#you just KNOW arthur put leon in charge of training that day like

[thatgaywizardoverthere]

Arthur keeping tabs on Merlin day 1 so they can “accidentally” run into each other at the market

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

Arthur taking care of his friends when they're sick? (specifically Leon but also anyone else you want to add)

Aww🥺

He pretends not to care when Merlin is sick, but he definitely lightens his workload and spends ALL day secretly worrying about him. He keeps him in his chambers if he can, making up easy chores that Merlin can do sat in front of the hearth. If the servant genuinely needs time off, he'll happily give it, and extra (but he begs Gaius to just tell Merlin that it was the Physician's idea to give him a week instead of three days). If Merlin is PROPERLY sick, like a very real possibility he might die kind of sick, he drops everything to stay in Merlin’s room with him. He helps Gaius out in the Physician’s chambers (and is actually kind of good at it) and puts Leon/Morgana in charge for the foreseeable future. The Council thinks it’s stupid but Leon/Morgana tell them to stfu.

When Leon is sick, Arthur has to like... force him to take a few days off. He actually threatens to write a law about it, and the only thing that stops Leon arguing is that he knows Arthur would actually do it and that’s just embarrassing. He doesn’t tend to look after him himself, just because both of them would find it weird, but he does send Merlin to check on him/take him things like ten times a day. Merlin never complains because it’s kind of cute, if a little time consuming.

For Lance, Percival, Elyan, Mordred he’ll just tell them to their face to take time off if they need it, and they’ll do what he says, because they’re not stupid. Again, he doesn’t take on the care-taker role himself, but he’ll ask how they’re feeling if he sees them, and sends Merlin/Gaius/Gwen to check on them perhaps slightly more often than is technically necessary.

If Gwaine gets sick... Arthur really wants to tell him to take time off? Because he secretly cares quite a lot about his chaos friend?? But he knows that Gwaine would just take it as a challenge or an offense against his stamina or strength or something. So he has to send in Gaius or Merlin to be the ones to check up on him, with explicit instructions to tell Gwaine that he’s too sick for training/patrols. And then when Arthur “finds out” about this, he just shrugs his shoulders and goes “oh well. Can’t help being sick. Best listen to Gaius though, he’ll give you an earful if you don’t do what he says. See you around.” and that works most of the time.

With Morgana it’s very similar to Gwaine, in that Arthur knows she can and will perceive him caring as some sort of challenge/weakness on her part. But instead of Gaius she’ll send Gwen to tell her to take it easy, and Arthur pretends he hasn’t even noticed that she’s been in her rooms for a few days. He might check up on her very briefly, but he won’t coddle her or bring her anything, just smiles and wishes her better soon and leaves again. He definitely stealthily checks up on her though, like he interrogates Gwen and Gaius and Merlin and checks with the kitchens how much she’s eating and asks her guards if they heard her having any nightmares every morning. Morgana knows exactly what he’s doing, and Arthur probably knows that she knows, but neither of them mention it because they’re emotionally constipated when it comes to Sibling Bonding.

Gwen is similar to the knights in that she’ll listen if Arthur tells her to just relax and take some time off, and Morgana really won’t mind, BUT similar to Leon in that he still sends Merlin around to check on her like a billion times a day though. He worries easy, and he also knows that she’ll start working again if she can get away with it.

Gaius never gets sick. Ever. And if he did, Arthur would panic briefly because Oh No, That’s Dad™, but is otherwise “Meh. As if the reaper isn’t too frightened of Gaius to even attempt to take him anyway.”. He’d probably give Merlin time off to help out around the Physician’s chambers more and look after him.

~

Hope y’all enjoyed!!

[dandelionpixels]

here’s sum older stuff i found in my notes app about for merlin being rlly in tune with nature magic!!

- merlin knows gwen feels the same as he does sometimes, like camelot can be a little too stifling, the walls a little too close. so sometimes he’ll just show up at her door at like midnight with boots and a cloak and she’ll just pull on whatever clothes she has nearby and they’ll sneak out the gates to go running around in the woods. they trip over branches and sticks but they’ve got these dopey grins on their faces because it smells like fresh rain and flowers and they can feel the breeze on their face.

- after a couple incidences of them doing this, the knights started picking up on what was going on. they realized when merlin left to sneak around and when he brought extra clothes with him. but none of them could bring themselves to stop the two of them so they just made sure to conveniently be out of the way when the pair of them were trying to sneak out.

- sometimes when merlin goes out adventuring with people, it’s hard to tell whether the weather affects his mood, or his mood affects the weather. gwen and arthur have both been with him when he starts to get upset and it starts to pour, or when he smiles at the same time the sun comes out. they mostly chalk it up to coincidence.

- one of the first times arthur realized merlin was excellent in nature was during a battle. someone charged at merlin and without missing a beat, merlin practically scrambled up the nearest tree, sitting casually on a branch and kicking his feet lazily, a sing-song, “too high? my bad?”waving his mouth as the bandit jumped at his ankles. it took a minute before arthur remembered to stop the bandit, distracted by merlin’s carefree laughs from the three.

- one time merlin went missing for three days and came back riding on top of a moose. arthur was pretty sure moose didn’t even exist anywhere near camelot. despite that, the moose seemed perfectly content. merlin had laced vines and flowers around the antlers, making sure to be gentle. the other knights all wanted a turn.

- when he and arthur are out on a trip, sometimes merlin will disappear for fifteen minutes and return with a satchel full of different kinds of fruit. arthur never bothers to question it, he knows he won’t get an answer. at least not one that makes sense.

- when heading through fields of soft grass, merlin will constantly take his boots off, running and jumping a little higher than seemed natural. arthur just waved it off, he knew merlin liked being outside, who was he to stop him.

- merlin has a habit of being too risky when wandering through a forest. sometimes the knights or gwen will find him lying on his back, the wind knocked out of him from falling from the top of one of the trees. he always just smiles at their concerns, promising to be safer next time.

- arthur will deny it but there’s been times he’s envied merlin’s ability to heal so quickly. (between you and me, merlin just lays in the grass for an hour or two and lets the energy help him along the healing process)

- every once in a while, the knights will be patrolling and catch sight a quick sight of merlin in the forest. he’ll have leaves in his hair, mud on his face, completely barefoot. they’ve never been able to catch him, even with horses, and merlin likes to brag about it. he knows the forest like the back of his hands, and knows all the best places to run and hide.

- he also has a bad habit of biting into any mushroom he finds, just to find out if they’re poisonous. if they are, he can usually just wait it out or make himself an antidote, and if not, he’ll bring it back to gaius for possible remedies and recipes.

- sometimes merlin will bring small mirrors into the forest and hang them from branches, just for decoration. they’ve scared arthur on multiple occasions, which just means merlin hangs. more up.

- gwaine is the first to notice merlin’s odd habits. the way he’d smuggle field mice into the kitchen to get them some good food, only to sneak them back into nature the rest day. how when he tells the knights to be quiet, the birds seem to listen as well, stopping their singing to listen to his soft shushing. and gwaine could’ve sworn he’d seen merlin wink at a deer, eyes glowing softly.

- leon also has a feeling that merlin’s affinity for nature night not be just a random talent. his suspicions start to culminate when he watches merlin lean down to have what looks like a full conversation with a turtle resting on a rock, and then keep a butterfly perched on his finger for about an hour.

- and frankly, lancelot has walked straight into merlin on many occasions, mainly because merlin has a bad habit of hanging upside down from tree branches when he’s trying to think. lancelot’s tried it a couple times, to no avail.

- there’s no doubts left in elyan‘s mind when he sees merlin scale one of camelot’s walls with just a single vine and a grin on his face during the whole climb.

- percival,,well percival knows something’s up when merlin fully scales him in attempt to see the moon better. percival just put his hands out, trying to keep stable with merlin perched on his back. he looks towards the other knights, but they just shrug.

- arthur knows merlin doesn’t have the time to train real carrier pigeons, but every so often, arthur finds a bird tapping gently at his door with a note attached to its leg. he has a feeling merlin just asks nicely

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Dumb Luck

Prompt: the usual "Everyone knows Merlin has Magic but Merlin doesn't know they know" but Arthur's being really fucking thick about it. Everything that could possibly be magic Arthur has brushed off as luck or something. At some point Merlin realizes that the knights know (or maybe he's known all along) and the knights tell Merlin that Arthur knows but he's being stupid, which leads to Merlin performing increasingly extravagant/impressive/silly magic in front of Arthur until the point Arthur just asks if Merlin would like him to acknowledge the fact that he doesn't care that Merlin has magic

no brain cells for these boys, leon stop hoarding them

Read on Ao3

Warnings: none!

Pairings: merthur, can be platonic or romantic who tf knows

Word Count: 2943

Alright. Merlin’s going to be honest. Is the absolute best at hiding his magic from people? No. Is he a damn sight near better than some other bastards would be if they had his magic? Yes, yes, he is, thank you very much. They would do quite well to remember that he is magic, and he’s had it since he was born, so he knows what he’s doing when it comes to knowing that he has it. Yes, thank you, he doesn’t go around doing every single thing he could with magic because well, then he’d never get to do much of anything ever again.

And that would be boring.

But yes, maybe he’s a little petty or lazy sometimes. Honestly, he’s just being efficient. Yes, he can justify pettiness as efficient. He’s just getting them back for something that he would otherwise have to expend so much effort doing. It’s very handy.

So the knights work out he has magic. Big surprise there, he knows. Lancelot is Lancelot, Gwaine is Gwaine. Percival stumbles in on him lifting too much a little too easily and cracks a joke about having Merlin pull his weight more on hunting trips and patrols. Elyan watches him fix armor and immediately clamors to bring Merlin to his and Gwen’s forge so he can actually show him how to fix armor.

Leon takes him aside quietly one day and thanks him. Merlin doesn’t start crying, he doesn’t end up breaking down into Leon’s arms, and Leon definitely doesn’t promise that although Merlin may not have been knighted, he thinks of him as his brother in arms.

Leon is very rude sometimes, as a matter of fact.

But Arthur doesn’t seem to notice.

Now, Arthur doesn’t notice a lot. Doesn’t notice Merlin shifting his chair a little bit so he crashes onto the floor, doesn’t notice Gwen spending just a hair too much time with Morgana in the evenings, doesn’t notice the guards that don’t even pay attention to the dungeons. Like, at all.

But there are some things he…should notice.

Like when a branch suddenly lifts itself up from a forest floor to trip a bandit.

“Bandits,” Merlin mutters under his breath, “why is it always bandits?”

He deflects a blow and sends one of them flying into a tree. Behind him, Elyan parries a blow and deftly clubs the man over the head. Arthur is battling another bandit a few paces away as one tries to run up behind him.

Merlin’s hand is out in a flash and the tree branch right in front of Arthur wheels up and smacks the man across the face.

Arthur whirls around and cuts the other man down, successfully putting an end to the fight. Around the clearing, the knights shake their heads and go about picking up the rest of their camp. Really, being far too calm for men who just killed a bunch of people.

Except for Merlin.

Merlin, while this is happening, is slowly coming to the conclusion that he would like to be swallowed up by the ground and never emerge again.

He just used magic, very obviously, in front of Arthur.

Is this the first time he’s done it? No, not by a long shot, but it is the first time he’s done it without any regard for whether Arthur can see.

Arthur turns and Merlin’s heart drops to his stomach.

Arthur wrenches his sword out of the ground and stalks over to him.

Arthur roughly grabs his shoulder. Shakes. Hard.

“Merlin! Merlin, answer me?”

“…Arthur?”

Arthur’s face is drawn. Grim. Almost his father’s. His grip hurts.

“Where are you hurt?”

Merlin blinks. What? Where is he what?

“Where is it, Merlin,” Arthur growls again, already looking him over, “where did they hurt you?”

“I’m—I’m not hurt.”

“You’re paler than a damn sheet, Merlin, you must be losing blood.” Arthur’s hand is…surprisingly gentle as it lifts his chin. “Tell me where. Come on. Now’s not the time for shame.”

“No, no,” Merlin mumbles, “I’m not—not hurt. Didn’t get hurt.”

Arthur slows, grim expression morphing to confusion. “Then why do you look so…”

If in doubt, poke fun at yourself.

“Just scared, I guess,” Merlin tries with a self-deprecating laugh, “wasn’t expecting bandits.”

Arthur huffs, lightly shoving his shoulder. “Leave it to you to be such a drama queen that I think you’re bleeding out.”

“’S nice of you to care.”

“Just glad I don’t have to drag your corpse back to Gaius.”

2.

So that was…bizarre. Not the most bizarre thing that’s ever happened to Merlin, not at all, but bizarre. Arthur may be a little unobservant at times but he’s not that oblivious.

But, in fairness to him—which is something Merlin tries not to do too often—he was in the middle of a fight and had just killed a man. Knights may not be known for the smarts but they are known for their overprotectiveness.

Yes, he can hear you lot protesting over there, it’s true and you know it.

And maybe…maybe Merlin’s been getting a little sick of Gaius screaming about how secret his magic must be kept in broad daylight with the door wide open. Listen, if you think he’s about to get scolded by your parental unit and not immediately find some way to rebel, you don’t know Merlin very well.

And yes, maybe there’s a sick little thrill he gets out of doing magic in front of Arthur.

Maybe.

So. The next time they’re on a hunting trip and he’s as sure as he can be that there aren’t any bandits around, he decides to push a little bit.

Arthur is lounging around because you can take the prince out of the castle but you can’t take the castle out of the prince and he thinks he’s still about to receive the finest of dishes that Camelot’s kitchens can prepare. Well, no, but he is about to not have to cook it himself.

“Light the fire, Merlin, it’s not that hard.”

“Have you ever lit a fire a day in your life?”

“Sure, when I was training.”

“Training? You needed training to learn how to light a fire?”

“It was survival training, with the elder knights. Had to survive a night on my own.”

“On your own?”

“Well, my own campsite. They stayed about a league away.”

Merlin just sighs and crouches down. He eyes Arthur, who is tending to his sword, and then very slowly but pointedly sets the flint and steel aside. Arthur isn’t paying much attention to him.

Slowly, Merlin leans forward and lights the fire with his magic.

Arthur looks up. Merlin looks back at him. Arthur swings the sword off his lap. He sets it on the log, his hand still wrapped around the pommel. The tip of the blade points straight at Merlin’s chest. It gleams in the firelight.

“See? I told you it wasn’t hard.”

Is…is he serious?

3.

As it turns out, yes. Arthur is completely serious.

And at this point, this is science, now, what Merlin’s doing. Experiments. He has to know the limits! He has a hypothesis, he has a method, he wants to reach a conclusion.

