Mirror Mirror
Characters/Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, Morgana/Gwen, implied Arthur/Gwen, Uther, Gaius, the Great Dragon, the Mirror
Author's Note: Another Merlin fic! Woo! *is proud*
Warnings/Spoilers: Up to 2x13. Slash. Femslash. Weepy!Arthur. Crack. Assaulted!Gwen. More crack. Some dickhead of a Mirror. A bit more crack.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. No, seriously, I don't.
It was a day of great celebration. A powerful sorcerer had been defeated, for good this time. Kings from far and wide sent gifts, in gratitude for the sorcerer had terrorised many lands before he had visited Camelot. King Uther was truly glad to call Camelot his, and proud that his son had been the one to defeat a sorcerer people had begun to describe as indestructible.
One gift in particular caught the King's eye upon his inspection. It had been checked and re-checked, for traps, magical or otherwise, so it was, to all extents and purposes, safe. He lifted the silvery fabric draped over it, revealing a beautiful full-length mirror. As he continued to stare, stunned by its beauty, a figure appeared from its silvery depths. At first Uther believed it to be only his reflection, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be someone far more handsome, and much younger.
"Hello," said the man in the mirror. Uther stepped back, stunned. The man grinned. "Ask me anything, anything at all! I am the Magic Mirror of Umbria, and I speak only truth!" The councillors surrounding the King murmured in horror at the mention of magic, giving their liege bug-eyed glances, waiting for him to react.
Prince Arthur stepped forward, hand on his sword, ready to draw if the mirror tried anything funny. The man in the mirror grinned at him, waggling his eyebrows. Arthur frowned, and exchanged a glance with his manservant, Merlin. "Father," he began, but Uther held up a hand.
"Are you harmless?" the King asked the Mirror.
"Oh yes, sire," the man said, or purred, more like. "And I am yours, to do with as you wish."
Uther nodded. Hesitatingly, his hand reached out and touched the surface of the mirror. Everyone in the room, excluding Uther and the man, held their breaths.
Nothing happened. No flash of white light, no maniacal laughter, nothing. The councillors, one by one, began to relax. Arthur kept a hand on his sword, giving the mirror a look of deep suspicion. The man waggled his eyebrows again. Arthur's frown deepened.
"I see," Uther murmured, and then before the astonished eyes of his councillors, he visibly brightened. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest king in the world?"
The court waited with bated breath.
"You are, my lord." The man bowed, and then glanced up, a big grin stretching his mouth wide. "And the meanest, and the stupidest."
Some ladies fainted on the spot. Arthur's grip on his sword tightened.
Uther grinned, a beautiful, happy grin that changed his entire being. "Oh, you're too kind," he muttered, waving what he apparently believed was a compliment aside. "Stop it, you're making me blush!" And, lo and behold, the King was blushing, his face bright red and beaming.
A particularly old councillor fainted.
Arthur gave the mirror another deeply suspicious look. The man poked his tongue out at him.
Uther, much to the horror of everyone watching, clapped his hands together gleefully. "Oh, this is splendid!" He then directed the guards to station the Mirror right beside the throne and proceeded to have an apparently fascinating and in-depth discussion with the man in the mirror.
Arthur didn't like this at all.
"I don't like this at all," said Merlin. Arthur raised an eyebrow, to which Merlin responded with a particularly stubborn look. "Well, I don't."
"Yeah," Arthur muttered. "Neither do I."
A few hours later...
Arthur approached the Mirror with trepidation. It was night, the throne room empty and filled with shadows. He stepped up to it and lifted the silvery fabric off the Mirror. The man grinned at him. Arthur wondered absently if he had any other expression, or if his face had stuck that way when the wind changed.
"Prince Arthur!" the man exclaimed, his arms opened wide. "How nice to see you! I expect you have something you want to ask me, huh?" His eyebrows waggled, rather suggestively this time.
Arthur cleared his throat. "Uh, yes," he said, suddenly sure that he really shouldn't be here. "It's about...look, do you really speak the truth?"
