Merthur one shots || Merlin

Nightmares

Merlin was burning. He could feel the heat underneath his feet as the flames grew taller, teasing the bottoms of his feet until they reached father up and caught onto his legs. All he could feel was heat as the fire started crawling it's way up his body, burning his clothes and reaching his skin. His screams were no match for the cheers of the crown as they watched him burn.

 He looked over and locked eyes with Arthur who had an expression of betrayal and anger. He offered his king a sad smile but he wanted none of it, shaking his head and turning away. Merlin felt tears slide down his cheeks as he watched the people he loved, cheer on with the crowd as the flames continued to climb up his body. He screamed as hard as he could when the flames reached his chest, ripping open the scars. "please" Merlin screamed as the crowd started to chant hateful words, even Gwen was chanting with a smug smile on her face. 

Merlin gasped for air as he shot up in his bed, looking at his surroundings with wide eyes. Once he realised where he was his heart started to calm down and he felt he could breathe again. He leaned back against the head board, bringing his knees up to his chest to stifle the sobs that escaped his lips. 

Merlin has had nightmares ever since he came to Camelot and witnessed the execution but recently they grew a lot more vivid and were occurring frequently. They were always about the same thing, his execution. All of his friends were there, laughing and chanting "sorcerer" at him as Arthur lit the prye himself before standing back and watching his friend burn with a smile on his face. He knew the nightmares were just a figment of his imagination but they had gotten so vivid lately he cant help but flinch when one of he knights touch him or when Arthur raises his voice. 

Merlin had a plan, though. He knew exactly what he was going to do to stop the nightmares. He was going to resign as the King's servant, leave Camelot immediately and head home to his mother. He figured if he was away from the source of the nightmares, he would be safe. He no longer felt safe around his friends, the ones he once trusted with his life. Now, whenever he's around them he's forced to study their every move as if he was waiting for them to pull a dagger out from behind their backs and stab him with it.

The next morning when he awoke again, he got straight out of bed and began packing his possessions into his tiny backpack. Once he packed everything he could fit he sat down at his desk and began writing an explanation for Gaius. The older man had become a father figure to him over the years and Merlin couldn't leave him behind without so much as a goodbye.

***

Arthur awoke to the sound of footsteps around his bed. He cracked an eye open and immediately sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes until his vision cleared.

"who are you?" He asked the servant boy who was lingering beside the bed with his hands behind his back.

"My name's George, sire" he smiled.

Arthur furrowed an eyebrow and threw the covers off the bed before standing up and walking over to the boy. "where's Merlin?"

"didn't you hear? he resigned as your servant and left the castle" the boy cocked his head slightly as he studied the King's expression.

"right, um that will be all" Arthur waited until the servant boy was gone before he walked over to the side of his bed and put his boots on before sprinting to the physician chambers.

Arthur got a lot of strange looks from passers by but he figured that was because he was still in his night clothes, running through the halls and weaving around people. As soon as he got to the brown wooden door he burst into the room, forgetting that Gaius could still be asleep.

Thankfully, the older man was sitting at the table reading what appeared to be a letter. When Arthur burst in he looked up at the man with a saddened expression but managed to hide it.