Fight For Me

Chapter 5

Waking with a start, feeling somewhat conflicted for a reason he doesn't know, Merlin sits himself up, glancing at his prince beside him.

His prince.

His thoughts whiz back to last night, when they'd gotten so close... When their hands had touched... When Arthur had looked unbelievably stunning in the dim light, his lips looking oh-so soft and touchable...

His day-dreaming stops at Arthur's voice, just as Merlin is about to imagine their lips actually meeting, and what it would feel like.

"Merlin," he breathes, as if he'd been holding it in for some time.

Merlin gulps away his previous thoughts, and replies with a smile, "Yes, sire?"

A foreign look of worry and helplessness crosses the prince's face. "Merlin, are you okay?"

He resists the urge to comfort Merlin, and himself, with the touch of Arthur's hand on Merlin's cheek.

"Are you-- are you alright? What happened?"

Merlin frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Don-- Don't you... remember?" Arthur begins visibly panicking, his breathing becoming heavy and fast. His heart beats out of his chest, and he doesn't know why.

Noticing his distress, Merlin can't help but lift his hand to Arthur's heart. "Breathe," he whispers.

"But-- But how can't you remember? Why--"

"What happened?" Merlin asks, calmly.

"I-- I don't know!" Arthur shouts, unable to meet Merlin's gaze. "That's the problem! I don't... I don't know these things. I don't know how to help or what to do! It's so confusing, all of it, and then last night happened, and I thought I saw--" He breaks off, heart beating faster in fear.

"Saw what?" Merlin says, his calm facade and tone wavering a little.

"I thought I saw..." Arthur pauses, finally meeting Merlin's stare. "...Sigan."

Merlin freezes.

"But... he's gone, right?" Arthur says. "It was dark, I was tired... I was probably just seeing things."

"But, Arthur," Merlin says, seriously, "what happened?"

He pauses again, hesitating. The pleading look in Merlin's eyes coax him into telling. "You... you sort of had a nightmare, I think. You were screaming. And the fire... It was out, but you... I think you lit it again, and it sort of..." He lifts his hands in a vain attempt to bring to light what had happened. "Grew, in this big pillar. And you were screaming again, then your eyes went... black, and there was that smile--" Arthur shudders at the memory of it. "Then your eyes went gold, and the fire died down, and you went unconscious. For a moment... I thought you might have been dead."

His breathing unsteady, looking quite on edge, Arthur looks to Merlin for comfort, for something to demolish his terrors and worries. He finds none. The look on Merlin's face, one of furrowed brows, parted lips, and eyes filled with unease, only makes Arthur's concerns grow and spread and expand like an evolving and ever moving plague.

"But, Sigan's gone..." Arthur whispers, trying but failing to convince them both. "R-- Right?" Arthur searches for something on Merlin's face, for his smile or his laugh to take his mind off this. He tries desperately to get distracted by the firm jawline, the sharp cheekbones, and his eyes, blue like the sky at dusk. It works only for a second, because Merlin's face is showing how deeply troubled he is.

"I thought..." Merlin begins, trailing off just a second after. "Gaius said I must have banished his soul... instead of trapping it again in that jewel. Maybe... Maybe I didn't manage to. I can hardly remember what happened, when he supposedly left my body. I just-- I just saw you, near to death, and couldn't think of anything else."