"Why, yes," said the man. He gestured to his mouth. "Every word that comes out of this talented mouth is the Gods' honest truth. I swear it."
Arthur nodded, and although there was still a part of him that didn't believe the man, he said, "Well, there's this...girl..."
"There always is," the man muttered.
"...and she's, well, a servant...and Father really wouldn't approve..." Arthur stopped, fidgeting for a minute or two. Eventually he said, "What I mean is, will I ever be with her?"
The man gave him a look of such horror, Arthur actually flinched. There really was something strange about this mirror, and if Arthur had been in his right mind, he would have noticed. "What the hell, princeling?" the man gasped. "You're a prince! Have your way with her! She's a servant, you're a prince, royalty does this all the time, boy, and could I tell you some stories!"
"But," Arthur began.
"They just don't make princes the way they used to, if you ask me," the man muttered. "And if you weren't such a noble prat..."
"Have you been talking to Merlin?" asked Arthur, suddenly deeply suspicious again.
The man blinked at him. "Merlin?" He thought for a moment, one finger tapping his chin. "Tall, kind of lanky, big ears, dark hair, blue eyes?"
"Yes, that's him," Arthur said, mentally planning to punish Merlin so bad in the morning.
The man shook his head. "Nope, never seen him before in my life."
Arthur paused. "What?" he said.
The man sniggered. "Now, go back to bed, princeling," he whispered, Arthur's eyes becoming tired and beginning to close. He yawned. "Think about what I said, have your way with this servant girl and be done with it."
Arthur swayed on his feet. "Anything else?"
"Yeah." The man paused. "Red suits you."
Arthur smiled.
A few minutes later...
Merlin waited until Arthur had left before entering the throne room and approaching the Mirror. He pushed the silvery fabric onto the floor, little worrying that it would get dirty and wrinkled.
"Hey!" said the man, disgruntled for he had just begun to fall asleep. "Watch it, Big Ears, or I'll put a spell on you!" He sniggered.
Merlin glared at him. He crossed his arms over his chest, and glared some more.
"What is it?" the man asked through gritted teeth. "Anything I can do for you?"
"Yeah, you can leave here, right now," Merlin said. "I know you did something to Arthur. He was sleepwalking when he left here!"
"Oh, that." The man waved a hand dismissively. "You should thank me, Big Ears. I did you a favour."
"Yeah, well, you can do me an even bigger favour, and get out of here!" Merlin whispered fiercely.
"Ooh, I think my bunny slippers just ran for cover." The man pretended to cower further into the mirror. "Come on, scare me, boy!"
Merlin took the knife he was holding behind his back and hit the mirror with its pommel. The glass didn't even crack. The man laughed at him.
"Ha, it'll take more than that to break me!" The man's laughter dissolved into childish giggling. "Stronger men than you have tried, and failed."
"So," Merlin said slowly. "Basically I just have to be a woman to break you?"
The man didn't do a very good job of hiding his sudden anxiety. "What? No, of course not." He snorted. "How silly. I think you've had a bit too much to drink, Big Ears, if you know what I mean. What would Prince Arthur think if he could see you now?"
Merlin glared at the man, as though the mere power of his fiery glare could disintegrate the Mirror. The man glared back, in principle. There was a general glarefest. Eventually the man made a disgruntled noise and turned away.
"Ha!" Merlin exclaimed triumphantly.
"I hate you," the man mumbled, turning his back on Merlin, striking a stubborn pose, his nose impossibly high in the air.
His job done for the moment, Merlin went to seek out Arthur, in case the prince had managed to injure himself sleep walking back to his room. Arthur had in fact woken up, to find himself sitting on the edge of his bed, fully clothed, where he would usually be under the covers, sound asleep. He was, understandably, confused.
He looked up when Merlin opened the door. "Merlin," he said, and then paused.
"Arthur," Merlin said, and then he too paused. There was a moment of silence. "You went to see the Mirror," he said eventually, causing Arthur to give him a particularly wide-eyed stare.
