Standing Resistance

Chapter 9

Merlin sat by the dim corner of the bar as he hid from the rest of the people in the pub. He nursed a pint in his hand as he tapped his knuckles on the counter that had its own beat, against the music, with the other. He heaved out a sigh, shrugging off his deep brown leather jacket in the growing heat inside the pub, and as he turned to drape it on the back of his chair, a head of lustrous waves heading towards his direction caught his eye. Merlin rolled his eyes in feigned irritation, and he turned back to his drink to take a gulp.

"Oi, easy there, mate."

Setting down his mug, his lips began twitching upwards as he huffed in annoyance. "Been waiting here for over half an hour, you know," he tried to grumble.

The man sighed in exasperation. "You wait for a man for over a millennium and would wait for countless more, but you can't even wait half an hour for me? Where's the justice in that?" he grinned. That elicited a small chuckle from Merlin as he traced circles on his mug, his eyes following the condensation sliding down against its glass, until he finally leaned back and turned his gaze towards his old friend with that twinkle in his eye.

"Nice to see you again, Gwaine," Merlin smiled, and his friend clapped his hand on his back.

"Likewise, mate. I'm surprised you can even drink a beer now, 'eh? Remember back then, I made you drink—"

"I think we both remember that well, alright, so you can stop there," Merlin laughed nervously as his friend roared in laughter beside him. He stared at his friend tear up and futilely try to catch his breath, and after too long a moment, got impatient and downed the rest of his drink, motioning for the bartender to bring him another.

"Blimey," Gwaine said in between breathy laughs. "Still gets me every time. Say, when did you learn to bloody drink?" he raised his eyebrows as he watched Merlin drink half of his alcohol in one go. Merlin sent him a look.

"What?"

"I'm over a millennium old, Gwaine. Don't you think I'd learn how to drink, just a little?" Merlin quipped, but was obviously rhetorical. His old friend snorted.

"Right, and the good it did to you. I won't let you have all the fun, though!" he replied, calling the bartender over and asked for whatever his friend beside him was having. "But I don't think you called me here to talk about the improvements on your drinking skills over the centuries."

Merlin glanced at him and faced back to the bar, finishing the other half of his drink before asking for another. "Yeah. How've you been?"

Gwaine shrugged. "Been working on a couple of projects, here and there. I'm sure you wouldn't find them the least bit interesting. Hell, even the liquor can't keep my eyes open just thinking about it." For a few moments, he kept his mouth shut, and Merlin stared at his suddenly nervous expression. "And I, uh…"

Merlin frowned as he trailed off. "What?"

Gwaine grinned. "I met a girl."

Merlin choked on his own spit as his eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"Yeah, I did!" his friend beamed. "Her name's Sophia. Met her on a job, actually. She's so… she's just so—"

"Wait, Sophia? Who's she, exactly?" Merlin cut him off, the name sounding familiar from a long time ago making his heart thump in his chest.

Gwaine rolled his eyes. "I was just getting to that, till you cut me off. Sophia Tirmor. Dear gods, she's got the prettiest hair. I didn't even know hair could be that pretty. And her lips. I've never felt anything so soft. I couldn't believe it at first, you know, and I'd thought I was going to work with a naïve girl at first. She just looked so sweet. But bloody, hell, was I wrong. Never been so scared in this lifetime."

Merlin chuckled softly as Gwaine's description hit recognition in his mind, and if Gwaine's girl was who he thought it was, then Gwaine'd better brace himself.

"I'm so happy for you, mate," Merlin replied as he clapped his back.

"How 'bout you, then? Got your ancient eyes on some youthful maiden's?" Gwaine waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he bumped Merlin's shoulder playfully.

Merlin's smile dropped, and his expression suddenly sobered.

"Maybe on eyes as ancient as mine," Merlin mumbled under his breath. Gwaine frowned and leaned his face closer, cocking his head with confusion clearly etched on his features. His hair slid to cover his face, and he flipped it back in a quick motion.

"What was that? I'm pretty sure your voice was too bloody soft with this music blasting to ten blocks from this place," Gwaine said with his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Nothing," Merlin said, evidently louder this time, as he practically screamed into Gwaine's ear, making him wince and scowl in annoyance. "I think it's time we got a move on, you know to why I asked for you."

