Always by your side

Bad ideas lead to new beginnings

This chapter may be sad for some readers.
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3rd Person POV

"It's a bad idea Merlin." Morgana says as she watches her friend pace back and forth in the corridor outside her sleeping chambers. "But I can't keep hiding this from him. Lying to Arthur is bad for me. It's literally been making sick." Merlin says wrapping his arms around his stomach because even the thought of lying to Arthur makes him want to puke.

"Arthur? Can I speak with you?" Merlin asks as he knocks on the door to the crown prince's chambers, "since when do you ask? And who taught you how to knock?" Arthur asks in a joking tone, he turns towards Merlin to see the serious look on his face and stops laughing. "What's going on?" Arthur sighs as he motions for Merlin to sit down.

"This is going to be hard for me to tell you, but I'm tired of lying to you." Merlin says, Arthur's mood changes, his face floods with confusion. "Lying?!" Arthur questions. "I um.. I have magic." Merlin says, he wasn't prepared for the way Arthur had reacted.
"Get out of my sight Merlin. I don't want to see your face ever again." He says in an angry tone,
"Please don't do this." Merlin pleads as he stands up so that he's looking Arthur in the eyes.
"Get out before I call the guards."
Merlin runs out of the room without another word, tears filling his eyes.

(A few days later)

"Arthur, have you seen Merlin?" Morgana asks, she hasn't seen him since the other day when they talked about telling Arthur that Merlin had magic, she was beginning to get worried.
"Haven't seen him in days." Arthur replies in an annoyed tone.
"I thought he was your servant." Morgana states, Arthur's face flashes with anger for just a moment before regaining its composure.
"Not anymore. He's been lying to me so I told him to get lost." He says his annoyed tone mixing with anger, "Arthur, you didn't." Morgana says in a concerned tone causing confusion to make its way to Arthur's features.

"Is there a problem with how I do things?" Arthur shouts, Morgan stands up and gets in his face screaming, "When kicking Merlin out is what you did, then yes there is a problem with the way you do things."
"Gwen!" Morgana shouts in the opposite direction from the idiot who would eventually take over Camelot.
"Yes?" Gwen asks as she enters the room, a worried look on her face, she had been out searching for Merlin before returning to the castle to see if Arthur had seen him.
"Go find Merlin before he does something bad." Morgana instructs her, concern and fear make their way to Gwens face as she runs out of the room.

"Merlin? Do something bad? That's likely." Arthur scoffs as he stares out the window across from his bed. "I wasn't talking about to others I was talking about himself. Honestly he's been your servant for two years and you've never noticed the cuts that occasionally make their way onto his arms?" Morgana says, she storms out leaving Arthur think about what she had just said.

"I loved him, Gwen, and he pretty much just kicked me of Camelot." Merlin said between sobs, Gwen rubs her hand over his back to try and calm him down. "He didn't kick you out of Camelot, Merlin." She says in a soothing tone, Merlin wasn't convinced.
"He said he never wanted to see me again, Guais has me running all over Camelot. And he's the crown prince, and the head knight, he's everywhere, all the time. I would know I used to run around to all the places he was while doing my deliveries. I was his servant after all. He told me that he hated me, Gwen. Looked me straight in the eyes and said he hated me." Merlin sobbed, his voice breaking on the last few sentences.

(Later that day)

Arthur walks through the halls of the castle, stopping at one of the many doors when he hears Gwen and Morgana talking about Merlin.

"I couldn't get him to come back. He's too scared of what Arthur will do to him if he shows his face in Camelot." Gwen says in a worried tone, Morgana was across the room pacing as she said "Well then we'll just have to monitor him carefully. We can't let him do anything stupid. One of us will go to the outskirts everyday to make sure he's fed and is safe." Morgana stopped in front of the window to stare out at the woods that line the walls of Camelot. If she looks close enough she can just barely make out the glow of a campfire, that no doubt had been conjured by magic since Merlin hasn't mastered making a fire yet, she almost laughs at the thought but her concern for her friend keeps her from doing so.

"Poor Merlin. It must be hard to love someone so deeply and then have them say they hate you right to your face." Gwen says as she recalls what Merlin had told her in the forest earlier.
"Arthur really is an idiot. He's just gotten rid of the one thing I've ever seen make him happy. If I didn't know any better I'd say Arthur loves Merlin just as much as Merlin loves him. And for Arthur to throw him to the wolves because of something as silly as having magic. if I were to tell him about my magic he'd do nothing whatsoever, because I'm the king's charge. The same should have gone for Merlin, oh I told him it was a bad idea. But he told him anyway because he was tired of hiding it from Arthur. He's got no problem hiding it and lying to everyone else but lying to Arthur literally makes him sick. If Merlin hurts himself because of this, I'll kill Arthur myself. Future king be damned." Morgana says as she sits down with a huff.

(Later that night)

Arthur is running through the corridor, stopping every once in a while to make sure he's the only one there. As future king he's not supposed to be leaving the castle this late at night, we'll he's actually not supposed to do that as the prince either. But he has to make this right.
Walking through the woods, Arthur hears crying coming from behind a tree, he walks close enough to make out the words that the crying was trying to conceal. "I'm so stupid. I should've known better." That voice sounds familiar, Arthur thought as he took a few steps closer. He turns around the tree and sees Merlin making deep looking cuts on his arms using magic. "Merlin?! What are you doing? Stop that!" Arthur shouts, breaking Merlin's concentration away from the enchantment and his arms. "Why do you care?! You hate me, remember!" Merlin screams through tears, the words barely coherent, "I don't hate you, Merlin. I never have. I was just upset." Arthur says in a calm voice as he cleans and puts bandages on Merlins wounds.

"Why did you keep this from me?"
"Your dad hates magic."
"Not the magic, Merlin. This." Arthur holds up Merlins arm as he continues to wrap it in bandages. "You would have gotten mad and kicked me out even sooner." Merlin says, his voice said and hoarse from crying.
"Yes, I would have been mad. But then I would have found every possible way I could to help you so that you never wanted to do this again." Arthur says looking Merlin in the eyes.

"Are you still mad about the magic thing?" Merlin asks, concerned that his friendship with Arthur is over. "Of course not. In hindsight I see why you kept it hidden. Now come on, let's go home. There are people that are very worried about you." Arthur says putting his arm around Merlin's shoulders and guiding him around the trees. "Oh and Merlin?" "Yes?" "Never do that again. I nearly had a panic attack seeing you like that. I can't lose you Merlin." Arthur says pulling Merlin closer and planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Still love me?" Arthur asks as they walk through the castle gates, "of course I still love you, you idiot. Just don't ever say you hate me like that again. I really thought you meant it." Merlin said holding back tears at the last sentence, "Merlin, how could I hate you? You're the greatest thing to ever happen to me." Arthur said as he and Merlin walked to Gauis' place so Merlin could get some real sleep in a real bed. "I'm probably not going to get any sleep here. Gauis will have a million questions, he'll tell Gwen that I'm here and then both her and Morgana will show u-" "My room it is. Let's go." Arthur says cutting Merlin off and pulling him in the direction of his sleeping chambers.
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"Arthur?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to sleep. I'm exhausted. Nothing is going to happen tonight."
"What about tomorrow night?"
"We'll see."
"What's that mean?"
"It means, we'll see if I've forgiven you by then."
"Oh come on, not this again. Merlin please."
"I think I'm gonna be mad at you for a few more days."
"I'll shut up."