ok, to start, sorry for the really really unimaginative title. I mean, it must have been used a million times before but . . . well, cba to think of anything more original ;) It's the story that counts right?

Ok, so the story might not be that original either, but I really had to do a reveal fic. Just had to.

The Moment of Truth

The moment had been exactly how Merlin had imagined it, but he still wasn't prepared. The spell was almost complete-a spell that would destroy not only Arthur, but the whole of Camelot as well-and only Merlin was able to prevent it. Nothing was stopping him-except Arthur. He stood there, perfectly conscious, trying to get even close to the laughing form of Morgana. Merlin shut his eyes.

This was it. The moment that would change everything. The moment of truth. And it was now or never.

He raised his head and felt the magic flare through him. He lifted his arm and shouted the damning words. Taking Morgana by surprise; she flew across the room-her spell breaking. He could feel Arthur's stare on the back of his neck; could practically see the look of utter bewilderment on his face, slowly turning to comprehension and then . . . betrayal. But he couldn't worry about that now; Morgana was getting up.

She stood facing Merlin, a look of slight amusement on her face.

'Merlin' She sounded slightly disbelieving 'you're Emrys?'

Merlin just stared at her mutely, trying to decide what to do next.

'You, a mere servant, the mighty Emrys?' She laughed cruelly 'Who would've thought it.'

She took several steps closer and suddenly a knife was flying through the air towards Merlin. He felt his eyes burn golden and then the knife was flying sideways and hitting the floor.

Morgana laughed again 'Gooood.' She took several steps to the right-towards Arthur-and Merlin automatically moved to intercept. She took a step back to the left.

'You know Merlin-Emrys-you're supposed to be my destiny' She said conversationally

'And your doom.' Merlin added quietly.

Morgana's face hardened 'yes, well, we don't want to believe all the stories we hear now do we.'

Her eyes changed colour and suddenly the roof above Merlin's head caved in. He once again felt his eyes burn as he muttered the words that slowed time. He got out of the worst of the collapse and frantically looked around for Arthur. Luckily the king was backed against a wall, looking . . . well there wasn't really a word for the expression on his face. Merlin was almost relieved, until he saw Morgana heading towards Arthur, muttering words under her breath-obviously thinking Merlin had been caught in the crumbling roof. Her eyes flashed golden and before Merlin could think about it, he was shouting words he'd never even heard before. Channelling his power into this unfamiliar spell, he felt the familiar feeling of burning behind his eyes as his magic was released.

There was an almighty explosion and then complete silence.

Merlin walked forward slowly, afraid of what he might find. The dust settled to reveal Morgana lying still and Arthur . . . nowhere to be seen. Merlin looked around, feeling panicky and almost sighed in relief when he spotted Arthur, a bit bruised but otherwise safe, sitting against a wall, half hidden by rubble.

Then he saw the expression on Arthur's face.

'Arthur, I can expl-'

'You practice magic.' Arthur cut him off.

There was literally no point at all in denying it, so instead Merlin just nodded

'Yes.'

Arthur put his head in his hands

'When did you . . . learn?' Arthur almost winced as he spoke and Merlin felt a wave of bitterness, and almost . . . anger; Arthur would never understand, let alone accept him. He thought magic was evil. Still, Merlin had to try to explain

'I . . . I didn't learn.' He managed to say

Arthur looked incredulous 'Merlin, you have just admitted that you practice magic. Obviously you must have learnt at some point.'

Merlin shook his head 'I never learnt-'

'Merlin, are you trying to deny practicing magic?' Arthur demanded, he was looking at Merlin like he was completely thick

'I know. I-I do. Practice magic. I just . . . never learned.' Arthur raised his eyebrows. Merlin sighed 'I've always been able to do magic. I could move things without touching them before I could talk. I was born this way. It's not something I was taught.'

Arthur was looking more confused than ever.

'Look, Arthur, I don't expect you to understand-I hardly get it myself-but, you have to know that I would never use my magic to harm anyone. I mean the amount of times I've saved your life using magic . . .' he trailed off

'How can I believe anything you say? You're a sorcerer. You practice magic.' Arthur shook his head 'How could you? You know that magic is evil.'

Merlin opened his mouth to protest but Arthur carried on, he seemed to be speaking more to himself than to Merlin 'I lost both my parents to magic, along with countless others. It is evil.'

Merlin felt the words like knives to his heart-his best friend thought he was evil. An abomination.