The former knight's mood lost its mirth to match Merlin's, leaning on his forearms on the counter, and with a nod, indicated to Merlin that he was listening as he stared down into his surprisingly barely touched drink.

Merlin took in a shaky breath. "Thanks for the information I asked for."

Gwaine looked at him sharply. There was a held-back accusation in his eyes, his features guarded and suspicious. "What did you do with it?"

Merlin glanced at his friend and found that he could not look straight into his searching eyes, and settled his gaze on his hand holding his mug.

"I looked for her."

Gwaine growled impatiently with his short reply. "And then what?"

He did his best to meet his friend's eyes, and held it with a soft smile that Gwaine could not place as happy or sad. "I found her."

Something blazed in his friend's eyes, but it was out as quick as it appeared, and he settled for an indifferent expression. "How's the witch, then?"

Merlin winced at Gwaine's hostile tone, and slumped in defeat. "I… I need your help, Gwaine. I think… no, I'm convinced something wrong, that there's something she's hiding. I—I just need to know what it is."

Gwaine's silence unnerved him as he watched him stare back into his pleading gaze. He could feel the rage burning behind a wall he put up as he thought of what to reply, and it almost made him fidget, even with the thousand years on his shoulders forcing him to see and experience things that no one else could bear, except for one other. But with one of his oldest friends looking at him with anger and hatred suppressed for his sake, he was back to being the young boy he was in Camelot, all those years and decades and centuries ago.

"You two are sleeping with each other again, I take it?" Gwaine scoffed before taking big gulps of his drink.

"Gwaine," Merlin warned softly, letting his weariness seep through into his voice.

"I don't trust her," the former knight growled, his knuckles turning white as his grip on his glass tightened.

"I'm not asking you to trust her. But believe me, she's changed. I've seen her change back to the way she was before, how she was before everything became the mess it was."

Gwaine took in Merlin's tender smile and his frown deepened, his eyes softening. "Merlin, you're my best mate. I don't want you to get hurt again, and I'm telling you, I don't think getting involved with Morgana again this time around would be the peachiest idea. She can be manipulating you, using you, and when you turn your back to her, she could raise the dagger she's been hiding in her hand and take you down. She could be hiding anything, Merlin, scheming, plotting, planning, I don't know. All I know is that I don't trust her."

"Gwaine, she's changed," Merlin insisted firmly. There was a sudden coldness in his eyes as he looked at him, and it made Gwaine uneasy. "I have lived a long life. I have watched kingdoms fall, seen empires rise and die, helped civilizations be born and destroyed, and throughout it all, if anything was tested in my very, very numerous years, it would be my trust. So, please, Gwaine. Right now, I would need you to trust me on this, and I would appreciate it if you do not doubt me."

To say he was surprised would be an understatement. As Gwaine looked at his friend, he finally saw just how much the cold bitter years had turned him into a much darker man, with a layer of frost encompassing his heart. Since the former knight's previous lifetime, he had never thought that those icy eyes would be turned to him, and that those piercing words would be pointed at him, as a proof without denying that the man before him now truly was a man of power, and if only he provoked him, he'd be as vulnerable as a babe before a giant.

Gwaine looked away and tried to clear the lump in his throat, and lowered his head.

"You need me to watch her; check on her if there's anything suspicious or unusual going on, is that it?" he asked meekly. His posture was stiff, and when Merlin had noticed this, his eyes softened, and he put a hand on Gwaine's shoulder, trying to be comforting and apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Gwaine, I—"

"No, it's fine," Gwaine cut him off with a tight smile, and forced out a laugh. "Sometimes… It's just… I can't keep it in my head that in all that time we were all dead, you had to live through it, never dying. I," he cleared his throat, and when he spoke, his voice lowered by an octave, but was still loud enough for Merlin to hear in the loud beat of the music in the pub, "forgot how much you've changed."

Merlin frowned, and was unable to reply immediately. "I'm still me, Gwaine. I'm still Merlin." He received a smile in response.

"I know, I know, but it's quite impossible for you to stay exactly the same after a thousand years, 'eh?" Gwaine tried to joke as he clapped Merlin on the back, downing the rest of his drink. "It's alright, mate. I understand. The world hasn't gone easy on you. Could've driven you crazy, but it didn't. But it was bound to take its toll on you, one way or another."

