AN: Last one! :)

By the time Merlin and Gwaine came sprinting back to Gaius' chambers, Arno was already standing in the doorway, stiffly propped against the wooden frame. At this point, only a very small amount of elasticity left within his flesh, and while it was enough to straighten his body out from its seated position, he was still left unable to walk.

Even his neck had trouble shifting to see his approaching companions. "Gwaine!" he exclaimed when he saw the man, as cheerfully as he had when he was fully mobile. Gwaine slowed by the doorway, his expression clouding over with confusion and concern as he saw the state that Arno was in. "Ah, yes," said Arno in an uncomfortable tone, "it's a little bit complicated to explain."

The knight frowned for a moment longer, thinking hard, and then simply said, "No need."

"Here, help me," Merlin interrupted desperately. He moved around to Arno's left to seize a hold on his arm and shoulders, while Gwaine took the other side without a word of protest. "We have to get him to the north-west corridor."

"Right."

Grunting with effort, the three men – with Gaius acting as scout and door-opener for obvious reasons – began their difficult journey through the dim halls of Camelot. For his part, Arno looked almost ashamed to be causing them trouble on his behalf. Every time one of them stumbled, or grimaced at the weight of the increasingly-stone man, he would mutter a sincere apology that went ignored. The stone was slowly spreading over his skin at the same time, creating more weight for them to carry and more discomfort for him to bear in silence, and they were only three quarters of the way when he told them that he could no longer move his torso at all.

They all moved that little bit faster after he said it.

"We're almost there," Gaius said quietly, as they turned yet another corner in the long passageway. Never before now had the castle seemed such an endless labyrinth to the citizens of Camelot. "Just a few more meters."

"We'll get you there," Merlin promised in a strained whisper, struggling to maintain his hold as they shuffled along.

"It'll be fine," Gwaine added reassuringly. His voice belied the strength he was exerting on his side as he brushed damp strands of hair away from his forehead.

"Wait!" Gaius suddenly hissed, and all three froze, listening to the sound of voices.

"Gaius, we can't wait," Merlin hissed back, thin arms shaking slightly as they struggled to stay still.

"There are guards coming," the physician informed them sombrely.

"Get rid of them!"

"I can try and get to my sword," Gwaine said, "but I'd have to put him down first."

"Go," Arno suggested quietly, "leave me here, and come back once their gone. They won't suspect I'm anything but another piece of artwork in these halls."

Merlin shook his head, clenching his teeth. "No. If we leave you now, you may revert to stone before we can get you back."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Too late," Gwaine sighed, interrupting them both.

Seconds later, the glare of torches shone in their faces, shocking their night-adjusted eyes and making the four men cringe.

"What are you doing?" demanded a first, male voice.

"Are you trying to steal that sculpture?" snapped a second.

"That's theft!"

Merlin didn't have time to think about it. As Arno's rapidly growing weight dragged on his arms, making his whole frame tremble with weariness and his forehead bead in sweat, his natural instincts took over before he could consider the one uninformed witness amongst them. Without even summoning an incantation, the warlock reached for his magic. His eyes flashed gold, and several things happened at once.

The torches extinguished immediately, casting them into dimness once more, and under that cloak of shadows, the two guards suddenly found themselves thrown backwards into the wall. Their helmeted heads clanked together as they tumbled, echoing in a loud, metallic bang, and then both men slumped to the floor, senseless.

There was a striking sound as Gaius relit the torches.

Guilty, Merlin glanced at Gwaine, but he could not see the man's reaction from where he was standing, and they did not have the time right then.

"Go!" Merlin urged, reaffirming his grip on Arno's unyielding arm. "Now!"

This time, with their struggle fuelled by desperation and the aching of their muscles, they hurried forth at twice the speed of their journey so far. Within minutes, the door to the storeroom was in sight.

"Almost there," Merlin panted, stepping faster.

Arno's hair had begun to solidify around his face, freezing into perfectly sculpted waves of stone on top of his head.

Gaius hurried forward to open the door for them, and Gwaine and Merlin managed to manoeuvre Arno through the frame – which seemed suddenly much, much narrower than it had in previous visits – and carried him toward the back of the room. Gaius hovered by the door, looking out for any interruptions. Finally, as they came up upon the sole pedestal in the space, the two bearers were able to release their burden as they placed him on the floor.

"Are you sure about this?" Merlin asked breathlessly, looking at Cadence's likeness and back to Arno's face.

"I'm positive," he replied. His words came out with difficulty, slightly twisted with the effort of speaking past his hardening facial muscles. The stone lattice was spreading out across both cheeks, stretching his cheekbones into unblemished planes once more. "If I'm going to look at one thing for all of eternity… I want it to be her."

