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Arthur blearily opened his eyes, staring at the canopy above his bed in confusion. How on earth had he got here, he was sure he had been in a meeting with his father? Sleepily rolling his head to the side, the prince frowned even more when he saw the sun through his window. It was late afternoon, the light fading as the sun began its descent over the horizon, signalling another day coming to a close. What had happened?

The royal pushed himself into an upright position, groaning as his head pounded slightly. He certainly hadn't felt like this earlier, and couldn't help but smile in dry amusement when he realised what he was feeling. So much for all of his father's concerns about him catching the illness, the man had put his extreme measures into practice too late. Arthur knew what he was feeling, he already had it. He supposed that was what happened when he had spent the whole morning around his sickly manservant.

Merlin! Where was he? Glancing around the room, Arthur knew within a split second of starting his search that the warlock wasn't in the room. Even ill, Merlin couldn't be that quiet, and no doubt he would have something to say about the fact that Arthur too was now ill. But if he wasn't in the safety of Arthur's chambers, where the hell was he? The prince knew he couldn't exactly be wandering around the castle considering his latest predicament. Where would someone with explosive sneezes hide?

Thinking too hard made his head hurt though, and Arthur fell back on his pillows, still feeling exhausted. Why on earth was he so tired, none of this made any sense. Why had Merlin left the safety of Arthur's rooms? Why was Arthur even in here, he certainly didn't remember making the journey back. Frowning in contemplation, an image swam before his mind. Him being thrown against a wall, the entire corridor in chaos and Merlin's terrified expression. Now he remembered, that had happened straight after the meeting, almost in the meeting, in front of the King. What had happened after that? He knew Merlin would have reacted badly to his magic being that out of control, it was just how he was. The most powerful warlock of all time (not that Arthur had ever admitted to acknowledging that to Merlin's face!), yet he was so scared of hurting anyone, especially Arthur.

Slowly, other images revealed themselves to Arthur's fog filled mind. Merlin's apology, his eyes burning gold...and then nothing.

"Oh, Merlin, you idiot..." Arthur muttered, pushing himself back upright again. Now he remembered what the fool had done. Arthur had to admit he was slightly impressed that Merlin had managed to get him back to his chambers and even dump him on the bed before doing his normal disappearing act. Where that was going to get him, apart from was executed, Arthur had no idea. It was a challenge enough keeping his servant hidden from his father on the best of days, let alone when Merlin had no control over his magic and had gone and vanished. Again.

Swinging his legs off the bed, Arthur pulled on his boots and stood up. For a moment, he had to lean against the bed post in order to stop the world swimming slightly alarmingly as a wave of dizziness crashed over him. Not that that was going to stop the determined prince, not when he had a servant to severely reprimand for being such an idiot, after checking that he was okay, that was. The one thing he was more than grateful was Merlin's now inability to lie to him. Apart from the magic, Merlin had always been truthful. And now that he could be open about his gifts, Arthur had found that he could read the boy even easier now. He knew when Merlin was lying to him, even if it was about his own health.

Deciding that crossing to the far side of his room to grab his sword was simply too much effort, Arthur stumbled for the door. Yanking it open rather harshly, it was only a matter of seconds until he was making his way down the corridor, although not quite with the pace that he was used too. Now that he was standing up, he knew he had come down with this illness. He really didn't feel right at all.

Arthur blamed it on feeling ill that he didn't hear the guards coming. He didn't notice a thing, studying the floor as he wobbled his way down the corridor, smirking slightly when he realised the last time he had walked like this, he had been more than drunk and Merlin had been moaning in his ear non-stop about prats of princes who had decided to prove themselves to the knights in a drinking contest. Not that Arthur remembered much of that night.

But even so, when the floor suddenly turned into several pairs of boots, Arthur managed to lift his head, wincing as his eyes caught on of the torches on the wall and it sent a wave of pain through his head. By the time he could focus again, he found himself face to face with three guards. And standing in the middle of them – his father. Sighing in annoyance, Arthur leant against the wall for support.

"I should have known that you took that command too quickly." Uther said quietly, his eyes flickering in disappointment as he gazed at his heir. Normally, Arthur would straighten in defiance and his head would lift challengingly. This time, Arthur just scrubbed a hand over his eyes and groaned softly.

