Szelanya
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Beneath the Darkened Skies by Szelanya
Fandoms: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types
04 Jan 2025
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Summary
Shepard wakes up on a destroyed Earth post the Catalyst firing and has to live with the consequences of her actions.
This is an in-progress prelude to a time travel fix-it fic. Things are going to get dark before we see the light.
Series
- Part 1 of The Shepard in the Dark
Recent series
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The Shepard in the Dark by Szelanya
Fandom: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
04 Jan 2025
Summary
This is a series about F!Shepard from a dark AU where she survives the destroy ending and lives with the consequences of her choice. As her world gets darker from its inevitable end, and hopelessness settles into her bones, she finds herself in a futile final stand with the last of her found family... only to awaken on a craft touching down on Akuze.
Cue Fortunate One blazing out of a tinny speaker whilst this PTSD wreck of a woman panics.
This is a female Shepard, Sole Survivor, Infiltrator, Destroy Ending.
- Words:
- 18,718
- Works:
- 1
- Bookmarks:
- 1
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Summary
All in all, Arthur was one of those men about whom it could be said that their heart was in the right place, although he did take great pains to hide it. Still, the core of decency made Merlin endure the thick layers of arrogance (and their thin crispy crust of arseholery) with more patience than he’d ever thought possible. There was indeed a promise of greatness about Arthur that Merlin was willing to believe in.
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Merlin learns to live and work by Arthur's side. And vice versa.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 51,312
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 104
- Kudos:
- 482
- Bookmarks:
- 145
- Hits:
- 7,133
Bookmarked by Szelanya
08 Nov 2025
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Summary
When the attempt at healing Uther backfires and kills him instead—thereby reinforcing Arthur’s hatred of magic—Merlin decides that the time has come to give up on destiny and leave Camelot before he can make things even worse. After giving up his magic so that it might guard the citadel in his absence, he sets out for Ealdor for some much-needed rest. He is pleasantly surprised when Gwaine rides out after him to escort him on the journey. The question is why…
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 150,386
- Chapters:
- 39/39
- Comments:
- 267
- Kudos:
- 346
- Bookmarks:
- 104
- Hits:
- 9,156
Bookmarked by Szelanya
03 Nov 2025
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Summary
Camelot is a far-off dream, a place which was made for men. They travel through the forest, hunting.
Merlin lays with the deer and they with him, and he cannot bear their suffering the way he once cared about the suffering of men, so he splinters arrows before they pierce flesh and leaves the rotting bodies of unlucky creatures on the hot stones that circle the men’s fires.
If they cannot be taught their place in the forest, then they will leave it at least unsettled.
Men fear decay and death.
Merlin fears neither anymore.
(Arthur banishes Merlin from Camelot, so Merlin goes to the forest and slowly loses himself to its magic. By the time Arthur learns what he's lost, it's too late to bring Merlin back by his own will.)
Bookmarked by Szelanya
31 Oct 2025
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Summary
Merlin had failed. Despite all his efforts, Arthur had ended up dead in his arms on the shores of Avalon, so close to salvation. Surely, this could not be how their shared destiny was supposed to end? No, it was all Merlin’s fault—he had made all the wrong choices, misinterpreting prophecy after prophecy. If only he could go back and try again, now that he knew better, maybe he could right his wrongs. Maybe he— Oh. Maybe he could go back…
Ignoring Kilgharrah’s protests about the impossibility of what he aimed to do, Merlin let all his power loose, becoming one with the fabric of the world and the magic he was born of. After following the bond he shared with Arthur through the winding paths of time, he finally emerged a decade into the past, having successfully seized a second chance to get this whole destiny thing right. Unfortunately, he would have to win Arthur’s trust all over again, seeing as Merlin was alone in remembering anything of the future he was hoping to change. Or…was he?
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 64,290
- Chapters:
- 23/23
- Comments:
- 236
- Kudos:
- 1,658
- Bookmarks:
- 430
- Hits:
- 24,742
Bookmarked by Szelanya
30 Oct 2025
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The Tearing of the Veil by Merlinfirstlastalways
Fandoms: Merlin (TV), Arthurian Mythology, Arthurian Mythology & Related Fandoms
08 Mar 2025
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Summary
After Merlin loses a patient, he finds that he can't stop himself from blaming Arthur for not doing enough to protect the druids. Unfortunately, the situation only worstens as Arthur's inaction and an innocent death starts off a chain of events that threatens not only Camelot, but all of Albion.
Canon up until "With All My Heart;" story begins approximately a week after they return to Camelot at the end of the episode.
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“Guinevere, I’m sorry, but this is important. If someone’s killing people in Camelot, I have to know who’s to blame—”
“Then look in the bloody mirror!” For a moment, Merlin didn’t realize that he’d spoken aloud; he barely recognized his own voice, vicious in a way that Merlin had never allowed himself to sound in Arthur’s presence.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 131,954
- Chapters:
- 33/33
- Comments:
- 717
- Kudos:
- 1,683
- Bookmarks:
- 472
- Hits:
- 47,971
Bookmarked by Szelanya
26 Oct 2025