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“You are cold, Arthur. I can tell. Let me make a fire, alright?”
“No, Merlin. Don’t waste your energy on that. We need to free Camelot. Every day that passes means more suffering, more lives lost. We cannot let that happen.”
“A fire will not stop us from that, Arthur. Stop whining and let me help you.” A quick flash of golden eyes and a small fire lights up, tiny sparks flying up into the night sky. “See, it wasn’t that bad.”
“I keep on forgetting that…you…”
“You will eventually catch up to it.”
“Oh shut up.”
“Never.”
-
“We never stood a chance, did we? She overpowered us so easily. I feel like I went to a duel without a sword.”
“You’re right. You didn’t have a sword. You didn’t have my magic to rely on. You didn’t know and I couldn’t react quick enough. I am sorry, Arthur, but you are my priority. I needed to get you out of that castle. I couldn’t let Morgana get to you.”
“Maybe you should have. Maybe you could have defeated her that way.”
“Not when I might have lost you in the process. Not when I didn’t know what I was dealing with. Not when we couldn’t properly prepare. She took the castle because she had the advantage. But it is not her crown. It never will be. If I have to, I will personally rip it off her head.”
Arthur looks up at Merlin and smiles at him with sad eyes. “I never thought she was capable of doing something like that.”
“It’s my fault, Arthur. I was too scared to help her.”
“It’s not your fault, Merlin-”
“It is,” Merlin interrupts him and they turn silent.
“How do we do it then? How can we free Camelot?” Arthur asks after a short while.
Merlin grins at him. “Thought you’d never ask.”
“You enjoy this way too much.”
“Oh, Arthur. You cannot even begin to understand how it feels. I feel like the weight of a hundred lives has been lifted off my shoulders. I can finally be me. Entirely.”
“What’s the plan, Merlin?”
“Yeah, right. It’s quite easy actually. We let you get captured. It needs to be convincing though, she may not suspect anything.”
“You want me to be a bait?”
“I’m sorry, Arthur, but you are perfect for that.”
“Fine,” Arthur grunts. “And how’s that gonna help anyone?”
“She will want to present her latest catch at some point to try and stabilise her reign. The people love you, not her but if she shows them that their hope is in her hands, they might yield rather quickly.”
“You sound like an evil mastermind. Thank god it’s not you I am against.”
“There are so many talents I possess that you don’t have the faintest idea of.”
Arthur rolls his eyes and looks at Merlin expectantly. “Go on then.”
“To present you and possibly punish you, Morgana will leave the castle and come outside the protecting walls. That is what I am counting on. I need a direct battle.”
“You want to fight her? On your own?”
“I’ll have the element of surprise on my side. I’ll blend into the crowd but without using magic, because she might sense that. I’ll just trust a good old hood. I’ll try to get as close to her as possible without raising suspicion and strike once I am sure she has let her guard down. There will be other sorcerers there but I’ll have to trust the Druids on this and hope they are right when they call me Emrys.”
“So if you cannot singlehandedly free the kingdom, we will be doomed?”
“We don’t think about that possibility, Arthur. But even if something goes wrong, we should still have the people of Camelot on our side. Maybe I even manage to free our friends as well. I just cannot risk using magic before I strike.”
“And how exactly do you want to ‘strike’? What will make you more powerful than them?”
“They and I have one crucial difference, Arthur. They use magic. I am magic. They will not defeat me by using what I am against me. I won’t let them.”
“That sounds…convincing. Do you think it will work?”
Merlin looks at Arthur challengingly. “Do you think I’d risk your life if there was even the slightest chance it wouldn’t work?”
Arthur shrugs. “It seems like our only chance.”
“No, Arthur, you don’t understand. I don’t do this for me. It’s not Camelot I protect. It’s you. It has always been you.”
Arthur stares at him, dumbfounded. He opens his mouth, looking for a smart retort but doesn’t find one.
“Arthur, you must understand this. This has always been about you. We are destined for each other. In whatever way I don’t want to speculate. But we are. We belong together, Arthur.”
“That sounds painfully much like you are in love with me,” Arthur snorts.
