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Chapter Text

The next morning, Lancelot went to Gaius chambers to collect Merlin. He knocked and entered to see Merlin running around, giggling madly as Gaius tried to persuade the excited child to stand still long enough to put on a shirt.

Lancelot bent down and caught the giggling boy round the waist, lifting him easily into the air. Merlin laughed harder and tried to wriggle free. "Oh no you don't, Merlin. You need to put your shirt on before we go anywhere today."

Merlin pouted, but let Gaius pull the shirt over his head. Then he looked up at Lancelot. "Where's Gwen? She said we could play again today."

Lancelot sighed. "I don't know Merlin. I'm sure she'll be here soon."

The knight looked at Gaius, who had sat down, looking tired. "Gaius, I can't look after Merlin today. I have a patrol. But Gwen will stay with him, and I think one of the other knights will join her."

Gaius looked alarmed. "He was doing accidental magic in his sleep, Lancelot. He has no control at all. If anyone else looks after him, he'll be discovered."

Lancelot shook his head. "I tried to swap my patrols over, but no luck. I don't have a choice today. Gwen wouldn't hurt him if she found out, and Percival didn't grow up in Camelot, so his reaction won't be so bad."

Merlin had caught the name and instantly wriggled free of Lancelot's arm. "Percy! I want Percy! He said he'd play with me."

"Percy?" Gaius grinned. "I wonder how he's going to react to that one."

Lancelot sighed, "Alright Merlin, we'll go and see if Percival can look after you today."

"Yay!" Merlin immediately ran to the door and tugged it open. His laughter could be heard echoing down the corridor.

Lancelot winced, hurrying after him. "See you later Gaius."

The physician propped his elbows on the table and let his head fall into his hands. That boy was going to send him to an early grave.

Lancelot rushed along the corridor. "Merlin! Come back. You can't play with Percival if you don't know where you're going."

The giggling continued, and Lancelot realised Merlin was likely playing hide and seek. "Merlin, Gwen can't play with you if she can't find you."

He sighed, looking down at the floor. When he looked up again, Merlin was standing in front of him, holding out a hand. "Come on Lance, we need to find Percy." Lancelot took the offered hand, and was immediately dragged down the corridor, towards the knights' chambers.

"Merlin, where are you taking me?"

"To find Percy!" came the excited reply.

Lancelot was surprised to find that Merlin apparently knew the way, because they stopped outside Percival's door. Merlin looked up at Lancelot, who huffed in confusion, but knocked anyway. Percival opened the door, wearing a tunic and trousers rather than his chainmail.

"Please tell me you haven't got patrol or training today."

Percival shook his head, then smiled down at Merlin. "You playing with me today, little one?"

"Yay, Percy!" Merlin rushed forward and hugged Percival's legs.

Percival blinked. "Percy?"

Lancelot shrugged. "I'm just Lance apparently. He seems to shorten longer names. He's been asking for you all morning, and he seemed to know where he was going to get here."

The taller knight frowned. "He remembers?"

"Not sure. If I see Gwen, I'll let her know you've got Merlin. Just to warn you, he has a lot of energy this morning, and Gaius said his room was a mess. So be careful." Lancelot paused, then said softly, "If anything strange happens, get Gaius first before Arthur, alright? We don't know if this enchantment has any side affects yet."

Percival nodded, then reached down and picked up Merlin, who instantly giggled and kissed the tall knight's cheek. Percival blushed.

Lancelot grinned at him. "I told you, he's very affectionate. Good luck."

~~~

Percival played with little Merlin all morning, then took him down to the knight's dining room for lunch again. Today Gwaine and Elyan were there, and the mischief had lots of the other knights laughing. News of Merlin's enchantment had spread quickly, and they all knew not to question the knights looking after the small boy.

But just as they had finished eating, and Percival had picked Merlin up to go and find Gwen, Leon came in, red cloak damp on his shoulders.

Merlin's reaction was immediate, and loud. He screamed and threw himself from Percival's arms, running for the door. Percival cursed and dived after him, but the child was too quick and too small to catch. Percival looked wildly around, but Merlin had vanished, with no sign of where he had gone.

Leon looked at Gwaine and Elyan in amazement. "What was that about?"

"Merlin's terrified of Camelot uniforms," Gwaine growled.

"Why?"

Elyan sighed. "A woman was burned for witchcraft in his village when he was younger. Merlin seems to think if he does anything wrong, he'll be attacked by Camelot knights." He got up. "We need to help Percival find him."

Leon moved towards the door too, but Gwaine said, "Not you Leon. He'll be scared of you now. If you help look for him, he's not going to trust the rest of us either."

Leon looked crest-fallen, but nodded.

The others headed out the door, joining Percival in the corridor. Gwaine looked up and down the corridor. "If Merlin was scared, where would he go?"

"Someone needs to check Gaius's chambers," the tall knight said. "Merlin seems to have remembered his way around the castle, he knew the way to my chambers this morning."

Elyan nodded. "If you do that, I'll check Arthur's chambers. He told Merlin to find him if he got lost."

"Lancelot's out on patrol, but I'll check his rooms anyway," said Gwaine. "Then I'll try and find Gwen."

They nodded to each other, then split up.

