A/N I wrote this instead of watching The Force Awakens in my Spanish class xD. My friend, Jay, laughed at the death! I was over here near tears with one of my other friends and he's over there LAUGHING!
Prompt: Merlin tastes Arthur's food for poison every morning, afternoon, and night, and he can't use magic for it as the food is not to leave the kitchen until it's been tested. Of course, it's happened before but this time, Merlin doesn't know until he's in Arthur's chambers. Set while Uther is King and this is a prompt I thought of myself xD
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin
"Merlin! You're going to be late!" Gauis shouts from the main room and is rewarded with the sound of a thump as Merlin falls out of the small, hard bed. Within the next few seconds, the door to Merlin's room opens. The servant stumbles out, half dressed and hurriedly slips on his shirt and boots on. As he's leaving, he grabs a roll off Gauis's table before running off to the kitchens. Multiple of the kitchen staff stop as soon as Merlin enters, watching him instead as he takes a small bite of the prince's bread and cheese, they watch as he takes a sip of the prince's wine, followed by a bite of the sausage. The kitchen staff watch worriedly as Merlin nods, sending a smile to the head cook, before grabbing the plate and rushing out of the kitchen. The waiting kitchen staff sigh in relief before returning quickly to their duties. By the time Merlin arrives at Arthur's room, the prince was awake, dressed, and glaring at the door with a goblet in hand. When Merlin enters, he gets a goblet to the back of the head as he turned to close the door behind him.
"You're late, again." Arthur declares, ignoring the yelp of pain from Merlin.
"Ever so observant Arthur." Merlin comments with a laugh as he sets the food down in front of the expecting prince. Arthur glares at humming servant as he walks around, setting out some stuff that the prince would most likely need later in the day.
"Merlin," Arthur begins as he picks up the fork to start eating, "shut up." Merlin responds with another laugh and before Arthur gets the chance to take a bite, the door opens to reveal the King standing there, in all his glory, looking downright angry with his son.
"Arthur! You were meant to report to the training grounds ten minutes ago! The new recruits have been waiting and a good prince should never leave his people waiting. Now go!" Uther orders and Arthur groans, setting down the fork with a clatter.
"Merlin, armor." Arthur orders and Merlin nods, not saying anything sarcastic in front of the King. As Merlin picks up the armor, the King nods before leaving the prince and his manservant.
"Merlin, you are to clean my room while I'm gone at training. I expect it to be spotless when I return!" Arthur demands as he mentally prepares a lecture for his servant when he returns for, not only making him late, but also making him miss breakfast. Arthur feels a smug smirk tug at his lips as Merlin groans, looking around the cluttered room. After Merlin got him prepared for training, he left and Merlin began to clean. As he starts to puck up the clothing that littered the ground, a wave of nausea and dizziness washes over him and sends him slamming into the wall for support. The servant slides down the wall and puts his head on his knees and waits for it to pass. It was probably just from not eating or lack of sleep but when Merlin finally though about that, he realized that he had a rather large dinner and that he had slept perfectly well last night, so it couldn't be that. Maybe it's Arthur's food? Maybe the assassins finally got smart and made a slow working poison so the taste-tester wouldn't realize it in time? Merlin wonders sluggishly as the wave had barely passed and after a few more minutes, Merlin realizes it wouldn't pass. Merlin stood shakily, momentarily forgetting about the fact that he should probably dump Arthur's food, and stumbles over to where most of Arthur's clothes were thrown all over the floor. His head was pounding as Merlin slowly dips down to pick up the no-doubt dirty clothes. As he continues his work, his headache becomes worse and worse. Another wave of nausea hits him and Merlin's sent to the ground in pain. He stands slowly, the wave not passing and heads to the desk where Arthur normally eats his meals, grabbing the plate filled with Arthur's breakfast before dumping it into the fire. Arthur wouldn't be happy with him but Merlin didn't feel well enough to dwell on that fact for too long. He knew that he should probably go and see Gauis but Arthur would be livid if his room wasn't spotless by the time he returns. As another wave of dizziness hits him along with nausea, Merlin quickly forgets about the thought of Arthur's possible anger and leaves to find Gauis. He should have known he wouldn't get that far and soon he was crashing into the stone floor, followed quickly by darkness.
