Merlin One-Shots

Nightmares

Merlin walked into Arthur's chambers, a smile on his face. He was actually early for once. His smile wavered when he saw Arthur, fully dressed, standing by his window, arms folded.

"You're up?" Merlin asked, making his way over to the king. 

"I can't believe it," came Arthur's reply. 

"Arthur?"

Arthur turned towards Merlin, the coldness in his blue eyes making Merlin's smile disappear.

"I was such a fool," Arthur snarled, stepping towards Merlin. 

"Arthur?" Merlin asked, taking a step backwards. 

"Merlin!"

Merlin's head snapped to the right to see two guards holding Freya. Tears were freely running down her face and she wore shackles with ancient runes on them. 

"F-Freya," Merlin whispered. 

He felt cold steel touch his neck and he whipped his head back towards Arthur. Said person was touching his sword to Merlin's neck, coldness in his blue eyes. Merlin squeaked in fear and stumbled backwards, falling to the floor. 

"How could I ever think that legalizing magic was a good idea?" Arthur growled, walking towards Merlin. "Father was right. Magic is pure evil."

"Arthur..." Merlin sputtered out. 

Arthur raised his sword, and Merlin raised his arms in fear. 

"NO!" Merlin screamed, sitting straight up in bed.

Panting, sweat running down his face, he tried to adjust his eyesight to the darkness around him. He began to slowly calm down as he realized that he was still in his home.

"Merlin? What's wrong?"

Merlin turned to see Freya sitting up, looking worriedly at him.

"I-It's nothing," Merlin said, giving Freya a weak smile. "Just a nightmare."

"Merlin, that was the third one this week," Freya said, sadly shaking her head. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Merlin replied, kissing Freya's cheek. "Sorry to make you worry."

Unconvinced, Freya fell back asleep, Merlin soon joining in her slumber. 

***

"So, I need you to muck out my stables, polish my armor, sharpen my sword, clean my-"

Arthur was cut off by a loud snore. Annoyed, he turned towards his manservant. Merlin was leaning against Arthur's bedpost, snoring away. Arthur was about to wake up Merlin, but stopped when he saw the dark circles underneath his manservant's eyes. Taking pity on his friend, Arthur gently laid Merlin on his bed, making sure to cover him up. Arthur then proceeded to scrub the floors as quietly as he could so he didn't wake up Merlin. A light knock came at the door, and Arthur opened it. 

"Mordred," Arthur nodded at his knight.

"Good morning, Sire," Mordred nodded back. Then, noticing the bucket on the floor and the brush in Arthur's hand, he asked. "Sire, what are you doing? Where is Merlin?"

"He's sleeping," Arthur replied, letting Mordred into his chambers.

Mordred looked to Arthur's bed to see Merlin sound asleep, and he smiled at his friend. 

Suddenly, Merlin began to mumble and toss around in bed. Sweat began to pour down his face as the covers entangled him until he was wrapped up like a cocoon. This made him frantically try to unravel himself from the covers. Looking at each other for a split second, Arthur and Mordred ran over to their friend.

"Mordred, can you hold his arm down?" Arthur asked. "I got this arm."

Mordred nodded, and soon both men had pinned Merlin's arms down by his side. This caused Merlin to shout and frantically try to through both of them off of him. Arthur and Mordred continue to hold onto Merlin as he thrashed about. Finally, Arthur couldn't take it anymore. 

"MERLIN, YOU IDIOT!" Arthur yelled as loud as he could into Merlin's ear. "WAKE UP!"

Merlin's eyes shot open and he instantly stopped thrashing about. 

"Wha-Arthur? Mordred?" Merlin asked, confused as to why his two friends were pinning his arms to his side. "What's going on? Why am I in Arthur's bed?"

"You fell asleep," Arthur replied, letting go of Merlin's arm. "I was going to wake you, but it seemed that you haven't slept in ages, so I decided at least to make your nap comfortable."

"However, when I came by to tell Arthur something, you were having a nightmare," Mordred continued, letting go of Merlin's other arm. "Are you okay?"

Merlin sighed, knowing that he couldn't hide anything from his friends anymore. 

"In all honesty, no," Merlin replied, earning worried looks from both the king and the knight. "I've been having nightmares this whole week. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since last week." 

"What were the nightmares about?" Arthur asked.

"Th-They were about..." Merlin struggled, not wanting to alarm Arthur. "You, Arthur. You saying how magic is pure evil and that Camelot would be better off without it. But it this nightmare, you went further than the last times." Merlin took a long, deep, shakey breath. "You rounded up all the magic users in Camelot, included Mordred, Morgana, and Freya and burned them all at the stake, forcing me to watch. You then used me as your personal slave to fight against other magic users." Merlin was now in tears, shaking as he recalled his latest nightmare to his two friends. "It got worse. Gwen tried to make you see reason, but you lashed out at her, killing her. Horrified, you were about to kill me, but I woke up before that happened."

No reply came from either men. Mordred was looking at Merlin, shock and sorrow on his face. Arthur had taken a step back from Merlin, trying not to cry. In an instant, both men had wrapped Merlin tightly in a hug. It was a while before both men let go of Merlin, who was wiping away his tears. 

"Why don't the three of us take the day off just to relax?" Arthur suggested, earning nods from his two friends. 

***

The sun was sinking when the three friends made their way back to Camelot. They had gone on a little trip through the woods just to relax. Merlin had calmed down greatly, and all three of them were talking like old friends. When they finally arrived at Camelot, the sun had already sunk behind the ground, turning the sky a dark blue. Saying good night to each other, they set off to their separate homes/chambers. That night, Merlin had the best night of sleep that he ever had.