You know, every time I write a new one of these I say that this time, this time, it's going to be a short one. This has yet to happen. I am incapable of writing anything under a 1,000 words. Anyway this is my last update before school starts. :,C And after this it's going to get a whole lot more sporadic. Because you know, schoolwork. Also I'm taking AP English, Chem, and Pre-calc. And on top of all that I'm lazy, so I wouldn't expect much. Though I will try honestly, I will. Because I have so many fantastic idea's floating around my head to leave it alone too long (hopefully).
Anyway basically I don't own Merlin or Harry Potter (that's right finally an HP quote! After my profile page you kind of expect it).
Enjoy!
To be perfectly frank, it was an off day for Arthur.
Was it because Merlin was actually on time today so Arthur got less sleep than usual?
This was likely.
Was it because halfway through his alone time with Guinevere he'd been called out on a very important mission?
That probably had something to do with it.
Or was it because why they were journeying Merlin had dropped half their supplies into a mud pit, completely spoiling them?
This was definitely part of it.
But largely it had to do with the fact that he was being slowly strangled by a sentient plant.
He probably should have seen it coming. After all that was why he was out here in the first place, looking for the blasted thing. So of course he would end up falling in the hole that it was dwelling in. That was worded wrong. Of course he would fall in an attempt to prevent Merlin, who in his usual clumsy fashion practically walked into the hole, from falling in.
Well, Arthur thought, never doing that again. Though he didn't know if this was because he decided Merlin no longer deserved this privilege or because he would be dead at the point "next time" rolled around.
Initially, Arthur had been rather pleased to discover that he hadn't fallen to his death and instead landed on this rather convenient plant. That was until Merlin pointed out (in an amusingly hysteric tone despite the circumstance) that the plant was slowly binding him up.
Arthur struggled in vain against the vice-like grip that plant had on him. He really didn't know why he had bothered saving the worthless idiot in the first place, it wasn't as if he couldn't have-
But Arthur's internal rant was cut off by the idiot in question "Stop moving! I know what this-I remember Gauis telling me about it-it's a Devil's Snare!"
"Oh I'm so glad you know what it's called, that's a great help," Arthur snarled as he tried to stop the plant from curling round his waist.
"Shut up you prat," Merlin shouted down to him. "I'm trying to remember how to kill it!"
"Well hurry up then, I can't breathe!" Arthur wheezed, as the plant had worked its way up his chest at this point.
"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare…" Merlin muttered. "What did Gauis say? It likes the dark and the damp-"
And suddenly, Arthur knew the answer. He had spent countless childhood afternoons listening to Gauis chatter on about the wonderful world of herblore. He remembered this one in particular because it was quite violent and thus utterly fascinating to him as a child. At the time he had thought it mere fantasy that Gauis made up to amuse him but now- "So light a fire!" Arthur managed to choke out.
Merlin smacked his fist into his hand. "Yes-of course!" Merlin cried out. "But there's no wood!"
Arthur spluttered indignantly. No wood! He was keeping up the pretense at a time like this! He could feel the vine winding it's way around his neck, but despite that he was impressed with the sheer volume of his admonishment. "HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Arthur bellowed. "ARE YOU A SORCERER OR NOT?"
For a moment Merlin looked utterly shocked "You knew…" he trailed off pathetically. Then he seemed to locate his senses. "Right then," he muttered rolling up his sleeves as the world around Arthur began to darken. He vaguely recalled hearing some nonsense word and seeing a flash of gold before he felt the darkness consume him. As it did so he quietly vowed that if he ever woke up again he was going to kill that magic-loving idiot.
X
In fact, Arthur did wake up, much to his relief. He woke up to Merlin's anxious face hovering over him, which was less of a relief and more of an annoyance.
However, as soon as soon as Merlin realized that he was fine it lost all semblance of caring and switched to a very different emotion. "You knew?" Merlin shouted at him. "All this time you knew?"
