131a/n I wasn't planning on starting multi-chapter stories until I had been on fanfiction for at least a year, but this story came to me. Please review :)
DISCLAIMER: …I….I DON'T OWN MERLIN! *sobs uncontrollably*
Beta-ed by: Christina B
Chapter 1
Merlin's heart sped up whilst he watched Morgana's eyes flash gold. As he felt her magic sweep through the air, finding its target and hitting him square on the chest, he only had one thought on his mind.
Arthur! His mind shouted what his mouth couldn't, for he had a lump in his throat the size of a warthog(one of Gaius' sayings). Morgana smirked, which was something she had gotten very good at over time, and she wrapped her conspicuous purple cloak around her face, disappearing with a puff of smoke in a cliché magician-like fashion. Arthur was on the ground with his eyes closed. Merlin started wondering how exactly he was going to heal Arthur with all the knights around. Not that he was going to be thanked for healing him. And having to muck out the stables when he got back made Merlin wonder if it would be wiser to just put Arthur on a horse and heal him when they got back. That way Merlin could hide away in a nice, quiet corner without worrying about how the prince's dirty underwear needed washing, or how Gaius had given him leech tank duty.
But much to Merlin's disbelief, his prattish destiny looked completely unharmed. Arthur opened his eyes, dazed. From the ground, he could a cluster of knights and his idiot manservant looking down at him with concern. The horses were also staring at him, but with resentment that he was prolonging their journey, as they wanted to go home as quickly as possible. Oh that reminded him; Merlin had to muck out the stables.
"What are you all looking at?" he said groggily. Percival helped him to his feet, and Arthur had to pretend his arm didn't ache afterwards. There were cries of "Arthur!", and he was confused as to why they were staring at him like he was a ghost.
"Arthur! You're not dead!" Merlin exclaimed. Arthur sighed exasperatedly.
"Yes Merlin, I can see that. Now why are you all fussing over me like a pack of old nannies?" he asked gruffly.
"We thought you were injured, sire. Morgana looked like she had put a spell on you" Leon explained, solemn at the fact that the prince was almost hurt. Arthur looked at the only competent-in his eyes- knight of the round table other than himself, making sure that Leon wasn't playing a joke on him. He would have felt it, surely, if his evil smirking half-sister had put a spell on him. The prince felt perfectly normal. Trying not to appear disturbed, he looked at his knights and replied
"Well, I'm not. Now are we going to stand here all day, or do you want to get back to Camelot before dawn?" The knights looked shocked at his sudden change in demeanor. Merlin, however, grinned and hopped onto his horse. He knew that Arthur was simply trying to look like he was in control of himself, not wanting to appear weak in front his fellow knights. Everyone else did the same.
_Break_
As they were heading into Camelot, Gwaine looked carefully at Arthur. "You alright, princess?"
Arthur chose not to focus on Gwaine's nickname for him. He was trying not to fall of his horse, as that wouldn't look very dignified of a prince.
"I told you already, I'm fine!" he snapped, not looking fine at all.
"Are you sure you're okay, Arthur?" Leon asked after a while.
"Look, you're my knights, not my babysitters! Come on, Merlin" He said, jumping off his horse and walking briskly to the castle, Merlin tripping after him, carrying what looked like half of Arthur's possessions on his back.
The knights all exchanged a look.
"Gaius told me he had gone to visit and old lady friend of his." Elyan told his friends, waggling his eyebrows "I think, in the meanwhile, Leon should tend to Arthur". For some reason, Elyan had a mischievous glint in his eye as he said the last part.
"Me? I'm not a physician!" Leon disagreed.
"Yeah, but women are meant to be good at healing" Percival, who was in on the secret, joined in.
Leon was suddenly suspicious. what had his fellow knights done this time? Oh please, please let them not have put horse dung in all my socks again he silently prayed.
"Do I look like a woman to you?" Leon scoffed.
"No, but you are the one who goes around wearing dresses!" Elyan blurted out, sniggering.
Leon flushed, embarrassed to the point of wanting to run himself through with his own sword. They knew! Gwen had promised she wouldn't tell anyone.
"H-how di-did you...?" Leon seemed incapable of words now that his darkest secret had been discovered
"Well, I am Gwen's brother, after all" Elyan answered, smugly "and what kind of a brother doesn't know where his little sister hides her diaries?"
A few seconds after he said that, he became aware of the sudden silence surrounding him, and the fact that Gwaine was shaking with silent laughter.
Paling, he did a 180 on his horse and saw aforementioned little sister standing two feet away from him with metaphorical steam coming out of her ears.
"Er, hey Gwenny. How are you?" He said, hoping the use of his childhood nickname for her would make her remember he had been away for four years, and that killing him now wouldn't let them make up for lost time. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work.
"YOU-READ-MY-DIARY?" Gwen shrieked.
