Arthur's feet slapped against the hardwood floor as he paced back and forth anxiously between the kitchen and the window. The loft the knights had paid for barely fit them all, but it was safe, rented under the name of a patron from the pub that Percival once worked at.
As the blond made what had to be his fiftieth turn around the space, Elyan cleared his throat from the seat at the window. "He's probably just busy."
"He should have checked in already." Arthur snapped, spinning around again and storming across the loft until he nearly hit the opposite wall before he turned and began walking again.
"I'm with Arthur, he should be here right now." Gwaine huffed from a barstool in the kitchen.
Open in front of the man was a beer, and off to his right were two empty bottles and three bottle caps. Arthur wanted to stay ready in case the worst struck them, but he had to admit, the urge to get pissed was tantalizing.
"It's only been a couple of hours. He's probably fine." Percival ventured, the behemoth of a man sprawled across the couch that Arthur kept walking in front of.
"He isn't answering our calls, and it's past the time we were meant to met up. I hate to agree with the worst possibility looming, but this isn't like Merlin." Lancelot sighed, sitting on the edge of a lounge chair next to a rather nice fireplace that Arthur had yet to take the time to admire.
"Well, it's like him from back then, but that's beside the point." Arthur scowled, pausing to glance around the room again. If he kept looking, perhaps Merlin would suddenly appear, popping out of the bathroom or sticking his head out from behind a lamp.
"Maybe he's gotten forgetful in his old age." Elyan suggested, flipping halfheartedly through a fashion magazine that Arthur was certain was at least fifteen years old.
"What can we even do, anyway?" Percival nodded, throwing out a hand in exasperation. "Out of all of us, isn't Merlin the one equipped to handle a crisis that presents itself?"
"What we do—" Arthur began, glaring at his men. "—is track down our missing friend."
"But if we go to where he is, and he's still with Mordred, we risk putting our entire plan in jeopardy." Lancelot hummed, steepling his fingers while obviously trying to play devil's advocate.
Clenching his fists, Arthur barely acknowledged the surge of aggression before he was lashing out, his fist slamming into the wall that he'd stopped in front of. They were all right, and he knew it. However, that didn't stop the feeling he had in the pit of his stomach saying that something was wrong.
Merlin wouldn't be spending this long with Mordred, there was no way. Something had happened to him, Arthur was certain of it. The only thing he didn't know was to what degree that problem was.
And then, as if it knew what he were thinking, Arthur heard his mobile vibrating on its place on the bar near Gwaine's empty bottles. Lunging forward at the sight of Merlin's scruffy, half asleep face that Arthur had caught a photo of on a too early morning, the blond hurried to answer the call.
"Where the hell have you been?" He demanded, not even giving the man a chance to speak before he was scolding him.
At first there was nothing on the other end, and then there was quiet, chilling laughter. "Miss me?" A voice asked, and ice shot through Arthur's veins.
Pulling the device away from his ear, the blond set his mobile to speaker and held it up as the knights around him grew quiet.
"What are you doing with Merlin's phone, Mordred?" Arthur asked tightly, hearing Gwaine shift behind him before stepping closer to hear better.
"So touchy." Mordred laughed again, and the former king's fingers tightened around the device in his hand.
"Where. Is. He." Arthur enunciated each word slowly, fury racing through him as the laughter ended with a sigh from the other end of the call.
"In a dark room, tied to a wall, bleeding out while we speak."
The loft grew so quiet Arthur wasn't sure that any of them were breathing. He certainly knew he wasn't.
"I can feel you plotting my demise from here, but I can tell you right now that that's not the way to get your little warlock back."
"What do you want?" Arthur asked, his voice far calmer than he felt.
"Meet me at the warehouse two streets past the museum that held my sword. It's out of the way and difficult to find the road, but I'm sure Morgana can help you, given she's working with you now." There was an edge to the druid's words, but before Arthur could question it further the call ended, and he was staring down at a dark screen.
"Arthur." Leon spoke, walking closer as the men gathered around him.
"We're ready." Percival nodded, and Arthur met his gaze with a nod of his own.
