Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Legs pounding against uneven ground. Tree branches grabbing at sleeves. Breath coming out quickly, both from the pain and the panic building inside him. Tears streamed down his face. He ran as fast as he could but he knew he needed to run faster. He poured more magic into  his legs to keep himself upright despite the large wound covering most of his leg. He didn’t know how long he ran for, close to passing out the whole time, magic the only thing keeping him going. But finally he couldn’t go any further. He collapsed against a tree breathing deeply, trying his hardest to calm down. He needed to keep going but he could already feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. He just had to hope that he had got far enough away from Arthur to be safe while he rested.

*•+•*

“Merlin!” Arthur yelled out into the forest. He’d lost sight of his servant an hour ago but he refused to give up.

He pointedly refused to think of all the reasons he should be giving up.

Magic being the biggest one.

He was furious, don't get him wrong but he still cared for Merlin and Merlin was lost and injured.

“MERLIN!” He practically screamed out into the slowly dimming forest.

No response of course because why would he respond?

Arthur ran a hand over his face and sighed. He should probably make camp before it gets too dark for him to see anything.

*•+•*

Merlin woke up to light filtering through the leaves of a silent forest. No one in sight. He sighed in relief. 

Chapter Text

Merlin sat up straighter against the tree, wincing as he jostled his leg. Taking deep breaths he steeled himself and looked down at his leg. Blood covered it from a few centimetres above his knee. He couldn’t see the actual cut with so much blood. He chose to ignore that that much blood was not a good thing. Instead he pulled himself upwards, steadying himself against the trunk of the tree. It took him five minutes, and a lot of pain and quiet screams, but eventually he was standing semi upright with all his weight balanced on his better leg. He stood like that for a few minutes gathering his breath and trying to figure out where he was going to go from here. He didn’t recognise the area, so he didn’t know which way to go to reach a village. Or really even a stream or river. He decided to just hobble on, hoping that he would hit something eventually.

He had always enjoyed the sounds of the forest, the soft chirps of birds, the rustling of leaves in the wind, sticks crunching underfoot. Every tree that he passed looked the same, he could only hope that he wasn’t going in circles. His leg ached, no, it burned, as he walked.

He was trying to battle the intrusive thoughts of just stopping and giving up. He was also fighting the thoughts of what Arthur would do if he found him. Finish it right there and then with his sword, a sword he had given him no less. Or drag him all the way back to Camelot to publicly execute him. Gaius would be devastated, having to see Merlin scream and burn. Merlin hoped for Gaius’s sake that Arthur would show some mercy and not condemn him to death at the stake. He hoped it for his sake as well. He couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like. Dragged out in front of everyone, tied to a stake surrounded by wood waiting to be set aflame. Looking through the crowd and watching Gaius look on in horror. He liked to think the knights would be horrified too but other than Lancelot he had no idea where the others stood on magic. He could imagine Gwen watching from next to Gaius, he knew she must hate magic, it was the cause of her father’s death after all, but he hoped that she would at least mourn who she had thought he was. He’d always imagined himself looking up at Arthur on the balcony. Arthur draped in his formal attire, an outfit he had put on him many times. He imagined Arthur staring back at him with hard, dark eyes. The blue that often gazed at him with fondness now filled with betrayal and hurt. Arthur would then call to light the fire and his world would go up in flames.

Merlin was close to hyperventilating at this point, his breaths coming in rapidly. The combination of the persistent daydream and the pain that was radiating from his leg was causing him to panic. He tried to keep going but soon his eyes were filled with tears that blocked his vision. He didn’t want to sit down because he knew he might never get up again. But he couldn’t breathe. Very soon the decision was made for him as his bad leg crumbled under him, having lost the constant momentum of walking that was the only thing keeping it going. He cried out in pain tumbling to the damp ground. He lay there panting and trying to get his breathing under control. He pushed away thoughts of fire, betrayal, and hurt, instead focusing on the feel of the earth around him. He focused on the grass in between his fingers, the way his magic thrummed through his veins, the cold wind against his face, the sound of footsteps coming his way, the feel of dirt under his fingernails, a voice calling to him, the smell of wildflowers, a hand holding his shoulder trying to ease him up, the feel of the tree now against his back, the cry that escaped his throat as something touched his leg, sorry repeated frantically, the sight of someone crouching down in front of him telling him to breathe in and out, to follow their breathing. He watched their chest rise and fall and tried to mimic it. It was hard at first, his breaths coming in too short or too stuttered. But the person stayed, breathing evenly, and waiting for Merlin’s breathing to even out.