Elyan squeaked, narrowly avoiding the saucepan she had thrown at him by rolling off his horse, and running as she gave chase. By this point, the noble knights of Camelot were on the floor in hysterics, oblivious to the strange looks they were getting from the townspeople who they protected on a monthly basis from whatever/whoever was attacking Camelot (they had lost count) . When they had recovered, they went back to thinking about Arthur.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. It is Arthur, after all" Lancelot said absentmindedly.
"Good. I say we celebrate his wellbeing with a trip to the tavern!" Gwaine smiled, thinking of all the ale that was waiting for him, seeming not to notice his friends groaning and rolling their eyes.
_Break_
Arthur dismissed Merlin, and rubbed the temples of his head. He really needed to see Gaius about that headache, but as it was time for bed (yes, even princes have curfews) he'd have to see him in the morning.
_BREAK_
Morgause smiled at her sister. Morgana had called Morgause to reveal her latest plan, and it seemed that Morgause' deviousness was rubbing off on her as she explained how she had tricked Arthur into coming with his knights, as well as that pesky servant to Cenred's kingdom .Halfway through the plan though, she was wondering about the state of her sister's mental health.
"You gave Arthur the ability to see other people's dreams? When you could have just killed him?" She inquired. Maybe all that smirking had done something to Morgana's brain.
"No! Sister, you don't understand!" Morgana said. "When he realizes he can see into people's dreams, he'll want to see what they're dreaming. Then, he'll look into his servants' mind, see he has magic, and then execute him! After that, the idiot servant won't be around to protect him. If I had just tried to kill him outright, Merlin would have healed him" she explained.
"His servant has magic?" Morgause looked absolutely dumbfounded.
Morgana rolled her eyes.
"Seriously? You didn't notice how he's around every time branches suddenly fall off of trees, or magic beasts are killed by Arthur's sword?" Morgana tried to sound condescending. In truth, she had only cross examined herself about how Arthur got saved every time about a week ago. Really, she thought, we Pendragons are an oblivious lot. She shook her head. No, she thought. Not we Pendragons. Uther will never be my father, just like Arthur will never be my brother. Besides, she smirked, remembering an occurrence that resulted in a castle wall falling down a few years ago, this will teach him not to read my diary. True, she had pushed him off of his horse first. But how was she supposed to know he would land in a cowpat?
_BREAK_
Arthur was dreaming, he was sure of that, but this wasn't his dream, if that sounds right. Future Kings dreamed of war, and beheadings, and treaties. They most certainly did not dream about herbs. They also did not dream about tending to the sick, as (though he would never tell anyone this) blood made him very queasy. And for some strange reason, everyone was calling him Gaius.
There was nothing for it then. This was Gaius' dream. And looking at other people's dreams could only be done by…superpowers. COOL! He thought. I have superpowers! Merlin's going to be so jealous of me! He smirked, thinking about how the idiot would never dare to call him a clotpole again when he realized that Arthur could see his dreams. But, no, he couldn't tell him. Everyone knew that superpowers were meant to be kept secret.
There was also another reason he wanted to see people's dreams. He knew it was wrong to snoop, but he needed to see what people actually thought of him being King when Uther was dead. A wave of sadness rushed over him as he thought about his father, who used to be always strong. But he wasn't anymore. Morgana had broken him. He sighed, and went back to the matter at hand.
Arthur was thinking about how he could see into other people's dreams as well as Gaius'. He realized that he had been thinking about the physician before he had gone to bed. Maybe, he thought, if I think of someone else, it'll show me their dreams.
He thought of Gwen, and he saw her sewing a scarf and he was helping her. Of course, he had no problem with Guenivere dreaming of him, except for the fact that he was Prince Arthur, who had never picked up a needle in his life, and was sewing a scarf, which was not a manly thing to be doing. So he immediately stopped thinking about Gwen.
He thought about Percival, and saw his friend wrestling a boar, and winning. Arthur would have enjoyed this dream, but in it Percival was bleeding, and he very nearly fainted at all the blood surrounding him.
Next he thought about Lancelot, and he saw that his noble knight was on a picnic with Guinevere. Arthur gritted his teeth, reminding himself that he wasn't officially courting Guinevere, and also that he couldn't punch Lancelot in his dreams. I mean, it was more of a fantasy then a dream, really. Guinevere wouldn't court Lancelot. Would she? He forced himself to stop thinking about Lancelot.
Leon was dreaming about saving the Kingdom.
Gwaine was dreaming of alcohol (no surprise there).
Arthur sighed. What was the point of seeing people's dreams if they were all so boring? Hmmm, he pondered, what's Merlin dreaming about?
_BREAK_
A/N Oooh, what going to happen? Do you think I should continue this? I'll need people to review and tell me what they think. Suggestions would be welcomed and made use of, and I accept anon reviews. Please be brutally honest. Oh, and what genre do you think i should make this story?