Merlin knew Arthur was hurt, and it was getting worse, but the big, dumb clotpole was playing it off as if it were nothing, so it wasn't all that surprising when he fell to his knees, as soon as they had reached Ealdor. Merlin cleaned the wound and banged him up, and allowed him to rest in his old bed. He just sat in the corner of the room, watching him, not even going to see his mother, whom he hadn't seen in fair too long.

She was out talking, to the others they had brought with them, they were bandits in their own right, but Merlin could tell, they were good people. They just miss-judged Arthur, they just didn't see the good in him yet. Merlin feared though, as he heard Arthur let out a sad breath, that perhaps right now, Arthur wasn't seeing the good in himself either. Merlin wanted to say something, but didn't know quite what to say, these last two days had been confusing.

The door burst open then as Merlin opened his mouth to speak, and a flash of purple went past him, he sat up more and stared at the strange figure that turned out to be Gwen, as she rushed into the room and attacked Arthur in a hug. Literally, actually attacked, Merlin was surprised she didn't just jump on him.

"I was so worried about you, Arthur!" she was saying, sounding panicked and Merlin only slightly (by slightly, means actually a lot,) wondered just what she was doing here.

"I'm alright, Guinevere," he was saying, chuckling slightly as he sat up in the bed. Merlin wanted to tell him it would be better and less painful if he stayed flat, but decided against it. "How did you get here?"

"I was separated from Leon when Morgana's men attacked us in the woods," Gwen explained, still sounding panicked. "I just hoped you would be here, I didn't know where else to go."

"I thought we would be safe here..."

Merlin wanted to yell liar, because it was his idea to bring them to Ealdor, not Arthurs. But he held his tongue, he wondered if Arthur even remembered he was in the room.

"You are so smart, Arthur," Gwen mused, leaning forward again and hugged Arthur once more. " But what will we do? Morgana has taken over all of Camelot, half the city was on fire!"

"We will figure something out…" Arthur pulled away from the hug and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. "Together."

Merlin scoffed then, out loud and everything. The sickening pair turned to look at him then, he glared at them.

"Oh, Merlin, I didn't see you there," Gwen said, looking slightly embarrassed, as she stood up from her spot on the bed. "I was worried about you too, I'm glad you're safe."

"Sure…" Merlin trailed off and stood up, he wanted to punch something suddenly. He glanced at Arthur and he just laid there, his hand still latched onto Gwen's and Merlin wondered how he could have been so stupid this entire time. He rolled his eyes and stalked toward the door. "I'll leave you two alone then, I don't fancy seeing anymore."

"Don't worry, Merlin," Gwen called after him, as he attempted to flee from the room. "I know how to tend to Arthur."

He huffed again, "I'm sure you do…"

He was angry, and this was a foolish time to be angry, but he was and he couldn't help it, he wanted to hit something...maybe someone. He settled for slamming the door as he went outside, to find his mother. She was sitting alone, thank the gods, and he smiled, despite his anger, as he approached her. She smiled, a beautiful, wonderful, motherly smile, that almost made him want to cry as he sat down next to her.

"I've missed you, Merlin."

"I've missed you too," he admitted, because he did, all the time. "I've been away too long." He sighed and took her hand in his. "Maybe after this is over…I'll come back."

"Don't be silly," his mother told him. "You belong in Camelot."

"I'm not so sure I do."

"Why would you say such a thing?" she asked. "You know that you do, Arthur needs you."

"He has Gwen now…"

"Merlin!" she started, but was stopped by a loud gallop of a horses hooves on hard ground. A man draped in a red, Pendragon cape was stopping in front of them and jumping down from his horse. Merlin rushed up to meet him.

"I lost her in the woods!" he announced, upon seeing Merlin, in a state Merlin had never quite seen Leon in before. "I didn't know where else to go, or to look…"

"She's here," Merlin said, calmly, taking Leon by the shoulders to clam him. He let out a long breath of relief. "She's not hurt, she's with Arthur."

"Thank the lord," Leon mumbled, more to himself, and then looked up at Merlin. "They have Gaius, I couldn't get to him, and Gwaine…and Elyan." He let out another breath, and this one was shaky. "I couldn't get to them in time."

"It's alright, we'll think of a plan," Merlin told him, finally letting him go to reach up and rub his thorrbing head. This was all such a mess. "Why don't you go clean yourself up? I wouldn't go see Arthur or Gwen right now…never know what you'll run in on."

The two shared a look of utter disgust before Leon patted him on the back and walked toward the lake just outside of the town, pulling his horse along with him. Merlin turned back to his mother then and she was grinning at him.

"Arthur might not need you anymore, so you say, but you are so clearly needed there," she stood up and pulled him into a hug. She touched his face, gently, in that mother's touch kind of way, before walking away. Merlin, for the most part, tried not to fall over, as he sat back down.