Finally he slowly regained awareness. In front of him crouched a man of what looked to be about mid-thirties. He had blond hair that was long enough to reach his shoulders and looked to have been cut hastily. Brown eyes peered at him, trying to figure out if Merlin was okay. His hand was still on his shoulder holding him up. Merlin sighed and leaned his head back against the tree.

“Well that was fun,” he mumbled.

The man chuckled and let go of his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Merlin said, looking back at the man.

“No problem, you look like you’ve been through it and more,” the man said.

It was Merlin’s turn to chuckle, “you could say that.”

The man looked over Merlin with a calculating look.

They sat in silence for a little bit, the man seemingly in thought and Merlin trying to collect himself.

“Alright let’s get you to the village, shall we?” The man said.

Merlin’s immediate reaction was to say no but he squashed it and nodded. This was what he had been looking for after all, he couldn’t just stay wandering around the forest forever.

“Can you walk?” the man asked, glancing at his leg knowing the answer.

“Probably not,” Merlin said, letting himself be hoisted up by the stranger.

The man grabbed him around his waist keeping his injured leg between them. Merlin could barely stand so he lent most of his weight against the man.

“Ready?” The man asked, peering down at him as he was a little bit taller than Merlin.

“Yep” Merlin managed to get out around the torrent of pain.

Slowly they started walking, well more Merlin jumped on one leg while the man walked for him. Neither of them spoke, Merlin barely keeping himself from passing out again and the man concentrating on keeping Merlin up. What probably should have only been a ten-minute walk ended up taking them half an hour or so. To Merlin it felt like hours.

Eventually they hobbled out of the tree line onto a path leading to a small village. People looked up as they passed. The man didn’t seem to notice them, or he was ignoring the blatant staring. They looked at Merlin in suspicion, which made sense considering he was a stranger covered in blood practically being dragged into their home.

The man led him over to a hut and knocked on the door. A muffled ‘enter’ could be heard through the door. The smell of herbs affronted Merlin’s senses as the man pushed open the door. Inside light poured in through a small window, falling on a workbench covered in books, vials, half chopped herbs, paper with scrawls of words written across them, and more. Merlin couldn’t help but feel at ease in this space despite never being here before. It had the exact same feel to it that his and Gaius’s living space did. His eyes were drawn to a bookshelf in the corner as a clattering arose. In front of the bookshelf stood who he guessed to be the physician of this village. The physician turned around looking at a book in her hands, eyes scanning the page. Brown hair that was cut short to shoulder length bobbed as she with long legs to the workbench. She stood there for a moment finishing her sentence before carelessly plopping the book down onto the bench. She looked up searching the room and landing on the two men who stood halfway into her home. Her eyes seemed to widen at the state of Merlin who was barely standing.

“Oh my Lord, sit down, sit down.”

Merlin released a sigh as he was lowered to a bench, his leg still throbbed with pain but hey it was better than standing.

The physician followed him, “now what happened here?”

Merlin wasn’t sure what to say, so he opted for shrugging.

The physician looked over to the man, but he just shrugged as well.

“I don’t know anything. I found the guy like this in the forest.”

The physician just sighed then pulled a chair up in front of Merlin.

“Could you lift your leg up, you can rest it on my legs if you need to, but I need to examine it.”

