Title: The Third Struck Lucky
Prompt: 5x13 – Percival makes it to Gwaine in time, beats Morgana in an epic showdown.
Author's note: After the sadness of the final episode of Merlin, I asked fans of Merlin on Tumblr if any had prompts that they would like me to write a fanfic for. A few entries came along, this being the first. I will post the others later in time once they have been written, alongside my own Christmassy fluffy Merthur fanfic. Enjoy!
With thanks to the-laughter-of-a-phoenix (Tumblr) for the prompt
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine and belong to Shine Productions and the writers of BBC Merlin.
War had struck in the kingdom of Camelot, and Morgana had found out the true meaning of Emrys, thanks to Mordred. Friends and Foes had been lost on the battlegrounds on Camlann, including Merlin, who was yet to return.
Merlin returned in the summit of battle to put things straight, and to make sure that Arthur wasn't slayed under the hands of Mordred, but was too late, and had caused Arthur a deep and almost fatal wound, Mordred losing his own life at the same time.
Morgana had since then returned back to her castle, and had laid a burial for Mordred, as well in remembrance for the lives taken of her own army, trying to bring Camelot, and more importantly, Arthur, to its knees.
When members of her army had returned giving the news of Arthur's disappearance, she shrieked that she wanted him dead. Meanwhile, on the lookout for Morgana, Gwaine and Percival had left the kingdom to search for the enemy to bring her down, knowing that Arthur was still out of bounds.
Morgana and the remainder of her legion had set out to find Arthur and Merlin when in hiding were Gwaine and Percival, as from behind the legion's backs Gwaine and Percival set out to take them down. As they took the members down, killing them with their swords, Gwaine was left alone when he stumbled across Morgana, where from behind Percival tried to kill her with his sword, however, one stab wound was not going to let herself be taken upon by two men. Instead, she used her magic to throw Percival in the opposite direction while she dealt with Gwaine.
Percival awoke finding himself with each of his arms tied around strong vines, which were connected two trees, when he heard a sharp cry. Knowing that Gwaine was in danger, probably from Morgana, Percival used his strength to untie himself from the trees, only just managing to do so, dropping to the earth below him, running in the direction of the cry.
What he found was Gwaine being threatened by Morgana to tell him where Arthur and Merlin were, which in turn Gwaine replied that he would rather die than tell her, doing his duty as a knight of the round table, serving his king. Morgana replied with, well you shall have your wish, when Percival made upon an entrance.
Holding his sword in front of him, trying once more to defeat Morgana, he used his left arm to hold her still around the neck whilst trying to stab her, Morgana knowing herself what was going to happen.
"Do you really think you can pull the same trick twice?"
With the distraction of Percival, Gwaine was able to unleash himself and join Percival in a showdown against Morgana, although wary of her magic, they were determined to defeat her nonetheless.
"Hmm, two versus one, regardless of how many men take me on, I can still defeat the lot of you."
"Magic or no magic, may the best win."
Although Morgana had her magic, she had no sword on her person, so therefore was at a hint of a disadvantage. Striking Gwaine first, trying to dodge every move the pair made, her magic could back them off for only so long. What she didn't realise was when trying to strike Gwaine from a near distance, Percival was out of sight. Using her concentration on her magic, that's when Percival hit third time lucky.
As Gwaine flew to the round, she quickly turned in order to find Percival when she felt a blade rush through her, Percival standing in front of her.
"I'm so sorry for doing this Morgana, and wished your end could have been in a different way, but after the amount of suffering you have caused to the people of Camelot, I have to serve my king, and will do so for as long as I live."
Morgana dropped to the ground, Percival standing at her side for a few moments to make sure that Morgana was indeed dead, checking for a pulse to confirm this, before rushing off to Gwaine to check on his fellow knight.
"Gwaine!"
"Percival, over here!"
Gwaine was lying alone amongst a few trees where Percival came to his side to check that he had not been fatally wounded.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just a bit sore, nothing worse than I've had before."
"You haven't been stabbed have you?"
"No, seriously I'm fine. Where's Morgana?"
"Dead. When she struck you I attacked her from behind with a fatal wound to the chest. There's no pulse, she's gone."
Knowing of the circumstances and that both were fine, Gwaine pulled Percival into a tight embrace, joining heads for a few moments, knowing that both were safe and didn't have to worry about being attacked by Morgana, or hopefully any more of her people.
"We should such for Merlin and Arthur," Gwaine commented a few minutes later.
"But we know Arthur is safe in the hands of Merlin."
"But still, I think it is right that we go in search for them, who knows what might have happened to them since the battle."
Knowing that Gwaine was right, even though he was sure that Arthur was safe in the hands of Merlin, Percival stood up, pulling up Gwaine afterwards, leading him back to their horses to search for their king and his sorcerer.