Hello.
This is my first published Merlin piece, as I usually write for Sherlock, but I got this idea a little while ago and went with it, and now I'm pretty much uploading it right away.
I hope you enjoy it.
All credit to the brilliant writers of Merlin, and, I guess, the legend too!.
There are people screaming.
There is fire and smoke and bodies bumping and falling everywhere but all Merlin can see is the beauty of it all.
Oh what a brave and selfless thing to do, to go down fighting for the Kingdom you call home.
He knows he probably shouldn't be just standing there, amongst everyone running about, doing nothing, but he can't quite seem to move his limbs. It's like his feet have sprouted roots and have sunk themselves into the concrete of the courtyard.
There are shouts from just outside the castle walls, and Merlin knows it's Arthur and his men.
Of course it is.
Arthur Pendragon, the valiant Prince.
He wants to help, he really does, but his feet are refusing to carry him.
People are still running all around him, dropping things and yelling and Merlin can't really remember the last time it's been this loud around his ears. The sky is a disheartening grey, flecked with darker patches from the smoke of the relentless fires. Merlin was sure it had been blue this morning.
Really, he should move, like, right now.
Something falls just in front of him and shakes the ground he is standing on, and he is only mildly surprised to find that it is a bit of The Castle. A pang of fear goes through him then; shouldn't he be more worried about this?.
He still can't move though, and frankly, it's getting quite frustrating.
There are more shouts and screams and bodies tripping. There is a noise that sounds a little like an explosion, but somehow Merlin still can't feel more than only a little worried about this.
It's just beautiful.
He wriggles his toes to make sure they're actually still working, and then thinks that something really isn't quite right because he's wriggling them sideways and really, toes don't wriggle sideways, do they?.
It takes him a minute to register that actually, he isn't standing, he's lying down. In the courtyard, watching everyone running about around him. Why is he lying down again?.
There's a bellow then, and it seems louder than any other sound since this all began.
It's hoarse from shouting, but it's still deep and still, unmistakeably, Arthur's.
He's up and running then.
He flies through the stricken courtyard and beyond The Castle walls and nearly careers straight into the Knights, all huddled together close for protection. He spots Arthur, in the centre, the fallen Prince protected by his loyal men.
He pushes through, meets the gaze of Sir Leon, who gives a brief nod, and then drops ungracefully to Arthur's side.
The young man is silent, eyes closed, a gash in his chainmail and the shirt beneath. He is breathing, though, and that is what makes Merlin fine. If Arthur is still breathing, he is fine. They are all fine. He hangs onto that as Sir Leon calls down to him from above.
"Is The Prince safe?," he asks, and it only sounds a little like crashing in Merlin's ears because Arthur in his arms, still breathing, is bringing him back to the scene and what he needs to do.
"He's breathing," Merlin calls back, and as he says it he feels stronger still, "He needs treatment though."
There is a whoosh and for a moment Merlin thinks he has gone deaf, but then Sir Leon speaks again.
"The Beast is still attacking, there isn't any way we can get him out safely right now."
There is a solemn edge to his voice, like he is giving up, but oh no, Merlin thinks, you aren't giving up on me just yet.
So, with Arthur still breathing in his arms, and the screams and the roar of the fire, and more crashing in his ears, Merlin half turns from where he is cradling Arthur in his lap, points his hand up and out of the circle of Knights, at the sky, at The Beast, and he fights.
If he can go down fighting, with Arthur by his side, at least he will feel like he has tried to make their destiny happen. It all comes down to Arthur in the end. It's why he does everything, why he puts up with the abuse and the constant objects lobbed at his head, why he goes on silly chases across The Kingdom. He picks himself up for Arthur, makes sure Arthur is okay before anything else, most of the time puts Arthur before him, because really, he knows that he needs to, because he's not really anything without Arthur. Not now, anyway. Maybe before, but not now.
Arthur gives him the strength to do it though, even though he doesn't know it, and Merlin knows that if roles were reversed, Arthur would carry him away from battle, or do anything he could to protect him. That's what makes Merlin get up, what makes him run to him, what gives him strength to fight.
Even now, as there is carnage and there are lights in his eyes and bursts of it all around them, and people shouting half formed and half hearted accusations, and people bellowing, none of them are Arthur, and that's why everything is beautiful.