#merlinswanprincess

[seawolvesanddragons]

Merlin Swan Princess AU

Ok, Merlin Swan Princess AU. So, in this AU Uther died instead of Ygraine when Arthur was very young (YAY) and Balinor, as a powerful Dragonlord, is one of Ygraine's closest supporters, and she becomes close with Hunith. About a two years after Arthur is born, Hunith dies in childbirth) and Merlin is born. Balinor is very upset, obviously, but does love his son. However, he and Ygraine are both concerned about the current political climate - Camelot is seen as weak because of its Queen Regent and two year old heir, and Ygraine fears that enemies will fall upon them or go after Arthur, or that Arthur will inherit a dying kingdom. Meanwhile, dragons and dragonlords are getting a bad rep in other kingdoms b/c kings mistrust their power and dragons are scary, and Balinor fears his kind will be hunted. So Ygraine and Balinor come up with a beneficial deal - they will help each other out. They dismiss the idea of them getting married b/c Ygraine still loves Uther and Balinor Hunith but Balinor pledges his support, his clan's support, and Kilgharrah's support to Camelot. In return, Ygraine declares Camelot a safe haven for dragonlords, druids, etc. To keep this arrangement fresh in the minds of the people/other kingdoms, Balinor decides that every summer, he and Merlin will stay in Camelot. If he had to travel on business, than Merlin would still stay with Gaius. 

The deal is great - it gives Ygraine some extra security, and Balinor is pleased that Merlin will have some semblance of a permanent home and a maternal figure at least 4 months of the year. Plus, they both privately hope that if the boys become friends, then the truce will continue. Well, private to each other. They stress to Arthur and Merlin that they really SHOULD get along, for the good of the kingdom/the dragonlord clan, etc. Except, well...Arthur and Merlin? Do NOT get along. Seriously. While Merlin adores Gaius and likes Ygraine and ok Camelot can be pretty cool, he still dreads the summers when he is forced to try and get along with Arthur, who only cares about knights and sword training and riding horses. Merlin doesn't get the big deal about riding horses, he can ride dragons and that is MUCH more exciting. Arthur, meanwhile, is frustrated that this kid (yes, Mother, KID, he is only 5 and I am SEVEN. I am old enough to be a page!) is his responsibility to entertain, especially when Ygraine lets on that it is so Arthur can have the support of the dragonlords in the future and yeah, Balinor is cool and all but Arthur is going to be the King of Camelot, what kind of King can't defend his own people. (Plus there's a jealousy thing b/c Arthur doesn't have a dad and Merlin doesn't have a mom but they are both too emotionally young to really understand that.) So they spend their summers trying to avoid each other, Arthur with the knights and Merlin by learning with Gaius and practicing magic. Morgana, when she arrives, splits her time between the two of them, but she always gives a little extra time to Merlin (she sees Arthur ALL YEAR) and Merlin makes Gwen less uncomfortable, so that also tips the scales. Arthur dislikes this because Morgana is HIS friend. When they both turn out to be magic, well, that's even more annoying. As they get older, more issues are cropping up among dragonlords and Balinor leaves Merlin in Camelot alone during the summer more and more, which Merlin does NOT like. And okay, they probably share and adventure or two, but they do NOT like each other at all, not friends, ok, so shut up Leon. And Gwen. And Morgana. Then one summer when Arthur is 17 and Merlin is 15 and Merlin wishes Arthur luck before a tourney and Arthur sees Merlin practicing magic for a few peasant children who came to Camelot during the famine and distracting them from their hunger, and okay, maybe they other isn't so bad. And they are both old enough to sit in on the Council meetings now and do so regularly, and find themselves working together to solve a crisis or something. So they are not friends - they snipe and everything at each other, but things are at least slightly more cordial to each other. So the end of the summer comes, and Balinor returns on Kilgharrah (who always is giving Arthur strange looks, no one understands it) in time to literally spend one day and then pick up Merlin. He and Ygraine watch the boys barely interact at the farewell