"I did what?" Disbelief unmistakeable, Arthur shook his head. "Why would I do that?"
"I don't know," Merlin replied. "Maybe the Mirror called you? It is magic, after all."
"Ha, magic." Arthur didn't appear very impressed, and then something seemed to come over him, and he glanced up. Merlin took a step back as Arthur gave him the most blinding smile he had ever seen and beckoned, somewhat imperiously it has to be admitted, to him. "Come here, Merlin."
"Merlin," he continued once his manservant had stepped up to the edge of the bed, the distance between them tiny and much to Arthur's liking. "I think I might have finally figured out how to handle the Gwen situation."
He looked so deliriously happy, Merlin felt like taking a few steps back, in case the happiness was infectious. "Oh?" Merlin inquired, not liking this new, happy Arthur at all. "And how's that?"
Arthur grabbed his shoulder and pulled him forward. "I'm going to have my way with her," he informed Merlin triumphantly, his grin so brilliant Merlin was momentarily blinded. He felt dazed and had to blink for a few seconds before his mental faculties returned to normal.
Arthur's words registered. "What?" Merlin said, his voice loud in the silence. Arthur tried to shush him but Merlin was having none of it. "Did that Mirror tell you to do that?"
Arthur's brow furrowed. "Uh, I guess so." His smile immediately returned. "Why? Does it matter?"
Merlin's shoulders slumped, his mental faculties again going slightly wonky at the return of the blinding smile. "No, it doesn't," he said glumly.
***
The next day Arthur tried to remember exactly what guys did to impress girls. He vaguely remembered something about...flowers....and possibly poetry. His mind bulked at that last one, and he immediately went to look for pretty flowers to give to his darling Guinevere.
He presented them to her, in full view of several courtiers and Morgana, in the courtyard directly after breakfast ended. His grin was so full of pride even Morgana's barely concealed snigger couldn't deter it.
"Guinevere, these are for you," he said, rather unnecessarily since they were practically shoved in her face.
She smiled, taking them gingerly, as though expecting bugs to pour forth any minute. When no bugs showed themselves, she relaxed. "Thank you, sire," she murmured.
"Call me Arthur," he said, giving her a rather gallant wink. She blushed a rather fetching pink, or so he thought. One of the courtiers dropped onto the floor in a dead faint. Then, much to amazement of everyone there, Arthur grabbed her hand and pulled her down the corridor, disappearing around the nearest corner.
Morgana stared after them. "What, I don't even..." she trailed off, and then shared a confused look with Sir Leon. He shrugged. After a moment, she did too.
A few hours later...
The Lady Morgana was going through her wardrobe. Again. There was something soothing about looking at clothes, about feeling them under her fingers. It kept her mind away from other things, like what exactly Gwen was doing with Arthur.
Her silent question was answered almost immediately, when Gwen rushed through the door, obviously distraught. She flew into a very surprised Morgana's arms, and Morgana held her tight and let her sob into her shoulder. "There, there," she said, rubbing her back soothingly.
"He doesn't care about me at all!" Gwen wailed finally, pulling back slightly to look her lady in the eye. "He just wants me for my..." Her eyes filled with tears. "My body!" she wailed, burying her face back into Morgana's shoulder.
Morgana's mind had been blank before, but now it filled with white hot rage, so strong she began to shake. She spent a few more minutes comforting Gwen, eventually leaving her passed out after taking one of the sleeping potions Gaius had concocted. She laid her on the bed, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, and then strode off in search of Arthur.
She found Merlin first. He was standing in front of Arthur's chambers and looked very frightened when he saw her coming. "M-Morgana," he stuttered.
"Merlin, he assaulted Gwen," she said through gritted teeth, her hands balled into fists by her sides. "I want to see him. I demand an explanation, damn it!"
"He didn't know what he was doing!" Merlin insisted, and then pointed down the corridor in the direction of the throne room. "It was that Mirror's fault!"
