Wrap Me Up

 

Gaius wasn’t happy. At all. The King and Crown Prince were missing and there was no sign of them except for a hastily written letter by Uther and a vague reassurance from Lady Morgana.

 

The letter was part of the problem.

 

Uther had left behind a quick letter, more like a note by how short it was, saying he’d gone with Arthur to get Merlin (stupidly, Gaius would add) and basically ordered Gaius to take care of Camelot in his stead. And then the stupid man had signed it, not with his name, but with an equally as stupid thing that was supposed to be a drawing. Some…thing made to look like a man (it was really an oval for a body, and circles for the head, hands, and feet), cape and crown (and a bloody sword of all things) included. It reminded him too much of similar times in Uther’s youth…

 

That bloody letter was going to go straight into the fire as soon as he got to throw it at Uther’s face, the moment the man came back from his journey.

 

And then crap hit the fan.

 

Morgana burst into the room where he was currently holding a meeting with the council, with him glowering and glaring at everything (the others in the room were wary of Gaius and hesitant to talk). Let it not be unsaid that none of them were unhappy and were in fact very grateful for her interruption.

 

“Gaius, you’re needed!”

 

Even more grateful when it was clear she was taking the agitated physician away. Reluctantly, he followed her. But he started to hurry when Morgana told him of the situation, the two of them managing to get to Gaius’ chambers before Arthur had managed to come there with Merlin. Morgana was forced away and he began to work on his niece at once. Arthur worriedly hovered, but thankfully didn’t come close and interfered with his work.

 

Not too long after, Uther joined them and uncharacteristically stayed quiet and almost camouflaging himself with the walls. It was worrying, but Gaius couldn’t afford to let himself think too much on it right then.

 

“She has a sprained, if not fractured, hand. Possibly from being slammed against something. Bars, by the line marks that haven’t faded away,” Gaius started to make note of the injuries. “Her ankle is similarly sprained, not as badly hurt but made worse because of lack of proper care and rest that could’ve helped it easily. Probably the injury Lady Morgana had stated she’d gotten in the attempt to run away. And…” Gaius hesitated. “Bruising around a breast, slightly hand-shaped…a day or two old, maybe.”

 

Arthur growled. “So he probably tried to take advantage of her even before that time.”

 

Uther’s lips tightened.

 

Gaius frowned, not up to date yet, but angry himself with the implications. Still, he forced himself to continue on.

 

“A suspicious red mark on her neck…a handprint bruise on her face…and obviously her sickness. She seems to have had a dangerously high fever, maybe started the day of her leave from Camelot,” Uther winced here, for some reason, “And signs point to a very ugly cold.”

 

“How long until she is better?” Arthur demanded to know.

 

“Well…with her high tolerance to pain and usual rapid recovery, with the aid of medicine Merlin should be back to normal within the week,” Gaius had estimated.

 

“Very well. If that is all, I wish to be left alone with her,” Uther declared decisively. “If there are any instructions or things needed to be done for her, inform me now, Gaius. I shall attend to her for the meantime.”

 

Gaius’ eyebrows almost shot up into his hairline. Arthur, strangely enough, didn’t look too surprised but was more curious.

 

“As His Highness wishes,” Gaius let it be. He told Uther what instructions he had, and left out the medicines she would need to take once she’d awoken.

 

And then it was just the King and sorceress left in the room.

 

Uther took a seat next to her, staying as quiet as he had been (upset with everything that had been going on, and definitely upset with himself and all that he’d missed), while grabbing onto one of her hands and holding it in his. He waited a long time, until it was nearly three hours later, when she finally awoke. She was groggy and not very coherent when she first opened her eyes, but she steadily gained awareness the longer she stayed awake.

 

“Take this and then this,” Uther said, starting to hand her the vials and helping her down the liquids in them.

 

“Uther, what in the world?” she groaned, rubbing her arm down her face in exhaustion as she tried to make sense of things.

 

“You’re here, back in Camelot,” he told her without any inflection in his voice. “And now I have many things I need to talk to you about. ‘Cold as ice and carved from stone?’”

 

Merlin winced. “Well, it is a rather flattering, in an intimidating way, description, right?”

 

“Yes, of course,” he agreed, voice suspiciously normal. “When it is not you using the description.”

 

Merlin winced again. “What are you doing here, Uther?” she asked tiredly.

 

“Attending to you.”

 

She sighed in aggravation. “No, I mean what are you doing here? Don’t you have work to do, a kingdom to run? You can’t just be setting time aside to tend to some servant, and especially when it’ll look suspicious.”