feast and Arthur doesn't say goodbye to the next morning, he is already at training so the two sigh and give up on those two ever actually being friends, and Balinor mentions that they will be back next summer, but Merlin is also going to start accompanying him when he leaves to smooth things over. Unbeknownst to them Arthur is lurking behind the palace wall, trying to decide whether it would be awkward or not to say goodbye again, and doesn't know how he feels about that and boom then they are gone. And everything returns to normal in Camelot for about a day. Then Morgana wakes up SCREAMING from a nightmare and Arthur, as the only one who can calm her down besides Gwen, is trying to help when she gets out enough to say that Merlin and Balinor are in danger and woah who knew Arthur could run that fast? And within a half hour, Arthur, Leon, Elyan, Lancelot and Percival are out searching for the Dragonlord, the Dragon, and his son. Its past daybreak when they finally see Kilgharrah flying away in the distance, no riders, crying mournfully. They go to where they saw him take off of and find a dying Balinor. Merlin is nowhere to be seen. Balinor lives just long enough to tell Arthur "the beast..it has Merlin. It’s not what you expect." and then in true unhelpfully vague dying plot device fashion, dies. For a month, Camelot and the dragonclan search, Arthur and his knights leading the fray. But as time passes, and Kilgharrah fails to return, and Morgana sees nothing, they all assume Merlin is also dead. Except Arthur. Arthur is convinced that Merlin is still alive, that he is counting on their rescue. He goes to Gaius, who admits that it would be hard to kill a warlock of Merlin's abilities, but also hard to hold him captive. He goes to Morgana, who says yeah maybe something is blocking her Sight, something is off, but Arthur have you eaten anything today you need to slow down. And Leon and the Knights find themselves suddenly training WAY more than usual, and patrols increased and still going on search parties, which ok they are fine with, they liked Merlin, Lancelot was especially close, but let’s be realistic here. But Arthur refuses, because Merlin is a kind and decent kid and he swore to Balinor he would find him. Merlin, meanwhile, is being held captive by the Sidhe, who want Merlin to use his dragonlord/magic powers to help them conquer all of Albion, including Camelot and the dragonclans and the druids. Merlin said "hell no" , refused to summon any dragons and great,the sidhe have crazy powerful magic and now Merlin is cursed to be an actual merlin, like, the bird, during the day (Alvar thinks he's SOOO funny) and only be human at night, and they used some ancient Sidhe dark magic chain to keep his magic bound. At least he has Gwaine, the captured knight errant whose blood the Sidhe keep using for their "noble blood needed rituals"  and Mordred, a druid changeling who is SO not up for this Sidhe nonsense but is also 10 and scared to leave on his own, to keep him company. A whole year passes. Arthur is supposed to become king soon but is ignoring the coronation preparations because he has to find Merlin. Finally, FINALLY Kilgharrah answers Arthur's persistent call to COME HELP YOU GIANT LIZARD and gives him MORE vague instructions on Merlin and how to help. When Arthur is king he is outlawing vague statements. So Arthur and Leon go on a "hunting" trip where Arthur sees a merlin. Like, a really magnificent merlin. Leon is about to strike it down when Arthur is like wait MAYBE THIS IS THE SIGN KILGARRAH MEANT and follows the bird, Leon wandering behind him wondering wtf is going on. They follow the bird for fucking miles. Until they reach a really pretty looking lake with a convenient rowboat to get to the island in the middle and Arthur uses it and good lords above, the BIRD JUST TURNED INTO MERLIN. Arthur, who has spent a year trying to find Merlin, suddenly isn't sure what to do (do they hug? They never hugged before but Arthur really really REALLY wants to hug him right now) and Merlin doesn't know why Arthur has crossed his mind so much in the past year (its because its too painful to think about his father, and Kilgharrah, and Camelot was some of the best times of his life, and Arthur was undeniably part of Camelot. That’s all right? No other reasons...) but now they are both kinda awkward around each other. Leon is still recovering from the whole bird