So here we are! The final chapter! And the first time I've ever posted a second chapter! I was planning on updating sooner, but unfortunately I think my laptop is in the process of dying slowly and painfully. Thanks to everyone that reviewed or alerted the first chapter!

It was some time later, long after Arthur had found out about Merlin's magic and not quite as long after Arthur had forgiven him for it, that the King found out exactly what was wrong with his armour.

He'd been taking a well-earned break (in his opinion) from ruling the kingdom, by going for a leisurely ride with his wife and closest knights. But, as Merlin frequently pointed out, it was practically impossible for the King to leave the city without some sort of trouble befalling him. So inevitably the party returned several hours late, with a variety of minor injuries, including an arrow wound to Arthur's shoulder.

He wasn't surprised when Merlin ran out to the courtyard to meet them. In fact by now he was well used to being simultaneously told off and fussed over; then being regaled with many tales of prior incidents when his court sorcerer had told him that something would go wrong and he should've brought Merlin along. However, Arthur wasn't prepared for the look of complete shock and frank incomprehension as Merlin exclaimed "What happened!" He sounded rather too distressed – it was only a shoulder wound after all.

"Well there were these bandits..."

"Of course it was bandits! What happened to you armour, you clotpole?"

Arthur stared at him blankly. "My armour?"

"Yes Arthur, you've damaged your armour, or haven't you noticed?" Merlin shot back angrily, starting to pull off the rest of the suit.

"I've damaged my shoulder, or didn't you notice?" he returned, trying very hard not to sound like a petulant child.

"Oh I can fix that in a heartbeat, but Arthur, your armour! Just look at it!"

At least the rest of his knights were also regarding Merlin like he'd gone mad. He was just considering clouting Merlin over the head for being infuriating, when the warlock suddenly exclaimed "Wait, this isn't your armour!"

"What are you talking about Merlin, of course this is my armour, I'm wearing it aren't I? Or I was until you pulled it off me and started cradling it like a wounded animal!"

The warlock completely ignored that jibe and continued examining the armour as one would an injury on a loved one, before answering calmly, as if reassuring himself. "This isn't your armour – it's different." He turned to Arthur with a grin "I've spent hours of my life polishing your armour, I think I'd recognise it when I saw it!"

Arthur sighed heavily and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "This is new armour Merlin, a gift from King Lot when the treaty was signed. But I'm afraid that doesn't make it any less my armour."

Merlin scowled darkly. "Typical! I knew this would happen! What was wrong with your other armour? This stuff is clearly about as useful as a hole in a bucket!"

Well that wasn't very fair. "This armour is newer and is therefore better!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's not!"

"Well why not?"

"Because this armour is not covered in enchantments and strengthening spells to keep you safe you cabbage-head! No wonder it buckled with a simple arrow! I spent 2 years working on that armour and now, without warning, you go and replace it with this because it's shinier!"

"Enchantments? What?" Arthur was confused...wasn't his old armour just good quality? Wasn't that what Gaius...oh of course, Gaius had been lying for Merlin again.

"Couldn't you have least told me so I could've put some protection on it? I mean it wouldn't be anywhere near as good, but..." Merlin had launched himself into quite a rant now and was regarding both Arthur and the suit of armour with similar looks of disdain.

"You enchanted my armour!" Arthur interrupted forcibly.

Merlin shut up pretty quickly, seeming to take this as a reprimand and Arthur immediately regretted his tone – the warlock was occasionally still quite twitchy about his magical deeds. He adopted an expression that the King had swiftly learnt to recognise as 'Oops, I've made Arthur angry, should I lie to calm him down, or tell him the truth and let him yell at me?' After a lot of trial and error, Arthur had found that the best strategy when faced with this scenario was to ask Merlin another question, while trying not to sound quite so confrontational about it.

"How was I supposed to know that!" Ah, maybe slightly less confrontational than that...

"Uh, well...I suppose you couldn't. Though you did notice it was better! Why would you want to replace it?" Arthur remained silent, hoping Merlin would elaborate without prompting. He did tend to get uncomfortable and start blabbering if he thought Arthur was sulking. "I only enchanted it a bit! Just to strengthen it a little and give you a tiny edge? You were always damaging it and yourself at the same time. You know that time in the Valley of Kings? The arrow did pierce your armour. You nearly died! I had to do something..." He noticed with interest that his court sorcerer looked slightly embarrassed and was avoiding Arthur's eyes, instead choosing to fuss over his shoulder.

Truthfully, Arthur wasn't angry at all, he'd just been taken aback by Merlin's vehement defence of his armour of all things. He felt a familiar rush of affection accompanied by a tiny stab of guilt that always came when he thought of the many things Merlin had done for him, without any recognition at all for years. By now most of the big dramatic events had come out (at least he fervently hoped so), but the King was still regularly faced with these thoughtful little things, like protective runes carved into the underside of his throne and invisible amulets over his wife's bed.

So, tempted as he was to let Merlin squirm for a bit longer, he did feel grateful...

"Well you better get started repairing this set then Merlin" he said, motioning to the damaged armour and starting to head into the citadel.

"You know I'm not actually your servant anymore?" Merlin said, trailing behind the King.

"Really Merlin? When on earth did this happen? I'm sure, I never noticed a thing"

"Don't tell me you're actually going to keep this armour Arthur?" Merlin questioned, rolling his eyes at his King's sarcastic response.

"I'm going to have to use that for tournaments at least, seeing how you've given me an unfair advantage." After all, he never used Excalibur in tournaments for that very reason.

Merlin didn't look very happy about that. "Are you sure?" he replied dubiously. "Quite a lot of people try to kill you during tournaments you know."

Arthur ignored that comment. "Better get started now Merlin, as you're clearly not as good as you claim..." He was not disappointed by the indignant expression that turned to him. "After all, did I hear you say it took you two years to enchant my armour?"

Well here you go! I hope you enjoyed it! I've got a couple of other pieces in the pipeline, one that's mainly written and one that's in the planning stages. Unfortunately I've got a big deadline at the end of the month, so I can't promise anything will turn up before then (unless I end up procrastinating more than I should)!