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Merlin didn't know how he'd ended up inside the tree. Or how on earth he'd go about escaping it.

All he knew was that he'd been put on guard duty to protect the knights' belongings while they went on a sweep of the town, looking for some escaped convict or petty thief, and had obviously dozed off while leaning against it. What he didn't expect was to wake up in near-total blackness, sensory deprivation sparking his heart into a wild thump.

Merlin whipped around. The heat of the day had concentrated inside the thick oak's trunk, sauna-like and sweltering. Though he tried to get some relief by removing his jacket and scarf, this attempt to cool off was futile: the tree was wide enough that he could dig his nails into the rough bark like some kind of strange hairless cat and try to scrabble up the inside, but his lithe hands were notably absent of claws, and the effort only left him gasping for breath and hotter than he had been stood still.

At least I can still breathe, Merlin thought wryly, wiping his brow with a shaking palm. This could've been a birch tree, and then I'd really be in trouble.

But despite his attempts at introspective bright-side-ism, panic started to set in. The only obvious solution was to use magic - though it was an offence that could wind him up with a worse fate than claustrophobia - and he started to rack his brain for any spells contained in the huge dusty book that Gaius had bequeathed him years ago. But nothing came to mind. He doubted the author of said manual had been stuck in quite this predicament before.

First was a simple impact spell, whispered as quietly as he could as his eyes flashed with fluorescence and power shot out towards the trunk. But, instead of blowing a hole through the wall or even scratching the surface, Merlin was instead blasted back against the opposite side with a dull thump. He slumped to the floor with a sharp huff of air, shaking his head to dispel the shock, as the inside of the tree seemed to pulse neon-blue where he'd attempted to use magic.

He tried again. This time, though he was afraid of the consequences, he tried a crushing spell. Perhaps he could grind the wood into dust and excavate his way out. But this only succeeded in forcing his limbs into a cramp for thirty seconds, leaving him to do nothing but crouch to the floor and squeeze his eyes shut until the grip abated. It was only as Merlin braced himself for a third bout of suffering that he suddenly heard the characteristic metallic clunk of three knights, returning to the post that Merlin had inexplicably left.

'Uh...' Gwaine's lilting confusion was the first to be heard. 'Where's Merlin?'

The footsteps drew closer to the tree as the group tried to figure out his strange disappearance. 'I'm certain we left him just here...'

'He's not a dog, Gwaine,' Leon chastised, the sharp screech of metal indicating that he'd drawn his sword in anticipation of a threat, despite the teasing. 'He'd perfectly capable of going for a wander if he wants.'

'But what if an apple had fallen from this tree and he wasn't there to catch it?'

Leon audibly sighed at Gwaine's jesting. 'Then gravity would've been discovered another day. Can we focus on finding him?'

Merlin gulped. Not only was he stuck in this godforsaken oak, but now he was branded as a wayward fool who couldn't keep guard, even if in jest. He'd hate to disappoint them; particularly the long-suffering Leon, who'd had to deal with the collective round-table shenanigans for years like a flustered hen, guarding the fragile lives of six tiny chainmail chicks.

But as Merlin tried to slow his breathing and stand stock-still, hoping the others wouldn't notice his predicament and leave so he could unsuccessfully damage the tree further, Lancelot's deep timbre murmured through the chamber.

'Merlin?'

The boy turned on his heel and pressed his ear against the bark. '...yes?'

'Merlin, are you inside this tree?'

Lancelot seemed unable to suppress a chuckle, whispering so as not to alert the other knights, who were currently arguing between stealing Merlin's sandwich and 'for the love of god, Gwaine, he might be in trouble and you're thinking about lunch-'

'I'm about as puzzled as you are,' Merlin replied, wiping a hand over his brow. 'Is it nighttime yet? It's too dark in here to tell.'

'Can't you... use your particular talents to break through?'

'Believe me, I've tried. Nearly knocked myself out trying to do it. There's some kind of protective barrier rebounding all the spells.'

A moment of silence followed - apart from the squabbling from the other side of the tree - as Lancelot seemed to mull over some options.

'Wait here. Well... you know what I mean.'

Merlin exhaled in a dry attempt at a laugh, waiting to see whatever fantastic plan the group could come up with. But, as he sat on the wood-chipped floor and put his head between his knees to avoid passing out in the heat, he wasn't confident in their abilities. If he couldn't carve his way out with magic, what hope would the knights have?