Arthur ignored him. "I don't think you have the right to be angry in this situation Merlin. I'm the one who almost died because of your stupidity."
"I would have done something once you passed out from lack of oxygen." Merlin huffed angrily.
"I wasn't talking about that bit of stupidity. I was referring to your horrible sense of balance."
"Oh." Merlin said something that might have been remorse fleeted across his face, before anger replace it. "But still, you knew-"
Arthur groaned and rolled his eyes. "Of course I knew you idiot! You're not exactly subtle are you? With all the random tree branches and random flying spears you toss about! Do you know that all those who camp in the forests around Camelot think it's haunted by a particularly violent, but helpful spirit?"
Merlin had the sense to look ashamed.
"Of course you don't Merlin!" Arthur went on. "You think if you duck behind a tree or crouch behind rock that suddenly no one will notice if your eyes light up! Do you know how many knights of Camelot have come to me reporting what they saw? How many times I've had to convince them it was a trick of the light if they were staunch magic haters or explain to them exactly what you do if they're loyal to me? I honestly do not understand how you've managed to make it to your current age! Your mother must have been living a nightmare trying to raise you!
Merlin looked like he'd been hit repeatedly over the head with his own magic.
"How do I know that you were born with magic? Or that your Emrys? Or that I'm called the Once and Future King? Or even how you have magic in the first place?" Merlin was still unable to move due to shock, but Arthur plowed regardless, the mocking tone never leaving his voice. "It was probably around the time of the Witchfinder accused you of sorcery that I began to get suspicious. I mean really? Smoke horses? How stupid are you exactly? I can see the obituary now: "Merlin the man who manages to evade getting caught countless times, even after fully admitting to sorcery, hangs for making pretty pictures in smoke!" I interviewed that woman after the whole fiasco had blown over. And let me tell you she'd, never seen the man till that day in the throne room. There was no way he could have put those drops in her eyes.
"So I started following you around a bit, because after all wasn't suspicious that you'd been accused once again? Once again, after openly admitting to being a sorcerer that day in the council room. So I followed you around a bit. And what should I find but you having a lovely chat with the dragon? You were so busy complaining to it about your magic that you didn't even hear me." He said this bit rather spitefully, in a way that indicated he'd wanted to say this to Merlin for a long time.
Merlin at this point looked completely aghast.
Arthur paused here, as if he didn't quite know what to say next. Eventually he found his voice. "But-but you were my fri-manservant, so I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. I went down and talked to the dragon. And he told me what he knew about the prophecy, about your magic, about what you've done, and so on. He told me everything. And I mean everything." Arthur muttered bitterly. "He even told me the circumstances of my birth."
Merlin looked distraught. "But Morgause, when she showed you-you were so angry."
At his words, Arthur let out a snort. "It's one thing to hear it from a dragon. It's quite another to hear from the lips of your own dead mother. It kindled some of my original anger."
Merlin interrupted skeptically, "That was a lot more than some anger Arthur, you were trying to kill your own father!"
"Your right Merlin," Arthur said in the first somewhat pleasant (if not completely demeaning) tone Merlin had heard since Arthur had started talking. "It was a lot of unwarranted anger if someone already knew prior." He paused, looking a bit shamefaced. "I was testing you."
"You were what?" Merlin asked, outrage heavy in his voice.
Arthur sighed. "Merlin you have to understand, the first time I heard any of this I didn't want a shred of it to be true. It would mean my father had lied to me all my life, hundreds of innocent people had died, and that I was supposed to bring back the very thing I had spent my entire life trying to destroy. I was so-so confused and most of all angry. Not to mention that a trapped magical creature was telling me all this, so forgive me if I was a bit skeptical at first."
He shook his head. "I was so upset, I just marched right of that cave. For weeks I skulked about, mulling over all things I'd been told. Part of me wanted to confront you or father or Gauis. But in the end I figured it was something I had to decide by myself. For the first time I really looked at magic. I researched it. I observed those who we came into contact with that possessed it. And most of all, I looked at you."
