GUYS!!! GO ON REDBUBBLE.COM AND SEARCH SOME FANDOM OR TV SHOW OR SPORT OR SOMETHING AND I GUARANTEE YOU THAT YOU WILL SEE YOUR NEW CHRISTMAS LIST.
I TRIED TO MAKE THIS AS LONG AS I COULD
WARNING: VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER

If you don't remember the unusual holiday pt.1,that was the one where Merlin's older brother, Kestrel, came to camelot before yule to try and get a higher status then Merlin in some way like the jerk he is. Once he found out he can't, he went out for blood. The knights saw Merlin hide from Kestrel and told Gwen who told Arthur who asked Merlin who he was and ended up dismissing it as the knights misreading the situation. Later, the knights followed Merlin as saw him have a conversation with Freya. I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO CHRISTMAS SONGS FOR HOURS AND IT'S NOT EVEN DECEMBER AS I'M WRITING THIS WHYYYYY!!!Hopefully that refreshed your memory, let's get to it!! Enjoy!!

Merlin headed back to Camelot, unaware the knights of Camelot had watched his encounter with Freya. He had been muttering to himself a little bit but, the knights hadn't noticed with their own minds racing. Why had't Merlin ever said something? Was there even anything they could do without Merlin getting mad at them or him finding out? What happened to Freya? How did she dies? Who is Freya? How did Merlin meet her? All the questions were making their heads hurt.

  With their headaches from questions, none of them noticed when Merlin left their view. He had just plain disappeared. By the time Mordred noticed, they were mere minutes away from Camelot.         "Wait, where's Merlin? We wasn't that far ahead of us..." the knight asked, obviously worried that they lost track of the warlock.

"Well, I don't think any of us were paying that much attention. Maybe he just sped up and we didn't notice?" Percival offered, trying to calm Mordred nerves and his own at the same time.                               "Yeah, Percival is probably right. Let's just get to Camelot; he'll probably already be there." Lancelot agreed "Hopefully." he added under his breath. The knights headed back without another word, just their worries unspoken.

By the time they got back, it was around noontime, meaning lunchtime, and it would be their focus if Merlin was in sight. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen.

Merlin was unconscious. Plain as day, but when he awoke, he couldn't see. He tried waving his hand by his eyes and was thankful when he could see the outline, meaning it was simply dark, wherever he was. Another thing he noticed was that his hands were chained together and his legs were chained as well, to the floor and together. He immediately tried to use magic to break free but found himself hissing in pain as the chains got tighter and he got a migraine so bad he almost threw up. He sat still, with his eyes closed for a while and waited for the feeling to pass. It didn't pass for what felt like hours, but a least it stopped.

"Hello, little brother." a voice he knew all too well cut through the darkness and made him freeze. "Guess who I ran into when I was looking for you! Your old friend, Morgana!" Kestrel said in a sickly sweet voice.  Merlin glared silently, succeeding in hiding his fear. "What do you want Kestrel?" Merlin asked. Even though Kestrel had physically and mentally tortured Merlin in times past, he was still blood. Merlin wished Kestrel had been like a real brother sometimes. "I want you to learn your place, brother." Kestrel spat the last word like acid, making Merlin internally sigh and wish Kestrel shared his views.

"Stop your play Kestrel, it's time for the real fun to begin." Morgana spoke, emerging from the shadows. "I've been waiting to get my revenge on this meekly servant. You will tell us all of Camelot's secrets, Merlin. Just you wait." she added while wearing the same smirk she wore whenever she was confident of success. "Do your worst Morgana, You'll never win " Merlin declared with a bravery he didn't feel nor know he possessed.

"With pleasure Merlin, soon death will become a mercy." She responded before moving Merlin into a chair and chaining him into the position she wanted him in. She started by having Kestrel slowly rip Merlin's fingernails off. The blood dripped from his hand as he squirmed in agony. Morgana asked what is the king's greatest weakness. Merlin stayed quiet. Kestrel whipped him. Once. Twice. Three times. Morgana asked again. Merlin stayed quiet.

This continued for hours. Merlin never said a word. Soon, Morgana gave for the day and shoved a poison to infest Merlin's sleep with nightmares and if he didn't sleep, he would start seeing visons anyway. Morgana and Kestrel then left Merlin to his fears.

At first, Merlin was thankful they gave up before realizing they had just given up for the day, not forever. He also figured that the potion probably wasn't harmless. He soon realized what it did when the first vision popped up about twenty minutes after the intake of the potion. It was everyone he had lost standing in front of him. Freya, Will, Balinor, Morgana...

"I thought you were my friend, Merls! But no, you had to make sure Arthur never found out your precious secret! You let me take the fall for you...What a good friend you turned out to be." Will spat at Merlin. It took everything Merlin had to not burst into tears then and there at the sight of his childhood best friend, blaming Merlin for his death. "I thought you loved me Merlin...You could have saved me but you let me die. You could have killed Arthur, you could have done something! You just sat and watched as your so called prince killed me! You were my real curse, not the Bastet." Freya shouted at Merlin. Tears started slipping down his face at the sight of his love saying he was a curse to her.