Merlin sighed, honestly sometimes he thinks that he hates the examination of the wound more than the actual receiving of the wound. Or maybe that’s just because Gaius always spends the time scolding him for whatever stupid thing he did to acquire the wound. Despite this he slowly managed to lift his leg up part way before the physician lightly grabbed his leg and lifted it the rest of the way. A sharp pang shot up from his calf once his foot was settled in her lap. He let out a low cry and she winced and apologised.

“What’s your name?” she politely asked.

“Merlin,” he gritted out.

“That’s an interesting name. Mine is Anna.”

Merlin just nodded.

Anna quickly but precisely cleaned the wound. She grabbed a needle and some thread.

“I’m sorry but this does require stitches.”

Again Merlin just nodded, he’d known since he’d gotten it that he would need them, he was just desperately hoping that it was cleaned out in time to stave off an infection.

As Anna threaded the needle the man walked over and sat down next to Merlin. And as the needle slowly made its way through Merlin’s skin the man started talking. It wasn’t the kind of talking that conveyed information but rather the talking you do for the sake of talking. He talked about his children and wife, the crops he was growing, how he enjoyed fishing, and that he absolutely despised apples. He talked in a way that Merlin couldn’t take his eyes off of him. Because even though he was talking about absolutely nothing he did it in a way that made it seem like it was the most important thing Merlin would ever hear.

Soon enough he heard the snip of scissors cutting off the end of the thread and he turned to watch as Anna wrapped his leg in a bandage. The man had effectively distracted Merlin, which was a nice change from whenever it was just him and Gaius tending to his wounds. With the bandage tied off Anna lowered his leg to the ground.

“You’ll need to stay off it for the next while, give it time to heal enough that you can walk on it without reopening the wound,” she stood up and went to clean her hands.

He turned to look at the man, “thank you. For everything.”

“It was no problem at all,” the man smiled at him.

It suddenly occurs to Merlin that he doesn’t even know this guy’s name.

“I’m sorry but I never asked you your name,” he said.

“Oh it’s okay. I’m Gilbert.”

“Merlin.”

Gilbert smiled and held out his hand to be shook, which Merlin did easily.

They sat in semi awkward silence until Anna came back. 

“So, Merlin, do you have somewhere that you can stay, or do I need to set up a bed for you here?” Anna asked.

“Oh, I should be getting on my way, besides, I wouldn’t want to take up space,” Merlin blushed, wanting nothing more than to stay but if he was going to escape Arthur he had to keep moving.

“Nope, like I said you have to stay off that leg or you’re going to ruin everything that I just did,” Anna stubbornly pointed out.

“But-”

“No, you’re staying,” Anna glared at him.

And just for the heck of its Merlin glared back, no real anger behind it because he knew Anna was just doing her job.

“He can stay with me,” Gilbert spoke up, breaking the glaring contest.

“I really couldn’t, you have a wife and kids, I don’t want to take up space.”

“Nonsense, my family will be happy to have you there,” Gilbert said, giving him a hard stare that brooked little argument.

Merlin opened his mouth to argue more but was cut off by another look from Gilbert who stood up, clapped his hands together and moved to hold Merlin up.

“Bye Merlin,” Anna said, amusement clear in her voice.

“Thanks for this, sorry I have nothing to pay you with,” Merlin admitted ashamed.

“Not a problem, first treatment is free for strangers found in the woods.”

Merlin chuckled and then pulled himself up against Gilbert. Gilbert grabbed him around the waist while Merlin put his arm around Gilbert’s shoulders.

This time as the two walked Merlin hobbled along instead of essentially being dragged along as he was the way here.

“My kids are going to love you Merlin.” Gilbert proclaimed before starting a monologue on his two children, Elizabeth, and Daniel. Both are still only around six and eight summers old.                                                                                                                    

Merlin honestly couldn’t wait to meet them.

Chapter Text

Gilbert's home was small but tidy. The outside garden was well kept, there were no weeds in sight and flowers dotted the surrounding area. Behind the house Merlin could just spot large rows of garden beds, presumably filled with growing vegetables. Merlin also thought he might be able to hear a cow and some chickens as well. The area was cleared of most of the trees but the forest that Merlin was in just an hour or so ago stood close by.

