You know how I am, Arthur," said Merlin in return, and Arthur struggled to surge forward, to just move enough, to knock the drink from his hand, this test be damned, everything he damned. Arthur didn't care about any of it. Merlin looked at him once more, and really looked at him, like he always did, and Arthur half expected there to be tears in his eyes or fear there; There was not, he grinned at Arthur. "I never listen..."

He brought the cup to his lips, and Arthur pushed and struggled against the magic that stopped him, he struggled and bagged it to let him go, right until the moment the cup fell from Merlin's hands, and first hit the wooden table between them, and then fell into the sand below them. His eyes were wide, but they looked upon Arthur one more time, before rolling into the back of his head and he fell...fell from his chair and lay still. It was at this exact moment that the spell broke, whatever was holding Arthur still, released. He broke free from it like an enraged horse, charging forward so hard that he lost his footing and fell to his knees, right beside Merlin. He rolled him over, his dark hark had sand in it now, and he was limp, and so...so stupid.

No, it was supposed to me, I was supposed to drink it, he said, he thought out loud, maybe only to himself. He couldn't be sure, because he couldn't think. He felt a cold emptiness in his chest, like he felt on nights alone, when he thought of his Mother and how she had gone, was just gone, as Merlin was now too...

But beyond that, he felt a sense of numbness, there was no feeling in any part of his body, he could not tell if he were breathing or if he were blinking. All he could feel was this pain, suddenly there, in the middle of his chest and the warm tears coming from his eyes. Arthur looked up, and there was the Goddess, standing right there, before him and Arthur didn't think twice.

"Please," he begged, he didn't feel rage, well no...he did, but it was ill time, he would ignore it. This was more important, nothing mattered anymore. "I can't watch him die...I can't-" he didn't know what he couldn't do, he didn't know what he was trying to say. she only smile at him now. "Take me instead, Merlin has never hurt anyone...he's never done anything wrong, I know you can...take me instead."

"No," she said simply enough, like this was a simple question of if she wanted lunch. "He has made his choice."

"No," said Arthur, just as she had, but his was desperate, he couldn't take her no as an answer, he couldn't go on. "Please...I will give you anything you want, anything. I have gold...whatever it is, whatever you want."

"I want for nothing," she told him. He shook his head, unable to believe this, unable to stop the tears that betrayed him and leaked down his cheeks.

"I can't accept that," he told her, and she smiled once more, he wanted to rip it off of her face, and throw her into the lake. "I can't accept that there is nothing I can do, that Merlin is...is dead."

"He is not dead," she said, once again simply, looking upon Arthur as if he were truly a moron. But he shook his head, looking down at Merlin's limp from, confused. "He merely ingested a mild sleeping draught, he will wake up in a few moments." Suddenly, as if her words made it be so, Merlin took in a long, ragged breath and mumbled something that sounded a hell of a lot like Arthur's name. Arthur stood up, suddenly, on shaky legs and stare at the woman. "You have done well, Arthur..."

"I...I don't understand," he admitted, and she walked nearer to him then, leaning over where Merlin lay and picked up the ribbon, from the wooden table, which was now, scarlet red. She marveled at it, as Arthur stare, his eyes, red from tears, now wide. He felt some sort of thing...something in the center of his chest, where the pain had been just a moment ago, and he thought it might be his heart, perhaps it was giving out.

"You have proven what is truly within your hearts," she explained, she extended her hand, and in her palm, the ribbon lay. Arthur was stunned breathless, and it took him a moment to figure out she was giving it to him, he reached out and took it, finally. It felt the same as before, but somehow no longer meaningless. Her words, though took some time to get through, as he was dealing with many things all at once, they took a moment to sink in, but when they did, he felt a lump suddenly in his throat.

"What...what does this mean?" he asked her and she grinned, a fun, much like Merlin when he would tease him, grin.

"That is for you to figure out."

Arthur wondered then, how come sorcerers could just never give you a straight answer. Merlin made a noise below him suddenly, and he dropped down again, looking at him. He was stirring, which meant he would wake very soon. He looked back up and Agatha was gone, just completely gone. It figures, he thought. He felt the ribbon in his hand again and he quickly tucked it into his tunic, under his chainmail, it would be safe there. He had no idea what he planned on doing with it, or if he planned on showing Merlin. What would that conversion end in? Arthur, who was very convinced they were not in love, had now just proven that he was completely wrong, right along side Merlin, who had done the exact same, for a very long time. How were they supposed to go about this...? Arthur did not know, and he did not want to think about it now.

"If this is heaven I'm not very impressed..." said a shaky voice below him, and Arthur fought to keep himself from crying, hearing it. He had thought, for a horrible moment, he would have never heard it again. Arthur looked down, and Merlin was blinking his eyes open, they met Arthur's and he grinned, be it, a bit sleepily. "Oh no...if you're here, this must be hell." Arthur laughed, a stupid, delirious sort of laugh. "I knew it...hell would mean an eternity of cleaning up after you."

"Merlin..." Arthur spoke his name, as if it were something to treasure, and perhaps it really was. Merlin stare up at him, with a dreamy look and heavy eyes.

"Why am I not dead?" he asked, and that was a bit hard to explain, at least the reason he thought he should be dead was. Arthur decided then, to not tell him about the ribbon, what point would there be in that? And maybe Arthur was making a mistake, he should tell him, he had a right to know, didn't he? Arthur didn't know, and truthfully...he was too scared to do anything differently.

"It was a sleeping draught," Arthur said, a half truth, because it was true, that part. Merlin sat up now, and Arthur stood, looking around. He hoped the Goddess was not around to hear this now. She had been so proud, and it was about to be ruined. "She said you weren't wroth killing, you know...you're a bit," Arthur pulled a face and had to force his voice not to betray his words. "Bit too much of an idiot, so she let you live."

"Oh," said Merlin, but he didn't believe a single thing Arthur had just said, and it was quite clear. He stood now too and stare at Arthur. "Well...I guess I'm glad about that. Don't really fancy dying."

"Are you sure?" retorted Arthur now, and he felt his heart do some annoying things, as Merlin swayed forward on his feet, just a bit, and bumped into Arthur, as they stood there. "You seemed pretty keen before..."

"Hmm...yeah," said Merlin, with a happy sort of smirk. "Because I thought I would be getting away from you then."

(A/N: I really wanted to get this chapter out, because I love recycling the shows ideas and I have been so excited to do this and show you all. And I really hope you enjoy it!)