He wondered when his life would ever be simple again...if it ever was

They had Gaius, they had Gwaine…they had his friends and suddenly he was angry again. Merlin would find a way to get them out, to save them, and if Arthur was too busy shoving his tongue into Gwen's mouth, well then…Merlin would just do it himself, it wouldn't be the first time. Merlin was meant to do these things alone, to be alone.

When Merlin walked back into the house, it almost dark outside, and he was very grateful to see Gwen sitting in the kitchen with his mother.

"Leon wishes to see you," he told her, this being more or less true. Leon didn't tell him he wanted to see her, but he knew that Leon did, so it was imposable that this was a lie. She nodded and stood up.

"Arthur's asleep, try not to wake him."

"Right," he nodded, but he could care less what Arthur was doing. He watched Gwen walk out and his mother handed him a bowl of gray stuff.

"You should really wake Arthur so he can eat," she told him. "He needs his strength."

Merlin didn't want to tell her that he probably wouldn't eat…whatever this was anyway. He just took it and headed into his room. To his surprise the great, giant clotpole wasn't sleeping at all.

"I was hoping to get out of eating that," he said, with a smirk, as he sat up in the bed, shirtless and bloody-bandaged. Merlin supposed Arthur didn't quite know just how mad Merlin was at him, well…he would soon learn.

"She can't afford anything better," Merlin barked at him. "Maybe you should go ask your sister for something to eat, if she doesn't run you through before you can even open your mouth!"

"What's wrong with you?" Arthur asked, brow forwarding. Merlin shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"Nothing."

"I know you better than that…"

"No you don't," Merlin snapped. "You don't know me at all!"

"Merlin…"

"You still plan on marrying her, don't you?!"

"What…?" Arthur asked, his brow even more forward now. "I said I wouldn't..."

"Oh, so you remember that?" Merlin said, averting his eyes from Arthur, instead looking at the floor. "But you still allow her to be all over you, when I'm right here?"

"I couldn't help that, she was just happy to see me."

"She thinks you are in love with her, that she will be your queen!" Merlin looked back at him and glared something terrible, he feared his face might stick this way. "I will not be your royal bed warmer, Arthur, and that's all you wanted me for, isn't it?"

"No…"

"Right, sure," Merlin turned away and grabbed for the door. "You might be willing to be that king, but I'm not willing to be that servant. Whatever you might have wanted with me…go find someone else to give it to you."

He walked out then, not bothering to turn around.

Merlin stalked through the castle halls, on guard, looking for Gwen. He had heard her yelling a few seconds ago and even though he might not like her so much at the moment, the Arthur stealer that she was, she was his friend and he would do anything he could for her. Morgana was ruthless and even though Gwen used to be her friend too, she would kill her in an instant. Luckily though, thanks to Merlin, Morgana was currently powerless and injured. Okay, he hadn't done the injuring part, but he had done the blocking her magic part.

"What did I do to make you hate me so much?!" he heard Gwen saying and stopped, right outside a doorway, a broken doorway. He could hear the clinks of swords hitting together and knew they were fighting. He twitched in his spot, waiting to act, Morgana was the better fighter, it was only a matter of time.

"It's not what you did, it's what you're destined to do," Morgana told her, sounding out of breath and tired. Merlin twitched again. "And I'm sorry Gwen, but I can never let that happen…"

It had gone silent then, and Merlin knew it was the right time; he stepped around the doorway and used his magic. Morgana never saw it coming, too focused on trying to stab Gwen. She went flying back, bits of wall and ceiling falling onto her. He walked into the room further and touched Gwen's arm, making sure she was okay.

"Are you alright?" he asked, to which she nodded, looking confused ahead of them.

"Yes...what happened?"

He stepped forward, into the rubble, where Morgana was supposed to be and saw nothing but broken bits of wall and castle, he sighed.

"I don't know," he lied.

They both rushed back to where they had left Arthur after that, when they had left him he was fighting a giant, bald man, twice his size and Merlin feared he shouldn't have left him at all. He only had two other people in there to help him and it looked like that man could eat them both for a snack…maybe even all three of them.

Upon entering the room, the first thing he noticed, was Arthur, who was slumped against a pillar, eyes trained to the floor, where the bald man lay dead. There were soft cries coming from another set of pillars, where Tristan and Isolde, (once bandits, but now friends of Arthur's and Camelot's,) lay, pressed against one, Isolde was bleeding and was doing the crying, as Tristan petted her hair.

"Our dreams…" she was crying. Tristan was clearly trying to comfort her, muttering things Merlin couldn't quite make out. Merlin wanted to do something, to help her, but he didn't know how. "Hold me…"

He couldn't bare it, he turned away, looking at Arthur again instead, to see him looking back.