Arthur sighs as he walks back to his chambers, his stomach growling, causing him to hope silently that either his breakfast was still there from that morning or that Merlin had already dropped off his lunch. His breastplate was dented, one of his knights had hit his chest too hard with a mace and that resulted in a dented breastplate. Merlin would have to hammer it out later. Speaking of the bumbling idiot, why was he asleep on the ground outside Arthur's chambers?
"Merlin, wake up now!" Arthur orders as he kneels by his manservant. Merlin doesn't stir and Arthur gets a closer look at his servant. Merlin was pale, even in this lighting, much paler than normal, except for the slight flush across his face. Arthur goes to shake his shoulder, in an attempt to wake him up, but draws his hand back in shock from the heat coming from his body. Arthur quickly helps the servant to his feet, supporting all of his weight and Arthur couldn't help but wince at how little Merlin weighed. Calling for the guards over his shoulder, ordering them to get Gauis while stumbling into his room. Merlin was boiling and Arthur couldn't help but worry as he settled Merlin on his bed, taking off his boots and socks. Soon enough, Gauis walks in, with his satchel filled with strange concoctions and whatever else.
"Not again..." He whispers as he quickly checks over his wars before turning to the guards and shouting, "Go get Gwen!" When the guards look at Arthur for confirmation, the young prince nods and the guards hurry off to go find the serving girl.
"Wait...Gauis, what do you mean by not again?" Arthur asks, not even bothering to keep the worry out of his voice, it was useless, Gauis would've known he was worried anyway.
"You didn't know Arthur?" Gauis answers Arthur's question with another one and that was one of the few things that bugged Arthur, not getting a straight answer.
"What didn't I know? That my manservant is an idiot who came into work sick? I know that Gauis, the fool is too loyal." Arthur comments and before he starts to babble, the door opens, cutting off Arthur's speech.
"Gauis, what's wrong with Merlin?" Gwen's panicked voice comes from the doorway and Gauis moves just enough so she can see him.
"It was meant for Arthur, Gwen do you remember how to cure Methanol poisoning?" Gauis asks and Gwen nods quickly, recalling the antidote when Merlin had been poisoned by food testing the first time, "Go, get me two things of the antidote and hurry, please." Gwen nods before quickly scurrying out of the room.
"GAUIS! What is going on?" Arthur shouts, not happy with being out of the loop and most definitely not happy about how easily Gauis and Gwen worked together with Merlin poisoned!
"Arthur, Merlin's been testing your food everyday, checking for poisons." Gauis admits and Arthur gapes at him for a minutes, trying to get his head around this. His manservant, his lovable, babbling, idiotic manservant had been risking his life everyday for him.
"But Gauis, don't I have a tester for that?" Arthur asks and Gauis sighs sadly before returning to trying to breaking the ward's fever.
"You did, Merlin was waiting for your food one day and the tester boy was poisoned, once he recovered, Merlin had already taken over his job and the boy now works down in the stables." Gauis explains and Arthur nods slowly, still stuck up on how his bumbling servant was willing to die for him. Arthur knew that before that Merlin would lay down his life for the prince but this isn't what he expected. Merlin was poisoned because of him and because of that fact, was probably in a lot of pain right now.
"Will he be alright Gauis?" Arthur sighs, dropping next to Merlin and manages to stay out of Gauis's way.
"If Gwen can get us the antidote then he'll be fine." Gauis replies and Arthur silently prays for Gwen to hurry, he refuses to lose his best friend. Thankfully Gwen knew to hurry and soon she was rushing back in with two vials and hands them to Gauis.
"Gwen, go get Arthur's lunch. I'd like to check it for poison." Gauis orders and Gwen nods before running out of the room again. Arthur puts his head in his hands, feeling insanely guilty.
"Sire, did you happen to eat any of the breakfast?" Gauis asks after he had finally gotten Merlin's fever under somewhat control.
"No, Merlin was late and my father needed me to train the recruits." Arthur replies and Gauis sighs in relief just as the doors fly open and Uther stomps in. Arthur stands, wondering for a split second if this was going to be about the fact that he was late for something or other, he didn't even know what he was late for, if anything. Having your manservant, and best friend, poisoned kind of makes you forget the minor things like that.
"Arthur, why aren't you at the council meeting?!" Uther booms and Arthur sighs before sitting down, out of Gauis's way, next to Merlin. The servant was shaking and Arthur notices with a bit of worry that his chest was barely rising and it looked as if he was struggling to get air in. Gauis sets Merlin back against the backboard of Arthur's bed and Uther's eyes bulge upon seeing Merlin in the prince's bed.
