Here we are guys, this is the last chapter of this story!
Thanks a lot to everyone who followed this until now, commenting and liking this fic! ^^ and thank you again for your patience with me! XD
Please, go read the notes at the bottom! There's an Escalin event coming up, and I'll be telling you all about that! :D (I'm soooo excited!)
Please, follow me on twitter if you like! I'll appreciate it ^^
( /RoryWild4)
And Bertaz too! (She draws Escalin sooooo well! She's an inspiration and a huge help every time!)
( /BertazHead)
I also recommend reading the stories of: sailingskye and Wolly! They are totally gold! *.*
CHAPTER 8: Epilogue, six years later
"Gawain! Are you ready?"
"Almost mom! Dad is helping me!"
"Escanor…"
"I'll be right there love, we're almost finished."
Their household was a confusing mess that morning, but Merlin couldn't help smiling at all that.
It was Arthur's wedding day, it was a very big event, of course, and they were preparing themselves to go to the ceremony: her husband was taking care of their oldest son, while she was trying to manage the other two by herself. Gawain was little more than ten, and he had always been helpful around the house, he loved to take care of his younger siblings and took the role of big brother very seriously! He had been so excited when they had discovered that Merlin was pregnant, and to tell the truth it didn't take her and Escanor much time to get her there, but no one was complaining!
This time she had had her lover and son to help her through her pregnancy, and the Lion Sin was absolutely on cloud nine to be able to be with her every step of the way; sadly he hadn't had that chance with Gawain, but he was determined to never lose that chance again!
So, after a troubled delivery, their daughter, Enya, was born. She was as beautiful as her mother, with her long raven hair and beauty mark, but her blue eyes and cheerful demeanor were totally her father's.
She was now four, and was getting often in trouble, giving both her parents more than one headache; she loved and looked up to her big brother and tried to imitate him on many occasions.
Despite her being a high energetic child, she had settled down a little when their third kid was added to the family, she had been as excited to become a big sister as Gawain had been to become a big brother again. She had wanted to get in trouble with her younger sibling, dragging them with her, discovering any new exciting things (she took her love of new things and experiences from her mother, and Escanor always blamed Merlin for their daughter endlessly getting in trouble, resulting in a light banter between them that ended always in at least a hot and heavy make out session).
Ronan, the younger member of their family, was only two years and a half now, but it was already clear that he didn't share the same outgoing behaviour of his older siblings, he was a shy kid that didn't like to do things without being sure that they were safe, he seemed to already have a good head on his shoulders, and was the mirror image of his mother, minus the beauty mark, his raven hair were always unruly and his golden eyes seemed to be analyzing everything around him.
His need to have some quiet around him sometimes, had made his sister calm down, at least around him, she didn't want to upset him so she had learned to restrain her outbursts of energy when she was with him, and at the same time she was trying to help him with his shyness, while Gawain messed with both of them and helped them.
For Escanor and Merlin that was a beautiful and warm sight, seeing their children getting along and helping each other.
But right now the Mage needed her husband's assistance to help Ronan get ready, while she was trying to get Enya to stand still for more than a couple of seconds.
She was huffing, trying to manage both children, when finally the other house members came to her rescue.
Gawain ran to her to show off his ensemble.
"Mom! How do I look?"
He was grinning, excited to be wearing formal clothes again.
He had worn them also when his parents had married, that had happened maybe six months after Escanor's return, and everyone had teased them saying that Enya had been conceived on their honeymoon (Merlin always answered that she was pretty sure that that was right, lifting a suggestive brow and looking at Escanor, who grinned, nodding, and blushed a little, remembering their more than satisfying time together); their wedding had been a simple and quick event, they just wanted to be linked together, for everyone to know that they were taken and that they belonged to the other, they had been so excited to call themselves husband and wife!
Now the Mage was looking at their eldest son in approval.
"You are very handsome, my little warrior!"
He grinned at her compliment and went to his sister, trying to distract her so that his mother could finally tie her hair properly.
Merlin smiled and took the opportunity her son had made for her and quickly finished her task.
"Here! Now you're good to go, Enya, but be careful to not get dirty or disheveled before the ceremony, and even during and after that."
Her daughter made a face but Merlin's gaze was unwavering.
"Okay mom! I'll try to do my best!"
She smiled her winning smile, making the Mage sigh and shake her head in amusement, smiling herself.
Her daughter jumped off of the chair and went to the mirror to look at herself, followed by Gawain.
In the meantime Escanor had been busy with Ronan, finishing to dress him up and trying to do something about his hair, but those didn't want to stay put and would stay unruly no matter the big man's efforts.
The Mage chuckled lightly at the scene, Escanor was so concentrated that he had put his tongue between his lips unconsciously, and their son was mimicking his expression.
After a few more seconds enjoying the scene, she decided to come to their rescue.
"It won't stand down no matter what, don't lose anymore energy on that. And they look good on him that way."
She passed a hand between Ronan's hair, making him smile, so that his dimples showed too.
She shooed him towards his siblings so that she could finally take a good look of her husband, who was just lifting himself up from where he had crouched to help their son.