 

“I don’t care,” he was equally as aggravated. “I’m King. I’ll do whatever the hell I want.”

 

“Don’t be stubborn. You know you have better things to do than to be around here and watch over me,” Merlin moaned and flopped back onto the bed, closing her eyes.

 

She felt a wet cloth press against her forehead, soothing her aching head. She hmmed in enjoyment her thanks.

 

“There is nothing more important to me, at this moment.”

 

She opened her eyes and looked at him, and Uther just steadily looked back at her.

 

“You should have told me you weren’t feeling well. I would not have sent you after Morgana, if I had known,” Uther told her in an upset tone.

 

“Morgana needed to be protected,” Merlin muttered. “She would not have been safe with the knights and Guinevere alone. I needed to be with her.”

 

“Your safety is important as well!” Uther glared at her. “And Morgana would have willingly postponed her trip. She may have wanted to go, but she loves you and would have wanted you to go along with her, especially if you weren’t well and needed rest.”

 

“Why’d you even come after me? That’s just as, if not more, suspicious than you deciding you’re going to be in here tending to a servant,” she grumbled.

 

She was startled badly, when his hand came heavily against the wooden table by her head.

 

“How obvious do I have to be to tell you are important to me? Perhaps I just need to be straight and speak it plainly, because it is not getting through your thick head. I would pay the ransom for you several times over, but I’d rather come after you myself. I do not just consider you a daughter, I have told you, Merlin, that you are –more than any blood could hope to be,” for some reason, she felt as if Uther was saying something even more behind that and it made her both happy and in unease. “If I am cold, then you warm me up. If I am stone, you are able to push me over and break me. How could you have thought I would not pay ransom? Even if I had to feign it was Morgana, no matter that she is safe and whole at home, I would have done anything to bring you back.”

 

Merlin started feeling awful, not wanting to see Uther upset anymore. She wished Arthur would come back in here, and then the two of them could be awkward males and be the typical ‘I can’t show emotion’ men they usually are.

 

“I would have thought you’d expect me to go save myself and fix things like usual,” she weakly joked, though she couldn’t have helped the undertone of honesty.

 

“Just because I know you can take care of yourself, doesn’t mean I won’t worry. And it doesn’t mean that you won’t need help or saving every once in awhile. You are not invincible, Merlin. And it would pain me if something were to happen to you, because you thought you were or I have made you thought so. Perhaps it is true that I do not care easily, but for those I do I care for fiercely. Do not mistake yourself as not one of them.”

 

Merlin looked to the ceiling, feeling tears pricking at her eyes. His gloved hand ran through her hair tenderly and she instinctively butted her head against it. She could hear him chuckle softly above her, though she didn’t move her head in his direction to see.

 

“You were so helpless and weak,” he murmured. “You looked horrible. I feared for you when I first saw you in that cage. I felt as awful as when Arthur had been bitten by the Questing Beast…and when I’d learned you’d traded yourself. I felt worse when I knew that my obliviousness to your health and to your feelings helped you into that state and into that place, if I had just paid more attention to how you were feeling or pushed more when I noticed how off you were that morning. Or that I might never have gotten the chance to tell you all this…”

 

“I remember you were so quiet before,” Merlin looked back in thought. “Don’t be. I’m here and safe. Just no more guilt or worry or what if’s. I’m here and it’s all over.”

 

He grabbed one of her hands and held it tight, laying his head on her chest after. She said nothing of the wetness she felt, letting him grieve alone.

 

“I remember telling you in a letter I had no father,” she started softly. “I don’t think I ever spoke to you about it, or expanded afterwards…He left my mother a long time ago, before I was born. He didn’t even know my mother was pregnant, you see. I knew nothing about him and I don’t know why he just left us, or Mum really. I’ve never met him and sometimes I don’t even think I’d care to. But then…I met you. And I was so happy that I did. Maybe I hadn’t at first, but then I really, really was. And with you came Arthur, my sweet, loving Arthur…and Gaius and Gwen and even Morgana. And Camelot and this place as home…And Gaia, you’re probably the best thing that’s happened to me because everything after you has become the happiest parts of my life,” she blinked back tears she’d been trying to fight back all along.

 

“You know…I’m really, really happy I made that deal with you all that time ago.”

 

“So am I,” he mumbled into her shirt.

 

Merlin was glad she’d come to Camelot. She hadn’t realized how happy she’d become there.

