500 Days of Freya (Merlin)

Nightmares

Chapter 11

Warning/s: None. Unless you're squeamish, specifically about mentions of vomit.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or anything associated with it.

A/N: This is a prompt from MamzelleHenry: "what would happen if Merlin suffered from nightmares (or Freya or both or whatever)?"

This is fairly short, I didn't want to drag the story out too long. I think it's quite sweet and fluffy, but tell me what you think. Keep the prompts coming!

Merlin woke to an empty bed, the covers thrown back but the sheets still warm. He wondered for a second what had woken him up, and then the sound of Freya vomiting became audible. Merlin winced and hopped out of bed, grabbing a linen blanket as he headed towards the ante-chamber.

He and Freya had been married for two years now, just over, and ever since they had shared a bed, this had happened every night. Freya was plagued with memories: of when her village was ransacked and her family killed; when she was assaulted by the man who she accidentally killed; when she used to turn into a Bastet every night. She was haunted by how many lives she had taken, and what had been done to her. They visited her at night, in the form of night terrors.

They were so awful that Freya would wake in the early hours of the morning and she would expel whatever she had eaten the previous day. Merlin would often wake either during or after this act, and find Freya on her knees in their ante-chamber, clutching a stinking bucket, weeping.

This occasion was no different. Merlin hurried into the dimly-lit room and whispered an incantation to brighten the room softly. His wife was kneeling over a wooden bucket, her shoulders heaving as she choked up bile. Merlin wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and smoothed her hair back from her face, whispering sweet, shushing sounds to calm her down.

It took another few minutes before Freya collapsed into his arms, sobbing and coughing. Merlin comforted her, rubbing her arms. He hated that he could do nothing to help his wife when she was like this: all he could do was clean her face and rub her back and lull her back to sleep.

As he always did, he conjured a square, damp cloth and wiped her mouth with it gently, feeling Freya relax at the cool water on her burning skin. When he was satisfied that her face was clean, he helped her to stand.

Her white nightdress had become crumpled and left her lower legs bare, and Merlin could see that even though she was scorching, the blood had drained away from her skin and left her pale. Helping her to walk across the wooden floorboards back to their bed, Merlin realised that she was drenched in sweat and once they reached their four-poster bed, Freya sat down on the edge, looking exhausted.

Merlin crouched down in front of her, rubbing her legs soothingly. "It's not real anymore," he comforted in a soft voice. "It's not real. You're here, with me, and you're safe. Nothing is going to hurt you. Nothing. Not while I'm here."

Freya was gasping in deep, shuddering breaths; Merlin rose and sat beside her on the mattress, rubbing her back through her nightdress. "Breathe in slowly, in, in, that's it, nice and deep, and let it out again...and in again...and out..." Merlin coaxed his wife, regulating her breathing until he was satisfied that she was starting to relax.

Carefully, Merlin tugged her nightdress off, over her head and arms, and threw it across to the other side of the room. He fetched a new one from the mahogany wardrobe and helped Freya to pull it on, the cool fabric a relief to her.

"I don't want to go back to sleep," Freya said suddenly, rubbing the hem of her nightgown between her thumb and forefinger. "I don't like the nightmares."

"I know you don't," Merlin replied, smoothing her hair. "But you need to have sleep, love, you won't be able to stay awake tomorrow if you don't get enough sleep tonight."

"I can try," Freya pointed out weakly.

"You can try, but you won't win." Merlin sighed: this was the battle they fought every night, and he knew how it would turn out.

Freya nodded slowly. "Will you be here?"

"I'm always here," Merlin murmured. "Let's go to sleep, shall we?"

Freya nodded again, and allowed Merlin to guide her back into bed and twitch the covers up to her chest. He climbed in beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Freya nuzzled her face into his neck and chest, breathing in his scent. "You're safe," Merlin reassured her. "Safe, completely safe."

"Safe," Freya repeated, her voice slightly muffled by his chest. "Safe."

"Safe."

Argh I don't think this is any good but oh well