#merlin and arthur

[treasureguardingdragon]

this is my first entry for @bbcmerlin-reversebang or any other fandom event!! it was so fun to make this and get snippits to read as i went along!!

make sure to read the fic here because why wouldn’t you?? its merlin and friendship and space?? government conspiracies and sci fi rebellions?? the futuristic merlin ending we needed??!

here are my art contributions (alongside a cyborg aithusa sketch cause i got carried away)

~~~

the merlin fandom can always use more sci fi fics, and the wonderfully talented just_snakess had all the best ideas from the get go and was so fun to work with (i blame them for encouraging cyborg aithusa and i will never headcanon differently now)

LINK—just in case ppl missed it the first time! summary:

The year is 2372. When King Arthur finally returns, Merlin is on the other side of the solar system, and is helpless to prevent him being swept up by the government.

Thus begins a journey across the solar system, crossing paths with crimelords, rebel leaders, and very, very old friends. Will it be enough to free Arthur? Or will the Once and Future King fall victim to a mysterious plot that threatens the very border between life and death?

[happypeachsludgeflower]

And I’m obsessed with merlin being in the trunk

[silverdrws]

time traveling au inspired by this post by @mountmortar

feat. confused af arthur and tired at life merlin

more of this au

[tiredcowboyy]

sometimes I wake up In a cold sweat thinking about the idea that kilgharrah was just using merlin to get the outcome he wanted which was to end the pendragon bloodline. That he knew how it would end and that without merlin it wouldnt all occur, so he convinces him that all his decisions will help save arthur knowing damn well where it leads them.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Arthur: I want to wake up to you every day for the rest of our lives.

Merlin: I wake up at sunrise.

Arthur: …

Arthur: I want to see you at a reasonable time every morning for the rest of our lives.

Merlin: I could always laze in bed till you wake up.

Arthur, knowing that will more than likely mean waking up to Merlin playing with his hair every morning: Perfect. Yes. Do that.

[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.

[lostwarllock]

Words cannot describe how much this warlock means to me--

[adhd-merlin]

ladies and gentlemen, the most powerful sorcerer on earth

[larluce]

Merlin traveling back in time to save Arthur AU but with a twist!!

Merlin makes it to the sidhes, bringing a barely breathing Arthur with him. As expected, they ask for a price and Merlin offers his life, ignoring Arthur's protests.

Sidhe1: You're inmortal you can't die

Sidhe2: And even if you could, killing you would mean killing magic itself, therefore killing the earth itself.

Merlin: (crying desperate) I don't care! Take what you need! My blood, my magic, anything! Just save him!

Sidhe1: (smiling evily) I might know just the thing.

They never tell him what are they going to take from him, but he agrees. The sidhes start the ritual, while Arthur just keeps pleading weakely

Merlin: (smiling) If I somehow don't come back-

Arthur: (crying) Stop! Merlin don't do this. Please!

Merlin: I just want you to know that I love you.

Before Arthur can answer the ritual ends and Merlin blacks out.

When he wakes up he is in his way to Camelot in his old clothes and 10 years younger. He soon discovers he's been brought back to the very first day he met Arthur. He's confused. Have the Sidhes taken from him years of his life as a price? It doesn't make sense to him, but he decides to take advantage of this to prevent some things from happening.

Time goes by and while, in general, all events are repeating, not everything is happening as he remembers. Some people arrive in his live early, like Lancelot or Gawain. And Arthur treats him better? Like he says thank you to him more often and listens to him more. Merlin thinks it’s weird, but brushes it off thinking it’s due to the changes he's been making that some things are not quite the same.

Then the day comes when he finally reveals his magic to Arthur. He cries and Arthur hugs him telling everything its okey. Nothing its going to happen to him. Shortly after however Arthur also has a confession.

Arthur: I already knew.

Merlin: What?! Since when?

Arthur: the very start.

Merlin: How? I've been careful! More careful than before!

Arthur: Because you told me before. Well, not really before, but in the future. It’s complicated.

Merlin: Wait... you are from the future too?!

They are both surprised. They thought they were alone in this and it turns out they never were. Merlin cries all over again, apologazing for everything, for failing him, for not being able to save him, but-

Arthur: You did.

Merlin: ... What?

Arthur: You did save me.

Merlin: No, the sidhes tricked me. They sent us back in time-

Arthur: It was not them who did that. It was me.

Merlin: What... what are you saying?

Turns out what the ritual really did was turn Merlin into a small tree in exchange for saving Arthur’s life. A magic tree that would grow taller and taller and never die and whose ruts would expand making magic florish in the earth forever. Arthur of course was really upset after that. He demanded the sidhes to turn Merlin back but they only told him "what's done it's done" and that all he could do was pick the tree up before the roots growed if he wanted to move it elsewhere.