'Arthur, please' His voice was barely more than a whisper 'I know you've lost your parents because of magic. I know this is hard to understand b-'

'Understand?' Arthur interrupted; his voice raised 'I understand perfectly. How you lied to me, deceived me. How you pretended to be a friend only to betray me? And now what? What's the plan? Murder me in my sleep?' He broke off, slightly out of breath. He was on his feet, sword drawn and looking, well, murderous.

Merlin stared at him in shock 'Arthur, how can you say that? I've only ever protected you! I've saved your life so many times. I've pretended to be a servant purely so that you don't get yourself killed. I've fought so many people, so many creatures, that you're not even aware of and now you're asking me whether I'm going to-to kill you in your sleep? I thought you knew me a bit better than that.' Merlin couldn't help the bitterness in his voice. He couldn't keep out the slight note of desperation either.

Arthur looked slightly unsure

'The Merlin I know isn't a sorcerer.'

Merlin felt the anger flare through him and suddenly the words were flying out of mouth without any conscious direction

'No, he's a Warlock, and he's saved your worthless hide more times than I can count with no thanks ever. You try doing that. Try risking your life every single day with not one person taking notice. And then try being accused of plotting to murder the very person whose life you've spent the last god knows how long saving!'

Arthur looked slightly shocked at the tirade. He lowered his sword awkwardly as if only just noticing it there.

'You've betrayed me.' Arthur said, although he sounded slightly less certain.

Merlin sighed, his anger disappearing, leaving him feeling exhausted and . . . disappointed. 'No, Arthur. I've kept you alive.'

Arthur looked disconcerted. Merlin couldn't blame him-everything he believed in was being challenged. Merlin waited for Arthur to say something. This was quite literally a life-or-death moment, after all, magic was illegal. Arthur could quite easily have him executed.

After a while Arthur spoke again

'You've been . . . practicing magic . . . ever since you arrived in Camelot.'

It wasn't a question but Merlin nodded anyway.

'Well, how do I know that all the magical creatures that have come here to kill me weren't of you're making?' Arthur sounded slightly desperate-like his whole world was collapsing and he was struggling to cling onto the views and ideals that he'd believed in for so long.

Merlin shook his head 'I guess you don't know. Not for sure. You only have my word. But . . . Arthur you know me. I would never do that to you.' He hoped he didn't sound too desperate-he'd done all he could do, he'd just have to wait for Arthur to sort things out in his head.

Arthur stared at Merlin, trying to make it fit.

It didn't.

The word magic triggered images of evil sorcerers, murderers, powerful dark witches-like Morgana. Merlin didn't fit. He was an idiot and a frankly useless servant, but . . . he wasn't evil.

Just the sight of him standing there looking so . . . hopeless was enough to convince Arthur he was innocent-if Arthur hadn't seen him blow up the room with words just moments before.

He closed his eyes. This was a nightmare. He just wanted to wake up and have his servant-his friend-back. But he knew things would never be the same again.

A little voice in his mind was telling him that this was still Merlin. Still the same person, but . . . how could a sorcerer-warlock-whatever, be . . . not evil? It just didn't make any sense.

He did just save your life the voice continued Not just once either . . .

Arthur shook his head, trying to clear it.

Magic was evil. Surely his father couldn't have been that wrong?

He glanced at Merlin, who was now sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall, staring at the destroyed ground. He kept glancing at Morgana's body and then looking away quickly. He looked almost like he felt . . . guilty? Regretful?

Not like he regretted what he had done, but almost as if he wished there could have been some other way. Which was completely ridiculous-Morgana was evil. Completely evil. There was no way they could have-have talked her round.

Whatever it was that Merlin was feeling, it made Arthur's mind up. Ok, so Merlin was a warlock. But no evil person would feel guilt over killing an innocent person. Let alone killing one who had tried to kill them multiple times.

The knights wouldn't feel guilt over killing someone evil.

It was so . . . Merlin to feel bad about killing someone, even though they were completely evil and twisted and had almost killed him many times before.

He sighed and walked over to Merlin, who looked up nervously, not quite meeting his eyes.

Arthur almost laughed at the expression on Merlin's face; he was, apparently, this hugely powerful warlock-at least, he'd just blown a room up with his mind-and yet he was afraid of him?

He looked at Merlin, who still wouldn't meet his eyes; he kept staring levelly at the rubble covering the floor.

Arthur hesitated; this was a huge moment-quite literally a turning point in history. It would mean the end of the ban on magic and, well, if he was wrong and magic was evil, it would mean all of his father's work-the great purge, everything-had been for nothing, but . . . well, maybe his father hadn't been right about everything. Maybe it was worth the risk.

Arthur sat down next to Merlin, who finally looked up. He didn't say anything, but Arthur could see it all in his eyes; mainly fear but a spark of hope as well.