Morgana paused. "Really," she said softly, and then – much to Merlin's surprise and delight – continued down the corridor. She still looked out for blood, but thankfully it wasn't Arthur's anymore. Merlin sighed with relief. Morgana turned around.
"When I'm finished having a talk with this Mirror," she said, her voice cold, "I still want to have a little...chat with Arthur. Tell him that for me, would you, Merlin?"
Merlin nodded, and ignored the frightened squeak that tried to escape him. He watched Morgana go on her way and then slumped against the door. After trying and failing to come up with a plan to protect Arthur from Morgana of all people, he opened the door and went inside.
It was very dark, the curtains pulled closed. He squinted, trying to discern the shapes of everything in the room. It took a few minutes inspection but eventually he found Arthur curled up in the corner, a blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders.
He went over and knelt beside him. Arthur turned to him. "You were right," he said morosely. "I am an ass. And a prat." His lip wobbled and he wiped his nose on the blanket, sniffing dejectedly. "I'm the worst person in the world!" he wailed.
Merlin sighed. This was why he had decided to guard the door. This wasn't Arthur – the real Arthur would never act like this. He glared at the wall. It was that Mirror, he knew it was. He gritted his teeth and plotted revenge.
Arthur sniffed, again, and then pulled Merlin close. "You smell nice," he murmured.
Merlin gave him an awkward pat on the back, and then went back to plotting revenge on the Mirror. It would pay, oh boy, yes.
A few minutes later...
Morgana entered the throne room, to find the King having yet another in-depth, apparently hilarious conversation with the Mirror. He was laughing at something the man in the mirror had said, leaning over the Mirror and smiling like person with their first crush.
She managed to mould her expression of horror into one of the proper respect shown a King. "Uther," she said, and the King glanced over at her.
"Morgana!" he said, sounding so cheerful she actually winced. The man in the mirror winked at her. "How are you, my dear?"
Again she tried not to look too horrified. What had the Mirror – for it could be nothing else – done to him? "I was wondering if I could talk to the Mirror for a minute," she said, adding when he all gave her was a blinding smile and a blank stare, "Alone."
"Oh," he said, apparently catching on. For some reason he tapped the side of his nose. "I understand. You have a few questions for him, don't you?"
"Yes, I do," she said, levelling the man in the mirror with her best concealed glare. He sniggered.
Uther stood up and practically skipped past her. "I'll leave you two to get to know each other then, shall I?" he said, beaming happily as he walked out of the room.
Morgana stared at the man in the mirror. The man stared back.
"You," she said eventually.
"Me," he said.
"Why did you make Arthur assault my maidservant?" she asked, cutting to the chase. She really didn't want to be infected by the happiness this Mirror had apparently infected Uther with. She'd rather make her own happiness, thank you very much.
The man looked at her innocently. "Why, I did no such thing," he said, tone very bland. "Now, isn't there something my lady wanted to ask me? Something personal, perhaps?"
She hesitated. Something was...happening to her. She was suddenly struck by the fact that this Mirror wasn't so bad, and anyway he had said he spoke the truth. Surely then he wouldn't lie, surely. A part of her tried to pull away from this kind of thinking, but unfortunately it wasn't the part that controlled her mouth.
"Uh, yes," she said, inwardly cursing herself. "I like this...person, but I don't know if they like me." She gave the Mirror her most pleading gaze. Inwardly, the part of her unaffected by whatever the Mirror was doing prevented to vomit. "Do they?"
"Oh, my lady," the man in the mirror purred. "Yes, they do. Terribly so, it's almost tearing them apart." He smirked as her eyes filled with happy tears, as she clasped her hands to her breasts and sighed joyfully. "Morgana," he added, like he was whispering a secret. She leaned forward. "Go to her."
Morgana, heart as light as air, skipped out of the throne room. In the back of her mind, the part of her unaffected by the Mirror's magic buried her head in her hands and sobbed a little inside.
When Gwen awoke she found Morgana sitting beside her, a bouquet of flowers in her hands and a desperately happy smile on her face.
