"Merlin?" Arthur says, "Did you hear me?"

"Uh, yeah," Merlin says vacantly, blinking and looking up at the prince. Arthur frowns.

"What's the matter?" He asks, head cocked to the side, examining his servant. Merlin's face is pale, far more pale than normal, and his eyes are bloodshot, accompanied by dark circles underneath.

"Nothing's s'matter," Merlin mumbles, swaying slightly. "I've been around you for too long, you prat."

"I haven't been working you that hard," Arthur says, approaching him. He peers at him standing there, bathed in the early morning sunlight that slants in from the window. The sunlight casts shadows across his face, making the circles under his eyes even more pronounced. "Something's definitely wrong. Are you ill?"

"No!" Merlin says defensively, trying to regain some of his energy, but the prince can see straight through the façade. "I'm just...tired. I didn't sleep well last night..."

"And why is that?" Arthur asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I was...I just couldn't sleep, I don't know." Arthur shakes his head at the feeble excuse.

"Merlin, you're dead on your feet, you obviously need rest," He says.

"I don't, I'm fine," Merlin protests, but his knees betray him as they buckle underneath him and he falls. He would have crumpled to the ground if Arthur hadn't caught him. Pulling his arms around his servant, he lifted him and flopped him unceremoniously onto his unmade bed.

"Take the morning off," Arthur says, drawing the sheets over him. "I'll send for Giaus and see what's wrong with you."

Merlin's eyes widen at the prospect. "No," he says, looking up at the prince. "Don't get Giaus, I'll be fine without him."

"Obviously not, Merlin," Arthur says, "Unless you want to tell me what's wrong with you."

Merlin looks blearily up at him. "I can't tell you..."

"Why not?" The prince demands.

"I just can't."

The prince sighs and rubs his face with his hands. "Merlin..."

When he looks up again, Merlin has passed out. Arthur's heart clenches. Something has got to be very wrong, if Merlin won't say anything. He wants to climb into bed beside him and cradle him until the servant is well again, but he knows that that is a fantasy that will never be realized. He's the prince, he's not supposed to feel that way about his servant. He gives Merlin one last look before leaving the room to fetch the court physician.

He finds Giaus in the hallway not too far from his chambers, thankfully already carrying his medical bag from tending to some other patient.

"Giaus!" Arthur calls out as he jogs to him. The old man turns.

"Sire!" He greets, then notices the urgent look on the prince's face. "Is everything alright?"

"It's Merlin," Arthur says when he catches up with the physician, "He collapsed in my chambers just now, he looks really ill."

"Ill how?" Giaus asks, as the two of them hurry in the direction from which Arthur came.

"He's very pale, and he looks like he hasn't slept in ages," Arthur tells him, "He could barely hold himself up. He refused to tell me what was wrong with him and then he passed out."

"That's odd," Giaus comments, "I wonder if this has anything to do with last night..."

"Last night?" Arthur asks, interest piqued, "What happened last night?"

"I'm not sure," the physician answers, "But he said something about going into the woods, and he didn't come back until very late..."

"The woods?" The prince repeats, and fear tugs at his mind. What was Merlin doing in the woods? What if he had been attacked, or injured, or poisoned, or all three? "What was Merlin doing in the woods late at night?"

"He didn't say, sire," Giaus says.

They rush down the halls and finally arrive at the prince's chambers. Arthur's breath hitches as his eyes fall on his servant; He has become even more ill in the short time that the prince was away. The servant's skin has gotten clammy and covered in a thin coating of sweat, making his untidy dark hair stick to his now gray forehead. He's shaking, trembling underneath the blankets.

Giaus frowns and presses a hand to his ward's forehead. "He's burning up," He murmurs.

"What's wrong with him?" Arthur asks, trying and failing to keep the worry from his voice.

"I'm not sure," The physician answers, pulling back the blankets so that he can look at the rest of Merlin's body. He pulls back the boy's shirt and Arthur stifles a gasp.

Merlin looks as though he hasn't eaten in weeks. His skin clings to his bones, so that Arthur can see the individual ribs. The skin is papery and gray, looking as though it would tear at the slightest touch. But what confuses the prince the most is a mark on Merlin's chest, carved there as if applied with burning metal.

"What is that?" Arthur asks softly, staring at the symbol. It is three short lines, curled so that their ends meet, forming a triangle around that center. Tiny dots blemish in between each curl.

"I'm not sure," Giaus murmurs, examining it closely. "I think I have seen it somewhere before..."

"What is it?" Arthur asks sharply. However the mark was applied, it must have hurt, so whoever put it there meant business.