thing. So, Leon thinks, ok, found him, didn't even need to fight beast, weird that he was a bird but we can go now right? But Arthur feels this was too easy, and yep, now Merlin is talking about a curse, and this fellow Gwaine (...why does Arthur suddenly feel jealous) is backing it up, and now there's a ten year old staring at them while hiding behind a tree, and essentially Merlin is cursed and can't leave the island unless in bird form and according to Mordred the only way to break a Sidhe curse is with something so powerful and true even magic can't withstand it. "A Great Sacrifice" he calls it. Helpful kid, really. Arthur is determined to not leave without Merlin but now it is daylight and the Sidhe are coming and Arthur go NOW and Leon is dragging him off when a wild burst of magic transports them both to the other side of the lake right as the Sidhe arrive and Merlin is let wondering "wait was that my magic? Since when can I do that again? " The Sidhe aren't stupid, and figure out what is going on, and are going to go after Arthur when Merlin tells them to wait. Tells them he's changed his mind, he'll call Kilgharrah and give them use of his dragon and his warlock blood willingly but they can't go after Arthur. The Sidhe agree, and it is decided the ritual will take place at midnight. Gwaine and Mordred are NOT okay with this plan and Gwaine decides he has to escape to get Arthur to help. He is caught in doing so though and Mordred has to summon up his courage to escape and find Arthur. He gets to Camelot and after finding Arthur and being overwhelmed by all the people (Arthur's coronation is the next day) he tells Arthur what Merlin has done. Arthur leaves, essentially blowing off his coronation, with the help of Morgana and Gwen, who he leaves Mordred with. He also tells Morgana that if anything happens, he knows she will take care of Camelot. Arthur is halfway through the forest on horse when Kilgharrah shows up, asking Arthur why suddenly the future was going dark, and hey, apparently Arthur has a freaking DESTINY to unite Albion. Arthur would really like to be kept in the damn loop on these things. So Kilgharrah takes Arthur to the island, Gwaine helps him fight their way to the ritual, and they get there right before Merlin is about to call Kilgharrah already and be ritualistically sacrificed. So Arthur offers himself in Merlin's place. Blood of the once and future king, tempting right? Conceived of magic and the blood of kings and destiny running through his brain, that's way better than anything else. (somewhere above them, Kilgharrah is muttering "this is NOT why I told you about your destiny you idiotic prince"). Merlin is shouting that he can't DO that he has a kingdom to run, he had Camelot and his mother and Morgana and Arthur just responds that Morgana and Ygraine can take care of Camelot, but he made a promise to Merlin that he would save him and that was what he as going to do, because his life is not worth anything if he can't save Merlin.   The Sidhe are like, fine, whatever, blood of kings lets go, and prepare to ritual sacrifice. Arthur lies on the table, prepares to die, and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Turns out, that whole "true sacrifice thing" needed to break the curse? Apparently, Arthur giving up his kingdom and his life to save the one he loved fits the bill. Merlin's magic is back. And Merlin? yeah, he's PISSED. There are not many Sidhe who escape his wrath alive, and those that do return straight to Avalon. Merlin, Gwaine, and Arthur return to Camelot on Kilgarrah, missing Arthur's coronation by hours, but hey, they can just reschedule it tonight right? (Ygraine is not amused but is also so happy at seeing Merlin she can't really be angry. Morgana is delighted as well, and when she sees how Arthur keeps looking over at him, whispers to him smugly "I saw this in my dreams, you know.") So Arthur is crowned King, and Merlin is right there to witness it, and the first thing Arthur does is knight Gwaine. Later, Merlin and Arthur escape the festivities to a balcony for some quiet, where Merlin pledges Arthur the loyalty of his dragonclan, but Arthur says he doesn't need any armies or dragonclans, as long as Merlin stays by his side. (Kilgharrah, Morgana, Gwen, and the knights all groan loudly from where they are hiding and eavesdropping.) Arthur and Merlin then go off to unite Albion and everything is happily ever after!