Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. I watched the final episode of Merlin yesterday and what happened with Mordred and Arthur just broke my heart, particularly watching Mordred's turn in series five, episode eleven, so here is the scene which I will always imagine happened in the afterlife. Hope you enjoy!
Reconciliation
Arthur could feel the sun shining down on his face. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up, looking around him in confusion.
Where was he? The last thing he remembered…. He had been with Merlin. Merlin had been upset. He had been upset because….because Arthur was dying. Arthur sat up, touching a hand to his chest where there should have been a terrible wound. But no wound was there. Arthur felt no pain.
A wave of realization crashed over him. He was dead. He had known it was coming, had realized it even as Merlin tried desperately to save him. Still… it was strange.
Arthur slowly got to his feet. A small noise behind him made the young king turn.
There, a few feet away, stood Mordred, watching Arthur with an inscrutable look in his eyes.
Arthur's eyes locked with Mordred's, his mind flashing back to the last time he had seen the boy who stood in front of him now.
He remembered the sharp pain of the sword piercing his armor. Mordred's words seemed to echo in his head, "You gave me no choice."
He remembered raising his own sword and how Mordred had smiled just before collapsing to the ground.
"Mordred." Arthur was surprised by how calm his voice sounded.
"Arthur." The young knight matched his cool tone. Several moments passed where neither spoke again. It was Mordred who broke the silence,
"I thought I would feel better if I killed you. I thought that somehow, that would make everything right."
He gave Arthur a bitter smile, "Turns out I was wrong." Though the words were delivered in the same calm tone Mordred had used before, Arthur could see the emotions that raged in the young man's eyes. Anger, sorrow, even guilt.
Bizarrely, Arthur felt an urge to comfort the young knight that he had always felt protective over.
Mordred's hand balled into fists at his sides, "I believed in you, Arthur. There was a time I would have died to protect you."
"I know." Arthur's voice was quiet, "You nearly did once."
"Why couldn't you just let us go?" Mordred's voice broke on the last word.
Arthur wanted to look away, but he kept his eyes on Mordred's face, "I had to do what I believed was best for Camelot."
"She wasn't dangerous. She just wanted to be free, to live without fear."
Arthur shook his head, "That may have been true once, but many good men died because of her actions. I could not allow her to go free and continue to hurt people."
"You killed her!" Mordred spat the accusation at him.
Arthur closed his eyes briefly, then reopened them, "I didn't want to, Mordred. I tried, I offered her her life, but she refused to admit that she had done any wrong. I had no choice."
Arthur took a step toward the young man who, despite everything, he still cared a great deal for, "I'm sorry, Mordred. I never wanted to hurt you." His voice was heavy with sorrow; he still believed that he had had no choice but to order the girl's execution, but he fiercely regretted the pain it had caused to the boy who stood before him, for Arthur found that he could not summon any anger towards Mordred for his betrayal, only sorrow for the events that had led to the young knight's choice.
A flood of conflicting emotions chased each other across Mordred's face.
"You saved my life when I was young. I never forgot that….the son of Uther Pendragon defying his father to save me." He squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Slowly, the anger seemed to drain from his body, his hands, which had been fisted at his sides relaxed and his stiff posture slumped. When he opened his eyes they were full of tears.
The Mordred who stood before Arthur now was not the avenging warrior full of cold anger Arthur had met on the battlefield, he was the young man, little more than a boy, really, who had turned against Morgana to save Merlin and Arthur in the caverns, Camelot's youngest knight who had jumped in front of a spear to save his king.
"I once told Morgana that hatred could never triumph. I suppose I forgot that for a while."
He held out his arm in the familiar knight's gesture, "I'm sorry, Arthur."
Arthur grasped his forearm, "I know. So am I." A small smile appeared on Mordred's face and an answering smile spread across Arthur's as he felt the barrier that had grown between them dissolve.
He pulled the young Druid into an embrace, "I am glad to be able to count you as a friend and brother once more."
Hope you enjoyed this little piece. I believe this is only the second time I've written an afterlife story, as well as my first attempt at Merlin fanfiction. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought!