Chapter Text
"Wings! Wings! Come on! I know you can hear me! Wings!" Throwing another rock at the shuttered-off window, Will attempted to catch the attention of his self-declared friend.
"What do you want?" Sharply, the shutter was pulled back, the tiny five-year-old looking down out the window.
"I told you, I will not leave until you tell me your name," Will sang in a sing-song way.
"I don't have a name, so leave," the boy snapped, his eyes flashing gold, seemingly travelling through his wings, flashing the veins gold.
Will gasped, looking at the kid as if he had grown a second head. "What kind of kid doesn't have a name?"
"The kind that doesn't like people interrupting their lives."
"I think I'll give you a name. I'll name you... Merlin! Like the bird!"
"Fine, well now you have a name will you leave?"
"Not a chance! I'm going to make you my friend, Merlin," Will declared proudly but deflated when the newly named Merlin slammed the shutter close. "Fine but I'll be back tomorrow. And the day after that! And the day after that! So you better get used to me!"
Merlin slid down the wall, letting out a sigh of relief. After a long pause, he got back up and went downstairs.
Lying on the only bed in the house, Hinnuth tossed and turned, her fever getting worse again.
Despite only being five, Merlin knew exactly what to do. He had been doing this since he was able to walk, there used to be a nice man who would come from Camelot to help but his visits were few and far between.
Merlin gently placed the rag into the water store by his mum's bed and placed it on her forehead.
He gently walked to the fire and started up a stew. Merlin could only get what he grew and he could only grow plants. Merlin never had tasted meat before and he never planned on tasting it.
Once he was sure that the food was cooked, he bowled it up and carefully fed it to his mother.
"He came again, mummy. I chased him off like you wanted. He is weird, mummy, I think he will come back again. Do you want me to scare him away again?"
"No... no one can know... no one can enter this house... No one," Hinuth mumbled deliriously.
Merlin gave a sad smile before drinking what was left of the stew.
It was a lonely life but it was a life. Merlin didn't have much but one day he would, so as he curled up on the floor looking up at the sky, he wondered what his life would be like when he is older."
~~~
"Merlin! Merlin! Merlin," Will screamed, drawing out the last one.
Annoyed, but secretly pleased, eight-year-old Merlin opened his window. "Will you be quiet? You'll wake up mum."
"Come on Merlin, I want to show you something," Will said with his usual smile.
"You know I can't leave."
"Please, Merlin. You've known me for long enough to trust me. Please."
Merlin rolled his eyes before looking down at his mother. Hinuth had been getting better, Gaius said she might even wake up properly soon.
"Okay, but only for a little while." Quietly Merlin flew down and opened his door. Having to undo about thirty locks to get out.
Will gasped a little, this was the first time he had truly seen Merlin. The child was tiny compared to what he should be. His black hair went to the nape of his neck, his wings were folded close to his body, clearly uneasy from being looked at. The feathers looked thin and unhealthy just like his hair.
Will could count Merlin's ribs through his thin clothes that slid off his shoulders. "C-come on," Will said, carefully taking Merlin's hand and dragging him away. He was slightly afraid that the boy would fall apart but that wouldn't stop him.
Will led Merlin deep into the heart of the forest that surrounded his house. Merlin's look of joy made Will smile.
Eventually, they got to the location, in the centre sat a girl with long, plaited blond hair that reached down to her waist. She wore a pure white dress that reached her knees and had a flower crown on her head. But the thing most noticeable about her, and the reason she was here, was the huge pair of pure white wings on her back.
"Talia! I want you to meet Merlin, he is the boy I told you about," Will introduced happily.
"Wow! You are like me," Talia flapped her wings and flew down to greet the other winged human. Gently running her fingers along the unkempt feathers.
Merlin jerked back, pulling his wings defensively behind him. "Don't touch me!"
"Woah, Wings. Calm down. Talia is just curious about you. You are the only other winged person we- I've found," Will explained, holding out his hands in a calming manner.
"Are there others like us?" Merlin gently twisted his foot in the dirt, excited from the prospect of not being the only person with wings.
