Always Be With You - Merthur

Chapter 6

Merlin

Merlin opened his eyes and blinked a few times to get the nonexistent sleep out of his eyes. He felt slightly better, but it wasn't enough.

The first part of the night, he actually slept fine. But then, the figure decided to appear in his head, causing him to wake up really early in the morning. After that, he didn't sleep well.

This time, it was clearer than ever, the cloaked figure Had taken a solid shape. He couldn't see who it was, but they were definitely human.

It had been different this time, the images had seemed more real. He had a vague idea that it was somewhere in the forest nearby. it was so familiar, but he just couldn't for the love of God figure it out.

The weird thing, was that somewhere in his dream, he'd almost recalled the location, but before he could piece it together, there was this presence... Then he woke up. It was like someone had pushed him out of his dream.

That's not normal...

Merlin let his hand fall and looked around. A dim light fell in his room, telling him that the sun had risen. He felt a headache coming up and groaned. Slowly, he pushed himself of the bed, letting his hand drag across the sheet for a moment longer. Great.

At least he was early enough to wake Arthur at a reasonable time. Ignoring the splitting pain that erupted in his head, he trew on some clothes and went downstairs when he finished getting ready.

Gaius was already working on some potion, Merlin didn't bother to look what, he just strided over to the table and got himself some breakfast. A piece of fresh baked bread. He got some raspberries from their fruit bowl and squached them ontop of it, filling a cup with water after he sat down.

He ate silently. The bread was very tasty and it crunched when he bit down on it, but Merlin didn't really notice. Gaius glanced at him every once in a while, and it was starting to get on his nerves.

he swallowed, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he spoke, "What?"

"Are you okay, boy?" Gaius asked adjusting his glasses before putting down his measuring cup. No, he wasn't okay. He hadn't had a good nights sleep since two weeks.

The stranger. Merlin didn't know why, but the man who came by on the picnic two weeks ago, he did something while they had been talking. The longer he held his gaze, the more Merlin got that weird feeling.

It was like a hand gripping around his mind. It was very subtle, so he'd dissmissed it, but that must have been something. Merlin sighed deeply and burried his face in his hands.

"I'm good, thanks for asking."

"Merlin, you should do something nice today, maybe you and Gwen can go to the lower town, it's good to relax once in a while."

"Gaius, Arthur would kill me, you know that. Besides, Gwen is busy too."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Arthur has given you a day off."

Merlin gave Gaius a look. "Very funny." He put his plate away and dragged a hand through his messy hair in an attempt to make it more presentable. "I'm gonna be late again if I don't go now," Gaius spluttered something, but Merlin already turned and walked out of the door. "Have a nice day!"

~o~

Aaalriiiight, let's see. Merlin knew today's schedule, and quickly balanced some breakfast for Arthur on a plate almost bumping into a kitchen boy who dodged out of the way just in time, huffed annoyed and went back to work.