#magic reveal?

[zoyalaaai]

#5 of random merlin prompts

s04e08: Lamia

Episode AU where Gwen is also under the Lamia‘s influence and Merlin has to fight the monster alone as he endures the treatment of the knights and Gwen. But this time Arthur shows up earlier and seems strangely unaffected. Eventually Merlin figures out that it’s because Arthur was born of the high priestess’s magic, somewhat similar to the Lamia, while they try to save their friends.

possibly:

protective arthur when he realizes how badly everyone treated merlin

the Knights/Gwen under the Lamia’s influence playing on Arthur’s insecurities if he’s a worthy king <- Merlin reassuring him

Arthur thinking he’s unaffected because he’s already madly in love ( with Gwen Merlin)

(Oblivious) Merlin worried about him because following that logic, Gwen‘s feelings for him aren’t as strong as she‘s affected by the Lamia.

Pining Idiots in love trying to outprotect each other from the monster & safe their friends

magic reveal ?? & bamf merlin / bamf arthur

[lilithmoonmagicusers]

I’m trying to find this fanfiction from the bbc merlin. Idk if it’s real or I’m having a fever breakdown. But it had the knights, Arthur and merlin going through each of their worst pain, and gwaines and Merlin’s friendship and protectiveness was cute. But they were all like chained up and merlin went last but merlin was like “wow that was painful, hahaha I had worse” to when he felt someone else pain. I just wanted to reread it again.

[hopelessromantic5]

“You would choose Merlin over your sovereign?” Frustration was present in his tone but it gave no indication of what Arthur wanted the answer to be.

So, instead, Leon told the King the truth.

“No, sire. We would choose Merlin because you are our sovereign.” Arthur was taken aback at that. “If we allowed any harm to befall Merlin, even by your own hand, you would never forgive us, Arthur.”

At once, Arthur knew Leon was right.

[counting-stars-gayly]

Sometimes, I think about how Merlin purposefully turned Arthur against magic twice—the first time to save his soul and the second to save his life—so when he finally told Arthur he was a sorcerer, it was the ultimate bamboozle.

“How could the bumbling idiot I’ve known all these years have been my greatest protector the whole time?” Yeah, sure. But also: “How could a sorcerer have chosen me over magic? Over his own freedom and the freedom of those like him? Over the gods who created him and the religion that saves him?” It’s one thing to die for someone and another thing entirely to give up who you are for them.

Obviously, Merlin was wrong, and that’s why playing God had an effect opposite to what he’d intended. But I think it’s so interesting to consider how Arthur might have viewed this confession. He was betrayed by Morgana because she loved herself more than her own brother and betrayed by Uther because he loved himself more than his own son. And all of this while Merlin, at first, fell in love with the cause and, then, even more with the man behind it. His loyalty to and love for Arthur was so pure it turned sinful, and I don’t think Arthur would have ever gotten over that. If he hadn’t died.

[abisalli]

sometimes he forgets the power behind his magic and goes a bit overboard-

[thefabledpheasant]

The reason they couldn’t do an earlier magic reveal is because if Arthur had seen the way Merlin’s eyes turn into pools of starlight when he does magic, Arthurs defenses would’ve fallen and allowed him to realize everything he ever needed was standing right in front of him and everything would’ve fallen into place for them to build the Camelot they dreamed of.

But this is a tragedy.

[theroundbartable]

Imagine Arthur and Merlin end up in another kingdom for a peace treaty and their king demands that Arthur prove his convictions on magic.

After all, they didn't want to aid a hesitant king.

So, they put a sorceress to the pyre, claiming she'd used magic.

It's the first time during Arthur's reign that something like this happens and Arthur hardens his expression. Especially when Agravaine reminds him what he's meant to do it for. Arthur's seen through these before, so he tries to endure it.

Merlin, however, can't watch this. Not when Arthur is king. Not straight up burning her at the pyre, so he moves to stand between the pyre and the foreign king. : I'm begging you, let her go!

King: "you let this servant speak up against you like that?!"

Arthur: "I apologize, he can be a bit thick in the head and he has a heart for druids. Merlin, please-"

Merlin: *growls* "I'm not speaking up against Arthur, I'm speaking out to YOU! You have to stop this! She's innocent!

