Title: The Fight
Description: This situation was getting way out of hand. Merlin had been avoiding Lancelot for weeks. No one knew why, and Lancelot refused to say anything about the situation. They weren't sure asking Merlin was going to turn out very well, but they wouldn't have been able to get anything out of him, even if they tried.
Word Count: 2,015
Part: 1/1
Hopefully there's no uploading errors this time! Also I wanted to thank PadrePedro for taking the time to review my stories! I really appreciate it and it always makes me smile :) I couldn't figure out how to reply to a review, if you even can, lol
This situation was getting way out of hand. Merlin had been avoiding Lancelot for weeks. No one knew why, and Lancelot refused to say anything about the situation. They weren't sure asking Merlin was going to turn out very well, but they wouldn't have been able to get anything out of him, even if they tried.
"We need to do something about this," Gwaine said.
"I'm not sure there's much we can do," Arthur replied.
Arthur, Gwaine, Percival, Elyan, and Leon were meeting in Arthur's room to discuss this situation.
"We have to try something. Whatever's bothering them, they need to work it out and obviously they aren't going to do it on their own!"
"They aren't going to tell us what's going on, so how are we going to help them?" Elyan asked.
"We could try asking them?" Percival suggested, even though he knew it wouldn't work.
The others seemed to know the same because they all dismissed the idea.
"We could make them talk to each other?" Leon said.
"That... could work," Arthur continued, "But how?"
"What if we locked them in a room together?"
All of their eyes lit up, "That's brilliant!"
The rest of their conversation was focused on when, where, and how. It took a while, but they finally got the details figured out. Tomorrow, in one of the cells (it's one of the only places that lock from the outside). They would get them there by escorting them and leaving them to talk it out. They agreed not to tell them, but they were going to listen in, just to know when they had finally worked things out. The knights left the room smiling, confident that their plan would work and that things would get back to normal.
"Gwaine. Where are we going?" Merlin asked.
He was blindfolded and being led somewhere he couldn't see. They walk down some stairs and into a cold echoey room.
"Okay, you can take it off now."
Merlin took his blindfold off, only to be face to face with Lancelot... in a locked cell.
"Gwaine! Open the door, I have chores to do," he yells, not saying a word to Lancelot, but moving as far away from him as possible.
"Not until you work things out."
And with that, he walked off to where the others were hiding, ready to eavesdrop on the pair.
It's quiet for a while after the footsteps fade. Finally, they heard Lancelot speak.
"Merlin. Please stop avoiding me."
"I'm not avoiding you," Merlin said (while backing away from him).
"Then stop moving away from me."
"No! Lancelot back up, please."
When Merlin said that, the knights almost ran back to the cell to get Merlin, but decided to wait a little longer.
They heard Lancelot sigh and some footsteps backwards.
"Merlin, please."
"Lancelot. I'm not going to risk it. I don't want to hurt you again," Merlin said, confusing the knights.
"Merlin. It's okay. I wasn't hurt very bad and it wasn't your fault."
"I broke your arm, Lancelot."
The knights were told that Lancelot tripped and fell on his arm wrong. So why did Merlin say he broke Lancelot's arm?
"And now it's better."
There was silence and then a shuffling of footsteps.
"Lancelot! Stop. I don't want to hurt you."
"Merlin, you just lost control. It's okay, accidents happen. It was a stressful week for you. It wasn't your fault. I trust you."
"Well, you shouldn't! Nobody should."
"That's not true Merlin. You know that."
"Please Lance, I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't."
"Lancelot..."
"Merlin. It's okay," Lancelot said, grabbing Merlin's hands, "See? You aren't hurting me."
The knights heard Merlin sob and pull Lancelot into a big hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to and-"
"Merlin, it's okay. It wasn't your fault. I don't blame you, and it won't happen again. And if it does, it still wouldn't be your fault."
"But- It could happen again, I-"
"No. It'll only happen if you let it."
"But I can't control it! I haven't lost control since I was a child!" Merlin sobs.
"Merlin. It's okay. It won't happen again."
"It won't?"
"No."
"But, how can you be so sure?" Merlin asks, making Lancelot feel as though this conversation is going in circles. At least it's moving.
"Because I trust you. You would never hurt me on purpose. Nor anyone else."
Merlin took his hands from Lancelot again.
"Lance... I've done things. Things I'm not proud of. You know this. I've- I've hurt people, killed people, on purpose."
"You were defending your home. Your friends. Yourself. I've killed people on purpose too."
"But, it's different with you! You've killed in battle, as a knight. I've killed people in the shadows, as a sorcerer. I'm a m-"
The knights all froze. The rest of their conversation went unheard, as those few words repeated in each of their heads.
I've killed people in the shadows, as a sorcerer.
A sorcerer. Merlin isn't a sorcerer. He can't be!
"Merlin," Lancelot said, cutting Merlin off.
The man in question looked at the knight.
"Never think that," he said.
The knights were confused, because they had no idea what Merlin was going to say. Before any of them knew it, Lancelot was unlocking the cell.
Right, he had a key.
"You've had a key the whole time.
Lancelot shrugged, "I wanted us to talk things out just as much as the rest of them."
Merlin just smiled, shaking his head. The two walked out of the dungeons, leaving a group of knights down there that had no idea what to do next.
"Merlin... A sorcerer," Gwaine laughed, "I never would have thought!"
