Warning: Full of slashy goodness. If you don't like that, I'm curious as to why you clicked on it.

Rated T for violence and mild swearing.

Enjoy

-Blue

Chapter 1: The Angel and The Demon

"My life sucks," Merlin thought to himself as he left school. This wasn't an original thought, he mused. Most kids thought this. For them it was because they weren't doing that well in class or because they were being bullied or because outside of school their life was slowly turning to shit.

For Merlin it was a combination of all of them.

His mum was in hospital after she was attacked in the streets while he was at school. She had been so brutally beaten that she had fallen into a deep coma which she refused to wake up from. All the doctors agreed that it was unlikely she would ever wake up again. Merlin had cried for two days and then locked himself in his room for two more. It was lucky that his legal guardian was Gaius because he was the one who finally managed to break out of his deep, black funk with some encouraging words about medical miracles. Merlin suspected that half of these stories were lies but he loved him for trying. He just really missed his mother.

When Mordred had come to their school two months ago Merlin had felt sorry for him. He had looked so awkward and alone. Within twenty-four hours he wasn't feeling sorry for him anymore. Mordred had managed to somehow build up a gang of muscled teenagers by lunch. After school he had grabbed Merlin by the collar and preceded to laugh while his new found friends pummelled every piece of the gangly teen they could swing at. It wasn't because they hated him or anything; it was for the pure enjoyment of watching someone weaker than themselves begging for them to stop. After a while, Merlin learned to keep his mouth shut. There was no point in shouting or pleading. Mordred had everyone twisted around his little finger.

Everyone.

Even the teachers.

Even his girlfriend, Freya.

Merlin sighed and then flinched as his back pack brushed against several bruises. He liked Freya. They had only known each other for about a year. They had only been friends for a week, but then they both decided they wanted something more. Most of the time after that had been spent snogging each other. They had wasted time to catch up on the week they had missed. It had been a paradise, especially after having no real friends after so long and Merlin had relished every second they had spent together. He had been good friends with Will in Ealdor but ever since his mother had gotten a job in London, he and Will had slowly lost contact.

But ever since Mordred had started at his school, Freya had started to become less and less interested in Merlin.

Then finally a week ago she had dumped him in front of the entire Maths class and then gone to sit next to Mordred who put an arm around her and grinned evilly at Merlin.

The lesson had been made even less enjoyable by the fact that he had to explain to the Maths teacher that he had lost his books and he needed to borrow another copy. Again. Merlin was aware that it was probably Mordred and his gang were the ones that were taking his books but he couldn't prove it.

Merlin missed having his mum to talk too. Gaius was nice but Merlin didn't really feel close enough to him to start opening up.

Something slammed Merlin into a wall so hard that it broke him out of his reverie. He crumpled to the floor and just sat there. For a second, he couldn't even be bothered to look up to see what had hit him.

When he did, he saw...nothing.

There was nobody on the streets. The roads were empty of cars. Even the building behind him was strangely quiet. The whole place was devoid of life and Merlin felt a prickling on the back of his neck that told him that he was in trouble.

He got up but was slammed back into the brick wall again. Merlin felt like his whole body was on fire as every cut and bruise, old or new, started to give off so much pain that it felt like his whole body was on fire. He screamed in pain. This time he could still feel the energy pushing him into the brick work, pinning his arms to his sides and holding his neck firmly in place. The invisible force pushed down on his shoulders forcing him into a crouching position that made his knees burn. If he looked closely, Merlin was sure that he could see something like the shimmer of heat you see over a fire. Merlin tried to push himself away from the wall but failed. He kept on trying and pushing until he ran out of energy. Then he heard someone laughing. A very familiar laugh.

"Mordred!" Merlin snarled. Mordred appeared next to him as if from nowhere grinning at him like a homicidal Cheshire Cat. Merlin gulped. Something about the way Mordred looked made him feel more scared than usual. Maybe it was the fact that for once, Merlin was at eye level with him.

"Hello, Merlin," said Mordred, hissing slightly as he sat cross legged in the road. "How nice to see you. You know the teachers were awfully mad when you cut class early. That wasn't because of me and my friends was it?" Merlin thought that Mordred's face was going to split in half if his grin grew anymore. "I'm so disappointed in you, Merlin. You haven't even put up a fight. You haven't done anything to try and stop me. It's all been to easy and rather boring."

Merlin ignored him, trying to fight against the gigantic energy block grinding his ribs into powder. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Merlin gasped. "Where's. Everyone?" Mordred got up, his smile dimming a little.

"I got rid of everyone for a little while," said Mordred, casually reaching out with his hand. Red hot pain shot into Merlin's shoulder causing him to drop his raggedy, blue backpack onto the ground. Merlin didn't scream this time but the shock must have shown because Mordred seemed all the happier, "I wanted to talk to you in private. And as you can see with my amount of power it was so easy."

Then Mordred stopped smiling and the stern look of someone much older dominated his face, "You, Merlin, have been a giant thorn in my side. And I can't have that anymore."Merlin had no idea what Mordred was talking about but Merlin saw something glint in Mordred's hand and saw Mordred pull out a small knife.

