Merlin belongs to BBC.


Campfire Truth

Mordred slowly opened his eyes and looked around the campsite, the rest of the knights were sleeping peacefully while he spotted Merlin still awake and tending to the fire. There was bad blood between them and he knew it, the distrust from Merlin had originally hurt him but he was going to try and change it. Merlin, the embodiment of magic and the 'weakest' member here (according to Arthur) was the one still up. Slowly getting up, Mordred made his way towards Merlin and slowly lowered himself down to the ground next to the warlock and stared into the fire with him. He thought that Merlin would shuffle away or simply move away but he didn't move.

The two simply stared into the fire, the crackling of the burning wood prevented the silence between the pair of them. Mordred wondered how to even start a conversation with Merlin but he wasn't sure how. He simply said the first thing that came to his mind, "you should be asleep." He glanced over to Merlin and watched as Merlin slowly turned to look at him, those blue orbs of Merlin's made him shiver slightly. He was right though, Merlin should be asleep instead of watching guard.

"I can't…" Merlin finally responded to Mordred.

"May I ask why?" Mordred questioned. He wanted to ask something important but he promised to keep Merlin's secret safe, breaking that would only cause more of a rift between the two.

"It's really nothing…" Merlin responded to Mordred and returned to gazing into the fire. "It's really nothing…" he repeated himself but Mordred could sense that there was something wrong, something upsetting the warlock that he didn't want others to know. He glanced to the other sleeping knights before he looked back at Merlin.

"Is this due to your magic?" Mordred asked through his telepathy, he knew that Merlin could hear him.

"Sometimes…this is more personal though…" the warlock admitted.

"Please, tell me. I know we don't exactly see eye to eye…but you're troubled and I'd like to help." He really wished that Merlin could see that. This bad blood between them needed to be cleaned. Maybe it was about time he asked why Merlin didn't seem to like him for something he may or may not have done. "Have I done something to offend you?"

"I have been told that it is your destiny to kill Arthur…while it is mine to defend him."

Mordred stared at Merlin after hearing that. Why would he kill Arthur when he king had been nothing but kind to him? If that was why Merlin was wary of him then was it possible to even change that? If Merlin knew that then why did he save him when he was younger?

"If that was my destiny, then why save me back then?"

"Because it was the right thing to do." Merlin shrugged as he dropped another log onto the fire to keep it going. "My mentor wasn't happy with me…scolded me good."

"I'm sorry…that you feel threatened by me being close to Arthur, I have no reason to hurt him."

"Why are you determined to correct my issue?" Merlin found himself asking Mordred out loud, the knight chuckled at the sudden change.

"Because no one should feel out of place while being surrounded by those who care about you."

Merlin glanced over towards the other knights of Camelot, watched them sleeping peacefully and unaware of their surroundings while they dreamed of something. He looked back at Mordred and nodded slightly.

"I guess you're right…" He started to smile. He may not stand on the same level as the others but Mordred was right, he was surrounded by those who care about him.

"You don't realise but your smile, it's quite a spell," Mordred gently placed his hand on Merlin's shoulder before he got up and left the warlock. "Good night Merlin, get some sleep."

"It's just part of my charms…good night though."


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