Summary: Arthur is a detective working on a case of kidnapping and murder of brunet boys with blue eyes. And the biggest mystery of all is Merlin Emrys, one of the victims.

How will the life of the blond change when he finds Merlin alive and with clear proofs of his imprisonment in the form of children? And what if the Killer won't let his favourite victim go that easily?

Warnings: Rape, Mpreg, Kidnapping, stalking

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Detective Arthur Pendragon had been working on a case of kidnapping and murder for almost two years. The serial killer targeted young white males (20-30 years old) with black hair and blue eyes, possibly with white skin and slender in build.

His office at the police station had a huge whiteboard studded with photos of the victims and missing boys, likely victims still alive or dead somewhere, because of their appearance, and information about them.

The dead victims and definitely killed by the Killer were 11.

The bodies of the boys had been found in various places of Camelot City. All of them had died of choking done by hand and all had been held captive for months and raped during that period. However, what froze Arthur's blood every time was the fact that three of the victims had shown signs of having suffered miscarriages and one of them had given birth not long before dying.

The Killer was a degenerate.

Male pregnancy was possible, but was very rare and dangerous: most of them ended in spontaneous abortions, others in the child's death a few hours after birth.

It was obvious that the killer, nicknamed Snow-white Killer (SK) by the press, was interested in having children with these boys, and when they failed or did their 'duty', he killed them.

This reasoning led Arthur's attention to focus on a picture in the group of possible victims, those boys whose fate was still unknown.

His summer sky blue eyes stopped on the image of Merlin Emrys, 21 at the time of the disappearance. Now he would be 25.

He was the biggest mystery of this case, especially considering that there were no evidence of the fact that his disappearance was linked to SK.

The former detective assigned to the case had decided that Merlin was not a victim of SK, on the basis that it had been too long after the disappearance. SK killed his victims at most a year after the kidnapping, and Merlin had been missing for four. However, Arthur did not agree. Merlin was too perfect to have escaped the killer's radar. He was exactly his type: slim, blue eyes, black hair, alabaster skin and plump red lips. A perfect Snow White.

Arthur knew it, he could feel it in his bowels that Merlin was involved, because even Arthur liked the same type of men and knew that if he saw Merlin Emrys, he would never let him slip away.

So the questions that Arthur and his team had kept repeating for two years were: what did Merlin do to survive for so long? What did he do differently from the others? What did the killer find in him to drive him not to kill him and to keep him with him?

Arthur didn't even consider the possibility that Merlin was actually dead, because until now SK had always put the corpses where anyone could find them. So, or Merlin wasn't a victim, as believed by the former detective, or was still in the clutches of the Killer, as Arthur believed.

Although he was certain, and partly relieved, as it implied that Merlin was still alive and could be saved, this hypothesis chilled his blood. In what kind of physical and psychological conditions must Merlin be after 4 years of imprisonment and most likely rapes?

Arthur struggled, and his thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Boss, are you still looking at the picture of victim X?"

"His name is Merlin, Leon. You know I do not like when you dehumanize the victims." Arthur scolded his second, Leon Knight.

Leon looked at him sympathetically, "And you know it's not good for you to become attached to the victims. Do not get involved too much, Arthur..."

"Too late..." Arthur muttered to himself, rather than to Leon, and kept staring at Merlin's photo, smiling and full of life in his youth.

The awkward silence between the two agents was interrupted by fast approaching steps, and by the office door swinging open.

Gwaine came in, panting.

"Another victim! They found another victim of SK! "

Gwaine had not finished the sentence yet that Arthur was already running toward the exit, toward the police car, closely followed by Leon, Gwaine and Percival, the fastest driver among them.

"Lancelot is already there on the place of discovery. Rose Park" Percival informed them, and sped toward their destination.

00000

They arrived in Rose Park at the speed of light and headed for the spot marked by the police signals and where a large crowd had gathered.

Lancelot Du Lac, the coroner, was already at work when Arthur walked past the barrier.

"Lance, what can you tell us? It is the work of SK?"

The brunet looked up from where he was bent to examine the body.

"I can't be one hundred percent sure that is the work of the Snow-white Killer, but the method is much the same: choking, abandoned in a public place, bruises on the body, especially the abdomen, and I wouldn't be surprised if later during the autopsy I'll find traces of rape. By the skin color, I'd say this boy hasn't seen the sunlight for more than a year. In addition, he has the same appearance of SK favorite victims... I will tell you more later"

Arthur nodded, but he had still to take his eyes off the body in the mud. He had recognized the boy almost immediately. For a second, his heart had stopped, believing it was Merlin Emrys, but no, it wasn't him. It was Mordred Druidson, 20, who had disappeared 14 months before, after an evening at the pub with his mates from uni. His photo had long been on Arthur board in the section dedicated to missing persons/probable victims, but now will have to be moved into the one of the victims, the number 12.

