Never shall we die

Before moving to Ealdor, Merlin lived by the sea and with the sea. But his mother could only watch her son die by navy hands so many times. AU where Pirates of the Caribbean takes place in Merlin's universe and Merlin can't die.

I do not own anything except my own idea, and even that you can use if you just tell me.

Some men have died

"In order to affect a timely halt to deteriorating conditions and to ensure the common good, a state of emergency is declared for these territories by decree of Lord Cutler Beckett, duly appointed representative of His Majesty, the king. By decree, according to martial law, the following statutes are temporarily amended: Right to assembly, suspended. Right to habeas corpus, suspended. Right to legal counsel, suspended. Right to verdict by a jury of peers, suspended. By decree, all persons found guilty of piracy, or aiding a person convicted of piracy, or associating with a person convicted of piracy... shall be sentenced to hang by the neck until dead."

Merlin huffed and blew some hair out of his eye. He was one of the first few in line to be killed and it kind of sucked. He was far enough down the line there were a few groups in front of him but close enough to see the people as they were lead up to the wooden death sentence and their body's being stripped of their boots and thrown into a pile. Some of the woman in line were crying, some were standing there with their chin in the air, facing death with pride. At least this time he wasn't being targeted for his magic. No, this time he was being targeted for being a cabin boy on a pirate ship. But really, who else was going to do the job, at least the pirates accepted him for his magic and it helped him get his work done faster, so really, who was to blame for this situation. Not him, that was for sure.

The navel men were certainly trying to make things feel gloomy with their drummed to death song. That's what merlin called it anyways, they would always play the same song at every public execution and it got to the point where the pirates had made a song for it. Soon it was his turn to be lead him up to the gallows and was placed in the dead center for all to see, they had left him standing under the noose that was to high for him, making a statement that no one was safe. Merlin found it kind of funny, if they expected to kill him, they're going to have to find something for him to stand on.

As they were searching, really, they should have thought of this beforehand, Merlin fingered the coin he had swiped from his now disease employers desk. Really, one would think it would be a little bit harder to steal something so important from a pirate but apparently all to took was breaking a little lock with some small bit of magic. "The king and his men stole the queen from her bed." He began to sing. Hey, if they were going to play the death march, then he might as well give these people a proper goodbye. "And bound her in her bones." Shoot, did he remember the words? "The seas be ours and by the powers where we will, we'll roam." They finally found a barrel for him to stand on. Really, a barrel? It took them that long to find a stinking barrel? Wow these people were pathetic. And it was just barley tall enough for him to reach the noose.

Merlin didn't know the rest of the song, but luckily for him the black guy who stood just beside him did. "Yo, ho, all hands, hoist the colors high."

"Heave ho," the rest of the gallows sang before being joined by the rest of the prisoners.

"Thieves and beggars, never shall we die." They had all already accepted their fate, but that didn't mean they weren't bitter about it. Raising their heads, they sang loudly "Yo, ho, haul together, hoist the colors high." They began to stomp, the guards backing away cautiously. Merlin found this hilarious, they were the ones with guns, what were they doing being afraid of some peasants in chains. By now one of the men had run to tell the news, like it mattered. What could they do, kill them? "Yo, ho, thieves and beggars."

Merlin gripped the coin and raised his head to join in the final line of the song. "Never shall we die." The executioner pulled the lever, and Merlin's world went black.

And some are alive

"Merlin! Merlin! Merlin where are you!" he heard his mother call.

Slowly he opened his eyes to find himself in a pile of corpses per usual. "Over here mother!" he called, throwing his hand up in the air to get her attention. He always felt tired when he woke up, but the felling would soon pass once he was with someone he cared about. It was funny, on the times he woke up before his mother got to him, he was barely able to move, but once he was in her presents for about a minute it was like nothing had happened to him in the first place.

"Oh, Merlin dear, you have got to stop doing this to me!" Hunith fussed, clinging to her now breathing child. "I don't know how much more I can take." She held her child at arm's length and looked him over. "Can you stand?"

"Yes, mother." He smiled and sat up. Slowly he patted himself over before going pail. "Oh no" he began to panic "oh no oh no oh no!"

"Merlin what's wrong?"

"The coin!" he yelled "I must have dropped the coin at the gallows!"

"What coin Merlin?" Hunith asked, getting more confused and worried by the moment.

