Chapter 1

Warning/s: vomit mention lmao

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: yo

im here

back with another shitty story

because guess what i never stop

lmao i am so bad at this and ive had an awful day

anyway

gimme yo theories about whats happening

"We lost him," Merlin scowled, slumped in her chair. "If we had just gone out as soon as we saw him then we might have caught him."

"He could have killed you," Percival pointed out quietly. "You said yourself that he was incredibly powerful."

"Yeah, I know," Merlin grumbled. "I just…I feel like we just missed our opportunity."

The two of them were sitting at the Round Table, murmuring quietly among themselves. Everyone else was arguing loudly over what to do next, but Merlin was too tired to join in and Percival never got involved in loud discussions unless an innocent was at risk. And in this case, it was just Arthur and the other knights trying to decide what the best course of action would be.

"Is there any way you can find out if he's still here?" Percival asked after a few seconds.

"Yeah, I can," Merlin said thoughtfully. "I did it earlier, very quickly when I first saw…him." She turned towards Percival with a worried crease in her forehead. "There was something weird about him, Percival. His magic – it wasn't just tainted, it was bad."

Percival raised an eyebrow and Merlin hastened to explain. "When people have magic, they can go one of two ways. They can use their magic for good, or they can use it for bad. If they use it for bad, then it becomes tainted. I can always tell when it is or not, just like a sense. But his magic, it wasn't just tainted. It was pure evil, there wasn't a single spark of gold left in it. It was black and heavy and evil." She paused, not wanting to alarm her partner. "In fact, I don't think it was a person. Maybe it once was, but with that amount of black magic…there's not one shred of humanity left in that creature anymore."

Percival gripped her hand. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together, alright? And even if it does have black magic, I'm sure that your magic can still overwhelm it."

"I hope so," Merlin muttered, biting at her thumbnail. "It's always harder to defeat black magic."

The two of them sat in silence for a little while, mulling over their thoughts, when Arthur's announcement called them both to attention. "So we've all reached an agreement?" There was a general chorus of "yes" from the others, and immediately Merlin began listening again.

"What's happening?" Merlin piped up. Most other people would be sheepish at interrupting but Merlin was both too tired and too friendly with Arthur to care.

Fortunately for her, Arthur was used to her disrespect and answered immediately, "We're sending guards to check all of the secret routes in and out of Camelot as well as providing extra to the ones who are already on patrol on the outer perimeters." The other knights nodded and left, presumably to carry out the orders. Arthur turned to them once more. "Percival, I need you to check on all of the servants and make sure they're safe." Percival nodded and, squeezing Merlin's hand one last time, he left the Main Hall. "Merlin, is there anything you can do to track this man down?"

Merlin almost corrected him to "creature" but decided against it; it probably wasn't ideal to make Arthur any more worried than he was right now. Gwen would have enough on her plate when Arthur returned. "I can do heartbeat tracking throughout the castle. If you tell me how many guards there are in each area, I'll be able to sense any extra life forms moving through the castle or in its grounds."

Arthur nodded. "Great."

"Where's Gwen?"

"She went down to the kitchens as soon as the alarm bells went off to check on the servants."

Merlin smiled; that was so typical of Gwen. "Okay, give me a second to reach out." She shut her eyes and let her magic flow out into the web of the castle. Every living thing had magic embedded inside of it; most did not have the potentional to use it, however. It made it easy to sense all life forms. "How many guards and residents in the East Wing?" she asked without opening her eyes. She was sensing fifty-seven life forms there. She could hear them all beating; the irregular rhythm was giving her a headache.

Arthur paused a second before answering, presumably consulting with his documents. "There are twenty guards there at the moment, and…thirty-nine residents."

Merlin frowned. "There are only fifty-seven in there right now; so two are missing. Well, that's nothing to worry about. They probably just left to find out what was going on."

Arthur "mm-hmm"ed his agreement and let Merlin carry on. It took a while, but eventually they catalogused every part of the castle. One area had an extra two life forms than it should, which Merlin assumed were the two missing from the East Wing, but apart from that she was not able to sense any discrepancies. "Damn," she sighed, opening her eyes. "Maybe he's left?"

"Possibly," Arthur replied, his face grim. "What do we do if he comes back? We still don't know what he wants. And we didn't detect him until he was well inside of the castle."

Merlin drummed her fingers on the table. "I can repair the main doors, and put some kind of detection spell on them," she suggested. "Then if he tries the same trick again we'll know instantly."

"But he only blew off the doors once he was already inside," Arthur pointed out in frustration. "There doesn't seem to be anything we can do."

Merlin narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't insult my magic, Arthur! I am capable of anything, I am the most powerful magic being that will ever walk this earth. If anyone can protect this place, it's me. It might take a while for us to figure out the schematics of it, but I am capable of anything!"

Arthur hd the good grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry," he said and – was he being genuine? Miracles would never cease. Then, because his apologetic nature was too good to be true, he added, "Why are you so angry?"

Merlin huffed, her magic flying out and knocking the table over. It crashed into the far wall and split into pieces. "I don't know!" she snapped. "I…maybe I'm just tired."

Arthur looked at her doubtfully. "You just broke the table," he pointed out. "I think you're more than just tired."

Merlin closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over her face. Why was she so angry? It had been happening more lately. Percival had been commenting on it, though it had been under different circumstances that Merlin wouldn't want anything else to know about. They were…intimate, and her anger had increased the intensity of their love-making. She wasn't about to tell Arthur about that, though, so she settled for. "It's been happening lately," she admitted in a small voice. She waved her hand and the table began assembling itself again. "I just get awful mood swings for no reason and always about little things."

Arthur was looking at her with a strange gleam in his eyes, but before she had the chance to ask him what that was about, the Round Table knights returned. "Any luck?" Arthur asked immediately. They all shook their heads and reported what they'd seen. Merlin took the opportunity to drag the Round Table back to where it should be, avoiding the knight's inquisitive glances, and flopped down into a chair while they gave Arthur their reports.

Using magic to such an extent was exhausting, even for her; she'd like to see even a powerful witch or warlock trying to sense life forms within a metre radius. They'd struggle. By the Gods, she was tired. She curled up, the wooden chair being oddly comfortable and let herself drift.

She was only aware of the world again when she felt familiar arms scoop her up. "Are we going back to bed?

"For what remains of the night," Percival replied gently. He was taking extra care not to jostle her on the walk back to their chamber, Merlin realised with a pleasant jolt to her stomach. She loved when Percival took care of her like this, although she was loathe to admit it for the inevitable teasing that would follow.

She drifted off again during the long walk around the castle, but once more she awoke when she was laid down on the bed in their chambers. "Perc?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes to make herself a little more awake.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

Merlin smiled at the affectionate tone and pet name. "Sorry for being moody lately. It happened again just now."

"Did you break the table?"

Merlin giggled. Percival knew her way too well. "Yep. Arthur was a bit surprised." Percival joined her in laughing until they were both yawning instead, and then he settled himself on the bed next to her, pulling her in close to him.

Merlin allowed herself to drop off again, and she was so nearly asleep when –

"Merlin? You alright?"

She summoned a bucket, leapt out of bed and promptly vomited into it.