Hullo everyone,

So I saw this prompt today at kink me and it won't get out of my mind so I had to write it for my sanity's sake really, otherwise the plot bunnies would reproduce after having bunny sex and the last thing I need is my brain being compromised because of unchecked hatching of plot bunnies!

I altered it a bit from the original prompt! Duh!

Things you need to know….

This fic is meant to be a oneshot but since I'm so bad at writing one shots let's say it probably won'tbe a oneshot, timing is somewhere in season 2 where Uther is still a strong king, Balinor is not Merlin's father and neither is Hunith(though I love her) Merlin's mother.

I'm writing this in the hopes that this will cheer me up after my illness because my birthday was on Monday and I couldn't even celebrate my 20th birthday with cake or classmates! Sigh! I'll end my rant here! REVIEWS WOULD MAKE ME SO SO HAPPY!

Summary: Merlin gets lost in the forest when he's looking for herbs Gaius had asked him to fetch and as he stumbles his way through trying to find his way back to Camelot he get's kidnapped by someone. When he wakes up he finds himself in front of his real parents and in a castle that is hidden from everyone except magic users. Seeing that Merlin wasn't going to stay with them willingly his parent's wipe his memories clear off Arthur and anything to do with Camelot convincing him he is Prince Emrys.

WARNING: SLASH obviously, Merlin/Arthur, Arthur/Gwen,Lancelot/Gwen, Gaius, Uther, Morgana, Gwaine(yes yes I know he isn't supposed to appear until series 3 but I don't care!), Percival, Elyan, Leon, Hunith are pretty much the main characters.

Let's start the music!

Manservant Turned Prince

In retrospect Merlin realized he probably should have kept his mouth shut or atleast brought Gwaine with him, but no he had come alone hoping to get away from the castle. He just wanted some space after the witchfinder had come and threatened everything he had built for himself in Camelot. He could still see Gaius being dragged in chains and forced to kneel in front of Uther, oh how he hated Uther, if only Arthur knew of his manic thoughts of exacting revenge on Uther for every sorcerer he put to death, but they would only be thoughts of course, he wouldn't dream of doing anything because that would hurt Arthur too much and Merlin really couldn't bring himself to kill anyone other than the times when someone threatened Arthur.

Arthur, Arthur, Arthur, everything he did was for Arthur and did the prat ever notice him, no, never, no he was just clumsy, idiotic, girly Merlin to Arthur. Merlin had come to the startling revelation that he might quite possibly be a little in love with the golden haired prince of Camelot, believe it or not Merlin wouldn't go charging into danger without a thought for just anyone and although whatever the dragon frequently spouted about shared destiny, coins, halves and marvelous futures it just wasn't inspiration enough for anyone let alone Merlin to risk his neck day in and day out for a person who if he knew the truth about Merlin might just decide to chop his neck off.

Before the witchfinder came he was sure that Arthur would never allow his father to harm the people he knew intimately but when he had seen Arthur standing stiffly near the pyre with Gaius on it something had broken in Merlin and he was second guessing about destiny and wondering if it was worth all the effort if Arthur was going to turn up just like Uther. But by then he was in too deep anyway and this was no longer about protecting Arthur so that he could grow to be a great King and return magic to the realm, it had stopped being about that a long time ago. Now Merlin was protecting Arthur because he can't imagine not protecting him or leaving him, it was painful to even think of it, a life without Arthur was a life that didn't bode well to him even in his mind.

Merlin looked around paranoid even though he was sure he was well and truly lost and probably far away from Camelot and extended his hand whispering a spell to guide his way. His eyes glowed gold with the power before fading away and Merlin frowned when he realized he was no closer to finding out which way to go, he sighed and repeated the spell but nothing happened. In his frustration he began to mutter about how it was unfair for the world's most powerful sorcerer to be unable to perform a simple locating charm but before he could into his ranting there was the snap of a branch and Merlin quietened listening carefully praying for it not be a massive bear which he may not be able to throw a spear at magically because he had no spear or any other weapons really except his magic which seemed to be failing him at the moment because he couldn't disillusion himself and he had mastered the spell in the last year or so. Before he could go into full blown panic and run though he heard a voice come from behind him.

"Lost my boy, are you?"

Merlin spun around and gasped despite himself at the majestic looking man sitting atop a unicorn. He had dark raven hair with grey flecks in between and yet he looked youthful, he had jade green eyes that were kind as they looked down at Merlin and yet Merlin somehow knew that this was a man of great power and authority. Merlin could feel the man's magic humming between himself and the man and the feel of the magic was strangely familiar although Merlin was sure he had never met the man before.

"Uhmm…no, no, I'm not lost I just…ehmm…I was just on my way actually" said Merlin as he dropped his gaze to the forest floor and looked at anywhere but at the man. The man's intense stare made him uncomfortable and conscious of himself somehow.

