New chapter! I'm not even going to try and guess how long this story will be because I usually end up embarrassing myself when I try. We'll get to see some Merlin in this chapter plus learn a bit more about the boys' friendship.

No one had ever expected Merlin and Arthur to become friends; they didn't exactly have anything in common. Why would Arthur, quarterback of the football team, student body president, heir to the Pendragon dynasty and easily the most popular kid in the school want to associate with Merlin, the new kid, the freak?

He had to admit, they hadn't always gotten along, in fact, he'd done everything in his power to make Merlin's freshman year of high school a living hell. Looking back now, he was ashamed of the way he'd treated the younger boy, but at the time he'd only cared about pleasing his friends and maintaining his celebrity status with the girls.

Merlin's first day at Camelot High had been about a month after school started and it had fallen to Arthur to make the boy feel welcome, one of the major downsides, in his opinion, to holding a position in student leadership. He'd walked into the office that day to find a skinny, dark-haired genius that didn't look a day over ten, flipping through a dog-eared copy of War and Peace like it was a comic book.

It had turned out later that the boy was actually thirteen, still really young to be starting high school, but he had skipped a couple of grades along the way. As if it wasn't enough that the scrawny kid was a foot shorter than everyone else and had an IQ to rival Einstein, his eyes were hidden behind thick glasses that gave him an owlish look so innocent that it was just begging to be wiped off his pale face.

Of course, since that first day Merlin had wised up a little bit, ditching the glasses in favor of contact lenses and trading in his striped polo shirts for skinny jeans and rock band t-shirts. A few substantial growth spurts and a proper haircut had also gone a long way in helping him distance himself from the whiz-kid image he'd presented when he walked into Arthur's life so long ago.

Snapping out of his memories, Arthur limped the final few steps to the back of the car and finally laid eyes on the object of his search, his best friend, the boy he'd come to love and respect like the little brother he'd always wanted but never had, and it was all he could do to keep himself on his feet, to refrain from collapsing into the sobbing, shivering mess he so desperately wanted to become because Merlin did not look good, he did not look good at all.

The boy's chest, from what Arthur could see through the tattered remains of his t-shirt, was a mass of bruises and cuts and he would be surprised if Merlin hadn't broken every bone in his left arm from the way it was twisted grotesquely underneath him. His face had remained relatively unscathed, aside from the large graze at his hairline that was oozing copious amounts of blood and the slightly crooked set of his nose.

As his horrified gaze wandered further down his friend's body, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief that Merlin's legs both seemed to be in working order but quickly sucked the air back in when he caught sight of the gash in the boy's calf. It was huge, extending nearly halfway up his shin from his ankle and the material around it was already soaked through with blood.

One of Merlin's shoes was missing, leaving his bare foot scraped and dirty but Arthur fixated on the fact that the other trainer had remained a pristine white, escaping the filth and grime of the scene in an ironic twist of fate. He might have found it funny if the situation hadn't been so serious but now it just left him confused, off-balanced and unsure of himself.

He had never been one to believe in God, or have anything to do with religion for that matter; he'd always assumed that the concept of a loving, caring higher power was just a crutch for the people who were too weak to accept the harsh realities of the universe, but now he hoped with all his might that he had been wrong, that there was a god and that, wherever he was, he really did care about what happened on Earth.

He was praying, almost without realizing it, mouthing an endless litany of desperate pleas as he threw his thoughts skyward, begging anything and everything that he could think of to help him, to save his friend. Merlin didn't deserve to die and if there was any sort of justice in the universe, he would survive, he had to, right? No loving God would take him away, not now, not like this.

Arthur pulled his gaze away from Merlin's shoe and stumbled over to the boy's side; his entire body feeling like it was weighted down with lead, barely able to work up enough energy to put one foot in front of the other. He dropped to his knees and raised a trembling hand to wipe away the tears that were blurring his vision, leaving burning trails along his skin as they rolled down his cheeks and dropped to the ground.

He reached out towards his friend but his hands stopped before making contact, hovering uselessly a few inches off the boy's chest as if they'd met with some sort of invisible barrier. Arthur didn't know what to do, how to help, and it was killing him; there was nothing he hated more than feeling helpless but that was exactly what he was now, completely and utterly incompetent, worthless.

No! He couldn't think like that, it wasn't true and it wouldn't do anyone any good. He wasn't worthless, he could save Merlin, he could do something to help, but what? He racked his brain, running his hands through his hair as he struggled to control his breathing and think of something that would improve their situation, anything at all.

After a few seconds it came to him, an idea so simple and basic that he couldn't decide whether to laugh in relief or kick himself for his stupidity. Of course! What's the first thing you're supposed to do in an emergency? Call 911!

Taking another calming breath, Arthur dug his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, cursing his trembling hands as he tried to focus his blurry vision on the screen. It took a few tries but he finally managed to punch the numbers correctly and almost cried in gratitude when he heard a woman's voice on the other end.

911, what's your emergency?

I'm leaving on vacation for Michigan in a couple days and I'll be there for three weeks with limited access to wifi so no guarantees about when the next update will be. I promise to do my best to make it as soon as possible and, in the meantime, thanks for your patience!