Merlin: The chance to change fate

Hardships

The day Merlin and his friends came back from killing the mother beast everything was going smoothly, just like it was before, except for Merlin and Arthur.
Gaius managed to cut the dead fomorroh out of Arthur's neck, he patched him up and told him to go to his chambers to rest. But Arthur couldn't rest. He was behind on so much. He had lots of papers to go through and to write.
Merlin on the other hand was hiding the fact that he wasn't okay. Everytime he closed his eyes he imagined Arthur beating him. Soon the day went on, Merlin being Arthur's servant as usual. Merlin walked into Arthur's room, he was going to straighten up a few things before heading back to his chambers to retire for the night.
"Is there anything else you need Arthur?" Merlin asked curiously.
"Merlin, can't you see that I'm busy!" Arthur yelled.
"I was just asking a simple question." Merlin said offensively.
"You have no right to speak back to me like that, this is all your fault, if you didn't get stabbed then this never would have happened." Arthur said with his voice raised again.
"My fault?" Merlin said sharply back. "I took a blade for you Arthur, I'm sorry it's my fault that your still living."
"What? You think that since you save me once that you can start treating me as if we're equal?" Arthur said. "Cause we're not. Your just a servant and I'm the King of Camelot."
"Thought we were friends." Merlin said.
Arthur stood up and slammed his writing utensil down at that remark. "Friends? What have I told you, We can never be friends!"
"Oh I'm am so sorry that I am just a servant. You think I wanted this job? You think I had a choice? No!" Merlin screamed back. "The first time I met you I hated you. I don't even know why I saved you from that sorcerer. But I did, and your father gave me this job. You know better than anyone that a servant is just supposed to serve, not go on hunting trips with them, or even risk their lives every day for that person. I have risked my life for you every single day. Not just because I believe in the world you will create, but because I consider you my friend. Since the moment I met you, I have saved your life countless times, so many times that I could write a thousand page book about it. Do you ever see me saving you? No! Because I'm not like that, I'm not the type of person who does what I do to get praised by the king, I do it to save you, to save a friend."
Arthur just stared at Merlin.
Merlin started to tear up. "You think-" he stopped a moment and squeezed his eyes shut as a tear fell down his face. "You think that you have a lot of stuff to do, you think you have it hard. Well I promise you, that you don't. I'm not just your servant Arthur. There's another side to me, that you don't even know about. That I have tried, so, so hard for you to not see. Because if you found out everything would change. But I can promise you, that my life is way harder than yours. And by the way, I lied, about a lot of things, but recently, I lied about the Fomorroh. Morgana didn't ask you to kill yourself, sh-she told you to kill me."
Arthur's eyes filled with sorrow, his jaw dropped and he started walking over to Merlin. "Merlin..."
"No!" Merlin yelled, he was sobbing now. "Get away from Me."
Arthur backup a little.
"Every time I close my eyes I see you, I see you hitting me, over and over and over again. I relive the night you tried to kill me, the night that I barely escaped with my life. You-you did this to me." Merlin said as he pointed to his face.
"So don't you dare, ever say that you have it hard or that I'm not your friend, because you would be dead by now if it wasn't for me."
"I am so sorry Merlin," Arthur replied, he was starting to tear up too. "I- I didn't realize that I was the one who did this to you."
"Well you did," Merlin said. "And there's nothing you can do to change that."
"What were you saying earlier, when you said there's another side of you that I don't know, what did you mean by that?" Arthur asked.
"I wish I could tell you that, but I only share my secrets with my friends. It's too bad that I'm just a servant and your the king."
"Merlin, what I said before-"
"Don't," Merlin said interrupting Arthur, "You don't know anything about me, and you do not get to talk to me now because you pity me. Soon your memories of the night you beat me will come back to you, I just hope that you wake up with nightmares from that night, Because I do." Merlin walked out the door and slammed it behind him. He left Arthur shocked.