"I think it might be a symbol of the Old Religion," The physician informs the prince.

"So...this was done with magic?" Arthur chokes out.

"I believe so," Giaus confirms. "Whoever did this really wanted to hurt Merlin."

"Why?" Arthur stammers out. "Why would anyone go through such trouble to hurt him?"

"I'm not sure," Giaus says, replacing Merlin's shirt and blankets and straightening up.

"So what can you do?" Arthur asks somewhat forcefully.

"Give him this potion if he wakes up," Giaus says, reaching into his bag and withdrawing a bottle full of dark purple liquid. Arthur takes it, then does a double take.

"If he wakes up?" He repeats. Giaus sighs.

"Whatever that symbol is, that is what's making him ill. Until I can identify it, there's a slight chance there won't be a cure."

Arthur bites down the bile in his throat. "But...you will identify it, right?"

"I will have to look through my books," The old physician replies, gathering his bag and making his way towards the door, "Don't worry sire, I'm sure he'll be fine."

Arthur tries not to notice the knowing tone to the old man's voice. "Thank you, Giaus." The physician bows and exits the room.

Evening falls and Arthur is still in his chambers, sitting at his desk and trying to concentrate on writing some very important letters, but failing in favor of checking over his servant, who still lies clammy and unconscious in his bed. Strange, the prince muses, That he hasn't moved Merlin back to his own chambers. Of course, he was going to need that bed tonight, and he certainly couldn't share it with his servant, no matter how much he had wanted to over the past few months. Still, it would be wrong to move him, what with his unidentified illness. Movement might make the sickness more severe, and that couldn't be good. Although, he supposes that having Merlin back in his own chambers would make him closer to Giaus and therefore easier to tend to, but the thought of sending him to a place where Arthur couldn't constantly be sure he was alright makes the prince's insides squirm with discomfort.

Arthur is staring at his manservant with worry when Giaus opens the doors. The prince is soon out of his seat.

"What have you found?" He asks urgently.

"I found this," the old physician responds, holding up a book and setting it down on the table, where he flips it open. The crumbling, yellowed pages open to reveal many ancient symbols with captions and notes written by them in neat handwriting. Giaus points to the top of the page where the symbol on Merlin's chest is drawn, surrounded by text.

"What is it?" Arthur asks impatiently, preferring to listen to the physician rather than read the text on his own.

"It was used in the Old Religion," Giaus says, and Arthur can't help but think of course, but what IS IT? "It was used very rarely, and only by the darkest of sorcerers. It's a mark of betrayal."

"Betrayal?" Arthur repeats. The old man nods.

"If someone was a traitor, be it to his master or his people, he might be marked with this symbol, accompanied by an incantation. It would drain him of all power and energy, until he was nothing more than a shell of a body, all life drained from it."

"And somebody used this on Merlin?" Arthur says, looking back at the boy lying in his bed.

"Apparently so."

"But why would someone do that? Who has Merlin betrayed?" Arthur wonders aloud. Giaus looks as though he has an answer, but then thinks better of it.

"I'm not sure, sire..."

"And how is it reversed?" Arthur demands, turning back to stare urgently at the physician. The old man shifts.

"It is...it can be difficult to treat. If nothing is done, Merlin will remain in this state forever. He will not die, but he will grow old in his sleep until finally starvation or old age takes hold of him."

Arthur falters. No matter what, that could not be allowed to happen. "How is it treated?" He demands.

"It is very difficult," Giaus says, "The remedy is extremely rare."

"What is it?" Arthur asks desperately. "A plant? An animal? Where can it be found?" He is prepared to search the entire kingdom and beyond if it means saving Merlin. Giaus shakes his head.

"It is not any of those. According to legend, neither potion nor incantation can cure this. The only thing that can stop it is..." He takes a deep breath, "...A kiss."

Arthur stares, dumbfounded. "A kiss?"

"That's correct, sire."

Arthur furrows his brow. "That's it? Merlin is repulsive, but surely it can't be that difficult to find someone willing to kiss him, if it will save his life."

"It's not just a kiss, sire," Giaus says, and Arthur listens intently. "The only kiss that will revive him is one from his one true love."

Arthur blinks. "His one true love?"

"Yes," Giaus confirms, "The one person on this planet that Merlin truly belongs to is the only person whose kiss will work."

"But...there are hundreds of women in Camelot, and Merlin doesn't know all of them," He says, pained by his own words. "We could never know who that is!"

"I know," Giaus says, "That is why we need to find this person quickly."

"Giaus, surely there's a simpler solution..."