 

“Tell me everything that happened over there? No report, just… tell me what happened, what went on, how you felt…”

 

And Merlin reluctantly told him what had happened when the bandits had ambushed them and then afterwards. In return, he told her about his time with Arthur, traveling to get to her (with special emphasis on the reveal of the whole ‘Sophia thing’ and Arthur’s mumbling about ‘temporary insanity’).

 

“Guinevere knows you’re a female.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Morgana still doesn’t.”

 

“…Oh.”

 

“In fact, she’d told the whole council she was in love with you when she was pleading for us to get you back.”

 

“Oh,” and then she followed it up with a, “damn.”

 

“My sentiments exactly.”

 

On the outside, Arthur kept grinning and humming cheerily to himself as he eavesdropped on them. He decided by then that he should let them finally have some privacy and began fixing up Gaius’ place a little, busying himself. He recalled the earlier beginnings of his father and Merlin’s talk, and his grin widened.

 

“Happy family, happy family, ha~ppy family~” he sing-songed happily to himself.

 

Gaius entered and stared at him, raising his eyebrows at him incredulously.

 

“What is wrong with you, my boy?”

 

“I have such a happy family~” Arthur sang, grinning at the older man.

 

Gaius shook his head.

 

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“Hello, Sleeping Beauty~”

 

Merlin rolled her eyes under her closed eyelids.

 

“What is wrong with you, Arthur?”

 

“Me? I am very happy, is all,” he hummed in satisfaction, slipping in under her covers and wrapping his arms around her.

 

He kissed the back of her neck and sighed happily. She laughed lightly and took hold of his hands, bringing them to her lips and kissing them in return.

 

His hand brushed gently against the bruise on her face, his mood deflating.

 

“Tell me, what happened here,” and she reluctantly told him. “And here,” his hand trailed down and reached for her ankle, not able to reach all the way and actually touch it. She told him about that as well, knowing his good mood would leave him. “And…here,” his hand gently touched at the bruise on her chest. When she hesitantly told him, he growled low in his throat.

 

“That man, the same one who was trying to take advantage of you in that cage,” Arthur felt himself get angry in remembrance.

 

“Kendrick?” Merlin snorted. “Don’t worry about him. He hadn’t managed the other times, and I doubt he would have in that cage.”

 

“So he tried it before then?” Arthur scowled and Merlin was forced to tell him about it. Then he had her tell him how she’d gotten each wound on her body and he kissed each one tenderly better, going down her body with care.

 

“I’m tired, Arthur,” she mumbled against his chest. “Be here when I wake up?”

 

“Of course,” he kissed the top of her head before joining her in slumber.

 

Beautiful and cunning, another sorceress watched the couple in contemplation. This girl was important to the Pendragon men. She was unable to hear, for some reason, but she could very clearly see how affectionate the men of that line were with this girl.

 

Morgause was already intrigued and scheming.

 

The tip of a spidery finger reached out and gently tipped over a small slab of stone, lined up against others. It hit against another, which hit another, and then another and another…

 

The rows and rows of miniature stone slabs fell one after the other in a domino effect, destroying its original pattern. Cause and effect. Affect and consequences. Actions and decisions.

 

She had work to do.

 

As either event happened, Uther and Morgana were sharing a quiet meal together. She had taken her old seat, since Merlin wasn’t there, and Uther could not help but glance at it and picture another dark-haired girl sitting there instead. He inwardly berated himself, telling himself Morgana is there, he should pay attention and care for her…

 

But she does not love you… A traitorous voice whispered in his head.

 

‘Quiet,’ he snapped at himself.

 

And it is not Igraine’s blood, Morgana shares, is it –

 

He reached over for his goblet, almost knocking it over in his haste. He caught it in time, spilling only slightly onto the table. Morgana looked alarmed and had reached over to help, but he’d managed it before she could reach him.

 

“Are you alright?” she asked quietly.

 

“I am…fine,” he smiled tightly. “Just…slightly tired and a little upset,” he accidentally let slip.

 

“About…Merlin?” Morgana hesitantly asked, and he stiffened up, looking at her silently. “I’d noticed your care. You went after him yourself. And these meals are now accompanied by him. He means a great deal to us all, does he not?”

 

“Yes, I suppose he does,” Uther conceded to admit, becoming wary.

 

“Then…would you not consider a betrothal between he and I?” Morgana asked tentatively.

 

Uther froze and stared at her. He couldn’t possibly. Other than Merlin not truly being male, Arthur was already engaged to her.

 

“I will…consider it,” he smiled awkwardly at her, hiding his grimace.