"Um," Gwen said. She gave Morgana a helpless look before accepting the flowers.
Morgana beamed at her.
***
The next day Gwen went to find Merlin. She found him outside Arthur's chambers and, although it sent shivers down her spine even to be near a place that bastard called home, she gathered her courage and approached Merlin, who appeared to be guarding the door. She remembered belatedly that Uther had ordered all the royal guards to go on holiday. For a month. She would never say anything against the King, but lately he'd seemed...odd.
She shook her head, dismissing the thought. "Merlin," she said.
He instantly looked terrified. "G-Gwen," he stammered.
She smiled at him, trying to quell his fear. "I was wondering if Morgana had come to see Arthur yesterday," she said, and then immediately backtracked. "Not that I expect her to come and defend me, I mean, she has far better things to do with her time..."
"Yes, she did," Merlin said, returning the smile, albeit hesitatingly. "The Mirror did something to him. He's...a little different."
He then watched Gwen walk down the corridor, in the direction of the throne room. He wondered what exactly had happened to Morgana yesterday, and hoped it hadn't been anything too bad. He sighed, and went back inside to check on Arthur. Hopefully he hadn't tried to kill himself again.
Merlin was a bit surprised to see the curtains had been pulled opened. He blinked, having expected darkness. He gazed around the room and found Arthur trying to put his armour on. He went over to help him, ignoring the sigh of relief Arthur gave as he did so.
"We're going on a hunt," Arthur said, resolutely cheerful. "Just you and me."
"Okay," Merlin said, giving his own quiet sigh of relief. It seemed that Arthur was finally returning to normal. Of course, he had yet to insult Merlin so it wasn't as though he was entirely normal, but it was a start.
They went out hunting, and at first everything was fine. The boar led them a merry chase around the forest, Arthur taking great delight in outwitting the beast and in yelling at Merlin. But then things took a turn for the worse when Arthur tripped over a tree root and fell flat on his face. He was lying there, so still and quiet, Merlin immediately began to worry and rushed over there.
"Arthur!" he yelled, shaking him. "Wake up, Arthur. Come on, you prat, wake up."
He was eventually able to turn Arthur onto his back, and was happy to see Arthur staring up at him, a little dazed but no worse for wear. His heart plummeted as Arthur's eyes filled with tears. Not again.
He managed to haul Arthur to his feet. They spent a few wasted minutes trying to rediscover the boar's trail, but the prince's heart was no longer in it. He slumped against a tree, sniffing dejectedly, every now and then wiping his nose on his sleeve.
"Merlin," he sniffed.
It started to rain.
"I'm cold." He sniffed again. "And wet." His bottom lip wobbled and he held out his arms. "Hold me, Merlin."
Merlin was suddenly very uncomfortable. "Um," he said cleverly, his mind scrambling for a way to get out of this predicament. He found nothing except discarded revenge plots and useless spells. "Okay."
He sat down and put his arms around Arthur, who snuggled into him and laid his head on Merlin's shoulder.
It continued to rain.
At least he could do something about that. He whispered a spell, his eyes momentarily flashing gold, and the rain immediately began to fall around, not on, them. He breathed a sigh of relief and, much to Arthur's very apparent delight, pulled him closer.
A few minutes ago...
Gwen approached the Mirror. The throne room was empty, thank heavens, what with the man in the mirror having told Uther to go into a meadow and pick him a bouquet of wildflowers not moments ago.
"What have you done to Morgana and Arthur?" she asked, belatedly adding, "And the King?"
The man sniggered. "Oh, them?" He did a little jig. "Just... twisted a few things here and there. Nothing special. You should be thankful, little miss."
"I am," Gwen said.
The man snorted, and then paused, his face taking on an almost comical look of puzzlement. "Come again?"
"I said, I am thankful," she replied.
The man in the mirror stared at her. "Really?" he whispered.
She nodded.
"Oh well, that's lovely," he said, his voice rife with sarcasm. "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" He poked his tongue out at her.
