Summary: Merlin goes missing when he, Arthur, and the knights are ambushed by Morgana's men. After an initial search, Uther forbids Arthur to search for Merlin any more, since he has other duties to attend to. Three years later, after Uther has passed away and Arthur's become king, he and Merlin meet again. Only this time Merlin is under Morgana's service and Arthur is the only one who can break him free from her grasp.
AN: So, canon-AU and this actually kind of came to me in a dream as incredibly lame and cliche as it sounds. So I just tweaked some bits and boom, story time. This is a Merlin/Arthur story, to let you guys know and it's a bit (a lot) angsty but there's a happy and sappy ending to make up for it. Hope you guys like :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Title comes from the song Demons by Imagine Dragons, but it's not a song fic.
After years of going on hunting trips with the knights and Arthur, one would think that Merlin would complain less. But of course, that is not the case and the prince and his servant are back at their bickering over 'murdering small woodland creatures' as Merlin so words it. Despite their arguing, the group is having fun hunting deer and competing to see who can catch the most game. And Merlin may roll his eyes every time Arthur whoops to the sky in victory after a kill, but he cannot help but smile at their camaraderie.
They're too busy chattering amongst themselves to notice the dark shape that skirts along the edges of the forest, watching them with ill intent. And suddenly, the knights, Arthur, and Merlin are all thrown from their horses by an invisible force that can be none other than Morgana.
Her men emerge from the forest shouting battle cries and clashing swords with the knights. And Arthur is far too focused on surviving and cutting down as many of the enemy soldiers as he can to notice that someone has gone missing from their group.
The battle doesn't last long before Morgana calls for a retreat and Arthur has not even lost any of his knights in the fight. She smiles wickedly at them and waves goodbye.
"We'll meet again brother dear," she says before she follows her men to safety.
Arthur and his knights know that chasing after her would only be a suicide mission, because she is still a powerful sorceress who could fell them all with a glance. The best thing they can do is ride back to Camelot and prepare for a possible siege attempt from the witch.
He only realizes, halfway back to Camelot, that Merlin is being uncharacteristically quiet and he turns around to make a comment about it, but the servant is nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Merlin?" he asks.
The knights only look around as though his absence is new to them as well. Arthur tries to quash the panic welling up in him, because Merlin had been there before Morgana attacked and now he's gone. As much as he may want to, he can't stay behind and search for him, because he needs to talk to Uther. So he separates their group and tells some of his knights to search for him while his group heads back to the castle.
The whole ride back this feeling of dread sits like a stone in his stomach. For once, he hopes that Merlin was just being his clumsy self and tripped over a tree root in an attempt to get away from the battle. But Arthur knows Merlin better than to run away, especially when Arthur could be in danger, and the only plausible conclusion he can come up with is that Morgana has him. It's something that troubles him even after he gets back to the castle and speaks with Uther about Morgana's possible attack.
As the two sit and discuss possible defensive and offensive strategies, the door opens and the knights that Arthur had searching for Merlin walk in. The fact that the servant is not with them does nothing to quell the fear bubbling in Arthur's chest.
"Did you find anything?" he asks.
They shake their heads.
"There was no sign of him anywhere," one of them says.
"Except for this," the other holds up something Arthur would recognize anywhere. Merlin's ridiculous neckerchief.
"Then look again. He has to be out there," he tells them.
They bow and start to leave but their departure is stopped by Uther.
"Actually, you are needed here in the castle. Morgana may attack at any moment and we cannot have half of our knights leave the castle for something as trivial as a serving boy," he tells them. "Round up the others and strengthen the guard around the castle,"
The two knights nod and exchange an apologetic look with Arthur before they leave. Arthur looks at his father with disbelief, barely able to stop the anger as it rises to the surface.
"Father, Merlin is still out there. I cannot leave him behind," he insists.
"I understand you've grown fond of the boy, Arthur. But he is a servant and is replaceable. I have a kingdom to defend and I can't use our resources to search for a servant when Morgana threatens the safety of our people,"
"But-,"
"My decision on this is final. You are to remain here and help ready the knights. Am I understood?"
Arthur bites his lip to refrain from saying something he might regret. Eventually, he says, "Yes, my lord,"
Yay, first chapter/prologue thingy done! I originally typed the whole thing on one document but decided to cut it into chapters.
Anyways I finally finished Merlin so I had to write something with a happy ending to distract myself from the sad ending that actually happened. I really wish they hadn't cancelled it or ended it because that was not right. How is Merlin a family friendly (according to Netflix) show when it causes people all these sad feels?! I guess the BBC's idea of 'family friendly' just means that they love causing emotional pain. Like seriously, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Merlin, all of those shows just reduce people to a puddle of feels and sadness eventually. Sigh.