"Arthur?"

"Was going...was going to..." Thinking as fast as his sore head would let him, Arthur tried to come up with something that would stop his father simply throwing him in the dungeons for disobeying him. As his throat started to scratch slightly, the prince had the answer. "Going to Gaius. Don't feel good..."

Uther looked like he had a reprimand burning on the tip of his tongue, something to do with Arthur having to be more careful to make sure that he didn't catch these common illnesses and what was the king supposed to say to the delegation? But then he properly looked at his son. Arthur hadn't noticed the flush steadily working up his neck and across his cheeks, nor the way his eyes seemed a little unfocused. The king sighed, knowing that anything he said now would simply fall on deaf ears. It was clear the prince wasn't well.

"Take him back to his rooms." He instructed the guards, somewhat gently as he let his hand rest on Arthur's shoulder for a moment. "We'll discuss this when you are well again..."

"M'fine..." Arthur muttered, forgetting that he was completely contradicting his earlier excuse of why he was wandering around the castle despite being instructed otherwise.

"Go to bed, Arthur." Uther said firmly, nodding to the guards. Two of them gently took Arthur by the arms and began steering him back down the corridor. He had barely made it ten paces in the first place, only running into the king because Uther had wanted to make sure Arthur had done as he was told for once. They had to move slowly, for with each step, Arthur was trying to pull against them. He may not have felt well, but he also knew that he had to find his servant before Merlin got himself caught and executed.

His struggles had never ever worked against the guards though, even when he had been in his teens and strongly defying everything Uther said just because he wanted too rather than necessarily disagreeing with the man. Coupled with his concern for Merlin and his pounding head, they soon had him in his room. Before they left, however, a noise outside of his room drew his attention and Arthur blinked somewhat sluggishly as Leon walked into view, having seen the guards escorting Arthur back. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the guards.

"Sire?" The loyal knight moved across the room, glancing at his prince in concern when he saw just how out of it Arthur was looking.

"Have to find Merlin." Arthur said stubbornly, knowing the longer Merlin was left out there, the more danger he would be in of being exposed. It didn't even occur to him that his servant could actually take care of himself, or the fact he might have found somewhere safe, especially considering how worried he was about hurting someone. Arthur just knew he wanted the servant back in his room so that he could keep an eye on him, and at least know if the fool was going to get himself executed.

"I'll find him," Leon promised, slowly putting his hand on Arthur's shoulder and pushing him backwards until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. Arthur barely even noticed, letting his head rest in his hands as he screwed up his eyes at the intense headache he was getting. Having been one of the first to suffer from the illness, the Knight sympathised, and slowly navigated his prince until Arthur was lying across his bed. Arthur didn't even notice as Leon pulled off his boots, nor when he pulled the covers over the almost slumbering form.

"You just rest, I'll find that servant of yours and tell him that you want him." Arthur sleepily nodded, not realising that Leon didn't even know Merlin was ill. Sleep sounded good right now, the leftover of Merlin's magic coupled with the fact that he was feeling ill meant Arthur couldn't resist. If Leon was surprised by how quickly the young royal gave in, he was trained well enough not to show his reaction.

"Tell him...tell him he's an idiot..." Arthur slurred just before he fell asleep. Watching him for a moment, Leon shook his head with a fond smile before heading towards the door. If he found Merlin, he would indeed tell him that Arthur wanted him. But he wasn't going to go out of his way, regardless of what he had said. Arthur let his stubbornness come to the surface even more in Merlin's presence, and the knight knew the prince needed his rest.

He knew the pair of them too well, he couldn't help but muse as he softly shut Arthur's door, instructing the guards outside to make sure the prince wasn't disturbed. Moving away, he set off towards Gaius' chambers, intending to prepare him for the oncoming storm of an ill Arthur. They would need all the strength of mind and patience in the world in order to deal with him like this. Arthur never had been, and never would be, an easy patient.

MMM

Deep down below the castle, unaware of his master's own illness, Merlin trembled. He was curled up, his limbs jerking in odd movements before they tucked back into his body, trying to preserve some of the little heat he had. He was freezing cold, yet his brow was beaded with sweat. Every now and again, a soft cry would rip from him and some boulder deep within the cave would be torn from its resting place and thrown around.

