Imagine what the apocalypse may look like. And no, I do not mean that almost idyllic ending that would be one swift explosion and bam, everything ends.
No... this was something entirely differen't.
This was dystopia. A chaos that would have caused many servants and handmaidens to commit suicide, if they didn't know it was a temporary solution.

Still.
Leon groaned into his paperwork. He had always had an immense amount of respect for Arthur. He was always grateful and eager to thank him for all the hard work he put into the kingdom.
And still kept trying to improve everything according to his morale.
Right now, Leon would trade his soul for a proper writing feather and a new bottle of ink.
Or the ability to feel his right arm again.
He had been doing paperwork almost all morning, but in his head all the words and numbers had already begun to swim, before he got his breakfast.
Of course, Leon had to do princely paperwork in addition to his usual knight work.
Of course, nobody was allowed to help him. And of course, king Uther didn't care to install another temporary first knight. Who could overtake Leon's usual duties instead.

Of course Leon did the same stunt that Arthur would have done. After all, he was supposed to give an accurate impersonation of Arthur. So he decided to ask his servant for help.
George didn't have it any easier. If anything – he got it worse.
And Leon was both glad and disappointed that they couldn't share much of their work.
Leon would do anything to muck out the stables in George's stead. And he knew George would be glad to have at least an hour to sit down.

George had to deal with Merlin's duties in addition to his own. Which made his situation very similar to Leon's.
He was already an overworked, highly efficient servant. He practically organized the entire servant system of the castle on his own. He made sure nobody was harassed and that everybody did their work.

As Uther Pendragon's personal manservant, he had direct access to the king and Uther trusted him to a certain extend. Barely a fracture of the trust that Arthur had in Merlin, but it was still the closest relationship Uther had to anyone, really.
At the very least, George was allowed to bring forth a few complains every month and Uther would THINK about improving those conditions.

Once or twice, he even did something about the mentioned problems!
Anyway... now George had to assist Leon on a daily basis as well. Wake him, help him get dressed (they skipped that part to save time, actually. Also Leon was very capable of dressing himself, as long as it wasn't armor. That stuff had too many belts and constrictions to be put on by one person alone. Everyone needed help with that.), bring him his breakfast...
George had to personally take care of Leon's armor, which normally wasn't too much. But considering that Leon was supposed to fight in a tournament at the end of the festivities, and had to train every day until that point ... it added a lot of work to his list or daily chores.

George was fast and efficient, as it has been said many times before, but when Merlin was overwhelmed by his work – he just used magic so he could sleep for a couple of hours at least.
George didn't have that luxury. And especially around this time, the other servants needed his help more than ever.
In the kitchens, in the stables, everywhere. George was used to help out everywhere. But without Merlin, who did a lot more than he ever let on, they were short 12 servants, rather than one.
How did they manage hunting trips before?
Oh right.... they didn't have to play ACTORS during that time, usually.

They were both completely exhausted and neither got much sleep. If it wasn't for their bet – Leon was sure they would have given up immediately.
But well – they needed to impersonate Merlin and Arthur. Of course that was no easy feat to accomplish.

Uther was of no help at all. If anything, he just added to their list of chores.
So much, that they were both so done with work, that they had shadows under the shadows of the shadows of their eyes.

Leon just tried to breathe at this point. Breathe, eat, work, train, maybe sleep if he was lucky and repeat.
It was the forth day of utter chaos and crying kitchen servants that the royal guests arrived.

The foreign king was a rather young man. Rumors said he had only recently been crowned and by his excessive grinning and proud demeanor, Leon could tell they weren't going to get along.
Not the man himself, but one of his advisors wore a necklace with runes on it. That man was definitely a sorcerer. Seriously, how Uther could be so set on killing everyone even remotely connected to magic, and yet be blind to the obvious signs was a wonder.
Maybe the Pendragon's were cursed or something. Morgana, Arthur, Uther.... neither of them seemed to notice any ACTUAL magic.
At this point it was safer to actually have magic, then not. Because Uther tended to pick out the wrong people to kill.

