Just another day in Camelot - Merlin one shots

Hurt

The sun starts to rise just as Merlin stagers into the castle. Not many people where around yet but the ones who where turned to look at the boy with a bruised face and a dark stain on his clothes that looks horribly like blood. Merlin was too exhausted and tired to care. He could not feel the pain, but he knew it would come as soon as the adrenaline wore off. He hobbled slowly to Gaius's chambers and was relieved to see the physician not there. He blindly made his way over to a bowl full of water and splashed his face a couple of times with the cold water. As he closed his eyes, an image of the fight he had just had with Morgana came to him making him press his hands on his eyes. It woke him up enough to realise he was going to be late for Arthur. Shaking the image of Morgana off he half ran to Arthurs chambers, completely unaware of the terrible way he looked.

By the time he got there he could feel all the cuts and bruises he had gotten and let me tell you it hurt a lot. His leg flared every time he put any weight on it and the deep cut on his side was now a steady throbbing. Guise is going to kill me if I get a fever. He drew open the curtains next to Arthurs bed and muttered a

"Wake up prat." Before the dizziness hit him. He stumbled trying to get his balance. A muffled sound came from behind him so he spun around and saw Arthur, his hair sticking up in every direction with an extremely concerned look on his face. The last thing he heard before his legs gave way and everything went back was a faint "Merlin!"

- - - - - -

Arthur knew something was wrong as soon as he was woken up by Merlin, but this time withought one of his cheery "Rise and shine!" This time he woke up to Merlin mumbling something inaudible. When he cracked his eyes open, he saw only the back of Merlin but his clothes where in a terrible state.

"Merlin" Arthur called. Merlin did not show any sign that he had heard. He tried again, this time a bit louder. "Merlin" When the young boy had spun around Arthur forgot how to breath. His best friend looked like he had just risen from the dead, his face was a deathly pale with bright green bruises decorating it. All of a sudden, he had collapsed to the ground. "Merlin!" Arthur lept forward and propped him up against the wall. Blinded by panic he ran to Gaius's chamber but was met with an empty room. Dam it! He ran back to his chambers where Merlin was in the same position as he had left him.

With extreme care he lifted Merlin onto his bed and raced to find some cloth and a bowl of water. As soon as he had, he proceeded to clean the young boy up, wiping dirt off his face and the occasional bit of dried blood. When he was done, he leaned back checking his work and that is when he noticed the stain on Merlin's clothes. Ignoring how wrong it felt, he started removing his clothes, taking care to be gentle. He found a drying wound on the boy's side and about a dozen smaller cuts. By the time he was finished the water was a pale red and the cloth he was using was a dark red. Arthur did not take merlin's trousers off for obvious reasons, but he did role them up a bit to reveal a massive burse alongside a long cut that started at his knee and ended at his ankle. It wasn't very deep, but it still worried Arthur very much.

Merlin stirred just as Arthur was finishing. When the prince realised this he let out a massive sigh of releife and stared at Merlin, completely dumbfounded.

"What. The. Hell?!" Merlin cringed slightly at the loud voice making Arthur feel immediately guilty.

"I can ... explain." He said, taking a sharp breath as he struggled to sit up. "I was out picking herbs for Gaius early this morning when I walked into Morgana. I got away in the end but not before she managed to get a few blows in." Arthur looked horrified as he said this.

"You scared the living daylights out of me! You looked like death. You still do in fact – look like death."

Merlin chuckled slightly "Thanks I'll take it as a complement. Hey, where is my shirt??"

"Sorry, I had to take it off you to clean your cut."

"You did that?" Merlin asked, touched by his friend's kindness. Arthur shrugged looking down embarrassed. He got up and threw one of his shirts for Merlin to put on. "Thanks for not calling Gaius as well, he wouldn't have left me leave the tower for a week." Arthur nodded pretending that's why Gaius was not here.

"Careful!" Arthur cried as Merlin started to stand.

"I'm not that fragile you know." Arthur shirt was too big for him, nearly reaching to his knees but when he saw his filthy shirt on the floor, he understood why the prince hadn't given him his own back.

No matter how much protesting Arthur did, he could not get Merlin to go and rest, so for the rest of the day Merlin did small easy chores around the prince's chamber as Arthur kept an eye on him. Just as it was getting dark Arthur called that it should probably be time for Merlin to head back to his room now. When he didn't get a reply, he ran around the room frantically trying to find him. Finally, he saw the young boy curled up on his bed fast asleep. Arthur put the blanket over him and got ready to call it a day himself smiling to himself as the boy, inches away from him was safe and he vowed to protect Merlin as much as he could for as long as he was alive.