DID I MENTION? NO SLASH
Disclaimer : If anything belonged to me, this would not be fanfiction. And it is, so.
Warning : Set after season four, Reveal fic, Terribly written spells, Catboy!Merlin, King Arthur Pratdragon, the Knights of Camelot, GWAINE, and a whole lot of MAGIC~
I'm really, really sorry if anything seems inaccurate or out of character. I'm tryyyyying!
Well, prepare for inadequate explanations received from brain wracking and Google (with a few interpretations). Please review!
When Arthur had heard Merlin wake up, he'd said nothing. He remained where he sat, unsure of what to do.
Should he let a sorcerer frolic about in the midst of his knights? But it was Merlin; Merlin couldn't harm them... well, it was now very clear that Merlin could, but would he?
The King slowly, slowly retreated from the depths of his mind, turning to face his knights, who were all standing in a circle around his manservant. The sorcerer. He could tell that Merlin was talking, but he was doing so very quietly, and he couldn't hear. Was he putting an enchantment on his knights? It couldn't be, they were all moving around lucidly, adding in comments every now and then.
Arthur numbly stood up. Time to get all this sorcerer business sorted out, he decided. After all, this was all a misunderstanding, wasn't it?
He thought back to Gwaine's words. If Merlin truly was a magic user, as he was not yet fully prepared to accept the idea, then was he really always protecting him...? Was magic all bad? He'd always been taught otherwise, but... the Druids, for instance. Why had Uther banned the Druids when they were known as a peaceful people? When he was younger, and his father sent him out to kill Druids in their homes, he recalled that they never fought back enough to hurt one of his people, even if they were more than powerful enough to do so.
He felt a pang in his heart as he heard once more the screams of the Druidic children as they or their families were slaughtered. If they had all been innocent, then... No, he thought, steeling himself, they had magic; they were guilty.
He stopped himself. That was an excuse he'd been using for far too long... because not all magic was bad.
He understood why all magic users hated him (or almost all, if Merlin was one as well); it was because he had killed so many of their kind, simply for having a certain power that they had little control over without practice. But what had started this whole war against magic, in the end?
"Merlin! Why would you do that?" Leon exclaimed exasperatedly, snapping Arthur out of his dark thoughts.
Merlin looked sheepish as he answered. "I didn't know the witchfinder would come!"
"It was still pretty stupid, mate," Gwaine said, slinging an arm around the younger man's shoulders.
Merlin sighed dejectedly. "I think that Gaius and Kilgharrah said that enough times to me, Gwaine."
"'Kilgharrah'? Who's that?" Elyan piped up. By then, Arthur was hiding behind a tree, them having not yet noticed him, listening attentively.
"Kilgharrah? Well..." he hesitated.
"Merlin."
"He's the Great Dragon and Arthur didn't really kill him," Merlin let out in a rush.
Arthur felt his constant pride in having defeated a dragon melt within him. He sprang from behind the tree, surprising everyone. "What do you mean; I didn't kill him, Merlin?"
Merlin's eyes widened. "Arthur!" he squeaked. When Arthur saw how genuinely terrified his manservant was, he softened his gaze. Had Merlin truly always had this fear of him?
Then he noticed Merlin's twitching black ears. He stopped and frowned at them. Merlin appeared increasingly uncomfortable as the King followed his ears' movements.
"Alright, then, Merlin," Arthur said quietly, not taking his eyes off the ears, "Tell us how I didn't kill 'Kilgharrah'."
Merlin shifted nervously, but continued all the same, glancing at Arthur for his reaction every few seconds. "Well, you see... on the night of my third day in Camelot, I heard this voice... in my head... calling my name. It led me down to the dungeons, so I went down some stairs-"
"How did you get past the guards?" Arthur interrupted, slightly flustered.
Merlin frowned. "They're not that smart, Arthur. Anyways, the stairs led down to this... cave, and... there was the Great Dragon in it."
"And... that's it? Then it got free and killed a bunch of people?"
"No, no, of course not! Well... not immediately... You know, Arthur, Kilgharrah has been helping me help you since I met him. He even warned me about Morgana and Mordred early on."
"How did the dragon get free?" Percival asked.
