“Your father would never have allowed such leniency,“ the ambassador snapped. "It is reckless and immoral. You are but a child meddling with things you do not yet understand. Magic is corrupt. It causes plagues, drought, famine, and disaster!”
“Magic does not corrupt people. Fear does. Power does. Perhaps you are right to fear those with such immense power to cause what you have described. However, that is not the majority. Many can at most light a candle, mend a broken bone, or calm a fever. Magic has existed far longer than man has. If they all wanted us dead, if they had that power, then we simply would be. Hundreds were slaughtered by my father. Do you truly believe they would have allowed that to happen if they had the choice?”
Merlin gasped and the intelligent declaration echoed through the stunned throne room. Arthur twisted towards Haldorwin, his body tense like a hunting predator. The man stuttered under the scrutiny. Knights and servants began to whisper amongst themselves, and Merlin strained to see past their bobbing heads.
“I would be able to dress just fine if my shirts had been hung and my pants folded instead of the other way around. I can’t find a bloody thing, it’s so disorganized!”
Merlin had doubled over and wheezed behind a closed fist upon the glorious sight he was met with that morning. Arthur had his breeches on backward, his shirt far too small, and his shoes on the wrong feet. At this point, the only explanation Merlin could accept was that Arthur did this for comedic purposes. The king had dressed himself just fine on several occasions in the past. This whole joke had started when Merlin commented that perhaps Arthur didn’t need his help dressing anymore, now that he figured it out. Arthur had agreed, and then the next morning Merlin found him with his arms trapped in his shirt and a hole in his breeches.
“Well, it looks like you found everything just fine. You just weren’t sure what to do after that…”
“I no longer require a manservant. If you need anything for your apprenticeship please feel free to let me know at a later time. I have a meeting to attend to. Excuse me.”
“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere! It’s been a week without a single word from you. Then I hear - from Gaius, not you, I might add! -that you’ve lifted the ban on magic? And when I come to thank you, I find your room looking like a bloody tornado went through it. We have to talk about this! You… this room is… it’s destroyed! You don’t think this is any cause for concern? You don’t think it’s a little important?”
Arthur hummed stiffly. As Merlin got closer he saw more of the physical damage done to the king. His hands were swelling, and surely he’d broken knuckles. Merlin reached out gently, and Arthur’s grip loosened from the quill. His palms were bloody from crescent-shaped cuts, his fingers swollen and red. How Arthur was even moving them was a mystery and likely causing even more damage. “Arthur, your hands! We have to get you to Gaius! I could fix your leg, but I can’t set broken bones. They’ll heal wrong…”
“That’s precisely why you should commit to your studies. I will visit Gaius after this meeting. You should leave, Merlin.” Arthur shook his head and snatched his hand away. “I’m fine.”
Arthur approached a cell and held out the key so tightly his knuckles went white. The torch in his hand flickered around the room before catching the figure sitting in the corner. The witch… She looked up at him slowly. In the light of the fire, the woman’s gray hair shined gold, and her wrinkles seemed darker and bolder. She stood and calmly stepped towards the bars.
“A visit from the king himself. What an honor.” Her gentle voice was laced with mirth. Arthur felt wrongfooted at her apparent lack of contempt for him.
“I am sorry for any harsh treatment you have received. That was not my intent.” He’d noticed the bruises circling her frail wrists, likely from the iron cuffs used to chain her. She followed his gaze and rubbed at the marks sorely.
“Was it not? You are your father’s son. What would he think, seeing you getting friendly with an ‘evil sorceress’ now?”
“I do not find you evil in the slightest. I heard you used magic to rid your granddaughter of a fever. That doesn’t sound like the work of a villain. You had the power to save a child from suffering - despite the risk for yourself - and you saved her. I think you are brave.”
The physician stilled and looked fearfully towards the door as though guards were sure to march through it at any moment. He stood and pulled Merlin up with him, pacing in the small space between benches.
“Are you certain, Merlin?”
Merlin nodded jerkily and ran a trembling hand through his hair. “He saw me, Gaius. We got trapped. There was a monster. I tried to keep Arthur away, where I didn’t think he could see me. I killed it. With magic. But he saw everything.”
Gaius looked up sharply and let out a huff of air. He muttered to himself and sat down, only to stand right back up again. Trying to stay calm, Gaius used his best ‘caring doctor’ voice. “And then what, Merlin? What did he say? What did he do? How much time do we have?”