Gilbert opened his front door before pulling him and Merlin in sideways, the doorway too small for them to fit side by side. Inside was just as tidy as the garden. A small hallway connected to the door with 3 doorways connected to it. Merlin was led to the door at the end of the hallway. Inside the room was a small dining table surrounded by four chairs. In the same room next to the dining table was a fireplace with a few chairs littered around it and a rug to cover the cold stone floor. There was a small fire burning in the fireplace as Gilbert set Merlin down on a chair next to it.

“Thanks,” Merlin grunted.

“No problem at all. I’m just going to go find the wife,” Gilbert said before hurrying off to another room adjoined to this one.

The room was only identifiable as separate through a wide arch. From Merlin's position at the side of the room he could catch a glimpse of an oven, a bench across the wall and a rectangular table in the middle of the room. As he watched he saw a woman, followed by Gilbert, walk past holding what looked to be a pie. At the sight of food Merlin realised just how hungry he was after running (hobbling) through the forest, and not having eaten anything since breakfast yesterday. Seconds later the woman and Gilbert walked through the arch.

“Hi, I’m Joan, it’s nice to meet you Merlin,” the woman, Joan, said smiling.

“It’s nice to meet you too, and thank you for letting me stay here,” Merlin replied.

“It’s no problem at all,” Joan said with no hesitation.

Before they could talk further a clattering from the kitchen came just before two children ran into the sitting/dining area. They seemed like they planned on just sprinting past, but Gilbert stopped them and brought their attention towards Merlin. They stared at him for a second and Merlin smiled and waved awkwardly.

“Kids, this is Merlin. He’s going to be staying with us for a while” Gilbert said.

“Okay!” Daniel, as Merlin remembered, exclaimed.

The girl, Elizabeth, with him slightly clung onto Joan, shyly waving at Merlin. Merlin slightly waved back.

“Can we go now?” Daniel asked, bouncing with energy.

“Yes, but be careful,” Joan said.

“Bye!” Daniel yelled, already bolting out the door.

Elizabeth slowly followed behind him, glancing back at Merlin multiple times before she made it out of sight.

“Sorry about them, once they get into their games it is near impossible to stop them,” Gilbert apologised.

“That is until mealtimes, of course,” Joan smiled widely at Merlin, “speaking of which dinner is ready!”

“Great,” Gilbert exclaimed and headed to the front door.

Poking his head out he yelled to the kids that dinner was ready and in mere seconds they ran through the door and to the table.

Merlin hobbled over to the table and hovered awkwardly, unsure of where to sit. The kids had taken two seats already and there were only two seats left.

“Oh, I’ll go find a chair. I’ll just be one second, Merlin pick whichever seat you want,” Gilbert said, noticing the predicament.

Merlin cautiously chose a seat and Joan sat in the other. Gilbert grabbed one of the chairs from in front of the fire. Joan had laid out the food on the table, a hearty meat pie and vegetables. Joan had cut the pie into five uneven slices, two smaller than the others. She served the two kids their slices and while she was piling their plates with vegetables Gilbert served himself, Joan, and Merlin their slices. They each served their own helping of vegetables onto their plates. They all dug in, silence falling over the table as everyone chewed.

“This is amazing, honey!” Gilbert proclaimed to his wife.

“Yea” came enthusiastically from Daniel and Elizabeth vehemently nodded her head.

“It’s great, thank you,” Merlin said.

Now that he had started eating Merlin found he was starving. He guessed that was what happened when you don’t eat for a whole day.

Soon conversation struck up at the table, Merlin simply enjoying the domestic atmosphere, too tired to try and contribute. He had missed this, missed the family dinners, the stress free relaxing evenings, no magical threats trying to maul, maim, and murder King Arthur. King bloody Arthur, the greatest prat to have ever existed. But Merlin didn’t want to think about that.