"Do not lie to me young man!"

Merlin who ought to feel angered and outraged by this strange man's gall at calling unwanted attention to him felt chastised and berated somehow and only Gaius or his mother and sometimes Arthur could make him feel that way.

"No matter, you are never again going back to Camelot!" said the man with absolute resolve which made Merlin look up at the man with indignation before he remembered the man wasn't supposed to know that he lived in Camelot.

"Who do you think you are to tell me where I can and cannot go and how do you know I'm from Camelot?"

The man laughed uproariously as Merlin frowned, "Such a belligerent child but I am pleased nonetheless if you can imagine, however I will not tolerate anymore insults from you!"

Merlin tried several times to use his magic but the simmering golden power under his skin was lost to him somehow and Merlin bit his lip trying again and again before he heard the man chuckle again.

"Your magic will do no harm to me Merlin, your efforts are futile!"

Merlin panicked and the fear showed on his face as the other mans eyes softened as he came forward on his unicorn, Merlin took a few steps back paralyzed with fear.

The man finally got off his unicorn and came forward towards Merlin on foot, when he was close enough to Merlin he whispered "You have nothing to fear from me child." and somehow to Merlin it was reassuring although he didn't know who this man was and that was the last thing Merlin felt before his world went dark.

The man picked Merlin's body up with great care and placed him on the unicorn before he mounted it himself and propped Merlin's body up and against his own reciting a spell to keep Merlin there. For a moment the older man gazed down at the young boy his eyes turning soft as he brushed the hair out of Merlin's face before saying, "Nothing to fear at all my son."

The next time Merlin woke up it was to the sound of voices and Merlin groaned slowly blinking open his eyes when someone gasped Merlin turned to look at said someone who was a lady dressed in the finest gowns he'd ever seen, magic oozed out of it leaving no doubt as to how the fabric must have been spun. The lady was just as mystic and beautiful as the gown and jewellery she wore and her deep blue eyes were soulful and full of wisdom and compassion.

"He looks just like you my dear! I cannot believe I am finally seeing him for myself after all these years!" the women's eyes were glazed now as she looked at Merlin with an affectionate yearning.

"He has your eyes Esmeralda."

It was that soft, affectionate voice that made Merlin look up into the face of the man he had seen last in the forest and he immediately sat up, his mind on full alert. He looked at his surroundings concluding it was a chamber big enough for a royal and then noticed that the bed he was on was soft as a feather and must belong to a royal as well. But the most important part of the matter was that this place wherever it was was not Camelot and he had probably been kidnapped though he couldn't imagine why.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" asked Merlin as he moved away from the man and woman trying to gather his magic which wouldn't respond to his call.

The woman's beautiful eyes glazed over in pain but she reached forward with both her hands resting them on Merlin's shoulder, "You have nothing to fear from us Emrys, you are our son, we wouldn't dream of ever hurting you!"

Merlin's eyebrows rose in shock and denial as he said "Your son? No….no…I'm the son of Hunith of Ealdor, I don't know what you are talking about!" even as he felt the truth in the woman's words and Esmeralda dropped her hands from her sons shoulders taking a deep breath.

Esmeralda sighed as she sat down on the bed with her son, there was a lot of explaining to do, "No, Hunith raised you as her son because we asked her to."

Merlin opened and closed his mouth wanting to tell them that they were liars but held his tongue when he was directed a stern look from the man standing beside Esmeralda.

Esmeralda who was pained to see her son so confused and anxious reached out and took one of his hands in hers stroking circles on Emrys' palm before starting, "You must understand my son, we would never have abandoned you if there was any other way! When you were born was the time of the great purge when Uther Pendragon killed every person suspected of sorcery across the five kingdoms and beyond and no one was in more danger of being destroyed by him than you!"

"I had a kingdom to protect and at that time our army was severely outnumbered to Uther's, we would have stood no chance even with magic at our side" said the man.

"Kingdom?" asked Merlin bewildered by this farfetched and utterly unbelievable story.

Esmeralda's lips turned into a beatific smile as she nodded and explained, "The Kingdom of the Banraven's, the strongest magical kingdom the world has ever seen!"

"Uther had started his purge almost a year before your birth and we knew he would want to attack our kingdom although he was biding his time, an attack we were not ready for at the time as more and more sorcerers were killed the magic that kept our kingdom stable began to crumble along with every life Uther took in the name of purging the evil that was sorcery!" there was a distinct hatred for Uther in the man's speech and Merlin was stunned to hear he had been hunted for possessing magic even at his birth, if what they told him was true of course.

"We knew Uther was planning on taking you away from us using his assassins and spies but we had our own spy in Camelot. Furthermore, all the sorcerers wanting revenge on Uther saw you as their tool as you are prophesized to be the greatest sorcerer the world would ever know, we could not trust people even within out castle to not take you away so we had to act. If there was any other way for us to have kept you we would have, I cannot begin to explain just how much I have longed to see you all these years…my son." Esmeralda finished with as tears streaked down her face and she kissed Merlin's hand as her husband soothed her by putting his hands on her shaking shoulders.