He exhaled heavily 'ok, so, can you please tell me how a complete idiot such as yourself managed to get away with this?'

Merlin felt so many emotions running through him in that moment it was untrue; hope, gratitude, joy, embarrassment, anticipation, but mostly just relief.

Relief that Arthur hadn't had him executed.

Relief that there were no more secrets.

Relief that he still had his friend.

He laughed and replied to Arthur 'Well, it's not been easy. A few people found out.'

Arthur's eyebrows rose 'Oh yeah? Who?'

'Well, Gaius knew from the start.' Arthur nodded 'Morgause found out. Will knew. Freya knew.' Merlin swallowed a lump in his throat at the use of the past tense; Will and Freya-2 of the closest people to him-both dead. He blinked quickly and ignored the confused expression on Arthur's face-he didn't know about Freya.

'And I guess the only other person who knew was Lancelot.' Merlin noticed darkly that most of the people who knew about his magic were dead. He hoped that that wasn't an omen.

Arthur looked at him in disbelief 'Lancelot. He knew before I did?'

Merlin stifled a grin 'Uh, yeah. I didn't tell him though-he heard me trying to kill the griffin.'

Arthur stared at him 'You killed the Griffin.'

Merlin looked slightly embarrassed 'Well, sort of-'

'Is there anything else I should know about? At all?'

'Well . . .' Merlin shifted uncomfortably

'Merlin.'

'Ok, well, do you remember Balinor?'

Arthur looked confused 'The dragonlord? Yeah, of course, what does he have to do with anything?'

Merlin looked at the floor 'He was my father.'

Arthur looked at him in astonishment 'Merlin . . . I'm sorry.' He reached out tentatively and put his hand on Merlin's shoulder 'Truly, I am.'

Merlin nodded 'Thanks.' He swallowed and carried on 'Balinor was my father and, well, a dragonlord.' He shut his eyes and continued, saying the rest of the words in a rush 'and a dragonlord's power passes from father to son when they die.' He looked at Arthur steadily, waiting for him to process the knowledge and understand.

Arthur's eyes widened and his jaw dropped 'you're a dragonlord as well?'

Merlin nodded, trying not to laugh at Arthur's expression. Arthur exhaled heavily and ran a hand through his already ruffled hair, looking utterly bewildered.

'Ok, so, you're a warlock and a dragonlord. And you're really called Emrys.'

Merlin smirked 'Not so useless after all.'

Arthur looked at him and gave a surprised laugh 'Well, you're still completely useless with a sword.' He punched Merlin lightly in the arm 'And you're a completely useless servant, but . . . well, maybe I owe you thanks. For saving my life.' He looked at Merlin and although he still looked the same, there was a new sort of respect in his eyes

Merlin laughed 'About time. I've been waiting years for that.'

Arthur frowned 'You can't have saved my life that many times, surely. Maybe about . . . five times. Perhaps.'

Merlin laughed 'Want to bet?'

Arthur raised his eyebrows and Merlin shook his head 'Ok, so, the first day I met you when that old woman posing as the lady Helen threw a knife at you, well, I only got to you in time by using a spell.' He continued before Arthur could interrupt

'Valiant and his shield. I made the snakes come alive in the arena-saved your life.'

Arthur's eyes widened 'you?'

Merlin nodded 'That time when we went to Ealdor-that wind was my making, not Will's.'

Arthur nodded 'Of course'

Merlin continued 'and all those times when branches have just happened to fall on bandits that were about to kill you-well, that was all me. Trust me Arthur, the list goes on.'

Arthur laughed 'Ok, so more than five times then.' He shook his head incredulously 'Anything else I should know?'

'Probably.' Merlin shrugged.

Arthur hit him 'I'm serious Merlin; I want to know what I've been missing over the last few years.'

'Arthur, if I were to tell you everything you've missed it would take all night. Actually, no, it would take all year.'

Arthur glared at him

'Ok, ok . . . um, well I guess I should probably tell you about the Great Dragon.'

'What about it?' Arthur narrowed his eyes suspiciously

'He might not be, entirely . . . dead.'

[So, just came on here to fix a mistake in the word 'mistake' (Yes, really. I can't even with myself sometimes) and am laughing at how inaccurate this is because oh my god series 5 angst feels BUT I won't spoil it if you haven't watched it (it's epic. Go watch it.)]

Thanks for reading and I always welcome reviews *hint hint* ;)

Oh, and if you spot any mistakse don't hesitate to let me know! :D [SERIOUSLY. WHY? I'm actually going to leave it there. It makes me laugh.]