A Hidden Past- Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Warning/s: None

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

A/N: Hi guys. This is my first ever fanfiction! Woohoo! I finally got round to giving this little idea a whirl and hopefully it's not too bad. This chapter will be short because it's kind of the prologue but the others will be longer, promise. I have no idea how regularly I will be updating this story as I'm only just getting into this but it should be fairly regular. Enjoy!

Many thanks to Cordelia Rose who betaed this!

Sprinting down a corridor at top speed whilst carrying the entire set of the king's armour in your hands is no easy thing, but after five years of service you'd think Merlin would have got the hang of it. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Only metres from his destination disaster struck the puffing boy; having woken up late as usual, he hadn't had time to tie his bootlaces. He stumbled once, twice… CRASH! The newly polished armour soared out of Merlin's hands and clattered to the floor as he went down. Arthur, hair messed from sleeping and only in his night clothes, rushed out of his room, sword drawn. He stood on tiptoe and puffed out his chest, trying to appear regal whilst in his nightwear. His attempts failed miserably and all he succeeded in was making himself look like slightly drunk chicken. He quickly scanned the deserted corridor for intruders but all that met his gaze was his manservant in a crumpled heap with a pile of armour surrounding him.

"Merlin, you idiot. Do you not have the mental capacity to walk from your room to here without tripping over your own feet once in a while? That's the fourth time this week," the prince exclaimed, lowering his sword in relief, he really didn't want to be fighting off enemies this early in the morning.

"Just keeping you on your toes sire," came Merlin's muffled reply as he picked himself up off the floor and nursed his banged elbow.

"Well maybe next time you should remember to tie your own shoelaces," Arthur reprimanded, poking the offending bits of string with the tip of his sword whilst trying to hide his smirk.

"If you didn't make me wake up at the crack of dawn I would have time to do them, prat," Merlin complained, gathering the fallen armour up into his arms and striding past the king into his rooms. Dumping it on the table, he grimaced at the new dents on the breastplate. Outside the king sighed loudly before following him inside the room. Merlin tried unsuccessfully to hide the dents by burying the piece underneath the others but Arthur's sharp eyes spotted it. They narrowed.

"As well as fixing those dents, you will muck out the stables, wash my clothes and tidy this room until it is so clean that I will be able to eat my dinner off the floor."

Merlin groaned and began collecting the dirty washing strewn in heaps across the stone floor. He dumped it in the laundry basket before attempting to sneak off without being lectured, again. He had no such luck.

"Merlin?"

"Yes, your royal pratness?"

"Where's my breakfast? It had better be on my table in five minutes or you will be spending the next week in the stocks. Do take your time though by all means."

Arthur grinned to himself as he heard Merlin hiss prat under his breath before storming out. He started counting: 1, 2, 3…

Merlin returned exactly four minutes later to a fully dressed and impatient prince. He placed the plate of meat, bread and cheese on the table with a flourish of his hands. He instantly regretted the flourish as his hands collided with the pile of neatly stacked and ordered papers, which also sat on the table. They teetered for a moment before sliding off and helpfully scattering themselves on the floor. Arthur just rolled his eyes and plucked his council meeting notes from under his feet and placed them back on the table. "You add the mess you just made to your list of duties Merlin."

"Your breakfast sire," Merlin said, trying to avoid standing on the papers and added, in what he thought was a whisper, "like you need it." Arthur lobbed the nearest thing to him at the disrespectful servant, which turned out to be his glass inkwell. The missile soared through the air before it hit its target squarely in the chest. The ornate bottle remained intact until it met its untimely end on the floor. Merlin was coated, head to foot, in ink. It dripped off his raven locks onto his nose, making it look like his hair was melting onto his face. Arthur shoved a hand over his mouth to stifle his chuckles; he was the prince he couldn't be seen in hysterics.

"Go get changed, before I die of laughter," he gasped out between chuckles.

"Wouldn't that be nice," Merlin shot back, failing to muster his dignity which floated in tatters in the growing puddle of ink by his feet. He headed out the door, leaving a black trail behind him.

Gwen ran into him as he was trudging despondently towards Gaius' chambers and she almost dropped the sheaf of papers she was carrying at seeing him. Her expression morphed from one of mild boredom to shock then to confusion.

"Merlin, what on Earth happened?" she asked, absorbing his ink splattered form.

"Your clotpole of a husband happened," he replied grinning, showing a splash of white in the sea of black that was his face.

Gwen laughed and fished a lace handkerchief from a pocket in her velvet gown, she handed it over. The servant smiled and wiped his blackened face. He thanked her before continuing his journey but Gwen stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Merlin, I'll have someone clear up the… trail you're leaving behind." He turned and groaned as he saw the footprints that followed him down the corridor.

"Thanks, Gwen."

She smiled and headed towards the royal chambers, shaking her head slightly at Merlin and her husband's antics. Only they could have ended up causing a mess like this. As she walked she noticed a few passing servants give her odd looks. Did she have something on her face? She brushed a hand through her hair and over her face. Maybe they were just not used to her being the Queen yet. She smiled at them, trying to show that just because she was Queen it didn't mean she wasn't still Gwen. She pondered this as she entered her chambers, only just side-stepping the servant cleaning a puddle of ink off the floor by the door. Arthur was sat at his desk, eating breakfast and leafing through his notes for the upcoming council meeting. He heard Gwen's approach and smiled. His wife: how he loved being able to call her that after so long hiding their feelings. She sat gracefully down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He turned his head to say how beautiful she was looking this morning but halted mid-sentence. Gwen raised her head and glared at him.

"What is it? Tell me Arthur."

"Have you seen Merlin this morning?" Arthur said quietly.

"Yes, but what does that matter?

"You have ink on your face and in your hair. Oh, and on your hand."

Gwen grabbed the jewel encrusted mirror Arthur had given her for her last birthday and sure enough her reflection revealed two large black smudges on her cheeks and nose. A streak of ink also peeped out of her brown curls.

"That's why they were staring at me…" she sighed and began rubbing them off with another lace handkerchief procured from her pocket.

"Who?"

"People I passed in the corridors," Gwen said, blushing at what they must have thought of her, their queen, walking through the castle covered with ink. They were probably gossiping right now about how their queen was a dirty peasant who had no right to the crown. She needed to prove them wrong and not noticing that she had ink on her was not the way to go about it.

"I don't understand how it got on your face though. Merlin may be an idiot and a rubbish manservant but he doesn't go round touching your face." Arthur waited for Gwen to explain about the ink situation but she didn't say a word. "He better not be touching your face or I'll kill him. You're my wife and if he has ever laid a finger…" He got no further as his angered tones shook Gwen from her thoughts.

"Gods no, he has never touched my face. I put my hand on his arm and the ink must have got on my hand and then like the idiot I am, I touched my face." Gwen sighed. "I'm such a rubbish queen."

"No, how can you think that? You are the most compassionate, understanding, intelligent queen the people could wish for," Arthur replied, trying to get her to look at him and see the truth.

"You really think that?" Gwen said, hopefully, lifting her eyes to meet his gaze. The insecurities that Arthur saw there made him want to scream at anyone who made her feel that way.

"Yes. Now, we have a council meeting to attend and where is Merlin? He should be back by now."

"Give him some time; you did throw ink all over him," Gwen chuckled, the image of Merlin in the corridor appearing in her mind.

"Well, he better be there," was all that Arthur said.

Gwen smiled, her now clean cheeks dimpling in amusement. Arm in arm the couple strode out of the room in high spirits, expecting another uneventful day - well, as uneventful as having Merlin around can be.

How wrong they were.