Merlin couldn't comprehend any of it, he had just been told that his whole life had been a lie. He couldn't fathom the thought of being a noble magician's son or even a magical kingdom existing which is why he asked "I've never heard of the existence of magical kingdoms, Uther has destroyed druids who live in the woods but there was never a kingdom…"

"That is because we left, to another realm…we escaped with as many sorcerers and druids as possible although we knew we must return someday!" said the man looking solemn as Esmeralda finally wiped her eyes and took hold of the man's hands on her shoulder.

"We couldn't take you with us because you were too young then, the teleportation magic had to be very strong and it would have killed you had we used it to take you with us."

Merlin felt confused, angry, shock and denial and each expression chased over the other and what came out of his mouth was, "I still cannot believe you unless you can prove it."

The man was about to protest but Esmeralda shook her head which seemed to pacify him and he muttered some strange words of the Old religion that Merlin understood halfway before he saw silvery mists spinning in the air reaching for him and surrounding him becoming ribbons of silver as they glowed brightly, he looked at Esmeralda who had begun her chanting and as her eyes glowed golden the ribbons fragmented into pieces except one which connected his right wrist to Esmeralda and the man, the other fragments spun in the air for a moment before rearranging themselves into the words "MERLIN EMRYS BANRAVEN, SON OF PHINEAS BANRAVEN AND ESMERALDA BANRAVEN"

Merlin needed no further confirmation as the ribbons of sliver began to fade as did the letters. Merlin was silent for a long moment before he asked "So…what do you want from me now?"

"We want you to assume your rightful place as the Prince of this Kingdom!" said Phineas as though it should have been obvious.

Merlin shook his head saying "I'm not a Prince, I'm a peasant, I'm Prince Arthur's manservant in Camelot…I know nothing about being a Prince!"

Phineas' lip curled in something resembling disgust as he spat, "Yes we heard of your disposition with our mortal enemy, it seems Gaius has failed me for which he would pay indeed, if we had heard of this atrocity we would have come sooner my son!"

"No, no….you don't understand…I can't stay here…."

Esmeralda's hurt look made Merlin's chest ache as she said "My son, I realize it was very wrong of us to abandon you and I am sorry, so very sorry but please do not say you will not stay with us here, it is where you belong….if you are angry I can…" but she didn't get to finish her sentence when Merlin interrupted.

"I'm not angry, I'm confused but I'm not angry, I understand why you had to leave me but I can't stay here, my home is in Camelot, I have to go back!"

Esmeralda gasped and moved back clutching her hand to her heart as she turned to her husband who looked equally shell shocked.

"Why would you go back to Camelot? Uther and his son would surely condemn you to death for possessing magic!"

Merlin flinched when he realized it was probably true but shoved the images of his head on a block away before saying "I know but I have to go back, I have to, me and Arthur, we share a destiny!"

"Destiny?" Phineas asked looking incredulous.

"Yes, the great Dragon told me it was my destiny to protect Arthur! That he would be the greatest King Albion had ever known and I would be the one to help him along the way!"

"Kilgarrah is delusional at the best of times, being locked up in the cell for nearly two decades has clearly addled his mind!" intoned Phineas.

Before Merlin could voice another protest Phineas came forward and touched the side of Merlin's cheeks making him fall into the bed in deep slumber.

After about a week of Merlin's unshakable determination to escape and go back to Camelot the King and Queen of the Banraven kingdom made their decision and when Merlin slept that night under the enchantment of Phineas they took Merlin to the dungeons deep below the castle where the a single large cell had been prepared for the ritual.

The next day Merlin woke up when a servant arrived in his chambers announcing, "It is time to wake up your highness!"

To which Merlin groaned and replied, "Five more minutes!" curling further into the bed.

"Your majesty, your father wishes to see you in an hour at council chambers!" said the servant pulling the curtains away which made the bright sunlight shine directly onto the prince's face.

"What is the benefit of being a Prince if I don't even get to sleep a while longer?" asked Merlin as he got up slowly and waved his hand to fill the bath as he stepped out of his sleeping robes and into the bath.

"Do you want me to fetch your breakfast your highness?"

"No Gilli, I think I can manage! You can go and get Aithusa ready for the ride; he's gone lazy on his white hide for far too long!"

"Yes sire!"

"And drop the honorifics Gilli, really they make me feel old!"

The manservant said nothing to that as he exited his master's rooms after waving his hand and setting out the clothes for the prince on the bed.

There, that's part one and there will be more parts and this fic will be completed by the week so keep tuned in!

READ AND REVIEW!

Don't you worry, next part Arthur will make his appearance.