Chapter Text
They made it back to camp to find an agitated looking Leon. He visibly relaxed when he saw them coming through the trees. That calm vanished in an instant when he saw Gwaine walking behind Arthur and Lancelot carrying Merlin. Leon, Elyan, and Percival stood quickly.
“What happened to Merlin?” Percival asked, rushing to get Merlin’s medical kit from his bag.
“He was stung by a bloody serket.” Arthur called out. Leon and Elyan unsheathed their swords, and Percival quickly stood with Merlin’s kit in hand, watching the shadows beyond their circle.
“Not recently, prat.” Merlin responded. His voice was stronger than before, and flooded with exasperation. “Next time, if it’s not too difficult for you, think before you shout alarming things to a camp of trained knights.” Arthur glared, but it softened when Gwaine set Merlin down on his bedroll and Merlin couldn’t hold back a low groan at the movement.
Percival crouched down and passed Merlin his bag. Merlin thanked him, and started searching for one of the pain relievers he had packed. He took it out and set the bag down.
“I thought you said there were two, love.” Gwaine said. Merlin sighed and opened his bag, pulling out a second bottle.
“Happy?” He said to Gwaine, and Gwaine raised an eyebrow, purposefully glancing toward both bottles. “You look like Gauis when you do that.” Merlin muttered, smirking. He quickly downed both bottles and Lancelot handed him a waterskin. Merlin drank some and then fiddled with the cap.
“So….Merlin.” Arthur started, and Merlin hummed, staring into the fire. Away from anyone’s eyes. “About that serket.” Merlin’s hands stilled and he sighed, closing his eyes.
“I don’t suppose there’s any way you’ll forget about it?” He faced Arthur now, smiling lopsidedly. Arthur narrowed his eyes. Merlin sighed again. “Guess not.” Merlin tipped his head back to Gwaine’s shoulder and looked up at the stars. It was quiet for a moment, just the cracking of the fire.
“It was back when Morgause had manipulated Morgana into working against Camelot.” Arthur stiffened, and the rest of the group looked uncomfortable. “Yeah that’s reason number one of why I hadn’t told you.” Merlin said grimly, looking around at his friends. “I didn’t want to remind everyone of my failure to help Morgana the first time.” Gwaine squeezed Merlin’s hand.
“That’s not true.” He said strongly. “You only ever did what you thought was right.” Merlin shook his head.
“I should have done better.” Merlin admitted to the stars. Merlin’s grim features looked out of place. The Round Table had always seen Merlin so bright, seeing him like this pained all of them.
“You did do better, Merlin.” Merlin’s breath hitched, and he slowly met Arthur’s gaze. Arthur was unwavering. “I mean it. You are the only reason Morgana was still with us when it counted Merin. You are the reason I have my sister back. I can never thank you enough.”
“But she still killed Uther.” Here Arthur looked into the fire. He licked his lips and started slowly.
“I loved my father, but he was not a good king, Merlin. I’ve known that for years.” Arthur’s eyes had a heavy sadness. “It took time, at first, to come to terms with this, but my people are truly better now than they ever were under his reign.” Arthur gestured at some of the people he loved most. “He would not have valued you, because of how you were born, because of what you can do.” He looked intentionally at Merlin as he said this. Then he scoffed, “He certainly never even valued me or Morgana.” Arthur’s jaw clenched. He shook his head.
“I welcomed the Druids, repealed the magic ban, married Guinevere, and I can openly love all of you because I am the King and not my father.” Arthur looked around the group and suddenly seemed nervous.
“Alright.” Arthur started again, “That’s enough of me talking about my feelings, I do believe it’s your turn to talk Mer-lin.” Arthur turned all the attention back on Merlin. Who huffed when he realized he hadn’t gotten out of anything. Merlin trailed his fingers across his cloak.
“It wasn’t long after Morgana came back from being missing. I found out that she was in league with Morgause and I followed her out into the forest one night.” Arthur wanted to stop him, ask him more about how he knew, but he didn’t want to interrupt. Merlin would talk about anything but himself, Arthur wouldn’t jeopardize this moment.
