Arthur's POV

I dash down the steps of the citadel excitedly. Dark clouds descend over Camelot. It seems it might rain tonight. I'm about to head out the gate towards the lower town when I'm stopped by Guinevere.

"My lord? What are you doing out here? It's about to rain. You should be inside," she says with worry.

"I... I have an appointment in the lower town," I lie.

"With whom?"

"Um... the blacksmith."

She puts her hands on her hips. "I'm the blacksmiths daughter. I heard of no such thing."

I curse to myself. I'm an idiot sometimes. "Uh... I have to go." I turn to leave only to be grabbed by Guinevere. She yanks on my arm, pulling me back around to face her.

"What is going on Arthur? You have been going off on your own for the past two weeks! Always at the same time, every single day."

"I... I really have to go." I start to back away, pulling my arm from her grasp as gently as possible.

"So you are meeting someone."

"No I'm not."

"Did you meet a girl?" Jealousy is written across her face.

"Like I said, it's nothing like that. I'm only meeting a friend alright? That's all."

She huffs, probably hearing the sincerity in my voice. Her shoulders seem to relax, though only slightly.

"Why are you so against me going out anyways? You never quite cared before."

She blushes brightly. She shies away from me. "No reason in particular." Her eyes dart around the courtyard.

"Well... I'll get going now." I turn and sprint out the gate, not giving her the chance to stop me again.

-----

I make it to the waterfall, out of breath. I bend down, resting my hands on my knees as I try to steady my breathing. Merlin's already there. He's sitting by the lakes edge, his feet dipped into the pool. I can see his boots tossed to the side beside him. He whips his head around quickly when I arrive. A smile appears on his face.

"What took you so long clotpole?" He asks, pulling his feet from the water.

"Sorry... was... held up," I say in between breaths.

Merlin pulls on his boots and scoots over to me. He sits cross legged facing the pool, waiting patiently.

He clicks his tongue. "So... what do you want to do?" He asks, rocking back and forth slightly.

My breathing finally evens out. I sit down beside him on the grass. "I'm not sure... It's too cold for a swim and too dark to walk in the woods."

"Maybe we can play a game?"

"Like what?"

He thinks for a moment. "Let's see who can climb to that branch first." He points towards a branch located half way up a tree.

I grin. This will be easy. There's no way he can climb that high with those lanky arms. "It's a race then."

Merlin smirks. I stand and stretch. He does the same. We ready ourselves at the base of the tree.

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

"Go!"

We both start to claw madly at the tree. I grab the lowest branch and hoist myself up. I look down and see Merlin only just grabbing on to a branch. A cocky smile spreads across my face. I'm about to reach for the next branch when I suddenly feel myself fall backwards. I land with a thud on the grass. Thankfully, I hadn't been that high up.

I groan. I sit up to see Merlin sitting on the branch I was previously on. He swings his legs back and forth on the branch. He shoots me a cheeky grin and a small wave.

"Did you pull me down?!" I yell up at him.

"I didn't say you couldn't," he replies.

I smirk. "Well then..."

I jump up and grab his foot, pulling him down. Unfortunately, I didn't think that through. Merlin lands on top of me. I close my eyes on impact.

After the pain subsides from hitting my head against the ground twice within a minute, I open my eyes. Merlin's lying on top of me. I'm suddenly conscious of the fact that his body is on mine. I can feel his chest rest against my own, how it heaves up and down gently with each breath. His legs are entangled with mine, creating a mess of limbs. His arms are braced on either side of my head, causing his face to be mere inches from my own. Blood rushes up to my cheeks, painting it a deep red. I turn my head away to hide the blush.

"Sorry..." I hear Merlin say as his body lifts off of mine. I'm tempted to grab him, to hold him close and never let him leave but I quickly shake the thought from my head.

"It's fine. It was my fault," I say and sit up as well.

I turn back to face him. His hair is tousled from the fall. It sticks up in all directions. His pupils are blown wide, most likely from excitement. I can see a tinge of red taint his cheeks as well. He's cute.

"Shall we continue?" I ask, trying to distract myself.

Merlin's about to answer when a bright flash streaks across the sky. I look up in time to see a lighting bolt fade away into the dark clouds. Thunder soon follows, booming over the forest floor.

"We should get going huh?" Merlin exclaims, looking up at the sky.

I nod. "Yeah, before it-" Rain begins to pour down from the sky in sheets. It batters down on us, soaking me to the bone in a matter of seconds. "Rains..." I finish my sentence.

Merlin tries to cover his head with his hands but with no results. "I saw a cave on my way here. We could hide there until the rain stops."

"Good idea."

Merlin leads me into the trees. We sprint through the forest until we reach the mouth of a cave. We run inside, panting and dripping wet.

Merlin laughs. "Quite an eventful day isn't it?" He says.

I chuckle as well. "That it is."

We start to dry ourselves the best we can but their isn't much you can do in a dank cave. I eventually give up and slump down against the wall. I examine the cave. It's quite small and also a dead end. I can see the end from where I'm sitting which isn't too far from where we entered. Sharp rocks hang from the ceiling while others pierce through the cave floor. Large piles of broken rock are scattered across the ground.

"Well this place is... cozy," I say into the silence.

Merlin turns his attention to me. He's wringing out his neckerchief. "Nah, there's an even better one the next ridge over," he jokes.

I chuckle. "Any chance we could make a fire?"

Merlin glances around then seems to contemplate something for a moment before answering. "Nope."

I groan. "Then any chance of this dreaded rain ending before morning?"

"Even less then the fire."

"Great." I throw my arms in the air.

