I got bored so y'all get another chapter
"Stop laughing!"
Merlin did not stop laughing.
"I will have you in the stocks for a month if you don't stop immediately!" This caused Merlin to try to hold in his laughter, but it just came out louder. There was also a loud snort. "This isn't funny!"
At this point Merlin fell to the floor laughing.
"I fell in manure, I smell like a donkey, and my clothing is getting cold! I don't understand why you're laughing!" Arthur was beyond pissed at this point, and Merlin's laughter didn't help it. Then a thought crossed his mind. A great one.
Merlin was too busy laughing to notice the manure covered prince coming up to him, and giving him a hug. For a moment, Merlin just stood in shock, then the smell hit him and he attempted to escape. Arthur held firm. The more he struggled, the more Merlin got covered in manure.
After a while of this Merlin sighed and stopped fighting. Arthur promptly let go, and started laughing.
"It's not funny," Merlin told Arthur coldly.
Arthur kept laughing.
........
Arthur stood next to a casket with tears in his eyes. Once he'd told the very man in the coffin that no man was worth his tears. Now here Arthur stood on the verge of crying. Gwaine looked dreadful, and he'd obviously been drinking more. On a bench, Gwen sat sobbing as Lancelot comforter her. Giaus hadn't been able to come because he blamed himself for some reason Arthur didn't know of. He wasn't even there when it happened, so it was by no means Giaus' fault.
If it was anyone's fault, it was Arthur's. Arthur shouldn't have listened to Merlin when he said to leave him. Why couldn't he have taken the little girl, as well as Merlin? Why did Merlin have to be so brave, and keep fighting the man in the fire to allow Arthur's escape?
The only person to actively oppose Arthur, and question him... was gone. It was absolutely mind boggling to think he'd never hear that annoying, "Rise and shine!" ever again. Never would he have someone drag him out of bed again, and he wouldn't have to deal with the diet comments anymore.
As much as Arthur thought he hated Merlin, he had kept him around this long for a reason. Despite him being an insufferable, tactless servant, he was also a good friend. Someone who'd been there for Arthur through thick and thin. To think the charred, unrecognizable body in front of him was his best friend... It hurt. Merlin's last moments would have been incredibly painful.
Arthur ignored the sudden gasps from behind him, and thought of how much he was going to miss seeing Merlin listening for, "woodlice," if that was even a thing. It had gone suddenly quiet in the room, but Arthur didn't care, the time that Merlin had predicted that his father's girlfriend was a troll had come into his mind.
"Why are we having a funeral for the git who tried to kill us?" An annoyed voice asked.
Was that... turning around, Arthur found Merlin standing with some charred clothing.
"First you guys leave me out miles away from Camelot, then Giaus has thrown out my extra clothing, and now you're having a funeral for a murderer. What's gotten into everyone?" Merlin asked looking stumped.
When Merlin found himself encased in a tight hug from Arthur, he was shocked. "Who are you, and what have you done with Arthur?"
Arthur wipes his tears, and spoke, "we thought you were dead you prat!"
"Me? Dead? I'll be two hundred seventy eight before that happens at least!"
Arthur snorted, and pulled out of the hug.
"Were you crying over me? My you really do care!"
"Shut up Merlin. I wasn't."
"Oh but you were."
"He was!" Gwaine confirmed holding an empty bottle of alcohol, and nearly falling.
........