When he was all the way up, they looked at each other, smiling and appreciating the view. The Mage's burned scars had slowly vanished from her face, they had done their job, and by the time they had married they were completely gone.
Merlin, sensually, closed the distance between them, putting her hands on his pectorals and then letting them slide up the expanse of his chest, going to circle his neck, pressing herself to him.
"You're very handsome and yummy."
She was smirking sensually while she whispered those words, her eyes regarding him with lust.
Escanor smiled, looking at her the same way.
"You're beautiful and sexy as always my love, maybe I could taste you to make sure that you're as delectable as you look."
His arms had circled her waist, embracing her. At his words she giggled lightly, smirking more.
"Oh I think you should."
He chuckled a little and then closed the distance and kissed her softly on the lips, enjoying her taste and softness.
They kissed languidly for some moments, deepening the kiss to taste their partner, almost losing themselves in each other.
If it wasn't for their children they probably wouldn't have made it to the event.
"Mom! Dad! Come on!"
Gawain's exasperated voice brought them back, looking at each other laughing lightly and blushing in satisfaction, before turning towards their kids. Gawain was looking at them annoyed, but he had a little smile on his lips, Enya was staring openly with sparkly eyes, she thought they were soooo cute! While Ronan was blushing and trying not to look at them.
"Sorry, sorry!"
The Lion laughed and let his wife out of his embrace for now.
"Are we ready to go?"
The Mage asked her children, receiving a different affirmative response from all of them.
"Good! Remember to behave yourself!"
She told them again, smiling at their nods and answers.
Gawain opened their house's door, waiting until everyone was out, and then preceded them towards the castle, taking his sister with him, taking her hand to make sure that she wouldn't run away or too ahead of them, Enya followed her big brother smiling and chatting excitedly. Escanor took Ronan up in his arms, positioning him on his hip so that he could hold him securely against himself with just one arm, offering his other one to his beautiful wife, who accepted it with a brilliant smile.
Their family walked together towards the ceremony, and Merlin couldn't hide a happy and serene smile while she looked at them with love and pride.
This is it, this is the end of this story!
I'm happy but also a little sad "^^ I hope you liked it! :)
Many thanks again to everyone who followed this story till the end! I'm so very grateful to all of you! ^^
Now, I've got some very big news!
Sailingskye, Nitefyre, and I, have been working on something...
Escalin Week 2021 is almost here! This year, the week of November 7-13 will be the week of celebrating our favorite lovebirds/sins with a week of music, stories, and art. Post your art, stories and more on Tumblr and Twitter under the tags #escalinweek and #escalinweek2021! Remember to include these tags in the first 5 tags of your post.
In general, this event is not NSFW, hence, we will not be reblogging explicit NSFW/gore/heavy themes. However, we will reblog mild nudity/moderate gore and such. If they're on par with the manga, especially manga panels directly out of the manga, we will reblog them. Please make sure to tag everything accordingly and include content warning when appropriate. We will also try to do so for the sake of everyone's comfort level.
Under certain circumstances, we may reblog explicit NSFW works: We will reblog NSFW works if they're tagged correctly, censored in some way and posted where users must consent to viewing the work.
For visual works, this means the explicit visuals must be cut off/censored, so the work is not explicit upon viewing in the preview. A link to an external site with tags such as NSFW, smut or lemon will do.
For fanfictions, you should add all appropriate tags and/or a clear summary, and a link to the entire work (such as AO3, FF, Wattpad, etc.)
There will absolutely be no stealing/plagiarism ever accepted, to respect the hard work and efforts of the amazing creators out there. Any violations will be reported and disqualified.
The prompts this year are:
DAY 1: THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY | KISS | BLUE
DAY 2: NO LIE | WHAT IF | EBONY
DAY 3: I'M YOURS | PERFECT | YELLOW
DAY 4: IS THIS LOVE | STAY | SILVER
DAY 5: KISS IT BETTER | EUPHORIA | AMBER
DAY 6: LIKE I'M GONNA LOSE YOU | SHELTER | GOLD
DAY 7: 'FREE DAY' (CHALLENGE) | RED
The reward for participating for at least any 3 days, or the challenge, will be a 100-word Escalin drabble with a prompt of your choice by our mods this year: Nitefyre, Rory (RoryWild on AO3, author of "How It Should Have Gone" and "Searching for the Light"), and Aisling (sailingskye on AO3, author of the "All Kinds of Trouble" series). Details on the challenge will be announced within the next 2 weeks!
To show our gratitude for your support for Escanor and Merlin, we will be dropping little gifts, lovingly curated by Nitefyre, Rory and Aisling, throughout the weeks leading up to this year's Escalin week, for everyone who chooses to participate this year!
Let us know if you have any questions. We hope you're as excited as we are for the event! Can't wait to see what you guys come up with this year!
You can stay updated by following one (or all) of us on twitter, or subscribing to the event's tumblr page (escalin-week)!
I'm so excited about this! *.*
Please, spread the news! I hope that many people will contribute to this event with their works! :D 3