A/N: I know many of you waited for this moment, I hope it's living up to your expectations :) It wasn't easy to write, but I did my best.

Read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, you should know that already, I think.

CHAPTER 18: RISING ANGEL

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-GUARDIAN ANGEL-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Arthur's eyes grew wider than plates when he recognized the familiar face in front of him. On second thought, it didn't look all that familiar, big golden eyes staring at him. Arthur felt as if he had seen this somewhere before, but he couldn't remember.

He was so absorbed in trying to grasp the situation that Arthur didn't even notice how a pair of arms wrapped themselves around him and he was no longer falling, but slowly rising higher into the air.

After a painfully long minute of staring at the blond in his arms, Merlin decided he had to say something, trying to ignore the piercing pain he felt in his heart when he saw betrayal and distrust, maybe even fear, flicker in his best friend's eyes.

He had known this moment would come but it would have been so much easier if there wasn't a demon trying to kill Arthur; Merlin didn't have the time to explain Arthur everything now, he first had to get rid of Mordred and Morgana. This was his first priority.

Still, Merlin knew Arthur expected him to say something, so he started, knowing that he wouldn't enjoy this conversation.

"Arthur, listen, I'm so sorry, please-"

"Stop, I don't want to hear your apologies! Just what are you?! More importantly, why did you never tell me?!" Arthur raised his voice, his gaze hardening.

Merlin looked away, not wanting to look into his friend's eyes when they were judging his flaws like that… "I really am so sorry, Arthur, but I wasn't allowed to tell you!" Merlin tried to defend himself, concentrating on not letting Arthur fall (the blonde was getting heavy in his arms) and flying back towards the ground. He was flying slowly tough, it probably wouldn't be wise to return too quickly with Arthur being confused like this.

"What kept you from telling me, if you said you weren't allowed to?! I think you're just giving poor excuses for your own cowardice!" Arthur was literally shouting now and his words felt like a knife was being driven straight into his heart.

"I'm not! It was forbidden by the angel's laws!" Merlin did not want to sound angry, but he couldn't help it. Arthur just wasn't understanding, how could he if he didn't listen to what Merlin wanted to say?

The blonde stayed skeptically. He knew he was being a little unfair but he felt so betrayed. Had he ever really known Merlin? He wasn't so sure about it anymore.

"How do I know that you aren't lying to me about it know? I don't know anything about what is going on here, you could very well tell some kind of shit! I wouldn't know it!"

Merlin felt himself growing desperate. He so wanted to cover his ears and block out Arthur's burning words. "I am not lying, trust me!"

Merlin watched with big eyes as Arthur turned his head away from him, his eyes staring darkly at the river below them. "I don't think I can do that anymore…"

It felt like the imaginary knife in his heart was being twisted around and Merlin actually found himself staring down at his chest, expecting to see the handle of a knife sticking out of him and blood soaking his shirt, but of course there was nothing but Arthur pressed against him. Still, the pain felt so real…

"W-what?" The raven haired managed to say, but wasn't able to suppress the quiver in his voice. "B-but I never did anything to harm you! All I ever wanted was to p-protect you…"

Arthur just snorted, still not facing Merlin. "I don't want to hear any more of it. Let me down now, Merlin." The angel noticed the coldness in his friend's voice and the absentness of the way only Arthur pronounced his name. I felt like icicles piercing his lung, making it harder and harder to breathe.

"B-but Arthur, you h-have to let me explain! If you would just listen to me-"He was being interrupted, angry eyes stared up at him and the moonlight made them seem like cold steel.

"Why would I? Do you honestly think that after all you didn't tell me you deserve to be listened to? Ha, don't make me laugh." Merlin's eyes widened, surprised at the sneer in the blonde's voice. This wasn't like Arthur, he must be really shaken to change his behavior like that.

Merlin felt his hands slowly starting to shake, but he just gripped Arthur tighter and tried to remain pulled together. The desperation continued to grow inside of him though, making the burning in his throat and eyes even harder to control. But Merlin would not give in now, he already looked pathetic enough as he was.

"P-please, Arthur!" Great, now he was begging. But honestly, Merlin couldn't bring himself to care right now, all he wanted was to see Arthur's smile again to ease the burning pain in his chest. "Give me a chance, it will all make sense if you just let me explain!"

Merlin could practically hear Arthur's jaw setting as the stubbornness took over. "But I don't want to hear anything! I had thought I knew you, I had thought we'd be friends, but now…"

That was the last straw. Merlin couldn't hold it any longer, the tears that had been pricking at his eyes for a while now finally fell. The young angel wasn't sobbing, he just let the tears silently stream down his face, not even bothering to wipe them away (He wouldn't have dared to let go of Arthur anyway, not even with one hand).

The fell onto Arthur's head and the blonde looked up in surprise, staring at the hurt in his friend's (?) eyes. Guilt shot through him like a lightning bolt but he quickly brushed it aside.

"D-don't s-say that, p-p-please, Arthur…" So Merlin was sobbing now after all, his sight getting blurry and his throat felt as if it was on fire.