Merlin smiled, but he didn't need Gwaine's sympathy. "There's something else, something you should probably know."

Gwaine called for the bartender and asked for another drink. "Yeah?"

Merlin let him brace himself before he opened his mouth, knowing that the next thing that his lips would be saying would hit something somewhere in Gwaine.

"Eira, she's back."

Gwaine froze as he reached for the refilled glass, his fingers just about to curl around his liquor.

Merlin watched his expression for anything as to what his old friend was thinking, but it was blank, and he could tell the forced indifference on his features.

"Right. She still doing Morgana's dirty work, then?" he tried to say nonchalantly, taking a sip at his beer. Merlin ignored his question.

"Keep an eye out for her, Gwaine. She already knew you were around, and that's not a very comforting thought for me. I'm sure Morgana isn't planning anything, not really, but there's no telling if she is."

The former knight ground his teeth in thought before nodding. He was silent, not speaking as he raised his glass to drink in every other moment, and Merlin started to worry. But before he could open his mouth, Gwaine beat him to it.

"I'm alright, mate, believe me," he said, his eyes hard as he stared in front of him. "I won't let her get to me, not this time." He swallowed the last drops of his beer before standing up, struggling in the crowded bar as he tried to push his stool back.

"I got to go, mate. I've this appointment, and Sophia won't be waiting for me forever," Gwaine grinned. "You've got your phone. I'll tell you if I get anything."

Merlin nodded at him as his friend gave him a wink before weaving through the tightly-clothed bodies, and watched as his friend's head disappeared in the sea of people. He went back to stare down into his drink, waving off the occasional girl stroking his back with her palm, and let himself get lost in his thoughts.

Gwaine, Eira, Sophia… they were all back. For over a thousand years, he saw no one from his earliest years, no familiar face except for Morgana's. Now, there were three?

Merlin frowned and finished his drink, tossing bills on the counter before grabbing his jacket and heading out of the pub.

Something's going on, and he was going to find out what.

"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic." Morgana was mouthing the words as she hugged her knees on the warm leather sofa, her eyes wide as she watched the wide TV screen. "And do you know what? So was I!"

Morgana cried out and buried her face behind her knees for a few moments, listening to the show she was watching as she scrunched her face in hiding. She couldn't watch that part again, no matter how much she tried.

She glanced back up, and in the Doctor's place was a new man. Morgana sighed and pulled her robe closer around her chest, crossing her arms across it as she watched the newly-regenerated tenth Doctor try to pilot the TARDIS.

She propped her feet up the coffee table, glancing out the window to look at the dark skies looming over the city. On a late Friday night, she was having a marathon of Doctor Who reruns, alone. She scoffed. So much for having a Friday-night-blast.

"Who said you could have a Doctor Who marathon without me?" a voice whispered in her ear as a pair of leather-clad arms wound their way around her torso.

Morgana grinned and licked her lips on feeling the warm breath against her ear. "Me. But," she replied and turned to kneel on the couch, facing Merlin as she took in his soft smirk. "It's better with two."

Merlin chuckled and moved his way around the couch, pulling Morgana down on the sofa with him. He left a trail of kisses as he pushed her robe open and off her shoulders. Morgana threw her head back as she gave him more access to her neck and tangled her fingers into his dark hair, biting her lip to try to keep her moans down.

They both knew that something was wrong, that they shouldn't push it to the back of their minds, but if that was what it takes to let them enjoy these moments, these days they had together, then so be it.

AN: So... I'm a month late. I AM SO SORRY. Everything's been busy lately, I just didn't get the time to write. Again, this chapter is unbeta-ed and all, so forgive any mistakes. I promise I'll TRY to update another chapter before this month ends, just to make up for my missed update.

Heheh, sorry for spending eight chapters solely focused on Mergana, since this fan fiction story originally didn't have a story plot. But the real story begins! And I hope I got Gwaine's characterization right. This story, this chapter in particular, took a different turn from what I originally intended it to be. But I hope you guys enjoy! :D

Please, REVIEWS! I'll love 'em, you know it. :)