Chapter Text
It was a loud, urgent banging that awoke Arthur. He had been pulled from the depths of his sleep and consequently felt rather groggy because of it. He has no time to dwell on this however, as then the strong voice of Leon, his second in command, rang out.
“Sire, do we have permission to enter?”
To anyone else, Leon sounded calm but forceful. But Arthur, he could detect the slight panic that encroached on his request. Arthur at once permitted the request, his head slightly clearing at the thought that there must be something terribly wrong in order for Leon to lose any of the cool façade he usually upholds with ease. He sat up and rubbed his cheeks with the palm of his hand as he watched Leon march over to the bed, his face full of the concern that had only slightly touched his voice.
“Leon, you’re worrying me, what has happened that has made you so serious?”
It was clear to Arthur that the speech that came next had been rehearsed on the way to the King’s chambers, in an effort to make sure it was not full of the feeling Leon felt, and that he knew his King was about to feel even more so.
“Sire, one of the guards was feeling ill this morning and was sent to see Gaius for a remedy. When he reached Gaius’s chambers the door was already open, and upon entering he found the place to have been torn apart. Papers and bottles were all over the floor and the workbenches had been upended.”
At this point Leon took a breath, nervous to continue due to the alarmed and uncertain look that had already taken over his King’s face. Arthur had not interrupted by this point so Leon spurred on.
“He continued carefully into the chamber looking for any culprit that may have caused such disruption, but found none. The chambers were also absent of Gaius and Merlin, and as of yet our searches of the castle have been fruitless. I’m afraid, Sire, that it looks as though they have been taken”.
The final words to leave Leon’s lips hung in the air with the weight of what they meant to Arthur. His mind had frozen on the only important information that has just been divulged; someone had taken Merlin.
Arthur’s mind began to swim, trying to focus on what needed to be done rather than where Merlin might be now or what might be happening to him. Arthur closed his eyes in an attempt to clear his mind from thoughts such as the latter; they were not going to help bring Merlin home.
“Sire?”
Arthur’s eyes snapped open as though he had forgotten that Leon was standing in front of him. He had regained some control over his mind now; he trusted himself to speak the strategic words of a King rather than the worrisome words that had initially addled his brain.
“Sir Leon, make sure Gwaine, Percival, Lancelot, and Elyan are awoken as soon as possible. They are to be informed of the situation and they are to prepare to leave in pursuit at once. You and I will have our things packed as quickly as possible and then inspect Gaius’s chambers together before leaving, to see if there is any clue as to who may have done this, and how. You are likely to be ready before me as I must dress, so please do not wait for me to start your search”.
Leon seemed to release a slight bit of tension from his shoulders after Arthur had finished his orders; as though he was relieved that Arthur had able to be rational about the situation rather than fly off the handle. If telling the truth, Arthur was slightly surprised at himself as well. This was followed by a swift nod to confirm the plan of action, and then Leon set to put it in place by turning on his heel and striding quickly out of Arthur’s chambers.
Arthur was left alone in his room. He flopped back against the bed and allowed himself to briefly feel the emotions he had just supressed when told of Merlin’s disappearance. The knights (and many others within Camelot) knew of Arthur’s closeness to Merlin; he had been Arthur’s manservant for many years now and they were always together so of course they must be close. Friends, even. And Arthur knew that this is how his knights felt about Merlin as well; they were always protective of him when on missions and he had seen the banter between them when in safer environments such as Camelot.
But what no one apart from Arthur knew was that Arthur didn’t just have feelings of friendship towards Merlin; it was in fact deeper feelings that the King had now come to accept that he had for his manservant, not that he ever made this known to anyone. He continued to treat Merlin in the exact same way as he has always done, but for a long time now had accepted that his eyes may linger on Merlin’s cheekbones for a moment too long, or that he may feel an avoidable warmth when Merlin helped him dress. He had come to accept that he may always feel this way for his manservant, even though sometimes it bordered on painful, because the only other solution Arthur could see was that Merlin was no longer his manservant, and that thought wasn’t even imaginable in Arthur’s mind.
Arthur snapped back into the present, reminding himself that lying here was not going to bring Merlin home. He leapt off the bed and rushed around his chambers, gathering everything he would need for the trip into a pile on his bed. As he did so, he promised himself that when he found Merlin (because there was no possibility of if), he would tell him of his feelings, because currently the thought of never being able to make it known to Merlin was tearing Arthur apart.