Kilgarrah kept watch over the young warlock all that afternoon and deep into the night. He never thought he would feel for a human again, and knew that given the chance, he would do anything to get Merlin to release him from the prison that had contained him for all of these years. But watching the trembling form, realising quite how small and fragile the potential dragonlord looked, Kilgarrah felt something stir in him that he had not felt for a long time. He truly wanted Merlin to overcome the magical infliction, and not just because the boy was his way out of here. He wanted Merlin to live simply because he was Merlin. Even after he had almost brought about the death of the boy's mother, the warlock had returned, and slowly began to trust him again.

The dragon knew Merlin was lucky. He had come into his powers just as an illness had ripped through the castle, rendering many of its puny inhabitants sick. But it meant the boy's illness was not questioned, and it even seemed that the symptoms had taken on the same form of that which was raging above. But this was far from any ordinary cold, and the warlock was going to be lucky to walk away from it at all.

A soft groan caused Kilgarrah to look down just in time to see disorientated orbs flicker open and gaze at him in confusion.

"Don't try and move, young warlock. You are not free from it yet."

"M-magic s...strong..." Merlin's mumble was accompanied by a flare of his eyes and a great section of the ceiling came crumbling down. Not for the first time was the dragon forced to protect the warlock from the falling debris. This time, the rock fall didn't stop for a while as Merlin's magic continued to race out from him.

When it finally slowed, Kilgarrah found that he was concerned to see Merlin's shakes had got even worse, and as his eyes closed once more, he knew it was not sleep that had stolen the young man away, but the realm of unconsciousness. It was entering the final stage... Now Merlin truly was in for the fight of his life.

In all of his years, the Great Dragon had seen many sorcerers battle this illness, reigning in their powers and becoming more in control than they had ever been in their lives. But never had he seen the magic still seep out from its host even when unconscious, and he could see Merlin's eyes rolling under their closed lids, the burning gold obvious even like that. He was jerking strangely, again something that the dragon had never seen, and he knew once and for all he truly was looking at the most powerful warlock of all time. Merlin was the one that was going to create the Albion that had been foretold, guiding the future king in the right direction. But first of all, he had to guide himself through the darkness, find a way of forcing his magic to settle.

For many more hours, Kilgarrah watched over the unconscious form, sheltering him from any further rockslides when his magic got a little too wild and even heating the stones surrounding the warlock, knowing the cave was not warm enough for a human, especially one as small as Merlin. In the early hours of the morning, the jerking stopped and Merlin went completely still.

"Fight, young one, you must fight." Kilgarrah wasn't quite sure when he was suddenly willing the stubborn young man to open his eyes, to give a grin and go bounding off again like nothing had happening in his usual manner. The dragon was worried, never had he seen someone so still and so pale. He knew there was nothing he could do but wait, and hope that the pull of destiny was strong enough to get Merlin through this.

MMM

Arthur awoke mid-morning, having slept straight through the night. He still felt rough, and knew that it would be many more days before he was back to his normal self if the knights' reports were anything to go by. But after having so much sleep thanks to Merlin and Leon, at least he felt like he could think straight. It didn't take long for him to realise that Merlin still wasn't in the room, and judging by the way none of the jobs had been done, hadn't been for some time.

Groaning, Arthur climbed out of bed, tugged on his boots and jacket and crept to the door. This time, he was alert enough to make sure there were no guards around before he started creeping down the corridors. Luckily, there had been none outside of his door, but little did Arthur realise it was just because he had gone to relieve himself at that split second. Arthur had no idea how lucky he had just been as he began to scour the castle for his servant.

The prince had some idea of heading towards Gaius and seeing if Merlin had barricaded himself in there. It was often the place Arthur could find him sulking, although Merlin always seemed to be surprised that Arthur found him. But he never made it that far before something caught his eye. A massive crack ran down a wall, and judging by the way it disappeared through the floor as well, Arthur knew it must be the same on the level below. Despite himself, Arthur had to smile. That hadn't been there the day before, of that he was sure. And there was only one person he knew that would be able to cause damage like that and not be around when someone noticed. Merlin and his sneezes were going to be the death of Arthur, or at least, his nerves.

