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Birdsong could be heard in the summer breeze and the woods were nicely lit up by the sun between the trees as Merlin and Arthur walked through. Even though the woods were filled with mostly dead trees it was still nice out and some small tree saplings could be seen working their way out of the ground.
Arthur had insisted on taking a walk for the day instead of letting Merlin do his job, they’d been taking walks quite often for a while now, Merlin could not for the life of him figure out why Arthur would spend his time alone in the woods with Merlin , his servant that he, for the most part seemed to only be annoyed by.
“This is nice, don’t you think?” Arthur looked at Merlin, almost hopeful for whatever snarky comment was to be said.
“Yes sire, the weather has certainly gotten better since last week's rain” he turned to Arthur and flashed a smile before continuing to walk.
Arthur frowned at the dry response, he wanted to talk, have a conversation.
He hadn’t been able to keep Merlin out of his head for the past weeks, and although he did not want to admit it he knew exactly why that is.
A few weeks ago there had been a big banquet for Arthur’s birthday, and of course that made him required to have Merlin take care of him a little extra, which may or may not have given him some extra time to observe (admire) his servant.
They had been walking for almost half an hour when suddenly Merlin stopped.
“What is it now Mer-lin ? Scared of the birds all of the sudden?” Arthur teased with a smirk.
“No I just.. thought I heard something” he was looking around nervously past the trees but didn’t find anything. “It was nothing. Let's go.”
Arthur couldn’t help but notice the uneasy expression on Merlin’s face but chose to ignore it, he was Merlin after all, he’s scared of everything.
‘CRACK’
They only had time to go a couple of steps when suddenly a loud crack could be heard as one of the dead branches of a tree nearby fell straight at their heads.
Arthur only had time to look up and slightly brace for impact before Merlin’s magic did its own thing and with a flash of gold the branch was launched to the side.
Arthur looked at Merlin just in time to see the gold fade away and turn his eyes back to blue.
“Merlin…” he gasped, how could Merlin have magic? His own manservant, his best friend for the past few years.. his Merlin. No, this simply was not true, it couldn’t be.
But when he saw the terror in Merlin's eyes as he faced him he knew it was true.
“Arthur..” Merlin slowly backed away from the frozen-in-place Arthur, tears forming in both of their eyes.
When Arthur didn’t react he knew this was his only chance to escape, he had to run before he got burned at the stake.
But he couldn’t run, and even if he could he wouldn’t, not really.
Merlin had known this day would’ve had to come someday, he just didn’t expect it to happen now.
Arthur had subconsciously grabbed his sword in the midst of everything and was now standing there, sword in hand, pointed at Merlin.
All Merlin could do was lower his head and pray silently to the gods to let his death be quick, even if he’d have to live the rest of his “life” suffering, because he’d been committing the greatest sins of all, even if it wasn’t by choice.
And Arthur noticed this because of course he did, he saw the defeat in the sorcerer's eyes in a way that he’d never seen before, Merlin had always been so.. so himself, but now he’d just accept his death, just like that?
Tears dropped down into the ground from Merlin’s eyes as he watched Arthur’s shadow, just a few more moments and he’ll be no more. But Arthur didn’t move, didn’t attack, he just stood there.
“Just… just please get it over with,” a small pause as none of them said anything “it’s okay, I won’t come back to haunt you” he let out a dry laugh.
Arthur could barely breathe but seeing the man he’d known (and loved) for so long seriously believing that he’d just kill him broke something in him.
“No. No, I won’t”
This made Merlin confused and he looked back up, “No? What do you mean no?
“I mean I won’t kill you”
Two pairs of equally blue eyes met and Merlin now saw how Arthur was quietly crying more than he’d ever seen him cry.
“I, I don’t understand… why?
“Because Merlin” he tried to sound annoyed but it ended up just sounding pathetic , “you wouldn’t kill someone you love, now would you?
He said it like it was an obvious fact, like Merlin should’ve known somehow.
But he could be mad later, for now all he could do was fall to the ground in uncontrollable sobs.
“You- but- no, you’re lying to me. This is all a cruel prank before you behead me.
Arthur crouched down and cupped Merlin’s face in his palms “you’re so beautiful”
Their lips met and time stilled, the leaves stopped rustling, the birds stopped singing and even the water stream stopped rushing.
Suddenly Merlin got what he wanted for once.