Arthur took a small step back; Uther was still screaming. All he wanted was the truth, why was that so much to ask for?
He could see Merlin shaking his head, warning him not to continue. Arthur clenched his hands into his pants as he looked at the floor. Jumping slightly when Uther suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Your mother loved you, Arthur. She loved you more than life itself.” Uther gave a single and the people rushed from the room. Giving them some space.
Arthur forced himself to look Uther in the eyes. His voice was soft. “I need to know, please father. Did you use magic to have me?” There was a pleading in his voice. His hands were white with force, and he was trying to hold onto the last part of his sanity.
Uther took a deep breath. “Yes, we did. And we knew the price. We were ready to pay it as well. We just didn’t know it would have been your mother.” Uther forced the words out, hoping it would give Arthur some peace.
Instead, Arthur took another step back, tears burning his eyes. “It is my fault she is dead.” It felt even more real than normal. He always heard the whispers in the hallways when he was younger, taking it slightly to heart.
It was his fault. Every bad thing that happened in the past, was his punishment for causing his mother to die.
Uther wanted to say something, but Arthur just turned around, leaving the council room, ignoring his father as he called him back. He knew that he would be punished for this at a later stage.
But he needed to get away. Arthur froze when a hand wrapped around his wrist. Stopping him. Being suddenly pulled against Uther’s chest, Arthur couldn’t help but tense up.
“It is not your fault. No matter who said what. It was never your fault. She loved you and wanted you more than anything. Never think it was your fault. You were innocent there Arthur.” Uther wasn’t sure what came over him.
Just a feeling that he would lose his son.
He held Arthur against his chest, holding him close. Giving him comfort. Arthur closed his eyes. Wondering if it would have been better to just ignore what he saw. Still, there was something about hearing Uther say it wasn’t his fault when for so long it always felt like he was the one who killed his mom.
"What is with you today?" Riley asked, frowning at Kade.
"Leave me alone" Kade growled, eyes narrowed at Riley "You're being bloody annoying"
Riley lifted his hands slightly. "Alright... Whatever you say" he said, looking over at Beck, shrugging.
Beck just shook his head, not saying anything.
Kade squinted at the sky, before glaring down at the ground. He did not like the heat. For the last four days they've been caught in heatwave. The heat had gotten so bad that the school cancelled all outdoor training.
Killian sighed. "Maybe we should just go back" he said, glancing at Kade with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm fine" Kade growled as he kept on walking.
"What are we even doing out here?" Beck asked.
"That will be because of Chronos...." Riley said "You guys know he hates us... just because we're friends with this idiot"
He nodded towards Kade, who just rolled his eyes.
"Screw you" he said "If you want to go back, then do it... I'm not stopping any of you. So just go"
"Do you really think that we'll leave you here?" Killian asked, with a raised eyebrow "Because you are just an accident waiting to happen"
Kade pulled a face Killian, before flipping him off.
Killian chuckled. "Look... Kade... We all have to do this, so there's no reason for you to get worked up about everything"
"I'm not worked up" Kade snapped.
The other three just looked at each other, almost a bit worried. They were all hot, sweaty and thirsty. They've been working on this stupid project of Chronos for the better part of the day.
In the heat.
Without stopping.
And it was getting increasingly clear that Kade did not do well in the heat. His answers became more and more snappy and irritable.
"We need to take a break" Beck said, wiping sweat from his face. He looked at Kade again. "because you are seriously getting snappy..."
"Piss off, Beck" Kade snapped.
"Seriously... You're worse than usual" Riley said.
"Just shut up" Kade said, pressing his hand against his forehead "My head is killing me..."
Killian nodded. "Let's get out of the sun, before it gets worse..." he said "Have you drank enough water?"
Kade shrugged. "And what classifies as enough?" he asked, sounding bit less annoyed.
Both Riley and Beck snickered, while Killian just sighed.
"You are seriously a piece of work" Killian said.
Kade shook his head. Immediately the pounding his head became worse, it even caused his vision blur for a moment. It also felt like he couldn't really catch his breath, which was strange, because they didn't really do anything strenuous. And then there was a nausea in the back of his throat.
***
They sat for a few minutes, resting.
Kade just stared of at nothing. Even with the water, he did not feel any better. His head still throbbed badly and he just felt sick at the moment.
He hadn't paid any attention to what the others was saying. Everything was just a blur of sounds. He was having trouble focusing. It felt like the air was so hot it felt like it burned his lungs, making it hard to breathe.
Only when a hand touched his shoulder, did he flinch, looking back to the others.
"What?" he asked.
"Are you okay?" Killian asked, leaning over to him, with a worried expression.
Kade shrugged. "I'm fine..." he said, pulling away from Killian.
Killian frowned, but nodded. "Alright.... we should get back to work then" he said getting to his feet.
Riley and Beck also got up, glaring at the sun.
Kade slowly got to his feet and immediately his vision blurred. The shadows moved irritated around him, even more than usual. He stumbled slightly and for a moment he could have sworn he was going to pass out.
Somewhere through the buzzing that was now in his ears, he could hear Killian's voice, but couldn't make out what the other guy was saying.
"... out of the sun..."
"...very warm..."
".... pulse feels fast...."
"... heatstroke?"
Kade blinked a few times, before his vision cleared a bit and the buzzing in his ears gave way a bit.
"Kade?" Killian asked, leaning over him.
