Merlin watched in horror as rocks began to cascade down the side of the cave, sealing him from Arthur and the ten or so of Morgana's men that had ambushed them. Merlin tried to move the rocks with magic but he knew it was futile. His magic was gone completely, it wasn't trapped or weakened as it had been before; the flame that usually burned bright in his chest, tingling in his palms and at his fingertips had been extinguished. Merlin knew that he had to stay at Arthur's side, even without his magic it was his destiny to protect the king and he could not do that when he was trapped in a stupid cave with Arthur on the other side, surrounded by men.

Abandoning his attempt to use magic, Merlin threw himself to forwards, yelling Arthur's name and trying with all his might to move the rocks but they wouldn't budge an inch. The clangs of metal hitting metal were reverberating around the damp cave. Merlin gave up trying to lift the rocks and pounded his fist against them screaming. Arthur was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had failed his destiny. He had failed Arthur. Merlin realised he was crying but didn't care; he slumped forwards against the rocks, pressing his forehead against the rough surface, letting the tears stream down his face.

The sounds of battle had stopped and it was quiet in the cave now; the only sound was Merlin's sobs echoing around the room. He let out a strangled scream and punched the rock once more, ignoring the pain that spiked through his hand, before crumpling onto the floor, his body shaking with sobs.

That was it. It was over. Arthur was dead.

Thoughts were tearing at his mind, screaming at him that he could have done something, that he should have tried harder, that if he had, Arthur would not be dead.

Arthur had managed to kill all of Morgana's soldiers in the cave with difficulty; they were very skilled but nowhere near as good as him. As soon as the last man fell he looked around frantically for a way to get to Merlin and spotted a small passageway cut through the rough wall of the cave. He grabbed the lit torch that had been abandoned when they had been attacked and hurried off down the narrow passageway, hoping that it would lead him to merlin.

After a few minutes, Arthur stumbled out of the narrow passageway and looked around frantically trying to find merlin, spotting him curled up into a tight ball by the avalanche of rocks, his sobs muffled by his knees. Arthur dropped the torch carelessly at his feet and rushed over to merlin, dropping down to his knees next to him and putting a tentative hand on his arm.

"Merlin?" his voice came out in a whisper. Merlin looked up at him, disbelief etched into his blotchy and tear stained face.

"Arthur!" he gasped, "I thought you were dead!"

"Oh come on, I can handle a bunch of idiots any day-" but he was cut off by Merlin grabbing hold of him and burying his face in his neck. Arthur hugged him back tightly, rubbing his back in an attempt to soothe him.

They stayed in the embrace for several minutes until the shoulder of Arthur's shirt was soaked beneath the chain mail and Merlin had stopped shaking. Arthur pressed a kiss into Merlin's dark hair before taking his face in his hands.

"I'm fine, it'll take much more than that to take me down, okay?" He said softly.

Merlin nodded looking down in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I just-"

"Shh it's okay, Merlin, it's fine, I'm here." Arthur shushed him, pulling him back into the hug.

Thank you for reading! Lets all just pretends this is what actually happens and then everything will be okay and merthur will become canon and there will be a wonderful magic reveal. That or the world ends tomorrow and we never have to live without merlin...