500 Days of Freya (Merlin)

Gaius

Chapter 34

Warning/s: None.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: My mum's 50 today and I have to make a speech at her birthday dinner thing in front of her friends and work colleagues and I'm going to cry

Prompt: ruapilot02 – "Arthur and/or the Knights overhear an argument between Merlin and Gaius, where in Merlin snaps and either blames Gaius for or references his role in Freya's death."

"If you hadn't been so bloody stubborn, it wouldn't have happened!" Gwaine exclaimed.

"I was defending myself and blocking you," Leon protested. "It's called fighting, Gwaine. You were just unnecessarily vicious."

Arthur rolled his eyes at the pair of them and picked up his pace, eager to reach Gaius's chambers so the bickering would be over. The argument had sprung up when somehow – Arthur wasn't going to take sides because then everything just got messy – Gwaine sliced open a couple of Leon's knuckles and they started to bleed copiously, though luckily they seemed to be superficial.

Arthur's heart jumped with joy when they rounded the corner and could finally see Gaius's quarters. Arthur was about to reach forward and swing the door open when he heard a loud, resonating thud in the room. He jumped backwards automatically and indicated for the others to be quiet. It sounded stupid even in his own head, but he wanted to make sure that nobody apart from Gaius or Merlin were in there. Camelot had its fair share of intruders, after all.

"Move on, Merlin!" he suddenly heard Gaius say sharply, and another loud crash. It sounded like a book being slammed onto a table with some force, but whether it was Merlin or Gaius who had done it remained a mystery to those huddled outside.

"I can't move on," Merlin replied, sounding more sullen than usual but also...defiant?

Arthur leaned as close to the door as he dared to try and hear better, even though he felt slightly guilty about it, and the knights mimicked his actions.

"You need to, Merlin." And although Gaius sounded firm, there was also an element of sympathy in his voice.

There was another loud thud. And then another. Gaius shouted, "Merlin!" sharply and several more thuds followed.

All of the knights flinched when Merlin suddenly shouted. "You killed her, Gaius!"

Gaius's voice was low and even when he replied, "It would have happened anyway, Merlin, no matter what I had done. She was cursed."

"You handed her in; you didn't swing the sword but you set her execution date."

"Who?" Gwaine hissed at Arthur, nodding towards the door. Arthur shrugged, entirely clueless and confused himself.

"Merlin," Gaius's voice was soft and sad, "I understand the pain you feel. But it is not healthy; Freya has been dead for some years now. I am saying this for your sake; try to move on. Don't forget about her by any means, but try and get on with your life."

"I don't want to, Gaius." Merlin's voice was low and dangerous. It made a shiver run down Arthur's spine. "You killed her." Footsteps approached the door and out of instinct, the knights flung themselves against the wall. The door hit the wall as it was thrown open and, luckily for the hiding knights, Merlin stalked off in the opposite direction to them, not even catching sight of his friends.

"Maybe we should come back later," Leon whispered. His hand had stopped bleeding, so all of the others agreed that maybe they should let Merlin have his secrets.

A/N: This is so crap