Boy in the bubble (Modern Merthur AU) (Discontinued)

Chapter Eleven

Morgana was waiting for Arthur when he got home after school, at the door with a smile.

"Hey. What you doing out here?" He asked, jumping out of his car and swinging the door shut before walking up to stand in front of her.

"Uther's not in a great mood." She said, "thought I'd greet you at the door and escort you to your room."

The last time Morgana called Uther dad was before their mum died when Arthur was eight, something Uther had always blamed Arthur for.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" Arthur panicked, his eyes scanning as much of her body as he could.

"Only a little, I'm fine, I've had years of it..." she smiled sadly, peeling back the shoulder of her jumper to reveal a nasty bruise.

"I'm going to KILL him!" He fumed, marching into the house, straight to the living room.

"Arthur don't! ...He's drunk!" She called, pacing after him.

The pair marched into the living room, one after the other, Arthur in a storm of anger and Morgana in one of panic.
In the fancy armchair that was perched just in front of the dormant fire that they hadn't lit for years, was Uther, beer bottle in hand, slid down in the chair, not ever an image he would dare portray to the public.

"Stand up you piece of shit!" Arthur raged, fighting to keep back the tears, "stand up and face what you've done! How you've ruined us!"

Uther ignored him, grunting a laugh and taking another swig of beer, or whisky or vodka or whatever he was tipping down his throat therapeutically.

"STAND UP!" He screamed, eyes brimming and red, kicking the chair that his father sat on like a broken king.

"JESUS DAD! Just stand up and face me!" Arthur marched up to him, despite Morgana's desperate attempts to pull him back, and snatched the bottle out of Uther's hand, finally gaining the attention of his worthless father.

"Listen boy..." he slurred through gritted teeth, making dead eye contact with his son, "you're going to hand that bottle back to me, go and get me a knew one - or I'm going to teach you... how a son should speak to his father!" He gritted out, rising to his feet, face to face with Arthur.

"Uther he's sorry." Morgana defied, stepping up in front of her younger brother, "he's just heated..." she eased.

"I'm not sorry..."

"Arthur please... please just let it go." She begged, turning around but Arthur wasn't making eye contact with her, his eyes where staring somewhere just over her shoulder, meeting some strangers eyes, some stranger they used to call dad

"NO! He has to learn how to treat his kids! He can't just beat us and neglect us and then just expect us to keep us his appearances! I hate you! Morgana hates you! Mum would have hated you!" He cried, a tear making itself known.

"You son of a bitch! You DO NOT GET TO BRING HER INTO THIS! YOU KILLED HER AND RUINED ALL OF OUR LIVES AND NOW YOU'RE USING HER AS A SCAPEGOAT!"

"I NEVER KILLED HER!" Arthur ranted, "I WAS JUST IN THE CAR WITH HER! YOU CANNOT BLAME ME FOR HER DEATH WHEN SHE WAS DRIVING TO GET AWAY FROM YOU!"

In a quick, drunken move Uther charged forward, shoving Morgana to the ground and landing punch directly to Arthur's face, knocking him to the floor in the process.

"Do what you want! You're a CRAP father! An abusive drunk! And no one! NO ONE will ever love you." With that said, Uther stepped forward and began ferociously beating Arthur, pounding him into the ground with his fists.

Arthur stiffened his body and kept the straightest face he could but he was hurting and he just wanted his mother back.

'STOP! p-PLEASE! Uther please stop it! YOU'RE going to kill him!!" Arthur could hear Morgana's desperate but muffled cries, tears streaming her face but Uther's fist continued to hammer down, a firm palm pressed to his neck, limiting his oxygen supply.

~~~
Arthur woke up later in his bed. Morgana sitting on the end and one of the servants talking to her in hushed tones.

"Yes...thank you...I'm sure he'll be fine... yeah just another fight at school..." Morgana was saying.
However even in Arthur's sleepy haze he could tell by the servants face she had heard the earlier on goings.

Once the servant left, Arthur allowed a crackling cough to convulse through his body; Morgana shot to awareness and dropped to her knees at the side his bed.

"Hey..." She smiled sympathetically, stroking back his hair lovingly.

"S- sup." He croaked, his throat was raw.

Morgana chuckled before a very serious expression stole her smile, "How are you feeling?"

"Brilliant." he tried for a smile but it was broken and pained, laced with tears that he had held back for far too long and which he effused to let fall now.

"It'll be okay." Morgana smiled sadly, tears brimming her eyes and she let her hand wander back and rake through his hair, "you should sleep. I'll leave you to rest." she said, patting his arm and letting it rest there for a second before smiling again and leaving.

~~~

"Arthur?" Morgana asked from behind him as he made his way to the door, Arthur stopped dead and sighed, he had been hoping not to run into her, "Where are you going? You can't go out like that." She asked softly, coming out from the kitchen.

"I am going to school." He stated defiantly, turning to face her at last.

Morgana sighed and came further toward him, "Don't be stupid you can't... you can't go out after he's done that to you. I know it shouldn't be our priority but think about the reputation of the family."

"Think of the reputation? Are you kidding me Morgana?" He cried and the girl startled.

"Shhh, Uther's sleeping in the next room." she said, hands out in a plea to quiet him.

"Yeah whatever," he huffed, rolling his eyes and turning back to the front door, "Look its fine I'll just say 'it was just another fight at school' and 'protect the families reputation'. Because that's what's important right? Happy now?" he asked, flinging her a wide, fake smile before slamming the door behind him.

~~~

Arthur didn't have go to school yet, even though he bypassed his car and walked to school he was still too early so when he reached the school gates he decided to keep walking, he kept walking and walking until he ended up at a very familiar house. He stood outside for a moment, his school bags weighing heavy on his shoulders before he plucked up the courage and walked up the garden path and knocked on the peeling read front door.

There was a minutes wait before a very groggy, behead looking Merlin opened the door still rubbing sleep from his eye and yawning.

AN:

He... he... he...

Soooo heyyyyy, I am back... I was really ill last week and now I'm not ill but on self-quarantine so have lots of spare time bar schoolwork to do so will try to update as much as possible but don't have too much hope in me because I'm not very good at updating as you probably know by now, XD.

I want to add: I am not a professional but if anyone of you need to talk about anything that comes up in this fic don't hesitate to reach out to me, I know that this story touches upon some serious issues and sometimes people just need someone to talk to so I may be a bit socially awkward and lack experience in like everything but I'm here if you need to talk ♡ 

I also want to say thank you!!!!!!!!!! here for anyone who read my 'if he were to rise again' book as we have just hit 10k, 10K!!!! reads! on that so thank you, thank you, thank you soooooo much!!!!!

THANK YOU AGAIN!! and...

Byyyyyyyeeeeee...