It took two whole days for the man who had been attacked by the beast to wake. To Arthur it had felt like two whole years had passed, as if it were forever that he had waited for answers. After all he was so desperately trying to figure out what was attacking the people of his Kingdom, yet again. It felt like in the last few years that more and more threats had come to Camelot, Arthur wanted to blame Merlin for this, he recalled his life to be a lot more peaceful before Merlin arrived in it, both at home and knightly. Far less threats, far less death...except for the raids his Father used to force him on. But that was really besides the point. All of this was, really...because he couldn't honestly blame Merlin actually, even if it were easy and it gave Arthur happiness to do so. Blaming Merlin for anything was easy, like the umpteenth acts of war, the many near deaths Arthur's had, the troll that tried to steal his throne and the constant shattering of the Prince's heart were just a few things he often liked to hold over Merlin's head, although some of them, like his fragile heart, he blamed him for privately.

When Gaius finally allowed Arthur to come and visit the survivor of one of these attacks, it was not something Arthur was really expecting. He had only known the man was injured, but had yet to see him and did not realize the extent of his injuries. He was a older man, younger than both Gaius and Arthur's Father, yet much order than Arthur. However, none of this mattered next to his mutilations. His face was bloody from scars, his right eye darkened, almost black. He had large holes in his skin, all over, as if he had been repeatedly bitten by an animal with particularly long fangs, and he was missing his left hand. It was almost hard for Arthur to look at him, the pain he must be in let alone anything else almost made Arthur sick to his stomach. But he was meant to be the future king, if he was not strong enough to do this, what was he good for?

"I am gravely sorry for what has happened to you," said Arthur, before anything else. The man looked up and frowned at him without speaking. "It is my duty to make sure this does not happen again, not to anyone else. I have yet to see this beast in person. I need you to tell me where this happened, how...what the beast looked like? Anything you may know."

The man stared at Arthur with his one good eye, for a long time before answering, so long in fact that Arthur feared he could not speak at all. But when he did he had to clear his throat several times, even so it still came out in a harsh, raspy tone. "It was late, deep into the night. I had grown restless in sleep, my legs, they often do this in the night...-" he stopped then to clear his throat again, and then continued, "I stepped outside and there it was, hanging in the sky, as if it were waiting for someone to come outside, it chased me...I tried to out run it but...I was not quick enough. It is fast, unlike any beast I have ever seen...magical, it has to be!"

Arthur nodded curtly. "Tell me what this beast looks like."

The man took in a breath, a rather rattling one at that, and spoke again, "It was large...bigger than a horse, it looked like those animals in a book, a leopard but completely black, long wings...like a dragons. Paws...bigger than a bear, and the teeth-" he let out a shaky breath. "It's eyes...they glowed yellow."

Arthur stood up from where he kneeled at the man's bedside and bowed his head. "Rest, you will need your strength for the rest of your recovery." The man said nothing to this and laid back onto Gaius' cot and closed his eyes once more. Over the darken one Arthur could see large scratches on his eyelid. He looked to Gaius then and Gaius already knew what he wanted, he wanted answers. Gaius walked over and picked up the book of things he is always looking through. Gaius started flipping through the pages at a rather quick rate. "Any ideas?"

"Many," said Gaius. "It could be anything...I will let you know soon."

"But it is magical?" asked Arthur. Gaius paused in his readings and looked over, looking at Arthur almost as if he were stupid.

"I would assume it couldn't' be anything else," said Gaius. "We are never that lucky."

Arthur couldn't agree more, they really weren't.

After a quick conversation with King Uther, that ended with King Uther putting a curfew on the city and demanding his son find the beast and kill it at once, Arthur returned to his chambers, where he waited for hours for Merlin to finally bring him his dinner. Merlin was always very laxed when it came to his responsibilities as the Prince's servant, but anymore and especially lately, with a distraction in the form of a girl called Freya, Merlin had been even more lax, and Arthur tired not to be annoyed by it, tried not to be jaded. It was hard, much harder than all of the Nobel, Princely duties he has to tend to combined. He would rather face this beast a hundred times than face Merlin knowing he had probably been off snogging this girl just moments before. When Merlin finally did come in, looking stressed and sweaty, and carrying a plate of lackluster greens, Arthur was needless to say, not impressed at all. He was irritated and concerned for his people, he had a lot on his mind and there Merlin was...just walking around blissfully smitten by some girl. Who, in turn, probably deserved better. Arthur knew this was all just himself painting pictures in his mind, Merlin probably hadn't even been with Freya at all, he was late because he was always late and Arthur tired to remember that, tried not to hate Merlin just a little bit, but he was failing this evening.

"I hardly see why you even bothered," he said, in an undertone as he stood up. Merlin looked up from where he was setting Arthur's table, and by setting it, it was more or less tossing the plate in front of one chair and grabbing a goblet of wine to put next to it. Again, lackluster. Arthur was not done being rude, however. "I hadn't even noticed that you still worked for me, when is the last time you actually cleaned by rooms?"

"Yesterday morning," retorted Merlin, without much irritation in his voice, but Arthur still wanted to yell at him, to call him names. He was beyond frustrated with him.

He huffed at the idea of Merlin actually doing his job and looked down at the plate of greens. "What the hell is this?"

"Lettuce," said Merlin and Arthur looked over with such an angry look that Merlin took a step back. "I thought you could do with a bit of roughage."