But when Merlin’s serious expression doesn’t change, doesn’t falter, he pauses and looks at Merlin. Really looks at Merlin for the first time since they fled the castle. He can actually see the way the revelation has taken weight off Merlin’s shoulders, making him appear stronger, more confident and entirely at peace with himself.
“It’s more than that, Arthur. We cannot be one without the other. We are two sides of the same coin. Light and shadow. One cannot be without the other, loses its meaning alone. We are just like that. Not romantically maybe, but eternally. There will not be a moment in time where we will not be connected by a bond shaped by fate and destiny.”
Arthur feels like all his breath has been knocked out of his lungs. “This is…”
“It’s true, Arthur. I know it.”
Arthur nods and stares into the flames. “So, we’ll free Camelot then?”
“As soon as you are ready, Sire. You’ll be back quicker than you can yell my name.”
“Very funny.”
“Not a joke.”
-
Merlin, who is well hidden behind the bushes, observes Arthur being discovered. He can see Morgana’s thugs struggling to obtain him but at some point, Arthur must surrender. He is being manhandled into the castle when Merlin reaches out with his senses.
He can see it all before his inner eye. Time flies as he follows Arthur’s every involuntary step. They take him to Morgana who reacts just as he had pictured it. Still, Merlin feels deep sorrow seeing her like that.
She had been a good human but all the hatred had taken that away from her. She is solely a shell of who she used to be. But Merlin focuses on the task at hand and takes in every detail. Then Arthur is thrown into the stocks and Merlin knows that it is time.
He calls the magics of the Earth, reaches out to them and allows them to take him in. It feels like blissfully drowning when every cell of his is being covered with magic. He can feel the power surging through his veins and the light covering him like a blanket.
It takes every fibre of his being to leave this perfect state. Time has passed, it is almost a new morning. The last one outside of Camelot’s walls. He reaches out once more and feels Arthur pacing in his cell. Only a few more hours, Arthur.
-
A dark hooded figure makes its way through the dense crowd. They had all come upon hearing the news that their king had been captured. Merlin weaves through bodies and faces. They don’t pay attention to him and he cannot help but smile into the shadows.
Morgana presents Arthur like a piece of meat - uses him like he is a mere stranger - to showcase her power. All Merlin can think is how she turned mad with hatred and power. Mad and careless.
When Merlin finally lifts his head, standing only a few metres away from the podium, his eyes immediately lock with Arthur’s. Morgana senses Arthur’s reaction and tries to spot whoever he is looking at in the crowd. She sees Merlin only a moment before he breathes in deeply.
Without moving a muscle, he releases the magic the Earth had gifted him. It surges through the air and hits Morgana full force, stunning her in midair. She appears to be choking on it, struggling for air and control over her body. Then she turns still.
The moment he allows her to slowly drop to the ground, he is hit with an unexpected force. It sends him tumbling through the air and all of a sudden he is face to face with Morgause. It takes him not even a second to react. He pulls.
Pulls from the Earth’s very core and directs it all at her. At her and everyone within the castle’s walls who does not belong. He pulls more and more, becoming one with Camelot and the rest of the world beyond.
He is air and water, the birds and the grass. He is the prison doors that break open, releasing their friends. He is the seed planted within this very moment to allow Camelot to prosper. He is all of that and so much more.
But he is also human and so his body collapses underneath all the power that a single soul cannot possess. And he becomes something greater, moves into the souls of all life.
Until he is pushed back out and everything turns black.
-
Arthur runs towards Merlin’s lifeless body and drops to his knees, already crying hopelessly. “No, Merlin! No!” He cries out, cradling Merlin’s hands in his, pressing them against his chest. “Wake up, you fool. Wake up!”
And it is then that he loses all hope. And that he knows what Merlin meant.
It had been about Merlin all along.
-
It is then that the magics of the world find their ways to Merlin, cradle him in their energy and power, their sheer magic and light. And he can breathe again.
“Merlin!” Arthur cries out, pulling him to his chest.
Merlin smiles weakly and says. “Told you I couldn’t leave you even if I wanted to.”