The Angels In The Game (Merlin Fanfic)

Chapter 3

Gwaine woke up lying on the pit floor. He felt weak and there was a strange tightness on his chest and his shirt had mysteriously disappeared. He sat up. Big mistake.

His chest felt as though it had been ripped open and his head was throbbing like the worst hangover possible. He looked down at his chest and saw that it was plastered in bandages. Everything came flooding back to him. The reason his chest felt like it had been ripped open was because it had been. He groaned loudly and scrunched his eyes shut.

His groans bounced back to him off the walls and echoed slowly away. This noise woke his sleeping friends and Merlin was soon at his side.

“How do you feel?”, He asked.

“How do you think I feel?”, Gwaine said, bending double and clutching his head.

“Looking at you I’d say you feel like hell”, Merlin said.

“How bad is it?”, Gwaine asked as he slowly lay back down.

“It’s deep”, Merlin said “but it didn’t pierce any of your organs. Given time it should heal fully and you’ll recover completely”.

“That’s if I ever get out of here”, Gwaine said.

“We will get out of here. We will see the sky again”, Merlin said with surprising confidence.

Gwaine closed his eyes but his chest was burning with a pain that drove deep into his body. Eventually he fell into a feverish sleep. He tossed and turned and he dreamt that he was trapped in a room where there was absolutely no light and he stumbled around searching for some sort of escape but when he finally found a door he fell into a room where the light was blinding and the walls were lined with mirrors. He hardly recognised himself. His hair was down to way past his shoulders and was filthy and tangled. His skin was pale and his eyes were too big, his cheeks too hollow. He didn’t recognise himself.

He woke up screaming and soaked in sweat.

　

Merlin had been sitting with his back against the wall when Gwaine screamed and sat up. He had obviously just woken from a nightmare. He let out an agonised yell and clutched his bandaged chest.

Merlin hurried to his friend’s side.

Gwaine’s skin was glistening with sweat and when Merlin touched his skin it was horribly hot. A horrible theory began to form in Merlin‘s mind. He made Gwaine lie down and he removed the bandages from his wound. What he saw made him feel as If he was going to faint.

The gash was an angry red and didn’t smell particularly healthy. Heat was radiating from the wound and when he gently touched the edge Gwaine’s features contorted in pain.

Gwaine could see the fear on Merlin’s face.

“So, what’s wrong with me now?”, He asked.

Merlin took a deep breath and set his face in an unreadable look. “You have a fever”, He said

“It must be pretty bad to make you look like that”, Gwaine said, trying to stay cheerful but it was obvious he wasn’t exactly delighted to hear that.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine”, Merlin said.

“Yeah right, I know that look. It’s your trying to hide fear look”, Gwaine said and he closed his eyes and quietly let Merlin replace his bandages and herbs before lying completely still. Before long he began to shiver uncontrollably.

“What’s wrong with him?”, Arthur asked

“His wound is infected”, Merlin said

“Can you do anything?”