Hypothesis: Arthur is really, really oblivious to anything magical.

Method: do increasingly obvious magic in front of Arthur until he notices.

Conclusion: how oblivious is Arthur?

An important caveat: Merlin doesn’t know how Arthur will react to finding out he has magic, but he can burn that bridge when he gets there.

So when he wakes Arthur up the next morning, he draws the curtains with a flourish and when Arthur turns over and pulls the blanket up to his cheek in protest, he flicks his wrist and yanks the covers off the bed.

What does Arthur do?

Mumble and groan and stumble out of bed saying Merlin’s worse than his first governess.

“Wait, first?”

“Morgana and I snuck a toad into her bed. She quit after that.”

“You two did what?”

“Think there’s still frog spawn in that bed frame. Father had that chamber closed off for a while.”

“You—eat your breakfast, you prat.”

“You’re the one that pulled my blankets away!”

4.

…okay, so he needs to take it up a notch.

One of the ones that pisses Gaius off the most is when Merlin uses magic to polish multiple pieces of Arthur’s armor at the same time. So when Arthur is at his desk, Merlin lays his shield across his lap and grabs two polishing rags. He sets the can of polish next to him and starts working on the shield. When he’s sure Arthur is focusing, he uses his magic to lift the breastplate up next to him and start to beat out the dents.

“Merlin,” Arthur sighs, “can you keep it down any?”

Showtime. “Don’t know what you mean, sire.”

“That bloody racket! Can you at least be a little quieter?”

“What racket?”

Arthur shoves the paper away from him and glares at the ceiling. “That banging! It’s so loud I can barely hear myself think!”

“It’s no louder than you normally are, sire.”

“Oh, you—I ought to—“ Arthur just mutters to himself as he claps his hands over his ears.

But he never looks toward Merlin.

Huh.

5.

So maybe Arthur isn’t ignoring him because he’s oblivious. Maybe…maybe he knows already and is…is trying to protect Merlin.

Uther is still King of Camelot. Morgana is outspoken against his cruelty but he is still very much in charge. There’s only so much protection the knights can afford him. There’s only so much protection Arthur can afford him.

So…so maybe Arthur is pretending he doesn’t see because he knows he can’t save Merlin if he has to acknowledge it.

Merlin takes a few days to process that. The knights are concerned, they ask him what’s wrong, what does he need, how can they help? He waves them off, says he’s just thinking.

“Maybe,” Lancelot says kindly, “but with you, Merlin, you’re never just thinking.”

“Or at least it doesn’t stay that way for very long,” Gwaine agrees, slinging an arm around Merlin’s shoulders, “and I don’t know about you lot but I like a little bit of forewarning before I wake up to ale in my shoes.”

“You asked for another round, you didn’t say where.”

“Why the hell would I want them in my shoes?”

Gwaine does what Gwaine always does and steers the attention away from Merlin, leaving Leon and Lancelot to carefully prod him a little more privately. He waves them off too, even though he’s sure he isn’t keeping as much as he would like to be from Leon.

Merlin stops using his magic as much. He does his chores as much as he can using his two hands, lugs buckets of water without complaint, polishes armor until his nose burns and his eyes sting. He uses his magic for particularly stubborn stains in his room and keeps a sharper eye out for how to move this bandit’s sword a little to the right, or how to make this knight’s staff a little heavier.

He thinks Arthur is trying to hide for him, so he hides for Arthur.

Then he can’t hide.

A sorcerer is threatening to collapse the walls of Camelot in on themselves. The entire citadel shakes as Merlin and the knights rush out, dragging as many people as they can. The stone trembles and the wood groans and there are screams. More screams than Merlin could ever bear to hear join the chorus of more than he could ever know that plague him every time he closes his eyes.

He shuts them anyway and runs.

He runs away from the knights, magic pushing him faster, faster, faster with the need to protect the castle, protect the people, protect Arthur. The sorcerer is pulling him away from his people and for that…for that, he must pay.

By the time he gets to the field, it is rippling with magic. Merlin’s fingertips, his ears, even his nose tingles as he rushes deeper, deeper, deeper, trying to get to the eye of the storm.

There, in the middle of a patch of grass, stands a sorcerer. In robes deeper than night and hair whipped up in the wind of the spell.

Merlin grits his teeth and says no.

And when the Greatest Sorcerer to Ever Walk the Earth calls, Magic answers.

The sorcerer is dust before he manages to open his mouth. The field settles. Magic returns to the earth. And Merlin collapses to his knees as the knights run up behind him.

He isn’t a fool, despite what others may have led you to believe. He knows this was magic, could only be magic, and could only be stopped by magic.

So when the knights rush up to him and collapse to their knees around him, muttering that he’s alright, he did it, he’s safe, he did it, is he hurt, all he can think of is how he’s going to have to explain this to Arthur.

They tell him he doesn’t need to explain anything. That Arthur already knows, that he doesn’t care.

Merlin doesn’t believe them. Even if he saved Camelot, which he’s already done, he has magic. He used magic to do it.

They tell him again that it doesn’t matter, that Arthur doesn’t, won’t care.

But Merlin still has to tell him.

“Tell me what?”

+1.

Arthur rushes into the clearing. He can hear him behind them. He can’t find it in him to get up. The knights are still around him, he can hear Lancelot’s voice in his ear, feel Leon’s hands on his shoulders, but he can’t move. Can’t speak.

“Tell me what,” Arthur repeats, and oh, he sounds angry, “what is it?”

“Merlin,” someone—Gwaine—is muttering, “Merlin, it’s alright, he won’t care, he doesn’t care—“

“Of course I care,” comes the cold, cold voice and Gwaine falters, “now move.”

Merlin’s chest clenches. There’s the sharp sing of steel as Gwaine draws his sword.

“Put it down.”

“Nope, can’t do that.”

Then Leon stands up. “Arthur, please think carefully about this.”

“I don’t have to think carefully about anything. Merlin is hurt, let me tend to him. He’s mine.”

“You won’t hurt him.”

“No, I certainly don’t intend to, so move.”

Lancelot’s hands are the last to leave him. Merlin is cold. It’s so cold. His magic buries deep inside his chest and it feels hard to breathe.

Boots. Boots on the ground in front of him. They flatten the grass as a shadow blocks the light. Armor creaks as the figure kneels down. A gauntleted hand cups his chin.

“Merlin,” comes a voice that’s soft, too soft, “Merlin, I need you to look at me.”

And what is he supposed to do, disobey?

Arthur’s face is too warm when Merlin looks up at him. His mouth tugs up into a little smile as Merlin finally makes eye contact with him.

“There you are,” he says, still in that soft voice that doesn’t make sense, “now, are you hurt?”

Merlin can only blink.

“Merlin,” he says, and his voice is a little firmer as he cups Merlin’s chin properly, “are you hurt? What happened?”

His throat is too dry. “Not hurt.”

Arthur relaxes, only marginally. “Then why do you look so upset?”

The world could collapse and Merlin would be frozen here, trapped in the silence of Arthur’s gaze.

Unbidden, his eyes flash gold.

Arthur takes a sharp breath in. Merlin braces for a hit only for—

“Oh, you idiot,” Arthur whispers, “do I actually need to tell you I don’t care if you have magic?”

Pause.

Go back.

One more time.

What?

“I don’t care, you idiot,” he says in a tone that is too fond, “I don’t care that you have magic. You have it, you’re still Merlin, I don’t care.”

Rough metal gauntlets cup his face and oh—it’s cold—

“Merlin, look at me.”

“I—I am.”

“No, look.”

He blinks and has to focus on looking at Arthur.

“I’m not mad,” Arthur says firmly, “and I don’t care that you have magic.”

Merlin starts to laugh. Because of course, of course, Arthur doesn’t care. He’s been so stupid. Arthur doesn’t care. Arthur doesn’t care. He’s doubled over before he can stop himself. The laughs keep pouring out of him, his magic rushing back to his fingers, his nose, his chest. He laughs long and loud and hard and then Arthur is murmuring at him again because no, no, he isn’t laughing anymore, he’s crying.

“Come here, you big baby,” Arthur murmurs, tucking him into the gentlest embrace he’s ever had from someone wearing armor, “yes, there you go, that’s it.”

He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care.

Arthur has known Merlin has magic and he doesn’t care.

…wait, does that make Merlin the oblivious one?

Nah, that couldn’t be it.

It’s not like Arthur is hiding anything else from Merlin.

[meteorjam]

Merlin Dragon Age!AU

I made a whole written out, in detail plot for this but here’s the pre TL:DR for anyone who just doesn’t want to read me describing it all. Though all their positions in this world are described in the text if you want more info.

Uther Pendragon: Knight Commander of the Knights Templar in the Free Marches Arthur Pendragon: Knight Captain of the Knights Templar in the Free Marches (leaves his position and ends up being the Inquistion’s Military Advisor when the Breach appears in the sky after the explosion at the conclave) Morgana Pendragon: Grew up in the Circle of Magi in the Free Marches and ran away when the Mage Rebellion began (comes back to help the Inquisition later and her and Arthur mend their broken relationship) Merlin: A powerful mage that is the bridge between the Fade (the world of spirits and darkspawn) and Thedas (the mortal plain). His destiny is to aid the Inqusition in closing the Breach and saving both worlds. Gwen: A Seeker in the Order of the Seekers of Truth meant to keep the Templars in check. She invokes the right to start an Inquisition after the Breach appears as she sees the Templar Order has become corrupt and can no longer work in the best interest of Thedas. Will: He’s literally the Inquisitor and doesn’t know why the hell the Maker chose him to have this glowing green thing on his arm that gives him the power to seal fade rifts but he’s seriously pissed off that the military advisor is a Templar. They’ve made him the leader of the Inquisition just because he happened to be at the Conclave at the explosion and was the only one to survive and gain weird fade powers? Ridiculous. He never wants to walk through the Fade again. He’s going to kick this Archdemon’s ass. It’s on sight.

Ok I put these under the cut because it was getting too long for the “short version.” Gaius: The Inquistion’s physician Daegel: A young mage who was recruited to join the Inquistion and reaaaalllllyyyy wants to study under Merlin The (Main) Knights: Fleshed out more in the text but they come from all over Thedas to train under Arthur to fight for the Inquistion. Out of the group, only Leon is a Templar. 

Uther Pendragon is the Knight Commander of the Knights Templar (thought by many to be next in line to be Knight Vigilant, leader of the entire Templar order) in Starkhaven in the Free Marches. Templars are loyal to the Chantry (Thedas’ main religious organization) and they hunt abominations, apostate mages, and look over the Circles of Magi meant to keep mages in line. Uther’s views towards mages are ruthless and he is more often than not in favor of invoking the Right of Anullment (a practice that not only rids a person of their magic but all emotions) for mages that step even a bit out of turn.

Arthur Pendragon has recently become Knight Captain of the Knights Templar in Starkhaven and was taught from a young age that a mage’s magic was meant to serve the Chantry and the Divine (Head religious figure) and nothing else. But, as his father’s methods concerning mages become more cruel, Arthur begins to second guess if Uther’s ways are what’s best for the people of Starkhaven

Then the Chantry in Kirkwall (another city in the Free Marches) is blown up by an Apostate mage and the Mage Rebellion begins. Morgana Pendragon, Arthur’s sister who’s been, according too Uther, plauged with the burden of magic, runs away during this time. She had spent most of her life in Starkhaven’s opressive Circle of Magi. Arthur is apalled by the actions of Kirkwall’s Knight Commander (who used the power of a red lyrium idol to try and destroy those that went against her) and begins to rethink his loyalty to the Templar Order.

After months of brutal fighting between mages and templars, the Chantry organizes a meeting between the mages and the templars at the Conclave south in Fereldan near the Frostback Mountains. A huge explosion happens at the conclave killing all in attendance including several mage and templar leaders and the Divine herself. A giant veil between the mortal world and the Fade (the world of spirits) appears in the sky and it is known as the Breach. Smaller fade rifts begin to appear all over Thedas and spirits and darkspawn start plaguing the land.

 It becomes clear to Gwen, one of the head Seekers in the order of the Seekers of Truth, that the Templars can no longer be trusted to protect Thedas and that, without the rule of the Divine, the land is weak. With the authority that comes with being a Seeker, a direct servant to the Divine, Gwen invokes the right to form an Inquisition to protect Thedas. Arthur catches wind of her plans and, having always respected the Seekers love for justice, pledges his help. He resigns from his position as Knight Captain in Starkhaven, much to the displeasure of his father, and moves south towards Haven (near the Frostback Mountains in Fereldan) to join th Inquistion.

The thing is, one person did survive the explosion at the conclave and he’s now their prime suspect. Will tries to tell him that he’s just a young man from a farm in Redcliff Village in the Hinterlands who was meant to bring provisions to the meeting at the conclave, but they won’t listen. After the explosion,Will was thrust into the Fade with the Divine and she sacrificed her life so that he could leave the Fade. He woke up in Haven with his arm suddenly glowing green in response to the Breach in the sky. He’s not a mage, never practiced magic. (To skip forward in the game, the green glowing thing is called an Anchor and it was meant to be used by the Archdemon responsible for the explosion to destroy the world and assume the postion of a God but Will touched the Anchor when the Archdemon had an altercation with the Divine and it became a part of him).

After Will proves his mark is useful at closing fade rifts and can even close the breach in the sky, he becomes the leader of the Inquisition upon their arrival in Skyhold (a stronger fort in the Frostback Mountains) after Haven gets destroyed when the Archdemon attacks with his dragon. Will hates being Inquisitor. He never wanted to be in charge. But this is bigger than what he wants. He just wishes he didn’t have to work with a bloody Templar. Him and Arthur do not get along. Will has always had a deep distrust towards Templars and towards the whole Chantry system. He regularly tells Arthur he wishes a Wayvern would just get it over with and swallow him whole already. Arthur is not amused.

Of course one of the most powerful mages in all of Thedas comes rolling into Skyhold because why not. Merlin has been a nomad for the past few years, aiding mages where he could and trying to help those effected by the recent Mage Rebellions. Turns out the man just... walks in the fade. He can’t actually close rifts like Will and can’t really do anything about the situation itself on such a large scale but he does just talk to spirits a lot to get their advice. Daegel, a young mage who had joined to help the Inquisiton, once asks him what his branch of magic specialization is, and Merlin just shrugs and responds “all I suppose.” Daegel never stops bothering him after that day because Merlin is insanely powerful and Daegel needs to learn from him. He just needs to.