~~~

Gaius looked up from his books when Percival came in.

"Is Merlin here?"

Gaius shook his head. "I haven't seen him since Lancelot left this morning."

Percival cursed under his breath. "He got scared when he saw Leon in a red cloak and ran away. I couldn't catch him."

Gaius was on his feet quickly. "If he's scared, we could be in trouble. There's no knowing where he might hide. I'll help you look."

~~~

Gwaine opened Lancelot's door. "Merlin? Are you in here?"

There was no reply, but he checked under the blankets and under the bed just in case. No sign of him. Gwaine sighed and left, heading for the King's chambers in search of Gwen.

He found her just outside, carrying a plate of food. "Gwen, have you seen Merlin?"

She shook her head. "Not today. Why? Is he playing hide and seek again?"

"He saw Leon in his Camelot cloak. Instantly screamed and ran away. We couldn't catch him in time. Do you know where he might be hiding? I've tried Lancelot's room already."

Gwen's expression was twisted with worry. "I don't know. My first thought would be Gaius, but after that I don't know."

"Percival's checking with Gaius now."

Gwen nodded. "I'll just take this to the king, then I'll help you look."

"Thank you Gwen."

~~~

Elyan made his way to Arthur's chambers, hoping the prince was down on the training field. He knocked on the door, and heard a voice call back. He winced, but went in.

Arthur was sat on the floor beside his bed, apparently looking under it. He glanced up when Elyan entered.

"I hope you've come to explain why Merlin is currently hiding under my bed crying."

Elyan sighed in relief. "Well at least we know where he is now."

Arthur frowned. "You mean he ran away from you."

"He did. He got scared when Leon came into the dining hall in his Camelot cloak."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Why would that scare Merlin?"

"Red knights are scary," came a quiet voice from under the bed.

"Why are they scary Merlin?"

"If I do anything bad, they'll take me away and hurt me. I promised Mama I wouldn't do anything bad, but she's still worried. And Mama is the bravest person ever, so if she's scared, then I'm really scared."

Arthur looked utterly confused. Elyan said quietly, "He saw a woman being burned for sorcery. He thinks if he does something wrong, the knights will do the same to him."

The prince suddenly looked sad. "Is that really what children think of us? Are they all that scared?" he muttered.

Elyan shuffled on his feet for a moment, then said, "I should go and tell the others to call off the search." He ducked out of the room.

~~~

Arthur carefully lay on his stomach, looking at the small boy curled up under his bed. "Merlin, come out please. You'll get very dirty, and then Gaius will have to give you a bath. And you won't want that." He was relying on his own childhood hatred of baths, so Merlin's response confused him.

"What's a bath?"

"Um, it's a big bowl you fill with water, then you sit in it to get clean."

Merlin lifted his head, looking confused. "Why would you do that? What's wrong with just using the stream? Mama always washes me in the stream."

Arthur blinked, realised he needed to change tactics, then said, "If you come out, I promise the red knights won't hurt you while I'm here."

Merlin slowly uncurled his body, and crawled towards Arthur. The prince pulled himself up, then lifted Merlin into his arms. The boy's face was still red from crying, but otherwise he didn't seem scared any more. "You promise?"

Arthur nodded. "I promise."

Merlin put his arms around Arthur's neck and hugged him. "Thank you Arthur."

The prince patted Merlin's back awkwardly, not sure how to react to this sudden display of affection from his manservant. Merlin had joked about hugs before, but now seemed very affectionate.

There came a knock on the door, and Gaius came in. He looked relieved to see Merlin. "Oh good, you have him Sire. We were getting worried."

Merlin pulled his face away from Arthur's neck and looked at Gaius. "Uncle Gaius, why would Mama send me here if there are red knights? She said I should stay away from them."

Gaius sighed. "She needed someone to look after you Merlin. She thought I was the only one who could help."

Merlin nodded slowly, then said, "Arthur says that if I get dirty you'll have to give me a bath. Why would you use a bath and not the stream?"

Gaius looked confused. Arthur sighed and said, "I used to run away when I was supposed to have a bath. I thought if I warned him not to get dirty he would come out from under the bed. But I just confused him instead. He doesn't remember what a bath is."

Gaius nodded. "I'm not surprised. Merlin's right, in Ealdor they would have just washed in the stream."

"Uncle Gaius, where's Gwen? She said she would play with me today." Merlin wriggled and Arthur put him down.

"I'm not sure Merlin. She might still be looking for you after you hid."

Merlin tilted his head on one side, "Why? Arthur said I was supposed to find him if I was lost, so I did. Doesn't Gwen know that rule?"

Arthur looked up from Merlin's confused expression. "Gaius, how did he find me? He didn't ask the guards, he just rushed in and dived under the bed."

"I'm not sure, Sire. Apparently he remembered the way to Percival's chambers this morning. Some of his memory seems to still be there, he's just not aware of it. I expect if you asked him where something was, he couldn't tell you. But tell him to go there, and he will. Memory is a strange thing."

Arthur nodded, not entirely understanding, but willing to go along with it. He looked at Merlin again. "Shall we go and find Gwen, then Merlin? I'm sure she'll want to play with you."

Merlin grinned at him, and Arthur realised it was still the same grin that Merlin always gave him.

The small boy grabbed his hand and began tugging him towards the door. "Yay! Let's find Gwen."

Arthur looked at Gaius, who said softly, "Test him. See if he can find Gwen without any prompting."

The prince nodded, and allowed himself to be pulled from his chambers.