"Gauis, Arthur, what is that servant doing in the prince's bed?" Uther asks, anger evident in his voice and Arthur looks up, ready to step in to stop his father if he tries to do anything.
"He's been poisoned Sire, we can't move him without the risk of him being injured farther." Gauis explains as he gently tilts Merlin's head back and tips the vial of antidote into Merlin's mouth before coaxing Merlin into swallowing it. Merlin's shaking seize immediately and as Gauis lowers him back into a laying position, his breathing becomes somewhat regular. Arthur reaches up and brushes some stray hairs from Merlin's forehead and Arthur pulls his hand back in shock again, his friend was still burning. Gauis orders a servant to bring him a bucket filled with cold water and a rag and the servant runs off just as Gwen hurries in, carrying the prince's lunch. Gauis looks up as she enters, tossing her a smile quickly before nodding to the table and she drops it on there, Gauis strides forward and quickly checks over the food.
"Arthur, you need to go to the council now! That is an order!" Uther growls and he can't believe that his son was worried over the health of a servant. Even Uther couldn't deny that the pair of them had something special, an amazing friendship, but he didn't think it'd go so far as for Arthur to miss a council meeting. Arthur looks up at his father and Uther saw, that behind Arthur's normally guarded expression, was worry.
"Please father, please just have someone cover for me." Arthur begs, though he'd never admit it, and Uther sighs before turning and stomping out. Arthur knew he was in trouble, major trouble but he couldn't bring himself to care about that at the moment. He hadn't realized that Gauis had ordered Gwen to go get Arthur some lunch and soon a platter of food was set on his lap, causing him to look up and smile.
"Thanks Guinevere." Arthur murmurs and he starts to eat while turning his attention back to Merlin. As soon as he finishes, Gauis takes the platter before gently pushing the prince down into the pillows.
"Rest Arthur, you look exhausted." Gauis orders softly and Arthur nods, closing his eyes.
"Will he be okay Gauis?" Arthur asks and motions over to where Merlin lay next to him. Gauis smiles and even though Arthur can't see him, he knows it's happened.
"He'll be fine, he just needs proper rest. The antidote was administered soon enough as to that it will wash everything out of his system when he wakes." Gauis explains and Arthur smiles before nodding off. Gauis drapes the blankets over both Arthur and Merlin before motioning for Gwen to follow him out.
When Arthur woke again, Merlin was sitting against the backboard, a bucket set next to him, but he was looking a lot better. Arthur stirs slightly and Merlin looks over at the prince with a worried smile as Arthur opens his eyes.
"You idiot." Arthur says as soon as he sees that Merlin is awake and he gets a laugh as a response. Merlin grimaces and clutches his stomach as he continues to laugh, Arthur sits up as fast as he can and rests a hand on Merlin's back as the man gags.
"You okay?" Arthur asks, the worry evident in his voice and Merlin nods, shrugging the prince's hand off. Arthur leans back next to Merlin and sighs, wondering how he was going to begin this conversation, "What were you thinking, I have a taster for a reason and the reason is not for my personal servant to get poisoned."
"It was my choice Arthur, besides your old taster was younger than me, I wasn't going to let that happens. Besides this isn't the first time I've been poisoned." Merlin tries to explain and almost instantly knows he shouldn't have said that last part because Arthur glares at him.
"That's my point Merlin! You've been poisoned multiple times and I AM NOT OKAY WITH THAT!" Arthur shouts and Merlin shrinks back while looking down at his hands. As soon as Arthur finishes, he instantly feels bad and reaches out to comfort the servant.
"Merlin, you're my friend. I don't want to lose you." Arthur whispers and Merlin looks up with a smile. Arthur knows he's going to keep tasting his food but now he can look for signs when Merlin starts to get ill.
"Okay Arthur, I'll be more careful." Merlin promises and Arthur laughs, soon followed by Merlin, they both know that's a lie but it gave Arthur some sort of comfort. The servant and prince, no matter how different in station, were on the same status as one another in that moment and they both hoped, and knew, that there were going to be many more moments like that in the future.
A/N DONE! It may not be my best but I couldn't figure out how to get my ideas out. I have tried to write this story 3 different times and it wasn't all that good, this one I'm proud of and hope you all like it!