A/N: These are actually three different scenes, but are all part of the same narrative that has been slowly growing itself in my head the past few months. I may or may not make this into a full-blown story eventually.
Aodan looked apologetically at Merlin. "I'm sorry, Emrys," he said. "I never thought that it would come to this, any more than you.
"For decades, we fought for our own lives, for the freedom to live as magicians and warlocks and druids. But now, the tables have turned. We must fight again, not for those who have magic, but for those who have none."
His eyes were piercing, blue, and pleading. "Emrys, I need your help."
His staff hit the flagstones dully, but everywhere, heads turned to him. This was a city of magicians. They could all feel the power radiating from him, flowing out of his staff like a current. Merlin didn't have to say anything as two dumbfounded guards sent word to their master. He was let in without question. When he reached the rather slap-dash throne room, their master was eating his luncheon and didn't look up at the new arrival.
"Ah, Merlin Emrys, here at last. Come to join me, have you?" He popped a cherry tomato into his mouth.
"If you think that's what I've come to do, then you are sorely mistaken," Merlin said from the doorway. The other man swallowed and looked up with a suddenly grave expression.
"I see. Then you've come to kill me."
"No," Emrys snapped back, his staff a pillar in his hand. "I've come to stop you."
Arthur didn't think he'd ever seen Merlin look so old. For a split second, Arthur thought he could see in his mind's eye what his friend would look like in years come, his beard grey, his eyes sagging. Not Dragoon. Not Emrys. Only Merlin, old and weary.
"Never, in all this time, did I ever imagine it would come to this. After all that we've been through, I thought it would finally end. After Nimue, after Morgause, Morgana, Mordred. I thought that after it all, I'd never again be forced to kill my own people for the sake of peace, protect the ones I love from the ones I call kin. " His voice lowered to a pained whispered.
"How naïve I've been."
