Gwen and the knights were once again focused on their unconscious prince after Fem! Merlin had removed the invisibility charm on the rest of the Arthurs. She'd been careful to do so only when the unwanted Merlins had gone completely out of sight and could no longer be heard.

Gwen was now kneeling next to Arthur, her dress splayed out in the mud. The group began pitching in ideas about how to revive him:

"Perhaps throwing a cold bucket of water over his head would help," suggested Elyan. "Its what Arthur always does whenever Gwaine stays in bed with a hangover and misses morning practice."

"Oi," Gwaine protested.

Elyan scratched his ear and replied. "It's true."

Gwaine shrugged, conceding the point.

"We could put one of Gwaine's socks under his nose," Percival threw in, thrusting a hand towards Arthur's face to gesticulate, rocking baby! Merlin with his other arm. Shifting the infant to his alternate side, Percival added, "The stench would be sure to wake him up."

Gwaine elbowed him in the side. "Stop picking on me. The promise of food always wakes me up," he offered, elbow still lodged firmly in Percival's side.

"That's because you're a greedy pig," retorted Elyan severely.

"Oi, stop it," Percival jostled back at Gwaine's pouting face, struggling to contain baby! Merlin.

"Maybe one of you lot should kiss him," threw in Gwaine loudly. He was apparently unconcerned for Arthur's well-being. After all, he did get hit with branches a lot. It was bound to catch up with him eventually. The fact that he had fainted was hardly surprising.

He sniggered. "I'm never gonna let the princess forget this. All the times he's accused Merlin of being a girl."

"And what exactly, pray tell, is wrong with being a girl?" Fem! Merlin asked hotly, seemingly appearing from nowhere.

Gwaine yelped and jumped, dislodging his elbow from Percival's side. "Nothing," he replied hastily, ignoring the chuckles of his fellow knights. Raising appeasing hands as if to soothe a wild animal, he continued, "In fact I think it would probably make for a wonderful experience. Everyone should try it at least once."

Fem! Merlin huffed. Elyan smirked. Gwaine kicked him in the shin. "Ow!" Sorry, Gwaine replied, not sounding very sorry at all.

"Maybe Gwaine should kiss Arthur," said Leon loftily. "Seeing as he's so interested in exploring his feminine side."

"Alright, that's it!" He began charging towards Leon, brow furrowed with intent.

"That's enough!" Gwen said almost simultaneously, voice slicing into the air.

Gwaine looked stricken. Gwen stood up, brushing dirt from her purple cloak. The mud on the hem of her dress did nothing to reduce her formidable air. She would not stand for this.

"You lot are supposed to be bloody knights" she hissed, towering over all of them despite being the shortest of the lot, hands on her hips. "Could you stop, one moment, behaving like children whilst your prince is incapacitated. Fetch some wood for a fire or water from the lake, but at the very least shut up!"

The knights all fell silent. Elyan kicked at a pebble on the ground. They all looked rather ashamed of themselves.

Gwen sighed. She turned to Gwaine.

"Go see if the rest of the Arthurs are okay," she ordered him. "They must be terrified, being dumped in a new environment and having spells performed on them."

"It was for the greater good," Fem! Merlin interjected.

Gwen quelled her with a particularly savage look.

Fem! Merlin hung her head sullenly, lips pursed in an absurd pout.

Gwaine turned to her.

"How are the Arthurs anyway?" he asked her. "You haven't traumatized them too much, I hope?"

Fem! Merlin grinned, her previous mood seemingly forgotten.

"Haven't had the chance," she cackled, eyes glinting with mischief. "Not yet, anyway."

"Come on then," he told her, striding away from the others in the opposite direction in search of the Arthurs.

He walked as far as half the field before she caught up with him. Gwaine wasn't surprised. Merlin always had trouble keeping up even though he had long legs. He was a slow walker. Lazy bastard, Gwaine thought affectionately. When he wasn't busy saving the whole of Camelot from doom and peril and all. Gwaine had always suspected that Merlin had had more to do with saving Camelot than he'd ever let on.

"What?" Fem! Merlin asked suspiciously. Gwaine realized he'd been chuckling.

"Nothing," he said quickly. He didn't feel like divulging his thoughts to Fem! Merlin at the moment. Lord knows she'd only use them against him anyway.