“He started crying…”
“Merlin…”
“He didn’t yell at me. He didn’t get angry or threaten me. He… he didn’t say anything. He just asked me if I was coming back to Camelot with him or not. I don’t know what he’s going to do. H-he won’t listen to me. He didn’t ask for any explanation. I made him cry, Gaius. I know I should be scared, but I never imagined he’d react like that…” Merlin broke down, his body heaving with sobs. He choked on his words and hugged his arms against his chest. He felt so guilty and so anxious that he thought he might vomit.
“I-I convinced myself that it was because of Uther that I lied to him. Then Uther was gone, and I kept lying! I had excuses. I said Arthur wasn’t ready… o-o-or that he was too against magic. Or because of the dragon. Or you. Or my mum. But… he didn’t say anything about the magic. He let me use it to get us free and to heal his leg. He just - I… I don’t know. Gods, he looked so hurt. I can’t even - I don’t know what to do - I… I don’t know what to do! Sometimes he’s such a rude stuck up arrogant prick, and other times he’s so caring and brave and kind. He didn’t say he if was going to hurt me but didn’t say he wasn’t either. I-I don’t know how much time we have!”
Arthur couldn’t get enough air into his lungs for the life of him. With every step his horse took, another doubt rattled in his skull. Camelot was eons away, and Merlin’s nervous form suddenly felt foreign. It seemed like a great earthquake had slammed through his world, leaving it smashed and shifted, turned upside down. But also, everything now made sense…
‘Of course.’ Arthur’s mind screamed at him, 'Of course!’
He spiraled helplessly, the years and years of suppressed knowledge and suspicion all bubbling to the surface.
'I let it happen. I should have known. How could I be so blind? Of course, Merlin betrayed me! He lied to me. It was all a lie -everything- and I - I knew Merlin was lying to me all this time - and I didn’t even care. I ignored all of the signs because I just wanted so bad for it not to be true. Merlin’s a sorcerer.’
'Warlock,’ Arthur corrected himself. That’s what Merlin called himself.
'He’s had magic this entire time. He acted as though he were an idiot but made me out to be a fool. He pretended that he was weak. Then he killed that creature with his mind. His hands blazed with fire, yet he felt no pain. I am weak. I should have known better. All this time… And that wasn’t Merlin’s only lie, was it?’
Thank you so much @lawlessbard for the reblog and for beta reading my story!
The monster was white and skeletal, with bones protruding from its spine and joints. It crawled like an insect across the ceiling, two talons sharp and glinting from each foot. As though looking for them, it huffed and sniffed, and Merlin prayed that it was blind and would leave if they stood still without a breath. It flexed and shifted, its skin wrinkled with each movement, shining with dew. Merlin’s lungs screamed at him for air, and when he could hold it in no longer, he sucked in a breath. The creature’s head snapped towards him, beady black eyes blinking hungrily at him. It snapped its jaws with rows upon rows of teeth glinting in the moonlight, and dropped to the floor and lunged.
“MERLIN!” Arthur yelled, grabbing Merlin’s sleeve and yanking him away from it.
Merlin scrambled backward and dodged as the creature slammed past him and into the ground. The walls shook from the commotion and an idea popped into the warlock’s head. He saw Arthur slowly approach the beast from behind as it shook its head frustratedly. Merlin had to keep Arthur safe. Running forward and pushing Arthur out of the way, he screamed, “ARTHUR, GET BACK! THE CAVE IS COLLAPSING!”
When the monster lunged again, guided by his shout, Merlin rolled and shot out a hushed spell towards the cave ceiling. It shook and fell, building a blockade between them and the king. He heard Arthur yell for him, but all that registered in Merlin’s thoughts was that the king was unharmed. Now Merlin faced the beast alone.
It was a Lymocton. ‘The starving man’. He’d seen it in his book before. He couldn’t remember much, only that they had an aversion to light and heat. So he spun around, fists blazing hot with fire, and called to it, “Alright, you’ve got me now. Give it your best shot!”
CHAPTER ONE : THE BAD FEELING & THE TREASURE CHEST (Pt. 2)
“Didn’t peg you for an artistic soul, sire! Now you’re telling me you can draw? Hopefully better than whatever Morgana doodled on the walls.”
