His Name: MERLIN

2: A Dark Reunion

Still don't own Merlin or BBC.

   I can feel someone shaking me, shouting my name. Everything hurts, and the added movement causes a strange, almost whining noise to escape me. If I didn't know it was me that made it I would think it came from a dying animal. I slowly lift my head, just enough so my face is out of the dirt and dead leaves.
"He's alive! Quickly, Percival lift him onto the horse, Gwaine get him some water, Leon get back to Camelot and tell Gaius to prepare for a patient!" I can hear the royal prat giving orders, but I begin shaking as I try blinking over and over: I can't see him. No Arthur, no Percival, no Gwaine, no Leon. No horses, no sky, no trees, no earth. Panic sets in and I grip onto the hand still holding my shoulder.
"Arthur..." My voice is trembling. I'm not just blind. I can feel something else. My vision isn't GONE, it's been stolen. I can feel Morgana at the edge of my mind, her magic is wrapped around me, and I know what's happened. She's using my eyes. She wants her answers and she's taken over my vision to get them. I recognize Arthur saying my name frantically and finally listen.
"Merlin who did this to you? What happened?" I don't know if I've ever heard such anger in his voice before. No, maybe once. Maybe the time he learned what his father did to get an heir; maybe when he almost killed his father.
"Hey dollophead, can we- we save the interrogation for later?" I manage to ask as I feel strong arms lift me up and help me onto a horse. I hang on tighter, feeling fear and nausea turn my stomach at the movement. "Percival is that you?" Silence, broken only by what I assume to be Leon riding back to Camelot, is the only reply I'm given. Now from what I can tell, I'm on the horse, but now I can't find who was near me, and I'm almost certain I'm going to fall any second. I'm trying not to panic, not knowing what's happening. "Percival? Gwaine?" I hold out a hand, trying to find someone near me, and my hand hits cold chain mail.
"Merlin, mate, we're right here," Gwaine answers me abnormally seriously. He puts a water skin in my hands carefully, and I take a small drink, though I spill half of it down my front. I hear fingers snap in front of my face and I move back.
"I'd rather you didn't," I say quietly to whoever was testing my sight. I hear Arthur clear his throat awkwardly.
"Merlin...can you see anything?" His voice is still laced with the same anger I heard earlier, but this time he spoke softly, as if afraid of my answer. I force a very small smile to try to reassure them I'll be okay.
"Nothing actually. Morgana took my sight away with a spell. She wanted to know where the-the key-" I pause, trying to force the image of her goons kicking my face out of my mind. "Uh sorry. She wants information. I wouldn't tell her so I guess she hopes to find out through me. She is looking through my eyes, and all I see is darkness." My voice seems small; I'm not supposed to sound weak! I'm supposed to keep Arthur safe, not let THIS happen! I feel something brush against me as someone climbs up on the horse in front of me, and I hate myself for flinching at the touch.
"Don't worry. Gaius will know what to do." Arthur's voice carries such conviction in it that I almost believe him. Almost.
"Yeah. Course. Um but we probably don't wanna show Morgana the way in..." I point out. I can hear someone move closer then cloth tear.
"Here." It's Percival. "A blindfold," he explains, and I nod to let him put it on me. I bite my cheek as the scratchy cloth rubs against a gash on my forehead but I say nothing. This is the only way to make sure Morgana doesn't get what she wants. A minute later we're riding quickly back to Camelot, and hopefully to find a cure for this spell.