Leon and George exchanged a tired and annoyed glance. Yep..... the foreign king were here to kill the prince... or the king. Most likely. Fantastic.
"George...", Leon leaned over to whisper in George's ear, right where they stood next to an overjoyed Uther Pendragon.
"We gotta check the food for poison and my room for poultices and I want raw meat for dinner."
George nodded in agreement.
"Cow or pig?", George whispered back.
"Depends. Which one is better for blood building? Last time I got stabbed it took me a week to recover. I don't think we have the time for that."
George grimaced. "Cow it is."

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Sometimes, it's not really that interesting to play a different person, when the people you are trying to perceive don't even know you OR the person you're impersonating.
You can't really make any mistakes, if the only behavior you actually have to change, is how you address the king.
And even THAT isn't so bad, because Arthur himself called his father "your majesty, my lord or my king."
So, whenever Leon slipped up, it wasn't even considered a slip up.

Either way, Leon wished he could just skip the whole festivity thing and go to bed.
And sleep. For a week or so.

By the look on George's face, who was trying very hard not to yawn, while handing out wine, the poor servant was feeling much the same.

"You want to give up yet?", George whispered to Leon, when he walked passed to talk to one of the foreign royals.
"No. The beheading by Uther I could take. But I won't spend another SECOND with that bloody dragon."
George chuckled at that. A bit of tension leaving his shoulders.
"We'll see about that."
Leon smirked a bit, then shook his head and took one of the glasses of wine from George's plate.

Then, after one gulp he coughed a bit.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see the foreign king smirk at him. Eyes narrowed evilly, he nodded at the sorcerer next to him. Who's necklace was glowing faintly. Magic.
Of bloody course.
Leon coughed again and cleared his throat.
"I'll...", he blinked rapidly. "George, you should throw the wine away. It's bad wine. ...."
He swayed on his feet, grabbing a startled George by the right shoulder.

"What? No... I had it tested. It should be -"
Leon twirled his pointer finger in circles, unable to form a proper sentence for the moment.
"It's magic poison. Don't ask.. Don't let anyone else drink from it. I have... I have to..."
Leon forced his eyes wide open with a snap.
"I gotta sit down. A chair."
"Of course.", George nodded and waved at a passing serving girl (as Leon was still leaning on him to not fall over.

A second later, the girl brought them a chair, asking if everything was alright. Leon waved it off.
"Yeah yeah. Just too much wine.", he coughed and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes slowly, while George ran off to throw away the wine. Then he got back with a bottle of water.

Leon sat still in his seat.
The serving girl had stood there uncertainly. Clearly worried about Leon, but Leon wasn't moving.
George leaned over to check his pulse.
Then he cursed under his breath.

"Everything is fine.", he nodded to the girl again. "He just fell asleep. You know... busy week. Then the wine.", George waved it off with a smile. And the girl just nodded once more, before bowing slightly and walking off.

George sighed in relieve. He checked Leon's pulse again. Still nothing.

"Is... is everything alright?", the foreign king walked over slowly. There was no attention on them. People fell asleep at these festivities all the time.
Uther himself looked close to falling asleep, as a young princess was chatting his ear off next to him.
The foreign king... his name was something like Alastor or something, looked 'worriedly' over Leon.
"He looks dead.", he commented innocently.

"Oh no. He's fine.", George smiled and shook his head, equally innocently. "My lord.", he bowed slowly.
"Prince Arthur usually doesn't drink. And this wine seems to be stronger than we expected."
He bowed once more with the explanation, but king Alastor didn't look pleased.
"And you are?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.

George would be intimidated, if he didn't know Gaius.
"The name is Merlin, Sire. I am prince Arthur's manservant.", he bowed again, a small twinkle in his eyes. It was a challenge, but you could only see it, if you knew George.
Because George never looked royals in the eye. This time, however, he did. Because he knew that Merlin would.
"And you are sure, he's okay?", king Alastor asked, stepping a little too close to Leon to be considered friendly.

In that moment, Leon stirred and his eyes shot up again. He gasped and sat up.
He blinked a few times and then noticed the royal visitor.
Who looked.... terrifyingly shocked.
"Hello, prince... Arthur...", he drawled out, unable to process the situation fully.
"Are you feeling better now?"

