Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with either 'Merlin' or 'Law and Order: UK'. This is purely for fun and no profit is made.

Note: this is just a totally absurd idea which came during a convo with AmyVS7 to combine two of my favourite shows at the moment. Hope u like it and please keep expectations low and just enjoy the ride as I have no idea where this is going!

I originally posted this under crossovers but I guess it was a bit of an obscure one for people to find so have posted it under 'normal' Merlin instead

Law and Disorder

Whoomph! There was a big belch of smoke and Merlin coughed and waved his hands in front of him to clear the air. If his spell had worked, then time would have been turned back and Arthur would never know that Merlin was running over an hour late with all his various duties for his demanding master.

However, the young magician knew something was wrong when a figure appeared before him – his spell was not intended to make anybody appear. Moreover, it was a strange figure and one whose look of absolute befuddlement confirmed Merlin's suspicions. Uh-oh! was one of first thoughts to cross his mind followed by some less repeatable thoughts.

The person who now stood in front of the servant bore some small resemblance to Arthur in that he was quite square of jaw, had bright blue eyes, was handsome and had an air of confidence that seemed to be an innate part of him. What was odd was the newcomer's garb. He wore what could only be described as a grey jacket but was of a cut that he had never seen before and underneath was a pale blue shirt also of a style he was unfamiliar with. Trousers that matched the jacket completed the outfit along with a pair of shoes that had laces on them – not like the boots which were commonplace around Camelot.

Blue eyes fixed on Merlin and the stranger's face held a wary expression.

"What happened? Who are you and where am I?"

Merlin held his hands up in a gesture of appeasement. "Well, um, I'm not sure what happened but my name's Merlin and you're in Camelot." He returned the question, "Who are you and where are you from?"

"I am DS Matt Devlin, London Metropolitan Police."

Merlin shook his head, much of what he had just been told meant absolutely nothing to him. At the same time, Merlin's words only just seemed to sink in and the stranger's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Did you just say 'Merlin' and 'Camelot'?" A relieved laugh came from him and he suddenly began looking around and calling out, "Alright Ronnie, you can come out now, you got me good." With no reply, he continued, "Joke's over, Brooks, let's get on with the real job." When it eventually became clear that Ronnie was not there, he turned back to the brown haired young man whose head was tilted quizzically.

"Um, DS? Who were you talking to?"

"DS Ronnie Brooks. I suppose he put you up to this? Well, you can get him on the blower and tell him that he can get his arse over here and explain how he did it."

"Hmm, DS is a common name? I'm sorry but I don't know who this DS Ronnie Brooks is and what is a 'blower'?"

"It's not a name, DS stands for 'Detective Sergeant', my name's Matt Devlin and I meant a telephone." Matt saw the puzzlement, "A telephone, you know the thing you use to talk to other people." Merlin shook his head blankly. So this 'DS' was a title like 'Sir'. That made a bit more sense. He still remained baffled by 'telephone' though.

A sinking feeling began to overtake Matt. "Did you really mean that your name is 'Merlin'?" Merlin nodded. "And you really mean that I am in Camelot?" Again, a nod.

Dear God, the boy is a bona fide loony! Matt had to make his way back to the station where he would give Ronnie a very large piece of his mind.

"You haven't seen Arthur anywhere have you?" queried Merlin.

"No, sorry, I haven't." Matt thought it best to play along. "You couldn't show me the way out, could you?"

"Ah, yes, this way, my lord." Merlin said the last part a little hesitantly. He had never heard the title 'DS' before but he figured that any title qualified a 'my lord', it was best to play it safe in any case.

He led Matt out of the small chamber in which Merlin lived and through the passageways to emerge outside in the large courtyard of Camelot's impressive castle. The detective's odd clothing garnered him some strange looks but nobody questioned him when he was in the company of Prince Arthur's personal servant.

Matt Devlin's jaw dropped as he looked about him and realised that these were the last surroundings he ever expected to see. He also realised that this was no cheap illusion conjured by some hard-up amateur trickster - there was no way he could go from standing in the doorway of Ronnie's favourite café, waiting for his partner, to suddenly appearing within the walls of a very large and very real castle.

"Welcome to Camelot," said Merlin.

Ronnie Brooks hurried to the café where he knew a hot meat pastry waited for his attention and he could also see from where he was striding briskly that Matt was leaning against the doorway as he waited for him to arrive. Imagine Ronnie's surprise then when there was a muted flash like a camera going off and in his partner's place was a different young man.

If the veteran police detective hadn't seen the change with his own eyes, he would have scoffed at the absurdity. Nonetheless, it did not change the fact that Matt had gone and instead, there was now a blond man wearing an expression of utter confoundment and what looked very much like chainmail and a sword.

The middle-aged man rushed up to where Matt had been standing only a moment ago.

"Where is he? Where did Matt go?" He asked the man who now stood in his place.

"Who are you talking about and where is this place? What have you done with Merlin?" The blond man's voice held the tone of someone who was used to being in authority.

"Listen here, I don't know who you are and I don't honestly care but I want to know what happened to the man who was standing on this very spot just a second ago and why you are here instead." Ronnie peered at the large scabbard belted at the side of the younger man. "Do you have a license for that thing?"

"What do you mean a license? I don't need a license," said the stranger dismissively before a thought occurred to him. "Don't you know who I am?"

Ronnie considered a multitude of replies but settled for a more sedate, "No idea, mate."

"I am Prince Arthur." The blond man said it as if that explained everything.

Ronnie groaned inwardly. What he didn't want today was yet another of the many fruitcakes that seemed to take up so much valuable police time. However, there was the matter of the rather lethal looking weapon which this 'Prince Arthur' seemed to be more than capable of handling and also the mysterious whereabouts of Matt.

"Honestly, guv, one second Mattie was there, the next, this joker's there instead. Saw it with my own eyes!" Ronnie's voice had gone up a note or two as he related his story to DI Natalie Chandler. The two officers of the law looked at the figure of Arthur across the other side of the room who was currently prodding curiously at a computer screen, a look of suspicion on his face. They caught him whispering what sounded very much like "Sorcery" under his breath.

"Do you think he's dangerous?" asked Natalie with a hint of concern. They hadn't yet managed to remove Arthur from his sword but he hadn't shown any signs that he was about to wield it either and they didn't want to do anything to provoke this strange young man.

Ronnie shrugged. "Don't think so but then, he is walking around London dressed in chainmail – pretty realistic chainmail at that."

"Did he give you any leads as to where Matt has gone?"

"Nothing," sighed Ronnie. "Just the opposite, in fact. Keeps asking where he is, what manner of magic has brought him here and also what we've done with Merlin."

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "You're joking? Prince Arthur and Merlin?" She studied Arthur for a moment before turning back to her DS. "Right. This isn't strictly by the book but I'm going to place him under your personal watch…"

"Guv!" protested Ronnie.

"I'm sorry, Ronnie, but if we were to give him to psych, they would lock him up in a secure unit faster than you could say 'Camelot' and we have nothing else to go on. Gain his trust, see what you can find out."

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