Merlin chuckles and sits down beside me. He leans back on the rock then stretches, yawning at the same time. "Well, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

"Wa-" I sit up straight, attempting to stop Merlin but he starts to fake snore. "Merlin!" I yell at him. He continues to feign sleep. I groan and lie back on the wall.

I glance around for awhile before I feel deowsiness start to take over. I look back at Merlin who's huddled beside me, actually asleep now. I get myself as comfortable as possible on the rocks before closing my eyes to sleep.

------

Merlin's POV

"Merlin..."

My brows furrow. Who's calling me? I was having a nice dream. If it's Arthur I'm going to strangle him.

"Merlin..."

There it is again... Who is it? This doesn't sound like Arthur. The voice is too deep.

"MERLIN!"

I sit bolt upright, panting. Sweat trickles down the side of my head. I feel the body beside me jump at my sudden movement. Arthur leaps to his feet and turns around to look at me, worry in his eyes. "Are you alright?" He asks, panic in his voice.

"Yes... It... it was only a nightmare. I'll be fine. Promise," I say. I have a hand covering my forehead. I wipe the sweat off my brow.

Arthur doesn't look convinced but doesn't pressure me. He glances out the cave entrance. "It stopped raining."

I follow his gaze. Sure enough, the storm had subsided. The dark clouds part to show a bright, shining sunrise. Wait... sunrise?!

I scramble to my feet and run outside. The sky is a warm orange. The sun is rising steadily on the horizon. I have to get back home!

"I'm sorry but I have to go now!" I yell behind me. I don't wait for a response and sprint off into the forest.

I arrive, out of breath, at the gates into the village. I walk through, trying to act casual as I make my way to the main castle. I hope I don't see anyone I kno-

"Merlin!" A peppy voice calls out.

I curse under my breath. Just my luck. I turn towards the noise and flash my usual goofy grin. I see the owner of the voice to be Gwaine. He waves and jogs up to me. "Merlin! I didn't see you last night. Your mother was worried sick, though your father seemed unfazed by your sudden disappearance," he says.

"That sounds like them. Tell them not to worry. I had gone out and got caught by the rain," I reply, showing him my now damp clothes to prove my point.

Gwaine nods. "Well, I'll inform them of your return."

"Thank you Gwaine."

He smiles and sets off down towards the castle ahead of me, stopping only to compliment the village girls on the way. I shake my head. Typical Gwaine.

I make it back to my chambers without much further interruptions besides a few of the cleaners yelling at me for tracking mud through the halls. I shut the door and change out of my soaked clothes. I throw them on the floor before slumping down behind my desk. I sigh. That nightmare... it wasn't normal. That voice sounded much to... real. I can't have imagined it but who did it belong too? I don't recognize the voice even the slightest bit and having only said one word didn't exactly help.

I let out another deep sigh and begin playing with a quill on my desk. After a few minutes a knock sounds on the door. "Come in," I call.

The door opens to reveal my mother. She's dressed in her usual robes with her hair tied in a bun atop her head. Beautiful no matter what she wears. I sit up straighter the second she enters. I drop the quill back on my desk and smile. "Mother. I'm sorry to have worried you last night," I say, ashamed.

"No need to be. Gwaine informed me. I'm just glad to see you're alright," my mother walks further into my room, examining its contents. She frowns. "You really need to clean this place Merlin."

I look around. My clothes are scattered across the room. Various stacks of books are located in every corner while pieces of armour are tossed on the dining table. I don't see anything wrong. I shrug. "It's clean. What's wrong with it?" I ask.

My mother sighs. "Sometimes Merlin I wonder how you even find your head in this mess." My mother starts to pick some of the clothes off the floor.

"It's not that bad."

My mother puts placed her hands on her hips. "Oh? Then perhaps you can clean this up yourself." She smiles then drops the piles of clothes in my arms. I groan. "Now now, Merlin. If you're to lead the warriors and sorcerers into battle then you need to learn to pick up after yourself."

I sigh. "Fine."

She pats me on the head. "Good boy." She leaves the room.

I stand and toss the clothes into a basket by my wardrobe. I chant a spell and the clothes come to life on the floor. They walk themselves over to the basket and drop in. The books arrange themselves on the shelves and the documents on my desk straighten themselves. I smile to myself. This shouldn't take long.

My mothers head pops back in through the door. "Do it yourself Merlin. No magic," she orders, giving me a smile before shutting the door.

I groan and everything drop backs onto the floor. So much for that... I bend down and begin to clean everything up manually.

-----

I collapse onto my bed. I am never letting my mother into my room again. I stretch and curl into my blanket. At least I can finally sleep. I drift off easily, unfortunately that didn't mean the dreams wouldn't come.

-----

"Merlin!"

I cringe. That voice again.

"Who is it?" I ask into the void.

"That does not matter now young warlock for all shall come to light soon enough," the voice booms back.

"What do you mean?"

"Come find me in Camelot, head towards the lowest dungeons, and then, and only then, will I tell you."

"Camelot? Are you insane?"

"With your prowess it should be a simple task."

"It's still Camelot. I don't want anything to do with anyone in there. You can find someone else."

The voice cackles in amusement, laughing at something I didn't know. "Ah, but it has to be you Merlin."

"And why is that?"

"As I said before. All will be revealed when you come."

"And if I don't? What's stopping me from ignoring you?"

"That would not be wise as the fate of this kingdom rests on your shoulders."

Fate of the kingdom? "Wait what do you-"

"Goodnight Merlin."

The voice fades, leaving me alone in the abyss. I feel my consciousness slowly drift away as sleep consumes me again.