Author's Note: This will probably be a few chapters, at most only five. And pretty much all of this chapter is dialogue. Umm...enjoy? :D
AU: Okay, take the episode "Le Morte d'Arthur" and move it to the end of season two. That is when this takes place. Everything else in season one and season two stays the same.
"I need to talk to you." (M)
"You still haven't got it yet, have you? I decide when we need to talk."(A)
"Not today." (M)
"I sometimes wonder if you know who I am." (A)
"Oh, I know who you are." (M)
"Good." (A)
"You're a prat. And a royal one." (M)
*A laughs*
"Are you ever going to change, Merlin?" (A)
"No. You'd get bored. Promise me this, if you get another servant, don't get a bootlicker." (M)
"Is this you trying to leave your job?" (A)
"No. I'm happy to be your servant till the day I die." (M)
"Sometimes I think I know you, Merlin. Other times…"(A)
"Well, I know you, and you're a great warrior. One day you will be a great King." (M)
"That's very kind of you." (A)
"But you must learn to listen as well as you fight." (M)
"Any other pointers?" (A)
"No. That's it. Just don't be a prat." (M)
*M leaves*
"One moment, Merlin."
Merlin looked back. "Yes, Sire?"
"Before you go to be for the night send Gaius to me. I need to discuss something with him."
Merlin nodded in response, bowed slightly, and left, closing the door quietly behind him. Arthur was confused. Not just slightly confused, but very, very confused: utterly bemused even. Why had it sounded like Merlin was saying goodbye, even though he said he was going to be there for Arthur until he died? That was why Arthur needed to speak with Gaius. Gaius would know. He always knows what Merlin is up to. A few minutes later, a soft knock hit his door.
"Enter."
Gaius stuck his head in. "You called for me, my lord?"
"Ah, yes, Gaius. Come in. Please, sit down." Gaius shuffled over and sat down next to the prince.
Arthur took a deep breath and began. "Is everything okay with Merlin?" Gaius opened his mouth to tell Arthur a lie, but the trusting, worried look on the prince's face stopped him. He closed his mouth and "hmm"-ed.
"Please don't lie to me," Arthur pleaded.
Gaius sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Sire, but I cannot say. It's not my place to and it's not the right time."
"Whose place is it then? Time for what? You have to tell me!"
"It's Merlin's."
"Merlin? But he's just a bumbling oaf most of the time. What's happening Gaius? I'm not a child anymore. Tell me….please," said Arthur.
Gaius's face contorted slightly with indecision until he finally spoke. "Merlin plans on leaving in the morning…. Forever."
Arthur stared at Gaius in astonishment. "I'm sorry, but did you just say he's leaving forever?" Gaius nodded.
"But….why? Why would he just leave? Without saying goodbye? ..but…but… he said he was going to be here for me until he…." Arthur trailed off as the realization hit him. Merlin had been saying goodbye.
"He said 'I'm happy to be your servant till the day I die'... Gaius, is Merlin dying? That's the only reason why he would have been saying goodbye and now be leaving forever. "
"No."
"What?"
Gaius grimaced grimly. "I'm not doing a very good job explaining this, am I?"
"Not at all."
"Merlin plans on leaving tomorrow morning as soon as the sun can be seen in the sky. He does not plan on returning. He believes that this is a journey that he will not survive. And I'm afraid he is quite right, Sire. There can be no return journey for Merlin."
"Why?"
"He has something that he believes he needs to do."
"Where's he traveling to?"
"What?"
"Where's he traveling to?"
"Why does it matter?"
"I'm going with him. He has traveled with me on every one of my potentially-fatal quests. I'm going with him on his."
"You can't, Sire!"
"Why not?"
"It is a quest that only he can go undertake. You can not accompany him, Sire."
"I can. I am the crown prince of Camelot and I will do what I want!"
"But you don't know all that you should! This needs to be for Merlin and Merlin alone!"
"Gaius. Where is he traveling to?"
Gaius heaved a sigh, knowing that Arthur would persist until he received an answer. "To the Isle of the Blessed where the sorceress and high priestess of the old religion Nimueh resides."
Once again, just as Arthur believed he knew he had some semblance of what Gaius was talking about, he was thrown off-course. "What? Why on earth would he travel there?"
"He needs something."
"But Nimueh will kill him! He can't defend himself against a thrown goblet, let alone magic! Why would he go there? What does he need from a sorceress? Why would you let him go?"
"I can't stop him. Merlin is a very stubborn, young man. He's doing what he believes is best." Gaius paused for a moment as if unsure of what to tell the young prince or even whether to continue speaking.
"Best for what? For who? And what does he need?"
"A life, Sire."
"A life? He wants to kill someone? Who? Why? …..what? The more you speak, the less I feel I know! Cease speaking in riddles!"
"Not to take a life, but to save one. Merlin knows well the ways of the old religion from reading old manuscripts I have in my chambers and the ones contained in the castle archives. His mother is dying. He intends to go again to the Isle of the Blessed and trade his life for hers."
"Again? What do you mean, again?"
"A slip of the tongue, my lord. Nothing else."
"No, it wasn't. Tell me what you mean by 'again'."
"Really. It was nothing. It is nothing."
"Gaius, tell me. I need to know. …..he's my friend. If I'm going to save him from himself, I need to know everything that has happened and that will happen."
"The Questing Beast was a powerful magical creature. Its poison is fatal. There is no cure, not even with most magic."
"But you healed me. I got better. Why are you telling me this? How is this relevant?"
"Hush. It was not I, Sire, who healed you but rather Merlin. He traveled to the Isle of the Blessed and petitioned Nimueh for your life. But the law of the old religion is a life for a life. With a life given or saved there must also be a death, a life taken."
"Whose life did he trade?"
"His own."
"What? Gaius, you're not making sense again. Shouldn't he be dead then?"
"Put simply, Nimueh tricked him and warped the laws of the old religion to fit her own purposes. She chose his mother's life and not his. That is why he has decided to go there once again and trade for her life."
"Whose life did he trade for the first time? Mine?"
"It was the only way to save you."
"You didn't stop him? Why wouldn't you? Why would you have let him do such a thing?"
"Despite the fact that he is a son to me and I love him more than anyone else in the world and would do anything to protect him, he and I both understand that your destiny has yet to be fulfilled. It is you that needs to be protected and saved. It is you who has a destiny to change the world. Merlin already knows his destiny and how his life goes. He believes in the world you will create…and so do I."
"Destiny? I have a destiny? To do what? And how does Merlin know his? Why would our destinies matter?"
"It is a long tale, my lord. And it contains information that you may not want to know."
"I need to know. If I am to go after Merlin and save him from himself, I need to know everything."
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes."
"Do you trust Merlin?"
"Of course! But why."
"With your life?" Gaius interrupted.
"Yes. I trust him more than anyone!"
"Then swear to me that what I am about to tell you never leaves this room. That you will never tell another soul what I am going to tell you now."
"Gaius…."
"Swear this to me."
"Although I do this against my better judgment, I swear that whatever you say to me now will never reach another person's ears."
"Very well. To start, you should know a very big and heavily guarded secret. Merlin has, since his birth, been a warlock."
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed that. If anyone has any ideas for the title, please share them. I'm not sure I like it, but at the moment, it's all I can think of. Anyways, please review! I love to hear your comments and/or complaints. :)