Merlin One-Shots

Leon - Thank You

I was then terrified to travel on my own but I had to make the journey to Camelot. I am the princess of a neighboring kingdom. And I had recently traveled to the village that my mother had been born in. I come to Camelot on occasion. Mostly, my father wants to talk about kingly things while I run off to visit my mother's family. This time though was unlike any of the others. My father had fallen sick and he needed me to personally deliver news to King Uther. I wasn't worried until I was half a days ride from the castle and the bandits attacked us. The left me stranded on the side of the road and half-dead. I had never been so scared but I knew that I had to be brave and make it the rest of the way to the castle on foot. But then I heard the voices.

"Are you sure she was dead? We did just leave her there and I think I saw her still breathing."
"She is dead. How could she have stayed alive through being stabbed and bleeding?"

I had been cut but the wound had not touched anything important.

"Her body should be just around the bend here."
"You there! Stop!" I heard coming from the other direction of the bandits.

There was some screaming and the sound of metal on metal. After that I heard footsteps coming closer towards me. I tried to make myself as small as possible to prevent myself from being seen.

"Are you okay? Can you stand?" The man said as he knelt next to me.

I looked up and was shocked at who I saw. "Leon? I'm okay now. I don't think I can stand though."

"I have a horse not far from here. I can carry you if that's okay. What are you doing here princess?"
"Father was too sick to come this time and had urgent news for King Uther. I just wasn't prepared to be attacked. They killed my guard and took my horse. I had no way to get help and I don't think I could even walk."

Leon nodded and did not pressure me by asking more questions. He gently scooped me up and proceeded to carry me in direction his horse was.

"Thank you Leon. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up."

Leon only nodded, blushed and continued walking. Before I knew it, we had reached Camelot. He did not say anything as he pulled me down from the horse and carried me to Gauis's chambers.

"Leon! What happened?" Merlin ran over to us as soon as we were in the door.
"She was attacked by bandits. I found her on my patrol. Merlin, you have to help her."
"Set her on the bed."

Leon set me on the bed and took a couple of steps back so Merlin could check on my wound. 

"I'm going to have to clean it and this needs stitches. I don't have anything to help with the pain though."

I looked up at Leon and motioned for him to come over next to me. He knelt by the side of the bed and held my hand while Merlin cleaned the large cut in my side. When Merlin went to get the needle so he could sew up the cut, Leon shifted so he was sitting on the bed next to me.  I screamed as the needle pierced my skin but Leon squeezed my hand and forced me to look at him.

"Don't look at the needle. Just look at me. Think of something else."
"Merlin! Can you go any slower?" I yelled at him.
"I love you!"

I froze at the words. Leon's face was red and Merlin only smiled as he quickly finished giving me my stitches.

"I'm done with the stitches now so I just want to bandage it so it can't get infected."

"I should go." Leon said as he dropped my hand.
"Leon, wait." I tried calling out to him but he was already out of the room.
"He has liked you for quite some time now. Every time that you are coming here or going back home he can barely eat. He was always worried about anything bad that could happen to you. This morning he said that something was wrong and left for his patrol early." Merlin explained it solemnly as he bandaged me.

I didn't speak after he finished. Instead I sat there and looked at my hands. Merlin sat next to me on the bed and took one of my hands in his.

"This isn't what you want to hear right now, but you need to talk to him. I can get Percy to find him for you. He needs to hear whatever you have to say from you though."
"Can you get Percy? Not for him to just find Leon, I want his help. I feel as though I need to go to him for this."

Once Percival had arrived at the room I asked him if he could help me walk to Leon's room. He nodded and was silent as he supported me.

"Leon? Can I come in?" I asked as I knocked on the door.

There was no answer but I head footsteps and then the door opened. Leon was standing there with a rag in one hand and his sword in the other. He moved to the side so I could get into the small room and then sat down on the bed and worked on cleaning his sword.

"Leon, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by not saying anything but I was shocked. Ever since you started training here, I wanted to come more and more. My father always laughed when I would ask to stay longer because I would cry when it came time to go. You were never there to send us off."
"I didn't want to see you leave because I never knew when you would be coming back."

I looked up at him and took the sword from his hand. He watched me as I stood and set the sword by the wall and walked back, kneeling at his feet.

"Leon. I won't tell you that I will stay here forever but I know now that I will spend as much time here as I can."
"And I don't want you to stay here because of a man you could never be with. You are the only heir to your throne and your kingdom needs you."
I stood back up and looked towards the door. "That's what I came here for. My father is sick and he worried that I will not be able to rule the kingdom on my own. I never liked to sit still at meetings and I can't stand people telling me what I can't do just because my father is a king. He sent me to arrange merging my kingdom with Camelot."
"But then you wouldn't be heir to a throne. Your father would no longer be king and you would no longer be princess."
"And it wouldn't be wrong for me to love a knight because you would be my equal."
"Let's get you to Uther then so you can start talking about this deal." Leon smiled as he grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the throne room.