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Merlin slips through the forest, keeping a close eye on the trail of the magical monster he's following.
There's been reports of it attacking the farmers and trying to take livestock recently, but all the knights who'd tried to stop it returned injured or not at all.
None of the sorcerers Merlin has been training since the magic ban was repealed are anywhere close to ready, so Merlin has decided to take it into his own hands, per usual.
As soon as they'd heard about it, Arthur had told him not to go, then amended not to go alone, as he knew that Merlin wouldn't heed his orders.
So here he is, sneaking around looking for broken branches, with Kilgharrah flying above him.
He meets the dragon in a clearing, asking if he'd seen anything.
Kilgharrah has not, so they keep looking.
Merlin walks past a cave, even he's not willing to go in there without the sun up, but he doesn't get to disregard it completely, as a hissing comes from inside.
Merlin quickly turns back to the cave in time to see a large beast emerging.
It almost looks like a sort of cat, but it's too big, its fangs too long, protruding from its mouth, it's tail looks like it could sting, and it's unnaturally long claws remain extended.
It leaps at Merlin, who barely gets a shield up in time.
He calls to Kilgharrah as the creature tries to swipe through his shield.
He hits it with a blast of magic, sending it into a tree, but that doesn't help, only serves to make it angrier.
It crashes into Merlin's shield again, trying to hit with it's tail.
Merlin is trying to focus on keeping the shield up, but he'd also like to get the creature to stop attacking.
He tries different spells, but nothing seems to work, as if this thing is immune to his his efforts.
But he's learned over the years that not much can withstand him continuously.
He calls forth some vines to hold it down, but it just breaks out or slashes them.
He's really starting to wonder where that dragon got to.
He throws a few more spells at the beast, until finally Kilgharrah flies in.
The beast isn't as resistant to dragonfire as it was Merlin's fire.
It's gone in an instant, nothing but ash.
Merlin slumps against a tree in relief, only noticing the pain in his leg now that the adrenaline is wearing off.
"Kilgharrah? We may have a problem."
He suspects his shield must've faltered as he was doing a more difficult spell, and the creature got a hit with it's tail.
He says this to the dragon, before things go dark.
"Merlin?" Kilgharrah tries nudging him, but nothing happens.
The dragon is plenty aware of Merlin's tendency to get injured, so he simply breathes a spell upon him and picks him up in his claws.
He takes flight, heading back to Camelot.
When he arrives at the castle, Arthur is already in the courtyard, about to mount a horse.
"Young King? I believe I have what you are looking for."
"Is he alright?!" Arthur calls, running over to where Kilgharrah is landing.
"He will be fine. I have already healed him, he just needs rest."
"What happened?"
"He will have to explain it himself."
Arthur mentally curses the dragon's refusal to ever properly answer questions as he takes an unconscious Merlin from him.
He thanks Kilgharrah for his help and waits until the dragon has flown away and the wind from his wings stops beating down, then rushes back into the castle.
A stablehand had already returned his horse, since it had started panicking at the sight of a dragon.
The thought of going to Merlin's chambers doesn't even cross Arthur's mind as he goes to his room.
He puts Merlin on the bed, then starts pacing, too full of nervous energy to sit still.
Judging by the candles, it's not that long until Merlin wakes, but Arthur feels like it's been years when he finally starts to shift.
He's at the bedside in seconds, watching Merlin's face.
Merlin's eyes flutter open, smiling drowsily when he sees Arthur.
"Arthurrr. Hiii." He slurs.
"Hello Merlin. What the hell were you thinking?"
"Right now I'm wondering why I'm in your bed."
"That's not important. Why would you go fight that beast, and don't even try to act like that's not where you were!"
"Because nobody else was able to stop it!"
"We were working on it!"
"Well you can stop, because it's gone now."
"I had no doubts about that. Between you and the dragon, it didn't stand a chance."
"Where is Kilgharrah?"
"He dropped you off and left. Didn't even tell me what happened."
"Welcome to my world."
Merlin begrudgingly explains what happened, Arthur sighing when he's finished.
"Why must you throw yourself into danger?"
"You're one to talk!"
"I'm a knight, Merlin. It's my job."