It took him a few seconds before he realized that he was laying on the ground in the shade. When he tried to sit up, Riley easily pushed him back.
"You almost passed out" the pale guy said "Just keep still"
"...what... happened?" Kade asked, the words a bit slurred.
"You almost passed out" Beck said slowly, looking worried. When he pressed his hand against Kade's forehead, the other guy did not pull away, which made everyone look even more worried.
"I'm fine...." Kade muttered as he tried to sit up again.
The moment he started moving, the nausea rose in his chest and his pressed his hand over his mouth.
"He's burning...." Beck said "It feels like he has a fever"
"Kay... we need to get you out of here and back to the dorms" Killian said "You need to cool down..."
Water formed between Killian's hands, he quickly cooled it down. Gently he allowed the water flow around Kade's wrists and forehead, to cool him down. His eyes widened slightly as the water quickly became heated again.
"We need to hurry..." he said.
Kade's eyes started closing, his breathing short and shallow.
"Hey... let's go" Killian said, nodding to Beck and Riley.
The two got to their feet, while Killian helped Kade to his feet. Immediately the guy swayed on his feet. He leaned heavily on Killian. Riley quickly moved to help.
Kade muttered something as they started walking. His feet dragged, he barely managed to put one foot in front of the other.
"He's not looking very good..." Riley said, glancing at Kade.
"We should have been more careful" Killian said "I knew he didn't like being in bright places.... but I didn't now he didn't do well with the heat"
Beck tisked, but still looked worried. It took them a few minutes before they reached the dorms. "I'm going to get Bell... maybe she can help" he said "What are we supposed to do?"
"Cool him down" Killian said immediately.
"How?" Riley asked.
"Shower" Killian said "I'll cool the water... We should get him some energy drinks..."
Riley nodded. "I'll go get it" he said as they went up to the bedrooms.
They went to Kade's bedroom, not wanting to use the shared bathrooms. Killian immediately opened opened the cold water tap.
Kade just crumbled down to the ground, laying slumped against the wall.
Riley nodded. "I'm going to go get the drinks" he said, quickly leaving the room.
A soft groan sounded from Kade, as the water started running down his face.
Killian crouched next to his friend, keeping the water cold, but not freezing. After a few more second a shiver ran through Kade's body and he heard the door to Kade's room open. Quick footsteps came through the room before Bell came into the bathroom.
"What happened?" she asked, as Beck appeared behind her.
"Heatstroke..." Killian said "We didn't realize it until it got to bad... Riley went to get some drinks for him"
Bell nodded as she walked towards the shower, kneeling in front of him. Kade's face was still flushed, his breath off, shallow and fast. Every now and then a shiver would run through him.
"We're cooling him, but it might take a while..." Killian said "He still feels like he's got a fever"
Bell breathed out. "Right" she said, before she got up and got into the shower next to Kade and Killian.
"Kay?" she said softly "Hey... can you hear me?"
Kade's eyes flickered open. It took a moment before they focused on Bell. He groaned, trying to sit up a bit more, only to fall back against the wall.
"Hey" Killian said "Don't move.... just sit for a bit until your body temperature is a bit lower. Do you understand?"
A frown formed on Kade's face, before he nodded slightly.
"Good boy" Killian said, patting Kade's wet hair.
***
When Kade's temperature finally started lowering, Killian closed the tap and pulled the water from everyone's clothes.
Killian helped him to his feet and they stumbled to bed. He let the other guy sit down on his bed.
Beck and Riley was waiting for them there.
"Here" Riley said, holding out a sports drink "You should drink this"
Kade lifted his head. "... Ri..." he muttered, just weakly taking the bottle "...thanks..."
"Don't thank me" Riley said with a slight smile "It's just a sports drink"
The corner of Kade's mouth lifted slightly.
"Why don't you lay down?" Bell said softly.
Kade nodded slowly, but did not lay down. He just held the bottle with both hands, staring down at the ground.
"Come on, Kay" Killian said, with one hand beneath the bottle to lift it slightly, "You need to drink that"
For a moment Kade blinked, like he was clearing his mind. He nodded slightly, lifting the bottle with Killian's help. It didn't feel like he had any strength left. Everything felt shaky and surprisingly cold.
Slowly he sipped some of the drink.
It felt good.
"There you go" Killian said "Just drink it and then you can get some sleep. I'm going to ask one of the nurses to write a sick note for you for tomorrow"
Kade frowned slightly. "....a'right..." he muttered.
Bell breathed out, putting the back of her hand against Kade's forehead. "You don't feel so hot anymore" she said "Take another sip of the sports drink, then you should try and sleep"
"Seriously..." Killian said "Next time you start feeling bad... you should really just say something"
"Piss off, Kill" Kade muttered.
Beck and Riley breathed out relieved. The two were kind of worried about the shadow user.
Bell looked at the guys. "Why don't you guys give Kay some space so he can sleep?" she asked "I'll keep an eye on Kay"
The three guys nodded. Killian looked at Kade with a frown. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"...leave" Kade muttered as he lay back, eyes already starting to close.
Killian chuckled softly. "Right" he said, patting Kade's shoulder "Seems you're feeling a bit better... So we'll leave you in Bell's capable hands"
Not long after the guy left, Kade were already asleep, al though it looked like he was a bit restless.
Bell sighed. "Take better care of yourself, Kay..." she said, with a sad smile.
