Title: The Time Meddler
Spoilers: Up to "The Sword in the Stone", eventually, but starting in "The Nightmare Begins"
Warnings: Character death, violence, possibly incest?
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin; Arthur/Gwen; Arthur/Morgana; Merlin/Morgana; Merlin/Gwen; Morgana/Gwen; Gwen/Lancelot; Morgana/Gwaine - although it's not focused in the romance at all, all of them MIGHT come up - in mention or in action.
Rating:R (eventually)
Prologue
It was a field of blood. Dark clouds and heavy rain, mud and corpses. Everyone he ever loved, everyone he ever cared, tainted, slashed, undone like a raggedy doll captured by a wolf.
Which, of course, was exactly what Albion had turned into.
He looked around, drunk with despair. Morgana's body protected Arthur's from harm - far too late. She had been faster than Merlin, and now she was the one who carried a slash over her body, dead before she hit the ground.
Mordred lay near, still trembling lightly. It would be over, soon. His face was paled, from the lack of blood. Around them, the knights of the round table, the mythical warriors, stood silently - trees in a forest of dead.
Arthur looked peaceful, almost asleep. Merlin hoped he'd wake up, like so many times before, when he thought everything was lost and his King came back, a easy smile upon seeing him.
His eyelids fluttered, and Merlin knelled beside his head, resting it on his lap. Arthur's blue eyes pierced him, an he coughed lightly.
"It will be alright" hushed Merlin, trying to convince himself.
"Yes."
"Don't talk. You're injured."
"I'm dying."
"No", his voice was strong, a command. "You'll not die."
Arthur blinked, slowly, looking at him.
"Not even your powers could prevent that", he said, and then looked at the mass of black curly hair all over him. "She came back."
"She did" agreed the warlock, still bitter. "But too late."
The man smiled, just a tiny movement of the mouth.
"I always knew..."
"Don't talk."
"I always knew she'd come back."
There was no answer, for Merlin was still angry, still worried. Arthur paled, and there was nothing he could do. He tried to whisper the words, feel the magic flowing to heal his body, but it wasn't enough.
"Merlin."
His voice was weak, impossibly weak for someone who had towered over Merlin's life, shaping every moment of it.
"Yes, sire?"
"We made it. Albion."
There was a happy, blessed smile in the King's mouth, and the warlock tried to answer it.
"We did."
Arthur's breath was deep and pained, and it took him many tries to manage the following words.
"Yes, we did... Merlin..."
Merlin was hopeful, for a moment, for his breathing seemed to have gotten better. But it was just for a few moments, until it became shallow, hollow, until there was no more air coming out. He was gone. Dead.
It took the man a long time to process that thought. Arthur Pendragon, High King of Albion, was dead. His knights were dead. His sister. His heirs. There was no one left behind, but him.
"No."
He stood up, angry, denying, wishing that it was different. This wasn't the destiny he had signed in for. It was too soon. They were still young. Not a dash of grey had colored their hair.
Too soon.
There was the unmistakable sound of large wings, and Kilgarrah landed near. Merlin turned to him, all his anger boiling, the treason, the pain, washing over him.
"You lied."
The dragon shook his head.
"I said, warlock, that it would be better if she never knew the strength of her powers."
"She tried to save him", he said, as if it proved the dragon wrong. There was no reply. "You said he's be the greatest king Camelot ever knew. That he'd unite Albion."
"And he did, didn't he?"
"A few months!"
"Still, he'll always be remembered."
"No."
The dragon merely looked at him, and there was pity in his eyes, which made Merlin's anger even more powerful.
"It's not enough."
"It his destiny..."
"I DON'T CARE!" he was roaring, and he hardly knew what he wanted to do - he wanted to hurt Kilgarrah, to undo everything, he wanted to come back... "IT NOT ENOUGH. IT'S NOT HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE."
"This is your doing, Emrys" answered the dragon, chiding him as when he was a young servant in Camelot. "I told you not to save the boy, I told you not to trust in the witch..."
"YOU ARE WRONG. YOU WERE WRONG. IF I HADN'T LISTENED TO YOU, SHE'D NEVER HAVE BETRAYED US. YOU - AND GAIUS - ALL THE... DESTINY YOU SAID, YOU CHANGED IT. YOU CHANGED ME. YOU LEAD ME! AND I LET YOU! I TRUSTED..."
He was raging against the massive shape of the dragon, screaming his lungs, moving his arms, but Kilgarrah remained untouched by his words.
"It's no good to regret what was. You cannot change what is, now"
"I can't? I can't? Says who? You... You watch me"
And, with a fluid movement, he let it out: all his power, all his magic, flowing out of his fingers and toes, willing with all his being to change what was. Willing to be once again young, naive and himself - Merlin, not Emrys.
And in a blur of colors and shapes, the world changed around him.
Author's Note: This is my first Merlin longfic, and I have no idea how long will it be before it is completed. It's being written for a Kink Me Merlin Prompt and hopefully it won't be a complete waste of your time. I'd be thankful for reviews - even if they are about my grammar. English isn't my first language and I don't know many people in this fandom, so I don't have a beta reader (looking for one, any tips?). Anyway, hope you'll enjoy the ride.