A/N: So this is my first Merlin fanfiction...I am hoping to make this as interesting as possible and I hope that my male OC isn't a Gary Stu. I've read enough of other Merlin fanfictions and I'm on season five right now and am completely updated so I thought it was about time for me to take my idea and put it into words. Give me good critiques please because this is unbetaed. ^-^
Prologue:
**19 Years Ago in the House of Tregor**
"Prince Arian?"
The house maid continued to search for the missing prince; it was unsettling to think that the boy had gotten lost under her watch. What the King would do to her;she clasped hands around her neck at the thought. She couldn't flee to the enemy kingdom without going through Camelot and surely Uther would also-
The door to the closet creaked open and revealed a pale face surrounded by mouse brown hair, containing gemstone emerald eyes and a light blush coating the child's cheeks. He smiled and a tooth was missing from his front teeth, a sign that he was growing up fast.
"Catrina! I wanna play with Catrina!" the young boy called.
The maid sighed in relief, "Prince Arian, your father would not want you to disturb the Lady Catrina-"
"No! I wanna play with sister! Let me nana! Let me!" Arian huffed, "I order!"
The boy leaped out of the closet, a small wooden sword in his hand and royal gold robes around his lithe, but growing muscular frame. He was a sweet child, though a bit loud and stubborn. The boy's hands clenched as he pouted.
"I'm afraid I cannot sire."
Arian let out a howl in disappointment and anger before huffing, "I'm not 4 anymore! I'm 6! See!"
He put out one hand splayed out and kept only his thumb raised on the other to show the quantity of being six years old.
The nursemaid chuckled and turned around to the dresser to set out some better clothes to play in outside.
"You are still young my lord...my lord?"
The young prince was nowhere in sight, his only trace being the slowly closing door. True to his name, Arian was like silver in how he shined.
"Oh dear." The maid fretted, "Oh no! No, no, no, no!"
/
Arian smirked and his green eyes twinkled with mischief as he poked his head around the corner. The vaults had always been a place of mystery for him, his father didn't like him coming down there. He had tried to scare him with stories of sorcerers and curses, but he knew better.
He was six after all. Nothing could scare HIM, nothing could get past his father's knights anyway.
The dark shadows of the tunnels seemed to beckon him, almost like destiny was leading him here...at least that's what his mother would say. Whatever 'destiny' was, it sounded really big, and he didn't look forward to learning the definition either.
The air tasted crisp with autumn, colder winds and more rain than sunlight. Always did it pass over his small mouth and remind him of his birthday feast only a month or two away. Maybe his father would get him another sword! Or his sister would get better. He never told anyone his birthday wish on his sister's recovery, his father said weaknesses were just as bad as magic, and from what Arian had seen magic was really bad. So he didn't want to get into trouble.
His skin felt moist with nervousness and adrenaline as he came closer. The two guards looked really big and tough and Arian wasn't sure they would listen to his 'I order', so he decided he'd have to be sneaky.
When the guards weren't looking Arian easily slipped past, he was still small enough to be able to squeeze through the bars of the biggest vault, the more hidden ones he would have explore once he was older and could have the keys.
As he moved further down, the earthy tunnel darkened. Arian shook slightly with fear. Shadows always seemed scary-
"No! I'm a prince! Prince's don't get scared." He huffed to himself and walked determinedly, his head high up and his chest puffed out. Soon though, he ran out of air and let his chest deflate.
Dust smelled old, he decided. And as he edged towards the biggest vault a slight gleam caught his eye. He cocked his head curiously and padded towards the opposite chamber.
It was the first time he'd ever seen such a large mirror, and Arian wondered why he hadn't noticed it before...oh, it was on the back side of a dresser.
Arian peeked through the bars curiously, it was so cool looking, usually furniture was the LAST thing to find interesting down there.
The dresser was adorned with weird carvings on the sides of it, though he couldn't see them well in the dark. He reached through the bars to touch.