"Roughage?" retorted Arthur, bitterness setting into him. He felt like he was going to be sick from it, he couldn't possibly eat anything anyway. "I am not eating this rubbish."

"I suppose you won't be eating then," said Merlin, and it was his usual quip, one of those cheeky things he says, but to Arthur it was like a burn into a wound that was still healing. His angry look turned to that of disgust and it must have been so alarming that Merlin finally broke down and addressed the obvious issue in the room. "Why are you so upset tonight?"

"I talked to the man who was attacked by the beast today, not that you would know...because you weren't there," retorted Arthur. "The beast he spoke of is something I have never even dreamed of before."

"I know, Gaius told me," said Merlin. Arthur ignored this.

"I do not want others to be attacked like he was," Arthur pressed on, through gritted teeth. "I have to find this beast and kill it before it can do such damage again, what it did to that man...-"

"We will find it, Arthur," said Merlin then, like he always did, with hopefulness and keenness, but instead of inspiring Arthur it only served to irritate him more. "But if it is magical like Gaius thinks it is, it might not be easy to kill."

"We...won't be doing anything," retorted Arthur, ignoring everything else Merlin had just said. "I will find the beast and I will kill it. I will get no help from you like usual," he said. "You might as well continue being oblivious to the world while you woo your precious, little lady friend."

Merlin sighed then, it was loud and obvious and also kind of irritated sounding. Arthur did not care though. He really didn't. He didn't care if Merlin was getting annoyed with him, Arthur was beyond annoyed at him at this point. He had never felt such malice toward him before, not even back when they first met and neither liked each other. "Arthur, don't start about her now,"

"Start about what?" retorted Arthur thinly. "I'm not saying anything that isn't true."

"Everything you're saying isn't true!" said Merlin.

"Am I supposed to be pretend it is not happening?!" offered Arthur then, his voice stable but filled with air, almost light but also as if he were near a complete character break down at any moment. "Am I meant to pretend you weren't with her all afternoon which is why none of your work is done? Am I meant to pretend that since her arrival everything else that once mattered to you has gone all but out of the window?"

Merlin stared at him, looking nearly appalled by Arthur's words, but also guilty. Arthur could tell he was, he could see it in his eyes. "I was in the library all day, looking for information about the beast for Gaius, I wasn't with Freya...I swear!"

Arthur scoffed. "You're lying." He turned away from Merlin then and walked over to his window. He could hear Merlin following behind him. "I couldn't care less where you go, clearly my needs mean nothing to you. Clearly your job means nothing..."

"And clearly you do care, " said Merlin then, his own voice was sounding like Arthur's now. Irritated and slightly angry. That was rather unlike Merlin. However, Arthur was putting his wrongs in his face, so that normally brings out the worst in most men, Merlin was no exception. "If you didn't care, you wouldn't mention it."

"Perhaps I am tired of the back stabbing?"

"Back stabbing?!" retorted Merlin surprised by these words now. "Who is back stabbing you?"

"You..." answered Arthur darkly. "With your stupid girl, you are so pretentious that you actually claim not to love her, when you have thrown everything aside for her!"

"Pretentious is a big word for someone who is such a stupid ass..." Arthur whipped around at these words, ready to punch Merlin for them. But Merlin didn't shut up even with the death glare Arthur offered at this. "Are you sure you even know what it means?"

"How dare you spea-"

"Mm," Merlin nodded. "So you don't...If you did you'd know you're way more pretentious than I am. Maybe if you were a little less pretentious and a little less of a giant, know-it-all prat, you would see I don't love her...I don't even fancy her. I barely know her at all and it's not my fault she fancies me, I never gave her the idea that I was interested in her, because I'm not. Maybe if you weren't such a royal clotpole you would see that, and maybe not be so jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" retorted Arthur then, but the fist he had every intention of hitting Merlin with had fallen to his side now and instead he just stared at Merlin, almost as if he were confused. "You really don't love her?"

Merlin laughed, "No."

Arthur took pause for a long moment, allowing his heart to accept these words, he only prayed and wished that they were true, and once he had at least relaxed his mind on this matter just a tiny bit, even if he still wasn't sure if he believed Merlin or not. It didn't matter, because the embarrassment was setting in now. He should have never allowed his feelings to show like this, now Merlin believed him to be jealous. He was, but that didn't mean he wanted Merlin to think it. He felt ashamed of himself. "Good," he forced a softer tone. "It would have been a shame if you had married before I did, with you being so much uglier and all..."

Merlin let out a breath, one that was meant to mean laughter, yet they both knew this situation was anything but funny. "Thanks..."

(A/N: Guess who's back...back again?! Yes, it's happened, you are not crazy, it's really happening! Bet you thought you saw the last of me! Listen, okay...I have no excuses as to why it took me two literal years to update this story, I even throw shade at myself at the start of this chapter, because literally my last update was in 2020. But this is very common for me, I go back to revisit stories all the time. Even if I have left a story for years (AKA: this one) you never know if I'll come back at some point. Now, I also know that this chapter isn't as long as the ones you all are used to from this story, but like I just came out of hibernation, I need time. I honestly just didn't feel like writing a transition from the one conversation Merlin/Arthur were having to the other conversation I need them to have, so I'll pick it up in the next chapter. Honestly yes that is lazy writing, but this story is, was and always will be a beast so I need time to get my groove back with it. Anyway, who ever actually does notice that this story has been updated...I hope you enjoyed it.)