He looked at Merlin, with an intense gleam in his eye. "Do you know what I found?"
Merlin shook his head numbly.
"I found out that magic was nothing I'd been taught to think it was. When closely examined all those things I'd taken for truth no longer made sense. Suddenly all those irregularities, in lines of thought regarding magic, made sense. So I went down to Kilgarrah, and we just talked for hours. And he told me in depth, about the history of magic, and the prophecy and about all the things you'd done for me. And at the end of our talk I made him swear that he wouldn't tell you that I knew."
Merlin gaped at him and for the first time since Arthur had started explaining himself, anger sneaking back into his tone. "Why would you do that Arthur? Why would you deliberately-"
Arthur cut him off. "Because Merlin, because the prophecy made me question exactly how loyal you were to me and how loyal you were to the prophecy. I began to wonder how genuine our-" He cleared his throat awkwardly as he searched for the proper substitute for friendship. "…companionship truly was."
Merlin mentally snorted at the word "companionship", as if saying companion instead of friend would formalize their bond any.
"So when Morgause came and told me, and essentially you, about my birth, it was the perfect opportunity. I was going to pretend to try kill my father to see how you would react. If you were there out of mere duty to the prophecy, it wouldn't be a bad thing for me to kill my father and assume the throne. It could only be seen as good thing actually. Since you would also be getting revenge on Uther.
"But if you were my friend, then you would…" Arthur shrugged his shoulders, a sort of dazed happy confusion spread across his face, as he remembered the details. "I guess I really didn't know what'd you do. I couldn't really blame you if you let him die after all he's done to you. But I guess a part of me hoped…I don't know that you'd object a little? But what you did…" He looked Merlin with a sort of awed expression, that made Merlin squirm a little "…was the most amazing and self-sacrificing thing I'd ever seen. You literally lied about your own kind rather than see me hurt my father. It was then that I began to trust you fully."
Merlin shook his head. "Then why didn't you tell me then? Why did you have to go and say that crap about never trusting magic?"
Arthur looked sheepish. "Because I was upset."
Merlin looked at him, eyes blazing. "Upset! You just said I went above and beyond what you expected of me. That I earned your trust. What about that situation warrants offense?"
"That's exactly it." Arthur snapped. "You earned my trust, but I certainly hadn't earned yours. That day was the perfect opportunity to tell me you had magic. I trusted magic far more than my father. In fact, I was openly defending those who used it. But you didn't tell me, you lied to me again. And no matter how self-sacrificing of an act that was it still hurt. It hurt to think you'd rather I believe all magic is evil, then simply tell me you possessed it.
"So I hope that answers you question about why I never told you." Arthur said somberly. "I was waiting for your trust Merlin. Only it never came, did it?"
Merlin opened his mouth, to say something, anything to convince him that he did trust him…Just, not with that. But before he could utter a single syllable, several of the knights that had been with them on this quest burst into the area where they both stood. Anything Merlin had been going to say was lost amidst the cries of "So glad we found you safe, Sire!" and "Thank goodness you're alright!" Anything he would say had to wait till they got back.
X
On the way home the knights noticed that the usually lively and prattling servant, was quieter and more morose than usual; his regular grin was absent from his face. In fact they'd never seen him like this. When they asked the servant himself what was the matter he gave a small (and very fake for that matter) smile and muttered that he was "fine". And when the prince was questioned about the disheartened appearance of his manservant, the most they got out of him was the most oddly unworried response they'd ever heard from him when it came in to Merlin.
"I believe," Arthur said, looking over to where the servant was tending the fire with a mournful look on his face. "That he is coming to understand the matter of trust."
So in other news I totally meant to stop after Merlin got Arthur out of the hole. I'm really bad at shorts. Super terrible. Horrendous.
Well I hope you have a nice return to school. I know I won't particularly. But if you're in the mood for some uplifting perspective go to the Vlogbrother's channel on YouTube and watch the video titled: An Open Letter to Students Returning to School.
DFTBA!