"He lied to us, all these years..." Arthur fades off, truly at a loss for words.
"What did you expect him to do?" Elyan asks, "He's living in Camelot for gods sakes!"
"He could've just... not learned magic."
"Were you not listening? Merlin said something about not loosing control since he was a child. A child. Whatever magic he has, he's had it at least since then." Percival adds, "Besides, he was born in Essetir, magic's legal there. And he's never said he's used it in Camelot. Except for when he "lost control." But you can hardly blame him for that."
Arthur takes a minute to think about that.
"He said he's used it to kill. He could've killed in Camelot."
"Not necessarily, he could've done it before Camelot," Percival explains.
"He said it hurt whenever he didn't use his magic. I doubt he's gone without using it for this long."
There was a pause.
"Can you really blame him for that?"
Arthur tries to think of something to counter that, but came up blank.
"I suppose you're right. I'll just... have to talk to him before I decide anything. It couldn't have all been a lie. Not everything."
"It couldn't have been," Leon continues, "Statistically, he would have slipped up somewhere, sometime. He wouldn't have been able to keep it up for almost a decade. Especially under the watchful eyes of Camelot's best knights."
They all nod their agreements.
"Yeah. You're right. I guess I'll talk to him then."
Arthur had been putting this off for weeks now. The others had agreed to not talk to Merlin until Arthur had, but they were getting impatient.
"You need to confront him already! It isn't going to get any easier Princess," Gwaine says.
Arthur sighs.
"I know, I just-" he cuts off, "He's exactly the same as he was before."
"What did you expect to happen? He's still the same Merlin we've always known, he just has magic."
"I know, but it doesn't feel right. I've grown up thinking magic is evil and corrupts everyone who uses it. But Merlin isn't evil or corrupted. And he never could be."
"Merlin's as pure as they come," he agrees.
"I know. That's the problem. If Merlin isn't affected by the evils of magic, and that's still thinking that magic is evil, how many innocents have I killed in my fathers name? In Camelot's name? How many innocent children out there are terrified of Camelot's knights? Was Merlin scared of us? Is he still?" Arthur rants, breathless.
"There's only one way to find out," Gwaine urges, "Talk to him. He'll explain."
He pauses.
"Besides, we're all dying to talk to him too, so if you don't do it soon, I may just confront him instead."
"Alright, give me until the end of the week. If I can't pluck up the courage to tell him by then, I don't think I ever will."
"Okay. The end of the week, no later." Gwaine promises, giving Arthur three days to tell Merlin, or miss his chance.
Arthur tried to tell Merlin he knew many times before he actually did. He kept chickening out and putting it off until the final day of the three days he was given.
"I know," Arthur blurted out before he could stop himself.
Merlin's eyes shot up from the speech he was reading over.
"What?" he asked, thinking he'd heard wrong. He kept wracking his brain looking for any time Arthur could have found out, and other things Arthur could be referring to, other than his magic.
"About your magic. I know."
Merlin stood up.
"Wait, Merlin! It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."
Merlin paused, "You... aren't?"
"No. I've had time to think this over. You don't deserve to be punished for something you had no control over."
Merlin, not even bothering to ask how Arthur knew he didn't choose magic, said, "I chose to come to Camelot. A place where my mere existence is illegal."
Arthur rolled his eyes.
"You're not helping your case here Merlin."
"Is there a case at all?"
"No. You're not in trouble."
"Why not? I'm breaking the law."
"Do you want to be executed?"
"No! Obviously not. I'm just... confused."
"I overheard your conversation with Lancelot it the dungeons."
"You did?"
"Me and all the other Round Table Knights."
Merlin shifted uncomfortably.
"That was over a month ago."
Had it really been that long?
"I know. I couldn't figure out how to... bring it up."
"The others?"
"They agreed not to say anything until I did."
Merlin wanted to smile at that, but wasn't quite able to do it.
"And you're all okay with it?"
"Merlin, we heard what you told Lancelot. You couldn't help it and you haven't been treason."
"Haven't I?"
"Treason would mean betrayal Merlin, and you certainly haven't been doing that."
"Then what would you call my doings?"
"Living. You're just trying to survive, just like the rest of us."
"I'm a murderer," he argued.
"So am I." Arthur shot back.
"I've killed in cold blood. They did nothing to provoke my killing them."
"Me too," Arthur said without pausing, and Merlin had to stop and remember that it was true.
"That doesn't make my actions any better."
"Mine either."
Merlin groaned, frustrated.
"It's not the same, Arthur! Can't you see I'm a monster!"
Arthur didn't expect Merlin to say that, and wasn't sure how to respond for a good while.
"Never think that Merlin," he said finally, just like Lancelot did, "You're pure hearted and kind. You get mad when he hunt and always plead for others sakes. A monster wouldn't do any of the things you do. It's against your nature."
Arthur thought he'd had him there, but Merlin surprised him yet again.
"I set the Great Dragon free."
And Arthur thought he'd been shocked before.
"You- Why?" he questioned Merlin.
"Does it matter? I still did it."
"Why did you set him free Merlin?"
Arthur was being very calm about this. Calmer that he ought to have been.
"I- He told me how to wake everyone up when Camelot went asleep, due to Morgouse's plans. He made me promise to free him, or else he wouldn't tell me how to cure everyone."
A long silence filled the room.
"I- I think you'd better explain everything you've been doing in Camelot. From the beginning."
The End