King: *laughs*. Boy, you have no authority here! This woman is one of my citizen! I can do with her as I please!

Merlin: *snaps* The druids are nomads. They live in the forests, not your kingdoms.

King: the forests are part of my kingdom! If the druids want an advocate for their rights, Show me THEIR king.

Merlin: *freezes* wait, what did you say?

Arthur: Merlin, come back here, only the king of the druids may speak up for this woman -

Merlin: *gasps*. Hold on. You mean, Emrys has authority as king? He's a sovereign?

Arthur: yes, Merlin. Of course he is. Although he's a legend, he's technically royalty.

Merlin: *groans* seriously? Why on earth does no one ever fucking tell me these things?! *Takes deep breath* well then, I guess I have no choice.

Arthur: good, now-

Merlin: I'm no longer asking. I demand you let her go.

King: excuse you?!

Merlin: *eyes blazing with magic* Let. Her. Go.

[hayaku14]

this is so fucking on brand LMAO (x)

[an-entity-i-think]

Magic reveal in a terrible situation except whenever it's over and Merlin saved Arthur and the knights hes so tired and upset and angry and overwhelmed and he just sort of turns to denial and

"No." Merlin shakes his head slowly and then more sure.

Everyone looks at him appalled but before Arthur can even open his mouth, he's interrupted by tiny nervous giggles from Merlin rocking back and forth in front of them before stopping abruptly and looking up determinedly.

"No. You all-" he points at the knights (who only flinch a little thank you), "-are you going to pretend you never saw that and then- then!" Merlin says a little hysterically pointing at Arthur now who can't help but take a step back and the look in his eyes.

"You! Are going to wait and then when the time is RIGHT just like I PLANNED I will tell you I have magic! And it will be the perfect moment! And it'll be when I'm ready and I'll tell you everything and it'll be SAFE and and- and you'll be upset but you'll understand and this is just-" Merlin screams a little to himself making everyone's eyes widen.

Merlin looks down with his eyes closed and takes a long breath.

He looks up at them looking like he's about to cry before saying desperately in a small voice, "You guys didn't see anything, right?"

Silence greets him before Gwaine cuts in, in a much less boisterous voice than usual, "I didn't see anything." Looking at the knights beside him, he elbows Elyan in the ribs causing a grunt.

Wincing at the pain, "I don't know what you're talking about." Elyan looks at the others with a very obvious look of 'your turn'.

Percival shrugs solemnly, "I was blinded by the sun."

Leon looks hesitantly over to Arthur before straightening his shoulders, "It must have been a trick of the light."

Merlin's shoulders relax a little as he nods to himself before everyone looks to Arthur.

Arthur looks at his knights and then back to his trembling manservant before looking to the ground and then to the sky.

"We were simply lucky as we always are."

Merlin breaths and everyone ignores the tears falling down his cheek as he turns around.

[happypeachsludgeflower]

It would be delightful if a fed up Arthur went on a journey to find Merlin who, according to Gaius, is at the tavern again, only to start realizing that Merlin has literally never been to the tavern because no one knows who Merlin is (or at the very least they’re insistent that Merlin’s never been there.)

[quotidian-oblivion]

How I picture Leon finds out that Merlin has magic:

Merlin was tired.

Not because of the abundance of chores and the fatigue that came from running around after yet another assassin, but because he hadn't used his magic at all for the past month. Yes, even with the presence of the assassin. Gwaine had fortunately been there to knock the guy out and throw him in the dungeons, catching him red-handed.

He had been trying to stay as cautious as possible, which was why he hadn't used magic in such a long time.

But the fact was - Merlin was born with magic. It was as natural as breathing to him. So when he didn't use magic for an extended period of time, he would get tired.

He needed to use magic. Just a small bit.

He would do it in the safety of his room, but he was currently carrying Arthur's armor to his chambers from the training field and it was heavy and he was so so tired and- well, it would only be a small spell.

He put the armor down, checked that no one was around, then held up a palm. His eyes flashed gold and a small fire appeared on top of it.

Just because he had missed his magic, he flashed his eyes gold and made the flame morph into a butterfly. He smiled as it slowly flapped its wings, staying on Merlin's palm.

Then Merlin heard a gasp and he snapped his head to the newcomer.