 

Oh God above, how was he going to do this?

 

Afterwards, in a perfect switch up, Arthur went over to his father’s and Morgana to Merlin, neither meeting up with each other on the way and having no clue of what was going on. Morgana would sit by Merlin’s side, as Uther caught Arthur up on the recent happenings and what they were going to have to do with Morgana.

 

It was a very long night.

 

When the next morning dawned, Merlin awoke stiff and sore, but at least better than she had been in that cell. Morgana was by her side, having fallen asleep leaning against her bed. She smiled slightly, though it faltered when she thought about Morgana still thinking she was male and how deep the other female’s feelings were starting to become for her. She had to think up a way to fix this and soon, before the situation got any worse.

 

Morgana woke up quickly after and had breakfast brought to them. The older female helped feed Merlin, who was still too weak to do much of anything herself, and then Merlin was instructing Morgana on her magic once more.

 

“Have you been practicing that one spell? I know it’s hard, considering where we are, but it’ll be a step up in helping to control your magic,” Merlin smiled gently at her.

 

Morgana flushed red, but nodded in answer to her question.

 

“Good. Show me.”

 

Morgana did and then Merlin had her move on to something else. She still felt exhausted and a little sick, but she was really happy teaching Morgana and proud of her pupil’s progress. It was a strange thought, having a pupil, but it also made her very joyful.

 

The taller female held the spell in her hands, smiling shyly at Merlin, who was huddling under her covers as she supervised Morgana’s work. She smiled back reassuringly, causing Morgana to blush even more and lose her concentration, the spell practically exploding in their faces. Merlin fell back in shock on her bed, covers tangled all around her, and Morgana stood there in shock. Merlin’s hair was wildly windblown, while Morgana’s was standing on end and her face was covered in odd black powder.

 

“Well…that was something,” Merlin commented.

 

That caused the two of them to burst out into laughter.

 

“So, I heard you confessed your undying love for me to all of the council,” Merlin began the topic, speaking teasingly. The best thing, she thought, for her to fix that part of the situation was to somehow remind the other of their stations and propriety needed between them. “Touching, sweetheart, but it won’t be accepted amongst others. In fact, disapproval seems likely for you to do such a thing and feel that way,” she ended more seriously, though keeping her voice gentle.

 

But Morgana strangely stayed cheerful, even giving her a smug look.

 

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m pretty fine with the way things are. In fact, I think I have things covered and we won’t have to worry too much about that pretty soon.”

 

Why was she feeling dread at those words?

 

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Quiet and bizarrely still. Merlin noted it and it put her on edge. Something in the air was warning her, telling her that something was wrong.

 

“Hello.”

 

Her head snapped up and she saw a beautiful blonde woman, standing by her bedside, brown cloak billowing slightly around her, even though there was no breeze in the room.

 

“Who are you and what do you want?” Merlin hissed, her senses warning her about this woman.

 

The woman gave a razor-sharp smile.

 

“I am Morgause. And I want to ruin this ‘happy family,’” and she laughed mockingly, tossing sand her way.

 

Blinded by it, she barely noticed there was already a circle of sand around her bed and that Morgause was standing behind on the other side.

 

“What –”

 

Her words were cut off as the sands lit on fire, quickly climbing towards her. Morgause had just put on her hood when Arthur opened the door, his eyes widening at the sight and seeing the mysterious figure by Merlin’s fiery bedside, hood hiding the face of the intruder.

 

“Merlin!”

 

In just seconds, she was swallowed up by the flames and then the flames disappeared. But then so had she.

 

Numbly, Arthur stared at the empty spot and was at a lost.

 

He wasn’t even aware enough to notice that the intruder had disappeared as well.

 

He would, at least, be glad to know that Merlin was actually safe and sound. Just not as he’d known her.

 

In fact, Merlin Ambrosius was not actually Merlin Ambrosius. Well, she knew her name was Merlin. She just…couldn’t remember anything beyond her first name.

 

She wasn’t even sure of where she was.

 

“Hello there, are you alright?”

 

She turned tiredly, noting her hurting ankle, and spotted a handsome man trotting towards her. He smiled beatifically and she stared in awe.

 

“Hello,” she answered dazedly. “I’m Merlin. I think. I can’t…remember much.”

 

He blinked in surprise, but his smile stayed strong.

 

“My name is Tristan, fair lady, and I’m sure my sister Ingraine would love to help you.”

 

Merlin smiled hesitantly, feeling very uncertain.