Careful What You Wish For
The day Arthur's world was ripped out from under his feet, there was no great battle. There was no horror or great trauma that tore away everything he had held to be true. It was just a simple move, and act of purely instinct and in that moment, Arthur knew his world was coming crashing down around his ears with nothing he could do to stop it.
The day had started normally enough. Woken groggily by the unrelenting rays of sunshine piercing through his window and the overly cheery voice of his manservant/friend informing him of the next thousand and one mundane tasks he had to do for that day.
Of course, as usual, he ignored most of them and set about another training session with his knights, working the stiffness of sleep from his shoulders by slamming his friends repeatedly into the dirt. Except for when he was fighting Gwaine however, when it was his turn to be slammed hard into the ground by a well-placed sweep to the back of the legs, only to be hauled up again a few seconds later by his grinning friend.
Later, he stripped down from training and set about doing the easiest and least boring of his tasks, making sure Merlin was with him to ease the boredom and earning only minimal exasperated looks from his wife as she looked in on him lovingly before returning to her everyday duties.
Just after the sun had made its way half way across the sky, Arthur threw down his pen and proclaimed he was sick of the work and needed to get out. Honoured and humbled as he was by the great gift and burden being king, paperwork was never his forte and there was only so much of it in a day he could take.
Due to the ever present lurking threat of Morgana, there were always patrols out around the borders of Camelot and therefore no convenient opening for him to get out on "official business". Instead, he opted for a hunting trip, placating the council members by reminding them that Camelot was in a time of great peace and that he was sure the paperwork could wait another day.
Merlin, of course, came with him, but aside from that he was alone, his knights having other business to attend to during the course of the day. So it was simply him and Merlin, just like the old days, who set out that fine summer's afternoon on the day Arthur's world would fall apart.
Shadows grew and lengthened through the day and by the time Arthur was worn out and satisfied by the day's kill, darkness was already creeping upon them. He and Merlin turned their horses around and set off back in the direction of home, minds already on the food and warmth they would gain when they got back.
It was probably because of this, worn and sleepy from a day of vigorous activity and with the thoughts of food and warmth dominating their minds, that neither Arthur, nor Merlin noticed the silence.
The lack of birds singing on a fine summer's afternoon was unusual to say the least and it should have alerted them immediately that something was wrong. But it didn't and it was only when the first arrow streaked out from the trees, missing Arthur's face by millimetres that they realised they were under attack.
Instinct quickly taking over, Arthur grabbed his sword and leapt from his horse, just in time to see the bandits coming sprinting out from the cover of the trees. There were not many of them but he was alone with only a sword and no armour to protect him. Arthur cursed his own foolishness and prepared to fight, sword gripped tightly in his hand.
The battle was short and bloody. Arthur dodged and ducked, slashing with his sword and watching the bandits fall around him. Quickly, they realised it was not just some simple noble they had stumbled across, but a highly trained knight, and they soon fled back into the darkness of the forest.
It was only as he was watching their retreating figures that Arthur turned to look at Merlin. He expected him to be hiding somewhere, possibly behind a rock or tree since his skills with a swords were abysmal at best.
What he saw shocked and surprised him.
Merlin was standing, silent, in the clearing they had fought in, sword dangling limply from his hand. There was no blood on the shining metal, that should have been Arthur's first clue, but he was too distracted, and pleasantly surprised by that fact that his friend had finally managed to make himself useful in a battle. Around Merlin, bodies lay strewn, freshly dead and still with the snarls of battle on their faces.
A long moment stretched out, the silence so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Finally Arthur stepped forward, sheathing his sword with a grin.
"Well well Merlin, it looks like all those training sessions finally paid off! Who'd have thought you would have been able to…"
In that one tiny second between one word and the next, everything fell apart. The men who had attacked them may have been dead or fled into the trees but the archer who had started it all was not, and it seemed revenge was on his mind.
An arrow came hurtling out of the trees, glinting and deadly. Arthur barely had time to blink, to consider that there was no way that he could move out of the way in time and that the arrow was heading straight for his chest.
But it never met its target. Instead it swerved, as though it had been grabbed from mid-air and flung, straight back at the shooter. Arthur heard a cry from the trees and distantly noticed as a body fell with a resounding thud from one of them. But none of this really registered when he had eyes only for his servant.
Because his servant, his friend, who had been with him for so many years and stuck with him through even the darkest of hours, had one arm stretched out, as if he had just thrown a spear, and his familiar blue eyes were flashing the purest of gold.