Arthur is pissed off by Merlin’s connection to the Fade. It’s a dangerous place crawling with malicious spirits and darkspawn. He distrusts Merlin deeply in the beginning and is weary with how freely Merlin demonstrates his fade magic around others. Merlin assures him he only ever really talks to the good spirits. Somehow, that doesn’t ease Arthur’s worries.

Also, they find themselves on missions together all the time and Arthur just gets bullied by Will and Merlin who’ve become great friends. Also, Merlin is capable of blood magic but he hates using it. I imagine they encounter some situation involving the Deep Roads (roads under Thedas that were used for trade by the Dwarves but are now usually crawling with Darkspawn) where Merlin does have to use blood magic to get them past something and Arthur’s legitmately frightened for him because he’s seen mages get posessed while using blood magic before. Merlin just tells him to relax because “this spirit owes me a specific favor, he’s not actually capable of possessing me after I bound him last time” and Arthur’s just like “!!!! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!!!!” He doesn’t use blood magic again after that around Arthur because the Templar looked like he was about to pass out. Merlin isn’t really fond of it anyway so its fine.

Morgana shows up at the Inquisiton at some point and Arthur is just shocked to see her. They really don’t know how to act around another because Morgana still thinks Arthur hates mages as much as Uther and Arthur thinks she can never forgive him for all the lies he belived, all the hurt he caused her. Morgana becomes a great spymaster for the Inquistion, having gained many connections in her time spent travelling.

Some of the strongest fighters in the Inquistion are Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, Leon, Elyan, and Mordred. Leon grew up with Arthur in Starkhaven and followed him to Fereldan. Lancelot has always wanted to be a Templar but never got to join the order because he was busy taking care of his ill mother. It may have been a blessing in disguise because he begins to see the atrocities the Templars are responsible for and how some have even been corrupted and joined the Archdemon. He fights for the Inquistion tho because he sees it as a noble cause. Gwaine comes from Fereldan and has been looking for this type of adventure. He’s not exactly pleased he’s under the command of and surrounded by Templars, but he’s here for the journey and the found family.

Percival is from Kirkwall but had traveled south to Fereldan when his family was killed by Templars during the battle between Mages and Templars after the Chantry explosion. Elyan is also a Seeker along with his sister and trains under Arthur to hone his fighting abilities. He does help Gwen with organizational matters concerning the Inquistion. Mordred is one of the few mages who also chose to fight as a knight of the Inquisiton. Other mages opted usually to use just magic and trained on their own. Mordred wanted the advantage of both swordskill and magic so he works twice as hard as anyone in Skyhold. He really makes Arthur rethink some of the values he’s been raised with all his life.

Anyway that’s where I’m leaving it because I’ve spent an hour on this. Haven’t even gotten to who would be the Inquistions Ambassador. Or anything about Greywardens or who the Hero of Fereldan was or if Hawke is still just Hawke or if I replace the Champion of Kirkwall with another Merlin character. Might screw around and make a part 2 who knows.

[lover-of-midnight]

Difference - chapter 6

Rating:

Mature

Archive Warning

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Merlin (TV)

Relationships:

Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Leon & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Leon & Merlin (Merlin)

Gaius & Merlin (Merlin)

Characters:

Merlin (Merlin)

Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Uther Pendragon (Merlin)

Gaius (Merlin)

Balinor (Merlin)

Hunith (Merlin)

Nimueh (Merlin)

Igraine Pendragon

Additional Tags:

Hurt/Comfort

Emotional Hurt

Angst

Fluff

Soul-mates AU

magical arthur

Protective Merlin (Merlin)

Hurt Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Child Abuse

Insecure Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

touch-starved Arthur Pendragon

First and third POV Arthur Pendragon

Second and fourth chapter POV Merlin

Then combined chapters

Strangers to Friends to Lovers

Self-Harm

Suicidal Thoughts

Camelot's original heir is coming back

Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin)

Alternate Universe - Magic

Other Additional Tags to Be Added

Language: English

The last two days passed in a blur. Merlin could feel the anger slowly rising in him when he saw how Arthur was pushed to the side.

It didn’t look like the knights cared that Arthur was their commanding officer or that he was a prince. Something is going on in Camelot and Merlin was intrigued to find out what.

With one last looked as the knights got off from their horses handing them over to the stable boys, Merlin disappeared into the castle looking for Gaius.

The castle was bustling with people working and running around. He could hear servants talking about someone who was captured for using magic and awaiting trial. For a moment there was sadness in his heart.

Merlin had heard about the cruelty Uther would go after sorcerers, hopefully, one of these days it would change.

Arthur was silent as he followed Uther into the castle, he could feel his heart trying to climb out of his chest. He forced himself to keep his breathing under control even if the only thing he wanted to do was turn and ran.

When they got to the room Uther showed with a hand that Arthur should sit down. Uther wanted to scream when he saw the blank look in Arthur’s eyes. He knows he is the reason why Arthur is like that, but at the same time, he wanted to change it.

And he had no bloody idea how.

“Tell me what had happened?” Uther kept his voice neutral, just waiting for Arthur to begin.

Arthur was silent for a long moment before he found his voice to speak. “When we got there, a man was waiting for us in. He killed two of the knights when they tried to charge him, he said that he would let the rest of us go if we turn around right away.

“He also said that if we ever tried to attack again he would kill every last man,” Arthur said the last part so fast, that Uther had a hard time deciphering what he was saying.

Uther forced himself to take a deep breath, Arthur had done his best and that was that. He wasn’t going to punish him for it.

“Thank you, we will make a plan with that place one of these days.” Uther made sure to keep the anger from his voice, even though he was sure that there slip in some.

Arthur waited with bated breath for Uther to continue with his punishment for failing, but there was only silence.

He bit the inside of his lip as he waited, his mind screaming at him to leave before Uther changed his mind but at the same time was he frozen in place.

Uther just watched his son for a few seconds. “You are dismissed.”

With a bow Arthur disappeared from the room, forcing himself to walk to his chambers, instead of running as he felt like.

He swayed slightly when he finally got to the room, the guards just gave a nod before Arthur open the door.

For a moment it felt like he finally could take a breath, there was no one watching him or being close to him.

His footsteps were quiet until he disappeared behind the closet and dressing rack. He sank, closing his eyes for the moment.

He felt relieved that everything had worked out as well as it did, but at the same time, his mind felt like running away with him when he realised that Uther hadn’t given him punishment for failing.

A shudder ran through his body.

His mind went back to the boy -Merlin- that had shown up that first night. How he said his magic was searching for a way out.

A sob almost broke free from him. It was thanks to magic that Uther hated him. He could faintly remember that before Uther had found out about it, that Uther had at least seen him as his son, even if it was through resentment.

Why, why on earth would he allow it back in his life? It had only bought heartache and pain to his life.

Arthur could feel his skin almost lighting up when he thought it, it crawled in his blood and Arthur knows that it would only get worse.

Maybe he should listen to that man and do something about it but at the same time, the fear that it would only end in more pain stopped him from changing it.

He can simple life with it.

“Uncle!” Merlin’s voice was loud in the small room, Gaius was almost relaxed where he was busy crashing leaves.

He jumped with a start when Merlin suddenly talked.

The smile that broke over Gaius's face showed to the world how happy he was to have his nephew here.

It was silent since Arthur had stopped coming for magic lessons.

“Merlin, my boy. It was such a long time since I last saw you.” Gaius pulled the young man into a hug. It was almost five years since he last saw Merlin.

“How are Hunith and Balinor?” Gaius asked as he pulled back, checking Merlin over properly.

“They are good, said you need to come and visit them when you have time again.” Merlin was happy to see the old man.

Since he was a little boy, they had connected, riffling his relationship with Balinor.

“What are you doing here Merlin?” Gaius had read the letter that was sent to him a few days ago, but he would prefer to hear it from Merlin directly as well.

“As you know, the king had sent some knights to take out the village, it didn’t work out as well as they had hoped it would. The leader, I believe his name is Arthur, had me amused.” Merlin showed his arm where a small dragon was busy forming.

“He is your mate?” Gaius was amazed, it was rare for magic users to get a soul mark these days.

Merlin only nodded.

“You have to tell him.” Gaius couldn’t help but say. Arthur went through a lot in the last few years.

“No, I have a feeling that he went through a lot, he doesn’t need to feel the pressure of a soul-mark, if he wants to be in a relationship it should come out of his own free will.” Merlin kept his voice firm.

The mark was less rare in the village and he had seen some of the effects that the mark kan have on people. Some would go against the bond feeling like they are pressured into the relationship. And others would be able to handle the mark like it is just another part of life, accepting it, embracing the new.

“He had been.” Gaius trailed off. It wasn’t his place to tell Merlin what had happened in the last couple of years.

“I won’t tell you what had happened, just know that he could do with someone on his side.” Gaius gave Merlin a tired smile.

His mind going back to the king. The sudden change anyone could notice since he had Arthur punished less than a week ago and now he wasn’t as angry as he should be about the village.

Merlin gave Gaius a tight smile. “Did you know his magic is trying to find a way out?” Merlin had a feeling that the prince was trained under Gaius for at least a while.

He could see how Gaius's face went white. For a moment there was silence in the room as they just stared at each other before Gaius sighed.

“Arthur had trained his magic not for long when he was five. One night Uther had gone into his room, startling him and he used magic. As you can guess that freaked Uther just out, he had dragged Arthur here, demanding that I made sure that he would never be able to use his magic.

“I tried to learn him more control but since that day Arthur wasn’t able to use his magic.” Gaius could still remember the heartbreaking scene of a small child crying in fear.

“I guess since then, Uther had treated Arthur differently?” Merlin could feel the anger in his veins and for a moment he wished that he could kill Uther and be done with it.

Gaius could only give Merlin a sad nod.

Arthur was silent as servants carried in the bath. Uther had tried a few times to get him to have a manservant, but Arthur had stood against it each time.

He was more than capable of taking care of himself.

When the last servant gave a bow after adding the water, Arthur closed the door with a bang, making sure it was locked.

It took some work to get out of his amour and tunic. His eyes darted to the bruises on his hips and tights and for a moment he hated everyone.

All it was is a bloody game to the knights. They enjoyed seeing people hurt, a power play. It was all it was in the end.

Arthur bit the inside of his lip when he sank into the warmth of the bath. Small opened cuts sting from the hot water and lavender.

But at the same time, the light scent cleared his mind.

He took a deep breath before he disappeared into the water, for a moment there was only silence. Arthur felt like his body was free and his mind as well.

Underneath the water, he could only forget about everything that was plaguing his mind.

When he finally resurfaced he gasp for breath, water streamed into his eyes and mouth. A small smile broke free.

With long strokes, he got himself clean. He knows that he should put the salve on that Gaius had given him, but something inside him screamed against it.

When he finally finished with his bath, Arthur dried himself off, getting into his nightclothes.

He knows he should have gone to fetch his dinner, but he wasn’t hungry or in the mood to face people.

So he just pushed himself into bed. His mind felt like someone had pressed linen against his brain and his body was heavy. He could only hope that sleep will take some of the edges away.

Merlin woke up with a start when someone called his name. A small smile works its way to his face. A dragon here?

This day was just getting interesting with each second that passed.

Without a thought, he got himself dressed in day clothes, before he slipped out of the room.

With the lead from his magic, he easily found the way to the caves beneath the castle.

When he entered the dark cave, Merlin whispered a spell, allowing a small orb-like to enter the cave, giving it an almost natural light.

His eyes widen when a magnificent dragon flew down. The almost brown-green scales made Merlin wanted to reach out.

The dragon took one look at the boy in front of him before he bowed before Merlin. “The time had finally come.” The dragon’s voice was croaked and gruff from a lack of use.

Merlin’s eyes were wide with curiosity as he looked at the dragon. “The time for what?” His voice was loud in the quietness of the cave.

But the dragon only looked at him for another long moment. “You and Arthur would bring peace to the five kingdoms. Allowing magic to reign again, just like in the time of your forefathers.” The dragon looked like it might combust with pleasure.

Light blue eyes peered up to the dragon. “What’s your name?” Merlin ignored the words the dragon had said. He would go through it when he was on his own.

“I’m Kilgharrar. Uther had imprisonment me when the great purge had almost ended, saying that I would make an example for any magical beast that ever enters Camelot again.” Kilgharrar was almost sad when he said it.

The dragon could feel the magic radiating from the boy in front of him. The time had come that Uther would learn his place.

[magicalmischel]

A Time to Act

a merthur fanfic written for the Merlin Memory Month 2019

prompts used: harsh, a time to act

wordcount: 3071

SUMMARY -  Merlin is attacked in the streets and uses magic in defence. Unfortunately, a guard (Lancelot) sees him and arrests him together with the attacker, taking them both to Arthur for a trial. The day started out perfectly, but how will it end now?

also posted on FFN and AO3.

A TIME TO ACT

Ever since Merlin and Arthur's relationship had become public, Merlin had noticed quite a few stares among the people. Yes, he came to the market every other day and always bought the same things for Gaius, so people there knew him. They knew who he was and some of them were even his friends, kind of. But they had never stared at him like this.

He had noticed the way they looked at him was slightly different right the first morning after he and Arthur had informed the kingdom of their relationship. That was two weeks ago, and it still hadn't changed.

There were still a few smiles here and there, but some people stopped smiling. Others were frowning or looked confused or suspicious. A few of them quickly accepted how things were and tried to please Merlin to be on his good side, while others avoided him.

It was strange being this . . . popular.

It certainly wasn't helpful when he needed to use magic, which was becoming very scarce. He couldn't risk anyone seeing him, so now that everyone was constantly watching him, using magic was out of the question. That, and he'd promised Arthur he'd only use his magic for dire situations weeks ago. He intended to keep it, especially now that his dream of magic being welcome in Camelot was so close.

Merlin adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, walking away from the market with all the ingredients that Gaius had asked him to buy that morning. He was on his way back home, looking forward to Arthur's training session that afternoon. He always had to dress him for the occasion, and now that they were officially together, undressing and dressing that king had become a much more exciting task. Also, he got to watch Arthur fight, which usually involved Arthur trying to impress him and then ending up on the ground. Merlin always made sure to never miss those moments.

He turned the corner of a small house, a smile on his face as he was thinking about all this. When he looked up, he found himself face to face with a man of similar age – he was frowning.

Merlin stopped and looked at his face – he recognised him! It was a former knight. He'd refused to follow Arthur because he didn't agree with the king being in love with his manservant, and unfortunately, after a fight which he'd lost, he lost his knighthood because Arthur couldn't trust him. He wasn't loyal anymore and could turn against Merlin whenever he pleased.