She stared at him, puzzled.
His smirk faded, replaced by look of abject horror. "No!" he howled, his fists banging uselessly against the glass. "Not this soon! Please, no, I still have so much work to do..." He cowered away from Gwen, who was becoming more and more confused by the minute. She saw he was glancing at something and looked down to see her hand move of its own accord. It picked up a knife lying near the throne, turned it around and smashed it against the Mirror.
Despite being magical, it did as all other mirrors would do. It shattered, albeit with more force and finesse than an ordinary mirror would.
Gwen leapt back, managing to avoid the shattered glass spraying every which way. She stared, her mouth fallen open.
What...?
A few minutes later...
Arthur lay face down on the forest floor. How had he come to be here, exactly? Slowly memories of the past two days trickled back. Oh gods, had he really...? He shuddered. Poor Gwen, he would...well, quite possibly mumble an apology to her later. However, first he had to shut Merlin up. Gods, that idiot was shouting right in his ear, did he think Arthur was deaf?
He changed his mind as soon as he saw Merlin's face, pinched with worry. And he remembered how much Merlin had had to put up with, what with him being such a perfect idiot, hiding in his room and...oh gods, crying? He shuddered again.
He pretended to look for the boar's trail, but his heart wasn't really in it. He kept glancing over at Merlin, and his heart kept fluttering or something stupid (girly) like that. He managed to find a tree without many roots surrounding its base and sat down, back against the trunk. He wiped his sleeve across his face, trying to rub the dirt off.
"Merlin," he said, and then made the mistake of glancing up at his manservant.
Oh.
Before he could gather his thoughts and say something worthwhile and meaningful, it started to rain.
He made the quick decision to pretend he was still under the Mirror's spell. He couldn't be blamed for any behaviour manifested under a spell now, could he?
"I'm cold," he said. "And wet." He held out his arms to Merlin, hoping that Merlin wouldn't suspect anything. "Hold me, Merlin."
"Um," Merlin mumbled, sounding entirely uncomfortable. Arthur felt a little guilty and was about to put a stop to the charade when Merlin said, "Okay."
Much to Arthur's increasing delight, Merlin sat down beside him and put his arms around him. Arthur snuggled into him and laid his head on Merlin's shoulder. Ah, this was the life. To think, he had actually thought Gwen (he told himself he'd apologise for his behaviour when they arrived back at Camelot) was the one for him! Ha, the very idea.
He heard Merlin murmur something and the rain seemed to recede. He frowned, and then dismissed it. He'd find out soon enough. He grinned evilly into Merlin's shoulder.
A few days later...
After finding himself in the middle of a meadow, half way through singing one of the romantic ballads, King Uther ordered the royal guards back from their holiday, demanding they destroy that horrible magic Mirror. He was surprised and delighted to find Gwen had got there before them.
He tried to find out who exactly had sent the Mirror, but was ultimately unable to, much to his everlasting disappointment. He ordered the entire court never to mention his behaviour to the rest of the land, and for the most part they obeyed. Of course there were a few incorrigible gossips, and the news did get around. Eventually.
Merlin discovered Arthur's subterfuge as soon as they returned to Camelot, and wouldn't speak to him for at least a week. He caved when Arthur presented him with a bouquet of flowers and an almost comically remorseful look. Merlin threw the flowers to the side, laughing at the disappointed look on his prince's face before pulling him close and kissing him.
Morgana and Gwen spent an uninterrupted month in Morgana's chambers, Uther having granted this small request when he realised Gwen was the reason he was now (mostly) sane. It has to be said that most of the time they spent giggling and trying on dresses. Most of the time.
Gaius arrived home, having been visiting a nearby village struck down by a mysterious illness, to find himself very confused and out of the loop. Ultimately, he merely shrugged, raised an eyebrow and went on with his work. Merlin filled him in later.
Far away, the Great Dragon had a good laugh.
Hehe. I don't know why I'm suddenly full of Merlin ideas, but I ain't gonna question it.
Review please.