Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

Wired (part 5): Preparation

"My lord!", Gaius came rushing in to Arthur's chambers. Followed closely by Lancelot. Who – surprisingly – had yet to make a comment. (4) And, naturally, a very sour looking Gwaine, who had mysteriously stopped complaining. He was eyeing Lancelot though, as though the man had managed to shut him up.
One of these days Arthur would ask Lance how he did it. Being so... perfect. It was infuriating.

Now, it was not unusual that Gaius came bursting through doors. The man was surprisingly fast for his age. He made rather large steps that were hard to keep up with.
And when he had an opinion, he never hesitated to voice it out loud.
Surely, usually he disguised his opinion, so that Uther didn't have reason to charge him with treason. But that was a perfected method of his that Arthur had long dismantled.
It did work on him sometimes, but only when Arthur believed his reasons to be genuine.
Which they most often were.

He had only ever regretted not listening to him sooner, so... Anyway.

"You CANNOT execute Merlin! He has been NOTHING BUT a loyal servant and friend to you! Merlin would NEVER use magic against you. Not if he was in his right mind -"

Arthur almost winced. The way Gaius said this disguised whether or not he knew of Merlin's magic. It was very clear to Arthur that Gaius knew. That he was still trying to somewhat hide it just proved how much he cared about his ward.
And how little he knew.

"I have seen Merlin use magic. He has confessed. Magic is against the law. I had no choice but to have him arrested."

That shut Gaius up completely. He halted in the middle of the room, giving the two knights behind him time to catch up.
Arthur sighed, but didn't even look up from his desk. Papers of all sorts were draped over the table. Three candles illuminated the parchments and his ink and feather were in constant use.

"See? THIS is why I don't like royals. They are all pompous, ignorant -", Gwaine started, but Arthur wasn't listening.

Lancelot eyed first Arthur, then the parchments.
"Sire, may I ask what you're planning?"
Lancelot knew. Of course he knew. He always knew.
He knew of Merlin's magic, because he was so annoyingly brilliant and smart and not as oblivious as everyone else in the entire castle, Arthur himself included.
It was stupid to ever think Lancelot had chosen Merlin's side. Because there was no side to pick. Merlin's side was Arthur's side. Arthur had always known that.
And despite being mad, Arthur couldn't find it in himself to doubt that.
"I think you already know.", Arthur mumbled and sighed again, before finally straightening his hurting spine. He had leaned over the table for too long. Arthur had never been one to sit down for an extended period of time.
He was a moving character. Standing upright almost all the time.
Right now, he was hoping to see the full picture from above the pages from all angles. It was not easy. His first draft on -

"You're going to repeal the ban on magic.", Lancelot nodded.

Gwaine and Gaius turned to Lancelot in shock, before both swirling their heads towards Arthur in matching disbelieve. Their reaction was perfectly mirrored.

"Sire?", Gaius asked in shock.

"The princess wouldn't -", Gwaine tried to argue with Lancelot, but the knight shook his head.

"If you payed attention, Gwaine -", he said, not unkindly, "you would have noticed that none of us are in prison right now.", he pointed at all three of them. "Neither you, Gaius nor I have been arrested for aiding, hiding or supporting a sorcerer.
It's just as illegal as using magic itself and the price for it is just as high, according to the law."

Gaius blinked, then he shared a look with Gwaine. Gwaine's mouth was open, his finger raised, but he slowly closed it, unsure what to think or say. Lancelot had a valid point.
One even Arthur hadn't thought about himself. He just... hadn't seen a reason to arrest them. Now that he did, he wondered if he should. But decided against it almost immediately. Maybe he had made that decision unconsciously before.