"The coin I died for!"

The two quickly got to their feet and began to search for the silver currencies, Hunith had no idea why it was of so much importance but trusted her son enough to follow him. They searched for hours, but by then someone of much higher standings held the prize.

And others sail on the sea

About a year passed after that day at the gallows and the family of two had moved several times by then, both to avoid the navy, and to hide the child's magic. "Mother, why do I have to wear this?" Merlin whined, tugging at his long sleeve that his mom was making him wear. It was burning hot outside and Merlin could swear he was about to get heat stroke.

"Because dear," she sighed "We won't be able to stay here any longer if someone sees your mark." That's right, at the age of six Merlin was branded. He had only just begun to work on a ship when he was caught and handed over to his mother with a burned wrist. He was back on a ship the next day. "If they do then they'll call the navy, and the navy will have you killed again."

"But I always come back" he said, not understanding what his mother was getting at.

"I know dear," she said crouching down to her sons' height "But I don't…" she reached down to fix the child sleeve so it wouldn't be to uncomfortable. "Most people don't."

"If your so scared of the navy why don't we live where there isn't any navy?"

"Merlin, all the places with no navy are to dangers for you. They're here to protect us; no protection will lead to a death worse than hanging. I'm not taking you out of one bad situation and putting you in another."

Merlin shook his head "That's not true. There was this kid in a bar once, and he told me of cities with no navy and lands that don't kill you for having magic."

"I'm sorry sweaty, but there's no such place as that around here."

"uh uh." He shook his head "It's not around here, he said it's by the mountains."

with the keys to the cage...

By the age of ten, Merlin had been taken from his sea. It was hard at first, being stuck on land and surrounded by mountains, but the small farming community had taken a liking to them and the child had quickly made a friend. This friend was the only one who knew of Merlin's magic.

"Merlin, wait up!" William yelled as they ran through the woods. "I can't keep up with you!" the two had been playing around when Merlin had suddenly shot off. "Merlin!" he yelled again, slowing to a trot. "Where are you?"

The was no response for a moment, only the wind blowing through the trees. Slowly, a sound trickled into the wind, a sort of laugher. "Come and find me!" came the winds call. Of course Will knew he wouldn't be able to find his friend, not until he wanted to be found, but that wasn't the point of the game. The point was to be lead, a game of playing blind. Of course that lead to an hour of him wandering the woods trying to find his friend. Eventually he was lead to a small pond, a tiny little thing void of life. There, by the edge sat Merlin, his black hair blending into the darkening forest. "So… why did you lead me here?" Will asked, sitting by his friend.

He shrugged "I don't know."

"Hey" Will gave his friends a shoulder nudge "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's just that, it's just you and your mom. Do you even know who your dad is?"

"Mh… kind of. Mom said she met him at the docks one day, said he was running away from something and needed a boat. She won't tell me his name though, or what he looks like, or anything really about him…" he trailed off.

"You lived by the docks?" Will asked astonished, he had never seen the ocean.

"Yeah, the pirates help raise me."

and the Devil to pay

Merlin didn't stay in the little farming town for long, he could tell people were starting to notice the little things. Sure he could pass of his magic as something else, but hiding the fact he was a pirate was surprisingly difficult despite the fact no one inland really cared about a life at sea. Still, he was feeling like he no longer belonged.

Maybe it was because of how nonchalant he was about his magic that caused his mother to send him away to learn. "You're magic Merlin" she would always tell him, "It's not something you can just ignore." It was true, the more he ignored it, he worse things got. But sending him to the Camelot really didn't seem like that good of an idea. While it was true they didn't have any real laws against pirates, they sure as the sea had laws against magic. And him being so us to not having to control his magic, both out at sea and with his friend, that it didn't even cross his mind that he would be killed for saving someone's life. Luckily he saved the life of the man who was going to teach his magic so that was cool. Then he saved the life of the prince and was stuck with him… but hey, more chance to steal right! Which probable wasn't a good idea since he was trying to stop his old habits.

"Merlin!" the prince yelled. "Do you know where my silver pin went?"

"No sire, I haven't seen it since this morning."

we lay to Fiddler's Green!

You like it? It's just a little idea I had, I was going to make it into a series but then I realized I have no directions for this to go so I'll leave it as a one shot for now. Your free to pick it up if you want, just tell me first.