For a while, Arthur followed the cracks through the corridors, realising that they were all in a very similar position to each other on each level. The only answer Arthur could give was that Merlin was somehow underneath it all, and his magic was causing trouble down in the foundations which in turn were affecting the castle. Arthur knew he must be down on the dungeon level at least, but why on earth would Merlin head down that way? Was he that paranoid that he was going to do something to hurt someone that he had completely isolated himself in the darkest and dampest parts of the corridor? The servant had a cold, it was possibly the worst place he could be.

Rolling his eyes at the idiocy of his servant, Arthur headed down the steps, inwardly shivering at the blast of icy air that met him and drawing his jacket closer around him. But once he reached the bottom, he stopped again, frowning. The cracks lead down the opposite corridor, one Arthur had never travelled down. He had tried once when he was a boy, but the guards had stopped him and his father had been so furious that Arthur had never tried it again. It was the only time Uther had ever raised a hand to him, but it had certainly made an impression great enough to cure his curiosity. But now...now Arthur just knew that he had to travel down the forbidden route in order to find his manservant.

With a quick glance around him to make sure there were indeed no guards, Arthur set off at a brisk pace, determined that he was going to get Merlin, drag him back upstairs and then lecture him when they were in the warmth and safety of Arthur's rooms again. But all plans were put on hold as Arthur found himself in a huge cave, a crevice under the castle so huge he knew he could probably fit something the size of the palace into the gap. Craning his head back, he was sure that something caught his eye at the top of the rocks, as if something was crouched there out of sight.

As he took a step forward, twisting his neck awkwardly to try and see what was up there, his foot nudged something. Arthur would vehemently deny the worry that coursed through him as he caught sight of Merlin's motionless form, but he immediately dropped to his knees, stretching out his hand and touching the icy hand.

"You moron." He muttered irritably to himself. Only Merlin would go to the darkest and furthest part of the castle when he was sick and go and collapse where no one could see him. Arthur shrugged off his jacket, immediately shivering in the cold air and tied it around his servant. Without any further ado, he hoisted the young man onto his shoulders and set off without a backwards glance, determined to warm the man up. It seemed any lectures were going to have to be put on hold. In the dim light, he didn't see the golden flare of Merlin's eyes as he moaned slightly, nor a large creature peering down from the top of the rocks.

By not looking back, Arthur didn't see the dragon emerge from where he had sought shelter in the rocks on sensing the young Pendragon's presence. He had tried to draw the young man down here many years ago, to impress on him the destiny he had been born to fulfil, but the royal had never come. Kilgarrah had just put it down to the Pendragon stubbornness, but he couldn't help but feel some satisfaction that he had caught a glimpse of his Once and Future King. And judging by what had come out his mouth when he had seen his warlock, he was not as bad as Merlin constantly moaned he was.

The pull of destiny had indeed been strong enough to save Merlin. His magic had cried out, and Arthur had come. Somehow, Kilgarrah knew that Merlin was going to be alright now. The fight against the magic had been won hours ago, it had just been the cold and damp conditions that had kept him unconscious, making the dragon realise the cold was not an act, the warlock genuinely had that as well. The magic that he had sensed even as Arthur had carried him out had been it trying to save Merlin from the cold, tugging on the bond with Arthur and bringing the prince down here. After all, Arthur had never risked his father's wrath regarding the forbidden corridor before now.

Not realising that he was being examined by a creature so magical and so old it would make his head spin if he thought about it, Arthur made his way back to his chambers as quickly as he could. Kicking the door shut behind him, Arthur dumped Merlin none too gracefully on the bed, tugging the covers up over him, sliding his jacket out before standing back and biting his lip. He didn't want to fetch Gaius, not yet. Much as he was going to tell Merlin precisely what he thought of the young man going down to that part of the castle, Arthur had no desire for Gaius to find out. The man's lectures would not help the headache Arthur still had brewing. He wasn't letting Merlin out of his room now, meaning he would be forced to listen as well.

After poking the fire back into existence, Arthur sat down heavily at his table, pulling a stack of paperwork towards him. His father would no doubt expect him to have something to show for the time he had spent confined to his chambers, even if both royals now knew it was a pointless measure because Arthur was indeed sickening with the same illness Uther had been trying to save him from.