Arno's eyes softened as they landed on Merlin's face, which was contorted in more than simple weariness, and then moved to look at Gwaine. "You're a kind man, Sir Gwaine," he told him sincerely, "and I want to thank you for helping me, here. I hope Merlin explains everything, but just know that it was an honour to meet you. There's never been a knight quite like you."

Gwaine was uncharacteristically sombre as he nodded, leaning forward to clasp Arno's stone hand in both of his own and bowing his head. "Nor you, my friend."

Smiling tightly, Arno's looked to Merlin next. "Thank you, Merlin," he said softly, and there was an immense gratitude in his voice. "I could never repay what you've done for me… or for what you tried to do on my behalf. You truly are the greatest man that I've ever known, or ever will know for that matter, and there really is nothing more to it than that." His expression was such that if he could have shrugged a shoulder, he would have. The strain in his face intensified. "It's been… a privilege to call you friend."

Merlin could barely summon the will to find his own voice and when he did, those two words came out just as strained and choked as the stone man's had. "Goodbye, Arno."

In the moments before he was completely set, Arno's gaze moved back onto Cadence's statue that stood mere inches from his own. With his hands set stiff by his sides and his body frozen in marble, his face still managed to soften and shine the second he laid eyes on her. And as the stone swallowed his face entirely, his face was fixed not in a grimace of pain, but in an expression of pure adulation and love.

Then he was gone, leaving nothing but his stone likeness standing unmoving in place of the man he had been.

For a long minute, no one made a single sound.

Then, as the seconds ticked by with no movement or reaction from his solidified friend beside him, a tear began to roll down Merlin's cheek.

With a soft sigh, Gwaine reached over to his young friend and pulled him over into a loose embrace. After a moment's hesitation, Merlin's arms rose to clasp his friend in return, and Gwaine briefly ruffled the back of his hair in a comforting gesture.

Over the boy's shoulder, Gaius and Gwaine exchanged a look; the physician inclined his head once, smiling his gratitude to the knight.

In the remaining hour before dawn, Merlin chose to remain in the storeroom rather than returning to his chambers. He dusted off Cadence's statue form with the utmost care, straightening her pedestal and gingerly sanding off and offending scratches on the stone's surface, and then placing Arno's effects in a small chest beside the two of them.

Gaius had remained only long enough to offer his own sympathies to his ward, with comforting words and his own warm hug. Once he was certain that Merlin was well, he left with an assurance that he would deal with the prince should he come looking for his servant in the interim. It was an unspoken acknowledgement that Gwaine would be staying until Merlin was completely ready.

The knight did stay by Merlin's side throughout his ministrations, leaning back against one of the smooth columns and staying silent as he kept out of his friend's way.

Finally, with the absence of any caretaking possibilities for the frozen people before him, Merlin simply stepped back and sat himself down on the stone floor in the centre of the room. After a moment, Gwaine walked over and sat beside him.

"You alright?" he asked in a slightly gruff voice, careful not to look too closely at his friend as he spoke.

Merlin's lips quirked up at the corners just a tad, and he managed a small shrug. "Yes." With a sigh, he added, "He was a good man."

"Yeah, he was," Gwaine agreed. "He didn't deserve that fate."

"I can't imagine anyone would."

The pair was quiet for a short time, until the atmosphere lightened enough to reassure Gwaine's concerns for his friend. Then, he inhaled deeply and slapped his hands lightly on his knees.

"You know," he commented idly, "we really should have a conversation about what happened back there. With the guards. With our friend, there." He gestured with one gloved hand to Arno's stone form. "And about your mysterious abundance of knowledge on magic. I can only imagine that that would be a very interesting story."

Merlin had suddenly gone very still where he sat, peering at Gwaine from the corner of his eye to gauge his reaction. The man didn't look angry or offended at all; quite the opposite, in fact. A small grin was playing on his face, and his warm eyes sparkled.

"But not today," Gwaine continued calmly, allaying Merlin's anxiety. Contrary to everything Merlin had been trained to believe about the public, there was no judgement in his friend's face, despite knowing his secret. Gwaine was looking at Merlin just as he had every other day. With a nonchalant acceptance that seemed to belong to the easy-going knight alone, he clasped Merlin's shoulder briefly and then stood, stretching his muscles. "It doesn't make any difference to me, and to be honest, I get the feeling you've got enough on your mind." As he strolled toward the exit, he called back, "You know where to find me, if you want to talk."

Then he was gone, leaving Merlin staring blankly in his wake and wondering at the strange, wandering, tavern-frequenting knight that had somehow turned out to be one of the best friends he'd ever had.

Okay, I may have indulged in a fluffy little ending with Gwaine and Merlin, but I love their friendship to bits!

Thank you to everyone who took the time out to read this story, and to the people who chose to alert/favourite/review - I don't really fuss about responses, but you were all lovely and supportive, so it was just an added bonus :)

Hope you've enjoyed reading this, I know I had fun writing it.

xx