A King with No Title

Not the food

Merlin slams the door closed, and puts his back to it before pacing back and forth at the entrance. He could hear him yelling on the other side of the door. "Not the food?" Alex says, leaning in the doorway. His face dropping at the sight of Merlin with his hands tugging on his hair and his skin devoid of any colour, "What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost." He looks on in worry and concern, before going and opening the door himself hearing the rampant abuse being shouted through it.

He opens it and looks the stranger up and down, before saying, "Who the hell are you?" With an air of anger in his tone. Alex, like so many others Merlin had been with or around, couldn’t help but feel protective over Merlin. To see a stranger, yelling at him and clearly causing him discomfort, made Alex angrier than he thought he ever could be and all he wished to do was protect him. Alex was much like the knights had been, excluding the fact they were in a relationship, he was always protective of Merlin, never seeing him as a lesser person but seeing him as someone who needed protecting.

"I'm not here for you, get out of the way. Merlin. You know me." Before crossing his arms, and glaring, "Merlin, you really are a fool."

Merlin clasps a hand on his mouth before wiping it and turning around, "You know, you're right I think I do know you. You're just like this idiot I used to know."

Arthur looks completely taken aback by this sudden outburst, and looks round frantically, "I beg your pardon?" He ends up saying.

"Then beg." Merlin retorts, causing Alex to look on in complete and utter disbelief. If any begging were to take place, he would ensure it were between himself and Merlin, outside of the wandering gaze of others…

"I am your King, Merlin." Arthur yells.

"I could never live under the rule a King who could be such an ass." Merlin says.

Arthur broke his stern persona for a small moment, and scoffed, smiling slightly, "You can't address me like that." He does a small half smile, and shakes his head in slight disbelief. He couldn't help it, Merlin hadn't changed, not really anyway, and that made him happy. Even if, there was little to no chance that he would admit it. His Father would be rolling in his grave if he ever did, for Merlin was nothing more than a ‘lowly servant’.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I could never live under the rule a King who could be such an ass, my lord." Merlin bows sarcastically and smiles a toothy grin, while giving Arthur a small death stare, challenging him.

Alex broke out of the small trance he had been in watching the entire exchange, "Okay, what the hell is going on? Are you his ex or something? Why are you here?" Alex says, a hint of anger and frustration present in his tone. It was crystal clear to Merlin that Alex thought Arthur was some very dominant ex or something. Merlin could only wish that were the case, it would have been much easier too explain than this currently was. Also, Merlin had to admit, he wouldn’t have let Arthur go if he had ever been with him.

"Arthur, back off for a minute." Merlin says, pulling Alex to one side, before Arthur can retaliate. "So, this is my friend Arthur, he has amnesia and barely remembers everything, he also has a sort of God complex, so he believes he is the King Arthur in legend, he's harmless, just a lot to handle I suppose." Merlin hated lying like this, and he shouldn't really say his friend suffers from such delusions when he doesn't but in a short space of time he couldn't think of a more fitting excuse, that wouldn't end in a fight.

"Merlin, you're as stupid as you are ugly. I'm King Arthur, and..." Alex ends up punching Arthur in the jaw incredibly hard, so much so that Arthur was knocked to the floor. Merlin partially gasped and covered the lower half of his face with his hand. "That hurt." Arthur yells, holding his jaw as he pushed himself up, before going to charge. Merlin jumps between them.

"Alright ladies, settle down. There is absolutely no need for violence." Merlin says, they both back down, and their fists fall to their sides. Merlin could smell the testosterone in the air. "We're all friends now, okay?"

"Merlin, can we talk for a moment?" Arthur says through gritted teeth, Merlin nods at Alex and he takes his leave to the living room, though he really doesn’t look happy about it. "Alright, Merlin. We have been friends for many years, but I can't be seen as being friends with my manservant, not by commoners."

"Arthur, are you insinuating you're ashamed of me? Well, that’s just rude, after all I have done for you."

"Merlin."

"Shut up?"