"Ah." Merlin cringed at the thought. "Well, you see, in return for all his advice, Kilgharrah made me swear to someday release him..."
"Merlin!" several voices yelled out in fury, Arthur's the loudest. "You released the dragon?"
"Arthur, you don't understand-"
"Oh, I understand perfectly. You're a sorcerer; you don't care about anyone, you just-"
"I'm not a sorcerer, Arthur," Merlin said softly, pursing his lips.
"Merlin," Arthur said, his voice dripping with anger. "That is the biggest lie you have ever told, and you've told plenty-"
"I'm a warlock."
Arthur stopped, dumbfounded. "You're a what?"
"I'm not a sorcerer. I'm a warlock. There's a difference."
"Back to the dragon, if we may?" Leon intercepted gently.
"Yes, right. Well, there was the time Arthur got bitten by the Questing Beast, so Kilgharrah told me to go to the Isle of the Blessed to trade my life for yours..."
"Told you," Gwaine muttered happily.
Merlin frowned and stopped.
"Go on," Elyan prodded.
Merlin started again, a little reluctantly. "And I told Nimueh," Arthur cringed at the name, "the Priestess of the Old Religion, that I would willingly trade my life for Arthur's. And then Arthur woke up..."
"And you were trying to say goodbye," Arthur finished, slightly in awe that his manservant had done so much for him, even early on.
Merlin flushed in embarrassment. "Erm... yes, I suppose. Well, I was certain I was going to die, and then... I didn't... because my mother had been chosen to die instead of me. I went to the dragon, and swore to him that I would never allow him to be free. That made him... very angry, as you could imagine, but anyways...
"And then I decided to go back to Nimueh to save my mother, but Gaius had gone ahead of me to take my place. In the end, I went to the Isle of the Blessed, where Nimueh was killing Gaius, and... stopped her, saving Gaius."
Leon frowned. "But who died in the end?"
"Oh, right. Well, I sort of... killed Nimueh, so..."
"You killed Nimueh?" Arthur spluttered.
"Yes, Arthur," Merlin said calmly, "I killed Nimueh, to save Gaius, who was trying to save my mother, who was dying instead of me, who had originally offered my life for yours, you clot pole."
Arthur was at a loss for words. When he eventually found his voice, he could only utter a word. "Idiot."
Merlin smirked. "Prat," he responded happily. "Well, then there was Cornelius Sigan, and I needed Kilgharrah's help again, so then he held me to my oath to release him."
"How did Sigan die?" Arthur asked curiously.
Merlin shrugged. "I absorbed his soul and expelled it back into the crystal with a spell the Great Dragon told me."
Arthur pondered on the idea. There had been so many foes that had simply died while he was unconscious, only for him to find Merlin grinning at him and telling him he'd defeated them. How many had Merlin actually defeated by himself?
"And... then Morgana began showing signs of her magic, so I sent her to the Druids for help."
"Even back then, she was bad?" Elyan asked.
Merlin frowned. "No, not really. It happened more around when Morgause arrived... Anyway, a lot of things happened, your father married a troll," he continued, pointing at Arthur.
"Really?" Gwaine snickered. Arthur didn't answer, but beckoned for Merlin to go on.
"And later I... did a little bit of... magic... because I was very bored... and then someone saw, and then the witch finder came..."
Arthur stared at him. "Wait... that was you? But... he publicly accused you!"
"Yes, Arthur, I know, and then Gaius confessed for me," Merlin finished sadly.
"How could you be such an idiot?"
Merlin smiled sadly. "And then we stopped Aredian from ever killing innocent people ever again."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Percival interrupted. "The dragon?"
Merlin raised his eyebrows. "Oh, right. Well, I didn't want to release Kilgharrah at first, because we got back the magical crystal that Morgana stole-"
"'That Morgana stole'? Merlin, what are you on about?" Arthur asked impatiently, still wanting to know how the dragon didn't die.
Merlin sighed tiredly. "Arthur, please."
Arthur stiffened at the sadness in Merlin's voice. "Go on."
Merlin smiled, his tail straightening contentedly. "Thank you. Well, in the crystal, I saw a future... where Kilgharrah was attacking Camelot," he finished softly.