The blond sighed in frustration and after making sure that his team had collected all the evidence, they returned to the base to re-start the investigation, which would probably end up in a dead end, as usual.

As he walked out of the park, the blond could not help but think, 'Merlin, where are you?'

00000

Gwaine angrily banged the file with the test results of the samples collected at the crime scene and on the body of Mordred, performed by Elyan, responsible for the scientific sector, on the table.

As expected, they did not lead to anything... anything about the identity of the killer.

"This case is driving me crazy! All I want is to get my hands on this bastard!" Said the long brown-haired man.

Arthur sighed heavily and ran his hands through his blond hair. Things were not going well. Their only hope was Lancelot.

As evoked by magic, the coroner made his entrance into the room. His face was grim.

Arthur's shoulders slumped in disappointment, but still found the strength to ask, "Have you found anything useful, Lance?"

More seriously, the brunet replied, "Bad news…"

Everyone looked down, sad.

"...for the Killer. He made a mistake. We have evidence"

After a moment of stunned silence, everyone rose to their feet and cheered, happy and surprised.

Arthur did not move, transfixed with shock. We finally have something, thought the blond. He raised his voice to be heard by his celebrating teammates.

"Guys, please calm down and return to your seats. Let Lancelot talk. Please, go on, Lance, what do you mean by mistake?"

The doctor nodded and smiled. "Like some of the others before him, the victim, Mordred, had a pregnancy that should have been successful, or at least I am sure that he has given birth. However, the autopsy revealed that at the time of death, the boy was again pregnant but suffered a miscarriage, most likely due to the punches and kicks to the abdomen he had received…"

Arthur nodded, "Yes, the same thing happened to other victims. How does this lead us to the killer? Before he never had..." Arthur gulped, "...the killer has always removed the dead fetus from the victims."

Lancelot's smile opened further, "That's the point. Mordred's belly has been opened to remove the child (a few weeks old) and it has been done, but the killer hasn't noticed that Mordred was expecting twins. He forgot to remove the second fetus, which I found... Do you know what does that mean?"

"We have the DNA of the killer!" Leon exclaimed in wonder.

"Exactly" Confirmed Lancelot.

Arthur's heart was about to explode in his chest at the news, while around him his friends and colleagues cheered. They had him. They had the bastard!

"Guys, calm down... Let's not lose our head. Lancelot, please, bring the DNA to Elyan so that he can analyze it... Let's hope the killer has committed previous crimes and that his DNA is in the database"

Lancelot's smile turned sly, like a cat that had finally caught the mouse or the supply of milk.

Arthur frowned, "What?"

"I've already done it..." The doctor passed Arthur a sheet of paper, "This is the identity of SK – Snow white Killer... you are not going to believe your eyes"

Arthur took the paper as if it were the most precious thing in the world and looked down to finally see the face and the data of his nightmare of the last two years.

What he saw froze his blood, "It cannot be..."

The others craned their necks to see and everyone cursed in some way, especially Gwaine, when they recognized the man in the photo.

"Fuck me... that ugly son of a bitch!"

Arthur could not help but agree with Gwaine. Because the man identified as the killer was none other than Cenred King, the head detective of this case before Arthur.

Cenred was the favourite by the detective department when Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, was still chief, although he was not very popular among his colleagues. That changed when Uther retired and the new police chief took his place, immediately realizing that Cenred was just a waste of time and space. When Cenred was about to be fired, however, the man resigned, saying he had inherited an immense fortune from an unknown uncle and that he could live off for the rest of life and that he was no longer willing to spend his time among this gang of losers idiots - his words not Arthur's. And since then, no one had seen him, even though everyone knew that now Cenred was the richest and most powerful man in town.

"Now I understand why during the years he worked on the case, no one had found anything. It is likely that even if there was some evidence, Cenred got rid of it..." Percival said.

"Yeah... and now I am even more convinced that Merlin is his victim. Why else insisting so much that he wasn't? I bet he still has him... "

For the first time, the others agreed with his beliefs on Merlin Emrys's fate.

"But why keeping him alive for so long?" Leon asked, "What's special about Merlin?"

"Well, I don't know... but I propose to go and find out. We all know where our dear Cenred lives" Grinned Gwaine.

"We need a warrant..." Percival said.

"Wait, guys," Interrupted Leon, the most rational of the group. "You are forgetting who Cenred is now. A very powerful man, with an army of lawyers to protect his back... no police chief would dare jeopardize his career by signing a search warrant and arrest this man..."