Just like today, it seemed.

Merlin sighed and turned around, walking back towards the market, trying to avoid any sort of conflict. He wasn't going to let anyone ruin this day for him.

"Merlin!"

Too late.

The man followed him and Merlin was forced to pick up his pace. He turned a corner, then another, turned right, and finally found himself in a small street in between two houses that ended in- a wall. Damn it. He should have turned left.

"Merlin!"

Merlin turned around to face him. The man was standing there, slowly walking closer with tiny steps and anger in his face.

"Hi, I think we've met? I mean, you obviously know my name."

"You know exactly who I am," the man gritted through his teeth. "You watched me as I challenged the king and I lost my knighthood because of you!"

Merlin shook his head and pursed his lips. "I'm sorry, but you just said that you challenged the king? So that kind of makes you responsible for what happened afterwards, doesn't it? I had nothing to do with that."

"You bloody know you did!"

Merlin was becoming nervous at this point. Behind him was only the wall, there was no one around, and the man was getting dangerously closer. And he was armed. Merlin wasn't.

"Being a knight meant everything to me!"

"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened, but you swore an oath and you weren't able to keep it."

"I would have been able to if you had known your place and hadn't tried to get close to the king and his power!"

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, anything to calm the man down, but it was too late. He grabbed the hilt of his dagger and unsheathed it from its scabbard at his belt and charged at Merlin, who managed to move away just in time.

"Wait!"

Merlin tried to talk, but the man didn't listen to him. He was blinded by the sadness of losing his title and the hatred that he felt towards Merlin, and he didn't seem likely to stop despite anything. He charged at Merlin again and Merlin managed to duck, but he wasn't a skilled fighter. He couldn't avoid the dagger for much longer and he couldn't run away either because the man was blocking the only way out.

Oh, why did he choose such a narrow street?

"You don't deserve to stand next to him by the throne!" The man shouted. Good, now at least someone might notice them.

Merlin's back hit the wall behind him and the dagger landed just above his shoulder. He moved out of its way, but the man was quicker and fished out another dagger, preparing it on the other side.

It all happened in a second.

The moment Merlin's eyes registered the second dagger aiming at his head, his mind completely shut off and his instinct took over. The dagger stopped in mid-air, mere centimetres away from Merlin's right temple, and the man's eyes widened in horror as he stared into Merlin gold eyes.

"Sorcerer . . . " he uttered, his hand still unable to move.

Merlin's heart was beating and his magic was still holding the man's dagger away from his face.

Then he heard loud steps.

"Hey! You! Stop!"

Merlin blinked, quickly ducked and the dagger hit the wall in the spot where his head had been mere seconds ago. The man prepared to strike again, but a strong hand gripped his forearm, stopping him.

Merlin looked up. It was Lancelot.

"What's happening here?" Lancelot asked, frowning at the man. "Merlin, are you okay?"

Merlin nodded – slowly, quietly, still in shock.

"Drop the daggers!"

The man dropped them. Lancelot took his arms behind his back and put handcuffs on his wrists.

"You attacked an unarmed citizen of Camelot. You're arreste-"

"He's a sorcerer!" The man shouted at Lancelot¨s face. "He used magic on me! He's enchanted the king to follow his orders, he's evil!"

Lancelot's eyes widened as he looked down at Merlin. Merlin just kept looking at him hopelessly and scared, asking himself one question: how did a nice day with a promise of an even better evening turn into such a disaster?

Merlin slowly stood up, swallowed and subtly nodded at Lancelot.

He knew what was going to happen now. He could see it in Lancelot's face - he was trying to apologize to Merlin because he had no control over what he now had to do. And Merlin accepted it. It should have happened so many years ago anyway.

"Merlin . . . "

"What are you waiting for!" The man hissed. "Arrest him!"

With a heavy heart, Lancelot took Merlin by his wrists gently and put another pair of shackles around them.

"Merlin, by the laws of Camelot, you are arrested for using magic."

******************************************

It had been quite a busy day for Arthur so far. He had been working with the council all morning, preparing papers, signing them, discussing with them what he'd discussed with his most trusted knights just a few weeks ago – and that was the issue of bringing magic back into the kingdom and making it safe for everyone – both ordinary people and the druids and people like Merlin.

All his trusted knights – Leon, Gwaine, Lancelot, Elyan and Percival – had already been informed of Merlin's magic on a private meeting where they'd discussed the issue, and now he was working with the council, reading their reviewed versions of his suggested new laws.

It was a lot of work, but he knew it was worth it. Everything was worth it for Merlin's smile. That, and he also had a training session later in the day to look forward to, where he could actually talk to Merlin about the progress he had made with the council today.

They had made big progress – all the papers were already prepared and reviewed, and they were just two or so signatures away from officially legalizing magic in Camelot. Now the last question to answer was – when was the best time to do that? And how should they prepare the people?

Just as Arthur sat down to reread the final version of the first of the laws that had been suggested to him by Merlin (obviously, they both had worked hard on all the laws), the door opened.

Arthur looked up to see Sir Leon's head peeking inside. "My lord."

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

Leon pursed his lips. "It's Sir Lancelot, my lord. He's bringing in two people for a trial . . . one of them is Merlin."

Arthur stared at him for a moment and then closed his eyes briefly, hiding his face in the palms of his hands. He sighed. What exactly did Merlin do this time?

"Bring them in," he finally decided and stood up, looking apologetically at all his council members, one of which was Gaius who seemed equally as confused as Arthur was.

Leon's head disappeared and when the door opened again, Lancelot came in. He was holding two people in shackles, one of them was Merlin and the other was . . . Sir Whatshisname? Arthur frowned. He didn't like where this was going, just last week he had been challenged by this knight and he won, and now he was causing trouble in the streets?

"My apologies," Arthur spoke to the council, "but don't worry, I believe this will not take much time."

He walked away from them to sit on the throne as his father used to do. He watched Merlin with unease as Lancelot brought him closer with the former knight.

"What happened?" Arthur asked, already bracing himself for what he was about to hear.

"I found this man in a back alley with Merlin. He was fighting him with two daggers while Merlin was unarmed."

Arthur didn't like this.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" The man turned to Lancelot. Then he looked at Merlin with hatred in his eyes and smirked up at Arthur. "The boy is a sorcerer! He was trying to kill me!"

"What? No, I wasn't! You attacked me first!" Merlin defended himself.

"Only because you-"

"Quiet!"

Arthur sighed.

He didn't like this one bit.

He glanced at Gaius, who seemed to have been thinking the same thing, and then he looked back at Merlin. He looked nervous and also apologetic. Arthur could only imagine how many times Merlin had dreamed about standing here, accused of magic, with fear consuming him. But at least it wasn't his father sitting on the throne.

What a bad timing, too! He and Merlin had been planning to reveal Merlin's magic to the council in the evening, and now this happened.

Arthur had to take a deep breath.

"Merlin," he looked at him. "Tell me what happened."

The former knight frowned. "Of course he's the first to be asked-"

"I'm sorry, is your name Merlin?" Arthur asked the man, using his best authoritative voice that he could muster. Even Merlin looked taken aback but with a slight smirk at his lips.

The former knight shook his head and was quiet, and Arthur turned back to Merlin, giving him a nod to encourage him to talk.

"Well, I was on my way from the market, when I saw him standing on the street, just staring at me," Merlin started. "And I recognised him and didn't want to start a fight, so I turned back and went back towards the market, but he was following me. I turned the wrong way and found myself in an alley with a dead end, and well, then he attacked me, saying that I cost him his knighthood."

"You did!"

"Quiet!" Arthur frowned. "And then?"

Merlin pursed his lips. "We fought, and I wasn't armed, so I just kept avoiding his blows until one almost hit me and . . . well . . . I accidentally used magic to stop it."

"Accidentally?"

Literally everyone in the room looked at Merlin, who just shrugged as if it was common knowledge. "He was about to kill me, I couldn't help it."

Arthur swallowed down the anger he felt towards the former knight when he realized that he'd almost killed Merlin today, and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. How was he supposed to deal with this? They were so close to lifting the ban on magic, but it wasn't lifted yet and Merlin broke the law! According to the current laws of Camelot, he was supposed to be sentenced to death, but Arthur could never do that. He also couldn't forget the fact that the former knight attacked him first and was also awaiting punishment . . .

"And how do you explain yourself?" Arthur turned to the former knight.

"He's the reason you stripped me of my title. He's got you under his thumb, my lord, I had to do something to save you and the kingdom. He's only bad influence."

Arthur stood up from the throne and went closer to them. "So, what you're trying to say is . . . you tried to kill my boyfriend because you don't like him and accuse him of controlling me – something of which you have no proof, and you blame him for something you brought upon yourself. As I remember it, you were the one who challenged me, you agreed to the rules and you lost. Or was that not what happened, Sir Lancelot?"

"Yes, my lord," Lancelot nodded.

"Thank you." Arthur turned to the former knight again. "There are over two dozens of knights who agree with Sir Lancelot. Merlin never was and isn't the reason why I chose to debase you. I chose to do so because you cannot be trusted, so if you're going to blame anyone, blame yourself."

"But-"

"I've already taken away your knighthood, and I don't wish to do anything else. So consider this your warning. Do not attack Merlin or anyone else in my city again, or you will suffer the consequences."

The former knight stared at him, then at Merlin, and finally at Arthur again. Then he frowned but bowed his head. "Yes, my lord."

"Lancelot," Arthur commanded, "he'll spend the night in the dungeons, release him in the morning and let him go home."

"My lord," Lancelot nodded and tugged at the man's shackles to drag him away.

He protested though and didn't move. "But what about the sorcerer? He's been lying to you, my lord, just as I told you! You may choose to love him, but he might as well have you under a love spell!"

"I don't-"

"Merlin," Arthur stopped him before he could say anything that he'd regret. Merlin closed his mouth and waited for Arthur to say anything. All the members of the council looked at him and did the same.

Arthur swallowed.

"Gaius," he spoke to his most trusted adviser without looking at him. "How far are we from lifting the ban on magic again?"

Gaius raised his eyebrow in an amused way. "Just two more signatures, my lord."

Arthur smiled, still staring at the former knight. "Excellent."

He went over to the table with all the papers again and picked up a quill. He moistened it in the inkwell and signed the two remaining papers that separated him from his desired future. When he was done, he smiled and looked up at the former knight again.

"You seem to be late," he told him. "You see, we've all been planning to lift the ban on magic for weeks, and you would have known that, had you stayed loyal and a knight."

"You can't-"

"Merlin," Arthur went over to him, happy to see a proud grin on his face. "You've been found guilty of breaking the old laws of Camelot, but according to the new laws, you did nothing wrong. You only defended yourself, correct?"

"Yeah, I stopped the dagger from killing me."

"Well, there you have it," Arthur smiled at him. "Nothing wrong." Merlin grinned. "But you did break the old laws, and I can't turn a blind eye to that." Merlin's grin wavered. "You'll also spend one night in the dungeons, but you'll be released in the morning, don't worry."

"But the training session!" Merlin protested.

Arthur put his hand on Merlin's shoulder. "There will be many more training sessions to come, you'll just have to miss this one, sorry."

Merlin sighed, but Arthur could see that he understood. He was the king, and these decisions didn't come lightly to him. But there had to be decisions, and in terms of breaking the law, he let both Merlin and the former knight off easy.

Arthur leaned in and kissed Merlin, just for good measure, and then waved at Lancelot.

Lancelot took Merlin and the former knight out of the room and led them to the dungeons, where they would both spend the night, each in a different cell far away from each other, preferably in a different part of the castle, too.

Once they were gone, Arthur turned back to the council, apologized again, explained that he already knew about Merlin's magic and was planning to tell them that evening, and was surprised when several members of the council told him they'd already suspected.

Now the only thing he needed to do was inform the people. He hoped it would go well.

And then, after the training session, Arthur paid Merlin a visit and spent several hours with him in the cell because, well, because it wasn't really Merlin's fault that he was there and because Arthur loved him and wanted to tell him all about the training session to make up for what Merlin had missed out.

And if both Arthur and Merlin lost a few items of clothing during all the talking, it was only a good thing that all the other cells were empty and that Arthur was the king and had made sure that no one would disturb them.

*the end*

[tymedfire]

A Study In Chivalry

Summary: He's Leon -- stoic, respectful, good-natured -- but in this moment he is hell and fury and fire and these men have touched his friend.

They're dead.

Warnings: this work contains non-graphic attempted rape

Read it on AO3.

Arthur is a prat. There’s just no way around it -- king or not, destiny or not, Arthur Pendragon is the prattiest prat to ever prat, and it’s taking all the willpower Merlin has not to magic his pants to fall down again in front of a bunch of his knights, who would surely make fun of him.

It’s not the polishing. Merlin really, honestly, doesn’t mind polishing Arthur’s armor; at least then he can make sure it’s in tip top shape so the prat won’t die in battle. So really, it isn’t the polishing that’s Merlin’s problem.

It’s the polishing everything. Arthur has him polishing all the Knights of the Round Table’s armor, as well as his own. Which wouldn’t be that much of an issue except that they’d all recently been out in the biggest gale of the season and every piece of armor was covered in mud. Which also put him on a time limit if he didn’t want anything to rust. And he was to do it all himself for no other reason than Arthur is a prat who is definitely eating rat for dinner tonight.

Yeah.

Three knights come into the armory, all roughhousing with each other, but Merlin is too busy trying to think of what kind of story he’d have to spend to dump the rest of the polishing on George to pay much attention to them. Really, it shouldn’t be that hard -- the man treats polishing like a religion.

He doesn’t notice the three men until the gauntlet in his hand is taken away. He looks up to see three of Arthurs newest knights: Sirs Jackson, Gareth, and Ector. Merlin doesn’t know them well. Sir Jackson looks to be inspecting Arthur’s gauntlet, while the other two watch curiously. The three were all friends before being knighted, and Merlin gets the feeling that Sir Jackson has always been the ring leader.

Merlin raises an eyebrow at them, not the least bit intimidated. He’s seen this before; a noble of some kind trying to find fault in one of his chores, maybe goading him into insulting them, either just because they can or to try to get back at him for not going to Arthur with the problems they’ve given him.

None of these knights have asked him for something from Arthur, or to convince him of something, so Merlin figures it must be the first option.

Whatever. He can handle a few knights who think they’re better than everybody else.

“How are you today, Merlin?”

Merlin’s eyebrow raises even higher, this time in surprise. He didn’t think they knew his name. “I’m fine,” he say neutrally. “How are you?”

