Story Behind the Scars

Scars

No one's P.O.V~

Arthur, the newly crowned King of Camelot, Merlin and the knights of the round table, had gone on a week long hunting trip.

It was on the third day, that Gwaine started boasting about one of the new scars he had gotten on a recent journey. The rest of the knights joined in, humoured by the topic. However none of their scars were above a scratch, so Merlin found himself subconsciously pulling his jacket closer to himself in attempt to hide the mass of scars he knew lay underneath his shirt.

Merlin laughed at a couple of the stories of how they received their scars. After a few times of him doing so Arthur turns to him. "What's so funny Merlin?" 

He shakes his head quickly, "Nothing." 

Arthur looks at his knights, then back to Merlin. "No, if you think you can top our stories then please, the floor is yours." Merlin shook his head quickly, hoping Arthur would drop the subject.

He was wrong.

A few comments flew past Merlin's ears, about how his scars would've come from burning himself or falling over. "I bet he burnt his hand on Arthur's plate." Merlin knew that they were just jokes. That they didn't mean any harm by what they were saying. 

But he flipped.

"GIVE IT A REST! I HAVE MORE SCARS THAN ALL OF YOU PUT TOGETHER! NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU WOULD BE HERE WITHOUT ME, ESPECIALLY NOT YOU ARTHUR!" Merlin had jumped up as he shouted, but only after he was finished did he realise what he had done. "Sorry..."

He didn't say anything else and ran away from the knights who had been shocked into silence. Merlin walked through the forest before finding a comfortable place to sit. He had been sat there for a few minutes when he calmed down. But he decided it was best to wait until sundown to head back to their camp. There were a few puddles in front of where he was sat. He outstretched his hand in front of him. As his eyes glow gold droplets of water rise from the puddle and start dancing in the air. He thinks about what Lancelot would say about his outburst if he were still alive. He figures he'd probably tell him to go reveal himself an explain. Sighing, Merlin stands up, ready to go test destiny.... Well, ready was a strong word. 

When he gets back to the camp all of the knights are sat quietly, with worried and confused looks plastered on their faces. "MERLIN!" They all look over to him at Gwaine's shout. The knights surround him quickly, asking him what he meant before he stormed off. Which causes Merlin to take a step back from the group. Gwaine realises that they're scaring him so he steps down and stops asking questions. The others following shortly after.

The knights lead him back to the fire before asking to see his scars. He nods slowly before taking his shirt off. The knights are stunned into silence at what they're shown. Merlin's torso, arms, and back are littered in scars, scratches, bruises, burns. But underneath that is muscle. He might not be as muscular as the knights, but underneath his scars you could see the outline of a six pack. They expected him to have muscles with all of the chores he does for Arthur, but this was different. You don't get this many muscles by carrying things around. But they put that aside and stared at his scars. "281." They all look up at him quickly. 

"What?" 

Merlin gestured to his chest. "281, that's how many there is. I counted. I don't know where some of them come from but I count them anyway."

They move forward slightly telling Merlin to carry on. He sighs heavily before gesturing to different injuries he has. "6 are from crossbow bolts, 30 from bandit swords, 23 are from being thrown into something, like a wall or a tree, the burn mark in the middle of my chest is from Nimueh, 18 are from Arthur's sword from when I first became his servant, 43 are from punches or kicks, 74 are from whips or something of the like, 29 are from accidents or just me being clumsy, 2 are dog bites, the one on my neck is from when Morgana tried to make me kill Arthur by placing a magic snake in my neck and the one at the bottom of my back was a serket sting. The last 53 are... ones I'm not sure about." He hunches his shoulders slightly as he waits for more questions.