tenth person

"...Gaius stopped pouring me wine for days, in fact, he acted like he didn't see me...Morgana...she didn't hug me or kiss me that night, she likes to do that, leave a bruise on my face Lip prints...I...I can't find an apartment, I made an appointment to see the house but...the landlord is always absent, I'm looking at the house but someone else always moves in..."

The drizzle had been falling, and Merlin's hair was shining like oil against his forehead, and Arthur looked at himself, still dry.They sat in the far corner of the hospital, Merlin resting one hand on the armrest of the seat beside him.

"...How could I not have noticed? I've been wearing this suit all the time...ha," Arthur looked down wryly.

"I don't think it's a problem…" Merlin muttered.

Arthur smiled at him, eyebrows drooping slightly, as if grateful for his affection.

"I've been trying to cover up the traces of picture frames on the wall, but I can't. I thought the house was haunted." He smiled again, not so bitterly, "I was worried that I would scare you, because you see When you wake up, you will make a fuss about this kind of thing.”

"I'm not that vulnerable," Merlin retorted.

"Yeah, now I know." Arthur smiled lightly, self-deprecatingly, but lovingly, "You're not afraid of these 'ghost' stories, are you?"

"I'm used to it...I've seen worse..." Merlin shrugged, seeing a blood-red smudge on one side of Arthur's blond hair, "I mean, worse, so you're not so... Can't stand it." He shrugged again.

Arthur blinked and grinned slowly, "I noticed." His smugness returned for a moment, until the smile faded, "I guess you won't have to bear it for long, can you, I There's somewhere to go, I can feel it now... People are disappearing, last time it was Adam, now Sam's gone too, what's next? Gaius? Morgana?" He paused. "...you? "

"No!" Merlin cut off Arthur's eyes before they became sad. "Listen, Arthur, you're alive! You saw it! You were there!"

Arthur glanced in the direction of his own ward, "But that looks like someone else, Merlin..."

"That's what anyone would do in a hospital bed on supplements for a month! Arthur... please..." Merlin almost forgot he was pretending to be on a bluetooth headset, and whispered sideways into an "empty seat" Shouting, the nurse glanced at him.

"Please, Arthur, don't give up...don't leave...well, just, don't go," Merlin choked, one hand on Arthur's arm, because he could clearly see the spirit's body gradually changing It became elusive, and even began to become transparent.Like the ghosts Merlin had seen since he was a child, walking away from him, disappearing, gone.

"I don't know what to do, Merlin," Arthur said in a low voice, "I don't know…"

Merlin couldn't do anything but clutch his wrist tightly, tears welling in his eyes, and he couldn't say a word.

At this moment, the alarm sounded, it was the alarm of the life support system, and the nurses ran into the luxurious ward, and several people who were sitting next to Merlin stood up, hesitating whether to follow or stay where they were. land.

"Arthur?! Is he still here?" It was Morgana, covering her mouth and looking around in panic, "Arthur! Merlin keep him! Don't let him go! No!!"

But Arthur couldn't see her or hear her anymore. In the huge hospital, he and Merlin were the only ones sitting on the sofa in this rest area. He couldn't hear the alarm, and he couldn't see the medical staff running. The other hand holding Merlin on the ground sobbed imploringly, and Gaius' old sigh could not be heard.

"I don't know why it didn't work..." Merlin didn't know what he was talking about, the sound of the sirens took over his mind, and tears finally fell from his burning eyes.

Arthur looked at him, unexpectedly calm: "What?"

Merlin stared at him without blinking, and then suddenly lowered his eyes to the ground, "I... my friend told me how to keep you..."

"Will, is it?" Arthur looked up knowing he couldn't see anyone, "Is he here?"

"...Yes," Merlin nodded, closing his eyes to let the tears flow away, and then he could see Will's figure clearly at the door of the ward.

"What did you do?" Arthur pressed.

"What happened?! Why didn't it work?" Morgana yelled, and Gaius stood behind her, saying nothing.

"Will said that as long as people who can see ghosts volunteer to kiss a ghost, they won't leave..." Merlin cried.

Arthur looked even more surprised than when he knew he was going to disappear, "...so...you kissed me...to—" He was almost gone, not even Merlin could touch him, he Kneeling on the ground and looking up at Merlin, "What did you pay?!"

"If it succeeds, you will stay and leave when you want to. And Merlin will die, and his soul will wander forever like mine, and will not disappear, hundreds of years, thousands of years..." Will stood aside, but No one could hear what he said but Merlin.

"…But I don't know why it didn't work…" Merlin sobbed, "Maybe it's because you're not dead yet…I'm sorry…" The ending faded into the silent sob.

For a while, it seemed that the sound of the alarm bell disappeared, and there were no people's footsteps or breathing.

Morgana seemed to be choking, and the hand holding Merlin slipped. Gaius moved her into the sofa with his arms around her. After a while, she looked at the ward with despairing eyes.

Doctors and nurses are still in the rescue, the alarm has not been cleared, it seems that it will go on forever, and it seems that it will stop in the next second.