Jackson runs a long finger along the gauntlet, never taking his eyes off it. “Oh, you know. The life of a knight.” Finally he looks at Merlin, raising the gauntlet in his direction. “Excellent work here.” Gareth and Ector give him a friendly smile and a nod and Merlin relaxes. All three are common-born, but Merlin had automatically assumed they were like all the other knights besides his Knights. Suddenly Merlin feels no better than the nobles, making assumptions about people, and shame stirs in his gut.

He smiles. “Thank you, Sir Jackson.”

“Finished?” He asks, gesturing toward Merlin pile of clean armor. Merlin nods and he tosses the gauntlet onto the pile. Merlin gives them all a last smile and picks up Arthur’s other gauntlet. He goes back to polishing as Gareth wanders over to the other side of the room and Ector starts polishing his own sword. Jackson stays standing in front of Merlin, watching him.

“You’re quite good at this.” Merlin glances up and sees Sir Jackson leaning lazily against one of the weapons racks, arms crossed. He blushes slightly.

“Oh, well, I’ve had lots of practice. Been Arth- the king’s servant for a long time.”

“Hm, I bet. But it’s a certain natural talent, too. You have very long fingers. I’m sure you’re very adept at using them.” And that makes Merlin’s pulse pick up a little. Is he talking about magic? Does he know? How does he know? Why hasn’t he reported Merlin?

Suddenly the friendliness makes sense. Sir Jackson is going to try and blackmail him. Merlin’s eyes dart toward the others. Ector isn’t paying attention to them, but he can’t find Gareth.

When Merlin looks back at Sir Jackson, he jumps. Sir Jackson is suddenly right in front of him. He reaches out and touches a finger to Merlin’s cheek. “You’re very pretty, did you know?” What? “I’m certain you serve the king especially well with those fingers. In fact, I think I’d like to know just how good you are. See just what makes the king keep you.” Jackson’s hand trails down Merlin’s body before slipping under his shirt.

Oh. Oh. No. No, Merlin doesn’t want this at all. He jerks back, trying to scramble away, but suddenly his arm is in a vice-like grip and he struggles to move. So that’s where Gareth went, he thinks.

“Stop. I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I certainly am not doing anything like that for you.” He struggles against Gareth’s grip, but the man is much bigger and stronger than him, despite how young he is. Merlin’s foot hits the gauntlet he dropped when Jackson had touched him and, quick as lightning, he grabs it and rams it into Gareth’s throat with all the force he can muster. Gareth gasps and releases him. Merlin makes a mad dash for the door -- when had it been closed? -- and opens his mouth to yell, but only makes it a few steps when a hand grabs his hair and he’s yanked back. He’s thrown roughly, and his head connects with the wall with a sickening crack. His vision goes black for a second before clearing a little. Everything is spinning now and he’s only vaguely aware of Sir Jackson speaking.

He gives a little cry of pain when someone grabs his arms and pulls him onto his knees.

“... whatever we want. Got it?” No. No, he doesn’t got it. He tries to focus on pulling his arms away but his head hurts too much and his attackers are too strong and he can’t even focus on his magic enough to use it. He can feel blood running down his neck.

A hand grabs his jaw, hard, and pulls his face up so that Sir Jackson is in his blurry line of vision. His thumb rubs against Merlin’s bottom lip and Merlin tries, he really tries, to yell, to use his magic, to do anything, but nothing is working. He can’t do anything. He’s helpless.

Jackson's thumb hooks over his teeth, forcing his jaw open and Merlin notices for the first time that Jackson is no longer wearing any pants. Another hand slips under his shirt again but he’s not sure whose it is. He tries again to jerk back, but the hands on his arms are strong and another holds his head in place and Merlin wants to cry, thinks that maybe he is, and he doesn’t know what to do, all he knows is no, no, no, no, no, no…

...

Sir Leon is having a good day. He’d had a successful practice with the newest recruits and he’s feeling confident in their actually being knighted. In fact, he’s feeling so confident in his teaching skills that he’s decided to find Merlin and give him some crossbow lessons. The man is hopeless with a sword, even with Arthur teaching him (or trying to), but the crossbow is a very different weapon and who knows, maybe Merlin has a knack for it. He had certainly showed enough enthusiasm when getting one for Arthur that one time. Leon had been happy to tell him all he needed to know.

Really, nobody appreciates crossbows anymore.

Arthur had said that Merlin was in the armory polishing their armor, so Leon thinks he might just help him finish quickly and then take him to the training field. Merlin being Merlin, if Leon helped him finish this he would feel obligated to go with him. He hopes it doesn’t come to that, that Merlin will show as much enthusiasm about taking up this noble weapon as Leon, but, well.

He’s prepared.

He’s almost to the armory door (closed? Merlin never closes the door when he’s in there) when he hears a strange sound. He stops in the middle of the deserted hallway and listens hard for the sound when --

Leon’s blood runs cold. He hopes, prays, that he’s imagining the sound, that he’s misheard but -- no. That’s it.

There’s an absolutely feral sound coming from inside the armory. It sounds like a wounded, rabid animal, sick with terror and rage. It makes Leon cringe. Then Leon hears another sound -- laughter. Delighted, maniacal laughter.

He wastes no time charging into the armory, pulling his sword from its scabbard, intent on taking out the bandits th

at have obviously infiltrated the castle when --

Leon is so shocked by the sight before him that he freezes for a second -- just a second -- to take it all in.

Merlin is on his knees, his dazed expression laced with terror and tears streaming down his face. His arms are being pinned behind his back by two knights -- knights -- while a third stands in front of him with his, his…

And one of the knights (knights?!) is reaching for the front of Merlin’s trousers and they all look absolutely delighted until they see Leon. They all freeze. Then, the one in front of Merlin, Leon now recognizes him as Sir Jackson, grins at Leon and says,

“Ah, Leon! Come to join in our winnings?”

Leon sees red.

The next thing he’s aware of, Sir Jackson is on the floor, unconscious, blood streaming from his nose and the side of his head. Sir Gareth is clutching his broken arm, leaning against a fallen sword rack, looking dazed, and Leon has Sir Ector’s hand wrenched behind his back and pressed up against the wall. He vaguely recalls speaking as he wreaked havoc on the so-called-knights. He’s not sure what he said to them, but he’s pretty sure it involved a lot of profanity and threats; he can tell by the shocked expressions on their faces (well, those that are conscious).

Because he’s Leon -- stoic, respectful, good-natured -- but in this moment he is hell and fury and fire and these men have touched his friend.

They’re dead.

He releases Ector’s hand with a growled, “Stay put,” and carefully walks toward Merlin.

He approaches a dazed Merlin carefully, taking in his appearance. His eyes are unfocused, his head is bleeding profusely, and he has one arm wrapped protectively around himself. His unfocused eyes are darting from side to side and he looks absolutely terrified and by god, Leon hopes he killed Jackson. He really does.

Slowly, Leon reaches for the skittish servant. “Merlin? It’s okay. It’s okay, now. They’re not going to touch you, I promise. I need to get you to Gaius, okay? Merlin? Can I touch your arm?” He stops his hand an inch from Merlin’s free arm until the servant gives a slight nod. Careful of his injuries, Leon pulls Merlin to his feet and slowly wraps his arms around the servants waist, pulling Merlin’s arm across his shoulders.

Then, as quickly as he can, he takes off toward Gaius’s chambers, growling at a passing guard to take the pathetic excuses for knights in the armory to the dungeon.

...

Gaius starts when Leon bursts into his chambers with an injured Merlin. Almost immediately, though, he gets to work, instructing Leon to put Merlin on the patients cot, but when Gaius moves to help, Merlin screeches and jerks back. He tries again to reach for Merlin, asking Leon what had happened, but Merlin just shrinks into himself and brings his free hand up defensively. His boy is terrified, completely unsure of where he is and if he’s safe, and Gaius can tell that if he gets pushed any further he’s going to snap. He’s going to do magic. So Gaius backs away and instructs Leon on what to do with his boy.

“I think it’s best if I don’t touch him right now, but he needs treatment, so Sir Leon, you are to be my hands for now.”

“Anything. Just tell me what to do.” Leon responds breathlessly, looking anxiously between Gaius and Merlin, who is now lying on the patients cot, his eyes closed tight and scrunched in pain.

Leon dresses Merlin’s wounds while Gaius watches attentively from across the room. He tries to talk to Merlin, but the sound of his voice seems to only agitate his boy further.

Curiously, Leon’s doesn’t. Gaius can only assume that’s because Leon had been the one to save Merlin from those… monsters.

As Leon explains what he saw, Gaius has to struggle hard not to cry for his boy. He knows that some nobles are crude and horrible, and he knows that some servants do get taken advantage of but… he’d never imagined it happening to Merlin. He’d thought that he would be safe with his magic, and he can’t help wondering why he hadn’t used it. He can only conclude that Merlin had just been too scared. It breaks Gaius’s heart.

Gaius is pulled from his musings by the door to his chambers slamming open again, this time revealing a confused and concerned king and queen, and Gwaine. Arthur goes immediately toward his servant before Gaius can stop him. He reaches the cot and reaches for Merlin, his eyebrows pushed down in confusion.

He’s stopped by Merlin’s terror filled scream. The servant scrambles back, only avoiding falling off by Leon’s quick reflexes. He jumps at the unexpected contact, but when he turns his still unfocused eyes on Leon, he relaxes. One of hands reaches out and clutches Leon’s sleeve.

The look on all three of their faces is enough to break Gaius’s heart all over again.

Gwaine jumps forward and yanks Arthur roughly back, his eyes wide. At the movement, Merlin’s unfocused eyes dart to Gwaine, then lock on Gwen, who stands just inside the door with her hands covering her mouth, tears shining in her eyes.

“What happened?” Arthur hisses.

Leon cradles Merlin to his chest. The man looks so small. “They… Sirs Jackson, Gareth, and Ector attacked him in the armory. They were… I walked in and they were trying to rape him.” Gwen makes a strangled noise and the tears spill over her eyes. “I got them away. Jackson probably needs medical attention if he isn’t dead. The others, too. The guards should have escorted them to the dungeon to await your sentence, Sire.” Gaius can practically see the rage boiling off of Gwaine and Arthur. Gwaine unconsciously takes a step toward Merlin, as if to physically shield him from anything threatening him, and Merlin pushes back into Leon. Gwaine steps back immediately, face morphing to concern.

Merlin is still staring at Gwen.

Slowly, Gwen eases toward Merlin. Her hands drop down to her sides and she takes a deep breath. Her face is filled with compassion. Gaius isn’t sure what it is about her that has captivated Merlin so completely; his eyes never leave her, but he doesn’t react to her presence like he had to the others.

“Merlin?” She asks quietly, a small, empathetic smile on her face. “Is it okay if I come closer?”

Maybe it’s because she’s a woman. Maybe it’s just because she’s Gwen. Either way, he lets her come closer.

“Gwen,” he whispers, the first actual words he’s spoken since his attack. He untangles his hand from Leon’s sleeve and reaches for her, latching onto her hand when it’s offered. “Gwen,” he says again as Gwen sits carefully on the side of his cot. He says something else, too quiet for Gaius to hear, and it makes Gwen start to cry again as she whispers, “Oh, Merlin,” and pulls her friend into a hug.

The hug proves to be too much for Merlin and he starts to cry. Leon stays at his back, rubbing a comforting hand between his shoulder blades.

Gwaine and Arthur exit, storms in their expressions, and Gaius can’t find it in himself to feel any sympathy for the hell-storm that is about to befall the disgraced knights. In fact, he dearly hopes that they rot in hell.

...

Eventually, Merlin’s crying subsides. He looks so tired, but he seems to be fighting sleep, so Gaius gives him a sedative. Gwen stays beside him, holding his hand and whispering placations. Leon leaves for about an hour, returning in new clothes and with the news of the no-longer-knights’ punishment. Eventually, Gwen starts falling asleep and Leon insists that she retire for the night. She only leaves when he’s promised to stay with Merlin until she gets back. She kisses his forehead and whispers one last thing in his ear, then leaves.

Leon is left alone with a sleeping Merlin. Soon enough, the servant starts twisting and writhing in his sleep. Leon is no Gwen, but he tries his best to calm him down. He places a comforting hand on the servants forehead and starts talking about whatever comes to his mind, since the sound of his voice seemed to calm him before. Eventually, Merlin settles, letting out a sigh that reminds Leon of a child. Rage renews in his heart at the sound.

How dare someone do this? How dare anybody even think they could do something like this? It’s despicable, inhumane, and it makes Leon hate the nobility he was born into. As he looks down at Merlin, the usually vivacious man looking small, he vows that nobody will ever do this to him again. That he won’t let something like this happen to any servant in Camelot ever again.

In the early morning light, his hand still on Merlin’s forehead, he starts planning.

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

Long Lost Prince Part 2;

Merlin leads his people home and Arthur grapples with whether he should keep his feelings to himself or not.

Part 1

Just like Arthur promised, a portion of Camelot's army mixed with around fifty of Merlin's knights are marching towards the Dragonlands within a month.

Merlin and Arthur lead the way, Sir Thornway, Sir Leon, and Sir Mordred following closely behind. It was decided fairly quickly that Hunith and Gaius would stay in Camelot; they were desperate to get home, but they weren't fighters, and whilst the chance of attack was fairly low considering the army behind them and the two dragons circling ahead, Arthur and Merlin were unwilling to risk it.

At a quick pace, Arthur reckons they could've made the journey in a week, but the army is slow-moving, and it takes them almost three to reach the border. They don't hear a peep out of anyone as they move through the countryside, though Arthur does raise an amused eyebrow at Merlin every once in a while, as and when the Warlock chuckles at Kilgharrah whispering in his head about all the various pathetic mercenaries and bandits running away screaming at the sight of his silhouette against the clouds.

The Dragonland, in comparison to Camelot, was a very small kingdom, but it’s capital city was near the far border, backed by miles and miles of towering mountains. In one of the many sessions of reminiscing that Merlin, Thornway, and Kilgharrah have in the evenings, they discuss the mountains at length. They were mostly uninhabited by people, even before the purge, they were far too treacherous for those without a guide and strong magic, and even then the paths were still dangerous.

The great mountains were where the Dragon’s resided; in a network of twisting tunnels and great caverns carved with fire and magic. Merlin vaguely remembers being taken there a few weeks before... before they left. Thornway told him that retreating into the mountains was one of the back up plans, if Uther’s army was too big and there was no hope of escape through the countryside.

(Arthur frowned at that. He was frowning at a lot nowadays, but Merlin just squeezed his leg under the blanket they were sharing (Leon did NOT smirk and Arthur did NOT blush) and whispered, yet again, that he was not his father.)