The thing about knights was that they were trained to be as quiet as possible even in armor. It was required for certain missions as well as hunting. But armor was impossible to be quiet, so Merlin, having spent a significant amount of time with them, had trained himself to automatically hear when they were approaching. And since they were always in their armor anyway, even sleeping in it sometimes, he had relied on that to alert him of anyone crossing the hallway.

After all, anyone else - servants and nobles alike - wouldn't bother quieting their footsteps while walking.

If they did, it would be because of malicious intent so it wouldn't matter if they saw Merlin or not.

But occasionally - very very occassionally - knights walked around without their armor.

That, combined with their light footsteps and silent movements, had caught Merlin unaware.

So when he snapped his head over to look at Leon staring with wide eyes at the butterfly made of flame in his hand, Merlin was surprised. More than that, he was afraid.

The two of them froze, with Leon's gaze on the fire butterfly and Merlin's on Leon, standing rigidly like deers caught in the wild.

Then Leon raised his eyes from the butterfly to Merlin, then back to the butterfly, then back to Merlin again-

Before he spun on his heel and walked the other way whistling jovially like he hadn't seen anything.

Merlin was still frozen like a deer. He didn't move until several minutes later when he did hear armor clinking against each other. That was when he got rid of the butterfly and hefted the armor up, walking back to his room, leaving Arthur's armor in favor of panicking.

~

When Merlin met Leon in the armory that evening, he tried to approach him. Leon, recognizing what Merlin was trying to do, let him, moving into a secluded changing room far from the armory with the other knights and squires and pages.

Leon nodded at Merlin in greeting when Merlin closed the door.

"Leon," Merlin started. "What you saw-"

"That you were shirking Arthur's chores? No worries. I didn't give you away before, I won't do so now."

Merlin blinked. "What?"

Leon sighed. "Look, Merlin. I don't get paid enough, even as a knight. Not with all those missions and calamities that keep getting Arthur into trouble. So I refuse to deal with anything above my paygrade. Even you avoiding chores."

Merlin blinked again.

Leon clapped a hand on his shoulder, and with a smile, left the room.

Merlin looked after the knight, wondering for the first time, exactly how many times the knight had committed or aided or turned a blind eye against treason for him to be this casual about it.

[ryllen]

[treasureguardingdragon]

i like the idea of a fic where arthur finds out about merlin’s magic, then all of a day passes and arthur has absentmindedly revealed it to half the kingdom

and merlin is so unbelievably frustrated because he managed to keep his secret for YEARS but arthur couldn’t even manage a single day??

and arthur just feeling really embarrassed about having accidentally mentioned merlins magic to five separate people on five separate occasions without realising it

[merthur-she-wrote]

Prompt:

Arthur’s known about Merlin’s magic almost from the beginning.

When he first discovered it, he tried to warn Merlin, discreetly - commenting on the dangers of magic without addressing Merlin’s magic specifically so he won’t have to arrest him. Over time though, he slowly learns - from Merlin - that magic isn’t all that his father has always claimed.

After this, it becomes a bit of a game to them; Arthur warning Merlin about magic, and Merlin coming up with the most outrageous of stories to try to explain it away.

But then the day comes when Arthur realises that Merlin never knew that Arthur always knew the truth.

[merrilinie]

Things I like to think would happen if the Knights and co knew about Merlin’s magic (and merthur):

• “Merlin, can you do the fire trick with the dragon again?”

• “I’m not drying your clothes, Gwaine. You chose to go in the river fully clothed, you pay the price.”

• Merlin making them flower crowns and them bullying Arthur into wearing his

• Everyone asking him if he can make them fly

• Merlin pretending he can talk to the horses and making them think him and the horses are shit talking

• Him and Gwen pretending to do chores together but really he magicked it and they’re just having a nice evening

• Merlin and Morgana having lessons in the forest while the knights what over so none one spits them

• “No, I can’t read minds.” One of the knights, “oh, okay.” *realises they didn’t ask that out loud.* “WAIT-“

• Merlin and Arthur cuddling together at night accidentally and everyone knows because Merlin’s magic is safe now and leaves a patch of flowers under him when he sleeps

• Merlin creating plants with his magic so he doesn’t have to spend so much time gathering herbs for Gaius

• the Knights and Gwen taking this a step further and making a garden of herbs for him and Gaius