/
The invaders came out of nowhere. Nobody had expected the sudden onslaught of so many. Sentries had reported nothing out of the ordinary besides strange winds.
They had used sorcery. It was the only explanation. The king carried Catrina on his back, preparing for the quickly losing battle. He had no idea why the warning bells hadn't gone off yet.
The king pushed through to Arian's chambers, "ARIAN!"
He paled when he was met with uncharacteristic silence.
"We figured you'd end up in here your highness." A voice cackled.
"FATHER!" Catrina wailed.
The king whipped out his sword, only barely managing to block the blow thrown at him. It didn't help though, they slowly became surrounded by other invaders and were slain.
The leader scoffed and stepped over the bodies, "Where's the boy?"
One of the men bowed his head, "Sorry my lord, we were unable to find him. He's missing."
"Well the way our dear friends here burst into the brat's room I doubt they knew either. Split up. Don't leave a single stone unturned."
/
Arian gasped when he heard the guards yell from a distance, that meant trouble. He struggled to get out of the bars.
The young prince had climbed as best as he could, only managing to graze the wooden structure. Hoping to push himself out of the squeezing grip, he used the mirror as leverage.
Instead of falling backwards, he let out a cry of surprise as he was pulled forward towards the mirror. His hand...it had fallen through.
"EH?! NO! DADDY! DADDY!" He screamed, "HELP! SOMEONE!"
The mirror around his hand glowed and his body seemed to match the weird golden color. Magic! He trembled in terror as he felt a sudden weightlessness. The more the gold covered his body, the further he fell into the frame.
Soon the only thing remaining of him was the left over tears on the floor.
/
"What do you mean the brat is gone?!" The leader bellowed, "I could hear his trap screaming half way across the castle!"
They were looting through the tunnels, the guards were easy to get rid of, the people on the other hand...if their young prince was still alive, they might be more inclined to rebel.
He growled and threw a large cloth over the dresser with the mirror on the flip-side. It would fetch a pretty price if he sold it to a wealthy family.
He didn't hear the whimpers coming from inside as men carried it away.
/
*The Next Day*
"PEOPLE OF TREGOR! Today you no longer define yourselves as the Tregorians ; But as one of us! The Saxons! Watch as the bodies of the wealthy burn, knowing that today you shall deal with their tyranny no more!"
The people looked on solemnly as three caskets were carried towards the pyre. Two filled with the bodies to Catrina and the King, the last one filled with straw. Nobody knew that the son was gone, nobody felt any hope. The frail queen-turned hostage-watched from the window of the tower, tears pouring from her eyes.
"Oh my children...my beautiful children." She covered her face with her hands.
As the fallen kingdom mourned, the young prince heard all of it from the cart below, his body pressed against the mirror trapping him inside. He let out painful howls of despair that people assumed were from someone in the crowd.
He lost his voice as they finally started hauling the carts away. His destination unknown.
/
* 18 years ago in Camelot*
The sun poured down to form a halo around the courtyard. Many merchants filled the open space, hoping to make good money from his highness King Uther Pendragon.
"It's been all over the world your majesty, look at the beautiful handiwork on the front. The cross-hatching is truly fine, the brass knobs are well kept-"
"Why is the back covered?" Uther interrupted as he circled the piece of furniture, he stopped at the bizarre fashion at how the entire backside of the dresser was covered with thick sheets of red velvet.
The seller shifted slightly in his stance before clearing his throat, "Merely so if it is jostled the dresser doesn't become damaged."
Uther circled it once more, before giving an appreciative look and nodding, "I'll be buying this. It shall be a fine complement to Arthur's quarters."
Uther waved forward a servant carrying a small chest with gold.
"For the royal household, I shall offer a discount. 500 pieces less than the former price of 3,000. 2, 500 pieces, if his majesty would be so kind."
The merchant lied, the dresser was worth no more than 1,500 gold pieces, though if you were interested in magic items...it was worth far more.