They crossed the field for a while in silence, the brisk air hitting Gwaine in the face.

He spotted one or two of the Arthurs milling around, puzzled expressions on their faces. He recognized one of them as Goth! Arthur. They appeared to be transfixed by the spot where the cliff face was before Fem! Merlin had vanished it, their eyes drawn to it repeatedly as they conversed in hushed tones. He opened his mouth, about to call out to them-perhaps to apologize for being an accessory in their near demise- before he spotted another one in the distance.

This one was kneeling next to the space the other Arthurs kept staring at, and was looking very forlorn indeed. AU! Merlin was standing next to him, seemingly saying something consoling. Gwaine closed his mouth and began heading in his direction.

"This way," he urged Fem! Merlin.

She followed him and he sped up to a jog as they got closer to the figure, still kneeling on the ground. He didn't look up, even when they were only a short distance away and he must have heard them.

Gwaine continued jogging until he reached the spot where the cliff face used to be. Panting heavily, he placed his hands on his knees. He could hear the sound of Fem! Merlin running through the wild uncut grass not far behind him.

He raised his head slightly to speak, but words got lost in his throat as he stared.

This version of Arthur was nearly sobbing, clutching his knees as if they were a lifeline as he muttered an unintelligible stream of words.

Gwaine stared at the clearly distressed Arthur and inched forward curiously towards him, although he didn't seem to notice his approach. Gwaine slowly bent down to his level and kneeled down on the grass next to him. What could then be heard from the Arthur's mutterings was nearly indecipherable, apart from when he'd occasionally make some exclamation or remark. Although the intended recipient of these was unknown as they seemed to be addressed them to the sky.

They ran along various repeated themes along the lines of: "Why doesn't he love me?" And half-finished phrases such as "...tried hard to be a good soldier for him". On occasion he said some version of "Just cause mum died giving birth to me, s'not my fault..." which seemed to increase the sobbing he was doing, clutching his knees tighter as he cried Uther's name.

"Woah," said AU! Merlin after this last remark, staring at the Arthur. He shuffled a little closer to him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder. "Heavy shit, man," he nodded knowingly, patting the shoulder with his hand.

There was no reaction.

Daddy issues! Arthur stared at where the cliff drop was listlessly,. "Wouldn't have mattered," he muttered as he looked up again. "If I'd fallen, I mean." he clarified. He curled his arms around his knees, and stared straight ahead. "Was never nothing but a disappointment anyway." His lower lip jutted out and his arms curled around his knees, as he continued to stare down at the point where cliff face used to be.

"Are you alright, mate?" Gwaine asked with not a little concern. He made a mental note to have a serious conversation with Arthur about his problems with Uther. At least the dead King was no longer around to chop off his magic best mate's heads off. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't lead with that, Gwaine thought.

"Hullo," Daddy issues! Arthur whispered. He peered up at Gwaine with sullen eyes, his head resting on his knees. He hunched himself up further, and continued mumbling to his knees.

"Good princes are brave," he whispered sternly. Gwaine looked around for any other people Daddy issues! Arthur was addressing. He appeared to be talking to himself. "They're not scared of cliffs," he continued in a severe tone, oblivious to Gwaine's perturbed expression.

"Well, I don't know about that," Gwaine said. He grinned, and looked down, giving a shudder. "I reckon I'm pretty brave and all, and even I wouldn't have fancied my chances at falling that far."

Daddy Issues! Arthur returned a weak smile, looking for a moment as if he felt better. Then he looked down at the same spot again and his expression fell. Gwaine's grin also faded. He bent down to put an arm around Daddy Issues! Arthur, as if about to bestow some grand wisdom. His look was one of great significance, as serious as Gwaine ever appeared.

"Ale?" Gwaine offered, proffering a wineskin he had bribed Fem! Merlin into giving him earlier by divulging some of Arthur's secrets. Daddy issues! Arthur looked bemused.

Fem! Merlin puffed behind him, still recovering from the run.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked, blowing air up to her face, sending her hair flying.

"Pretty deep stuff, I reckon," replied AU! Merlin. "Probably gonna need some hardcore therapy to get over it."

