Just a quick update. I have no idea where I'm going with this. I just have an idea to start off with, and the rest is unplanned. Inspired by Grown ups. I don't remember which one though.
"Hey guys wanna play a game?" Gwaine asked in a cheeky tone.
The group of knights had just been on a two week trip, and were setting up a place to sleep before their last day ride to Camelot. Everyone here was exhausted and not in the mood for games. They'd searched for a place to set up far too long. Here in the middle of a small meadow, Gwaine asked if they wanted to play a game. Gwaine knew the answer he was bound to get but asked anyways
There was a murmur of 'no', before they continued what they were doing.
"C'mon guys, just one game, and I'll take watch for half the night."
Now there were a few glares being thrown at Gwaine.
"It'll be fun!"
One of the knights spoke up, "you're not going to shut up until we play are you?"
"Nope," he popped the 'p' as he answered.
A few groans came before there were a few people muttering "fine."
Gwaine's smirk grew to a large, cheeky smile. That wasn't a good sign.
"It's simple. Just try not to get hit. If you get hit, you lose."
The knights looked around curiously. What was he talking about?
Suddenly Gwaine pulled out a bow and an arrow. A few of the knights shrieked loudly and began running. They were definitely right to, because the next thing everyone else knew, Gwaine had shot it straight up into the air.
Everybody bolted off, cursing at Gwaine. Up to him to want to play Cendred's roulette. (I'm assuming Russia was not real back then)
By the time the arrow came back down, everyone was far away or had taken cover under random objects. Nobody felt like getting hit by an arrow.
Unfortunately, one person was not hiding. In fact, they hadn't even heard about the game or noticed what was happening. This person had a worse week then everyone else, and he was lucky enough to get hit in the foot by an arrow that he hadn't even known was being shot into the sky by Gwaine.
Merlin.
Poor warlock. Gasping with shock as something flew straight in front of him. This something hit his foot, and created immense pain. There were profanities shouted.
Soon the knights realized someone had been hit by the arrow and came out of hiding. When Arthur and Gwaine noticed who it was, they began to panic.
Percival on the other hand knew what to do. He grabbed pain medication, and bandages from a bag Merlin had packed. After he gave Merlin the pain medicaton, he wrapped the bandages around the arrow to stop bleeding. Taking it out would cause it to bleed profusely, and they didn't want him to die of blood loss before they got back to Camelot.
Gwaine was beside Merlin whispering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" repeating himself for a long time.
The only thing they could do was keep Merlin comfortable until they left tomorrow morning. It was far too dangerous to travel at night.
So that was how Merlin's bedroll was put next to Arthur and Percival.
Merlin abruptly fell asleep due to exhaustion, pain, and sleeping medication that Percival had given him.
Unluckily, Merlin suffered from nightmares. Being a light sleeper helped there. He could keep the nightmares at bay, and keep anyone from finding out. Despite this, he was no stranger to nightmares. He often still had them. With a sleeping medication, he was unable to wake, and left with his fears. Tonight's nightmare consisted of Arthur finding out about Merlin's magic, and trying to kill him.
Merlin spoke when he slept. This caused there to be soft whispering that no one could understand. As the nightmare came, he became louder and awoke Arthur.
"Arthur, please.... no, I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me! Please listen, I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you Arthur, but I couldn't!" Then his voice rose, "Please don't kill me! ARTHUR STOP!"
The terrified raven haired boy woke up to Arthur shouting in his ear, "MERLIN WAKE UP!"
Merlin shot up, and as soon as he saw Arthur, he moved away. Or at least he tried to. His stupid foot was stopping him. As much as he wanted to just heal it with magic, that was not possible. There was a prince in the area. A prince who could kill him with a snap of his fingers. His nightmare was only a reminder. Not real, but a reminder.
"Are you alright Merlin?" Arthur asked cautiously. "Did I do something?"
Merlin shook his head. Seeing he'd woken up all the knights, he decided he'd verbally reassure them. "It's fine. You should all go back to sleep."
Most knights gave him gave him a look of disbelief before going back to their bed rolls to get some much needed rest. Gwaine felt extremely guilty, so he took over the watch position.
With everyone settled back in, Merlin stared up at the sky, deep in thought.
"Merlin?"
"Yes Sire," Merlin responded.
Arthur sighed before starting, "why were you dreaming that I was trying to kill you?"
"Do I have to answer that?" Merlin was witty even after a nightmare. There were multiple times that he had to be in the past.
"Yes."
Sigh. "Well, you're the prince, and you could just say a few words, and I could be killed. Adding the fact that past friends have suddenly turned on me in the past, let's just say it makes sense that I'd dream you were killing me."