Arthur shot Merlin an unamused eyeroll but pushed a bound notebook to him all the same. Merlin pursed his lips and carefully opened it. The bindings were brittle, and some pages slid out, Merlin fumbling to catch them. When he did, he whistled quietly and looked up at Arthur and back at the page in rapid succession. Arthur could draw… incredibly well. He flipped through the pages and gazed at them with wonder. Some of the drawings he instantly recognized. A detailed sketch of a horse’s head. A simple outline of a hut on a hill. But as Merlin got further into the book, the drawings became grander and grander.
One depicted Morgana, with her features sharp even as a child, gazing out of her window to the courtyard. Another of Gwen’s face, her eye’s closed and smiling gently. An old man with a long beard with a cloak pulled over his head. A woman kissing a child’s forehead. He flipped through the pages enthralled by their contents. When he got to the end, he found a paper ripped out and folded in half. He looked up at Arthur questioningly, who had averted his eyes to avoid Merlin’s reaction to his work. Getting no response, he pulled the page out and opened it.
This drawing was different than the others. With the rest of his art, Arthur had painstakingly created tiny details and gentle shading. This one… the face of a young boy, was haphazard and roughly made from jagged lines and harsh shadows. Merlin ran his fingers over it and then raised it to the king.
I’m so rusty in designingTwT My FGO Keychains are now complete though! For now, we have 8 servants: Nero Bride, Summer Tamamo, Summer Nitocris, Jeanne, Jalter, Merlin, Caster Gilgamesh and Arthur Prototype! Hope you guys like it <3
I have so many opinions about how people write Arthur Pendragon. He’s so coddled. Almost every Merlin magic reveal/executed fic gives me psychic damage. Gwen and Gwaine would throw down. They’d team up to drag Merlin’s self destructive ass out of Camelot kicking and screaming. What do you do when your queen springs a sorcerer from your dungeon and one of your knights fucks off with him into places unknown
Genuinely why are y’all making Merlin apologize to the genocide perpetrator ruler?????
Every time Merlin apologizes for existing I scream.
and “i didn’t want to make you choose between me and your father.” like no
I want him to be forced to.
Merlin’s self destructive ass: I didn’t want to make you chose between me and your father
Gwen and Gwaine immediately zeroing on Arthur, both sharpening their respective swords:oh?
Replogging this from you because I like ur tags and I’m still not over this and I won’t be.
Merlin is not wrong for keeping the secret. His secret had a death penalty attached to it for his entire life. You don’t break that habit and disclose it easily. Especially to someone you care about.
And like in execution fics Arthur’s never really killing Merlin in fic because he’s a sorcerer anyway. He’s killing him because he’s a sorcerer who got close. He’s always using it as an excuse for a personal betrayal.
Someone please let Merlin stand up for himself when it counts.
Hey guys! So I would usually feel bad about derailing the conversation to talk about myself, but you asked, so… ;) https://archiveofourown.org/works/27917230(@fandoms-ruin-life ) Might not be exactly what you’re looking for, but at least you won’t hate it.
To also add to the actual discussion: Merlin totally thinks that he is in the wrong for hiding his magic. Arthur probably would, too, until he has two seconds to sit down and think about it. It does kind of depend on the context, like on a normal day he’d be very angry, probably less so if there is an actual crisis going on like the Witchfinder episode. As to everyone else… come on!
What I would like to see more are stories that give Arthur some time to actually reflect on what has been going on, not just with Merlin but with the entire kingdom. A lot of the fics that I read felt really rushed, because they stop at his first reaction, which if you want a happy ending is going to be “oh I completely and fully accept you and magic is going to be legal from now on”, and that just feels fake. Oh yeah, and the soulmate thing. I know that the show decided to forget about it, but like, wouldn’t it logically influence Arthur’s reaction? Like I’m not even sure if he would be physically capable of turning against Merlin. But that might be just my personal interpretation.
Yes, a whole year late. Gosh. My sincerest apologies to the mod who made the mistake of entrusting me with this lol. And ofc to the winner who had to wait on me the whole time. It gave me more trouble than I expected, and I think I switched brushes like, three times during the process…. Anyway. Even though I probably should’ve been nagged about it a bit, I nevertheless appreciate your patience. So thank you. I hope it’s at least a little bit worth the wait.
