Author's Note: This takes place a few years after Season 4. Arthur already knows about Merlin's magic and has heard all the stories about what Merlin has done for him over the years. The confrontation with Morgana isn't really important plot-wise… Just assume that she's doing what she does best and trying to take Camelot from her brother… again. I hope you all enjoy!

Arthur's head was pounding, and it was taking him a very long time to remember where he was, and why he appeared to be on the ground. Flashes of memory…

Morgana… the ringing of clashing swords, keeping Morgana's rebel army away from Camelot's walls… Kissing Gwen and promising to return…

Slowly, Arthur peeled his eyes open.

"Sire!" Leon said, immense relief coloring his tone. Arthur looked around the clearing, and saw that he was lying in a relatively secluded spot, and that the fighting seemed to have died down. But something was wrong –

"Where the hell is Merlin?"

Leon looked surprised at the question as he helped his king to a seated position. "What?"

"Where's Merlin?" Arthur repeated impatiently.

"I'm not sure," Leon said, eyes widening further as Arthur began to attempt to stand.

"The idiot was supposed to stay with me," Arthur growled, resisting as Leon tried to push him back to the ground.

"Gwaine," Leon called over his shoulder. "Find Merlin."

Gwaine caught sight of Arthur's expression and nodded, running out of the clearing. Leon looked at Arthur again, worried. "You were holding off three of Morgana's men at once- they were apparently enchanted in some way. Much stronger than us, anyway."

"And then suddenly they retreated," Arthur said, struggling to remember. Leon and Arthur shared a glance.

"Something to do with Merlin?" Leon asked.

"The idiot," Arthur muttered.

"He may have saved us all," Leon said, helping Arthur unsteadily to his feet.

"Knowing him, he's managed to get himself into trouble in the process." Arthur remembered back to that morning, a grim line of worry forming across his brow.

"Arthur, you should let me go alone," Merlin said for the twentieth time that morning. He was helping Arthur into his armor, while the sounds of Camelot preparing for battle carried on outside.

"Right," Arthur said, rolling his eyes. "I'll just let you go out and face an entire army on your own, shall I?"

"I'm powerful enough," Merlin insisted.

"Morgana is powerful, too."

Merlin clasped a final buckle on Arthur's armor and then walked around him, catching his eye. "I know it's hard for you to believe, but I'm stronger than Morgana is."

Arthur sighed. "So you keep saying."

"It's true!"

"Well, be that as it may, you're not taking on her army by yourself."

"Arthur, please," Merlin said, his voice turning to pleading. "This is a war of magic, not of steel. This is my fight."

"Our fight. Camelot is mine to defend."

Merlin sighed. "Fine," he finally grumbled. "Just don't wander off without me, alright? I can't protect you if I don't know what's going on."

Merlin lurched back into consciousness abruptly. His vision took a moment to catch up with his mind, and the person kneeling next to him was blurry. Impatiently, he closed his eyes and opened them again, bringing Gwaine into focus.

"Where's Arthur?" his heart was pounding abnormally fast.

Gwaine rolled his eyes. "You two are seriously – "

"Gwaine," Merlin said, twisting his hands into Gwaine's collar and glaring.

"He's in a clearing right over there," Gwaine said, practically scooping up Merlin with one arm to set the skinny man on his feet. "Perfectly alright."

Merlin sagged in relief for a moment against Gwaine. "I thought… I thought he was…"

Gwaine stared at Merlin in confusion. "What happened to you, anyway? Weren't you supposed to stay with Arthur?" Gwaine couldn't see any outward signs of injury on Merlin, but the young sorcerer was pale and shaking, and seemed to be having a hard time staying upright.

"I was with Arthur. But Morgana wanted to chat," Merlin said darkly.

"You saw Morgana?" Gwaine gasped.

"I fought Morgana," Merlin retorted.

"Sometimes I forget you're powerful enough to kill me with a snap of your fingers," Gwaine said, grinning and turning the two of them in the direction of the clearing where Arthur was.

"Well – she sort of caught me unawares," Merlin said.

Arthur had known for more than a year now that Merlin had magic, but it was still a little disconcerting to see the power shining in his eyes.

With one flash of eyes and a string of ancient words, he had cleared an entire line of enemy soldiers.

"You could leave something for us to do, Merlin," Arthur yelled above the noise of battle. Merlin laughed.

"Sorry, can't help it!"

Arthur said something in response, but the world had gone very quiet for Merlin. He knew what was happening and tried to resist it, but Morgana's magic was pulling him across reality itself to another place entirely.

He saw Arthur's attention drawn away from him, facing the onslaught of knights – he fought to keep his feet on the ground, to protect his king, but abruptly he was gone. The magic was pulling him across reality itself. He saw Arthur turn his attention to an oncoming soldier, bringing up his sword against an attack. Then, Merlin blinked, and he was in an empty clearing.

Disoriented, he stumbled and nearly fell. He grabbed a tree branch to steady himself and looked around – whoever had pulled him there hadn't yet arrived. He was entirely alone. From a ways off, he could hear the sounds of battle.

Merlin leaned back against the tree trunk, waiting. Someone with a great deal of power had pulled him here, and it wasn't particularly difficult to guess who.

"So nice of you to join me," a voice said from under the cover of the trees.

"Hello, Morgana," Merlin said politely, standing up straight. Morgana stepped out into the clearing.

"I had heard rumors that you were the famed Emrys. I must say… I had found it hard to believe until now." With a flick of her wrists, Morgana sent a spell flying in Merlin's direction. Merlin didn't even uncross his arms as he deflected it.

