Merlin took a step back, the heels of his feet halfway off the ledge now. The wind at the top of the castle was ice cold, and the sky a steadily darkening blue in the late afternoon. The moon shone bright and full with few clouds to obscure it from view.
"Merlin," Arthur spoke carefully and calmly. He had to choose his words carefully, if he said the wrong thing it could mean the end of Merlin's life. "I know that you feel conflicted right now, I am as well. But we can talk about this, sort it all out. You need know that I do not blame you for anything. I still see you as the man that you are, the way I view you has not changed with these revelations."
Liar. Arthur thought; he did not know if he could ever look at his trusted servant, his most loyal friend, the same way again. Get yourself together Arthur, you're the king of Camelot for Christ's sake! "Merlin, just, trust me."
The man mentioned was, at the moment, standing precariously on top of the highest ledge of Camelot's castle. His red neckerchief swinging lazily with the gusts of wind that came and went at such a high altitude. His eyes were blank of emotion, the same as his face, and he had not given Arthur any sign that showed he had heard what the young king had said.
Arthur stood in silence for a long while, innerly willing Merlin to say something. Anything. But finally the man on the ledge let a sad smile make it's way onto his face. Then he gave a soft laugh, the kind of laugh you would give when scolding someone gently for doing something hilariously wrong. He started pacing slowly on the ledge, his dark black hair glowing underneath the bits of moonlight, making his beautiful pale skin even more noticeable.
"Arthur, I do not think you understand why I have to do this. I may have only given you vague details earlier, but I promise I will tell you when I get back." his breath suddenly hitched and he took in a deep breath, "If I do make it back."
"You do not have to leave this minute, Merlin, in fact you don't have to leave at all! Just talk to us and we can try and help! We may not understand right now, but that is why you need to stay, so you can help us understand!" Arthur's voice was an octave higher than what he would have liked or would have ever deemed appropriate for this situation, but damn it all there was no situation similar to the one he was in right now.
His most trusted friend, his best friend for over six years, had revealed himself to be a sorcerer. Or a 'Warlock' as he called himself, and he had shown that he would cut anyone down if need be to protect 'The Once And Future King' that was apparently Arthur. The young king really had no more information besides that. So now, as far as he was concerned, Merlin would have no punishment bestowed upon him for practicing magic and anyone who disagreed with him on this point would not be acknowledged.
Which recently brought him to a crazy question towards Merlin's own sanity. The man new that no harm would come to him, or any of his kind if Arthur could allow it; so why was he so insistent on leaving Camelot?
Earlier on in the day Merlin had tried to sneak out of the castle multiple times, knowing that Arthur wanted some questions to be answered. The questioning session that Arthur had wanted to have with Merlin was nothing to serious, okay it was, it was extremely dire. But was that to much to ask? After revealing himself the way that he did, Merlin was practically begging for questions to be thrown at him.
But somehow they had ended up in this situation.
Merlin pacing carefully on top a ledge that had to be at the very top of the castle, or at least somewhere close to that, with Arthur, Leon, Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan trying to persuade him not to bloody jump off the damn thing.
Which brought Arthur back to his aforementioned question to Merlin's sanity at the moment. If he really needed to leave the castle that bad he could have just told Arthur. But sense revealing himself yesterday the man seemed to always be in an unbreakable thought, an almost constant look of worry was seen across his usual cheerful face.
Arthur started again, calmer this time, "Merlin, if you really desire to leave the castle for a while just say the word. There is no need for…" the king gestured vaguely to everything around him, including Merlin, "all of this."
Then Merlin smiled, he had stopped his pacing and stood, tranquil, on the stone ledge. He gave Arthur a long contemplating look, then stretched his arms out on each side of himself before saying, "You can't stop me Arthur, I need to do this. But…"
He took another small step backwards.
"You can fall with me."
With that the he closed his eyes, and oblivious to the screams and shouts of his name that he no doubt heard, leaned backwards and fell.
It happened before he could realize he did it, but when Arthur recollected himself he realized that he was looking right at Merlin's face. Merlin's laughing, smiling face, his blue colored eyes no longer there but replaced with a dazzling bright gold color; and they were plummeting fast and harsh to their deaths.
Or so Arthur thought.
There was a certain old dragon that Merlin had called beforehand to catch them. But how could Arthur have known that, so of course the young king thought he was going to die a rough painful death, so it was a surprise when he felt himself land on something that was definitely not the cold, hard, stone ground.
Thank you for reading.
I've just had this idea in my head for a while. Is it bad that I frequently picture Merlin falling off of buildings so much that I finally wrote a story about it...?
Anywho, should I continue this? I promise you'd get more background information in later chapters, I just really wanted to start this story off with the falling/jumping thing.
I hope you enjoyed, please review! I'd appreciate it! :)