“I guess I wasn’t as stealthy as I thought I was.” Merlin let out a depreciating chuckle. He wouldn’t meet anybody’s eye. “Morgana called me out, and some men dragged me to Morgause. I couldn’t risk anyone knowing about my magic, back then, so I couldn’t do anything.” Merlin bunched the hem of his cloak into his fist, and Gwaine wrapped his arms around Merin’s shoulders. He relaxed some, and smoothed the cloak back over his legs.
“Morgana returned to Camelot without me. Morgause, she um..” Merlin stopped, and cleared his throat. Gwaine handed him the water again, and Merlin took it in his hands.
“You don’t have to tell us, Merlin.” Lancelot offered. Merlin shook his head.
“I do want to.” Merlin looked at all his friends. “I just haven’t had to tell this one in a while. After earlier…” Merlin started, but took a drink of the water.
“Morgause put me in magical chains, and left me in the middle of a serkets’ nest. Honestly, that seemed like overkill, the serkets were plenty enough without that fun little problem.” Merlin bit out. The fire flared suddenly, and even though they could see gold flash through Merlin’s eyes, no one said anything. Merlin took a deep breath, and continued. “She didn’t even know about my magic, I was just a meddlesome servant to her.” Merlin shook his head and sighed. “I held off as long as I could, before I realized I could call Kilgharrah for help. While I was calling him, one of the serkets got me. Kilgharrah got me out, and took me to a cave to heal me.”
“If the dragon,” Leon started haltingly, he knew Merlin was a dragonlord and was fond of Aithusa, but he was still wary of the Great Dragon who he vividly remembered trying to burn Camelot to the ground, “If the dragon healed you, then why are you still hurting?”
“Serket stings have a very powerful venom, even magic can only do so much for it.” Merlin explained. “The scar on my back flares up from time to time. And unfortunately serket venom causes permanent damage to the affected area, so the symptoms will never completely fade” Merlin said grimly. “It’s just something else to deal with now, I’m afraid.” Merlin frowned.
“Thank you for telling us.” Percival spoke up. Elyan nodded in agreement. Then noticed how Merlin was practically laying on top of Gwaine. “Why don’t you get some rest, Merlin.” Elyan said gently. Merlin was reminded very suddenly of Gwen, and how alike they were, with concern shining through Elyan’s eyes. Merlin smiled, and snuggled further into Gwaine’s arms. Gwaine chuckled, and kissed Merlin’s temple. Merlin hummed, but looked to Arthur. He tilted his head, but he was so tired now that it looked more like he just flopped it over.
“I’m sorry you had to carry this without the rest of our support, Merlin.” Arthur walked over and crouched in front of Merlin, he put a hand on his shoulder. “I meant it all those times I said I could never thank you enough.” Merlin smiled softly. Arthur returned to his own bedroll and heard Merlin from across the fire.
“I never set up the wards.” Merlin pouted, and tried to sit back up from where he was laying on Gwaine’s lap. Gwaine set a hand on his chest and ran his fingers through Merlin’s hair, Merlin stilled and looked up at Gwaine.
“I’ll take the first watch.” Gwaine announced to the group. But Arthur was already shaking his head.
“No, you just watch over him, Gwaine.” Arthur said solemnly. Gwaine nodded at Arthur.
“I’ll be on first watch.” Lancelot volunteered. The rest of the night was set, and Merlin fell asleep to the sounds of the rest of the Round Table settling in, and to Gwaine’s hand carding through his hair.
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Merlin woke just after sunrise, watching the sunlight filter through the forest for a moment. Gwaine was still asleep at his back, his arms wrapped around Merlin’s waist. Merlin slowly sat up so he didn’t wake Gwaine, and made sure to place the blanket back around him. Merlin greeted Leon, who had the last watch, and started making breakfast. Soon enough all the knights had risen except Arthur. Merlin grinned brightly at the Round Table, who were all varying levels of amused as Merlin walked over to the sleeping King.
At first, Merlin nudged his legs with the toe of his boots. “King Prat, you’re late.”
“Go away.” Arthur grumbled and rolled over. Some of the Knights chuckled quietly and Arthur glared at them. Merlin's next move was a bit more drastic, he reached down and plucked Arthur’s blanket off him.
“Up and at em, lazy daisy!” Merlin called cheerfully. Arthur sat up quickly, making a grab at the blanket, but Merlin just laughed.
He heard laughter ring through the clearing, felt the cool breeze move through the forest, and he knew that today was going to be a good day.