• Arthur realising they should have done that years ago and putting the royal funds into it despite Uthers annoyance

• Morgana and Merlin being taught how to fight with swords (even if she already knows a fair bit) so they can protect themselves with something other than magic

• the two of them then teaching Gwen because they both think she’d be an amazing knight

• Gaius having a mini heart attack whenever he hears Merlin and the Knights talking about magic

• them realising he’s insecure about his healing magic because it’s the hardest form of magic and being sure to praise him whenever he does it or any other form of healing

• After Merlin and Arthur finally get together, his magic doesn’t want to leave him alone and so when he does his little fire show for them it instantly goes to Arthur and the others get jealous

• after an attack and Merlin nearly gets hurt, Arthur ‘forces’ his Knights to be sworn to Merlin with Merlin’s staff and so technically, they’re also his Knights and Merlin is a royal

• The druids instantly knowing this and calling him a prince

• the knights going along with it

• After a while the Knights (who know how) begin to teach the Druids things like reading and currency

• everyone teasing Merlin by saying his magic has a crush on Arthur despite the two being together already

• he blushes every time

• Merlin openly enchanting their amour to be stronger and magic proof

• him giving Gwen and Morgana matching necklaces that are also enchanted that they keep hidden

• all of them are so impressed with his power but then they are just straight dumfounded because like… how the fuck did he keep this hidden for so long?

• Growing strawberries once he sees how much Gwen loves them and they are really rare

• tricking the Knights into thinking he can talk to ghost just to laugh at their faces

• Just constantly embarrassed by the Druids cause they see him as a god or, as the knights point out, as a king and the Knights decide that means he’s Arthur’s wife and Queen of Camelot

• Arthur making this worse by saying, “Queen or Consort?”

• Merlin flicking water in his face despite none being near them

I’ll add more as I think of them :)

[amidnightjen]

It was in that unfortunate moment that Merlin realised he was in love with an idiot.

“I’m sorry, you did what?” Merlin asked flatly.

“In my defence - ”

“No,” Merlin cut him off before he could finish that sentence because there was simply no way Arthur was talking himself out of this.

“Well, really - ”

“No,” Merlin said again.

“I think you’re being very unreasonable about this Merlin,” Arthur protested. “It was an honest mistake, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“No.”

“Merlin.”

“There’s no getting out of this,” Merlin snapped.

“Of course there is,” Arthur dismissed. “They can’t seriously…” he trailed off at Merlin’s stony look. “Merlin,” he began, and now he sounded hesitant and unsure, “did I marry a member of the sidh today?”

“Yes,” Merlin confirmed. “By accident. Apparently.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” But the expression on Merlin’s face must have finally registered because he said, “Surely there’s a way out of this.”

There was. Of course there was, it was going to be tricky and awkward and involve him saying words to Arthur he’d never planned on saying out loud. But a marriage contract with the sidh? Even an accidental one - and don’t think they wouldn’t be talking about how that even came about - was binding in ways beyond the standard laws. To get out of this was going to require something deeper and stronger.

Merlin gave a pained sound. Why did he always end up being the one to rescue Arthur from this sort of thing?

“Do you love me?” He asked, blunt and to the point because the moon would be rising soon and they were short on time.

“What? Merlin? What are you talking about?”

“Arthur this is very important, it won’t work unless you tell me the absolute truth.”

“What won’t work? You’re not making any sense.”

“Do you love me?” Merlin repeated his question and this probably should have been a very lovely and emotional moment but instead they were sitting around a campfire and Merlin was very aware that the other knights were blatantly eavesdropping when they were supposed to be very studiously not paying attention.

“Merlin,” Arthur managed to make his name sound like a threat.

“Arthur, I’m serious.”

For all that Merlin had hoped his feelings might be returned, he’d genuinely never thought they’d be having a conversation like this.

But Arthur finally seemed to realise Merlin wasn’t playing around because he swallowed, looked everywhere but at Merlin before he seemed to find it in himself to say, “Yes.”

“Right, then.’ Merlin stood from the log he’d been sitting on and said, “Please don’t kill me after this,” and then summoning his magic around him, embracing his identity as Emrys, Merlin stormed off into the woods to stake his pre-existing claim on the idiot king of Camelot.

He’d have to deal with Arthur learning about his magic once he was done.