Chapter Summary: Merlinite gets stabbed through the stomach and then is whisked away by magic. But it's okay.

Except it isn't and Arthur can't figure out why are Gaius and Lancelot acting like it is!

The day was like any other… or at least it started that way. Merlinite came to Arthur's room (late) to wake him up and give him his breakfast. Arthur complained. Merlinite ignored him. Arthur gave the manservant extra chores. He complained. They bickered back and forth in the way Arthur knew wasn't fit for a prince and servant, but didn't care. Arthur decided to go on a hunt. Merlinite complained again.

Eventually they were seated atop horses and riding out alongside Arthur's favorite knights - not that he'd say that aloud, especially anywhere Gwaine might hear. His first knight was the only one following protocol as Leon rode directly at his right. Gwaine, Lancelot, and Merlinite rode behind them with the knights pulled up on either side of the servant to talk. Thankfully Merlinite was balancing out the two knights' opposing personalities so they weren't bickering like they normally would when paired up in any situation that wasn't dire. The last two knights were wondering around the rest of the group. Percy had found himself behind the trio, listening though not participating in the conversation they were having (something about mermaids), while Elyan was slightly ahead of the group gazing up at the sky.

It was peaceful.

Of course it couldn't last.

"Duck!"

Immediately following Elyan's shout, a crossbow bolt shot out from the trees towards Leon's chest. Thankfully a gust of wind must have caught it as it suddenly jerked to the right, missing both knight and royalty.

"On me," Arthur called, drawing his sword, as bandits charged out of the woods.

He fought hard until a pair of extremely pale hands wrapped around his arm and unseated him just in time for a bolt to sail through the area his chest had once occupied. Arthur turned to glare at and berate his servant in lieu of thanking him, but froze when he spotted a bandit sneaking up behind Merlinite. He didn't even have a second to react before a slicing sound filled the air and Merlinite's eyes went wide. Master and servant looked down in tandem to see the point of a sword sticking out of Merlinite's stomach.

"Oh," the dark haired one sighed. "That's not good. Arthur, I'm-"

Gone. Merlinite was gone. Not dead - that would have been a lot less confusing - just gone. There one moment, gone the next with a small poof and a puff of gold smoke.

Arthur took in the bandit in front of him and the man was staring down at his bloodless blade, looking just as surprised as Arthur felt. The prince used it to his advantage to quickly cut the man down. He looked around to find his servant, but the only bodies on the ground were bandits and the only ones standing were the knights. Leon and Lancelot were the only ones still on their horses, which made sense as Percival was still new to fighting on horseback and had probably dropped down into more familiar territory as soon as they were attacked, Gwaine had often pointed out that he largely preferred fighting on the ground despite the fact that he was by no means incapable of fighting on a horse, and Elyan was walking out of the trees so Arthur assumed he had left behind his horse in order to take down the archer he had spotted.

Where was Merlinite? Arthur looked down. He realized the servant hadn't disappeared without a trace after all and knelt down to pick up Merlinite's ridiculous neck scarf. His eyes widened as he saw the stone that laid underneath the cloth.

Arthur had only ever caught peaks at the stone his servant wore on his neck. For whatever reason, Merlinite always kept the thing covered up. Arthur had considered asking him about it, but the one and only time the prince had brought up the stone, Merlinite had gotten squirmy, said some nonsense about laundry, then disappeared for a few hours. That had been back in the first few months Merlinite had been in Camelot so Arthur had been murderous at the disappearance until Morgana stumbled upon him mid-search. She had huffed at him after he explained what happened and reminded him Merlinite wasn't from Camelot. She pointed out that the stone was probably some cultural thing and that Arthur was embarrassing him so Arthur let him be and didn't bring it up again. Arthur had been curious when they went to Ealdor since no one else seemed to have a stone, but he figured the stones didn't only have to be at their necks and if Merlinite hid his, everyone else did too.

Arthur had always thought the stone was a simple white and black stone, but now he could see it was a bit more luxurious than that. The stone was mostly white with black patterns that looked like crosses between lightning and ferns. It also had faint brushes of pale blue coloring like Merlinite's eyes and specks of glittering gold. It looked more like something Morgana would have on a necklace than something a peasant boy would keep hidden away on his neck.

The oddest thing about the stone was that Arthur couldn't figure out how Merlinite kept it on his neck. There was no hole for a band or string and through the stone had been smoothed and polished down, it was far too round for it to have been inside a setting.

"Well, that was fun."

Gwaine's voice snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. He tucked the jewel into his coin purse for safekeeping and stood up.