"Enough of this. Let me down now." Arthur said, having to bring up all of his self-control in order to not embrace Merlin in his arms and tell him that everything was fine. He was still very angry and didn't know what to think of this whole situation, but seeing Merlin cry like this and because of him as well… It made his heart ache in agony.

"R-really, Arthur, I'm s-so sorry! I n-never meant to-"Merlin just kept stuttering on, sniffling his nose and flapping his wings in order to not to crash to the ground.

Arthur noticed the wavering course of flight and worriedly glance downwards. They were only a few meters about the ground but Merlin wasn't making any attempt to slow down.

"Hey, I said let me down! NOW!" Arthur barked, snapping Merlin out of his weeping.

"J-just let me fly over there, the ground s-seems a little stony…" Merlin mumbled, the tears slowly drying on his cheeks as he was restoring his composure.

Arthur just snorted, trying to free himself from the raven haired's iron grip.

"Arthur!" Merlin tried to keep his friend still, but even as an archangel, Arthur's physical strength was still greater than his own. In just a few seconds, Arthur managed to free himself (not without almost breaking Merlin's arm) and jumped towards the ground.

Merlin watched in worry as he landed on his feet in a quite elegant manner. He was just about to let out a sigh of relief, but then he noticed Arthur tumbling to the ground after he'd taken a step forwards, a surprised yelp escaping him.

"Arthur!"

Merlin quickly landed, despite the uneven ground. While watching his step, he hurriedly made his way over to Arthur, who sat on the ground and grabbed his ankle with both hands, a hiss escaping his gritted teeth.

"Are you okay?" The angel asked, kneeling down beside his protégé and throwing worried glances at his steadily swelling ankle.

"Of course I'm not! Just leave be, I don't need your help."

Merlin just stared at Arthur, who kept avoiding his cerulean eyes. "Arthur, that is obviously a lie." The raven haired deadpanned, earning a snort from the blonde.

"Your behavior must obviously be rubbing off on me." He retorted, making Merlin wince but the young angel stayed silent and slowly reached for Arthur's ankle without showing any form of recognition.

The blonde wanted to slap his hands away, but the pain was getting harder to bear, so he thought Merlin may as well look it. He wouldn't be able to walk away like this anyway, so Merlin would start to fuss over him sooner or later, so no point in delaying it.

Merlin gently let his hand roam over the swollen ankle, glancing up at Arthur in concern whenever the blonde would hiss in pain. "I'm afraid it's sprained, maybe even partially fractured." Merlin's tone wasn't scolding but Arthur could nevertheless hear the unspoken words. I told you not to jump onto this stony ground, you dollop-head!

Arthur would've liked to grin but the betrayal he felt weight heavy on him, pulling the corners of his mouth downwards instead.

They stayed silent for a few moments, both avoiding the other's gaze, both lost in thought. Arthur tried to sort out the bunch of emotions swirling around in his chest and Merlin tried to decide in what to do next. He had to get back to Morgana and Mordred and settle this once and for all, but he couldn't just let Arthur stay here alone, especially when he was hurt. He would like to offer his healing powers, but would Arthur accept them? Probably not…

Before he could even try to talk the blonde into it, he felt a presence nearing them. Merlin was quick to jump to his feet, positioning himself in front of Arthur, his arms raised.

"What is it now?" Arthur demanded harshly, looking around with a frown.

"Someone's coming." Merlin responded curtly.

Soon after, they heard footsteps coming nearer and suddenly a dark figure stepped out of the bushes. Merlin's increased heartbeat instantly slowed down when he recognized a certain old man.

"Gaius! What are you doing here?" Merlin asked in surprise, lowering his arms.

"I just had to make sure you both were okay." Gaius explained, walking up to them. "It seems at least one of you is…" He murmured, glancing down at Arthur's swollen ankle. Before he could say anything regarding that matter, Merlin's voice interrupted.

"Gaius, could I ask you a favor? Would you stay here and watch over Arthur?" He asked, ignoring the questioning look he earned from his protégé.

Gaius nodded, understanding what the younger angel was implying.

"Where's my father?" Arthur suddenly asked. Gaius turned around and gave the blonde a reassuring smile. "I brought him away from here, somewhere safer."

"Gaius, do you know what's going on here?" Arthur asked, noticing how unfazed the old man was by all this.

Gaius stayed silent for a moment, but then he said: "I think this is something Merlin should explain to you."

Merlin sighed, he didn't know whether to thank Gaius for this or not.

"Ah, there you are."

Merlin spun around, eyes narrowed and hands raised. Mordred was standing there, right behind him, dagger in his hand and eyes directed at Arthur.

He seemed to be quite disinterested in what he was doing as he lunged forward at the archangel, not even trying to make his moves hard to predict.

Merlin therefore was quick to react, dashing out of the way. He found enough time to turn around and glance at Arthur, who was watching him with big eyes from where he was sitting behind Gaius' protective stance.

Mordred sighed and spun around raising his hand and causing a fireball to come rushing towards the other raven haired, who raised his hands as well, creating some sort of barrier which let the fire ball vanish into nothing.

Merlin instantly counterattacked, summoning big tendrils which broke out of the stony earth. He felt a strange sort of satisfaction when he heard Arthur gasping in amazement.

