Merlin: the secret prince

A trip to Merlin's Kingdom

"It's decided. Knights of deria and Knights of the round table, please prepare your things. Leon prepares the 40,000 men that will be coming with us. Morgana, Gwen you may come with us if you wish. Percival, could you please tell Gaius to prepare as well. Could you also tell him I'll be helping Arthur prepare for tomorrow," Merlin says in one breath

"Absolutely not..!" Arthur begins fuming but is soon cut off

"Enough!" Merlin shouts

Arthur goes quiet and deathly pale

"Gwen and Morgana can come if they wish and that is final! You have no say over this, you never have," Merlin continues his voice dangerously low

The knights of the round table, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen stared at Merlin as if they have just seen a ghost. Their bubbly, go-lucky and a carefree friend had gone and had been replaced by someone foreign and unknown.

"Merlin..." Noah says softly diverting his brother's attention onto him "calm down. Arthur just wants to protect his sister and wife. He's in no way a danger. They have their own choice. Okay?"

Once his breathing is normal again he looks up and says "I'm sorry Arthur. This hasn't happened in years. I'm sorry all of you for scaring you."

"What do you mean this hasn't happened in years, Merlin?" Lancelot asks breaking out of his trance 

Sighing Percival speaks up "Merlin, has anger problems. He normally doesn't lose his cool very easily but when he does his voice becomes very low and dark as if a person possessed him. This is the mild side. None of us has seen the severe side but we believe that it will happen if one of his loved ones gets hurt." 

"Why haven't you guys told us about this before?" Gwen asks 

"I didn't need you guys to worry," Merlin softly suddenly being interested in the floor 

"We would have been worried regardless Merlin you are our friend," Morgana says as the other nod and throws a reassuring smile toward the secret prince

"Anyway let's get going and prepare for our journey tomorrow," Merlin says changing the topic really quickly and not wanting to talk about it any further  

Everyone else followed the orders that Merlin gave out earlier and went to do them 

On the walk to Arthur's chambers, Merlin turns to the former and asks "Arty?"

"Yes, Merlin?" 

"I have hidden such big secrets from you. How come you aren't mad at me? I thought that after hearing about my secret you wouldn't help my kingdom," 

"I'm not mad at you Merlin, I'm angry because you didn't trust me enough to tell me these secrets of yours. You've stuck by my side no matter the trouble and you've only left my side to go and further save me and my kingdom. I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at myself for not even giving you the illusion of safety while you were at my side," Arthur says guilt and sadness evident in his voice 

"Arthur, please don't blame yourself. I know that you feel like you failed as a friend but let me tell you that you didn't. Remember all those nights where I disappeared for days on end and you came to save me?" when Arthur nods, Merlin carries on "You made sure that I was out of harm way all those times, not because I had a kingdom of my own but because you saw me as a friend, despite me being your servant. You gave me the same respect as any lord or Noble out there without knowing of my true status. For all, you could have known I could've been working for the enemy, but you still trusted me enough and the times I was lost and down you came and found a way to cheer me up. I lost my kingdom a decade ago Arthur, I lost hope over the years. After all this time I didn't even know if my Kingdom remembered me, but once my twin and knights came I had hope. I wanted to leave so many times over the years and to find out what was off Deria but I didn't especially after Morgana took over Camelot with the immortal army. I saw the same thing happen to Camelot that happened to my kingdom all those years ago, So I stayed. So Arthur remembers I kept these secrets not only for my safety but for yours too. If I had revealed my Magic to you any sooner you would have had to make a choice between me and Camelot. I didn't want to put you in that situation."