"Mordred's insane. I'm going to die," thought Merlin. He started to sweat. Merlin pushed against the energy block hard. Nothing budged. Mordred was only a few metres away.

"Please stop fighting," said Mordred, "It's hard to watch. If I loosen the bonds a little will you stop fighting?" Merlin had no idea what he was talking about but the pressure on his chest lessened a bit meaning that he could breathe again. He pulled air down his lungs like a drowning man. Mordred looked at him curiously. "Strange," he said, almost like he'd forgotten Merlin was there. Merlin didn't care as long as he could breathe again. He pushed his right arm experimentally against the barrier. It was like poking iron. Merlin stopped moving, not fully understanding what the hell was going on but not wanting to make it worse somehow.

"What do you want?" he asked and Mordred looked at him curiously. Then Mordred took two steps forward and slashed through Merlin's jumper.

"I want you to beg," he said, and he wasn't smiling anymore. Merlin couldn't look down to see what had happened to his woollen jumper but he could feel the cold draft getting in through his t-shirt. Merlin started to shake in fear. This guy was a psychopath. Merlin started struggling again but the bonds came crushing down on him like a ton of bricks. Unable to breathe and faced with a nutter with a knife, Merlin wanted to scream and run but forced him to focus all his energy into struggling.

Mordred put his hand onto Merlin's chest and pushed him back with surprising strength. The part of Merlin that was still functioning wondered how he had gotten past the energy field. The invisible ties on Merlin's neck disappeared allowing him to look down. Merlin looked into Mordred's eyes and saw that they were an amber colour. Merlin shirked away from Mordred's touch like a startled foal, unable to go anywhere. Mordred smirked.

"You haven't been saying anything during our little meeting recently," he said, and it took a moment for Merlin to realise he meant the beatings. "So before you die, I want you to make you for lost time." The sound of tearing material filled the air as Mordred cut through Merlin's white school shirt with his little knife. Merlin felt the cool edge of the blade against his skin, leaving a small line of pain.

Mordred looked down and then touched the exposed flesh with his free hand. Merlin was incredibly skinny and Mordred seemed to be having great fun running his hand up and down Merlin's ribs like some kind of sick xylophone. Mordred looked up into Merlin's eyes. Invisible bonds snapped around his head holding him in place so that he couldn't look away from Mordred's intense, amber glare. Mordred took a step closer so that their bodies were pressed together. Mordred's face was so close to Merlin's that it made Merlin blush. He immediately wished he hadn't done that because Mordred seemed to find it amusing. Mordred ran his hand over the glowing cheek, watching his pale white fingers as they slowly trailed their way over Merlin's cheek.

"You are so..." Mordred groaned, "Merlin. I think just this once I'll give into temptation." Merlin felt Mordred run a blade over his exposed stomach. Mordred moved his face closer to Merlin's, inching slowly and painfully. Merlin tried to move his head but couldn't. He felt like he was going to be sick. Cold sweat had broken out all over his body.

"Please," Merlin grunted. "Don't." Mordred suddenly grabbed Merlin's face with both hands. The knife handle stuck out from one of his sleeves. The look on Mordred's face was that of a maniac.

"I've been waiting a long time to say this, Merlin," he said, "Make me."

Then there was an unexpected sound. A van shot down the road like a bat out of hell being chased by the hounds.

Time slowed down or at least that was how it seemed to Merlin. He watched as the eerie glow faded from Mordred's eyes. He felt his arms stretching out. He saw the sliver knife in Mordred's hands pull back slightly as he prepared to stab Merlin.

But above all, Merlin saw an angel. Interestingly, the angel was getting out of the van. But the angel was so awe inspiring Merlin was sure that it was there to wish him goodbye before he died. The angel wasn't dressed in white, but in a black t-shirt, black trousers and black sneakers. The angel had blonde hair, so blonde in fact that it seemed to radiate light, with blue eyes like the deepest part of a lake. The look on its face could only be described as divine fury.

Then a gunshot rang out and time sped up again. Mordred's knife fell out of his hand with a flash of blue light and fell onto Merlin's school shoes. Mordred looked comically from Merlin to a girl that he hadn't spotted coming out of the other side of the van that was holding out a silvery gun. The look on his face was so comical that Merlin half-expected him to say 'Curses' and twiddle with a long curly moustache. The girl flicked her long black hair behind her shoulder and raised the gun again.

She said something but Merlin couldn't understand it. Suddenly he felt like he was underwater. Mordred looked back at him, grinned and then disappeared into thin air. Merlin's only thought was that Mordred would have been great at children's parties. The girl started to rush over to him but the angel reached him first.

Merlin felt his knee's buckle and waited for his head to hit the pavement with a crunch. But the angel caught him and softly laid him down on the floor. The girl checked him over to see if he had any injuries and as Merlin felt his consciousness slipping away, he saw the angel smile down at him. It filled him with a kind of energy that he had never felt before which was ironic because with his next breath, Merlin passed out.

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