They sat at the table for a while after they had finished eating but the kids started getting antsy and it was time to clean up. Merlin stood up and started helping gather dishes. As he turned to take them to the kitchen Gilbert snatched them out of his hand; “nope, you need to sit down. If you mess up that leg, any more than it already is, Anna will kill me.”

Merlin just sighed and sat back down, he really was exhausted. He resolved to help as much as possible tomorrow to repay the kindness they had all paid him.

He sat there as Joan washed the dishes and the kids went to play outside again. Gilbert moved the chair back to the fireplace and then went out the back to the garden.

Merlin felt a bit useless, and he hated it. And on top of it despite all of his efforts he couldn’t stop thinking about Arthur. How could Arthur do this? After all they’ve been through together! Dying for each other! Saving each other's lives time and time again, not counting the uncountable amount of times Merlin saved Arthur’s ass in secret.

He, of course, expected Arthur to be angry and betrayed, but he never really thought Arthur would harm him. It hurts that he was wrong.

Merlin sighed heavily and rubbed at his swollen eyes. Despite wanting to be angry with Arthur all he really felt was sad.

“Hey? Are you okay?”

Merlin snapped his head up so fast it hurt. In front of him stood the kids. They were looking at him with innocent concern.

“Oh, I’m okay. Just tired is all,” Merlin replied with a soft smile on his face.

“You should sleep then,” exclaimed Daniel like he had had a great revelation.

“He’s right, Merlin. You have to be exhausted after today,” Gilbert interjected, appearing out of nowhere, “we don’t have any spare beds though…”

“Oh, it’s okay, I’ll sleep on the floor. I had to do it when I still lived with my mother,” Merlin insisted because he had a hunch that Gilbert would give up his bed and Merlin didn’t need to experience the horror of that.

“Are you sure? I could- “

“Yes, I’m absolutely fine with it!” Merlin quickly interjected, cutting off Gilbert.

“Okay,” Gilbert extended the end of the word like he was thinking, “I’ll go find you a blanket and a pillow and we can set you up in front of the fire.”

Before Merlin could protest taking up the communal area, Gilbert had already run off.

Elizabeth and Daniel still stood in front of him. Merlin gave them a smile and quirked his eyebrow (not so differently to Gaius’ infamous eyebrow raise).

“Where did you come from?” Daniel asked out of nowhere.

“Hey! Mum said we couldn’t ask that!” Elizabeth was incredibly offended that her brother had stolen the question she was planning on asking despite being told not to.

“Oh, uh, it’s okay,” Merlin stuttered.

The kids perked up at this and stared expectantly at him. Merlin realised he’d actually have to answer the question.

“Well, I grew up in Ealdor, a very small town at the edge of the border between Camelot and Cenred’s Kingdom.”

“Do you still live there?” Elizabeth asked, trying to make sure her brother didn’t get to ask all the good questions.

“Uhm no I moved,” Merlin hoped desperately that that was the end of the questions. He didn’t want to lie if they asked him where he was living now.

“Where do you live now?”

Merlin internally sighed.

“I live in Camelot, in the castle.”

“The castle?!”

“Wow Merlin didn’t realise we were entertaining a noble,” Gilbert said with an easy grin on his face.

“No no no” Merlin quickly hurried to correct him, “I’m just a servant.”

Gilbert just chuckled and started setting up Merlin’s makeshift bed on the floor.

“Alright kids, time for bed!” Joan clapped her hands together.

“But we want to talk to Merlin!” Daniel whined.

“No buts’. You can talk to Merlin in the morning.”

Joan ushered the two of them down the hallway.

“You know if the kids make you uncomfortable you don’t have to talk to them,” Gilbert said, looking up at Merlin as he stood up.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Merlin reassured.

“That’s good.”

They stood awkwardly for a minute before Gilbert cleared his throat, “well, goodnight, Merlin.”

“Goodnight Gilbert, say goodnight to Joan for me as well,” Merlin said, “and thank you for your hospitality.”

