A/N: I am fixated with BBC's Merlin. This came from some speculation after the most recent episode. No spoilers, however. And did you bring your slash goggles? :D
Disclaimer: The characters in this fic belong to the BBC and I am making no money from this venture.
Once and Future
by danse
The day Arthur discovered Merlin's magic had been the same day Morgana revealed her seer abilities to Gwen—Guinevere, as she was now known. The reactions from the pair of them were not quite a surprise but certainly a letdown. To be fair, King Uther was kept in the dark as to the magic users in his household for the rest of his days, as far as Merlin knew, but somehow the sharing of their secret, instead of reinforcing the camaraderie between the two master-and-servant pairs, ended up driving a wedge in their group dynamic that none of them had ever gotten past.
Arthur stopped speaking to Merlin except when necessity dictated it, and Merlin found himself with more free hours all the time, as Arthur's laundry began apparently to wash itself (and not in the same way as when Merlin had used magic on it), and then his armour no longer needed Merlin's attention, and then meals were borne to Arthur's chambers by other hands than his manservant's. It was a slow shutting-out that Merlin could not hope to challenge, in his case; no harsh words were spoken, no outright dismissal sent him packing, but all the same, one morning he woke up and realized he was unemployed. He began to assist Gaius more instead, as the man only continued to get older by Merlin's estimation, and thankfully Gaius never tried to broach the issue of Merlin's sudden career change.
He never knew for certain but was fairly confident that this was not how Morgana and Guinevere parted ways. Merlin suspected a fight in their case, which had prompted Morgana to release Gwen from her service and find herself a new lady's maid—one who she never really seemed to notice unless the woman was speaking to her directly. Guinevere filled her days now with working for her father and a seamstress business, on the side. Merlin himself had seen the two girls pass each other in a corridor one day after their parting and they had acted like strangers to each other. From best friends to not making eye contact; so much like him and the prince.
The natural consequence of this rift had been a reformation of the teams, as it were. Suddenly the likeliest place to find Guinevere outside of her home was the edge of the knights' practice green, where she would often mend and sharpen Arthur's equipment for him while he entertained her with his prowess against other knights. There were rumours of further intimacy between the two, of course, but Merlin hadn't yet been able to decide if the rumours were true.
Meanwhile, he and Morgana had in turn become thick as thieves. While it was improper for him to enter her chambers without a chaperone and too much socialization between them inevitably led to talk and rumours of their own, they'd found themselves drawn to each other like moths to a flame. It perhaps was not romantic (or perhaps... in fact he couldn't decide if some of the rumours about himself and Morgana were true, either) but it was certainly a closer companionship than he'd previously thought the two of them would ever enjoy. He'd shown her the book of magic—and why not?—and while she hadn't yet shown much talent for physical spells such as he could do, they discussed magic regularly and marked each other's progress. Morgana was more and more frequently overcome by waking visions, which she could remember in detail, and the task of keeping her safe while she was trapped in one tended to fall to Merlin, who could at least keep her head from hitting the flagstones and make sure no one saw her apparently having some kind of seizure.
Her penchant for mischief kept him quite distracted, too. All in all, this new friendship (with the added bonus that he didn't have to do chores for her) seemed nearly to fill the hole left by the old one. Not a perfect overlap, but probably the best he could hope for. He suspected Morgana felt the same.
She smiled at him now from across the banquet hall, catching his gaze and distracting him from his reverie. He pulled nervously at the hem of his good shirt and faced forward, trying to look attentive. Today was an important day for Camelot, one that Merlin had once thought about quite fondly; in fact, despite everything, right now he could admit to some of that fondness still making itself known.
Today, right now, in this hall, Arthur was being crowned King.
Merlin stood next to Gaius, who held a good spot at the front of the crowd as the court physician; Morgana stood to the left of and a little behind Arthur's throne chair (Merlin could still picture Uther slouching in it, the image of the great predator at rest), and she looked rather stunning even by her standards, he had to admit; Guinevere's presence in the crowd so near the front would probably cause sensational gossip but she was wearing a very nice dress and the pride visible on her face was almost humbling to Merlin. Her gaze was locked on Arthur, who was apparently looking off into the distance at nothing specific. Nerves, Merlin was sure of it. Yet he still managed to look arrogant and perfectly entitled. Merlin watched as he moved to kneel in front of the priest performing the ceremony. Someone waved incense around.