"Well this is my destiny."
"Would you at least let me come with you next time?! That's destiny too, is it not?"
"But you could get hurt, I'm trying to protect you."
"I want to protect you, too. I can't do that if you run off alone."
"I wasn't alone!"
"Without me, then. Why is it we went into battle together more when you were a servant than when you're Court Sorcerer?"
"Because when I was a servant there wasn't peace with the other kingdoms."
"There's still battles that you're fighting."
"I've always fought them alone."
"When you had to hide yourself! You don't need to do that anymore. We can fight together."
"But you're the King!"
"So?! That's even more of a reason to fight! So I can protect my people!"
"I'm just used to doing things alone. It's habit to sneak around."
"Then it's time to break that habit."
"I can't, Arthur! If you're here, not out with me, then I know you're safe."
"But I won't know you're safe! Besides, if you run off alone, I'm just going to follow you. I was nearly gone when Kilgharrah brought you back."
"Why would you follow me? That defeats the whole purpose!"
"I needed to find you! You weren't here, and I knew exactly what you'd gone to do. So I was going to go with you."
"Why wouldn't you just wait to see if I got back?"
"You really expect me to just sit around and hope you'll be alright?"
"I expect you to keep yourself safe!"
"Why should I? You won't!"
"I have magic! I can protect myself!"
"Clearly, it doesn't always work!" Arthur points at Merlin's leg, who then tries to hide it.
"It usually does! And you couldn't have stopped this beast anyway, it resisted all my spells. Kilgharrah had to do it."
"You could've been killed, Merlin."
"And you being there wouldn't have prevented that, it would've only distracted me, or gotten you hurt too."
"Every time I go to fight something, you're right there. So why can't I be there for you?"
"I can't risk you like that."
"I'll be fine!"
"What if you won't? I've nearly lost you so many times. I don't want to chance it again."
"I nearly loose you every day! You're always off doing something dangerous!"
"It's not the same!"
"Why not?"
"You have a kingdom to run. I don't have anything important like that."
"You think I could do this without you?!"
"Of course you could!"
"No, Merlin. I would not be able to anything if I didn't have you with me."
"Yes you would, you-"
"No. I don't want to think about how I'd be without you, but I know it wouldn't be good. I wouldn't be able to run an entire kingdom, that's for sure."
"Why not? I know I do a lot around here, but anybody could step in."
"Someone else might be able to do your job, but they wouldn't be you. I need you, Merlin."
"Why?"
"Because I love you, alright? I love you more than life itself, I don't know what I would do without you, so if this is what it takes to get you to let me be around when you go off to do whatever it is you almost die doing, then so be it."
"That's the problem! I love you too! So I can't let you go with me into dangerous situations, knowing that I have a better chance of making it out than you."
"Gods, we're a mess. Will you at least start telling me what you're going to do?"
"No, because you'll just follow me!"
"I hoped you wouldn't guess that."
Merlin shrugs, completely unapologetic.
"We can't keep doing this."
"Exactly. So you'll stay in Camelot, and I'll take care of things."
"Try again."
"You can hide behind trees like I used to?"
Arthur shakes his head, "How about we fight together? Two sides of the same coin, right? I'd rather you didn't fight, but clearly you aren't going to accept that."
"I still think it's best for me to go alone."
"Too bad."
"If you get hurt I'll lock you in the castle."
"Fine, but same goes for you."
"I don't like this."
"I don't like you going alone. Think about it, if I go with you from the beginning, then you don't have to worry about me following you and getting hurt."
"I suppose that's true. I'm going to practice my healing spells."
"Not right now. Kilgharrah said you need rest for your recovery. So lay back. And rest."
"I'm fine."
Arthur just gives him a disbelieving look.
"Not even tired."
"You're not getting out of this bed."
"Not even to go to my own?"
"Definitely not."
Merlin reluctantly smiles.
"I'm still annoyed with you." He says as he moves over.
"What's new?" Arthur says as he joins him.
Despite his protests otherwise, Merlin quickly falls asleep.
Arthur pulls him closer and presses a kiss to his forehead, all the energy finally draining as he falls asleep too.