The battle was over, Morgana was gone and everyone in Camelot was busy, either working on cleaning up the castle or securing it. Everyone was doing something, but Merlin. He just sat there, he couldn't shake the somber feeling since Isodle had died. He had liked her so much, she was kind and brave, and Merlin knew, Tristan was with Gaius right now, taking this a lot worse than he was, but he couldn't help it. Knights gathered around him, he had even seen Gwaine a few times and Elyan once, who had been tortured by Morgana apparently. He had even seen Gwen and Arthur pass by him once or twice, neither of them had stopped though, and he didn't want them to. He wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep, for as long as possible; these last days had felt like years.

He guessed he had fallen asleep too, because when he opened his eyes it was dark out and he panicked, sitting up to see Arthur leaning over him.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Arthur was asking him, as Merlin blinked a few times, to get the fuzzy things from his vision. "Why haven't you gone to Gaius' chambers?"

"Tristan is staying there tonight…" Merlin trailed off, averting his eyes from Arthur upon mentioning Tristan. "I'll be sleeping on the floor there too."

"Get up," Arthur offered his hand and Merlin took it, being lifted quickly. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?"

"To my chambers," Arthur replied, pushing him down the hall. "You might not want to be that kind of servant, but you're still my servant."

Merlin felt his stomach turn at Arthur's words. They had more or less made up from that, enough in a way, while they planned for battle; nothing further had been said about it, actually. While Merlin had been focused on Arthur feeling like a right foul king, instead of the brilliant one he actually was, which prompted Merlin to do a lot of lying and Arthur to pull a sword out of a rock…it was his sword anyway, he just didn't know that.

"Arthur," he tried to explain, as he was pushed into Arthur's chambers, it was dark in there, the fire hadn't been lit, nor the candles. Either way, he felt horrible for what he had said, while he was angry. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't," Arthur shook his head, Merlin could hardly tell in the bit of light that was coming into the room. But he couldn't just let this go, he had to tell Arthur. Tell him that he should just marry Gwen, that Merlin wasn't worth it, whatever this had been, or could have been, it just wasn't worth it.

"You shou-"

"I love you."

"…what?" Merlin's mouth fell open, as his heart threatened to come up his throat and fall out. He gapped at Arthur, trying to form words. Arthur loved him?

"I love you," Arthur said it again, Merlin couldn't believe he had said it the first time, it was even more confident this time. "You will never be just that servant to me."

"I...I don't understand," Merlin mumbled, he would kick himself, for lack of things to say, if he had enough air in his body to move properly.

"Merlin," Arthur said, putting one hand on Merlin's side and the other on the back of his neck, jerking him closer. "I have almost lost you before, I couldn't bare losing you again, this time, perhaps forever, without..."

"Without...?" Merlin urged him on, breathless.

"Without telling you how I really feel about you," he continued, Merlin grinned then, not being able to stop it, not that he tried to. He leaned forward, but Arthur stopped him, with a finger pressed to his mouth where his lips should be pressing. "Merlin," Merlin frowned, confused. "I want you to understand, I would never treat you like something less than you deserve. I know I said I wouldn't give it a thought, if I were selfish and took a queen, but that is only because I love you."

"You have to stop saying that," Merlin shook his head, it did odd things to his insides when Arthur said it, and he wasn't quite sure he liked it or not...but he did, he really did.

"Why?" Arthur asked then, looking concerned. "Do you not believe me?"

"Of course I do," Merlin smiled, biting down on his lip. "It just feels strange, hearing you say it."

"It feels strange saying it," Arthur admitted, smiling again, reaching up, with the hand that had been at Merlin's side, to run gentle fingers along his cheekbone. "Sleep with me tonight...?" he asked, but before Merlin could respond, he added. "Just sleep, after the events today, I want to be close with someone."

"Of course, Merlin nodded. He helped him out of the few bits of armor he was wearing and Arthur offered him his hand after, Merlin took it, being dragged, willingly, to the bed. As they lay down Merlin rested his head on the kings shoulder and sighed. "I love you too, you know that right?"

"I know," Arthur replied, wrapping his arms around Merlin, bringing him even closer.

"I just wanted to make sure you did..." Merlin told him, Arthur stroked gentle fingers through Merlin's short hair and suddenly he pictured Tristan and Isolde, he sighed. "This isn't over you know? Morgana is still out there somewhere..."

"I know," Arthur said again, but sounded at peace with it. Merlin wasn't so sure he felt the same about this fact.

"Agravaine's dead, you know?" Merlin told him, he knew this because it had been him who killed the man. He took in a sharp breath, and Arthur rubbed gentle fingers along his arm, as well as his hair now, almost comforting like.

"I know..."

(A/N: Again, this didn't feel like that much of an ending, but like with Miscommunications, it's not really the end. I also didn't add a kiss, because I was trying to prove that they don't need to kiss or do any thing else, because they just don't need to. and here's something you can strew over, how did Arthur know Agravaine was dead before Merlin even told him? And one more thing, you can just assume that Mithian and her father went back to their kingdom, even though it wasn't mentioned. Because I forgot. The next one will be called Enamored and will be put up in a few days, check my profile thing and I'll set a date.)