"Yeah, but you forget, Leon, who our commander is..." Gwaine smirked and sent an amused look toward Arthur.

The blond rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, Gwaine... we all know that my sister is the devil himself"

Yes, the police chief who had replaced Uther was none other than his daughter, Morgana Gorlois Pendragon, known by everyone as The Witch.

In theory, Uther had insisted it had to be Arthur to take his place, as planned since his birth, but Arthur had never seen himself as a police chief... all day sitting behind a desk giving orders.

No, Arthur was a man of action. He needed to be on the field with his men, like a knight of old. He needed to put his own hands on the criminals and to be in the middle of the fight against crime.

On the contrary, his sister Morgana, despite being an exceptional agent, with a mind even more diabolical of that of the criminals she arrested, adored to control and intimidate to ensure the survival and proper functioning of the department, or as she calls it: 'her kingdom'. As tremendously loyal to her own, as deadly with her enemies.

She and Arthur had improved Camelot City police. She with her lethal charm and cunning mind, he with his achievements on the field.

"Why thank you, brother…you always say the sweetest things to me…"

Everyone turned toward the voice, only to find themselves in front of their chief, as always accompanied by her loyal assistant and sister, Morgause.

Morgana smirked and entered the room. The sound of her heels echoing in the room.

"Boss, we found him!" Gwaine almost yelled, sending a flirtation smile towards the beautiful policewoman.

Morgana turned her characteristic icy stare at the man, a look that Arthur was always grateful not to be the recipient of. He didn't know if he would survived those eyes. But Gwaine was different and smiled even more at the woman.

"Thank you, Gwaine, but I already knew, since I'm the chief here..."

"But of course, my lady..." The brown-haired man bowed.

Arthur decided to intervene for the sake of his friend, given the snarl forming on Morgana's lips.

"Morgana, we need a warrant…"

She turned her attention to her brother, slightly softening her gaze. She loved her little brother to death. Refraining from pulling these cheeks every time she saw him was almost impossible.

"Of course you need one... here" After her hint, Morgause put the envelope of the warrant on the table.

"Aren't you afraid of being removed and discredited, Morgana?... you know what kind of man Cenred is" Chimed in Leon.

She looked at him and smirked, "Leon, dear... The likes of Cenred, I eat them for breakfast!"

Everyone laughed, not doubting it for a second.

"Now, fools that you are, get out of my sight, and go get the bastard!" They all hurried up to carry out the order, but before Arthur, the last one, could get out, Morgana stopped him, taking him by the arm, "Arthur, wait a minute..."

He turned and saw not the strong leader but a desperate woman about to cry and got worried. "Gana? What's the matter?"

"Promise me…Arthur Pendragon, promise me you'll catch that motherfucker..." Her eyes were full of anger and hatred.

"Of course I will, Gana... but this is not the first time I'm going to stop a dangerous murderer. What's truly wrong?"

She looked away and stared at the photo of the last victim, Mordred, and a tear fell.

Arthur realized, "You knew him," It was not a question.

She nodded. "Yes, a long time ago. Do you remember that during college I used to go to this youth center to help out with the 'problematic' kids?" When her brother nodded, she continued, "Mordred was one of them. He was such a sweet child. Everyone thought he was weird, but he really was a wonderful child who had bad things happened to him. I liked him very much and he liked me, even though everyone thought I was weird. The last time I saw him he was happily living his life with his girlfriend…" She looked back at the blond, determined, "Stop the man who did this to him, brother, please"

Arthur hugged her and kissed her forehead, like when they were children. "I promise... no matter what happens, no matter how long it will take me, I'll stop him, and Mordred and the other victims will be avenged"

She nodded, "I have no doubt"

00000

Cenred's villa or palace was majestic, exactly as it appeared on television. It was located on the highest hill that overlooked Camelot, isolated from everything and everyone, and it looked like a medieval castle, complete with a drawbridge.

Gwaine whistled at the sight, "If after the arrest, they put it on sale, do you want to come and live here together, guys?" The others looked at him strange, "What? I know that most likely it is the site of multiple murders and kidnappings, but come on! It's a fucking castle!"

"Oh shut up, Gwaine... let's go!" Commanded Arthur.

They crossed the bridge and entered. The butler and several guards tried to stop them, but the presence of the warrant and the strength of the agents freed the way. Cenred was nowhere to be found, even though his car was in the parking lot, and witnesses confirmed that a few hours before he had returned home, without going out.

"Where could Cenred be?" Asked Leon after yet another inspection of the castle.

"Maybe there's a secret passage that leads to the dungeons. All castles have dungeons... and usually the secret door is in the library" Said Gwaine and everyone stared at him. "Again, what? Everybody knows it... we might as well try"

Arthur sighed, but agreed, "Okay, let's try..."