Arthur remembered how frantic his friend had been. The dream caused him to thrash about, once nearly kicking something with his injured leg. The severity of the nightmare had obviously shocked Arthur. Now Merlin's eyes were closed as he conversed calmly as if the whole ordeal hadn't happened.
"Do you have nightmares often?" Arthur asked quietly while shifting to look at Merlin.
"Every night." It was said with such resignation and acceptance. This was obviously not new.
Arthur wasn't sure he asked, but he did. "Why do I kill you... I mean in your nightmares of course."
Being quite groggy, and the medications changing his perception was what brought his answer. Merlin never would of said it otherwise. "Because you find out what I'm hiding from you."
"And what's that?"
There was no response. Merlin had fallen asleep.
Arthur tried to follow his lead and get some shut eye. It was rather hard with all the thoughts zooming around in his head.
........
Merlin was almost completely healed up now. It had taken a while, but he was limping his way through the hallways, getting whatever he could done.
The whole castle had felt bad for the poor lad. He never had it easy with the feisty prince. The boy was always busy, hurt, or racing somewhere. Quite a few people had begged Arthur to keep George a week longer. Not willing to stand brass jokes for another week, he'd refused. Merlin was back.
Gwaine had apologized like crazy, and he'd taken to helping Merlin whenever he could. What was even weirder, was that he had been drinking less. He was still drinking, but just enough to think straight and act like a sober person.
It was weird how many people had nearly killed Arthur while Merlin was away. It was quite often that suddenly there was a body found that was obviously from an enemy kingdom. There was always a weapon of some sort on them. A few times he had noticed Merlin silently hobble out of the room after they were found. Suspicious.
With Merlin back, it all stopped. Was that something Merlin may have Bern hiding? Does Merlin truly save Arthur's life often? Merlin? Didn't sound very likely.
"Merlin, please sit."
"Sire, I need to finish the cho-"
Arthur interrupted, "Merlin, you're tired. Forget the chores and rest a few minutes."
Huffing, Merlin sat on the cushiony chair Arthur had chosen for him.
"If you want to do chores, I could get you my boots, some polish, and a cloth?"
Shaking his head, Arthur sat down at his desk and began to do paperwork he'd been given. His patience for paperwork was incredibly limited. Thoughts about the night Gwaine decided to play Cendred's Roulette swirled through his head.
"Merlin, what are you hiding from me?"
"The fact that I didn't do half the chores you gave me yesterday?" Merlin answered uncertainly.
Arthur snorted. "Not that clotpole."
"Hey! That's my word!"
Arthur snorted again. For a moment Merlin thought he'd successfully switched the topics then Arthur asked again, "Merlin what made me kill you in your dreams that night? What are you hiding from me?"
Merlin gulped. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"That I disobeyed you?"
Arthur snorted yet again. "Then you would've been dead long ago. Don't lie Merlin what is it?"
Merlin looked down thinking of how he could get out of this. "Do you remember Balinor?"
"The dragon lord? Yeah."
Taking a deep breath, he found some couage. He was going to tell Arthur one of his many secrets. "He was my father. I found out just before from Gaius, but I didn't want to tell you because I thought you'd hate me. Then he died. He told me how I could control a dragon. So I did once everyone was knocked out. Im sorry I never told you." Once again Merlin was looking at the floor.
There was silence for a moment before Arthur spoke up, "I- I told you no man was worth your tears... about your father. I'm sorry Merlin. That means I never killed the dragon and I owe you a thank you. Guess I was an idiot for thinking I'd killed it when there was no body."
Merlin was quite surprised he'd taken it so well. He'd even thanked Merlin.
"Is there anything else your hiding from me? Now is the time to share."
That was how Arthur learned of Freya, how often he had truly been saved by Merlin, and as shown earlier, Merlin's father. Despite that, Arthur still didn't know about Merlin's magic. Merlin was pretty much done sharing.
"Since I shared so much, would you be willing to answer a question for me?" Merlin asked meekly.
"Sure," Arthur answered kindly.
For the millionth time, Merlin gathered his courage. "What do you think about magic?" he suddenly blurted.
Arthur suddenly began to fidget. "Umm, can you keep a secret?"
Merlin nodded enthusiastically.
Instead of answering with his mouth, Arthur lifted his hand and a flame sprouted from it.
"You have... magic?"
Arthur nodded still fidgeting.
"Well that makes it a lot easier for me to admit the last thing I've been keeping from you."
Merlin simply used the same spell. Arthur's mouth dropped open.
"And to think, this conversation was started by a game of Cendred's roulette," Merlin announced with a smile. Both boys were smiling at each other. Things would be so much easier from now on.
For both of them.
.