Uther paid the specified amount, not sure whether that was truly a deal or a slight scam. If he found the dresser to be less than satisfactory...a certain merchant could end up in the dungeons for an evening or two.
"Now for a second opinion..." Uther turned to see his son play fighting with a young squire by the name of Leon if his memory served him correctly, "Nursemaid! Bring Arthur to me."
"Yes my lord." The older woman nodded and gently pried the two children apart, taking the young prince over to his father.
The blonde boy looked so akin to his mother that it almost pained Uther to see him smile jovially as he bound over, Leon staying behind and knowing his place.
'He'll be a good knight one day.' Uther thought as Arthur looked up at him curiously, his fluffy golden locks crowning his face.
"What do you think of this?" The King gestured to the large dresser.
Arthur dropped his wooden sword and looked up at the large dresser with awesome eyes.
"It's really big!"
"Yes, and very heavy as well." Uther chuckled and patted his son's head.
Servants grunted in agreement as they started to haul it up the castle steps, slowly but surely moving. Nobody dared to complain on how they couldn't just use magic to move the bloody thing...servants rather liked having their heads still attached to their bodies.
/
The physican was one of those truly impacted by the ban at the close of the Great Purge, much of his healing having been accomplished by magics after all. But he carried on sufficiently all the same.
What worried him more was that he had no word from Balinor or Hunith, and a year had passed since the Slaying of the Dragonlords and the dragons themselves, minus one who was held captive beneath the castle.
Gaius sat alone in his workroom, studying a new herbal remedy that could have at least some of the near affects as his magical potion for poison.
He heard a knock at the door and Arthur's nursemaid came in, carrying the boy in question. She set the prince down on one of the stools, his eyes red and puffy from crying.
Gaius sighed and walked over, with so many injuries it was no wonder his lucious blonde locks were beginning to thin with stress.
"What seems to be wrong?"
The nursemaid sighed, "My lord has fallen down again, it seems I can do nothing to stop him from playing so roughly."
"Is this true Arthur?" Gaius raised his eyebrow in an almost scolding manner and the young prince huffed and refused to answer.
"Very well then, I guess I must ask your father if it is true or not and ask him-"
"No!" Arthur pouted, "Father will be loud. I don't like when father is loud."
Gaius clicked his tongue and started to gently clean Arthur's skinned knee, "He is loud because he is upset. As the only son your father has, it is your responsibility to keep yourself safe as well as your people safe. One day when your older you will understand that."
Arthur looked down with a bit of shame, Gaius had always been a second-father of sorts to the young prince. He wasn't like the other servants that were afraid to scold him lest Uther raise hell on them.
He had heard both Gaius and Uther get loud on more than one occasion, he'd seen the physican in the dungeons and the stocks plenty of times. But Uther always seemed more amused than truly upset with the physican seeing as the king usually let him out within a night or two.
"Gaius you really ought to get that balcony fixed or you could fall, my husband would be more than willing to-"
"Oh I'm fine." Gaius assured the nursemaid as she gestured to the rickety looking balcony along the top half of the room, "It's never let me fall before."
The blonde man gave a large grin and patted Arthur on his good knee, "There, all done, now go on I have more work to accomplish."
After the prince and his maid left Gaius took another look at the balcony...hm...
"I doubt that will become an issue." Gaius waved it off and continued peering at a leaf through his magnifying glass.
/
"Sleep well my lord." The nursemaid bowed before closing the door behind her, she quickly locked it tight.
She was allowed to lock it to keep bad people out, and to keep curious princes IN.
As soon as she left, Arthur grinned and leapt out of bed to look around his room. HIS room. It was a lot bigger than the room conjoined to the nursemaid's quarters and had a big bed too.
What caught his eye the most was the pretty dresser that was set off to the side of the room. The servants hadn't been able to completely move against the wall because of a bump in the floor boards.
