Hey I'm back! Enjoy!

The battle had been raging for hours. The sorcerers and creatures of magic who were supporting the enemy made it much more difficult than the easy victory that was expected and the threat of a storm overhead did not help matters. Arthur's sword clashed with the knight's before him as they dueled. A quick feint and swift stab was enough to defeat the foe and give the king a reprieve. He scanned the crowd for his court sorcerer, having not seen him in quite some time. Where is that idiot now?

His train of thought was interrupted as a number of enemies to his right went flying. He turned to see Merlin striding towards him with a big grin on his face.

"Glad to see you in one piece, sire!" Arthur grasped his arm and pulled him into a hug.

"Good to see you're still alive as well."

"I think, we have some company." Merlin muttered. Hoards of sorcerers and mercenaries alike had begun to surround them. Merlin's attack had only slowed them. The king and sorcerer stood back to back, surveying their situation.

"You take the ones on the right, I'll take the ones on the left?" Said Merlin cheekily.

"Shut up, Merlin!"Arthur said as he leapt forward to engage an enemy. He parried and blocked, diving and twisting to avoid the blade. It was a deadly dance of steel that the king was very familiar with. A jab and slice took out this enemy and it was on to the next one. His movements came naturally, taking out swordsman after swordsman. The glint of metal and the blur of movement was all he saw as he fought. It seemed though, that no matter how many he defeated, there was always another. He was soon fighting two opponents at a time, just barely managing to keep up with the number of mercenaries. He wondered how Merlin was faring. He didn't have much time to think about this though as he turned to take on two more swordsmen.

The king was only just avoiding getting gutted now. There were too many. He was tiring and his movements were slowing. If I were to die here, what would become of Gwen, or Merlin, or Camelot? It was a train of thought he didn't want to follow. He was snapped back to reality by weapons bearing down on him. Focus. Focus. Fo- He missed a parry and received a cut down his arm. Another resulted in a graze on his leg. Too many. Too much. Have to keep going. Have to keep trying. I am going to die. It all happened in slow motion. Arthur saw the blade swinging down towards his head. He knew there was no time to block or dodge. He was going to die. And then he wasn't.

He looked to his right to see Merlin, arm outstretched, blasting away the

mercenaries and magic users surrounding his king. His golden eyes focused solely on his task, to protect his king. As the gold melted away from Merlin's eyes, he turned his gaze to Arthur. He had saved him once again.

Merlin barely had time to register Arthur's shout of warning and the movement towards him when everything stopped. It was as if he were suddenly dreaming. He felt a shove forwards and a pressure in his back, but he was too mesmerized by what was happening to notice. Everything was traveling in slow motion it seemed, sounds muffled by some invisible curtain. His focus though, was on Arthur. Merlin's mind zeroed in on every single detail of his king even as its perception of the battle slowed and began to blur. He seems panicked. There's a cut underneath his right eye. Maybe that's why he was upset? I suppose we'll have to take him to Gaius to patch that up…

Everything suddenly shot into a sharp focus with the sounds of battle continuing to roar and the fighters whirling around him. He was jerked backwards now, gasping as he was hit with a wave of burning pain. He glanced down in time to see a sword being yanked out of him. Oh. Maybe that's why Arthur was upset. With that final thought he fell to the ground.

Arthur was, to be blunt, panicking. Merlin had let down his guard to protect him, allowing a mercenary to sneak up behind him. His warning had come too late and he watched as his court sorcerer was run through from behind. He saw Merlin freeze, staring at him with unseeing glassy eyes. He had barely even flinched when the mercenary twisted the sword in his gut gleefully before yanking it out with some difficulty. Only then had Merlin looked down and seemingly realized what had happened to him before falling to his knees. It was only moments after that Arthur reached him. Before he even had a chance to get a good look at the retreating back of Merlin's attacker, a red blur rushed by in pursuit. Satisfied that a vengeful Gwaine would be more than enough to apprehend the man Arthur hurriedly knelt next to Merlin. He pulled his friend's body into his lap and was met with a groan of pain. The king grabbed his limp head to hold up trying to keep the half conscious warlock in some state of lucidity.

"Merlin, you idiot! That was most certainly not the plan!" Arthur attempted in his most condescending voice. He ripped his red cloak in half and balled it up to press down on the exit wounds. He whispered apologies after receiving a series of whimpers and jerks in response to the pressure. Pressing down harder he responded.

"I know it's awful, Merlin. I'm sorry, but I need to stop the bleeding." There was no response. He glanced up quickly to see his friends eyes shut. He shook him gently with no more response than before. The king shook him with more force, this time getting Merlin to open his eyes at least half way.

"You just have to keep your eyes open Merlin. Just focus on my voice, okay?" Merlin nodded, mumbling something unintelligible. Arthur flipped the scraps of his cloak to less blood soaked areas. The groan from Merlin was enough for the king to relax. He might be in pain, but it also meant he was still alive. He looked around for help seeing as the battle was coming to an end. Only Merlin would make it through an hours long battle to get wounded in the last five minutes. Huffing to himself he turned back to the warlock to see his eyes rolling back and his head fall limp in his lap.

"Merlin, wake up, " He grabbed his friend's face and lightly slapped it to no avail. The shaky stuttering breaths of the last few minutes had slowed and become shallow.

"Merlin, you can't do this to me," Arthur said as he pressed down violently on the wounds. Merlin's eyes opened a fraction to lock eyes with his king's.

"Please," Arthur whispered through tears. Merlin smiled softly at him before taking a long shaky breath and then finally falling completely limp.

"No, no, no, NO!" Arthur yelled, shaking the body of his friend in a desperate attempt to wake him.

"No," he whispered, lowering his head. A droplet landed on the still face. Arthur wasn't sure if it was a tear or the rain that had begun to finally pour. It wasn't important. It didn't matter, nothing did now.