When albion needs it most

9

Chapter Text

King And Lionheart by Of Monster and Men because it wouldn't be a Merthur fanfiction without that song in it at least once.

Merlin woke up first, as always. He slowly left the room and entered the kitchen, being as quiet as possible. Arthur could use the extra few minutes of sleep. He had a big day ahead of him and the sorcerer knew that nothing would stop the King from showing off all he could do. He was that kind of prat.

He planned on doing a breakfast for an army, filling them both with the energy they would grandly need for the day. Opening the coverts, he reached for the pates on the top shelve. He held them in his hand as he went towards the table to set it up.

That's when his head began to spin. Merlin was dizzy. His vision blurred for a moment. Was it he who was slightly shaky or did the world around him actually move on its own. His knees weaken and he could feel he was about to fall. He dropped the plates. They clanged on the ground, unbroken. Merlin's hands reached for something to support. He grabbed the granite counter, steading himself. He rested his body against the drawer, using it to rest his hips. It was getting bad again. He took a moment to breath, waiting for the feeling to pass. His body was covered in cold sweats.

Paranoid, he looked up towards the bedroom, terrorized at the idea that Arthur might come out at this moment. He hoped, he prayed, he begged that he had not woken up his friend with all the noise. It would be impossibly hard to cover this. There would be no lie, no explanation he could give to justify what had happened. The King was already unconfident with the previous excuses he had given him. The sound of a loud snore resonated from the dark room, relieving the warlock from the nervous stress on his shoulders.

Arthur wasn't that dumb, Merlin knew that much. Sooner or later he would find out the truth. The warlock tried his best to make it happen later; doing his best to buy himself the time he needed to fix himself. Maybe he could figure a way to deal without Arthur finding out.

He picked up the plates, his hands still shaking. They hadn't shattered of chipped, thank goodness. He placed them onto the table, returning to his routine. He would allow this to take control of him, to change his daily life, to ruin his plans. So Merlin continued to prepare breakfast, denying that anything had happen, denying the worry that grew deep inside him.

"It smells great. How delicious Merlin," Arthur exclaimed as he entered the kitchen. He was wearing nothing more than his trousers. Arthur rarely slept dressed, the warlock should know better by how, but he still let his eyes wander as the King sat at the table.

"Very delicious," he teased, staring at the beautiful sight in on the chair front of him. Arthur smiled ironically at the statement, unamused by the compliment. There were more important things to do today, like prepare for battle.

"You're noisy in your sleep, did anyone ever tell you that," Arthur said with a mouthful of eggs. Merlin's heart jumped in his chest. What had happened again? Had he used magic while sleeping? Gaius had warned him against that a thousand times in Camelot.

"What do you mean," he asked with his stomach in a knot.

"You keep complaining about god knows what," he answered. "At least this night's nightmare didn't seem as terrifying as the other one."

"Oh," he sighed. "That."

"What do you mean 'oh that'. It happens a lot?" the brunet didn't reply. "Merlin" the King insisted.

"It's crazy what one can see in a thousand years," he explained, hoping to get off the hook.

"Is that how long it's been? I was dead for a thousand years"