Merlin One Shots

Strawberries

A/N: If you have ever really seen Merlin, you can probably guess what this is about. Freylin is probably my favorite ship ever!

Setting: Any time after Freya's death/ Arthur's coronation.

Description: Arthur and the knights notice Merlin leaving late one night. After some prompting from Gwaine, they decide to follow him and see where the boy could be going.

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of its characters.

       Arthur laughed as Gwaine teased Elyan. The knights had had a late night training session, though many had protested the idea, -mostly Gwaine- saying that they needed their beauty sleep. The training yard was dark, which wasn't a surprise given the time of night it was. Arthur hadn't even planned this training session. The king had been out for a walk, unable to sleep, when he'd found his knights talking in the armory. The idea to have them train had been a spontaneous one. The group talked amongst themselves, taking a momentary break from their training.

        "Hey, wait!" Percival suddenly said, drawing the other knights' attention. "Do you hear that?" They froze, listening intently. After a moment of nothing, their tension melted.

       "Maybe you're just imagining things, Percy." Gwaine said, chuckling. Percival shook his head.

        "I don't think so. It sounded like footsteps." The large knight froze, cocking his head. "There it is again! Closer this time." Arthur and the knights fell back into silence, and sure enough, faint footsteps falling on stone could be heard. Hands slowly crept to sword hilts as the knights quickly, and quietly approached the source of the sound. The wet grass provided a nice cushioning for their heavy footsteps. After a tense few seconds, Arthur let out a sigh of relief.

        "It's just Merlin." He whispered back to the others. The knights visibly relaxed, their hands falling away from the hilts of their swords.

        "What's he doing out here at this hour?" Leon questioned, peering into the darkness at the servant. Merlin remained oblivious to the group of spies behind him, and continued to head out of the city.

        "And leaving Camelot, no less?" Elyan asked quietly. Arthur shrugged, but couldn't deny he was also curious.

        "Well, then. There's only one thing left to do!" Gwaine said cheerily.

        "Go back to bed?" Percival asked hopefully. Gwaine shook his head, laughing.

       "We're going to follow him!" The other knights gaped at him. They were most surprised at the fact that Gwaine wasn't jumping at the chance to go to bed.

        "What Merlin does is his own business." Leon interjected. "We have no right to see where he is going."

          "Keep telling yourself that." Gwaine said. He turned back towards Merlin's fading figure. "I'm going, with or without you lot!" And before Arthur could stop him, Gwaine was off, quickly closing on the servant.

         "Well, I suppose we'll go with him." Arthur's voice was quiet. "If only to keep him out of trouble." The others agreed, sneaking after the usually drunk knight and the king's manservant. It would have been an odd sight to see, had anyone been awake to see it. A group of grown men sneaking around like children would have sent any person into giggles. They quickly caught up with Gwaine, who was grinning triumphantly.

         "This is not going to be a normal occurrence." Arthur hissed. Merlin was just off in the distance, and the knights had to keep an even pace to keep the manservant from disappearing into the darkness.

        "I just want to see what's so important to keep Merlin up this late." Gwaine explained. "It might be good blackmail material." A quiet chuckle came from Elyan at the thought, but he was shushed by the others. He rolled his eyes, and continued to tromp after the "courageous" knights of Camelot and their king, who fancy sneaking around at night to satisfy a childish curiosity. After a few moments in silence, Arthur held up his hand.

        "Merlin is stopping." He told the knights.

         "Finally." Gwaine muttered. "Whatever is out here, it better be good."

         "You were the one who wanted to come in the first place!" Leon said in disbelief. Gwaine put a finger to his lips, only succeeding in further irritating the knight. He gestured towards Merlin, who had clearly reached his destination. Arthur stared in awe at the lake that they had arrived at. The moon was shining brightly on its still waters, creating a peaceful feeling. Merlin settled down on the lake's shores, fiddling with a small stone in his hands. The minutes dragged by as Merlin sat in silence, staring out over the lake. The knights had begun to fidget, becoming impatient.

"Well this was a waste of ti-" Arthur's statement was cut off by Merlin, who finally began to speak. The knights all leaned in, curious.

"Sorry I haven't come to talk in a while." Merlin began, speaking to, well, no one. The knights glanced at each other, confused. "I've missed you. But King Prat has been keeping me busy with all his chores lately." Arthur snorted in indignation, and received several glares from his knights because of the loud noise. But Merlin didn't hear, and continued talking. "I thought it was bad when he was just a prince, but now that he's king, everything has been even crazier. There's been twice as many assassination attempts, and I swear- they get harder to stop every time."

Arthur's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't heard of that many attempts on his life. One look at the other knights' expression said they were thinking the same thing.

"If I got paid for every time I've been poisoned, shot at, or stabbed just because I'm saving the clot pole's hide, I could stop being his servant and get a kingdom of my own." Arthur almost burst through the trees just then, wanting to demand an explanation. Gwaine and Leon both grabbed at the king's arms, preventing him from making any rash decisions. Questions raced through Arthur's mind.

When had Merlin put himself in so much danger? And, more importantly, why?

"But enough about all the bad things that have been happening." Merlin continued, his tone becoming like lighter. "Arthur and Gwen finally married! It took them forever to get together. I was beginning to think that Arthur would die alone." A quiet chuckle rippled through the group of eavesdropping knights. "Gaius has been teaching me quite a bit about his work. He says that some day I'll be able to take over him. I hope that day is really far off. I don't want to lose someone else. After losing you, and my father, I don't think I can handle the loss of someone else for a long time." Merlin's voice became choked for a moment, and he paused.

Arthur and the knights shifted, feeling intrusive now. They had had no idea Merlin had lost his father recently. And they'd never even heard of Merlin losing whoever he was talking to.

"I miss you, Freya. Sometimes I'll lay awake at night, imaging what it would have been like had you and I made it out of Camelot that night. Had you not-" Merlin cleared his throat. "We would've lived by a beautiful lake, just like this one. I can imagine kids running around as we sit on a blanket, eating strawberries..."

Gwaine felt like kicking himself for not being a proper friend. He'd never heard of this "Freya". She'd clearly been someone important to Merlin. Especially if he was going to leave Arthur and Camelot for her.

"Did you know I can finally make strawberries?" Merlin said. "It took me forever, but I finally managed." Arthur shifted his weight in the tree line, wincing when a crack sounded from beneath his feet. Merlin's head whipped towards the tree line, his gaze searching for any signs of eavesdroppers. "I need to go." He said after a moment. When the knights heard that, they began to leave, not wanting to be caught. But that didn't mean this would be the end of it. Merlin was definitely going to be bombarded with questions we he arrived back in Camelot.

Merlin stood up, stretching as he did so. His eyes remained on the lake for one last moment. "I love you Freya." He whispered into the night. The lake seemed to ripple in response, causing a smile to spread across Merlin's face. That smile remained there all the way back to Camelot.

Yay, I finished my first one shot! I hope you liked it!
-InkFanatic