The words on the parchment seemed bleary, and Arthur just about registered that he had read the same sentence three times before he too fell asleep where he was sitting.

MMM

With a sigh, Merlin shifted and opened his eyes, blinking about him in confusion. He recognised this room, but it did nothing to explain how he had got there, or why he was lying on Arthur's bed. A tickle in his throat caused him to sit up, groaning softly as his head pounded. The goblet he knew he had been drinking from before (he wasn't sure how long he had been out for, seemingly remembering it was late afternoon when he had gone to see the dragon. Judging by the light outside, night had fallen, but Merlin wasn't sure if it was the same day or not) was still sitting next to the bed and he hastily took a sip before the cough could become anything more.

Leaning back on the mountain of pillows behind him, Merlin yawned, wondering how he still felt tired. After glancing around quickly, he smiled softly to himself as he caught sight of Arthur, and letting his eyes flash, he draped a blanket of the slumbering royal and fed the fire a little to keep it burning. He didn't like the flush to Arthur's skin.

Swinging his legs off the bed, Merlin scrubbed a hand through his hair, trying to piece together what had happened. He was sure he had gone down to see the dragon, and they had ended up having a conversation about his magic, and how this wasn't a normal cold for him. After that, it had gone a bit blurry, but he was sure that he hadn't made the journey back up into the main part of the castle himself. Considering even contemplating standing up right now was making his head hurt, he knew for a fact he wouldn't have been able to. But there was only one way he would have ended up in Arthur's chambers... but did that mean the prince had seen the noble creature his father had imprisoned?

Groaning in frustration at not knowing what was going on, Merlin stood up...and promptly found that his legs didn't want to support his weight and he crashed down onto the floor. Arthur awakened with a grunt, his hand automatically flying to a sword that wasn't there, only relaxing when he caught sight of his bemused servant sitting on the floor. For a moment, he just smiled softly at the blanket around his shoulders.

"Sire?" Merlin's squeak showed that his manservant was worried about something, and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"When I say stay put, I don't mean hide in a cave no one knows exists." He scolded, climbing to his feet and stretching, trying to ignore his headache. He didn't see Merlin visibly relax out of the corner of his eye, the warlock now certain that Arthur hadn't seen Kilgarrah. How on earth he could have missed a dragon, Merlin had no idea, but he knew Arthur's observation powers weren't always that great for the First Knight of Camelot. Subtly details he noticed, but give him a dragon or a best friend hiding magic, and he turned a blind eye.

"Sorry," Merlin muttered sheepishly, using the bed to pull himself to his feet and realising that he didn't feel quite as dizzy as he had done.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Merlin. You've been down there since yesterday, you were freezing!" Merlin silently thanked Arthur for the knowledge of the time frame, knowing it wouldn't have looked good if he had been forced to ask.

"You sound like you were worried there." True to form, Arthur rolled his eyes.

"You spelled me to fall asleep. Of course I wasn't worried, I was fuming!" he said, but there was a twinkle in his eye that had Merlin grinning back slightly. Before he could say anything, however, he suddenly sneezed. Both master and servant froze, but as Merlin glanced around tentatively, he knew he wouldn't find anything. He wasn't sure how he knew, but something felt at peace within him, and the warlock realised that he had overcome whatever it was Kilgarrah had been talking about the day before about his magic settling.

"Glad you are on the mend," Arthur said gruffly. "Now you can go and find me some food."

"Achoo!"

"Merlin!"

"I didn't mean too!"

"Achoo!" Merlin jumped, staring around him before beginning to smile. That hadn't been him.

"Arthur!" Mimicking the prince's previous tone of annoyance, Merlin grinned as Arthur glared at him, sniffing slightly. The longer Arthur had been awake for, the more the cold had settled into him, and he now had red-rimmed eyes to complete the glare.

"Shut up, Merlin."

"Achoo!" This time, they both sneezed almost simultaneously, and Merlin couldn't help but laugh. It was going to feel like a very long night. But at the end of the day, he knew this cold had helped him overcome something far greater and that he was one step closer to helping Arthur fulfil his destiny.

Although considering the way Arthur was glaring at him for finding their sneezing funny, Merlin wasn't sure whether he was actually going to live that long.

The end.