Well, this is the last chapter of this story. I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this story. I am glad and thankful of your support! THANK YOU EVERYONE! I hope you like this chapter just as much.
"You're not going to die, Arthur. I'm telling you. Because I know that one day, you will be king. A greater king than your father could ever be. It's what keeps me going. You are going to live to be the man I've seen inside you, Arthur. I can see a Camelot that is fair and just. I can see a king the people will love and be proud to call their sovereign. For the love of Camelot, you have to live."
Gwenevere Thomas
oxo…oxo
Merlin groaned as he opened his eyes, blinking against the harsh light of the fire. His head was pounding and the rest of him ached all over, but he wasn't sure why. Sitting himself up, he looked around. The first thing he noticed was that he was that he was in Gaius' chambers. It wasn't surprising; that's where he usually was. Granted though, he wasn't usually lying on the floor with a splitting headache.
Looking around, he spotted another person lying on the floor beside him. It was Arthur. Then it all came back to him. The potion. The body swapping. He grinned, looking down at his pale, calloused hands and long, thin fingers. He was himself again.
Scrambling over to the blonde, Merlin looked him over. The prince was still unconscious, but he seemed to be fine otherwise. Merlin's grin widened and he shook his master's shoulder, attempting to wake him.
"Arthur!" He hissed, shaking the man again when he didn't respond. "Arthur!"
The blonde groaned slightly, screwing his nose up in annoyance and confusion. His eyes flickered open slightly before they were screwed up in an attempt to block the light.
"Arthur!" Merlin repeated, shaking his shoulder again and causing the prince to lash out with his arm. He dodged it, but had moved too fast and his head had begun to throb again. "I don't think that was necessary,"
Arthur opened his eyes again, his blue taking in Merlin's face above him. "Merlin?"
The warlock cracked back into a grin, leaning back again as Arthur began to sit up.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." He joked, causing Arthur to glare at him as he straightened into a sitting position.
"Shut up Merlin," he growled before rubbing his head with his hand. Merlin raised an eyebrow, waiting for a couple of moments for it to click before the prince's eyes snapped open again, staring at Merlin with an open mouth. "You're you!" he exclaimed, causing Merlin to roll his eyes slightly, the grin never leaving his face.
"Congratulations, you have now reached basic level intelligence," he told the blonde dryly; sarcasm dripping from his voice. Arthur scowled at him before turning away, examining his hand before gripping the table and pulling himself to his feet; intent on finding a mirror. He found a small one in one of the herb cupboards at the side of the room, running his hands over his face as he took in his reflection.
Gripping the side of the table, Merlin pulled himself to his feet behind the blonde, who was still admiring himself in the mirror. His grin grew.
"You know, if Gwaine saw you like that he would never stop calling you princess,"
Arthur paused before turning, fixing Merlin with a light-hearted glare before cuffing him over the head. Merlin hissed slightly, rising a hand to his hair before looking up at Arthur, a frown on his face.
"Ouch," he complained, causing Arthur to roll his eyes slightly.
"Don't be such a girl, Merlin," he countered, giving his reflection a final glance before placing the mirror back into the cupboard and razing his arms into the air in a full blown stretch.
"Prat," the warlock mumbled, watching as Arthur lowered his arms, a pleased smile on his face.
"Well Merlin, I'm going back to my chambers. I expect dinner," he glanced out of the window, "in about an hour." He instructed before leaving the chambers. Merlin watched the door for a moment before sighing and sitting down, his head pounding. He hadn't realised just how abused his body was until he had gotten back into it. After all, not only did he now have the hangover Arthur had from the night before, there was also the injury he had obtained when they had first switched. This was accompanied by the fact that he had smacked his head pretty hard when he had landed on the floor, and he wasn't pleased in the slightest.
One thing that did cheer him up, however, was his ability to do magic without much concentration again. Allowing a small smile to come over his face at the thought he decided to test it out, clearing everything away with the simple flash of his eyes. His smile grew into a grin when he realised doing magic was much easier than it had been before.
It seemed he had broken some kind of barrier now, from having to do magic in a body that was unused to it; clearing the room would usually have needed more concentration, but he had only needed to think vaguely what he wanted and put in a dab of magic for it to happen.
He was still sitting there grinning when Gaius came in, the physician raising an eyebrow as he looked around.
"Where's Merlin?" he asked, causing the grin on the warlock's face to grow significantly.
"Right in front of you Gaius," he replied cheerily, causing the other eyebrow to rise as well.
"Merlin? So it worked then?" he asked, smiling slightly as his ward nodded. "I hope you will think about being more careful next time then?" he asked warningly, causing Merlin to look at him with a sheepish expression.
"You know me Gaius; I'm always careful,"
xxx…xxx
Arthur was whistling as he made his way up the stone staircase towards his room. It was an unusual sight seeing as he was usually so stoic and he found himself getting many strange looks from the people who crossed him in the corridors. It only made his smile bigger.
"Sire?" Came a voice from behind him and he turned to see Lancelot striding to catch up with him, a frown on his face. Arthur just grinned, nodding his head slightly in greeting.
"Sir Lancelot," he replied, continuing to walk when the knight caught up with him.
"Where have you been Merlin? Arthur had training earlier," Lancelot hissed into his ear, causing Arthur to pause and look at the knight.
"We were making the potion to turn us back. You're now talking to Arthur," he explained in a hushed tone, causing Lancelot's eyes to widen.
