A/N : Hello, my darlings.. So sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated, but life has been pretty rough. Amongst other things, I was one of the passengers who were forced to extend their stay in a foreign country because of the volcano eruption in Iceland. But oh, it's so good to be back home. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the previous chapter, and to everyone who has put this story on alert or favourited it. You are the greatest, and I've missed you.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter? I really really really hope you'll like it!

Xo, as always
Mae'side

Merlin

Night had fallen and the embers had died out, but warmth had never been here tonight. The strangest bit of it was that the real cold front had swept in just after he had lit the fire. It was the most terrible of tremors to run down his spine, to make the small hairs on his forearm stand up in awareness. Immediately, he had feared for Arthur's life – and the not knowing was worse than any pain he might feel upon learning of the prince's fate.

He had relied upon the nearness of his friend so much, for whenever Arthur had been in danger, he, at least, had been right beside him – to see and feel and prevent the danger, from whatever corner it might jump out at them. He couldn't battle anything here between these trees, beside his horse! Nothing but thin air.. no way to know if Arthur was okay, because his magic failed him in this aspect : no matter how hard he tried to concentrate, he could not call upon a vision to take shape before his eyes. He was just as lost as Arthur was and probably in worse ways.

"Not that I don't trust you." He'd gotten up by now and gently patted the horses neck. "You're just not that talkative." And, according to Arthur, rambling is what he did best in times of trouble. Though in this scenario the fear seemed to override anything else and there was only silence. Loneliness. He sighed, glancing at the stars before mounting the horse and abandoning yet another fireplace.

This time, he left nothing behind.

Arthur

Part of him wanted to deny what he had seen. Just write it off as a momentary lapse of concentration that had caused him to see something that had not – that could not have – happened, or blame it on a sorceror trying to mess with his mind. It was the inch of truth that made the lie believable. Leon confirming his dream to be a true vision was the catalyst, the one thing that changed it all.

But he could not.

Blame it on the illness, blame it on his failing heart, but somehow he knew that what he had seen was a soundless reflection of the truth, nothing deformed, nothing false. The knowledge made him nauseous, his fever soaring. The feeling of betrayal, of steady ground turning into emptiness, was not something that he could suppress lightly.

He hung from the ledge of a bottomless pit and just like a little over a year ago, he swore he could hear the horrible clicking sound of spider's legs, of an enemy that would surely bring the end of everything he had known.

And then there was light.

It felt like being struck by lightning (or so he supposed) when his own words came back to haunt him. For he had told his father of a guardian angel that must be watching over him, keeping him from harm. All these strange events that had led him to this moment suddenly crashed into him like a brick wall tumbling down – all stones fell at once, the scenes all blurring, one into the other, until he closed his eyes in pain.

Merlin.

That stupid idiot had never left his side, though God knows Arthur had given him plenty of reasons to leave. Merlin was always..saving him, it seemed. And he'd been a fool not to notice any of it. Yet how could he blame himself for not having seen what Merlin must have been trying so hard to keep from him? The idea of his servant – his supposed friend! - having a secret life not to be shared with him was just… it made him so…torn. He hated the fact that while he would have strangled the boy had he been by his side right now, he also feared anything that might hurt him.

If he'd had the strength, he would have thrown something, only to watch it shatter against these walls that comforted him so much. But until he regained that power, he would do what he could.

The pieces of paper fell to the cold floor as he tore the short letter apart.

Merlin

He could tell he was almost at his journey's end when he felt their presence all around him, like a hovering sense of doom. It made the air quiver and his horse grew restless in this sudden heat. The stars were still above them and the dark was still reigning the sky, but for all they knew it could be a blistering heat from the afternoon sun.

He was not surprised to see the stone circle as a center of power, hidden in these mountains, because for some reason he had expected a sacred site. The Galleyhad were powerful and many in number, Gaius had told him. Twelve sorcerers to form a mighty clan that could – if they wanted to – destroy him without having to blink twice.

But he had also expected an erratic pounding of his heart and an inability to swallow properly. And these vital signs were not present, which made him wonder if he was even still alive or if by some miracle, he had entered a dreamworld unscathed. This strange sense of calm was so unlike him that it seemed unreal.

There was someone waiting for him when he arrived, in a cloak worn so tightly around his body it seemed to make up the entire substance of this man, who hid his eyes from the starlight and left only the thin line of his mouth for the moonlight to play upon. It curled into a small smirk when Merlin neared him, the horse abandoned at a random tree (and Lord, he couldn't even recall doing that!). It was like magnetism, like a unconscious force pushed him to the center of the circle.

"What do you want from me?"

Arthur

His eyes closed out of their own accord, the helplessness of having no control whatsoever over his body frustrating and terrifying. Something was happening to him – to both of them – and for some reason, it was decided that he needed to witness every second of it.

The first thing he noticed was the blistering heat. His fever did not cause this, it was in the air all around the two figures that stood amongst the tall rocks, just … staring. Sizing the other up as if it was the only thing that mattered in the entire world, as if that would end wars all over the lands.

"What do you want from me?"

He sounded strangely confident and somewhere deep down, Arthur was surprised and thrilled. He felt a strange sense of pride because – it might not be so – he felt he had been the one to make Merlin stronger through exercise and quarreling, in between the maces and the fights. Speaking of, there was no sword in sight. Not that kind of battle, then.

