AN: If Merlin were mine, I have a feeling I would have a lot more money.

Hai everyone I'm back! And I got your lovely reviews :)

Bananaberry12: Hmmm, I almost made my 5x05 chapter a reveal, but didn't at the last minute. Maybe I'll try playing around with that :) Thanks for the review!

battlemaiden518: Thanks for your imput. I am currently working on your suggestion and hope I will be able to post it soon :)

.Wen: I might do something on your idea, but if you're interested someone else has already done a good job of it. Under my favorites list is a story called 'Starving a Warlock Isn't Wise' by ForIHaveOvercomeTheWorld. Check it out if you're interested! :) Thanks for the comment.

Also, I realize I am doing lots of episodes from seasons 4 and 5. I will try to add more of a variety of seasons for those of you who haven't seen all of them.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR LAST EPISODE

Chapter 7: 5x13, The Diamond of the Day pt. 2. Set towards the end, where, in the original episode, Arthur is about to die. Another Arthur lives fic, because, face it, no one liked how the series ended.

This was not happening.

Merlin's mind refused to process it. Arthur was not dying in his arms, with no treatment this time. He had worked too hard, sacrificed so much, and been rewarded so little. He had not done all that for Arthur to die now, when he had just found out about Merlin's magic.

All this time, the one thing that had kept him going was the knowledge that it would lead to his destiny. When things had gotten hardest, when Arthur was the least motivated and Merlin had had to pick him up off his feet, having fate to rely on had kept him sane. He'd come so close to giving up before, only to have Kilgarrah insist that things must be done, that he could not afford to slack off.

So he'd kept going, waiting for the moment when he would be accepted, for Arthur to achieve his destiny.

And this...this couldn't be it.

But now Kilgarrah was standing in front of him saying it was fate, that there was nothing he could do. Fate, which Merlin had relied on, which had kept him going, had turned around, disregarded everything he had done, and stabbed him in the back.

Well, two could play at that game.

He would not let everything he had done count for nothing. He blocked out Kilgarrah's blathering about fate and destiny and prophecies. He was going to fix this, damn it, he was going to save his friend, even if it was the last thing he did.

His magic, itching to come out, was repressed. He let it build, gaining strength, like a volcano building pressure before an explosion. He gathered all his strength, focusing all his energy.

And then he let it out.

A wave of power burst from him, the focal point, the air around him rippling with it. Even Kilgarrah staggered backwards with the sheer force of it. Plants went haywire, the life energy sending them up from the ground, growing faster than was natural.

And then it was gone, leaving nothing but a tingling feeling in the air.

0o0

Arthur was slightly confused. His last memory was of Merlin holding him, begging him to stay, and wishing with all his heart that he could, but feeling the dark magic taking his life. Then he'd slipped away into nothingness. He'd expected to wake up in whatever the afterlife was.

But he felt...warm. And the smell of the grass and the feeling of Merlin lying next to him were still there. But that didn't make any sense, the pain was gone...completely. But surely that must mean...?

He opened his eyes. He was exactly where he had been moments before. Except now Merlin was sprawled beside him, apparently unconscious.

"MERLIN!"

A roar made him jump. He looked up and his jaw dropped.

The dragon, the one he had supposedly killed, was standing before him, waving his neck in agitation and staring down at the limp form below him. And apparently, it could talk.

Arthur instinctively went for his sword. "What have you done to Merlin?" he demanded of the beast.

The dragon eyed him, but not with aggression. "I haven't done anything, it's him you should be asking what he's done!"

Arthur, still braced in case the creature decided to attack, noticed that there was a trace of...fear in his voice? But what could scare a dragon?

The noise seemed to rouse Merlin, whose eyes fluttered open, but Arthur noted that had a slightly glazed-over look.

"What have you done, Merlin?" the dragon bellowed, and the sorcerer winced at the noise.

0o0

Kilgarrah was yelling at Merlin, asking him what he'd done. But he knew. He'd felt it as the wave of energy passed over him.

Merlin had defied fate itself.

Kilgarrah hadn't thought that was possible. But Merlin had always liked to do the impossible. Especially being born with more power than any human on Earth. Destiny had given him that power - apparently it had given him enough power to turn the tides of fate.

And he would never admit it, but the great dragon didn't like it. Being a creature of the Old Religion, he had powers of prediction to match the druids, though perhaps not that of their elite seers. Unlike the humans, he could practically feel the presence of fate working around him, which prophecies were at work and which had yet to pass.

But now, one of them had shattered into nothing. Merlin had broken it's hold over him and Arthur.

"What have you done?" the dragon demanded of his dragonlord.

The warlock looked up at him weakly. The amount of energy he'd released had left him exhausted. But Kilgarrah could see that he still held onto his defiance.

"I saved him," was his stubborn reply.

Kilgarrah had nothing to say to that. It was true, after all.