Summary: Whumptober for October 1st, Freya gets captured and is put in a cage and Merlin get to say goodbye.

Prompt No. 1 - All Trussed Up And Still Nowhere To Go

"You have to let go" Barbed Wire Bound

Type: Emotional Whump, Angst, Tragedy

Rating: PG13

Ships: Freya x Merlin

All he could do was sit and watch as the love of his life was carted away from him with no mercy.

It would have been kinder for Merlin to just kill her before she was captured and her death made a spectacle, but he was selfish.

Too selfish to grant her the mercy of a quick death and too selfish to reveal his magic to save her. And he was too selfish to insist she left right after he helped her escape.

He was too caught up in the freedom of having someone who understood him so perfectly that he forgot the tyranny that was Uther's rule.

So he was left wallowing in guilt and self pity that crashed over him like a tidal wave over and over again as Freya was carted off and treated like a monster.

Uther wanted to flaunt his "prize" and decided to leave her in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

Her hands and feet were shackled and he had a feeling that they got way smaller and much more painful whenever the curse overtook her.

Merlin finally approached her with his head down before falling to the ground and sobbing out, "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I was too selfish."

"Merlin." Her voice was soft but demanding, much like Gwen whenever he was being a self-sacrificing idiot as Guais liked to point out daily.

"Merlin look at me." He slowly raised his eyes and looked into her beautiful eyes that has seen too much, done too much to be innocent.

"You have to let go." Merlins eyes widened in shock and he was speechless and unbelieving, which would have been comical in any other circumstance.

"You have to let me go Merlin. You have to move on. And you have to let go of the blame and self doubt you carry with you."

"I can't." Merlin sobbed, tears flowing down his cheeks like the emotions flowing freely throughout his body.

"You must." Freya insisted, looking at hin with the same fierce protection he had for Arthur. "Promise me Merlin."

After a minute Melin finally whispered, "I promise." And he regretted it immediately after.

It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. Merlin was more a monster than she was and yet she was the one about to be led to her death in a few days.

She was the one caged and bound and yet she was the one who was sitting here, comforting him.

"Merlin." He looked back up at her, feeling every emotion with ten times the intensity. "I will finally be free from this curse. I will finally be free."

"But you will be dead and I will be alone."

"But I won't have to live like this and you will be able to fulfill your destiny."

"What is destiny compared to you?"

"I love you Merlin. Now let me go."

"I love you Freya." And with those last parting words Merlin rose to his feet and slowly walked away, not daring to look back at his one chance for true love.

Destiny was cruel, and Fate was crueler. But the cruelest thing of all was Hope. Hope that someone would finally understand. Hope that he would have someone to rely on and care for and be completely himself around, no lies or half-truths or omissions.

Yes Destiny and Fate were cruel, but Hope was cruelest of all.