"Yeah! There is a whole tribe of us. You could come back with me. We could fix your wings and teach you to fly properly. You can learn about our way of life. Come on! We can leave now and never look back! You don't have to hide," Talia exclaimed excitedly, grabbing onto Merlin's hand.
"Wait!" Merlin snatched his hand back, looking unsure. "Never look back? I have a life. I can't just leave it. I want to go back! I want to go home!"
"Home?! What home do you have?! You live in a disused house looking after a mother who didn't even bother naming you! How could use chose that over living free in the sky?!" Talia stomped her foot, her eyes flashing ruby red before returning to the green. Like with Merlin, the red colour seemed to travel down her wings.
"How dare you?! You know nothing about my life! Don't assume you know me! Will take me home! I want to go home!" Before either could say anything, Merlin's eyes flashed gold and he lost control of his magic, sending both flying.
An unsettling silence fell over the trio, Merlin's heart was hammering in his chest.
"Well, well, well. Looks like we've got quite the hole here. Get them."
None had the chance to fight back before they were in chains. Merlin and Talia let out screams of pain as the magic-blocking handcuff burnt their skin.
No matter how much Will and Talia screamed, the men didn't let them go.
Merlin, who had never met anyone outside his three contacts, was terrified of the men. He was in pain and he was scared. Gaius always warned him about going outside. He should have listened.
"H-hey, Wings. C-can't you get us out of here?" Will had tears shimmering in his eyes, fear pulsing through his veins.
"I want to go home," Merlin sobbed, pulling his knees close to his chest and wrapping his wings around himself.
"I'm sorry Merls. I shouldn't have brought you out here. You should still be in your house, growing your herbs," Will said sadly, guilt punching his gut. He got both of them into this and there was no way he could get them out.
"Don't be sorry Will. If this is anyone's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have expected you to want to come with me. I was just so excited that there was another kid with wings, I stopped thinking," Talia muttered, shaking her head as tears streamed down her face. "If I hadn't tried to push you into coming, they might not have found us. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean? I thought you said there was a tribe of people with wings," Merlin asked, tilting his head.
"There are, but we aren't born with our wings. We earn them. My teacher thought I was ready and gave mine to me but my father believes I'm still a child."
"You are still a child? You are what, eight," Will pointed out.
"I know that! And I'm ten. I just don't see why I have to be sixteen to get my wings. What if something happened to the tribe? I might have never got them! I just wish my father stopped trying to control me and let me be a child."
"That's why I was so excited when Will told me about you. If I could show my father that other tribes lived and had children with wings he might just let me be. But now I've ruined your life," Talia finished, sadness consuming her.
"What life was there to ruin? I don't have a life. I don't even have a name. You can't ruin something that never existed in the first place," Merlin exclaimed, a sadness filling his eyes.
Merlin practically jumped out of his skin when he felt an arm wrap around his torso. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm hugging you," Will explained, confused slightly. "You know what a hug is, right?"
Merlin shook his head, a mix of confusion and fear seeping through him.
Gently, Will attempted again to bring the winged boy into a hug. Slowly, Merlin relaxed again, a warm feeling spreading through his body. He carefully unwrapped his wings and brought one around Will's shoulder.
"This is your first hug, right?" Talia shuffled close to the other two, sitting by Will rather than the boy who she didn't really know.
Merlin slowly nodded. His mother wasn't exactly capable of moving and Gaius didn't have time to focus on him. He didn't think Giuas realised that Merlin and Hinuth had isolated themselves from everyone else and so wanted to focus on just the patient.
Talia gave a sad smile to the boy. "Well, when we get out we'll make sure you are hugged every day. How does that sound?"
Merlin gave a hesitant nod before laying his head on Will's shoulder. "That would be nice." The other two children shared a worried glance at the sleeping boy before settling down themselves. It will be a long night.
~~~
"Tell me where the tribe is!" Furiously, the man whipped down the leather stripe, hitting the child's back. Merlin bit his lip in an attempt not to scream.
This had been going on for two and a half years and the trio had learnt early on that screaming only got them more hurt.