"You guessed it. Now draw me a bath." Arthur says, as he starts to take off his clothes. He was wearing his full chainmail armour, and cape. Honestly, it's a good thing he told Alex he believed he was a King, otherwise this outfit would have made very little sense in any respect. Even with the context it was rather outlandish.

"Arthur, it is best if you go upstairs to undress. The first door to your left. I will come up and assist you in a second. I need to talk to Alex." Arthur nods, seemingly understanding that this was important and headed up the stairs, to the room Merlin had suggested he go to. In reality, this was more of an order than a request, and Arthur was aware of this. In his earlier years, Arthur would have never taken this direction and instead done all he could to disobey, but he had grown when he knew Merlin, he had changed for the better.

Merlin sighed deeply, he didn't know what he was going to do. He walked into the living room to find Alex sat on the sofa, watching the TV. His face read one emotion, anger. He was completely and utterly angered by Arthur, and Merlin knew it. Not that he could blame him, he came across as arrogant in his time, by modern standards he was nothing more than an asshole, with a high standing of his own self worth.

"Alex."

"No, Merlin. Don't say another word. You were quick to jump to this man's defence. Problems mentally or not, he has no right to speak to you that way. Your so-called friend, is a bastard." Alex stood up and handed Merlin his glass to Merlin as their was another knock on the door, "Any more 'friends' you wish to tell me about?" He opens the door and takes a bag from the delivery person. "I'm going to stay in a hotel, it's clear your friend needs help. I'll take my food and go, I'll be back tomorrow." He sighs and finishes the rest of what was in his glass, before taking his portion of food and walking out the door, leaving what he had ordered Merlin on the coffee table.
The door slammed shut as he walked out and it made Merlin flinch, he expected that sort of reaction to breaking up with his flings. This was a new situation all together though, and it somehow hurt more. This time it wasn't his fault.

He sighs, putting his food in the kitchen before heading up to the room he had told Arthur to wait in. Arthur was sat in there, naked other than a blanket covering his lower half. "Took you long enough Merlin." Arthur yells, standing not letting the sheet drop from his hips.

"Okay, Arthur. Come with me." Merlin walked through to the attached bathroom, at the side of the room. He put the plug into the bath, and turned on the warm tap. He poured in some bubble bath, a fling had left behind a long while ago. "Cherry blossom, and vanilla. How very posh, just right for a Princess like you Arthur."

Arthur put his hand under the tap rather confused by it all. "Is this some sort of well? This is new."

"It's not a well Arthur, this is your bath, I'm filling it." Merlin sighs and looks away.

"So I bath in this water before it has been heated and... Wait why is the water hot already?" Arthur looks confused, and Merlin smiles realising his everyday commodity is something that is entirely new to Arthur. "Merlin is this sorcery?"

"No, Arthur. This is called modern day plumbing." Arthur looks utterly dumbfounded as Merlin speaks and Merlin can't help but laugh at the shock on his face. He stands up and turns on the small fan, to make sure the steam doesn't dampen the walls. Merlin watches as Arthur jumped, obviously shocked by the whirring sound of the fan.

Merlin continued to move around the room, collecting a towel and a wash cloth for Arthur. The water levels rising slowly as he did. "Merlin, I don't understand what is going on?"

"When Albion's need is greatest you will return." Merlin whispers to himself.

"For God's sake, Merlin. Speak up." Arthur yells from the other end of the room.

"Why have you come back now? Albion no longer stands. This isn't Camelot. There was no need." Merlin looks over to him tears in his eyes.

"Did you not want me back? What is going on? What do you mean Camelot is gone?" Arthur asks, throwing a bottle of something across the room at Merlin. He was easily able to dodge, but the bottle shattered on contact with the wall. It was a cologne, an expensive one at that.

"Arthur, don't throw my stuff." Merlin states, still in a mental panic, he didn't understand what was going on. "Is this all a joke? Do you know how long you have been gone?" Merlin yells and Arthur shrugs.

"A couple years in a coma or something? I don't remember."

"You don't remember dying?"