"Let's go."
Arthur had grown sick of winter. Of its biting cold, frigid winds, and snow that drifted too peacefully to the ground around him. He felt anything but peaceful in that moment.
Gwaine walked silently on his left, huddled in his coat and running his fingers along the old leather grip of the sword at his side. On Arthur's right was Morgana, her heeled boots clicking quietly against the ground as her chin lifted higher under his gaze.
"You know this is a trap." The woman spoke softly, but her voice still carried through the quiet night as Arthur's fists clenched inside the pockets of his coat.
"Of course it is, but he has Merlin." Those words should have been enough, but Morgana scoffed while one of her hands brushed the long hair from her face.
"Can't he manage to take care of himself?"
"Obviously not." Arthur scowled, worry that ate away at him leaving him nauseas and with a headache that pounded behind his eyes.
"Kind of like the old days," Gwaine commented, cutting his eyes to Morgana. "Except now we're working with the enemy."
"Excuse me?" The woman scoffed, glancing in his direction. "If I'm the enemy then why exactly am I helping you?"
Gwaine said nothing, but Arthur could tell he was frustrated about having to bring her along. Not that the man blamed him. After all, Morgana was responsible for his death back in their other life. That sort of thing stuck with a person, whether they wanted it to or not.
The air between the three of them grew tense quickly after that, and the rest of their walk was in silence before Morgana took them around the side of a large, looming warehouse. Off to the left, a door stood dark and open, beckoning them to come close.
"Try not to die in there." Morgana muttered, folding her arms and glaring at them both again.
"You're not coming in with us?" Arthur asked, the assumption that she would help them now leaving him to stare at her in surprise.
"I have work in the morning. Besides, none of this is any of my business." Backing a step away from the two men, Morgana rolled her eyes and gestured for the doors. "Go, save him. It's what you people do best, isn't it?"
Arthur and Gwaine exchanged a glance before moving silently towards the building, now down to two. Despite their better judgement screaming at them to not go inside the dark building, they entered a side door into the warehouse.
The other knights were currently looking for other ways inside, attempting to have an element of surprise over Mordred, but Arthur wasn't sure how well that would work. Surely once he saw Arthur and Gwaine he'd know the other men were elsewhere. All he could hope for was to distract the druid long enough for the others to find and help Merlin.
"I wish we'd brought something more than swords." Gwaine uttered softly, fidgeting again with the old leather wrapped around the grip of his weapon.
"Like what, exactly? There's not much else we can use, not without Merlin." Arthur whispered back, turning a nearly blind corner into darkness.
"We could have gone back to his home, raided his flat for any leftover or still hidden magic."
"Neither of us know how to use magic." Arthur shook his head incredulously while digging his phone out of his pocket. "We would have wound up turning ourselves into lizards or something."
"Tough lizards." Gwaine nodded, as if the idea actually appealed to him. "I'm just saying." He shrugged at the other man's blank stare.
The two men continued walking, each with their mobiles out and shining a meager amount of light in front of them. As they went through a doorway that was covered by a black tarp, Arthur squinted at the sudden bright lights beaming over them.
Blinking to rid himself of the dancing orbs in his vision, the former king stopped to look around. They'd walked into one of the main storage areas, with industrial shelves reaching high into the air on their left and right, with dozens of crates in various sizes spread out all around them. And there, in the middle of the floor, was an unmoving heap. It was pale and dark and stained in red.
"Merlin." Arthur breathed, immediately moving to rush towards him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Mordred's voice boomed throughout the warehouse, and Arthur stumbled to a stop just a few feet away from his friend.
It was easier to see how bad off Merlin was, now that he was closer. The man's skin was pale and drawn, with dark sunken circles beneath his eyes. One side of his body was stained crimson, with sticky blood covering the side of his coat and down a portion of his jeans. The man panicked for a moment, unsure if his friend was even alive, until he saw the smallest movement of his chest.
"Aren't you going to say hello?"