"Apologies sire," he said before a small smile began to creep onto his face. "You know that Gwaine is never going to let you forget the fact that you missed training right?"
Arthur chuckled slightly, not allowing anything to ruin his good mood.
"Probably," he replied, continuing up the stairs again, "but I'll worry about that tomorrow. Right now I have to go and speak to my father about settling a promotion."
Lancelot looked at him with a quizzical brow before shrugging slightly as no answer was given to him. The knight followed his prince to the end of the corridor before turning in the opposite direction from him, going right as Arthur went left.
Smile still plastered on his face, Arthur soon found himself staring at the door to the throne room where he knew his father was about to finish his meeting. Knocking on the door, he let himself in when he heard his father call to enter. He was right; the council was packing up, having just finished a general meeting. Arthur was thankful he wasn't always required to attend those meetings…though he probably would be now he had an advisor. The only upside he could see to that development was that Merlin would have to go too. It made his grin widen.
Uther was sat in his usual chair at the head of the table, his grey eyes watching his son as the prince made his way over to him. It wasn't often he saw such emotion on Arthur's face, and the old king found he liked it. It brought a small smile to his own face, and caused him to sit up slightly from where he had been resting his arm on the table.
"Arthur," he greeted warmly, heart buzzing as Arthur's smile grew even more.
"Good afternoon Father," he greeted back, nodding slightly as he arrived by the side of the king. Uther nodded back, the small smile still on his face.
"To what do I owe this little visit?" he asked, prompting Arthur to explain. And explain he did.
"It's about the job you offered Merlin," he began, watching as his father nodded him to continue. "I spoke to him and he wishes to accept the job…provided he can stay my manservant too."
Uther frowned slightly, confused. "Why would he want to do that?"
"Because, father, he would be able to mingle better with the people if he was still a servant; find out their needs and advise us on what can be done to help them. An extra pair of eyes and ears in the court wouldn't go amiss."
The king nodded slowly, seeing the sense his son spoke. Then he smiled again and looked up at Arthur.
"Very well. He will be both your advisor and manservant, though it might be a good idea to get another one to do the more trivial things such as cleaning your armour that he would normally do when you are in meetings. I can't have a member of the court overworked or missing meetings, understood?"
Arthur nodded a large grin on his face. "Of course sire. I couldn't have said it better myself,"
Uther snorted well naturedly. "Of course you couldn't, it was me who said it,"
xxx…xxx
"Merlin!" Arthur greeted jovially as the manservant came in, tray of food in hand.
"Arthur!" Merlin greeted back in surprise. Arthur grinned as the warlock nearly dropped the tray, only keeping hold of it due to a quick flash of golden eyes. He glared half-heartedly at the prince before setting the tray down in front of the blonde and watching as he absently picked up the bread roll sat at the side.
The gin on Arthur's face beginning to make him nervous, Merlin swallowed loudly, going around collecting bits and pieces of clothing he found on the floor. Arthur's eyes watched him in amusement, knowing the warlock was unsettled by something that was probably his good mood.
"So, do the people like the way things are run? Are they happy?" he asked eventually, knowing full well it would confuse his servant like nothing else could. Merlin looked around at him with a raised eyebrow and confused expression.
"That's a bit random isn't it? And why are you asking me?"
Arthur's grin widened, becoming larger than Merlin had ever seen it.
"I believe it's usual to ask one's official advisor such things," he replied, only just keeping himself from laughing at the look of shock that came across Merlin's face.
"Really?" the warlock asked, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Arthur chuckled.
"Yup, and your still half my manservant too,"
Merlin cocked his head slightly in confusion.
"Half?"
Arthur smiled, having calmed down slightly now that the shock had gone from Merlin's face. The servant's expression now held a mixture of happiness and confusion.
"Yes. I wanted you to be a servant still so you can give us feedback from that perspective, but it was actually father that suggested I get another manservant as well to do things such as cleaning my armour and mucking out the stables." The prince explained, smiling wider as he watched Merlin's smile begin to grow.
"So I'm an official member of the court?" he asked, grinning when Arthur confirmed it.
"Nice,"
Arthur chuckled again at his servant's ecstatic expression, deciding to add another piece of information to the mix.
"You also get your own room. Big enough to practice magic properly as well," his tone was casual, but he knew this information would be the best the warlock had gotten. By the expression on his face, Arthur was right.
"R-really?" he stuttered. Arthur snorted before taking a bite out of the roll he hadn't yet touched.
"Yeah. When I've finished this I'll take you there."
Nothing much else was said for a moment, Merlin grinning his head off and Arthur causally eating his dinner as he watched his servant potter around with his goofy grin. The moment was broken by something Arthur had been saving for last and couldn't keep in anymore.
"Of course, that does mean that you have to attend all the council meetings. And you have to be on time for them as well, or father might decide he made a bad choice."
The smile slipped from Merlin's face and the look of dawning horror replaced it. Arthur couldn't help it; he laughed out loud, causing Merlin to glare at him.
"Damn you," he muttered under his breath, "prat,"
oxo…oxo
Dear readers,
Well, that's the end. I hope you like it. I think the end was alright…I wasn't sure I should end it there, but it just seemed to work when I wrote it, so I left it. I hope you all liked this and decide to review…please? I love to hear what people have to say about my writing!
Animeloveramy
Poor Merlin, he thought magic was hard. Now he's gotta deal with politics, his adventure has only just begun *que climatic ending tune*
AnimeAiedail