"You were my friend Merlin! You could've figured out a different way to end the curse, you could have told me you had magic! Do you know how alone I felt, how I despised my own existence! You just let me suffer! You killed the goodness in my heart, not the corruption from Morgause, you ruined me! You ruined my life!" Morgana screeched at him. Merlin had already blamed himself and seeing everyone blame him as well...That was enough to crush anyone's spirit. "I'm ashamed to call you my son! You are weak, You couldn't kill the dragon even when you had the chance to! You wouldn't have had to seek me out if you hadn't let the dragon out in the first place! You almost killed your mother, Gaius, you only bring destruction wherever you go! IT'S YOUR FAULT EVERYONE YOU'VE CARED ABOUT IS DEAD OR ABOUT TO DIE!" Balinor screamed at Merlin.

Tears were streaming down Merlin's face, His whole body filled with self hatred and shame. How could he kill all those people? How could he let them die on his behalf. He can't make friends, they will all just die. That was when Merlin decided if he ever got out of there alive, He would return to Camelot to tell everyone he would be leaving...for good. He couldn't let anybody else die because of his selfishness.

Sadly, Morgana's potion wasn't done with him yet, there was the whole night to go.

The next morning, Kestrel and Morgana continued. Kestrel dragged a knife down Merlin's face and burnt Merlin's hand. He shattered the bones in Merlin's foot and whipped merlin again. and again. and again. Merlin never said a word. He was given the same potion as the night before and was left alone in his misery. Merlin was forced to relive his nightmares every night and was beaten every day for two weeks. Camelot searched for a week before giving up on patrols but still kept an eye out, never giving up hope.

After two weeks, Merlin was beyond broken but he still needed to get to Camelot to warn Arthur that Morgana was getting desperate for ways to take over them. One night, Merlin broke his chains by some miracle. He ignored the visons the potion gave him and ran. Ran as fast as he could to Camelot, to his home. Merlin was farther from Camelot then he had thought, It took him almost two days to get there. Having infected wounds didn't help. He might've been able to actually run too if he didn't need a stick to keep him upright with his smashed foot.  Merlin finally got to Camelot right before dark, and there was a patrol coming in around the same time. luckily, Gwaine was on the patrol.

"Merlin? Mate, it's really you!" the knight ran to him, but saw his friend's agony and his eyes widened in horror. "We've got to get you to Gaius." Gwaine said, sounding worried and relieved at the same time. Merlin nodded, relieved and secretly worried as well. Gwaine left his horse with somebody and quickly guided Merlin to Gaius. They got there in a fairly short amount of time, but Gaius wasn't there. Gwaine realized this and set Merlin on his bed before leaving. Merlin laid there staring into space, going over every second of what had happened to him. merlin hadn't slept since he was taken so he was exhausted and fell asleep in the safety of his home.

Gwaine found Gaius with Arthur and Guinevere. He grabbed Gaius and started dragging him with no explanation at all.

"Gwaine! What is the meaning of this, we were discussing where Merlin might be!" Arthur shouted at one of his most loyal knights. Gwaine kept dragging the physician, shouting back only three words.  "We found him." With these words, all four started sprinting to Gaius's chambers, which were also Merlin's.

They reached the chamber and burst into Merlin's room to see him asleep. He was bruised and bloody all over. Arthur saw his hands and realized something. "Whoever had him, they tortured him. Badly." he whispered, horror-struck. "Where did you find him?" he asked Gwaine.

"He was hobbling towards Camelot, barely upright."

Gaius set to work on merlin. Felt for broken bones and three of Merlin's ribs and his foot were broken. Gauis, with Gwaine's and Arthur's help, took off Merlin's tattered shirt, then set his ribs back in place and bandaged his foot. He cleaned his wounds, bandaged the worse ones like the cuts and his fingers. Once all that was done, he announced that Merlin needs to wake up so he can get some water and food.

"Continue tomorrow, Morgana" Merlin muttered hoarsely.

"Merlin, you're not with Morgana anymore." Arthur said, trying not to fume with anger at the mention of that witch.

"I told you the last three times, I'm not falling for that again." Merlin replied. All four of them felt their hearts break. Morgana had tricked Merlin into thinking he was safe as a form of torture.

"Merlin, this isn't one of Morgana's tricks. You're truly safe. It's us." Gwen tried.

"Like you haven't tried that before." they could hear the eye roll in his voice.

"Mate, remember I walked you here. You escaped her." Gwaine tried as well.

"Try something new for once, Morgana." After that, Gwaine had an idea.

"Princess, don't yell at me for this, I just want to see if it will work." Gwaine said, he gave no time for Arthur to question him. He turned and slapped Merlin across the face.

"Was that supposed to hurt, Kestrel?" Merlin said opening his eyes finally. "Hmm. What do you know: you did something different. You usually have Gaius do it. Whatever." Merlin said and closed his eyes again. That is when they gave up and just let Merlin sleep. He obviously was used to it and it wouldn't do anything to continue.

They left the warlock in peace and discussed what they should do.