Hiding in Plain Sight

"Merlin! MERLINNN! WHERE ARE YOU!"

His frustration was building swiftly. Where was that irritating idiot hiding now? He should have been attending his prince. Arthur hadn't given him leave to be anywhere but at his side.

"Where is he!" stormed the golden haired young man.

Gaius turned. "I'm sorry, Sire. He's not here."

"Where is he, then! Merlin!" he bellowed again, looking past the old physician.

"Arthur, what is the meaning of this disturbance?" Uther demanded from behind him.

"I'm sorry, Father. My manservant is missing and I require him."

"That boy is nothing but trouble. What do you need him for?"

The young man stopped in his tracks. What did he need him for? He searched through the unsettling haze in his mind for a response. He didn't know what he needed Merlin for but his friend's absence panicked him slightly. Where was he? He was supposed to be at Arthur's side. Always. He had no business being anywhere else.

"It doesn't matter what I need him for. I just want him."

"Honestly, Arthur. All this fuss over a servant. I will never understand your fondness for him. There's no telling what that lackwit sorcerer is up to right now. Probably hiding and plotting against us.."

The prince, no… the king? ..the Once and Future King.. frowned at the disparaging comments. Merlin plotting… it just seemed wrong. He knew it was wrong… somehow. Merlin wouldn't hurt him. He was faithful to a fault. He was always at Arthur's side. Stay with me.

He turned back to Gaius with increased concern and annoyance.

"Where is he? I want him now. Don't try and cover for him, Gaius," he warned.

"Well, Sire, have you checked..," the old man began.

"The tavern? Again?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"No, Sire! I was going to say have you checked ..behind the door?"

"Behind.. the door?"

The old man smiled at a memory. "Yes, Sire. He was rarely in the tavern unless he was there to fetch Gwaine. The last time I told you he was in the tavern he was actually hiding behind the door at that very moment. Oh, how that lie irked him." He chuckled unrepentantly at the look on Arthur's face. "I do believe he is still behind the door."

"Hiding behind doors?" An older, pink-cheeked, sweet-looking woman with a fluffy braid draped over her shoulder stepped up beside Gaius and slid her hand into his. She looked familiar. Arthur searched his memory for a name. Alice.

"I wondered how he discovered my secret." Her eyes twinkled. "I should have paid better attention. I thought I sensed someone there, and I'm sure the manticore did."

"Behind doors, was it? I was sure he was hiding behind my curtains at one point. I knew he'd been in my chambers," Aredian hissed venomously.

"He hid behind my changing screen when he trespassed my chambers," remarked Agravaine, in disgust.

"You look surprised, Arthur. I'm surprised you never noticed him sneaking around, but then, you always were an oblivious fool," Morgana commented lightly. "I spotted him easily when he followed me to meet Morgause in the Darkling Wood. It really wasn't hard." She smirked nastily. "He paid dearly for that little excursion."

A deep rumble sounded overhead. "You shouldn't sound so pleased with yourself, Witch. Only once did you discover him! The young warlock uncovered your plans and thwarted you at every turn. Notice, you are here and he is not," sniped an ancient grating voice.

She narrowed her flashing green eyes. "And you notice that Arthur's here looking for all the world like a very young man."

The owner of the rumbling voice loudly drew in a deep breath, preparing a response.

"Peace, Kilgharrah. We know Destiny is not yet finished with him," said the bearded dragonlord who slid his arm comfortingly around Hunith's waist. "He hid himself well enough."

She looked up sorrowfully into his eyes. "I taught him to hide. He learned it too well, I fear. It hurt him more than we can know."

Arthur noticed that they were no longer debating his friend's physical ability to remain unseen but rather his ability to conceal what he was.

"To think he was hiding in plain sight the whole time." A warm hand rested on Arthur's arm and he looked down into Guinevere's liquid brown eyes. He placed his hand over hers and pressed it gently. She smiled wistfully. "How did we miss it? He truly wasn't always that careful with his secret. Do you know, the very first time I met him, he actually told me that he was in disguise."

"Yeah," came the laughing voice of the knight emerging from the right. "He really wasn't all that great at hiding it. He was just lucky you were so oblivious."

"You knew?" Arthur asked incredulously, almost offended.

"Of course," Gwaine replied nonchalantly, tossing his hair away from his face. "First time I met you both, he was magically throwing plates at those thugs in that fight. Didn't like to bring it up, you being Camelot royalty and all. It'd be a poor way to repay the man who saved my life, outing him and seeing him butchered for his efforts."

Arthur flinched at the awfulness of the bare suggestion. The strange panic returned an hundredfold.

Why isn't he here? Where is he?

"He isn't hiding from you," a soft voice answered his thoughts. "He isn't here."

Arthur turned and beheld a beautiful young woman with flowing brown tresses and a kind face, somehow familiar. He searched his memory for a name. None came to mind.

"Come with me, Your Highness. Come through my door."

Arthur hesitated.

"Will you take me to him?"

"In a way." She smiled sadly and took him by the hand. As she did so, the others around him became increasingly insubstantial until all that was left were echoing voices.

"Give him our love."

"Be patient with him."

"Hug my boy for me."

"Be gentle with him, my Love."

"Give him my best, princess."

Waves lapped at the stones by his feet, and through the strangely thinning fog Arthur could make out the long tall form of his friend pacing the shoreline across the lake from them. It was definitely Merlin. Although the tell tale boots, jacket and neckerchief that usually marked him from a mile away were missing and replaced with strange clothing, it was definitely his warlock.

"Merlin!" he called excitedly, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"The time is soon that you will be reunited. Your awakening is proof of this," murmured his lovely guide, gazing at him seriously. "But it is not yet."

As Arthur watched, Merlin reached down and plucked up a rock and hefted it in his hand, staring across the water to where his King stood.

The young woman turned her gaze to Merlin.

"He is not the one who is hidden."

Arthur startled visibly as Merlin suddenly screamed, his throat tearing in rage, frustration and despair.

"ARTHUR!" He hurled the stone violently into the lake. "WHERE ARE YOU!"

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Fin

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A/N: Okay, wow. This is the most surreal and least cheerful thing I've ever written. I think it's the quarantine talking. Yes, it's definitely the quarantine talking. If you want a cheerful reunion ending please go to my fic "First Times" chapter 6 "Hot Bath". The second half of the chapter has a happy, touching, fun-filled, bromance-y, very Merlin and Arthur-style Return.
I do apologize for deviating from the light.