Leon exchanged a look with George, who nodded slowly and sighed in relieve. Leon may have died.... many... many deaths. But neither of them were certain for how much longer his immortality would last.
The dragon had never been specific on that subject.
Cursed be the day that Leon had decided to be test subject to Cornelius Sigan's attempts at immortality. Well... okay.. granted. He had never had a choice on the matter.
But whatever Sigan had done, Leon had paid the price for it.
And now he was still here. Cursed to live a cursed life.

Sigan never found out that his experiment had worked, as Leon was an old man, when the experiment had been done on him.
He fell to ashes due to the magic that Sigan had used to make him immortal. And then, weeks later, a young man had risen from the ashes. Sigan had not recognized him and Leon hadn't bothered to tell him.
Leon was the phoenix of Camelot. Not that he wanted anyone to know.

"Ah yes... I'm fine, just a little drowsy. Ge- MERlin.", Leon caught himself, as he addressed George.
"May I have some water?"
"Of course, Sire.", George held out the glass of water he had gotten earlier. Then he bowed, as he usually did and grinned at Leon, who just smirked back in return.

King Alastor looked between them, and then his gaze fell on George. The gears in his mind seemed to be rotating... until he got to the right conclusion. Just.... for the wrong people involved.
"I see. I hope you don't mind, if I leave you now. I wanted to convince Morgana to dance with me all night."

And then he headed of in a direction that was very pointedly not where Morgana was.

"I died just now, didn't I?", Leon looked after the man, unwavering on his chair.
"I'm afraid so.", George looked slightly pale, even though he had witnessed something akin to this often already.
"Why haven't we thought about magical poison? MAGIC poison. Of course.", Leon shook his head in annoyance.
"I really, really hate dying.", he added, almost in an afterthought.

"At least we know one thing no.", George agreed. "He's definitely out to kill you."
Leon sighed and gulped down the water in one go.
"God, poison is awful. It always tastes bitter. Can't they use good tasting poison for once? I'm getting tired of this."
"I'll make sure to recommend it next time.", George said neutrally.
And then they both choked on a small laugh.

"I'm gonna retreat for the night.", Leon chuckled and pat George on the shoulder.
"Do you need any help, your majesty?", George asked seriously. But the way Leon knew his humor, the entire sentence was a jab on both him and Merlin and Arthur somehow.
George conveyed his humor through eye contact, rather than expression or intonation.
It wasn't easy to read him.
But Leon had twenty three years of practice so far. He had seen George grow up from a small farming boy into the young servant he was today. And they had gotten along almost immediately upon first meeting, when the boy was five and got lost in the royal courtyard. Where his mother had just been hired as cook.

George was also the only person in the entire Castle who had noticed that Leon had never aged in all these years. And people still believed him to be somewhere under thirty.
It was ridiculous. Leon had served under UTHER himself for over twenty five years. How the man never noticed was a wonder.
As I said... sometimes it was easier to be magical in this kingdom than not.

"You could use an excuse to retire to bed early too, don't you?", Leon almost whispered.
George blinked. Which – as Leon knew him – was a yes.
"Yes. I would like you to go ahead and fire the chimney for me."
George's expression twitched, almost as if he was smiling. Then he bowed in all courtesy and left.

Leon however, headed for Uther first. To announce that he was going to retire for the night.
But Uther just gave him an exasperated glance and then waved him off to leave.
Leon nodded sternly and then he as well, headed for bed.
His chimney was lit and his room heating up, when he arrived in his chambers.
George had already retired.

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"It's the manservant.", king Alastor whispered to his advisor. A sorcerer named Beeltheas.
"The servant? How?"
"He must have magic. He was holding the tray. And I saw him muttering something, when the prince fell unconscious. I don't know what he said, but I'm certain he casted a spell."
"Magic? Here in Camelot? (A.N.: It's more likely than you think.)", Beeltheas had a very distinguished face. So much that you could see every angle in his features. It was almost unnatural to look at.

"You wouldn't think that he is protecting the prince now, do you? What sorcerer would want to protect the prince of Camelot?"

"I'm not sure. But we HAVE to get rid of him."
"You want me to kill the servant?", Beeltheas asked. "He's just a servant. And if it's true and he does have magic, then we should protect HIM, don't you think? He's one of us, then!"

"I'm not telling you to kill him. Just.... knock him out or something. We can't have him meddle with our affairs."