A Sister to Sleep - Merlin

Chapter 4

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE MERLIN CHARACTERS - ONLY ALARA

Previously ..."Merlin... Care to tell us who Alara is?"

"I do care actually. It's really none of your business." Merlin said quietly, still staring at the ground.

"Merlin... I'm warning you." The King said, voice louder than it needed to be.

"I'd really rather not say, Arthur."

"Merlin..."

"It doesn't concern you, Arthur, leave it alone."

"Merlin!" Arthur replied, now shouting, causing Merlin to flinch. "You better tell me who she is, or I will punish you for lying to your King."

"I've never lied, just... withheld information," Merlin said.

"Merlin! Now!" Yelled Arthur.

Merlin finally broke and said quietly "Alara is my sister." Again, stunned silence. Merlin looked up and saw that all the knights' faces looked the same: Jaws on the floor, wide eyes, all struck dumb with the new information. Merlin, even in the heat of the moment smiled softly at his companions.

Then there was pandemonium. Every knight asking a different question, all except Arthur, who stood there staring at Merlin with a look of shock and hurt written across his face. Merlin wanted to say something to the King, but too many questions were being thrown at him.

"You have a sister?"

"She lives in Ealdor?"

"An actual sister?"

"You said her name was Alara?"

"Merlin has a sister?"

"Why didn't she come to Camelot with you?"

"A sister? Like a real, living, breathing sister?"

"How old is she?"

"A SISTER?!"

Merlin glared at Gwaine. "Yes, Gwaine, a sister."

Then another question came. A question that made Merlin's heart ache.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Arthur asked quietly.

Merlin turned to his friend and master. "It's a sensitive matter for me, Arthur." He said, "And I didn't think it was important for you to know." Merlin then admitted.

"You still could have told me. You can trust me, Merlin, even with sensitive things." Arthur told him.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just..." Merlin struggled to find the right words. "It hurts me to talk about is all." He tried to stay calm, but Merlin could feel the tears filling his eyes. 

Percival came up and put a hand on Merlin's shoulder and said with his deep voice, "I'm sorry Merlin, we shouldn't have taken the letter. It was out of line" The knights all agreed and Merlin looked up at them and smiled after quickly wiping his eyes.

"But..." Merlin heard Gwaine say, "Now that we know, could you tell us a bit about her? Pretty please?" 

Merlin sighed. "I suppose." He said reluctantly. Gwaine cheered and grabbed his arm to lead him to the fire, plopping down next to him on a log.

"Go on, Merlin." Elyan encouraged after a couple of moments of silence from the warlock. Merlin sighed and looked at Arthur, who was watching him carefully, along with the rest of the knights. He shifted under their stares and started his story.

"I... um.. ok," Merlin said unsure where to start. "So, Alara is my sister, you guys figured that much out yourselves" - A guilty look from Gwaine - "Um, well, Alara is actually my twin sister, though we don't look a lot alike. She has green eyes, not blue like mine, but we have the same hair colour. We did everything together but are still very different. She is very shy and graceful, whereas I'm..." Merlin struggled for the words.

"Not?" Said Gwaine helpfully.

"Thanks, Gwaine," Merlin said sarcastically. "Anyway, we used to go into the woods with... Will," At this Merlin glanced sadly at Arthur, who seemed to be reliving the man's death as well. "Uh, to gather herbs for meals, and we met an older man. He seemed harmless at the time, and we went to ask if he needed any help." Merlin swallowed closing his eyes as he saw the scene play through in his head. The scene that haunted his dreams every night. "Well, he - he was next to a cliff and had dropped his herbs down. My sister went to offer him some of ours, but well, she and I didn't exactly have the best reputation. We were sort of troublemakers, see, and -" Merlin gulped, feeling the tears run down his pale face. 

Gwaine put his arm around Merlin's shoulders, trying to console his crying friend. "And he pushed her. Will and I chased him off, and we ran down the other side of the cliff to get her. It was a miracle she was alive. Her head was bleeding badly and she had broken her leg. The healers at our village said she was lucky to survive that fall." Merlin's tears were falling fast, making the ground underneath him wet with the salty liquid. Merlin took a gulp of air and continued "But... she... She never woke up. We were ten years old when that happened. She's been in a coma. She left me alone, and as much as we tried, we couldn't find a remedy. She just stayed there, silent, not waking. I tried so hard," Merlin sobbed "But she wouldn't wake."

Merlin broke down, unable to speak any longer, and fell silent in Gwaine's comforting arms, completely exhausted. 

Just when they thought the young servant had fallen asleep, they heard him whisper "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Don't hate me please." And it broke the knights' hearts. Merlin looked up at his friends, seeing all of their eyes filled with tears - even Arthur's - and smiled sadly as they assured him that he was forgiven.

The knights then guided their emotional friend over to his bed-roll (I'm going with bed-roll. It may be wrong though) where he promptly fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Well, that was a lot to digest." Exclaimed Gwaine. The knights scoffed. That was an understatement.

Well... who else cried? I did. Almost. Well, I wasn't crying as much as Merlin, okay? Anyway, this was my largest chapter yet. Roughly 1000 words. Wow.