“It’s no problem at all. Sleep well,” Gilbert smiled then walked down the hallway.

“You too,” Merlin called out after him.

Groaning Merlin pulled himself out of the chair and made his way to the bed. Slowly he lowered himself down to the floor and laid under the blanket.

Despite the thoughts running wildly through his head, exhaustion proved stronger, and Merlin was asleep in minutes.

• *•+•*•

The next day Merlin tried his best to help around the house. He tried to help Joan with cooking meals. At first, she would push him out of the kitchen and tell him to rest but once she realised he wasn’t going to stop trying she set him up at the bench doing small tasks. He also tried to help Gilbert around the garden and with the animals, but Gilbert refused to let him, claiming he would “just make his leg worse”. Merlin would just glare and then hobble back into the house, not sure how to argue against that other than “and what about it?”

He tried his absolute hardest to play with the kids when they asked him, but annoyingly he got tired a lot quicker than he would like.

In the moments that both Gilbert and Joan had managed to get him to rest, and the kids didn’t want to play he would find his way to the cow and chickens that the family kept. He would sit with them and feel the magic of the earth and felt it as it tried it’s hardest to heal him. As always, the animals were drawn to his magic and wouldn’t leave his side until he left their pens.

At night he would sit with the family until the kids got tired or he did and then they would all go their own ways. Merlin would set up on the floor and quickly fall asleep.

Or rather he usually would. Tonight Gilbert had pulled out a flask of ale after everyone had gone to bed and offered it to Merlin. Now over three candle marks later they were having slurred conversations, Gilbert draped over his chair and Merlin lying face up on the ground.

“D’you think that apples like being eaten?” Gilbert pondered aloud.

“Whad does that even mean?”

“Well, when ya eat an apple does it think ‘well shit this is bad’ or does it just not care?”

“Apples arnt alive.”

“Says who?”

“Me.”

“You don know nothin’ about apples.”

“I know that they’re not alive!”

“I can’t believe you’re from the castle. I thought people from there was supposed to be smart,” Gilbert murmurs to Merlin.

“I am smart.”

“Sure, ya are Merl.”

“I am!”

They lapsed into silence; Gilbert unsure how to respond to such confidence.

“Wad do ya even do?” Gilbert asked after a while.

“Whaddya mean?”

“Like at the castle. Wad do ya do?”

“The king,” Merlin closed his eyes.

Gilbert giggled, “the king? Didn’t realise you was gay Merls.”

Merlin laughed “no no not doing the king, I’m ‘is… uhm… do person?”

“A servant?”

“Yea, that,” Merlin agreed, pointing in the vague direction of Gilbert. Then as an afterthought he added, “‘am gay though.”

“Good for you mate!”

Merlin shushed him noisily, “you’ll wake up Joan and the children.”

“Sorry.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, occasionally passing the flask back and forth.

Suddenly Gilbert sat up. Merlin turned his head towards him.

“I heard that King Arthur wasn’t in the castle,” Gilbert exclaimed, then murmured “although Katherine ‘old me that, and she’s not the best source.”

“What?” Merlin exclaimed, sitting up now.

“Katherine, she’s a bit of a chatterbox, you know once she-”

“Gilbert. Gilbert!” Merlin tried to get his attention, “not Katherine, Arthur!”

“Oh yea, Katherine said that ‘e was out and about with ‘is round knights,” Gilbert collapsed back into his chair.

Merlin didn’t say anything, lying back down to try and contemplate that. Although his brain didn’t seem to be working, all he got was fuzz and Arthur.

“Whaddya reckn’ they’re doin’?”

Merlin shrugged.

“D’you reckn’ there’s a war goin’ on?”

“Nah.”

“How ‘bout a quest?”

“I don’t think so…”

“How ‘bout- “

“I reckon they’re lookin’ for me…”

Gilbert looked at him, giving him what might be considered a scrutinising look, “why’d they be lookin’ for you?”

“Cause Arthur probably hates me now,” Merlin turned away.

