and i loved, and i love, and i lost you

The absence was a burning wound on his body, a deep hole in his heart and an emptiness in his soul. The loss of him was staggering, and Arthur felt it everywhere he went, in every step he took and every breath he bore. On a regular day it would be an agonising ache in his chest, a throbbing pain in his head and a dull sword hanging from his belt. When it snowed, when the sun didn’t shine as bright as it had before, Arthur felt the loss as if he were reliving it everyday. Because he will never forget how the bright colour of Merlin’s blood stained Camelot’s snow with a dark, bold red.