Really, he looked quite calm and collected for someone in his position. Uther had taken ill with a fever a month ago which had eventually become a coma that he never woke up from. The frenzied preparations of the court for the funeral last week had seemed to Merlin to blend without pause into the preparations for today, the coronation and the feast and party to follow. He'd barely seen Morgana since Uther was on his deathbed. He'd seen Arthur once in that time, from a short distance, and he'd looked more tired than anything else.
To imagine that perhaps, with different choices made, he might have been swept up in the frenzy of the last two weeks as another able-bodied servant, instead of standing beside Gaius in the royal chambers administering poultices and sponging the heat and sweat from the dying king's brow. He might have been privy to Arthur's thoughts at such a time, trading banter or ducking missiles thrown in fits of pique. Polishing armour and washing tunics while Arthur tried to train himself to death from sunup till sundown. Getting likely as little sleep as the crown prince had from all the stress.
But Arthur had managed without him, apparently, destiny or no. Merlin saw him finally share a quick look with Guinevere, saw the lightning-fast smirk he gave her before turning his attention to the men in front of him, who stepped toward Arthur, still down on one knee, and laid an ornate golden circlet on his head. Merlin applauded with everyone else as he got to his feet as the new King of Camelot and its territories. The future King of Albion, if the dragon knew what it was talking about.
As the thundering roar of all present shook the gallery, Merlin wondered what their destiny would look like now. Surely what the dragon had meant with all that talk of coins and trials and their intertwined threads of fate and whatnot was that he and Arthur should be on speaking terms with each other, at least in general. His clapping faltered as a thought occurred to him: sure, Uther had never been told about his and Morgana's magical abilities, since their heads were both still attached to their bodies, but what now? Arthur was the king now and Arthur knew their secret; had he been waiting all this time to give the execution order himself, to repay their betrayal? Had he and Gwen planned this? Or was Merlin going to be banished from the kingdom, as a grudging thank-you to all the times he'd saved Arthur's life, but still shut out of the future he was supposed to participate in?
It happened in the space between breaths, but even lost in his thoughts, he was sure he saw Arthur make eye contact with him—for the first time in months—as he swept by in his fur-lined cloak to go to the balcony overlooking the square. What could that mean? Morgana seized his arm on the way past and he followed, dumbly. Perhaps this was it. He squeezed her hand where it rested on his bicep, either needing or giving courage.
Merlin had half-formed thoughts of going down to the street level, where townspeople packed in already to hear their new king speak, but Morgana refused to release his arm and he found himself standing with her, off to the side of the very balcony the King was now on, the sunlight glinting off his golden hair and golden crown. He felt eyes on him and resisted the shiver he could feel coming on. King Arthur opened his mouth, and all other noise died.
"Citizens of Camelot," he boomed in a voice that had led armies and gave Merlin chills anyway, "today begins a new era! My father, Uther Pendragon, God rest his soul, was a brave and strong king, who commanded wisely and always kept the interests of his subjects close to his heart. These lessons he taught me, and I will proudly carry on his good deeds and the good name of the House of Pendragon."
Merlin's heart sank a little, and he felt Morgana's hold on him tighten for a moment.
"But as I learned from his example, and learned the lessons he taught me in how to be a good king, I also learned from his mistakes." Arthur paused and the silence he already commanded so well rang in Merlin's ears. "Therefore, my first act as your king is to lift the ban on magic in all lands under my rule."
The commotion from below was instantaneous and despite all the noise, Merlin was positive for a minute that he'd gone stone deaf. When he came back to himself, Morgana was squealing in a way she'd surely deny later and hugging him round the waist. He looked up dazedly and found himself looking at Arthur, who was watching them both, his back straight and regal and the barest hint of a smile on his face.
Merlin returned the smile, and hugged Morgana back, all the while looking at Arthur.
His king.