'You're kidding me. How the hell did he get inside?'

'I'm afraid he doesn't know,' Lancelot sighed in response to Leon's frightened, motherly exclamation. 'Just woke up there. And he says every time he tries to get out, some force throws him back.'

'So I can't just start hacking at it with an axe?'

'Apparently not, unless you want to get the seven bells knocked out of you, Gwaine.'

Then there was the sound of more shuffling as Gwaine stood up with a decisive slap of his knees, wandering over to the tree. 'Hey, man.'

Merlin pressed his ear to the other side. 'I'm never going to live this down, am I?'

'Oh, absolutely not,' Gwaine laughed, knocking against the side of the tree to test its reactivity and shaking his hand with a small yelp as it shocked him. 'But I'll get the ladder, see if we can get you out through the top. You never know; it might be transformative. Like being birthed.'

'I could've lived my entire life without being birthed by a tree.'

But then Gwaine had left, returning a few minutes later with a ladder and a very shoddy plan.

'If it's magic, maybe it has a weak point,' he explained. 'There must be a gap in the branches. Otherwise he should've suffocated hours ago.'

That was a cheery thought. Merlin's chest began to heave unconsciously at the thought of it.

As Gwaine leaned the ladder against the side of the oak, leaving Leon and Lancelot with nothing to do but steady the base and pray, he began to scale the side of the tree. It almost seemed to shake with suppressed annoyance as the knight dared attempt to invade its personal space - though if that was the case, then it shouldn't have swallowed Merlin in the first place.

'Ow!'

Thanks to Gwaine's fussing at the leaves, an apple had become dislodged, landing directly on Leon's head. Gwaine seemed to poorly muffle an almighty guffaw as Leon rubbed his head with a disgruntled sigh.

'What can I say? You were the one who mentioned gravity. Now you've had it proven to you.'

But, try as he might, Gwaine couldn't find a gap in the branches. No amount of rustling was making any progress.

As if the situation couldn't get any worse, as Leon was still massaging a bump on his forehead, a very familiar voice entered the scene, with his usual teasing sarcasm.

'Has anyone seen my useless toad of a servant?'

Merlin froze. Oh, no. Not only did the knights have to break him out of a tree, but now they had to pretend that he wasn't inside it by lying to his very royal - and now very suspicious - boyfriend. Just don't say I'm in the tavern, anywhere but the tavern...

'...and why are you up a tree, Gwaine?'

'We're looking for my cat, sire,' Leon replied, lying through his teeth - though rather convincingly. 'I adopted one a short time ago. Still getting used to domestication, I'm afraid.'

'You never told me! I could've knighted it.'

Lancelot agreed. 'Mhmm. Always getting himself into mischief, he is. Chasing mice and whatnot.'

'We thought he'd chased one right into this tree. He's an orange terror, all big eyes and sharp claws, as... as cats tend to be, you know? Little Moggy.'

But Gwaine's needless addition of a name for this imaginary cat had tipped the balance into the ridiculous. Arthur crossed his arms. 'He's in that tree, isn't he?'

Gwaine scoffed. 'No! No, of course not. How would he even have gotten inside-'

'Inside?' Evidently, Arthur had meant 'up' the tree, not actually captured in its clutches like a pathetic attempt at an opaque goldfish bowl. 'Right. I'll get an axe.'

Lancelot was quick to warn the king. 'Sire, you can't. There's some kind of force-field, you'll be blown halfway across Camelot if you try-'

But the sudden lunge he'd made to prevent Arthur leaving had left the ladder unsupported on the left side. Gwaine suddenly lost his balance and began to tumble, shrieking as a very heavy and aggressively flailing man now began to catapult down in a great lump of chainmail. The knights only just managed to form a hasty circle and knit their arms together in a human net before he made impact, drawing a great hrumph from them all as he made impact.

'For god's sake, Gwaine! Do you want to test gravity in any other way?'

'Is that a-'

'No. That is not a challenge,' Leon cut him off sharply, before turning to Arthur as Gwaine clambered down. 'You can try to break through, sire, but I can't promise it will work.'

Arthur shook his head, slapping Gwaine's back before walking over to the tree. 'Merlin? Are you in there?'

'It appears so.'

Despite the situation, Merlin's heart began to swell at his lover's voice. The wave of comfort that radiated over them both at the mere proximity of the other was enough to clear his head of some of his blind panic, lessening its angry clutch at his throat. Arthur's head dropped down to rest against the bark with a soft thump.