The knights were starting to relax now that it was apparent no more bandits were going to come running out of the woods. Percival and Elyan were trying to whistle for their horses and Leon was helping them. Gwaine was just stretching with his own horse nudging him in the back. He also seemed to be looking around for something, much as Lancelot was doing atop his horse.

The focus of the search was revealed when Lancelot asked, "Where's Merlinite?"

Gaius and Lancelot were taking this all far too calmly. Sure, Lancelot had spent a good quarter hour searching the area of the fight for any sign of where Merlinite could have gone and both he and Gaius had looked a bit worried when Arthur explained what happened, but you'd think there'd be a little more of a response when someone finds out their friend or ward was stabbed straight through their stomach and then disappeared as a result of what had to be magic. At least the other knights had reacted properly. As soon as they had made it back to the citadel, Leon had offered to lead a patrol out to search for Merlinite or the sorcerer that had taken him and Elyan and Percival had quickly volunteered to join his group. Gwaine hadn't even made it that far.

Unfortunately it had been two days since Merlinite's disappearance and no one's managed to find hide nor hair of the servant or any sorcerer.

Arthur sighed and set down Merlinite's stone, which he had taken to fiddling with whenever no one was around to see him. He stood up and started pacing around the room. There had to be something he could do.

The prince didn't realize how late it had gotten or how dark his chambers had grown until a light began to fill the room. He turned towards the fireplace to thank Gwen, assuming she had come to check up on him and seen him pacing in the shadows. He quickly realized the light was not coming from the fireplace, but his desk.

Merlinite's stone had begun to glow and as Arthur watched, the stone floated up into the air. He drew his sword when light poured out of the stone and took a basic human form. The shape rippled, gaining and losing features until it finally seemed to settle. With a flash it gained color and dropped to the ground. Arthur's eyes widened as he recognized, "Merlinite?!"

The servant appeared the same as normal. The same face, lanky body, feathery black hair, and off-white, honestly unhealthy looking pale skin. His clothes were a bit different than what he normally wore. His jacket looked mostly unchanged, if a bit darker. His blue shirt had turned a bright, pendragon red. It also seemed to have acquired small dragon designs along the hem in gold thread. His leather pants had been replaced by dark blue trousers. His boots had also changed slightly, taking on a darker color to match the jacket and appearing less worn. His eyes were the biggest change though. The irises seemed to be the same color, but his pupils were missing.

"Finally," Merlinite groaned. "Though I guess it has been awhile since I've reformed." He stood up and looked around. He froze when he caught sight of the prince. "Arthur! What are you doing here? Wh-what am I doing here?"

"I'm pretty sure I should be the one asking you that. Where have you been? You got stabbed and then you disappeared and now you-" Arthur cut off as he caught sight of the stone at the base of Merlinite's neck. The stone seemed to be embedded into his neck. "Did you come out of that stone?"

A pale hand came up to cover the stone. "I… Why did you have my gem? Does Gaius know you have my gem?"

"Quit avoiding the subject!"

"This is bad," Merlinite muttered.

"Merlinite!" Arthur growled.

"I really don't know how to explain this."

The prince froze as his brain caught up to the present. "This is magic! It has to be! But… you…"

Merlinite held up his hands and backed away. "In my defense, I'm not a sorcerer. Well, not technically."

"You have magic." Arthur's hand tightened around his sword and he held it up.

"Yes, and no. I am magic. Not the kind of magic you're thinking of though. Not the kind we usually come up against. I mean, there was the Questing Beast, Cornelius Sigan, and the Bastet. And technically the Mortaeus Flower, The Phoenix Eye, and The Cup of Life are Gem Relics, but mostly we've only faced Earth Magic, which is what you're referring too. Technically what I can do isn't even really magic. It's just that my species is able to alter and control energies and I just happen to be able to control the energies that your kind use in what you call magic. Earth Magic. Not Gem Magic, which is what I am. Technically."

"… What?" Arthur asked, looking at his servant blankly. Was any of that supposed to make sense?

Merlinite sighed. "I told you I didn't know how to explain. Just… Maybe you should sit down. This is going to take a while."

So I was listening to the Lunar Sea Spire fan podcast and something occured to me. Merlin is: A) Kinda, sorta, technically immortal. And B) Made of magic. Meanwhile I know another group of... well not people, but people that are: A) Kinda, sorta, technically immortal. And B) Made of magic. And then I found out that there is legitimately a gemstone called Merlinite while jokingly researching for this.

For the record, because I am aware there are different types of stones referred to as Merlinite and not all of them are gems, the Merlinite I'm basing his stone on is the specific type of dendritic opal that is referred to by that name.

I might post another chapter that directly follows this, but for the most part this is just going to be a bunch of random oneshots.