"I'm afraid there isn't, sire," The physician says solemnly. "So we must set to work at finding this person at once. Now if you'll excuse me, I must tend to other patients. Try to think of who this person might be, Arthur. It is the only thing that will revive Merlin." With that, Giaus gathers his book, bows, and exits the room, leaving Arthur to wander back to the side of his servant.

He wracks his brain, trying hard to think of any woman that Merlin knows well enough to be his true love. He blinks when the only people that come to mind are Gwen and Morgana, and both those ideas are ludicrous. Gwen and Merlin are close, but the way they act around each other makes it clear that their interest in each other goes no further than friendship. Morgana is the king's ward, and the idea of her and Merlin together is enough to make the prince chuckle.

He tries to think, and he is surprised to find that the only people he can think of that are around Merlin very much besides those two are Giaus and himself. He screws his eyes shut, knowing that both of those ideas are impossible for two very different reasons.

Think, he urges himself, What kind of this person would this be? It would have to be someone who Merlin is around a lot, someone who he spends a lot of his time with...Giaus is of course out of the question, leaving only himself.

Me, Arthur thinks glumly. Merlin certainly is around me often, and we're friends, obviously, but it doesn't go beyond that. No matter how much Arthur had desperately wanted it to be more. No, Merlin was just a servant, only there because he was ordered to. And not only that, but he was a male! There was no way that there could ever be anything between them.

And yet, if that were so, then why did the servant make the prince feel this way? The way he insults him in the morning, eyes bright, smile stretching between those adorable ears, Arthur finds endearing rather than annoying, contrary to how he reacts. And the clumsiness Arthur also felt himself smiling at more and more often. Whenever Merlin tripped or dropped something or knocked something over, the prince found himself looking on with shining eyes as the idiot went about picking things up. The whole thing made Arthur want to gather Merlin close into his arms and never let him go.

Arthur bats these thoughts away furiously. No, there is no way that Merlin and Arthur belong together. The very idea is ridiculous. They're to different, there could never be anything there. And yet...

Something stirred in his memory, something Merlin had said to him once a long time ago, while Arthur was preparing for a battle.

"We're two sides of the same coin..."

The memory surfaces and Arthur jerks his head up. What if Merlin had been right? What if they truly are meant to be together, the half that makes the other whole? It's an absurd idea, but Arthur couldn't let it go in his mind. One kiss, one single kiss from his one true love...

Arthur's mind races. His face is a foot away from Merlin's. All he has to do is lean forward. His pulse speeds up as he considers it. If he's right, then Merlin is saved and Arthur will be happier than ever. If he's wrong about this, then nobody will ever know, and Arthur can keep it to himself as his dirty little secret.

He inclines his head, tilting so that he has a better angle. He moves forward to that he is hovering just above Merlin's lips, slightly parted and breathing hot exhales. Arthur licks his lips and dips his head, pressing their lips together.

His mind is sent into a whirl, tiny lights exploding in his vision as the sensation sweeps through him. His eyes flutter shut as he takes it in, the feeling of Merlin's lips on his. So many times he had imagined it, when he was sure Merlin was not in the room, but this was so much better than he had expected it to be.

The kiss lasts only for a moment and Arthur forces himself to pull back, his eyes opening many seconds after his mouth has parted with that of his servant. He looks down on him hopefully, breath caught in his lungs. If Merlin does not wake up now, the prince knows that his heart will crumble.

For nearly half a minute he stares down at his servant, breath held, waiting...

Then, miraculously, he stirs, his face twitching, his eyes fluttering open. He looks around himself, seeming confused as to why he's in the prince's bed. Then he looks up and his eyes fall on Arthur, and his face splits into an irresistable grin.

"Arthur?" he says, his voice slightly hoarse. Arthur lets his body relax as joy sweeps through him, grinning back down at his servant.

"You passed out," He said softly, staring into the others' gorgeous blue eyes.

"I did?" Merlin asks, blinking, "What happened?"

"You were cursed," Arthur explains, "And only a kiss could revive you."

"A kiss?" Merlin repeats. "A kiss from who?"

"A kiss from your one true love," Arthur replies, smiling at the faint blush that creeps onto Merlin's cheeks, replacing the sick gray.

"Only my true love?" Arthur nods. "Uh...then who woke me?"

To answer, the prince smiles and lowers his head to capture Merlin's mouth with his own. Merlin responds, closing his eyes and bringing a hand up to cup the others' face. Arthur smiles against his lips.

We're two sides of the same coin...

Reviews are much appreciated! :) Thanks for reading!