When no one spoke, he continued. "I fulfilled my promise by using one of the Knights of Medhir's swords to cut his chains, and... he went on a rampage. So then we went to search for the last Dragonlord, Balinor..." Merlin faltered as his voice cracked. He felt an empty weight sink in his chest at the thought of his last moments with his father. He took a deep breath, noting the knight's worried gazes upon him. "And, before we left, Gaius told me that Balinor was... that he... he was my father," Merlin finished in a tiny whisper. There were a few stifled gasps among the audience of warriors as Merlin wiped a sleeve across his eyes. "And, um..." he said, his voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat. "Well, Balinor agreed to help us after a lot of talking, but then..." Merlin was unable to continue as tears welled in his eyes. Being a cat made him feel more emotional. It was strange.
"And then we were attacked by a band of soldiers," Arthur finished wistfully, seeing the whole scene of the Dragonlord's death in a different light. Merlin was crying over his dead father, and Arthur was telling him 'no man is worth your tears'. He felt a pang in his heart as he recalled. How could he have said Merlin's father wasn't worth his tears? And why had Merlin not come out with it? He must have suffered a lot, losing his father a day after meeting him... and he had suffered alone.
"Right," Merlin sniffled, "But that's not all, as Balinor was... dying... he told me that-" He was interrupted as Gwaine pulled out a piece of red string from his cape, waving it in front of his face. Merlin stopped and stared at it. He felt an indescribably urge to catch the string as it bobbed in front of him, taunting him. Barely even thinking about it, he raised his hands up to the string, pawing at it. Gwaine waved the string up and around in a circle, taking a step away from the others as he did so. Merlin inadvertently followed him, following the string with his eyes and hands, ears laid back against his hair.
"Gwaine!" Arthur groaned.
"What? He looked sad," Gwaine defended, waving the string a little higher as Merlin placed a hand on his shoulder and attempted to jump for it.
"He was about to say something important!" the King berated angrily. "I don't want you reverting him to an even more feline state!"
"Aw," Gwaine let out, snickering. "I'm sorry, Merlin, but the Princess doesn't want us to play anymore." Merlin had almost reached the string and was clawing madly at it... and then Gwaine stuffed it in his pocket. Merlin whined pitifully, climbing down from the knight's shoulder. Gwaine laughed, bringing out the string and tossing it back to the warlock, who caught it in midair and began fidgeting with it. He was too busy fidgeting to notice Gwaine call for him to come back, even resorting to whistling when he didn't move.
"No no no," Percival said, stepping forwards. "That's not how you call a cat." He then proceeded to crouch down low on the ground, patting a spot in front of him. "Meeeeerlin," he cooed, making a series of clicking noises before calling again, "Meeeerlin..."
Merlin's head snapped around, ears pointing straight up at the clicking. He pattered over, dropping the string, and sat down on the ground in front of the knight, tail swishing lightly. The rest of the knights stared at the pair, not having believed such a tactic would work. Percival stretched out a hand and scratched behind Merlin's big ears, earning a purr from the manservant as his eyes closed in relaxation. Arthur looked slightly disturbed as Merlin proceeded to rub his head into Percival's hand, causing the knight to grin. Merlin shifted so he was closer to the large man, and curled up on the ground, still purring contentedly.
Percival smiled and rubbed the warlock's head one last time before standing up to face the others. "He's asleep," he said lightly.
"Percival, what have you done to my manservant?" Arthur muttered, staring at the small form on the ground. Merlin's tail was still moving in his sleep, swishing around gracefully.
The rest of the knights hid their grins as they lay back down on their bedrolls. It was still only a little after midnight; they wanted the sleep they could get.
Arthur stood dumbfounded next to his manservant.
"Wait, so what happened to the dragon?"
Ooh, sorry Arthur, but no one cares but you XD
Meeeeeeeeerlin, says Percival XD I enjoyed writing that. Is it too weird? Let's just assume Percy once owned a cat :D
By the way! That scene with Gwaine and the string? I stole that from xXMistressMadHatterXx's amazing review, so :) thank her for that!
Seriously, is it okay that I took that? o_o I really liked the idea... XD
Well, that's not a cliffhanger, is it? Well, probably for Arthur (poor soul) but not for you, I think XD Yes, well, to be continued!
Please review!