Not that Arthur minded, he was really curious to see the other side of the dresser. He squeezed himself into the space and tugged hard on the cloth covering the back side of the dresser.
It would make a fun cape if he wanted to play 'evil-sorcerer' with Leon again. That was one of his favorite games.
His eyes bulged out of his tiny skull as he saw a boy, slightly older than himself staring back at him with an equal amount of surprise.
...
"I'm Prince Arthur Pendragon." Arthur stated with a smile after a moment of staring.
The boy blinked and bowed his head in respect, the clothes he wore were slightly stretched his hair was very unruly and brown surrounding dark green eyes. His skin was slightly darker too, almost like one of those desert foreigners.
"I'm Prince Arian Tregor."
Arthur cocked his head and plopped down on the floor. The boy had a strange accent, some weird type of lisp he hadn't heard before. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. Arian looked like he was sitting right beside Arthur, the reflection of what was in front of the mirror stayed normal besides the little boy on the floor.
"Why are you in a mirror?" Arthur asked.
"Magic. I'm trapped." Arian frowned, "I was sneaking around in the vaults when I got sucked into the mirror."
Arthur blinked and reached out to the mirror, "I can't just pull you out."
He tried and his hand wouldn't go through the mirror. Arian sighed and brought his knees up to his chest.
"Well at least you tried. Nobody has tried to get me out before." Arian blinked.
Arthur puffed up his chest, "It's my responsibility as a prince to help myself and my people...or so Gaius says to me."
"Gaius?"
"He's my father's pisican."
Arian smiled, "Physican?"
Arthur grinned, "Yep. He's my friend, but don't tell anyone that. Princes aren't supposed to be friends with servants. Leon is my friend too, but he always treats me like a Prince."
"I had a friend once, his name was Peter, my father arrested him and his family though because of their magic." Arian frowned.
"Your friend was an evil sorcerer?" Arthur blinked.
"Not evil! He was really nice." Arian huffed.
Arthur blinked for a moment before putting his hand on the mirror, "Do you think we could be friends too? It must be lonely in the mirror all by yourself."
Arian paused briefly before he nodded with a smile, and a bizarre friendship was born.
Many miles away, a rather tiny boy with black hair and beautiful blue eyes made a flower appear in his mother's hair as they cleaned up after supper.
*Canon-era Camelot*
"Then he said, 'I could take you apart with less than that!'" Arthur snorted with a scowl on his face.
He sat with the dresser set right so Arian could sit down on the table next to him...in the reflection at least. They both had grown a lot. Arian had out grown his child-clothing and his old clothes hung over his waist in a makeshift cover of sorts.
Arian didn't have any facial hair yet, but the hair on his head had gotten down to his waist and was akin to a sheep's pelt. The prince of Tregor didn't have to drink or eat, neither of the royals could really understand why and left all unexplainable to magic.
Arthur was used to the rugged appearance, and Arian had enough patience over the years to deal with Arthur.
"And could he?"
Arthur scoffed, "Of course not, I fell in the end-"
"Did he hit you to do that?" Arian smirked, this Merlin kid sounded hilarious.
Arthur thought for a second before fuming, "No, but I still-"
"Ha. So he DID take you down with less than that. I'm impressed Arthur, really I am." Arian laughed and Arthur looked at him angrily.
"Shut up Arian."
"You'd have to ask the other side of the dresser Arthur. Mirrors don't shut up as well." Arian gestured to his mirrored self.
"Oh bug off." Arthur huffed.
Arian grinned before frowning slightly. For some reason the mirror always shook whenever something happened that had to do with magic. His thoughts traveled to the woman's threat yesterday after the death of her son...it reminded him of his mother.
"Did you find anything useful about what that woman could be planning?"
Arthur raised an eyebrow and put his feet on the table cockily, "Didn't know you were worrying about me Arian."
"I haven't got anything BETTER to do you ARSE. Fine. Did you hear anything about my mother?"