The escape through the mountains was planned to be a last ditch effort though, even with the dragons leading them and their strongest sorcerers protecting them, the perilous paths, with their knife edge drops and loose rocks and harsh snow, would have taken too many casualties to count. Though, in the end, escaping through the countryside had been just as deadly.

Arthur also used the journey to think about what Leon had said. Though Merlin and The King stuck close by for the whole trek, conversation was sparse (though the silences were comfortable); Arthur was unsure how to bring up the inevitable change in their relationship, though he knows that, for his own peace of mind if nothing else, he should.

They were deep into the Kingdom, having passed all the now doubly abandoned outer villages (Arthur was right in thinking that two dragons and a marching army scared away all the various mercenary groups and bandits) and now only a day’s ride from the capital, that Arthur asked Merlin the question that had been plaguing his mind for weeks. The two of them were sat against a fallen log, the night flourishing around them. The silence over the rest of the camp was tense, the knowledge that they were close hanging in the air, but the silence between Merlin and Arthur was comfortable, peaceful:

“What are you planning on doing?”

Merlin took a noticeably deep breath and Arthur turned to him, trying desperately to keep the worried frown off his face:

“I don’t know. I didn’t really discuss it with ma, we just... wanted to get home, and work from there, see what happens I guess.”

Arthur nodded, gulping slightly before he responds:

“Do you think she wants the throne? Your mother? Or will you become King?”

Merlin chuckles, but Arthur clenches his hands and looks away at the humourless lilt the noise has:

“I’d love to see her back in her crown, on her throne, but it’s been a long time. She did everything with my father by her side, I don’t know if... if she would want to do it on her own. I don’t know that she would cope.-”

The Warlock turns to face Arthur, and it strikes The King how close they are when he can feel Merlin’s breath on his cheek. He turns to meet his gaze once more:

“-What would you do, Arthur? In my place?”

Arthur can only hold his stare for a few moments before he looks to his lap, shaking his head slightly:

“I don’t know, Merlin. Tell me what’s on your mind, I... I can’t promise that I’ll have the answers, but maybe saying things out-loud will help.”

Merlin nods as he shuffles in his spot slightly, and Arthur likes to think that he was moving closer:

“I... I’m desperate to get home. But at the same time, I waited. I waited for twenty years, I’ve built myself a life in Camelot, I’d... given up on ever returning home, and I was just about coming to terms with the fact that Camelot was my home now. And then... this. I have to lead my people back, I know that, I owe it to them, it’s my job to protect them and give them back their heritage-”

Arthur interrupts quietly:

“Your heritage.”

Merlin sighs:

“-yeah, my heritage. My mother, and Gaius, and my people, and... and I, we deserve to go home. But I was only six when we left, I never got all the lessons on how to be a Politician, a King. Yes, I’m the heir, yes, I remember home and the crown and being a little Prince, but I am not built to be a King, Arthur, I don’t want to- I can’t fail my people, but I fear I will. I... I’ve been putting up a brave front for my mum, for Thornway, but I’m terrified. I have no idea what I’m doing, Arthur. What if I mess up?”

Arthur allows a small smile to slip onto his face as he takes Merlin’s fidgeting hands in his own. He shakes his head as he huffs out a short laugh and Merlin looks at him incredulously:

“You couldn’t possibly, Merlin. I know you well, do I not?-”

Merlin nods his head vigorously:

“Better than anyone.”

Arthur fights the blush:

“-And I’m telling you, that you have nothing to worry about. You may not have had official lessons, but you have the mind for politics.-”

Arthur glances to his lap briefly as he takes a fortifying breath, stroking his thumbs over the back of Merlin’s hands, still clutched in his, and looking up to him again:

“-I had all those lessons. All that training, and practicing, and tutoring. But I was still so... lost when I became King. I don’t think I ever told you, Merlin, but the only thing that got me through was you, always by my side. Because I knew that you would never let me fail, because I trusted you to see my shortcomings and make up for them without fuss, without fault. And you did, without asking for any thanks, or recognition, like you do with everything. To this day, you think I’m a good King because of destiny, but that’s utter bollocks and I’ve always known it. I’m a good King, Merlin, because you made me a good man first. And on days when I doubt my own rule, I remind myself of how much faith you have in me, and it gives me strength, because I know you would never allow me to fail, and on the off chance I fall, I know you would catch me. Every good King who cares about his people has doubts, Merlin, but however much faith you have in me? I have the same amount, if not more, in you. You’ll do just fine.”

Merlin looks at him with wide, teary eyes, and Arthur flushes under the scrutiny. The King goes to say something, maybe a flippant joke to de-charge the atmosphere, but before he can utter even a word, Merlin throws himself at him, wrapping tight arms around his shoulders and burying his face in his neck. Arthur almost falls back, but he holds steady, chuckling slightly as he returns Merlin’s hug with equal intensity. Merlin’s muffled voice from his shoulder has Arthur tightening his grip:

“Will you catch me? If I fall?”

Arthur moves a hand up to cradle the back of Merlin’s head:

“You won’t fall. But I’d spend the rest of my life stood below you with my arms out ready, Merlin, if that gave you just a fraction of the belief in yourself that you should have.”

Neither pulled away for what felt like hours, and by the time Thornway wondered over to check on them, they had fallen asleep against the log, arms still firmly wrapped around each other.

He smiles mournfully as he drapes a blanket over them. You would have to be blind to miss the odd moroseness that had overtaken them both, and the old knight knew that his Prince was dreading having to leave Arthur, and that Arthur was dreading the same. They shuffle in their sleep, and Thornway freezes, worried that he had woken them, but when Arthur just mutters Merlin’s name and moves impossibly closer to the other man Thornway sighs. This is going to be... painful for the two of them, and he’s not quite sure how he can help.

~

After another day of travel, they find themselves moving through the capital city, towards the castle sitting at the foot of the mountains.

The army was left with orders to methodically clear the city whilst Arthur, Leon, Thornway, and Mordred headed straight for the citadel gates. Though the city had fallen into disrepair, the castle looked like it had barely been touched, even by the elements, and Thornway explained that powerful enchantments laid over the ancient building, preventing it from being invaded or damaged by even the strongest of armies:

“It was meant to be a stronghold, somewhere we could hide and keep our people safe in emergencies, but we knew if we did that we would have backed ourselves into a corner. Uther was taking over more and more of the city every day, if we locked ourselves in... we would have just starved. Trying to escape through the city and out into the wilderness was our only hope.”

Merlin nods absent-mindedly as he stares up at the main door:

“Can we even get in?”

His voice is quiet and shaky, and Mordred steps forward to put a hand on his shoulder as Thornway replies with a small smile:

“You’re the heir, the doors will always open for you, Little Falcon.”

Merlin replies with a weak smirk and flushed cheeks:

“You know, I’m not all that little anymore.”

Thornway barks out a laugh as he shakes his head slightly, ruffling Merlin’s hair as the younger man pouts:

“Well, you’ll always be littler than me.-”

Merlin goes to retort, but before he can, his knight steps back and gestures to the great doors in front of them:

“-Go on, it’s time for us to finally come home, I think.”

Merlin gulps and nods, and Mordred lets his hand fall back to his side as the older Warlock takes the steps two at a time, hesitating only slightly before he wraps his hand around one of the doors’ metal rings. It twists easily in his grip, and the door swings open. Merlin has to take a step back and cover his mouth with his sleeve as he coughs, the billowing clouds of dust being disturbed for the first time in two decades making it almost impossible to see into the dark hall.

It settles after a few moments and Merlin takes a deep breath, reaching behind him wordlessly and relaxing only when he feels Arthur take his hand. The blonde King gives his hand a comforting squeeze, and Merlin takes his first shaking steps across the threshold.

He walks through the dark corridors slowly, one hand tightly clenched in Arthur’s, the other trailing along the wall next to him. The rest of the group is silent as they follow him, and nothing can be heard bar their muffled steps over the dusty rugs, and the deep breathing of Merlin and Thornway.

Merlin seems to know where he’s going, so no one questions the corners he turns and the rooms he passes without second thought. The deeper into the castle they get, the darker it becomes, until finally Merlin stops, a long hall stretched out in front of him. His eyes flash gold and the torches lining the walls flare up, illuminating the corridor in golden light. Arthur turns to look at the Warlock beside him, empathetic tears gathering in his eyes as he sees tracks on Merlin’s cheeks. 

Merlin turns to glance at Thornway, whose in a similar state, before closing his eyes and flattening his free hand against the wall, digging his fingertips into the cracks as his voice comes out quiet and raspy:

“I know these halls, this stone.-”

Thornway takes a deep stuttering breath, muttering Merlin’s name. Merlin steps away from the wall, looking back to his knight with a weak, teary smile:

“-Do you remember? Chambers filled with golden light, vast halls bustling with people and dragons and magic?”

Thornway gulps and nods, slowly moving towards Merlin and putting a hand on his shoulder:

“I remember.-”

He nods down the corridor, taking a deep breath and clearing his throat before asking:

“-You remember what’s down there?”

Merlin smiles and nods, squeezing Arthur’s hand and leading the group down the hall, obviously impatient to get to wherever their destination is, but unwilling to walk any quicker.

Leon and Arthur share a confused and slightly concerned look but don’t say anything, allowing Merlin and Thornway to lead the way. Once again, Merlin hesitates only slightly before pushing the door at the end of the corridor open. and the six of them gather inside the immense chamber. Like the rest of the castle, it was dusty, but untouched; unlike the rest of the castle, it was bathed in colourful light. The walls were high, the ceiling obviously stretching far above the surrounding rooms, and the afternoon sun shone brightly through giant stained glass windows. 

Reds and blues and greens and every other colour imaginable were splashed across the stone floor, painting pictures of dragons and flowers and family, but everyone’s eyes skip over the colourful artwork, instead being drawn to the two golden thrones sat on a dais at the other end of the hall. Merlin lets go of Arthur’s hand, walking towards the thrones with wide eyes as the others stay back, watching with a mix of pride and grief. Thornway follows after a few moments and Leon has to put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, shaking his head slightly when the King looks at him. Arthur clenches his hands and looks away, but stays by the door, wanting more than anything to be with Merlin through this but also understanding that it wasn’t his place.

Merlin finally reaches the thrones.

He wipes the thick dust from the armrests with shaking, but reverent hands before sitting down on the steps, slightly to the side of the golden seats. He runs his fingertips over the stone, remembering every bump and crack and texture, and Thornway stands behind him, in line with the thrones, putting a hand on his shoulder and muttering:

“Now this brings back memories.”

Merlin nods, looking up at him, tears no longer flowing, but still gathering in his eyes:

“I... I don’t remember much, but I still... know. I know this is where I sat, with you behind me, ma and dad next to me on their thrones. I remember dad promising that when I was older, they’d have a throne made for me, so I could sit with them.”

Thornway nods, slowly moving to sit beside him, ignoring the creaking in his bones as he lets his weight fall onto the stone steps:

“Hmm. foreign royalty and dignitaries thought it odd that the King and Queen let you sit in on meetings, even as a young child, but they were always adamant; they didn’t want to hide you away. You were always safe, of course, but they wanted you exposed to the people and the people exposed to you. I suppose they wanted to nurture a natural love and protectiveness of your people in you; how could they expect you to serve the Kingdom well if you were only doing so out of duty, and not genuine love?”

Merlin hums thoughtfully before smiling briefly up at Arthur, still stood on the other side of the room. When Arthur tentatively returns the smile, despite not hearing the hushed conversation, Merlin looks to Thornway next to him, bumping shoulders with a short giggle:

“Probably why I’ve always been so disrespectful to Arthur, everyone in here was equal, no matter what. I guess that’s why the treatment of servants and commoners was such a shock when I moved to Camelot, I don’t really remember much of home, but it definitely felt different.”

Thornway nods as Merlin stands, holding out a hand to the knight and pulling him to his feet. Merlin’s gaze moves around the room, though he stays rooted to the spot, and Thornway asks his question quietly:

“What do you want to do? Do you want to finish clearing the castle and the city first, or fetch your mother and uncle first?”

Merlin gulps before taking a deep breath, staring at the floor and saying in a small voice:

“I don’t know... what do you think I should do?”

Thornway chuckles and shakes his head:

“This is your decision, Little Falcon. You are the Crown Prince, this is your Kingdom, your city, your people, trust your instincts. What should be done?”

Merlin looks to Arthur once again, reminding himself of the King’s promise to catch him should he fall, before looking back at Thornway with a determined expression:

“Send Kilgharrah to fetch ma and Gaius. We no longer need him as a deterrent, and we’ll still have Aithusa. He can make the journey to Camelot and back in a week at most, knights, even on horseback, will take at least twice that. It’s been a while since either of them went flying, but they’ll remember soon enough, and I trust Kilgharrah to keep them safe. We can keep clearing the city and start rough plans for rebuilding whilst we wait.”

Thornway grins and nods proudly:

“Exactly what I would have suggested. See? You’ll be just fine.-”

Merlin returns his grin shyly, blushing slightly as he rubs the back of his neck. Thornway rolls his eyes good-naturedly before gesturing to the others:

“-Come, My Lord, we should let the others know and head out to send Kilgharrah off as soon as possible.”

Merlin pushes the older knight’s shoulder playfully at the use of a title, but Thornway just smirks and waves Merlin ahead of him.

~

Arthur, Leon, and Mordred were told of the plan as the group made their way out of the castle again, having to cover their eyes when they step into the bright sunlight. They all smiled fondly as they saw Merlin’s growing confidence, though Arthur had to stamp down the growing anxiety swirling in his stomach; he refused to be sad for himself.

Kilgharrah was flying back towards Camelot within the hour, and Merlin was separating the army into groups and assigning tasks with a strong voice and straight back, taking every question and suggestion in his stride and organising hundreds of people without issue.

Arthur knew that there was still a conversation to be had between himself and Merlin, though with every day that passed he questioned whether it was the right thing to do. He wasn’t oblivious enough not to notice the way Merlin always asked for his council, even when he didn’t need it, always searched for his eyes in the crowd when he addressed his people, but that didn’t mean that his... affections, were returned.

Everyone, even Thornway now, kept shooting him pitying looks, and he figured out fairly quickly that he wasn’t as subtle as he’d like to believe. Leon was the only one he could rely on to convincingly pretend nothing was wrong, and Arthur used that to back up his deliberate ignoring of his stupid emotions.

