Arthur slowly opened his eyes. Why was the sky white? He tried to move but he couldn't feel his legs. His immediate thoughts were Oh my God! I'm paralysed…or worse, dead! He then realised as his senses came back to him he was in a tent. He could hear the gentle tapping as rain fell upon the canvasy ceiling. Everything swam above him so he blinked a couple of times to try and focus before forcing himself up and glancing around him. He realised that the reason he couldn't feel his legs was because of the many blankets they were weighed down by. Pulling them off, he glanced to the tent entrance and saw Merlin lying on his mat and everything came flooding back. Merlin was a sorcerer! Could he even be the same Merlin he loved? Then again, Arthur reasoned, surely if Merlin was evil he would have left him to die in the clearing after they were attacked or just not even bothered saving him. At least that was enough proof for Arthur that Merlin was still his idiotic, lovable Merlin. Merlin couldn't be evil if he tried "Merlin?"

Merlin's eyes sprang open and he immediately sat up, as though he hadn't been asleep, just waiting for Arthur to speak. He looked relieved to see Arthur sitting up who gasped as he took in Merlin's appearance. He was covered in blood.

"Merlin! Are you alright? Whose is that?" he asked and Merlin stared blankly at him "Whose blood is it?"

"Yours." he replied miserably

"Oh," even though he knew it wasn't his fault he felt guilty for having scared and worried Merlin so much. Arthur then remembered what he was going to ask him "Merlin?"

"Yes?" Merlin responded, knowing what the question was going to be

"Why didn't you tell me you were a sorcerer?"

"I really don't know what you mean!"

"I saw you Merlin! I saw your eyes change colour!"

"Well you did lose a lot of blood so maybe you were just imagining things…you know…erm…hallucinating! Or it could have been a trick of the light or err…you're going to kill me, aren't you?"

Arthur was taken aback by Merlin's matter of fact tone. How could Merlin think he would actually kill him? "No! I could never do that to you! You're my best friend. I care about you more than anything in the world!"

"Really?"

"If you weren't so important to me do you really think I'd let you get away with half the stuff you get up to? You'd be in the stocks all year if my father knew a quarter of the things you do. And I probably only know a quarter of what you do if even that."

"Better the stocks than being executed" Merlin said shivering

"Are you cold?"

"No." Merlin lied

"Liar! You've always been a bad liar!"

Merlin raised his eyebrow in an uncanny resemblance of one of Gaius.' He was spending too much time with the old physician Arthur decided

"Ok, you've always been a bad liar apart from this one tiny thing!"

"Having magic is hardly one tiny thing!" Merlin retorted.

They sat for a while in an awkward silence until…

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Arthur asked and Merlin could see the hurt in his eyes

"Yes, of course!"

"When?"

"I don't know." Merlin admitted

"Didn't you trust me?"

"I trust you with my life Arthur, I was just…scared."

Another silence

"How long have you been practicing?"

"I was born this way."

"Impossible!"

"It's the truth! Honestly Arthur!"

Arthur gazed into the young warlock's eyes before nodding his head in acceptance

"This makes a lot of sense now thought!" he commented

"How?"

"Well I'm guessing you sent that light to guide me out the cave when you were poisoned"

"Yes but I was unconscious at the time"

"You performed magic in your sleep? You idiot…So what else have you done?"

"Erm…I don't know. I lose count." Merlin shrugged

"That much huh?"

"Well there was the whole eloping business with Sophia."

"Oh yes, when you supposedly knocked me out with a log. So what exactly happened there?"

"They enchanted you and were going to sacrifice you in the lake for Sophia's immortality.

"What!"

"She enchanted you and was-"

"I heard. How did you stop her?"

Merlin looked uneasy "I…killed her and her father before rescuing you from the lake."

"Oh, right…thanks." Arthur said, beginning to feel slightly afraid of his manservant who obviously wasn't as useless as everyone thought "Anything else?"

"Erm…no?"

"Liar!" Arthur said again and Merlin grinned "What about the dragon?"

Merlin blanched "What about it?"

"Did you kill it really?"

"No but I sent him away and said I'd kill him if I saw him again."

"How did you manage that?"

Merlin sighed deeply "Remember the dragon lord?"

"Yes?"

"Well…it turns out he was my father" he said, his voice wobbling slightly

"Really?"

"Yes, and when he died…" Merlin breathed unsteadily and sniffed "his powers were passed to me."

"Great" Arthur said sarcastically then chuckled "So you're a sorcerer and a dragon lord?" Merlin smiled slightly "I thought you said you didn't know your father." Arthur frowned

"I didn't. Gaius told me before we left that he was my father."

"That's why you were so distracted when we were journeying to find him then."

"Partly"

"God I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I told you he wasn't worth your tears."

"It's fine."

"Does Gaius know…that you're magic?"

"Yes. He knew from the beginning."

"Anyone else know?"

"Lancelot does. He figured it out after the griffin."

"I take it you had a part in it being killed then?"

"Only a small one!" Merlin grinned, he tried to suppress a shiver and winced but Arthur saw it.

"You are cold! Right, come here!"

"Really I'm fine"

"Merlin!"

Merlin moved over next and Arthur touched his hand and then his cheek, holding his hand there for a bit too long perhaps. A slight blush tinged Merlin's cheeks.

"Jesus Merlin, you're like ice! Are you alright? You look pale, well, paler then normal"

Merlin just smiled weakly and looked down sadly.

"Merlin…Merlin look at me." Merlin reluctantly lifted his head "I'm not going to tell my father."

"What? Why?"

"Because I think you've proved yourself and I can see you've only ever used your magic for good and to protect Camelot."

"Right. But I take it I'll have to leave your service and Camelot." he said sadly

"Why on Earth would you think that Merlin?" Arthur asked incredulously

"I just thought…well…I thought you might not want to be friends with a sorcerer." he replied lamely

"Merlin you idiot. Your magic doesn't change anything. I…I love you."

"You love me?"

"Of course I do!"

"But-" he was cut off as Arthur sat up suddenly, grabbed him roughly by his neckerchief and pressed his lips to his tightly. He pulled away slowly

"Merlin, I love you and nothing is ever going to change that." He reclaimed Merlin's lips and forced his tongue into his mouth, swallowing Merlin's moan. He pulled Merlin down on top of him, opening his legs so he could rest in-between them. Merlin pulled away quickly. "But Arthur, you should know that I-"

"Don't worry about that now," Arthur smiled, placing his fingers to Merlin's lips before leaning in and kissing him then slowly tugged him down next to him "Rest now. We have tomorrow to talk about it." He wrapped his arms around Merlin and pulled the blankets over them both. "We have our whole lives to talk about it."

"You seriously want to put up with me for the rest of your life?" Merlin smiled

"Well who else is going to tell me when I'm being such a prat?" Arthur said and kissed Merlin on the nose

Grinning, Merlin cuddled into his Prince "Arthur?"

"Yes Merlin?"

"I love you."

"Love you too Merlin."

THE END

I know the ending kind of fizzled out a bit :/ sorry guys! Feel free to review anyway and thanks for all the reviews so far!