'Couldn't you just have been in the tavern? I know how to help when you're drunk, but right now, I'm stumped.'

Merlin chuckled. 'Pun not intended, I presume?'

'I swear you make the best out of any situation, Merlin. At least I know where you are, instead of you running off on some mad quest somewhere.'

'Hey! I'm only following you around half the time. Not my fault you get into scrapes and I have to rescue you.'

Now it was Arthur's turn to laugh. 'Look who's talking! You've just been sucked into some vegetation!'

'And as lovely as it is to hear your voice, I'd very much like to get out of it now, please.'

'Oh, I don't know. Perhaps I like you staying in there so I can force you to listen to my terrible accidental puns.'

Merlin grinned. 'If it's any incentive, I am shirtless, so...'

'Well, now you say that...' Arthur began to smile also, but then his voice turned serious, heavy with concern. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm baking in this heat, but otherwise fine. Just claustrophobic.'

'I'll get you out. And if I don't, one of the others will.'

And with that, Arthur had gone to fetch an axe, leaving the others to initiate a comedic series of failed escape attempts. They tried everything from shoving into the tree with their whole bodyweights, or sitting in a circle and singing off-key lullabies in an attempt to calm whatever vendetta this oak had against Merlin, to slashing the bark with their swords and Arthur's axe as they were thrown back like ragdolls by whatever magic had found a home in the wood.

They were losing hope. Merlin must've been inside for hours while the others took turns digging a sort of passage under the ground, trying to get at the tree from underneath.

But, in hindsight, Merlin should've known that the solution to this preposterous situation would be something so tooth-rottingly sweet that you could've written it into a bedtime story. As night started to draw in, and everyone except Arthur had slumped down in an exhausted nap from the hacking and slashing and flying through the air, the king had stripped his chainmail and sat cross-legged, cream shirt rustling in the evening breeze, in front of the tree. Merlin rested against the inside wall, listening to Arthur's heavy breaths.

'Merlin?'

'Hm?'

The man's voice was thick and heavy, grating through his throat. 'What if we never get you out?'

'Are you crying, sire?'

Arthur feigned embarrassment, wiping a thumb beneath his eye. 'Absolutely not, what are you talking about?'

Merlin laughed breathily. 'Might not be so bad. I don't think anyone's tried making love to a tree. You could be the first.'

'I'd have to be pretty desperate to resort to that.' Arthur shifted so his head rested against the trunk, sniffling. 'I didn't think I'd miss you this much. I mean... you're right there.'

'We do spend all our time together. Have we been apart for long since I came here?'

Arthur shrugged. 'Can't say I recall a night you haven't been close by, since... well, you know since when. It's strange to not be able to see you.'

'You could try imagining. You already know I'm shirtless. And it's so hot in here that I've been sweating buckets.'

'Like a pig oiled up on a spit?'

'...perhaps a bit sexier than that, please, Arthur. And they say romance is dead.'

Arthur laughed, but turned to lean his forehead against the trunk. 'I want you back.'

'It's only been twelve hours, love.'

'Twelve hours too many.'

A tear renewed in Arthur's eye, sliding down his face until it dropped from his jaw. But as he leaned his head towards the tree, it landed on the rough oak's bark, and there was a sudden burst of blue light, radiating up in gleaming pulses from the roots to the leafy canopy above. The tree seemed to pop away from existence, disappearing as quickly as you could blink, leaving Merlin to exclaim and fall straight forward onto Arthur, head-butting him and throwing them both flat onto the ground.

Merlin couldn't do much but stare at Arthur from directly above, having landed so he lay atop him, before Arthur rolled Merlin off his stomach and sat up to capture him in a suffocating hug.

'Are you kidding me? I thought the 'true love conquers all' nonsense was just in the fairytales-'

'Just shut up and hug me, stupid.'

And Merlin did, burying his rather-damp head in the crook of Arthur's neck, heart aching as he melted into the embrace.

Gwaine was the first to realise what'd happened, waking up from his nap with hair sticking up in all directions like an odd duck. 'Oh, man! Why couldn't I just cry and save Merlin? I can do it real easy, too. Just gotta think of Moggy, stuck all alone in that tree...'

Leon shook his head as Lancelot smiled fondly at the pair. 'I think you're still dreaming, Gwaine.'