Six days had passed and the clearing of debris from the lower town was well on its way when Kilgharrah landed in the castle courtyard, his two passengers tense and teary. Only Hunith, Gaius, Merlin, and Thornway took the journey through the castle this time; the others continued to help with the work in the town, not quite feeling that they would be welcome on the emotional tour.

Hunith decided fairly quickly that she would move on to become Queen Mother. Merlin would be crowned King (though he put his foot down and insisted that it wouldn’t happen until everything was properly sorted, and the people were settled back in the city), and though Hunith would still be the most senior of the royals, Merlin would technically have the most power. 

Arthur had mixed feelings about that. 

As King, Merlin would be a lot busier, would have a lot more responsibilities, but equally, he would have much more control over the use of his time; somehow making it both harder and easier to organise visits between the two of them. Though Arthur, of course, didn’t mention such feelings, just pulled Merlin into another tight hug and congratulated him with a grin.

With the help of Merlin and Mordred’s magic, and the few sorcerers scattered throughout the army they had brought, clearing the town of debris and rebuilding what they could with whatever was left went fairly quickly. Soon enough, the blacksmith’s and an infirmary were up and running, and the farms were ready for work to commence, just as soon as the resources from Camelot arrived.

The castle, whilst it had been fully explored by Merlin, Hunith, Thornway, and Gaius, had yet to be opened up to others or cleaned properly, but no one mentioned it. The gang slept happily in homes rebuilt in the upper town, and accepted Merlin’s excuse of wanting to focus on the people’s infrastructure first.

It was a week or so after Hunith and Gaius had arrived, Kilgharrah and Aithusa had disappeared into the mountains with Merlin’s approval, and Arthur once again found Merlin stood in the otherwise empty, still dusty throne room, staring at the golden seats with his hands in his pockets and his face tense.

Years ago, Arthur would’ve been wrong in his assumption that Merlin hadn’t heard him approach, but just this once he knows that he’s right. Arthur had slowly become an expert on picking up Merlin’s ticks, and even in the low light of the evening the blonde could tell that Merlin had no clue he was there.

Arthur didn’t want to feel like he was intruding, so cleared his throat quietly, only walking closer to the other man when his head whipped around, smiling slightly when he saw it was just Arthur.

Arthur stepped up next to him, and they both stared at the thrones in silence, shoulders brushing ever so slightly. Everything had been so busy in recent weeks that, other than the conversation two weeks earlier, Arthur and Merlin had spent barely any time together, just the two of them; every other time Arthur had found Merlin alone in the throne room he had shut the door quietly behind him and left, too afraid to intrude, not quite ready to start a conversation. The conversation.

After a few minutes, he clears his throat again and speaks in a quiet voice, not looking to the Warlock next to him:

“What’s on your mind?”

Merlin responds almost immediately, but like Arthur, he speaks quietly and doesn’t move his gaze from the thrones:

“Nothing, everything. I’m... doing ok, I think.-”

Arthur nods with a small smile, but Merlin continues before he can say anything:

“-But I’m scared that I’m only doing well because you’re here. You have to go back to Camelot eventually and... it sounds stupid, but I... I don’t want you to go. I need you, Arthur.”

Arthur gulps, finally looking to Merlin’s sorrowful face, though the other man refuses to meet his gaze. He takes his hands out of his pockets, fiddling with them roughly, rubbing his knuckles together and scratching his palms harshly. Arthur clenches his jaw, taking one of Merlin’s hands in his own gently and running soothing fingers over the younger man’s callouses:

“I know what you mean.-”

Merlin looks to him in surprise, his eyes widening, and Arthur continues with a small smile:

“-I told you, Merlin, I’m only a good King because of you. I’ve never had to rule on my own before and I’m dreading going back to Camelot without you.-”

Merlin shakes his head roughly, but Arthur continues once again, before he can disagree:

“-No, Merlin, don’t argue, it’s true. I... I need you as well, I don’t want to be without you, and I’ve no clue how I’m going to cope with a week’s ride between us. Leon tried talking some sense into me back in Camelot, and I know he was right, that all relationships take effort and we’ll have to work incredibly hard to stay in each other’s lives in any significant capacity, and I’m absolutely willing to do anything to keep you close, if not physically then... otherwise, but I’m still...-”

Arthur sighs and looks away, his cheeks just a little bit pink as he continues quietly:

“-I’m still scared to be without you.”

Merlin gulps and squeezes Arthur’s hand in his own, waiting for the blonde to finally look up at him again. The Warlock smiles at the eye contact and Arthur returns it weakly as Merlin finally replies:

“The last ten years of my life have revolved around you, completely and utterly, and I know it’s selfish of me to... not want that to change. I know I’m staying here, with my people, as their King. I would never consider abandoning them, not really, but I desperately want to, just so I can stay with you. We... we’ll figure something out, find some way to communicate quickly. I’m magic incarnate, there has to be a way, I... I’ll make a way, if I have to.”

The tears in Arthur’s eyes finally overflow at Merlin’s determined tone, but before the other man can say anything about it, Arthur pulls him into a tight hug, clutching his cloak in shaking fingers and burying his face in his shoulder, for once feeling grateful for the extra inch in height that Merlin has on him. Merlin returns the hug without hesitation, closing his eyes against the tears, though not managing to stop them from falling as he quietly speaks, his voice thick:

“I promised that I would stay with you until the day I died, but I... I have to leave, I... I can’t-”

Arthur tightens the hug as he interrupts him:

“No, Merlin, you owe me nothing, you don’t have to explain. You’ve already given me my kingdom, now it’s my chance to return the favour. I would never ever ask you to leave this behind just for me.”

Arthur can feel Merlin’s body shaking with silent sobs, and he runs a hand through his hair softly, breathing deeply in an effort to hold in his own bawling. 

They stand wrapped in each other for a while, neither willing to let go even when their tears dry up and their breathing evens out. Eventually Merlin rasps out a whispered:

“I don’t want to lose you.”

Arthur pulls back at long last, but doesn’t go far, leaning his forehead against Merlin’s and closing his eyes before replying:

“You won’t. We’ll take turns hosting Yule celebrations, and I can visit on your birthday, and there’ll be tournaments of course, and trade routes, and shared patrols near the border. I refuse to let you slip from my grasp, Merlin, you’ll never be without me, not for long anyway.”

Merlin huffs out a gentle laugh, and Arthur thinks the flutter of his breath over his cheeks and through his eyelashes is the most beautiful thing he’s ever felt. Both of them open their eyes, but they don’t move away from each other, even as they stare, becoming increasingly aware of the very little amount of space between them. Arthur’s brows crease slightly but he ignores the concerned question in Merlin’s eyes, instead lifting a hand to gently cup his jaw, gulping as Merlin’s expression falls into a soft smile.

The King takes a deep breath as he summons his courage, eyes filling with tears again as he clears his throat, whispering so quietly that it’s a miracle Merlin hears him, even with only inches between them:

“Merlin, I... you mean a great deal to... I mean I... -”

He cuts himself off with a quiet huff, and Merlin smirks at the slight blush dusting his cheeks, patiently waiting for him to continue. Arthur shuts his eyes tightly, taking another deep breath before opening them with a newfound determination. He meant it, he’d come this far, he was not going to let Merlin slip away:

“I love you, you are the single most important person in my life, and I would go to the ends of this world just to see you smile. I owe you my life, and so much more than that; you’ve been making promises and swearing oaths to my crown for years-”

Merlin interrupts him quietly:

“To you, to Arthur, not the crown, to you.”

Arthur huffs slightly and rolls his eyes:

“I’m trying to confess my undying love here Merlin, and I’m not very good with this whole... expressing shit, so shut up and let me finish.-”

Merlin snorts but stays otherwise silent, raising an eyebrow to prompt Arthur to continue:

“-Like I was saying. You’ve been swearing things for years, and now it’s my turn.-”

Arthur steps back, taking Merlin’s hands tightly in his own as he lowers himself to one knee, pressing his forehead to the Warlock’s knuckles:

“-I swear on my crown and in the name of Camelot, that I will always love you, that I will always be ready catch you, and that I will never stop putting the work in to make sure I don’t lose you, that you don’t lose me.”

The blonde can hear Merlin’s stuttered breathe and barely has time to process Merlin’s whispered-

“I accept your oath.”

-before he’s being pulled to his feet and urgently kissed.

One of Merlin’s hands settles on the side of Arthur’s neck and the other grips his hip. Arthur’s arms flail for only a moment in his shock before he moves to clutch Merlin’s collar tightly, closing his eyes and kissing back, pushing as much of his devotion into the action as possible and wanting nothing more than to sooth the stress-induced bite marks on Merlin’s lips.

They pull back far too soon, as far as both of them are concerned, once again resting their foreheads against each other as they catch their breath. Arthur’s face slowly morphs into a grin as he says:

“And to think I was stressing over whether I should tell you for weeks.”

Merlin rolls his eyes in response, snorting in amusement as he admits, much to Arthur’s chagrin:

“Believe me, I already knew, you weren’t very subtle. You’ve been sulking.”

Arthur lets out an incredulous huff and pulls back, still holding Merlin’s collar but staring at Merlin’s amused raised eyebrow with wide eyes:

“I am a King, Merlin, I do not sulk.”

Merlin chuckles:

“Well so am I, and yes you do.”

Arthur narrows his eyes slightly:

“Not yet you’re not. That’s besides the point, if you knew... why didn’t you say anything?”

Merlin’ face falls slightly, and if Arthur had to guess, he’d say that Merlin looked a little guilty. The blonde furrowed his brows but pulls his Warlock close again, stroking his jaw softly with his thumb as he waits for an answer:

“I... I love you, Arthur, more than anything, but... I wanted see if you would do anything about it. I knew I would do anything for you, but I needed... I needed to know if you thought I was worth the distance, the effort. If I said something first, I never would have known... I would always be second guessing if you were about to... to break it off, because you didn’t want to put in the frankly ridiculous amount of effort it’s going to take to keep things... good.”

Arthur smiles and shakes his head disbelievingly, landing a quick kiss to the tip of Merlin’s nose and smirking at the way his face scrunches in response:

“Well, now you do know. I will do anything, everything, to keep you happy and safe and loved. You will always be in my heart, if not by my side.”

Merlin smiles, and the two of them resolutely ignore the tears gathering in their eyes as he whispers his reply:

“As will I. I’ll talk to the Druids, Kilgharrah, Thornway, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure out some magical way to communicate.”

Arthur just smiles and nods, taking Merlin’s hands in his own once more:

“Ready to head to sleep? It’s late, and I know you’re tired.”

Merlin takes a deep breath, glancing to the thrones before walking towards the door, keeping Arthur’s hand securely in his:

“Yeah. Though unless we sneak past the others I doubt we’ll get to sleep for a while. Morgana’s been speaking to me in my head and teasing me for weeks and my mum keeps hinting at how politically beneficial a marriage between the kingdoms would be.”

Arthur doesn’t even try to hide his snort, but nods in agreement and squeezes Merlin’s hand, following him out into the star-lit evening with a newfound enthusiasm to see what the future will bring.

~

THE END OF PART 2!!!

I think I’ll write one more reeeaally short part, a ten years later sort of thing, just because I have a few more ideas about this, but no real huge plot points, just cute little things I want to add in but haven’t found space for yet.

This took a little longer than I expected to come out, but I hope y’all enjoyed it!!

(and yes, I may have taken a little inspiration from The Hobbit movies, sue me (pls don’t, I’m kidding))

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Unjust

Prompts: Prompt for ya if u like! Ur so talented, big fan of your stories!-->>> Arthur is forced to come to grips with how little Merlin's life matters to society when Uther refuses to even discipline the nobles who beat him, dismissing Arthur with the words that will change how he sees the world forever; "Stop being so dramatic, he's only a servant. I'll get you a new one." - anon

The last fic you just wrote with h/c and merlin's duties as a servant WAS SO GOOD AND SO PAINFUL. Could we get a sequel? Maybe the knights trying to deal with the aftermath or the first time it happens again and Merlin trying to figure out what's something he's supposed to tell Arthur about v. actually his job? I don't know - anon

Ah yes more of these bois always

Read on Ao3 Part 1

Warnings: implied/referenced abuse, uther is an absolute gobshite, merlin gets hurt quite bad

Pairings: merthur, can be platonic or romantic you decide

Word Count: 2624

Arthur thought it couldn’t get worse.

Couldn’t get worse than Merlin looking at all of them with a completely serene expression on his face and telling them he’s been abused since the second he set foot in Camelot. That he could look at all of them and be absolutely sincere, calm, almost resigned about the torment he’s been put through.

Couldn’t get worse than Merlin being confused when all of the knights immediately protested, that yes, Merlin, this is systematic abuse, that has been allowed to pass unseen for too long, that there are no consequences for things like this but damnit there should be. That Merlin, somehow, knew that this was wrong but didn’t call it abuse.

Couldn’t get worse than Merlin looking at him, right at him, and telling him that Arthur has abused him, since day one, and that he doesn’t feel it’s his place to stop him. That Arthur has been complicit and has helped people abuse him because he thought Arthur didn’t care enough to help him realize that it was wrong.

No, Arthur thought they were past the worst of it.

Now Arthur tells Merlin bluntly that he’s not supposed to be the servant to any visiting knight. He’s supposed to walk them to their chambers and leave, right then. There will be other servants who will help them get settled the rest of the way. One will see to the bed. One will see to the food. One will see to the armor if, and only if, it is requested. Merlin will not spend a second more around the knights than he has to.

Merlin looks a little afraid when he tells him that and Arthur can’t stop himself from taking the man into his arms and asking him what’s the matter.

“They’ll be angry,” he mutters, studiously avoiding Arthur’s gaze, “they’ll be angry I’m not staying.”

“Then they can come and talk to me.” Arthur brushes Merlin’s hair out of his face. “But they don’t get to harm you.”

Leon enforces it the first time a knight decides no, he’s going to get upset when Merlin leaves. Leon’s temper does not flare often, nor does it flare particularly high, but he’ll never forget the way Merlin rushes to his side and tells him he swears Leon’s eyes flashed red for a second. Leon tells him later that he…persuaded the knight to be grateful that there were servants here to help him at all.

He makes sure to be nearby the next time, just to see Leon slam the knight against the wall.

Leon bustles Merlin down to the armory, passing it off as the need to clean the weapons, when Arthur knows full well it’s an excuse to hoard Merlin to themselves and keep him safe.

Sometimes Elyan takes it a step further, comes between whatever knight thinks it’s a good idea to accost Merlin in the armory and tells them back off. He makes a show of Merlin knowing exactly where all the weapons are and exactly how often one of them will come down to find him. Merlin returns to Arthur’s chambers after the first time with a soft ‘you’d really come look for me?’ Arthur doesn’t quite cuddle him to sleep that night but they don’t move from the hug for a while.