Looking up and over, Arthur's eyes scanned the room until he finally spotted the druid. Mordred stood atop one of the larger crates, Excalibur held aloft in his hand, and a triumphant grin wide on his face.
"You have my sword." Arthur shouted back, and the druid let out a laugh.
"I'll have your life before the night is done with."
"You already tried that once," Arthur scoffed, reaching to his side and drawing his current—though much weaker—blade. "It didn't stick."
Mordred's smile faltered, and he leapt off the crate onto the concrete floor. "I was given another try by the fates, and this time I'll make it hurt."
"The fates brought you back to life?" Arthur stared while his fingers tried to find a comfortable grip on the unbalanced weapon.
"They brought all of you back didn't they?" The druid said cooly, walking forward at a leisurely pace.
"We were destined to return, apparently it seems to stop you." Arthur snapped, edging around Merlin slowly in an attempt to put himself between his fallen friend and his enemy.
"To save Albion, blah, blah, blah. I've heard the stories, seen the movies. But have you considered, Arthur, that there's no Albion left to save?"
"There are pieces, fragments still to be found." The blond stated tersely, moving far enough that he was nearly beside the warlock now.
"Fragments? That's all you've got going for you here? None of that matters, don't you see?"
"None of it matters to you, that's the difference." Arthur scowled, readjusting the grip on his sword again and taking another step.
"Not to anyone. Are you really that thick? Do you really not see that you're fighting for nothing?"
"If there was no Albion to save, then why was I brought back?" Arthur demanded, throwing his free hand up with an annoyed laugh. "Why reincarnate any of us at that point?"
"Well, that's the question we're all trying to answer, isn't it?" Mordred's voice fell quiet, and for a moment there was pain lingering in his gaze.
Arthur refused to feel any sort of pity for the druid, however, and grit his teeth instead. "I'm sick of your twisted riddles, Mordred. Come over here and fight like a man."
The other man's expression shifted, from surprise to amusement to some semblance of intrigued. "Are you sure that's what you really want, Arthur?" Mordred asked, lifting Excalibur up higher so that the fluorescent lights above glittered off its pristine blade.
"You're not going to let me help Merlin until I defeat you, so we might as well get this over with." Arthur growled, eyeing his sword held up in the other's hands.
"You can't help him anyway." Mordred scoffed, twisting the blade again and pointing it straight at the warlock. "He's already as good as dead."
"He'll use his magic to recover."
"He can't."
"Why not?" Dread gripped Arthur tight, binding around his chest and making his next breath difficult to draw in.
"Because a weapon that has been forged with magic with the intention of suppressing another's magic would stop said magic from healing said person." A wicked smile tilted Mordred's lips, and Arthur's eyes fell to where Merlin lay motionless not far from him.
Gwaine had been inching his way closer while the other two men spoke, but the former king was beginning to wonder if his friend was beyond the hope of help.
"What did you do to him? Did you cut him with Excalibur?" Arthur asked weakly, his body going cold as he looked again at all the blood the warlock had lost.
"No, but that would have been fitting." Mordred sighed. "I shot him instead."
"What?" The horror in Gwaine's voice was clear as the knight could no longer remain silent.
"So long as the bullet remains inside of him, his magic is as good as gone." Mordred bragged, twisting the blade around again while he spoke.
"Lies! Merlin is stronger than that!" Gwaine bellowed, drawing his own weapon out.
"What are you going to do, former knight? Try to kill me? You don't stand a chance, especially not against a weapon used in time with magic." Thrusting Excalibur up into the air, Mordred's eyes flashed gold as his voice shouted up at the ceiling of the warehouse. "Weeben proe, proe sah yakmah, haryay nakhah. AGAH! MADAH! SADAH! HAGAH!"
Arthur knew enough about magic to be cautious, but he was unprepared for electricity to arc across the surface of Excalibur as the druid finished his spell.
"Fight me, Arthur!" Mordred cried, pointing the electrified weapon towards the former king's chest. "Fight me to the death!"
Gripping the hilt of his sword tight, Arthur cut his eyes a final time to Merlin's unmoving form. He came here to fight and to protect his friend, so that was exactly what he was going to do.