Arian pushed Arthur for as much information as possible, seeing as what the many manservants Arthur scared off had little to say besides 'what an arse' or 'I bet he's sleeping with her' and such.
When people started to insult Arthur, Arian would pull what you could call a trump card of sorts. He'd make weird sounds, scary voices, stomp his feet, some type of noise to scare them off. The rumors were said that the Prince's room was haunted by the dresser.
Arthur obviously didn't believe it, knowing the ghost was actually a rather harmless person trapped in a mirror.
"I've heard nothing on my patrols, I'm sorry. We have heard of Saxons though. They've been causing some skirmishes in the north as of late. It would help to know where Tregor used to be, but father is too busy with the celebrations right now." Arthur stated before standing.
"Why don't you ask Gaius then?" Arian raised an eyebrow.
Arthur thought for a moment before frowning, why didn't he think of that?
"Good idea. The banquet to celebrate 20 years since the purge is tonight so that might be a good time to ask, I wish you could see but I suppose that's impossible." Arthur shrugged.
"As with every occasion." Arian shrugged.
"Well, have fun doing...whatever it is you do when I'm not here."
"Yeah, thanks." Arian said sarcastically as Arthur turned the dresser back around to make his friend disappear, "Don't bring a maid back you pigeon."
"Just what I need is for you to refer to me as wild life." Arthur rolled his eyes and smirked before shaking the armoire.
"Hey! I can feel that you know!" Arian complained, "Just go already!"
"Fine." Arthur shrugged and left.
Arian sighed and shook his head. Arthur could be so ignorant at times, so kind at others, then a complete and utter asshole the rest of the time. How he ended up with him, Arian would never understand.
To be honest with himself, Arian was more jealous of Arthur than anything. Arian couldn't taste the delicious looking chicken that Arthur got to eat, drink water or wine, feel the sun on his skin or the wind in his hair. It was painful, not being able to feel.
When he was younger, Arthur was around ten and he around eleven or twelve if he could count the seasons right, Arian would still cry over this until Arthur said something stupid.
'No man is worth your tears.'
They had a huge fight, and Arthur actually refused to turn the dresser around so Arian could see out the window.
He didn't cry so much now. Most of his time was spent trying to find a way to get free, and to take his rightful place on the throne of his kingdom. He had a lot of free time to throw around after all...
Arian could feel it. It was his destiny to lead his people out of the Saxon's rule to a peaceful time. He could feel that peace in Camelot, at least for the time where there wasn't executions for sorcerers. He wanted this peace for his people, and Arthur had sworn to help him as much as he could. Arian kept these thoughts close to his heart.
"Hmm-hm-hm-hmm~"
Arian's ears twitched as he heard a distant singing, the mirror shook slightly and then it snapped in place in his head. It was the woman whose son was executed! That same tone of voice!
Light footsteps clicked in the halls as the same humming continued. Arian stopped breathing as they got close to his chambers, well Arthur's chambers but he lived in there too.
They soon became distant and he let out a sigh of relief. He had to warn Arthur...
Arian looked forward with determination before he slammed himself against the glass. He saw the golden glow and his body started to slip through before it pushed him back, it wasn't the first time he'd tried this.
"I'm so useless!" Arian slammed his fists on the mirror again before sliding back down.
He knew how to fight, he knew the best strategies from the books Arthur sometimes left on the floor for him to read through, he knew every single inch of the lands-Camelot and otherwise, minus the territory that was his home.
He wondered if the people would hate him for his weakness. His fragility inside the mirror of Prince Arthur and not fighting the world to get his people the peace they so deserved.
Arian knew that Arthur understood that at times and tried to find nonmagical books from Geoffrey to help him in his predicament, but most of the time however the younger prince had his own problems to deal with.
"Somebody help Arthur...and someone help me."
The prince sat there waiting another night for help that would never come.
A/N: So please tell me what you think! I know there wasn't any Merlin in this one, but there will be in the next one. :)