Percival, of course, turns the protective hug into an art form. The man is huge, certainly much larger than the average knight, and watching him glare at someone over Merlin’s shoulders is quickly turning into one of Arthur’s favorite past times. He’s no stranger to the way Merlin will sometimes scoot closer to someone when he’s feeling overwhelmed, but it’s something else to see Percival almost mold into shape when Merlin’s by his side. A soft word in Percival’s ear and you couldn’t drag him away.

Lancelot is never far from Merlin’s side. Merlin jokes one day that he and Arthur have some sort of alliance or pact; one of them is never allowed to be further than a few paces away from him if the other isn’t around.

“That’s not true, Merlin,” Lancelot chuckles, nudging his knee with his foot, “the two of us don’t have that pact.”

No, Arthur smiles privately to himself, the six of us have that pact.

And sometimes Merlin can’t come to Arthur. That knowledge still burns when he remembers it, but it makes sense. Arthur holds a position of power. Arthur has—whether he feels sick with regret or not—contributed to Merlin’s abuse. Arthur is not always there for Merlin the way he needs to be. But Lancelot is.

And when Lancelot isn’t, Merlin always has Gwaine.

Arthur is not too proud to admit that he and Gwaine butt heads more often than they don’t, certainly when it comes to Merlin. But where Merlin’s safety and comfort is concerned, they never fight. It is Merlin who dictates where he feels the safest, whose side he wants to stay at for a while. It is Merlin who decides where he will run when he’s upset. They never fight about it. It’s always concern—what can they do to help? When was the last time he ate? Does he want to talk about what happened? Merlin notices it the first time Arthur accidentally walks in on him lying in Gwaine’s arms and there’s nary a barb tossed between them before Arthur is softly asking if he’s allowed to stay too and Gwaine tucking him into the embrace alongside them.

“Did you two finally learn how to get along?”

“Only for you, Merlin,” Gwaine says quietly, “only for you.”

And yes, there are absolutely nights where Merlin shakes more than he usually does or one of the visiting knights makes the mistake of cuffing him where they can see and they all end up piled into Arthur’s chambers. After the knight’s been humiliated on the training field by every single one of them and blacklisted from any future tournaments.

Merlin doesn’t always ask for them, but when he does, everyone drops everything. That’s the unspoken agreement. Merlin so much as sniffles and their afternoon plans are dust. Arthur will never forget the day Percival swept into his chambers with Merlin in his arms, the other knights in a guard of honor as Merlin threw his arms around Arthur’s neck.

“Shh, shh,” Arthur murmurs, lowering them to the ground as Leon tells the guards to leave them be, “you’re safe, I won’t hurt you, you’re alright.”

That’s a promise.

So yes, Arthur thought it couldn’t get worse.

As always, leave it to his father to make everything worse.

Merlin is missing. Arthur strides out of his chambers before the guards even realize the doors have been thrown open. Merlin is missing and that’s all that matters. His armor clanks loudly in the hallway and the other people jump to the side to get out of his way.

Good.

He knocks on the door of Gaius’s chambers. Gaius looks at him like he’s just grown another head. It doesn’t matter. Where is Merlin?

“I thought he was with you, sire.”

Merlin is missing. He leaves with strict instructions to find him whenever Merlin turns up. He stalks to the armory and runs into Elyan and Percival. Where is Merlin?

“Haven’t seen him,” Elyan mutters, already rushing off, “I’ll ask Gwen.”

Percival falls into step behind him as they hustle down the corridor. Leon comes out of one of the halls and immediately assumes a position on Arthur’s left.

“What is it, sire?”

“Where is Merlin?”

Leon doesn’t say another word. If all the guards decide to flatten themselves against the wall as the three of them go by, that’s their business.

They find Gwaine muttering curses as he storms toward the tournament grounds.

“Where is Merlin?”

“If the way Godefroy was looking at him is any indication—“ and they’re already seeing red— “then we need to move.”

No need to tell them twice.

Arthur leads the charge down to the door. He throws it open and all the training knights freeze. He glares around at them, looking for Merlin, Merlin, you’re not Merlin.

“Godefroy,” comes Leon’s clipped voice, “where?”

“This way.” They turn to see Lancelot stalking toward the training ground, the other recruits parting like smoke as they storm forward.

Arthur feels it before he hears it.

Smack!

The other knights are caught in the maze of weapon racks as Arthur darts through the armory.

“Stupid, worthless boy, needs to be taught a lesson.”

Smack!

The wounded yelp makes him push faster. He rounds the corner and—

Godefroy. On top of Merlin. His hand raises to smack him again. Merlin on his back. Hands up. Defending but not defending enough.

His teeth are not bared.

His expression is resigned.

He does not spit in the knight’s face.

The knight moves to strike him again.

Not on my goddamn watch.

“Get your hands off him,” Arthur snarls, the blade singing as he pulls it from the scabbard, “get your hands off him!”

Godefroy looks up. “He’s just a servant, he needs to be disciplined properly.”

“You must not have heard me—“ why is he still too far away?— “I told you to get off of him.”

Godefroy rolls his eyes but complies, because Arthur is the prince and his word is law but that doesn’t mean the knight has to agree.

Merlin doesn’t move.

Arthur snarls again, readying his sword for an attack only for Godefroy to stand there, not readying himself for the blow.

“How dare you strike him,” he spits, “how dare you raise a hand to him.”

Godefroy says nothing.

“Are you too much of a coward to defend yourself?” Arthur hefts the sword. “Are you?”

“Arthur,” comes a steel voice from the other end of the hall, “what is the meaning of this?”

He turns.

Uther strides toward him, looking down his nose the way Arthur looks at the muck on his boots. “Surely you have some explanation for your behavior.”

“He hurt Merlin,” Arthur growls, gesturing at—oh, Merlin, why are you still on the floor?

Uther scoffs. “I understand being possessive of your property, but really, Arthur, there’s no need for such childish behavior.”

“Childish—Father, he hurt him.”

“So?”

So?

So?

Fucking so?

“He’s just a servant,” Uther says, waving a dismissive hand, “stop being so dramatic. I’ll get you another one if Godefroy breaks him.”

Godefroy steps around Arthur, looking far too smug, and leaves.

Arthur stands there, panting, as his chest roils with anger too deeply buried to come out as anything other than agony.

This. This is why Merlin didn’t believe him.

Distantly, he hears the other knights rushing down the corridor and he turns, sheathing the sword and crouching, all but ripping off his rough gloves to cradle Merlin’s head in his hands.

“Merlin,” he calls softly, “Merlin, can you hear me?”

Merlin nods, his eyes still a little dazed.

“Good. Try and sit up. Lean on me if you need to.”

By the time Lancelot rushes forward to fall to his knees beside them, Merlin is propped up against Arthur’s shoulder, his head far too red for his liking. Gwaine mutters another curse as the knights spill protectively into the hall.

“Merlin,” Lancelot calls, “Merlin?”

Merlin shakes his head. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not,” he corrects, taking Merlin’s hand, “it’s really not.”

“It’s better me than someone else.”

Arthur buries his head in Merlin’s neck. Because Merlin’s right.

How many other servants have had to go through this? How many people has the mighty wheel of Uther Pendragon crushed underneath its weight? How many times has he turned the corner into a hallway where someone was beaten just for being a servant?

Merlin has him. Merlin has the knights. Merlin has Gaius. Merlin will be protected because they know about Merlin.

Who don’t they know about?

“This stops,” he grits out, “right now.”

“You can’t stop everyone,” Merlin mumbles, still slumped against Arthur, “you can’t, Arthur.”

“I’m the Crown Prince of Camelot,” Arthur says, holding Merlin tightly, “if I decide that there need to be consequences for actions, there will damn well be consequences.”

There are.

Merlin is shuttled back to his chambers with Lancelot and Elyan. Gwaine and Percival return to the training grounds with twin looks of determination. Arthur and Leon go straight to the steward.

The steward blinks up at them, clearly taken aback by the question. “I’m terribly sorry, sire, would you mind asking one more time?”

“The servants,” Arthur says, “how many of them are mistreated? How are they mistreated? I want to know.”

“Well, sire…all of them.” The steward fiddles with a stack of paper, moving it aside so he can lean on his elbows. “They do not have…there is not the power to protect them the way there is to protect you or the knights.”

“And how do we give them that power?”

“Come again, sire?”

“They are people,” Arthur says firmly, Leon’s unwavering presence at his side, “they are people and they should be treated as such. How do we ensure that happens?”

“W-well, sire,” the steward says slowly, “any large reforms would need the consent of the King. But there are…there are smaller ways that we can arrange for their treatment to…improve.”

“Such as?”

The steward looks at him strangely. “Forgive me, sire, but…I did not expect this behavior from you.”

Arthur shifts in the chair. “Perhaps I’ve been refusing to look for too long.”

“It is an admirable shift, sire.”

“It’s common decency. Now what do we do?”

Some knights start finding it hard to run into servants in the hallways. Some knights don’t receive chambers with proper insulation. Some knights are beaten down on the training ground over and over. Some knights find it impossible to stay.

Some knights figure out what’s going on quickly. Some knights have kind words and soft questions and thank-yous. Some knights start to push back when they see another knight be too brash, too rough, too callous.

Some knights get it. Some knights don’t.

Those that don’t either leave fast or learn faster.

Godefroy finds himself the training dummy, pelted with arrows, clubs, staffs. The other knights find he has grown cocky over sparring with whatever servants have been dragged out to the field and do not hide their interest when Leon offers to help him regain some of his prowess.

He never gets within five feet of Merlin again.

Uther is beside himself, wondering where all his servants have gone, where all his knights are going, and why no one else seems to be the least bit concerned about it. Arthur smiles privately to himself as he watches the steward explain calmly that if he wants to know what’s going on with the servants, perhaps he could try talking to them.

“After all, sire, servants are people too.”

[dandelionpixels]

hi! i adore your account, and i was just wondering if you have any more ideas on feral!merlin/merlin being really in tune with nature, and also maybe the guards not being quite as dumb as they seem?

yes so many omg, bless your soul for asking i already love you. here’s sum stuff for feral!merlin and the guards being a little cleverer than everyone thinks (plus some combined)

- merlin knows gwen feels the same as he does sometimes, like camelot can be a little too stifling, the walls a little too close. so sometimes he’ll just show up at her door at like midnight with boots and a cloak and she’ll just pull on whatever clothes she has nearby and they’ll sneak out the gates to go running around in the woods. they trip over branches and sticks but they’ve got these dopey grins on their faces because it smells like fresh rain and flowers and they can feel the breeze on their face.

- after a couple incidences of them doing this, the knights started picking up on what was going on. they realized when merlin left to sneak around and when he brought extra clothes with him. but none of them could bring themselves to stop the two of them so they just made sure to conveniently be out of the way when the pair of them were trying to sneak out.

- sometimes when merlin goes out adventuring with people, it’s hard to tell whether the weather affects his mood, or his mood affects the weather. gwen and arthur have both been with him when he starts to get upset and it starts to pour, or when he smiles at the same time the sun comes out. they mostly chalk it up to coincidence.

- one of the first times arthur realized merlin was excellent in nature was during a battle. someone charged at merlin and without missing a beat, merlin practically scrambled up the nearest tree, sitting casually on a branch and kicking his feet lazily, a sing-song, “too high? my bad?”waving his mouth as the bandit jumped at his ankles. it took a minute before arthur remembered to stop the bandit, distracted by merlin’s carefree laughs from the three.

- one time merlin went missing for three days and came back riding on top of a moose. arthur was pretty sure moose didn’t even exist anywhere near camelot. despite that, the moose seemed perfectly content. merlin had laced vines and flowers around the antlers, making sure to be gentle. the other knights all wanted a turn.

- when he and arthur are out on a trip, sometimes merlin will disappear for fifteen minutes and return with a satchel full of different kinds of fruit. arthur never bothers to question it, he knows he won’t get an answer. at least not one that makes sense.

- when heading through fields of soft grass, merlin will constantly take his boots off, running and jumping a little higher than seemed natural. arthur just waved it off, he knew merlin liked being outside, who was he to stop him.

- merlin has a habit of being too risky when wandering through a forest. sometimes the knights or gwen will find him lying on his back, the wind knocked out of him from falling from the top of one of the trees. he always just smiles at their concerns, promising to be safer next time.

- arthur will deny it but there’s been times he’s envied merlin’s ability to heal so quickly. (between you and me, merlin just lays in the grass for an hour or two and lets the energy help him along the healing process)

- every once in a while, the knights will be patrolling and catch sight a quick sight of merlin in the forest. he’ll have leaves in his hair, mud on his face, completely barefoot. they’ve never been able to catch him, even with horses, and merlin likes to brag about it. he knows the forest like the back of his hands, and knows all the best places to run and hide.

- he also has a bad habit of biting into any mushroom he finds, just to find out if they’re poisonous. if they are, he can usually just wait it out or make himself an antidote, and if not, he’ll bring it back to gaius for possible remedies and recipes.

- sometimes merlin will bring small mirrors into the forest and hang them from branches, just for decoration. they’ve scared arthur on multiple occasions, which just means merlin hangs. more up.

- gwaine is the first to notice merlin’s odd habits. the way he’d smuggle field mice into the kitchen to get them some good food, only to sneak them back into nature the rest day. how when he tells the knights to be quiet, the birds seem to listen as well, stopping their singing to listen to his soft shushing. and gwaine could’ve sworn he’d seen merlin wink at a deer, eyes glowing softly.

- leon also has a feeling that merlin’s affinity for nature night not be just a random talent. his suspicions start to culminate when he watches merlin lean down to have what looks like a full conversation with a turtle resting on a rock, and then keep a butterfly perched on his finger for about an hour.

- and frankly, lancelot has walked into merlin on many occasions, mainly because merlin has a bad habit of hanging upside down from tree branches when he’s trying to think. lancelot’s tried it a couple times, to no avail.

- there’s no doubts left in elyan‘s mind when he sees merlin scale one of camelot’s walls with just a single vine and a grin on his face during the whole climb.

- percival,,well percival knows something’s up when merlin fully scales him in attempt to see the moon better. percival just put his hands out, trying to keep stable with merlin perched on his back. he looks towards the other knights, but they just shrug.

- arthur knows merlin doesn’t have the time to train real carrier pigeons, but every so often, arthur finds a bird tapping gently at his door with a note attached to its leg. he has a feeling merlin just asks nicely