“What’d you do to make the King so mad that eed be lookin’ for you?

“I saved ‘im using magic.”

Gilbert laughed, “what’d you really do?”

Merlin looked at him offended, “I used m’ magic.”

“You don’t have magic Merls.

“Do too!”

“Hmmhmm, sure you do.”

“I do!”

“‘Kay, prove it!”

Merlin sat up and tried to stand using the chairs around him. Once he was on his feet, tilting dangerously to the side he looked Gilbert straight in the eye.

“Watch!”

“Im watchin’.”

Without a word Merlin closed his hands into a cocoon. He then opened it and revealed a butterfly sitting in his palm. He looked triumphantly at Gilbert.

“Bullshit! ‘At was in there before!”

“Was not!”

“Was!”

Merlin heaved a great sigh and looked towards the fireplace. He ambled over towards it, nearly tripping but making it safely. He then kneeled in front of it and focused on the flames. He whispered into the glowing mass, willing it to help him prove Gilbert wrong. Instantaneously a fire dragon materialised. It arched out of the fireplace and flew towards Gilbert.

“Fuckin’ ‘ell” Gilbert whispered, watching as the dragon lazily circled his head.

Gilbert stumbled towards Merlin, collapsing next to him at the fireplace, “do more.”

Merlin grinned and created butterflies and birds from the flames. He made people march out of the fireplace and created a burning forest path. The whole time Gilbert stared at it all in wonder. Every now and then he would request an image and Merlin was more than eager to provide it.

Eventually the figures dissipated and left, the room once again calm and dark. The two sat together in front of the fireplace, each contemplating what had just happened.

Before Merlin could say anything, Gilbert sighed and said, “I guess you got magic Merls.”

“I told ya!”

•*•+•*•

The next morning Merlin woke up groaning on the floor. He clutched his head, hoping to suppress some of the sharp pain that was coursing through it. The sounds of Joan in the kitchen felt like someone hammering his brain. From the light seeping through his eyelids Merlin concluded it was way past early morning. But then again who knows when he and Gilbert fell asleep.

He opened his eyes to the sound of footsteps approaching him. Gilbert seemed to have just collapsed into the chair next to where Merlin laid, in no better condition than Merlin himself.

“What was in that flask?” Merlin garbled.

“Just some good ale, not the watered-down stuff they give you at the tavern,” well that explained why Merlin’s head was trying to crawl off his body.

They sat there in shared agony for a while until a particularly loud bang came from the kitchen.

“Honey! Could you please keep it down. My head hurts like nothing else,” Gilbert called out to Joan.

Joan moved into the doorway and smirked at the two of them.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have spent most of the night drinking all the good ale,” she snarked.

Gilbert just groaned. Joan turned back around and continued whatever the hell she was doing.

Gilbert looked at Merlin and when Merlin looked at him, he quickly looked away. Merlin frowned then turned back to the roof. Gilbert turned back to Merlin, opened his mouth, closed it again and then squinted his eyes at Merlin.

“What?” Merlin snapped unintentionally.

Gilbert hesitated then cautiously said “what do you remember of last night?”

Merlin hesitated, “you and I drank a whole flask of non-watered-down ale. We talked and then fell asleep.”

“What do you remember of what we talked about?”

“I don’t know! What are you asking me these-," Merlin broke off, “oh. Oh no.”

Merlin sat up panicked. Gilbert sat up as well.

“I was drunk! I didn’t know what I was saying!” Merlin scrambled to find a good enough excuse.

“Merlin! It’s okay!” Gilbert crouched down next to him, “I’m not going to hurt you!”

Merlin looked him in the eye.

“Your secret's safe with me,” Gilbert whispered, “my Ma was a sorcerer. A mighty horrid one but one nonetheless.”

Merlin chuckled.

“I'm guessing you’re probably better than her?”

“I’m not too bad at it,” Merlin grinned secretively.

“Not too bad?! You literally created a butterfly! My Ma told me that-”

Thankfully before Gilbert could go on the kids came rushing out.

