AN: So this is from a prompt by AngryPurpleFire. I hope you guys enjoy it. I wrote it pretty quickly because the words formed in my head as soon as I read the prompt. That and it helped me procrastinate the harder stories I should be writing. One of my other Merlin fics is my most popular so hopefully this one is good too. Let me know if it's not.

Trigger Warning for Rape.

None of this was meant to happen. It wasn't part of their destiny. Kilgharrah never said anything about any of this in any of the conversations Merlin had had with the dragon. This was all wrong.

Merlin wrapped a blanket around the half-naked Prince sitting the royal chamber's floor and tried to push down the rage he was holding inside. Letting his anger and sadness burst out right now wouldn't help anyone. Instead, he knelt beside the prince and focused on breathing evenly.

"Sire, what happened?"

Earlier that night

"Do you require anything else from me this evening?" Merlin asked ever so graciously.

"No Merlin, take you sarcasm and leave for the night." Arthur replied, not even looking up from his papers.

Merlin gave his trademark grin and left the prince's chambers. He had some magic to study before getting to bed himself.

Arthur sighed as soon as he heard his door shut. He was far more stressed than he'd like to be and the fact that his father kept talking to him of marriage wasn't helping much.

After a few more minutes of charting out next week's hunt, Arthur decided to turn in for the night. He changed into his night clothes and blew out the candles before falling into a dreamless sleep.

He was jolted awake hours later. He could only estimate it was around four in the morning. The moonlight was still falling through the window but just barely as it would be trading with the sun in a couple more hours. He felt a sharp point at his neck and a heavy weight on top of him.

"Sorry to wake you Sire," said a deep but quiet voice.

"Get o-" Arthur began. A hand quickly covered his mouth.

"No, now is not the time to speak my prince. Now is the time to obey."

As Arthur's eyes adjusted he wished to be inside a very vivid nightmare. Arawn, the eldest knight in Camelot, was naked and sitting on top of Arthur with a dagger at his neck.

"Make any noise and I will slit your wrists; tell your father I found you like this as I did the nightly rounds. His poor son, so overwhelmed with a prince's duties." Arawn smirked and moved his hand from Arthur's mouth and went to remove the prince's trousers.

Arthur's mind was racing. He had to think of a way out of this. His nearest weapon was across the room. He knew he was in the losing position. He'd been training in combat long enough to know when there was no escape. He felt the cool of the night surround his lower half as his groin was exposed for the knight. He closed his eyes. He knew what was coming but he would not cry.

Arawn's hand returned to Arthur's mouth as he entered the prince with no preparation. Arthur wanted to scream. He could feel nothing but pain emanating from every nerve in his body as Arawn continued to thrust with no sympathy at how much he was breaking the future king.

The thirty minutes that Arawn spent inside of Arthur seemed like an eternity. A slow creek from the door proved to be Arthur's salvation.

"Oh my-" Merlin exclaimed as he entered the room. He had a single candle to light his way as he was coming to prepare Arthur's bath and grab the armor he forgot to take with him the night before.

"Merlin! Help-" Arthur said as soon as he heard the servant's voice.

Those were the only sounds Merlin needed to hear. They were muffled but Merlin heard. He didn't need to see the dagger or fact that Arawn was naked. He just knew there was someone on top of Arthur and Arthur asked for help.

Arawn swiftly moved the dagger and grabbed Arthur's right wrist. He had made a small vertical cut when he was suddenly hit in the head with a shield that had been thrown across the room.

With a thud, Arawn toppled over and fell onto the floor. Arthur quickly sat up. He could feel the pain radiating through his entire body but he ignored it as the compulsion to get out of his own bed was too strong. He moved off the bed on the opposite side of where Arawn fell. He didn't even care how Merlin was able to throw a shield with that much force across the room. He just needed to be away from what just happened.

Merlin quickly lit the other candles in the room and made the connection of what had happened. Both Arawn and Arthur were naked from the waist down, but Arthur was bleeding from places no man should bleed.

"My father cannot know about this Merlin." Arthur said as he finished telling Merlin what had transpired that morning.

"What do we do about Arawn?" Merlin asked, not questioning Arthur's desires to keep this quiet.

"I don't know. Just cover him up and put him in the hall. We'll say he fell asleep on the job or something." Arthur couldn't think clearly. He was exhausted and fighting the urge to cry as well as kill Arawn.

"Okay. Let's start a bath for you." Merlin said helping the prince off the floor.

Arthur curled up on a chair next to the tub as Merlin filled it with water.

"Merlin, that's going to be freezing," Arthur said as he finally began to think clearly. The tub was almost full and Merlin hadn't boiled any of the water.

"I know you saw what happened with the shield Arthur. Our lives would make much more sense if I stopped hiding from you." Merlin said as he held his hands towards the water and heated it instantly.

"You have magic." Arthur said quietly, almost as if it were a disappointment.

"Since birth, yes… My destiny is to use my magic to protect you." Merlin answered, watching the prince closely for a reaction.

Arthur didn't say anything further as he got into the hot water. It was probably too hot but Arthur didn't care. There would never be water hot enough to fix what had just happened to him.

After several minutes of quiet Arthur spoke, seemingly out of nowhere. "All my life I've been told that men with magic are the worst of all evils. It was forced into my head that no one could be as bad as a sorcerer… But here I am, saved by a sorcerer and broken by a mere man- a trusted knight who would sooner burn a child with magic than protect the king's son."

Merlin let Arthur process his thoughts. He couldn't even imagine the world that was collapsing in front of Arthur.

"Thank you Merlin. Your secret is safe." Arthur finally looked at the servant. Merlin couldn't help but notice that his eyes were dull but glistening with tears that threatened to fall.

"Of course Sire." Merlin gave a weak smile. "Would you like me to stay with you for now?"

Arthur looked away as his tears fell silently. "Please."