"Therapy?" Fem! Merlin scrunched up her nose. "Is that a form of magical enchantment?"

"Never mind," grinned AU! Merlin, stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning to watch Gwaine as he continued to console Daddy Issues! Arthur.

Fem! Merlin's puzzled expression turned to apprehension as some of the other Arthurs came their way

"Excuse me," one of them said, voice gruff. It was the black-lipsticked one identified by

AU! Merlin as Goth! Arthur. "Can you tell us where we are exactly?"

There were two others strolling along behind him, glancing around them with nervous shifty expressions.

Fem! Merlin grinned savagely, ignoring Goth! Arthur's confused glance. She was always happy when she had a few Arthurs to torture. A couple of them had accidentally crossed over the barrier to Merlinland sometimes, and it was always good fun tricking them.

"You're in Merlin! Land, mate," AU! merlin offered, as Fem! Merlin busy already planning devious plots. Perhaps she'd put dung in their bedsheets...no, their tea...

AU! Merlin explained the situation of how they'd needed the Arthurs in order to get rid of the Merlins, as they could never have resisted pulling the Arthurs out of a tight spot.

"Of course," he mumbled sheepishly under the Arthurs' intense gazes, "the idea to put you in actual danger was not by general consensus." He coughed and inclined his head towards Fem! Merlin.

"Subtle," said Gwaine. AU! Merlin rolled his eyes.

Incredulously, the Arthurs looked at Fem! Merlin.

"You uprooted us from our homes to for a plot to get rid of some of your friends," said Goth! Arthur flatly, looking quite scary with his black lipstick and multiple piercings.

Fem! Merlin stared directly back at him, looking unfazed.

"And you put our lives in mortal danger for said plot?" said the Arthur to his left. "Are you unhinged woman?"

Fem! Merlin finally deigned to reply "Meh." It was an expression she had picked up from AU! Merlin, assured by him that it was adequate to express dismissiveness and contempt to a profound degree.

"What are we going to do to her?" said the Arthur on Goth! Arthur's right side.

Goth! Arthur turned to him. "The woman is clearly mentally unstable, Secret! Arthur. It would be ignoble and below our princely standards to exact vengeance."

Fem! Merlin bristled at that. "I'm quite definitely putting dung in your tea."

At the Arthurs' clearly bamboozled expressions, she decided to try out some of the "trash talk" she had learned from AU! Merlin.

"Fo' real man," she stated. "you ain't got no bizness in this hood."

The two unnamed Arthurs just looked blank. Goth! Arthur, however, seemed to have caught onto her tone and the manner in which she was intending her speech, and seemed affronted, at least from the way his lip wring twitched.

"What?" He grunted, kohl-ringed eyes boring into her.

Fem! Merlin valiantly persevered, despite the Arthurs' evident confusion.

"Oi..listen mate, you and me is gonna have words, innit blad." she said, emphatically now as she got into the swing of it. The Arthurs, at this point, looked extremely disturbed.

"Must be some strange, new tongue," Goth! Arthur said in a conferring whisper to the others.

Gwaine sighed. He didn't feel up to explaining Fem! Merlin's antics today.

"How about you let us take you and the other Arthurs to the queen, and prove you're physically safe and have suffered no psychological harm?" He glanced at Fem! Merlin, who was still grinning manically in the direction of the Arthurs who were politely pretending not to notice. "Well, minimally safe from psychological harm." He amended. "Then we can work on a way of getting you back home safely."

One of them (whom AU! Merlin informed him in a whisper was Oblivious! Arthur) grinned uncertainly at him, looking slightly dopey as he did so. Gwaine decided he quite like the look of him. It was nice to see the prince prat looking unsure of himself for once.

"Sounds good, I'd like to see a Guinevere after this ordeal. She always manages to raise my spirits. When she's not angry with me, of course," he chuckled.

They headed off in the vain hope of finding a Guinevere whose temper was less...tempestuous than when Gwaine had left her. Gwaine didn't hold out quite as much hope as the other Arthurs did, knowing how upset she was at their Arthur's ill health. They gathered more Arthurs as they went, calling out to them to join the group. Good, thought Gwaine. Less people to spread her wrath on. And so they marched onward, ready to meet their queen.