Chapter 15 - Arthur and His Academy Award Winning Performance

Merlin grunted as he was thrown to the floor in front of Uther's throne, Arthur hovering protectively behind him. The two guards – Big Bird and Rainbow Princess, according to the code names they'd called each other on the way to the throne room, names that, coincidentally, made them much less intimidating, even with the taser guns – stood over him, hands resting on their guns, ready to use them if necessary.

Uther was reclining on his throne, Blackberry in his hands, fingers twiddling with the touch screen keypad and eyes glued to the screen, obviously intent on whatever he was doing. Merlin, for his part, was fighting off massive bouts of nervousness while still trying to get a grip on the pain from the shock he had received. It had felt like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning in his side and instead of leaving is system shortly after the gun had done its work, his magic had seemed to have sucked it in and was grappling with it, trying to expel it or overcome it. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Merlin wondered anxiously why Uther had so violently and urgently summoned him here. Could it be because Merlin was the only one in the kingdom who hadn't found solace in one of Rosco's toys? Had he found out that Arthur had tossed his iPhone out of the window and blamed Merlin for it? Merlin felt the tension build as he waited for the king to speak but Uther seemed to be completely preoccupied with his phone. Merlin heard Arthur shift impatiently behind him. Finally, the prince cleared his throat.

Uther glanced up, as if startled. "Arthur," he smiled. "I was trying to text you. Someone sent me the most…" he glared at Merlin, "…intriguing picture and I've been trying to forward it to you all morning but you haven't replied. I was simply trying to look up how to fix your phone's reception issues on the Internet that I have on my phone." He looked giddy like he always did when he talked of his phone. Quite frankly, it unnerved Arthur to the point where he didn't even notice the glare Uther sent to his servant at the mention of the picture.

Merlin, however, did notice and glanced up at Morgana, who was seated in her customary seat at Uther's side, laptop balanced on one knee. She smirked at him and Merlin's stomach dropped as he realized Morgana had done something, set him up. He gritted his teeth but didn't say anything.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "I regret to say that I… lost my iPhone, father."

Merlin held back a snort of laughter at Uther's devastated expression. "You… lost your…" his voice broke. "Give me a moment." He covered his mouth with one hand, looking as if he were about to cry, before collecting himself and fixing Arthur with a mournful stare. "I am very disappointed in you, Arthur."

Arthur opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. Had Merlin not been kneeling on the throne room's floor, wincing from the pain of an electrical shock, and more than likely awaiting his doom, he probably would have laughed at Arthur's accurate impression of a large mouth bass. As it was, Merlin simply snorted, which probably wasn't the smartest idea because it brought Uther's attention back to him. The king scowled down at him, clutching his Blackberry Storm tightly in his hand.

Arthur noticed the dark look his father was sending the servant and immediately stepped forward, eyes linking with his father's. "Father – what is this about?"

Uther turned back to his phone, pushed a few buttons, and all but shoved the device into Arthur's face. "Here, Arthur. Take a look for yourself. He's magic."

Merlin's heart dropped to his feet. Morgana knew? How long had she known about his magic? And how had she managed to catch him doing it? Since Arthur had been so preoccupied with his iPhone these past days, he had miraculously not gotten into any danger that Merlin needed to use magic to save him from (that had been, it seems, the only good thing that had come from Arthur's being enamored with an electronic box).

He shifted slightly, angling his head so he could look up at Arthur as his master stared at the image on the screen of the phone. First there was disbelief on his face, then anger, and then finally, a resigned sigh escaped from the prince's lips. Merlin's anxiety level continued to rise. He hadn't wanted Arthur to find out this way – actually, he never would have imagined that Arthur would have found out this way, considering he hadn't even known what a Blackberry Storm or a picture message was a week ago – and if Arthur had indisputable proof, there would probably not be a way for Merlin to worm his way out of the truth. He just hoped that Arthur would understand.

No such luck.

Arthur's voice was flat, laced with barely concealed anger as he glared down at his servant. "You have magic, Merlin." It wasn't a question. There wasn't any teasing, friendly emphasis on the "Mer" of "Merlin" this time. Arthur did not look amused.

Merlin tried to look as shocked as possible, unknowingly fueling Morgana's belief that he did not have magic and was just as shocked about this revelation as Arthur was and squeaked, "No."

Arthur glowered and put the phone up in Merlin's face. "Oh, yeah?" he sneered. "Then what's that?"

Merlin blinked. What on earth? It was the strangest picture of himself he had ever seen (okay, so it was the only picture of himself that he had ever seen, but the point still remained that it was a weird picture). He was smiling slightly from talking and his hand was in the process of pointing or waving about. That in itself wasn't too strange, although he found it very disconcerting staring at himself on a phone screen. No, what unnerved him was that his eyes were a bright, sickly shade of yellow, that pink flowery sparkles were flying out of his fingers, and that there was a very unrealistic hot dog (he only knew what a hot dog was because the people of Camelot had become very accustomed to fast food – Merlin thought it should be called "get fat fast" food but of course no one ever listened to him) floating just above the sparkles.

If it was a picture of how he looked when he used magic, he would eat his hat – and he didn't even have a hat! (But if he did have a hat, it would be tall and pointy and blue and have stars and moons on it because how nifty would that be!) He realized that Morgana must not have known that he had magic after all – she had somehow manipulated this photo she had snuck of him (So now she was smirking and stalking? She just kept getting creepier.) to make it look like he was using magic.

The only problem?

It did not look like he was using magic. The photo's editing was so unreal that Merlin could scarcely believe Uther and Arthur, as dim-witted as they may be at times, were falling for this! Surely he could talk his way out of this one!

Before he could even open his mouth, however, Arthur spoke again. "I trusted you, Merlin. But you betrayed me."

Merlin gaped. "Arthur, I'm not doing magic in that picture! I don't have—"

"SILENCE!" Uther bellowed, having heard enough. "Guards, Arthur – take the sorcerer to the dungeon. Tomorrow morning, he'll be executed for his crimes – I've been researching fun ways of killing people in the twenty-first century online. I'm thinking we might try a firing squad or something equally as dramatic and loud, so after you've taken him to the dungeons, go to Rosco and tell him we'll be in need of a few modern weapons, will you, Arthur?"

Merlin paled. "Arthur…" he whispered, but Arthur's eyes were hard and cold.

"There will be no need for the guards," the prince fumed as he latched onto Merlin's arm and yanked him roughly to his feet. "I want to throw this vile traitor in the dungeons myself!"

"Arthur…" Merlin pleaded quietly as the prince roughly, bodily dragged him out of the throne room, the guards following a respectful distance behind despite the prince's orders.

"Shut up, you low betrayer!" Arthur wailed dramatically and Merlin almost burst into a grin then, knowing at Arthur's terrible rendition of Gaius's soap operas that the prince was merely acting – or over-acting – for his father's and the guard's benefit. "You shall never again see the light of day!"

Merlin snorted quietly and whispered, "Arthur, don't you think that's a bit over the top, melodramatic?"

Arthur grinned wickedly as he continued to pull his servant along. "Well, if my father and everyone else is really going to be thick enough to believe that hideous editing job on that photo, then why wouldn't they believe my academy award winning impromptu performance?"

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