A.N./ Yes, I'm sorry in advance for the upcoming feels.
I don't own Merlin, unfortunately. Nor do I own the song this was inspired by, Wind Beneath my Wings by RyanDan.
The bandits had come upon them too quickly. The fight was brief, and the casualties devastating.
Meaning Merlin was dying.
Arthur did all he could—pressed his cloak against the wound to stop the bleeding, carried water from the creek nearby, cleaned the wound and poured quite a bit of the water down his servant's throat—but Merlin only grew paler and paler, while his voice grew weaker and weaker. He was trying to be cheerful—blast him—but his faint laughs and thin smiles were fading quickly.
Merlin had saved him. Merlin had leapt in front of the blade and received the blow that would have killed him.
Merlin was dying. And all Arthur could do was watch.
The young warlock was leaning back against a tree, his chest rising and falling irregularly. His eyes were closed, those dark blue eyes that could suddenly swirl gold.
"I never told you, Merlin," the young king said quietly as he watched those magical eyes move restlessly beneath waxen lids. "I never said how much I look up to you."
A dark eyebrow twitched unbelievingly.
"You've always been my hero," Arthur said. "Always. Ever since that first day I met you, there's been something about you that I wanted to be like." He paused, drawing in a trembling breath. "I—I want you to know I know the truth," he said, so softly that even if the warlock had been fully coherent, he would barely have heard. "I know about the magic. I know I'd be nothing if it wasn't for you."
Merlin's breath hitched and his eyes opened briefly as he coughed up a few drops of blood.
A cry caught in the king's throat as he wiped the blood from his servant's chin with the edge of his cloak. It smeared instead. "You let me have all the glory, Merlin," he sobbed. "You always were behind me! You were hiding all that pain whenever I looked at you! You smiled so much and never told anyone!" Tears forced themselves out and they splashed on the other man's pallid cheeks. "You lifted me up and never took anything!"
He pulled his friend into his arms and cried, rocking slightly as he held him and felt the life ebb away. "And I never told you, I never told you... why did I never tell you?"
And while the king wept and held his dying friend, the knights bowed their heads and wept with him. For in all of them was someone whom Merlin had supported, someone whose wings needed lifting.
And Merlin, their Merlin: their warlock, their protector, their friend—Merlin had been the wind beneath their wings.
Please review, I'm new to fanfiction so I need feedback! Thanks.