~~~

Merlin did indeed seem to know his way around the castle. He pulled Arthur towards Uther's chambers, where they found Gwen, Percival and Gwaine talking in low voices in the corridor. They looked up when they heard the footsteps, and Gwen rushed forward to give Merlin a hug.

"Oh Merlin! We were worried. We didn't know where you were."

Merlin hugged her back, then looked up at Arthur. "I was right, she forgot the rule."

Gwaine raised an eyebrow. "What rule?"

Merlin grinned at the knight. "If I got lost I had to go and find Arthur. I was scared, so I ran away and got lost. Then I went to find Arthur."

"He was hiding under my bed," said Arthur quietly.

Gwen stood up. "Well at least he remembered where to find you. Otherwise we might have been searching for hours."

Arthur looked down at Merlin again. "Merlin, can you help me find Leon? I want to talk to him."

Merlin flinched and hid behind Percival's legs. "Leon's scary. He's one of the red knights."

Arthur crouched down to met Merlin's eyes. "Remember I promised you that none of the knights would hurt you while I'm here. Leon won't hurt you. He's my friend and I trust him. Can you help me find him?"

Merlin still looked scared, but he nodded. "But Percy comes too."

Arthur blinked in surprise, but agreed. He stood up and held out his hand, and Merlin took it. Then the boy grabbed Percival's hand and began leading them down the corridor, followed by Gwen and Gwaine.

The long-haired knight grinned at Percival. "Percy?"

Percival nodded. "Lancelot got a nickname too. He's just Lance now."

Gwaine chuckled. "I like it. And this is new? Merlin didn't call you Percy when he was older?"

Percival shook his head. "Just from this morning."

Gwen smiled at the small boy who was still leading the way, obviously leading towards the knights' quarters. "How does he remember where he's going?"

Arthur glanced at her over his shoulder. "Gaius explained it, but I didn't really understand. Something about not being able to describe how to get there, but able to lead the way if you ask him to show you. Different types of memory or something like that."

Gwen nodded. "Alright. That makes sense. Sort of."

Merlin stopped outside a door, and Arthur smiled when he recognised Leon's door. "Thank you Merlin."

The boy smiled at him, then tugged on Percival's arm until the knight picked him up.

Arthur knocked on the door, and Leon opened it. He had taken off the cloak, and seemed surprised to see Merlin looking at him.

"Sire? Is everything alright?"

"Yes Leon. I just want to prove to Merlin that you're not going to hurt him." He looked at the boy in Percival's arms. "Remember Merlin? Leon is my friend and I trust him."

Merlin tilted his head to one side as he considered Leon. Then he held out his arms for a hug. "Don't be sad, lion. I didn't mean to be so scared. I won't run away again. Sorry if I made you sad."

Leon smiled at the child and took him from Percival's arms. "Thank you Merlin. I didn't mean to scare you either. I won't wear my red cloak while you're here, does that help?"