"Tell me!" The man let out ragged breaths, frustration coming through. Surrum believed that to kill magic he had to use magic and an army of magical winged people sounded just like what he needed, steal the children and brainwash them.
But as Talia was the only one who knew where the tribe was neither Will nor Merlin could say and Talia wasn't talking.
"Send him back to his cage," the man ordered as two guards lifted the broken child up by his arms and dragged him down the impossibly windy tunnels.
By the time they reached the cage, Merlin was barely conscious. He was thrown in unceremoniously, crashing against the ground as the men spat at him.
Once the footsteps faded away Talia and Will silently brought Merlin into a hug. Rocking the now ten-year-old. This had become their tradition, whenever one of them came back.
The room was impossibly small for the three of them. While head space wasn't a problem, personal space was. The entire room was probably only three or four metres wide. The three struggled a little with the space as eight-year-olds, they dread to think about how they will live as adults.
Though that idea itself felt so far away. They barely got any food or water and were attacked daily. Making it to adulthood would be a miracle.
As they grew, the wings could not fit in the tiny space. They were cracked and broken over and over and unable to heal properly in the tiny space. For some unknown reason, the guards preferred hurting Merlin. They liked watching the child who always seemed to look two years younger than he was crying and begging for them to stop. Now, they had taken it too far, and Merlin's wings were permanently crippled, it would be impossible for him to fly.
~~~
Clanking startled Merlin awake.
Screeching told them the door had been opened. Merlin let out a small whimper, waiting for the freezing, salty water to hit his back.
It never came.
"Merls? Merls, wake up. We need to go," Talia whispered soothingly into his ear. She gently helped the thirteen-year-old stand who gasped a little out of pain that flared up his legs.
Swiftly, Will slung Merlin's arm over his shoulder and helped him limp his way out of the cell. Merlin couldn't help but feel a little useless, he wanted to help the people he had learnt to see as a family but couldn't.
Talia turned the keys in the last lock, freeing them to the outside world.
It was nighttime and was perfect for them to get away in. They would go home soon. They were free.
Talia looked around their temporary camp, she could see the burning fire starting to die out and the leftover food placed in neat rows. Will lay next to Merlin, the smaller wrapped in his arms.
Merlin never did recover. Will found life in learning to fight and swing a sword he had stolen for a bandit early on in their travel home. Talia had her flying and fighting, stepping forward to remember who she used to be, when she got home she would train to be a warrior, using her wings and magic as her weapons.
But even though they found what they wanted to live for, they couldn't do the same for Merlin. The few times they had coyoted Merlin into picking up a sword he would start getting flashbacks and would drop it. Merlin refused to fly, he couldn't bear Talia finding out how useless his wings had become and refused to hunt, he wouldn't eat the meat anyway so why bother? Talia hoped when they would get the magical restraint off, Merlin might use his abilities but in order to do that she had to find her tribe. Tomorrow they would arrive at the place she last saw them, she just hoped they would still be there.
A small, almost unnoticeable whimper brought Talia back to the two teens asleep by the fire. Will was giving Merlin a worried look, fear that the younger boy was having yet another nightmare.
Talia sighed as she lay down next to Merlin, sliding her arms around the two others. She ran her hand through Merlin's hair, whispering words of comfort. She let her eyes drift up, locking with Will. Talia let her hand fall to rest on her closest friend's shoulder, smiling at the comfort he gave her.
Soon, this will all be a bad memory.
Talia was right.
The tribe hadn't moved- or if they had they had rotated back to the old camp. The healer was able to break off the restraints holding back Talia's and Merlin's magic. The healer helped fix the broken bones and did his best to get the three into healthy weight- though Merlin was a little harder than the rest.
Talia had been made a warrior yesterday. Will became the first warrior candidate without wings, he had started to learn magic and was becoming semi-competent at it.
But Merlin couldn't settle in this place. He had been working with the healer, but no matter how much he tried to calm his raging mind, he felt that this wasn't where he was meant to be.
Gripping into his rope necklace that Thalia had made him, he made his choice, starting tomorrow he would set out for Camelot and hopefully train under Gaius to be a healer.
His new life would begin.