Charging forward, Arthur let out a war cry, lifting his sword as he rushed the druid. Mordred ran the rest of the way to meet him, and their swords struck each other with a thundering clang.
The moment the metal of each blade touched, electricity spread up Arthur's fingers, shooting through his arm and zapping through his body. Breaking away from Mordred, the man began panting, the sudden pain making his arms heavy and numb.
"How many more of those do you think you can take, Pendragon?" The druid taunted, swinging the blade around and leaving a trail of crackling electricity in the air.
Arthur jumped out of the way as the weapon swung towards him again, and Mordred let out a cruel laugh. He swung around again, and this time the blond was forced to parry the attack, and the force of the electrical shock running through him made Arthur's teeth chatter.
"You're weak!" Mordred screamed, spit flying from his mouth as he shoved his shoulder hard into Arthur's chest, forcing the man off balance.
While Arthur struggled to regain his footing, he swung his own weapon too wide, and the druid easily stepped out of its way.
"You're pathetic!" Mordred jeered, stepping close with a false swing before feinting and driving the hilt of the blade straight into the former king's sternum.
Electricity sparked through the man's chest, and Arthur collapsed on the ground, his arms twitching uncontrollably and his fingers losing their grip on his blade. The druid let out a triumphant laugh, stepping over the former king and pointing the tip of Excalibur straight at Arthur's chest.
"You're as pathetic in this life as you were in the last." He spoke while raising his blade.
Only just before he could deliver the finishing blow, the sound of glass shattering followed by several angry cries seemed to echo from all over the warehouse.
Still twitching from the residual shock, Arthur tilted his head to the side and watched as his former knights came rushing forward. As they did, Gwaine jumped into action and lunged forward, grabbing hold of Merlin and cradling him carefully in his lap as Mordred's victorious smile dissolved.
"The Knights of Camelot." The druid spat while Leon stepped forward with his own weapon raised.
"Drop the sword, Mordred. Now."
"Why should I fear you?" Mordred scowled, still keeping the tip of Excalibur dangerously close to Arthur's chest.
"We have you surrounded. You won't make it out of this encounter alive." Elyan promised, stepping around to their left.
"Give up now before it's too late." Percival spoke from the right.
Mordred's eyes flickered from one man to the next, before suddenly he smiled. "Are you sure? Because by my count, you're missing someone."
Arthur tilted his head further, counting his men, before realizing who was missing. "What did you do to Lancelot?" Arthur growled, glaring up at the druid who barely shrugged.
"I'm not the one you should ask." Gesturing up ahead, Arthur dared to sit up a fraction, scanning the room yet again until he found his missing knight.
And find him he did, standing frozen in a doorway with a gun pointed right at his head. And the person holding the gun..
"Guinevere?" Arthur whispered, horror and dread and disbelief all crashing through him at once as the woman's cold eyes regarded him blankly.
"Arthur." She spoke, her voice uttering his name in disgust.
"What are you doing?"
"My part." She stated, lifting her chin a little higher as she gripped the sleeve of Lancelot's shirt tightly with her other hand.
"You're still outnumbered." Arthur snapped, though he refused to take his eyes off the woman as he said it.
"You will risk your life, and the lives of your men. I've seen it before, and I'm not surprised to see it now. Which is why I have a failsafe. Gwen, darling?" Mordred spoke sweetly, and Arthur watched in abject horror as the woman shoved Lancelot away from her before turning the gun around and aiming the barrel at her own head.
"No!" Arthur and Lancelot both yelled, with the former king starting to move before he felt the tip of Excalibur pressing into him in warning.
"You make one move on me, or try to escape, and I will have Guinevere blow her own brain out." Mordred smirked, thrusting his free hand out as if to show off what he'd done. "Checkmate, Arthur Pendragon."
A/N
I was so worried about writing a tense, gripping chapter, but I like to think I did alright with this! There is two, MAYBE three chapters left with an epilogue, but I'm really thinking of finishing it in two. Anyhoo, thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed and let me know if you're excited for the ending!