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Merlin woke with a blinding headache and the agony of bright light stabbing into his eyes. When he opened them slowly, flickering half crescents, he knew immediately he was in the physicians chambers. The uncomfortable cot and sharp smell of herbs made his stomach lurch and his head spin. He wished he'd stayed asleep for a little longer.
He shifted and regretted it, a hand flew towards his head as a thousand needles grated behind his eyes.
"Why am I here?" His voice was rough.
Gaius stood at the end of his bed, brow pleated with worry.
Merlins head lolled to the side and pain flared hot and travelled down his neck, prickling at the base of his spine.
He blinked the dark spots away and realised that Arthur was in the cot next to him.
"Arthur?" He struggled to sit up, panic starting to weigh on his chest and pressed the breath out of him.
Too weak to really do anything, Merlin winced as he tried to reach towards Arthur. Despite being unconscious, Arthur seemed to move closer as Merlin whimpered. He leaned towards him in his sleep, Arthur's hand flopped out from beneath the blanket.
Their fingers brushed and Merlin saw a brief glow of gold resonate in the air between their hands before it quickly faded.
"Gaius, did you see-"
Gaius had a peculiar expression on his face. He shook his head in amazement, eyebrow quirking upwards.
"We shouldn't discuss this now," Gaius said with a significant glance to Arthur.
"Gaius, please." Merlin clutched his sleeve.
Gaius' heavy sigh signalled his compliance. He kept his voice low as he explained.
"This is just a theory but I suspect your magic has been split between the two of you, repressed on your side and dorment in Arthur's. The combination of breaking the love spell with true love's kiss and the transfer of your magic so soon afterwards formed a bond.
It seems that when you are close together, the bond is less strained. I think you were both physically affected when the bond tried to stretch too far because the distance was too wide. The bond is a form of magic, it's a powerful reactor. You need to be careful, if either of you wander too far it could be fatal. I don't know the extent of damage it can do or the distance you can be apart."
Merlin slumped back against his pillows. If his magic was dorment in Arthur's side that meant Arthur couldn't access his magic, which meant he couldn't get it back where it rightfully belonged. And if he didn't have his magic- oh god.
"I still don't have my magic. I can't fix him if anything goes wrong. I'm a liability, I can't protect him anymore."
"I suppose you'll have to train, build up your strength until your magic returns. I'm sure any of the knights would be happy to help," Gaius suggested, falling short on ideas to return his magic to him. He would have to research.
"What if it never returns? How do I get it to come back to me?" Merlin had never seemed so forlorn.
Gaius put a hand on his shoulder.
Merlin's head was buzzing with questions that he knew no one could answer.
Unknowingly, so was Morgana's. She had come to visit, to spread well wishes and refill her sleeping draught which she'd gone through in twice the time she was supposed to. Reeling with this new information, she spun away. A new thought springing in her head with each click of her heel in the corridor.
Morgana's evesdropping went unnoticed as Arthur stirred.
"Merlin?" Arthur's fuzzy voice sounded out his name.
"I'm here." The pain had lessened, Merlin moved over to Arthur.
"I convinced your father to let me treat you here, alongside Merlin," Gaius said.
"Are you okay?" Arthur asked Merlin, eyes scanning over Merlin again and again trying to find fault.
Merlin's gaze flickered nervously towards Gaius.
"Gaius?" Arthur questioned, fear crescendoing.
Gaius gave a simplified summary, claiming that some sort of spell had been cast on them and that they couldn't be physically far apart. They had been bound together.
"You're discretion would be appreciated, if your father discovers this he could kill Merlin in an attempt to sever the spell and to allow you freedom of movement," Gaius intoned.
Arthur looked pale but nodded. "I won't say anything until the matter is resolved. How far away can we be from one another?"
"We don't know."
Arthur sighed. "We'll have to test it. There's meant to be a feast tonight. My father wants a show of strength as the whole castle and I'm sure the citadel knows I was brought back unconscious. I'll have to attend provided that there's no lingering after effects of the spell."
"None that we're aware of yet, sire, aside from you being linked to Merlin," Gaius replied.
The feast commenced.
Merlin and Arthur's shoulders brushed as they stood off to the side. An hour of feasting and merriments had already passed.
Merlin's nerves were more jangled than he thought. Arthur's concerned gaze kept sweeping over him.
Arthur nudged his shoulder.
"Ready?" Arthur asked, under his breath. Merlin gave a small affirmation. They drifted apart, headed to opposite sides of the great hall.
Merlin had nearly reached the other side when he felt it. A pull on his chest that spread, his heart thudded faster and his ribs felt constricted.
He hadn't got far at all, they were only a room's width apart. Had the space between them become smaller, he was sure they were able to be in different rooms before. Were they soon to be chained together practically? The thought made Merlin shudder for more reasons than one.
The pang in his chest lessened when he took several steps back.
He looked over to Arthur and found remnants of the expression he'd worn when they'd hit the space maximum, a diminishing pain. They gravitated towards one another, slowly coming around to stand next to each other until their shoulders brushed once more.
"Some witches curse?" Arthur spat, flushed with annoyance. "To what end?"
Merlin shrugged half heartedly and Arthur's gaze of burning fury softened to concern as he focused on Merlin who seems to shrink at Arthur's rage and who seemed rattled by the experiment.
"The only solution is that we must sleep in the same room. I'll have the antechambers readied for you," Arthur decided.
"What? No, you can't-"
"It's the most practical thing to do." Arthur sighed as his father glared at him, a sharp tug of the king's head a command.
Merlin watched as Arthur threaded his way through the crowd towards the king. Following a short distance behind, Merlin stopped by the wine porter.
While the royals were distracted, Merlin served himself some. He gulped it down then helped himself to a bit more.
After all, he needed it more than they did.