“Merlin! Merlin!”

Merlin suppressed a groan, “yes?”

“Come play with us!”

Merlin hesitated, not sure if his body would be able to move from where it was glued to the floor.

Luckily the saint that is Joan called out, “not until after breakfast kids! It’ll be finished in a moment, set up the table for me!”

The kids whined but went and helped.

Gilbert grinned and hauled himself up. Once he steadied himself, he held out a hand to Merlin. Merlin grasped it and let himself be pulled up.

“I’m never drinking anything you give me again.”

“You’re just a lightweight.”

Merlin scoffed but didn’t disagree.

After breakfast he trailed behind Elizabeth and Daniel as they walked through the village.

Some of the townspeople gave him funny looks but most were welcoming, tossing a “hello” or “nice to meet you” his way before turning back to their activities. On one such occasion two men had included Merlin in their conversation as the kids played with some flowers nearby.

Somehow, they had gotten onto the topic of knights; “like hell you could be a knight, Joey.”

“Why not?” Joey exclaimed outraged.

“You gotta be brave and noble to be one of them.”

Joey looked like he’d been slapped, and the other man just smirked at him.

“Well apparently the king is patrolling with his knights around this area so maybe I’ll just go say hi!”

“You do that Joe.”

“I will!”

As the banter continued Merlin tapped out mentally.

Arthur was close by.

King Arthur.

The guy he really didn’t want to be nearby.

Merlin started to panic before forcing himself to breathe. Having a panic attack won’t help anything. He needed to think.

He needed to leave. Now.

Quickly he excused himself from the conversation and grabbed the kids.

They all rushed back to the house, the children seeming to see it as a race as they ran in front of him.

They barged in and Merlin looked around. He spotted Joan in the kitchen and sped towards her.

“Joan, I need to leave. I really appreciate yours and your husband’s hospitality. I hope one day I can repay you, but I must leave.”

Joan looked at him surprised and Merlin just looked back at her.

She seemed to snap out of it quickly though, “your leg isn’t healed enough Merlin!”

“It’s healed as much as I need it to be at this moment, I can walk on it and that’s all that matters right now. I’m leaving now.”

“Whoa mate, calm down and think,” Gilbert said as he entered the room.

“I have thought, and I have concluded I need to go. I didn’t tell you to have you convince me otherwise. I just didn’t want to disappear and not thank you.”

“Why the rush though?”

“Because he’s coming. Someone said he’s nearby and I can’t let him catch me!”

Gilbert stared at Merlin. Merlin looked solemnly back at him.

“Alright then,” Gilbert started grabbing a sack for Merlin. He put a loaf of bread, a chunk of cheese, and a few vegetables in it before shoving it in Merlin’s hands.

“Gilbert thank you, but I can’t- “

“Nope! You can and you will. I’m not taking it back,” Gilbert said stubbornly.

Merlin smiled at him, “thank you. And you Joan.”

“Any time. You’re welcome here whenever you need somewhere to stay,” Joan said.

“Thank you.” Merlin paused, “thank you, I’m just going to say goodbye to the kids and then I’ll be on my way.”

The adults nodded.

He quickly found the kids and kneeled in front of them.

“Merlin?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m sorry but I need to go. It’s been fun playing with you.”

“Why are you leaving?” Daniel asked.

“Because I don’t live here, and I need to move on.”

They both looked at him sadly before Elizabeth slammed into him wrapping her small arms around his slender frame. Daniel quickly followed. They stayed like that for a minute before Merlin pulled away and stood up.

“Thank you. Goodbye,” he called out to Joan and Gilbert.

Before he could turn around he was enveloped in another two-person hug. He leaned into the two, soaking up the comfort that he doubted he would have again for a long time. He felt arms wrap around his legs and a quick glance down confirmed that it was Elizabeth and Daniel. After a little bit Merlin once again pulled away and took a big breath.

“Bye” he mumbled before turning away before he could reconsider.

Soon he was on the road, running away again.