Morgana pursed her lips. "I guess it's true."

"True enough," Merlin said, shrugging. "You know – I can take your army down, or you cold save yourself some time and just surrender."

Morgana glared. "Why are you helping Camelot, in the first place?"

"Arthur is a good king," Merlin said, looking sadly at his former friend. He knew Morgana was too far gone now – no matter what Merlin said, Morgana was set in her ways. Standing up straight, he prepared himself to go to battle with the sorceress in front of him.

Gwaine half-carried Merlin into the clearing, where Arthur and Leon were still standing. Several of the other men of Camelot were packing it back into the castle, carrying the wounded and dead with them.

"Merlin, there you are!" Arthur exclaimed, walking forward and clapping his friend on the shoulder. "You weren't supposed to wander off!"

Merlin stared at Arthur for a minute without speaking, as if seeing him for the first time. When he finally did speak, his voice was low and sounded slightly frightened. "Are you… are you really alright?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "By the looks of things, I should be asking you that."

"I'm fine. Just a little over-exerted."

"Did you have something to do with the sudden retreat of our enemies?" Arthur asked, pulling Merlin over to a tree-trunk and helping Gwaine lower him to a seated position.

Merlin nodded. "I took their magic away. Morgana had used magic to make them not only stronger and more skilled, but also willing to fight."

"And that's… powerful magic, is it?" Arthur asked.

Merlin chuckled weakly. "I'm guess it took Morgana months to recruit so many people. It's a lot of magic."

Leon had wandered off to help the other knights, but Gwaine knelt to be on level with Arthur and Merlin.

"And you undid that with one spell?" he asked, surprised.

Merlin shrugged. "It's why I lost consciousness. Too much power for one go." With seeming casualness, he added – "Could very well have killed me."

Arthur spluttered indignantly. "What are you playing at, then? You aren't supposed to be off risking your life, you prat!"

"That's my word," Merlin said, smiling weakly.

"What if you had died?" Gwaine gasped, and Arthur flinched at the word.

"You're in so much trouble, Merlin, I – "

"Look, I didn't mean to, alright?" Merlin snapped, cutting off Arthur mid-sentence. "I lost control of my magic."

"How?" Arthur demanded.

"Morgana provoked me."

"How?" Gwaine repeated Arthur's question.

Merlin looked directly into Arthur's eyes, and spoke in a voice of terrible, flat fury.

"She told me you were dead."

Morgana and Merlin were sparring, standing across the clearing from one another. Morgana was good, and did possess a large amount of raw power, but Merlin had more. And besides – since he had told Arthur about his magic, he had been studying it extensively.

Merlin wasn't one to brag, but as far as magic went, he was good, and by the look on Morgana's face, she had realized that she was out-matched.

"You serve Arthur, do you?" Morgana said, mouth twisting.

Merlin rolled his eyes, blocking another attack lazily. "Yes. He supports and accepts my magic."

"Well," Morgana said. "You might as well give up now, then, Emrys."

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked, sending a spell careening at Morgana that caused her to jump back. She was getting desperate.

Morgana snarled in anger. "Your precious king is dead."

Merlin felt his stomach turn to ice. No. No. He couldn't be.

"You're lying," Merlin growled. He barely had time to jump away from Morgana's spell, so flustered was he by her news.

"I'm not. I pulled you away from him so I could finish him myself." Morgana's smile became even more self-satisfied. "You should have seen the look on his face in his last moments – he was looking around for you, I could tell. Wondering why you had left him alone, abandoned him in his final moment of need…"

Merlin felt his magic spike to the surface and knew with frightening certainty that he had very little control over what happened next. For all he knew, he was about to blow the world apart, and kill himself in the process. He found that he didn't really care.

If Arthur was dead, what did any of it matter?

Merlin cleared his throat awkwardly. "I sort of – lost it."

"And you lashed out?" Gwaine asked.

"Yeah. I just… focused all my raw power on defeating Morgana and her army… and then I can't remember."

Arthur was silent for a moment. "So… when you regained consciousness…"

"Yes, I thought… When Gwaine told me you were alright, I – Well, I guess I just needed to see it for myself." Merlin's voice was oddly choked.

"I'm okay," Arthur said quietly, placing a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "Really."

Merlin nodded, feeling comforted by the firm grip on his shoulder. "I know. I just… for a second there…" he trailed off, and then changed tones suddenly. "I guess you think I'm a total girl, huh?" he looked up at Arthur and smiled slightly.

Arthur smiled back, and then shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. If I thought you were dead I'd probably go a little insane, myself."

"Understatement," Leon said, coming back up to the group. He had caught the tail-end of their conversation and seemed to understand the basics of the situation. "You were the first thing he asked about when he woke up."

"Woke up?" Merlin said urgently. "What are you talking about? You're hurt?" He leaned forward and grabbed Arthur's shoulders, staring at him intently.

"Relax," Arthur said, shrugging. "Just hit my head is all."

"The two of you are ridiculous," Gwaine laughed. "I've never seen two people more obsessed with each other's safety."

Arthur and Merlin glared at him, but then looked at each other, smiling. It was a good feeling, to be alive and together.

Gwaine stood, and Arthur and Merlin followed suit. Gwaine swung an arm around each of their shoulders, and rolled his eyes. "Co-dependency issues, much?"

Even Leon had to laugh at that one.

Author's Note: Reviews = Yay!