Merlin had been waiting.

His eyes never left the spot where Arthur had been, nearly a day ago. His mind never stopped repeating, He knows, He knows. Arthur knows.

And so he stood exactly where he had been, unmoving, and expectant as the day waned into night and night gave in to morning's light, the rays stretching through the forest cheerily, but Merlin hardly noticed any of this. He had expected him to come back. When? He didn't know. But he waited for Arthur to walk back out from beneath those trees and say something. Condemn him. Betray him. Accept him. Something.

When it had happened, the event that would supposedly change everything, their destiny, Merlin's fate- Arthur had given away nothing. For the first time in hours, Merlin feels something as a shiver passes through him as the image of Arthur's face invades his mind. Cold and impassive. No emotion, just a motion as Arthur turned his back on Merlin- who had just saved his life, condemning himself –and walked away. Though the prince had disappeared into those trees then, he had scarcely disappeared from Merlin's mind. The warlocks mind wrapped itself around and around the situation, going through every motion, every action until all that was left was an endless need for Arthur to come back so he can explain and everything can go back to how it was before.

So, Merlin, the most powerful warlock in all of Albion, remained where he had been when it happened, completely still, not sure if he was waiting for Arthur or just unable to move from shock. His body was tense but he remained, fixed on the spot where Arthur had left, indifferent like a stranger and the body of the revengeful sorcerer he had saved Arthur from still laying off to the side.

He realized, somewhere in that empty space of time, that Arthur wasn't going to come back. That, most likely, the prince had turned his back on Merlin for good and that thought brought a twinge of pain to Merlin's heart, a searing pain that broke through the numbness of endless hours of awaiting his fate.

He allowed his mind to wander and soon the numbness returned to him. A comfortable sensation, keeping him from the sense of abandonment and betrayal that would gladly rise up in its place.

He didn't even notice when the sun faded, and it began to rain, unrelenting with all the bitterly cold bite of a destiny lost.

The light had completely been drained from the day when a twig snapped to Merlin's left. The noise slithered past him and snapped him back to reality. All of it came rushing back, and he realized just as suddenly as Arthur had left that it was all over. Previously, Merlin had entertained the hope that his friendship with the Prince would make up for the mounting incriminations against him, but not now. Not after all this waiting, and nothing. He wasn't coming back.

And that's why when the voice he never expected to hear again reached him, his heart nearly skipped a beat.

"You'll catch your death." And the voice was not completely tainted with coldness and that fact alone brought warmth to Merlin. It was like, just with his return, Merlin's whole body became alert again and he was suddenly aware of how sore, cold and wet he was.

"Does it matter?"

Arthur strode out into view of his servant, his hand consciously holding his unsheathed sword by his side. He didn't miss that Merlin's eyes went instantly to the blade and a wave of fear crossed his face, breaking the frozen, expressionless visage that Merlin was never meant to display. But, he continues anyway. "That depends."

Merlin looked at the sword, ready to be used, in Arthur's hand and visibly gulped. "On what?"

Arthur leveled his gaze and brought up his sword, aiming for intimidating but finding it hard as his stomach shifted uncomfortably against him, as if his body itself knew it was wrong to do this, especially when it was this place where his life had been saved by Merlin. But what had happened there, ironically enough, was the exact same reason Arthur steeled himself and brought the sword to Merlin's chest and let the tip touch there. His eyes never leaving his manservant's soaked face, "On what happens here. Now."

Merlin's eyes took a grave light and the warlock couldn't help but see his destiny ending here and now, unable to prove himself and under a unending torrent of rain.

He's speechless, thinks Arthur and is glad, because that means he has effectively gained control of the situation, which is what he needs to get answers from Merlin.

The warlock waits for him to say something, to accuse him and prepares himself for the questions he knew for years were coming. How long have you been a sorcerer? Why did you come to Camelot? Why did you use your magic to save me? Or even, how could you betray and lie to me?

The first question when it comes is not what he had expected and it catches him so off guard that it almost doesn't register.

"Was our... friendship ever really real?" Arthur's eyes bore into Merlin, looking for any sign of deceit even as his sword still pressed to the warlock's chest.

Merlin blinks.

"It was to me."

Rain drips down his hair and into and around his eyes as he says this, but there's no denying his message gets through, quick and clear. His eyes speak like they always have, and Arthur knows that he is telling the truth. Merlin's a lousy liar anyway, Arthur thinks, though he has plenty of evidence to the contrary.

And so with no reluctance, Arthur, Future King of Camelot, lowers his sword. He sheathes it in one quick motion, taking the hand that was previously threatening Merlin and puts it on his servant's upper arm. "You know that sorcery is a crime punishable by death in my Father's kingdom, you've seen it happen many times."

Merlin simply nods, trying not to remember the scene that greeted him when he first walked into Camelot.

"So why, pray tell, do you stay? I'm sure you can find work somewhere else that puts up with your lazy, incompetent ways." Arthur says, and Merlin grins. Some things never change.

But Merlin shrugs wetly, still smiling, not wiling to give up all his secrets just yet. "I have my reasons."

Even through the harsh rain, Merlin can see Arthur's eyebrows lift at Merlin's mysteriousness. "Would those reasons be the same reasons that you are still standing here, in the rain, exactly where I left you yesterday?"

"They might." Merlin said and felt ever single once of tension, fear and apprehension that had seized his mind and body that last day leave him. He still has to explain all of it, Arthur won't let him off the hook that easily. But Arthur, Prince of Camelot, did come back for him.

As Arthur releases his grip from his arm and tells Merlin to follow him back to Camelot where they can talk and Merlin decides that all of it had been worth the wait.

Okay, so that's it, unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. thank u for reading and if you could review, they make my day :)