Broken Crown - Merlin

He Should Have Known

It didn't matter how long it took, Arthur was going to search the entire woods if he had to. He had searched the entire woods for Guinevere several times, why wouldn't he do it for Merlin?

Even when Guinevere had betrayed him with the whole Lancelot incident, Arthur had still found her and well... She's the queen. It would take a lot for someone to forgive so easily. If it wasn't because of Merlin, Arthur probably wouldn't even have started searching for her in the first place. And, well, if it wasn't for Merlin, Arthur wouldn't have searched for him. Makes sense.

With so many people close to the king betraying him, he didn't think he could take much more. It wasn't humanly possible, was it? To look someone in the eyes who's betrayed you? Lied to you? Someone who's passed oneself off as someone they're not? Turned against you and everything you stand for? That's what Morgana did. That's what all of them did... Thinking about it, Arthur wouldn't even be surprised if someone else did it. Or would he? No one knew. Especially because, as far as Arthur knew, all of them had been exposed. He never had to go through such betrayal again.

Arthur had never felt safer and more endangered at the same time, ever before.

To know who's with you, and who's truly not, was a relief. But at the same time... knowing who turned against you, and knowing they once were so dear to your heart, was the biggest threat of all. Anyone could betray you. The knights, the guards, hell even Gaius could suddenly have had enough of Arthur's whatever, and not fancy being his friend anymore. Or his ally.

It wasn't likely though. Gaius had been a friend of Camelot as long, as Arthur could remember. The knights were loyal to the king too. Although Gwaine never was very enthusiastic about royals, he wouldn't turn against Arthur, would he? Hardly. As long, as Merlin was still in Camelot, Gwaine wouldn't leave.

And Elyan? The queen's brother? Honestly, who knew. Uther had Elyan's father executed, and Arthur had temporarily the knight's sister banished. Arthur didn't like to think about all of this. He knew he was thinking about those things too much, it was simply all he had in mind.

The next day was right around the corner, and the royal prat had finally fallen asleep. That's something Merlin had called him the first time they met.

All of this was delirious. Not exactly in a good way, and Merlin's disappearance was to handle, but the Saxons invading land everywhere was... Less exciting, to be fair. None of this was exciting in any way, but... well, once you've been around everything enough to get used to it, you learn to handle it wisely.

"My lord"

Arthur was half asleep. Who spoke? He couldn't figure out if it was in his dream or not. Everyone called him 'my lord' anyway, so there really was no difference in the long run.

Despite his bed being unnaturally hard and itchy, he slept just fine. And he intended to keep on sleeping.

"Princess!"

Nevermind.

Arthur opened his eyes slowly. Either someone had kidnapped him and his bed, or he was still dreaming.

He sat up. Right. Merlin. That's what he was doing out there. Honestly, how could he have forgotten about that? It was the trees that gave it away, that he was in the woods, with two of his knights.

"What's going on?" Arthur looked around, "you let me sleep in?!" the king rushed to his feet, looking like he had no idea where he was.

"Apologies, sire, we noticed you weren't quite yourself, so-" Sir Leon said, but was interrupted,

"you're distracted. That's the truth" Gwaine said. Leon sighed with annoyance, and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I know" Arthur responded, and it was obvious he didn't want to agree with either of them, but it was true. Ever since Guinevere had informed him that Merlin was nowhere to be found in the castle, Arthur had been worried. Maybe even distraught.