Chapter 1

Warning/s: Mentions of injuries etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: Hello everybody! I'm back with the (hopefully) long-awaited sequel to More Gained, None Lost! It's been a while but you know me - I'm not good at punctuality. And I am now doing A-levels which take up so much of my time, especially considering I'm doing History (which is more like doing two separate courses in the time of one) and my mental health is steadily declining once more! Anyway, I hope this sequel lives up to all of your hopes, dreams and expectations (ha of course it won't) and please leave me a review so I know what you're thinking! I love you all x

"I'm fine," Merlin grumbled, squirming in Percival's arms. As soon as the king had hurried into the castle's courtyard with dirtied armour and an expression of grim determination, the people had scattered to the edges, watching the events closely. That of course meant that now everyone was staring at Merlin, who had just enough energy left to be mortified.

"That's the last thing you are," Gwaine reprimanded him in an oddly stern, mother-hen kind of way. It took Merlin by such surprise that he fell silent and ceased moving, blinking at the sky listlessly. He hadn't realised until now just how dearly he'd missed the sky.

He heard the knights muttering to each other, their voices all around him, blurring into one. He thought that they were probably talking about him but his brain was so fuzzy that he couldn't bring himself to care, and soon he slipped in a deep slumber.

"But he will be okay?"

Merlin stirred groggily. There was a thin sheet over him, and a soft mattress underneath him. Without making a sound – even if he wanted to cry out, his throat was so dry that he doubted he could – he forced his eyelids open. Dim light hurt his eyes, and a crackling fire caught his attention. By it stood the king, who was staring pensively into the fire. Gaius was sitting near to him, exhausted and strained looking. Merlin instantly felt a stab of guilt – it was probably his current state that had Gaius so weary. The knights were scattered around the room in various positions. Percival and Elyan were sitting at one of Gaius's work stations; Leon was sitting alone at a small table, scribbling furiously on some parchment, his face illuminated by a flickering candle. Gwaine was perched on a comically low stool next to the patient cot, where Merlin was laid. Merlin had to stifle a laugh at Gwaine's appearance; he had removed half of his armour and one of his boots but nothing else, and there were three half-eaten apples on a table by him, in varying states of decay. His legs were stuck straight out in front of him and his arms were crossed petulantly.

Merlin reached out with his left arm, the one closest to Gwaine, intending to poke him. He stopped in amazement when he saw that his hand was practically one giant bandage from all of the individual lengths of cloth concealing his skin. Forgetting that his throat felt like it was full of ash and his mouth was dryer than Gaius's sense of humour, he exclaimed (in an incredibly hoarse and cracked voice), "What happened to my hand?"

The reaction in the room was instant. Leon upset his candle and cursed, a rare occurrence, Percival and Elyan started upright so quickly that they banged heads, Gaius's weathered face broke into a smile, Arthur almost jumped into the fire in a very unkingly manner, and Gwaine took a prompt journey to the floor backside first.

Merlin took all of this in with mild bemusement.

"You're awake!" Arthur said, rather brilliantly.

Merlin blinked at him. "Gwaine fell off his chair," he pointed out. He had been out for maybe a few hours, judging by the lack of sunlight outside. Gwaine falling over was infinitely more interesting than him waking up.

Arthur blinked back at him, then asked slowly, "Do you remember anything that's happened?" He sounded very cautious and un-Arthur, and something in Merlin flared up. The least Arthur could do was be himself, damn it.

"Are you talking about the part when you found out about my magic or the part when Morgana captured me for her nefarious means?"

If Arthur was put out by the 'magic' part of things, he didn't show it, but at the latter half of Merlin's speech, he grinned. "Oh, nefarious." He raised his eyebrows. "That's a big word, where did you find that one?"

Gwaine, meanwhile, had picked himself up from the floor with as much dignity as one in his situation could muster, and was now pouring a large glass of water. "Drink," he insisted, pushing the cup into Merlin's hands. The servant obeyed happily, washing away the glass shards in his throat.

"You fell off your chair," Merlin said to him as soon as he'd finished. Gwaine just blinked at him. Really, Merlin knew he was the one who'd started this trend of blinking aimlessly, but it was starting to get very annoying.

"Gaius, is he concussed?" Leon asked, having righted his candle and mopped up the spilt wax.

"I rather fancy that he's just Merlin," came his mentor's quietly amused voice. Then, suddenly, Gaius himself appeared in Merlin's line of vision. "How are you feeling, my boy?"

Merlin considered for a second; how was he feeling? "I'm not feeling anything," he said eventually and quite truthfully.

Gaius nodded approvingly. "That will be the pain tonic I gave you. You were in a bad way when you got here. Luckily I've managed to treat most of your injuries, though they're not healing quite as well as they should have done over this amount of time."

Merlin frowned at him. "Well, it's only been a few hours," he pointed out, though there was a prick of unease inside him now.

"Mate, you've been out for two weeks," Gwaine practically yelped. He was marginally quelled by Gaius's stern look, and even more so when he noticed Merlin's distress.

"Two weeks?" Merlin repeated. He felt bubbles of panic rising inside him, but decided to wait until after the knights gave him some privacy to have what Gaius called 'panic attacks'. So the obvious solution (only temporary, but still) was to deny everything. "No, you're wrong," he said cheerfully, swallowing his anxiety. "It's been five hours tops."

Gaius recognised what his ward was doing immediately and began to shoo the knights out from his chambers. "I fear Merlin has some severe memory loss," he said over their protests. I must run some tests and for that I will need complete focus. Come back after an hour has passed.

As soon as the knights and a very disgruntled king had been ejected, Merlin gave himself in to panic. He bent over and pressed his face into his knees, breathing furiously. Panic swelled over him in waves. His hearing was fuzzy. His eyesight turned black. Gaius was speaking but he heard only a faint humming. His mind was racing and not working at the same time. He tipped over on his side, only realising a second later that it was Gaius who was turning him over and not gravity.

There were a million hands on his back and only two at the same time, and one voice and a thousand all telling him to breathe deeply. Eventually he found himself able to obey the commands and breathed in through his nose and let the same breath out from his mouth.

When he was able to sit up he did so, and the first thing he said to Gaius was, "Two weeks?"

The physician nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so," he said gently. "It is for the best."

"How?" Merlin spat. Two weeks of his life wasted. Two weeks when Arthur and Camelot were vulnerable to Morgana or any other enemy. How could destiny have let him down so greatly?

"Your magic was damaged," Gaius explained. "Everyone could tell. Everyone could feel it; after a week it seemed to recover. But then there were your physical injuries. They still aren't healing well."

"My magic usually helps them to heal," Merlin said in a half-whisper. He still wasn't used to discussing his magic out loud without casting any sound-blocking spell around them first.

"I think Morgana may have cast some kind of spell," Gaius said solemnly. "One that prevents your wounds from healing as well."

"Of course," Merlin muttered, pulling the blankets up over himself. "Of course she would."

"I think I have managed to reverse it," Gaius carried on, ignoring his negative words. "It will still take a while though, because it stopped the healing process early on. Therefore you must stay absolutely still and allow yourself to heal." The last part was accentuated with a raised eyebrow and a stern look in his direction.

"Fine," Merlin grumbled, but really he was quite happy about that verdict. He felt drowsy now, even though he had barely moved. "I'm going to go back to sleep," he told Gaius, and settled back down. He was asleep within minutes.

A/N: oh dear this is terrible