"Oh, come on Merlin. I never died." Arthur laughs and pointing at himself, assured Merlin was joking. Merlin looked at him with a sad expression, with seriousness behind it. Merlin's face was filled with so much emotion and his eyes filled with pain. "You're serious."

"You have been dead for years, Arthur. Actually no, that doesn't even begin to describe it has been hundreds of years, it feels like a millennium, not quite but it feels like it. Why now?" Merlin yells, both at himself and Arthur.

He ignores his inner conflict as he turned off the tap. He ends up collapsing onto his knees beside the bath. "Merlin? You're being dramatic."

"No. No, I'm not. You have been dead for years. I have been alone for years. I thought you were never coming back." Merlin screams, his breath was heaving and panting as his body felt like it was going into overload. "The bath is ready, you can get in." Merlin hands him a wash cloth. "You can use this to clean yourself, there's soap in the dish by the side. I'll bring you a towel when you're done." Merlin sighs and stands up.

Arthur climbed into the bath, and started to clean himself as Merlin went to leave. "Merlin, I still don't understand. Explain to me what has happened?"

Merlin sighed yet again and sat against the wall near the door. "A brief overview?"

"Yes, Merlin as brief as you can make it." Arthur rolls his eyes, but also turns to look at him, as he washed over himself.

"You died. I looked after Raine and Elyan. He was a great King, she was the kindest Princess. They both had families. Raine helped create a new alliance, Elyan kept peace. I watched as they grew old, I outlived them. I outlived, Gaius, my own Mother, Leon, Percival, Gwaine, everyone I ever knew. I was forced to watch for centuries, and I was never given a choice. Your family grew into the modern-day Royals, and I became distant. They don't know me, and they think of you and me, as a Legend, a fairy tale for small children. To public knowledge we never existed. Neither did Camelot. The world moved on, my people were persecuted again. There is hate towards those who are different, in anyway, even now. But as the generations grow it seems the new one may be able to offer some chance of redemption, even if sometimes their actions don't reflect their words." Merlin sighs and takes a break.

"Merlin, I'm still confused."

"The year, is 2018. The world is crazy, and technology has developed. New things have been invented, and health of people becomes less of a mystery each day. As we learn. What you mistake for magic is merely modern invention." Merlin states and looks up at Arthur as he tips water over his head.

"I wondered how you had stopped the eye glowing thing. But I guess inventions explain it. So it's not magic." Arthur says and looks at his hands. Merlin nods in response. "You've been through a lot Merlin, I apologise. I'm clean."

Merlin stands and goes to the sink where he had left the towel he had taken out earlier. "Here, cover yourself and dry yourself you can borrow some of my clothes before I can get you some of your own."

After Merlin had dressed Arthur and dried his hair properly, he decided they should eat. He had explained some more about world politics and the new way of life while he helped.
"Erm, you'll probably like spag bol." Merlin whispers to himself before placing the frozen meal in the microwave.

"Merlin, what is happening? Why is it buzzing? What is it doing with the food?" Arthur leans against the countertop, looking through the glass door on the microwave.

"It is cooking your meal." Merlin states as he eats the takeaway that Alex had ordered him earlier. It was lukewarm, so he didn't mind eating it. He learnt against the table as he ate from the carton, Arthur giving him a slightly weird look from the corner of his eye.

"Shouldn't I eat first?" Arthur asks, still not used to the fact he was technically no longer a king.

"You're the guest here, Arthur." Merlin sasses, rolling his eyes. Arthur nods and continues to watch the meal spinning in the microwave. When the timer went off, Merlin put the meal out on a plate for Arthur, before they went and sat on the sofa.

The night dragged on and Merlin explained more and more about the events of the past few years, and Arthur got more confused by the second. Eventually, Arthur fell asleep on the sofa, and Merlin covered him with a blanket and propped his head on a pillow, the sofa would be comfortable enough for one night until he could make up the spare room for him.

Merlin made his way to his own room and fell hard into the bed, snuggling into his pillows. He fell asleep that night both full of uncertainty and joy, Arthur was back, but he didn't know what this meant for himself.