They went to the library and tried to move several books to see if any of them was a door, but nothing.

Then Gwaine walked purposefully toward a section to the right, took a book and the wall moved, revealing stairs leading down.

"How the hell did you know that?" Arthur asked, surprised and stunned as the others.

Gwaine shrugged, "What can I say? I have a degree in history and when I saw a book about the Risorgimento in the section dedicated to the Renaissance, I became suspicious. They are two completely different periods, although many confuse them. This Cenred is really an ignorant idiot!"

Everyone still had their jaws to the ground when they walked down the stairs.

Gwaine and Percival were the last and the gentle giant whispered to his partner, "You have a degree in history? Seriously?"

"Well, you've a degree in Pedagogy"

"Sh, You promised not to say it out loud"

Arthur rolled his eyes and continued. They were close.

00000

They walked long dark corridors, dirty and wet, for what seemed hours, when they reached a series of cells.

They were moving with caution when they heard screams coming from a further cell. Screams of pain and others of anger. Then silence.

They rushed in that direction. They saw the tall figure of Cenred King leaving the cell.

"Cenred King, stop, you're under arrest!" Yelled Arthur.

The man saw him, froze for a second, surprised by their presence, then began to run away.

"Gwaine, after him!" Ordered Arthur, but his fastest man had already swung into action, disappearing around a corner behind Cenred.

Arthur and the others entered the cell just left by the suspect. They stopped on the spot. A tall boy with dark hair and blue eyes was lying motionless on the floor.

Arthur rushed to him, checking his pulse, but they had arrived too late. The boy was dead. Choke.

"Shit!" Arthur yelled, kicking the nearest wall. He was panting with rage.

There was a solemn silence in the cell, then the agents went out to inspect the other cells.

The nightmare was not over yet.

In other cells, they found other corpses, and in others, boys dying.

"Percival, calls the command and tell them we need paramedics and Lancelot" Arthur said, even though he knew that the boys still alive would not be for long because of their conditions. "And stay with them, while Leon and I continue the inspection"

The two men continued along the dark corridors, gun and flashlight raised in front of them. They heard a noise and Arthur signaled to Leon to stop. They were the footsteps of someone approaching from around the corner. They waited intrepid that the figure appeared, thinking it was Cenred.

But it wasn't. A panting Gwaine appeared and the two colleagues and friends breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn, Gwaine, I was about to shoot!" Arthur said, annoyed.

Gwaine smiled. "Nah, your aim is not that good, Princess"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Shut up. Where's Cenred?"

Gwaine sobered at the question, "That bastard is fast, and smart. When I was almost to catch him, he reached a kind of lever and disappeared into thin air. I tried to follow him, but for some strange reason the mechanism was not working anymore... son of a bitch!... I'm sorry, Arthur"

Arthur nodded and communicated to Percival, through radio, to issue an arrest warrant for Cenred King. Then he told his men that they'd continue down the hallway to the right.

"Why this, boss?" Asked Leon.

"Because before running away like a coward, Cenred looked in this direction for a fraction of a second, with a battled look, as if he could not decide whether to run away or come here. I wonder what's so important here to make him have this kind of doubt in that situation, even if briefly."

The others nodded and followed the blond.

After a few steps, they reached a metal door. It was different from that of the other cells, damaged by rot. This was stainless steel, clean, impenetrable.

"We have to call someone to destroy it..." Arthur was saying when Gwaine interrupted him.

"I don't think it is necessary"

He pulled a key from his pocket that fitted perfectly with the door lock.

Leon and Arthur were confused. "How is it possible?"

Gwaine shrugged, "I don't know. Before disappearing, Cenred launched this to me, it was clear that he did not want to, but had a look as if to say he had no choice"

By now crushed by curiosity, the three men opened the door. They weren't expecting to see what they saw. It wasn't a cell that stood before them, but a kind of apartment, clean and well furnished, complete with a living room, an attached kitchen and a hallway with several doors, presumably leading up to the bedrooms. There was even a fireplace, which made it all very cozy. Although there were no windows, the light of the chandelier illuminated the apartment well.

"What the fuck?" Gwaine was incredulous.

Then they heard and saw one of the doors in the corridor opening.

The three agents whirled, guns raised. But they lowered them immediately when they saw who had appeared.

A tall dark-haired boy with four children in tow, two of them newborns and held in his arms.

Arthur recognized him at once. How could he not? He had been the object of his obsession for years.

"Merlin?" Whispered the blond.

The brunet turned to the blond, surprised that he knew his name. Then he tightened his hold on the two infants toward his chest, while the other two children were still clinging to his legs, scared.

"Please, whoever you are, don't hurt us…"