Everything in Arthur's mind seemed to freeze in that second. It could not be possible. It could not be possible. Merlin was clumsy and an idiot and Arthur's best friend. To think of him possessing magic, that single evil force that had ripped so much from him was laughable. Yet the proof was here, right before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do to deny it.
Turning towards him, Merlin opened his mouth, eyes wide with the shock of what had just happened, and unmistakably returning to blue. His hand slowly lowered and he seemed conflicted, still trying to find the right words to say.
"Arthur I…I…" He made a little choking sound, before looking up at Arthur's face, eyes filled with a pleading hope.
"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before. But I have magic. And…well…it's complicated but you see…I…we…"
He stuttered to a halt at the look in Arthur's eyes.
Inside of him, Arthur was a raging mass of turmoil. Magic was evil. It had torn away his mother, destroyed his father and corrupted his sister. He had seen its evil work spread throughout his land and done all he could to stop it, before it destroyed everything he loved.
And then there was Merlin, his friend, the one constant in his life, the only thing that had never been lost to him, the one thing he could always rely on. Merlin wasn't evil, was the furthest thing from evil he knew. But all magic was evil and Merlin had magic.
He had loved Merlin, like he had loved Morgana but hadn't Morgana been corrupted and soured by magic, turned against everything that loved her and twisted into a traitor. Merlin had been hiding this secret from him for who knew how long and Arthur could no longer trust a single word that came from his mouth.
All those smiles could have been faked, a way to get close to his heart before the final knife was thrust in and twisted. All those times they had laughed together could just have been a new way for magic to get behind his defences and tear him apart.
Magic was evil.
That he knew.
He had yet to meet even one sorcerer to prove him wrong about that.
So there was only one thing he could do.
"Get out of my sight." Despite the burning turmoil within him, the words came out as cold as ice.
"Arthur…" Merlin's voice was pleading and his eyes beseeching, begging Arthur to listen, to understand.
"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT" Arthur roared, fury pounding in his veins. Merlin looked so innocent, so scared, so unlike evil he could hardly bare it. But it was all just an act. It had to be.
"You have betrayed me. You are nothing but a sorcerer and by the laws of this land I should run you through where you stand."
Merlin gasped, a strangled, choked out sob as though every word Arthur spoke was a knife driven into his heart.
"Arthur, please listen to me. I've never…I've always…I've…for you. Only for you. It was all for you."
"Do not speak to me, sorcerer. By whatever curse you have placed upon me I cannot find it in my heart to kill you." The thought of Merlin, pale and cold in death, was enough to make Arthur want to vomit.
"But I never want to see your face again. You have a horse. Use it. Take it from this place and never come back. If you ever enter these lands again, I will not be so merciful."
"No." The word was soft, almost a whisper, but it carried across the space between them as clear as a bell. "No Arthur. Everything…Everything I've done, was for you. I've done nothing but strive to protect you and do good with the gift I've been given. If you ever thought of me as a friend, listen to me now. Magic is not evil. And neither am I.
Arthur turned away, desperately trying to hide the bitter sting in his eyes.
"Magic is the purest of evil. It has done nothing but hurt and corrupt. It twisted Morgana and now it seems, it has taken you too. It is the purest evil and I will fight it till the day I die."
He strode away, grabbing the reigns of his horse and swinging himself up into the saddle. "Leave now. And don't come back."
"You can't mean that Arthur. You can't. At least give me a chance to prove it to you." Arthur had never heard a man sounding more broken and he couldn't bring himself to look back into the eyes of the man he thought he could trust.
"I'm your friend"
"You were. You were my friend." Arthur dug his heels into his horse and spun it around, preparing to ride away. The last thing he saw was a sorcerer, standing surrounded by the bodies of those he had slain, a sword in his hand and tears in his eyes.
"I wish I had never met you Merlin"
There was a blinding flash of the purest white light.
A painful tug, as though the ground had suddenly been ripped from beneath him.
The sensation of falling.
And then…
Nothing.
AN- So finally, here's my new story! It is going to be a multichapter based after the end of series four and discounting anything that happens in series 5 (although I am loving series 5 and can't wait to see how they end it!) This is just the introduction to the story and the main plot will start from here on out. I really hope you enjoy it and Please don't forget to review! It makes my day and really inspires me to keep writing!
Also, feel free to ask me any questions you want, because everyone who reveiws will get a personal reply from me. You deserve it!
Cloud-dee