Arthur put the tree in a pot and brought it back to Camelot. Everyone was devasted with the news but they were also glad their king was alive and safe. No one blamed him, but Arthur always blamed himself. He repealed the ban as soon as he could and made sure everyone knew Merlin's involvement in the battle and later the other things he find out Merlin did for Camelot through Gaius. He made an anual event and a statue in Merlin's honor. Camelot slowly but surely welcomed magic again and became the most prosperous kingdom in the land.

Merlin: Oh...I don't remember being a tree.

Arthur: Yeah, I figured.

Merlin: But you repealed the ban! That's great! Magic was free again in the-wait... so why did you do all this if everything was fine? And how did you do it?

Arthur: Everything was NOT fine Merlin. You weren't there!

Merlin: (utterly confused) I was. As a tree.

Arthur: You know what I mean! You were there but you weren't. We mourned you but you were still alive. I kept you in that pot for longer that I should have because I wanted to keep you close all the time, yet looking at you was so painful... Gwen had to scold me into finally plant you in the garden so you could grow properly. I was broken inside, while trying to rule a kingdom. I kingdom we should have ruled together from the start!

Merlin: ...

Merlin: You're telling me you somehow traveled us back in time and throw away the golden age, your dream of uniting all Albion and all you worked hard for... just because you missed me?

Arthur: And because I couldn't say it back.

Merlin: What?

Arthur: That I love you too.

NEXT PART OF THIS AU HERE -> PART 2

[inamagicalhallucination]

merlin and arthur should have planned on getting married for a really dumb and random reason and then realized that they were in love with each other on their wedding day

lemme explain

arthur is sick and tired of people throwing themselves at him while he’s trying to do his kingly duties

and also he’s sick and tired of his advisers talking about how he should marry

and he wishes he could get rid of all of this

and then he’s like “oh my fucking god im a genius”

and he goes to merlin and is like “will you marry me to get all these suitors off my back”

and merlins like ????

but then he’s like “wait itll be so much easier to do all the illegal shit i do if i don’t have to say ‘actually i have a permit to do whatever the fuck i want curtesy of king arthur’ and have them doubt me and try and get me jailed anyway and can just be like “um the king MY HUSBAND said i could”

and he’s like “yeah sure lets get married”

so they announce it to everyone and literally no one’s surprised surprised

most of them are like omg finally 

leon thinks that he’ll finally get a moment of peace now that these two arent pining

he’s wrong

no but everyones like omg called it

because merthurs so obvious

to everyone but merthur ofc

and merlin adn arthur plan their wedding and to make it “authentic” looking they both try their best 

and they go through the whole thing; they stay married

and then like 3 months in theyre like “wait our marriage as besties is turning really romantic” and confess

like it takes them a wedding, and spending months as a married couple to like realize

anyway i think its funny

[smolbeanmerlin]

[wishiwasadruid]

Arthur: I never understood why people cared so much about their dumb friends until I got a dumb friend myself.

Arthur: *Picks up Merlin *

Arthur: I’ve only befriended Merlin for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then my self.

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Unrealistic that all these magic reveal merthur au’s out there have Merlin remembering enough of his life to be able to recap the entirety of the show to Arthur without leaving anything out all in one go.

magic reveal fanfic’s:

Merlin: my magic’s for you arthur. Its only for you. *proceeds to give chronological order of events starting at ep1 all the way up to the reveal*

10x funnier and more likely:

Merlin: *months or years after the reveal* so anyway, there I was, tied to a tree, and a serkhet stings me, right?

Arthur: *spluttering* I’m sorry what

[thevillanonyan]

Merlin is trending

Tumblr veterans:

Tumblr:

Merlin fans:

[tiredcowboyy]

I like the idea that if camlan never happened and everyone lived happily every after, when arthur figured out merlin has magic he decides to repeal the ban on magic. And people realise why. Shortly after its been repealed, people start asking merlin to ask the king for things, on behalf of himself.

E.g “hey arthur, I think maybe we should plant more flowers around the town” “i think it would be a good idea to move the knights training to midday.” “Arthur I was thinking maybe the kitchen could do with new supplies”

And every time arthur agrees, sure he might pick the ideas apart or pretend they were his own ideas but everyone quickly learns that if you want something, you dont ask the king, you ask merlin.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Arthur: *tapping on the table during a council meeting*

Merlin: *tapping back while rolling his eyes*

Councillor: What are they doing?

Leon: Morse code. We needed some way to get through these meetings without one of them getting mad and yelling at the other.

Councillor: Isn’t that one just a servant?

Leon: *about to put his head through a table*

Arthur: *stops mid tap and glares* You take that back you fossilised fuck! Actually, stand up, you’re off the council. Merlin, sit down. Even your idiocy doesn’t come close to his.

Leon: You and Merlin still need to argue in morse code, even if he’s got a seat.

Merlin: Yes, Leon.

Arthur: Yes, Leon.