"What I want you cannot give me." The voice resembled that of a small child between the age of fourteen and seventeen, and when the hood went down to reveal a young face, Arthur doubted the youth was much older than that. "But I can take something in return."

He stepped closer to his prey - just an inch - clearly hoping his opponent would back down. But he stood tall, that servant of his, and he did not even flinch. His voice was like the low hissing of a snake when he spoke again. "Let me ask you something, Merlin. You, the one they've always talked about. Do you know who I am?"

"No."

"I am not…important enough to you?"

Merlin smacked his lips lightly, a sound so silent that it should not have been reproduced by the particles in the air but because of this specific place, it seemed almost like a battlecry. "I never said that. You asked me if I knew you and I told you that I didn't. There is no fault in that and if I have offended you then I'm sorry." He looked pale, Arthur noticed. Strong and calm, but pale.

The boy laughed in his face, a harsh, mirthless sound that echoed against the trees. "You pretend to be kind to me, but did you care about the lives you destroyed allthose months ago? Did you think of her family when you killed her?"

Merlin

The matter of fact way in which he stated it shook him almost as much as the implication of those words. It all made so much more sense now, the familiarity of those eyes and that pale complexion, the animosity towards him. She'd had a brother.

"Nimueh was your sister."

"Congratulations. Thought you'd never guess." His face cleared, like the boyish happiness that came over a small child when he received his first wooden horse. A gift from one he loved the most. It made no sense whatsoever.

"If there had been any other way…"

"There is always another way, Merlin. Death should be more than just a last resort, it should be a non – existing option."

"She tried to kill me!" He cried out, calmness forgotten while he remembered all that she had done to him and his family. She has been the embodiement of evil and coniving practices, of deceit and misplaced feelings of superiority. "She tried to kill my friends, and she took the life of one I care about the most. You can't expect me not to defend myself!"

"As I knew you'd defend yourself today. I wanted you to feel the most terrible pain watching your friend die, Merlin, knowing you were the cause of it." His voice turned to a higher pitch, to small, vexing mew. "Helpless."

Oh God. He'd known all along that somehow these things were connected, but to learn that Arthur's pain was just for this man's amusement and as a punishment meant for him, was too much. Tears stung in behind his eyes but he would not let his opponent see his weakness. It would give him an advantage that he did not deserve. His hand shot out before he made a conscious move to do it and he cried spells into the air.

The boy fell backwards to the ground.

Arthur

Seeing Merlin in action was the most surreal thing he had ever met in his entire life. The force with which he defended himself and the unthinkable thing he'd done to save his friends from pain, was incredible. It was as if someone had swapped his friend with another who looked just like him, but who fought like a lion and roared like a beast.

Of course, Arthur had caused a fair share of death himself in battle and in some ways, what Merlin was doing was no different than his own actions. The only difference was that he wielded a sword while Merlin used a weapon of an entirely different order. Something he had always, always been taught was evil.

Nimueh. Her name was unfamiliar to him but when he regarded the boy with full intent, he saw remarkable likeness to the woman who had trapped him in the cave, who had left him there to die. Had Merlin really killed her to save someone else? To save…him?

Blazing fire shot through the air, countered with a light so clear it reminded him of ice. They met in between them both and created the most magnificent shield. It was pierced by the hellish red flames for only a second, a small hole between the two streams of magic, until it made one of them falter and crumble to the floor. Arthur cried his name while he fell and for a minute, it seemed Merlin had heard him. His eyes widened slightly, as if he realized something…and it made him stronger and brave. He leapt back to his feet and reacted.

Others would call what followed the battle 'blessed silence', but it was not. For one, it seemed his cry had reached Merlin and was still – after more than three minutes! – in the process of fading, the remnants of it still to be heard. Besides that, there was a hum in the atmosphere, a presence that pressed against his chest.

"I know you're out there." Pearls of sweat were glowing on Merlin's brow through the pain he had suffered, the blood that seeped from the hollow in his chest just beneath his heart clearly enough to make him faint. Yet he would not leave, he would not return home, before these words were spoken. "I can feel you."

"Is this who you sent to test me?" His lungs filled with air to strengthen his cries and the fact he was still breathing, was something, at least. "If you ever try to use Arthur again to get to me…" his voice drifted off. "When you hurt the ones I love, I will do the same to you." The words sounded choked, pained. A small murmur. "Nimueh and her brother are clear proof of that."

"If it's me you want, then FACE ME! Don't ever use him again." Merlin looked lost after this tiring rant and he nodded to pull himself together. There, it said, that's it. "I'm going home now," he concluded. "And Arthur had better be alright."

Arthur

If he had ever doubted Merlin's intentions upon learning of his magic, he had been wrong – and he had done him wrong. The words he'd hurled at whoever was out there was more than enough proof of his loyalty, it was more than could be imagined. Especially when it was so clear Arthur could decide Merlin's fate when he realized the biggest secret anyone had ever had to keep. Had he been terrified every step of the way, every second he served the prince?

He would give his life. For him.

Arthur turned to his side, his eyes registering the pieces of paper that had once made up the letter he had torn apart. Remember your promise. His promise to stay alive until Merlin returned, until he had found a way to save the master he called a right royal prat. His fingers reached out to pick them up, but he couldn't…quite… get there, and his hand went limp at his side. He was alive.

Merlin might not be.

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Xo, as always!