Merlin nodded and reached up to tug lightly on Leon's hair. "How does it stay so curly? Mama tries to make her hair curly for Midsummer, but it goes straight again afterwards."

Leon grinned at Merlin. "It just grows that way Merlin."

Merlin pouted. "I wanted to tell Mama how to make her hair stay curly."

"Sorry Merlin, I don't know how it works, it just is."

Arthur grinned at the sight of his first knight having his hair pulled by a child. "I have to get back to my paperwork. But I'll see you later."

"Arthur wait," Merlin wriggled free of Leon's arms and hugged Arthur around the legs. "Mama always gives me a hug before she says goodbye. Since you don't have a mama anymore, I'll give you one instead."

Arthur looked at the boy in amazement. "How did you know that Merlin?"

The boy looked up at him. "Because your da is so sad. Will's mama was really sad when his da died, and Mama gave her lots of hugs to make her feel better. Maybe you should give your da hugs too."

Arthur blinked, then bent down and hugged Merlin. "Thank you Merlin. I'll see you later." Then he turned and walked away.

After a few moments of silence, Gwaine said softly, "Merlin really is more intelligent than we give him credit for."

~~~

Leon spent that afternoon winning back Merlin's trust, while Gwaine grinned and played along with the pranks that Merlin seemed to want to pull.

Percival and Gwen had left, but Merlin seemed to trust Gwaine enough to stay with Leon without one of them.

"It's odd," said Leon quietly, as he carried a sleeping Merlin back towards Gaius's chambers. "He seemed to automatically trust us. Until I gave him a reason to be afraid, he wasn't scared of us at all."

Gwaine shrugged. "Maybe it's more of that weird memory stuff Gaius was talking about. He doesn't remember being friends with us, but some how he still knows it."

"I wonder when he got over his fear of Camelot knights," said Leon. "I mean, if he was that scared when he was this age."

"Maybe he learned that he wouldn't be punished when he grew older. His fear of doing something wrong would have changed as he grew up, until he learned that only certain crimes would get him killed."

"That's possible."

They knocked on Gaius's door, and heard an answering voice. Gwaine pushed open the door, and Leon carried Merlin inside.

"He fell asleep, Gaius. He's eaten dinner, but he refused to come back until he was too sleepy to protest any more."

Gaius nodded. "Can you take him up to his room?"

Gwaine sat down at the table, while Leon carried Merlin to bed. "Any progress Gaius? Any way to reverse this enchantment?"

"I'm not sure." Gaius sighed. "There are so many different options. It's almost as bad as that time that Arthur was under a love spell. Only Merlin's not about to battle a king for his daughter's hand."

Leon came back down the stairs. "Are you talking about Vivian? I often thought that was odd. Arthur was so insistent on his love for Vivian, but after the duel he seemed to lose interest."

Gaius nodded absentmindedly. "Merlin and Gwen got him the antidote between bouts of the duel. But that time we were lucky and found the cause of the spell so could use the right antidote. If we hadn't had that, it would have been much harder."

"Why's that?" asked Gwaine, as Leon sat down.

"Because there are so many different types of love spells. Giving Arthur the wrong antidote could have had a variety of affects, from doing nothing at all, to making all his hair fall out, to serious injury. It's the same here. If we get the antidote wrong, I have no idea the affect it could on Merlin." He looked up at the two knights. "Has anything odd happened to Merlin in the few days before this happened? Did you encounter any sorcerers, or find any odd items?"

Leon shook his head, "Not that I know of."

Gwaine frowned then said, "I remember Merlin saying he was going to go and visit a girl. I asked him who, but he refused to say. I thought he was just being shy."

"Did he say where he was meeting her?"

"The Lake of Avalon, I think."

Gaius sighed. "Then that won't help us."

"Why not?" asked Gwaine. "Shouldn't we search round the lake?"

Gaius shook his head. "Merlin loved a girl a few years ago now. She was cursed by a sorcerer and ended up dead. He burned her body on the Lake of Avalon. He visits there every now and again. That isn't unusual behaviour."

Gwaine looked shocked. "He never mentioned it before."

"He doesn't like to talk about it. He still misses her."

Leon was nodding slowly. "Maybe we should still search around the lake though. If someone knew that Merlin visited there, they could have set up a trap."

Gwaine nodded too. "I ask Arthur for permission to go and search the area in the morning."

"Alright. Let me know what you find." Gaius closed the book he had been looking at. "And if you see Lancelot, I want to talk to him."

"I'll send him over. He should be back by now." Leon stood up, and so did Gwaine. "Goodnight Gaius."

"Goodnight."