Mordred flew into the air, trying to avoid the tendrils which aimed for his ankles and wrist. One had already wrapped itself around his wrist, but he cut it off with his dagger and sent another fireball at the others in one smooth move.

The tendrils caught fire and quickly burned to ashes, smoke rising high into the air.

Merlin had to cough, but he quickly flew out of the smoke, slowly gathering his powers. He dashed out of the way of yet another fireball and reflected a few minor poisonous attacks without any kind of problem.

Suddenly, Mordred did not look at him anymore, but was instead staring at Arthur. Before the fallen angel even made the move to attack, Merlin noticed what was happening. He raised his hand, using a greater amount of power this time and covered Arthur and Gaius in some kind of golden light. Merlin had no idea what exactly he was doing, most of this was instinctive, elemental, but it worked and that was all that mattered.

Mordred has sent a lighting strike against the two on the ground, but Merlin's golden light immediately neutralized it. Mordred seemed taken aback for a second, but then he shrugged and threw his dagger, aiming directly at Arthur's chest.

Merlin's eyes widened, his heartbeat sped up and so was the power floating through his veins. The archangel did not know what exactly his golden light was doing, so he didn't trust it completely. He instantly rushed towards the ground, surprised by his own speed. In a split second, he was standing in front of Arthur, watching in concentration as the dagger came closer to this face.

His strange golden light slowed the dagger down, but it did not stop it completely. Merlin held out his hand, ready to catch the rotation dagger.

Moments later, he indeed held it in his hand, but not with the hilt. The sharp blade was cutting in his fingers and palm, blood streaming down his arm steadily.

It took Merlin a second to realize what he was doing, the pain only present in the back of his head. He heard Arthur drawing in a sharp breath and Gaius worriedly calling his name. As his blood dripped towards the ground, Merlin felt himself falling into some kind of trace.

He opened his hand and the dagger fell to the ground into a puddle of the archangel's blood.

Merlin concentrated on gathering his powers in his injured hand, pushing the pain farther away. He tried to grab a concrete thought, but it seemed like his body was acting on his own.

Suddenly, Merlin watched as he raised his hand (or rather, the hand raised itself) and a gigantic lightning bolt formed directly over Mordred. It slowly took the shape of a white dragon, much like the one on the back of his hand.

Mordred looked at the crackling electricity above him, his cold eyes widening in horror. He didn't even try to move out of the way or create a barrier, he just stared and waited, accepting what was to come.

The lightning started crashing down, making impact with the pitch black wings of Mordred first, then proceeding on to the dark haired's body. He screamed in pain, crashing towards the ground, electricity still dancing around him.

He tried to push himself up but slumped down again, his wings twitching uncontrollably.

Merlin was overwhelmed by what he had just witnessed. How was it possible that someone like him could harbor such power? It just was unbelievable and Merlin actually was scared of himself. What if one day, he'd overreact? He could practically turn everything to ashes…

He gulped and wanted to stop but his hands still seemed to have a live on their own. They raised again pointing at Mordred.

Suddenly Merlin heard some strange words and it took him a moment to realize they were his own. He watched as a red circle appeared around the shaking Mordred, slowly opening the ground under him. The fallen angel slowly sunk into it, looking up in confusion.

His gaze met Merlin's and the archangel wondered whether it was his imagination, but Mordred seemed to smile at him before the red ground swallowed him up.

Merlin was harshly pulled out of his trance and he suddenly was painfully aware of his bleeding hand. He pressed against the wound and turned around looking at Arthur.

He could see both relief and fear in the blonde's eyes and Merlin quickly looked away because he knew the fear was directed at him. It tore at his heart and he had a hard time regaining his composure.

The young archangel looked around warily, expecting Morgana to suddenly attack him.

Nothing happened though, so Merlin turned around to Gaius and Arthur. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a certain mentor of his standing next to Gaius, talking to him as if he were an old friend of his.

"Kilgharrah?" Merlin asked in confusion walking up to the man whose big white wings were folded on his back. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think, young one? I am here to assist you in getting rid of a demon!" He explained with a smirk but Merlin merely raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't very like you." He just said, but couldn't keep himself from smiling. He hadn't seen his old teacher for a long time, he had missed him a lot. "It's good to see you, though."

Kilgharrah chuckled, slapping Merlin on the shoulder. "It's good to see you too. I have to admit, you've changed quite a lot. You might even be more powerful than me."

Merlin looked genuinely surprised at that statement. His mentor had always been one of the most powerful angels (expect the archangels of course) and now he himself should be more powerful? Merlin couldn't quite believe that, but he felt the power pumping through his veins and somewhere deep inside of him he knew it was probably true.

Arthur just sat on the ground, continuously staring at the man who had suddenly appeared. His understanding of what was going on grew smaller with every second that passed. All he knew for sure was that there were good and bad angels and Merlin seemed to be one of the good, a powerful at that. He also knew that Merlin was able to let the bad angels sink into the ground. Arthur wondered…Was that the same as killing?

The blonde watched as Merlin continued talking to his teacher of some sort, Gaius just stood next to them and listened.

Arthur sighed, he would've loved to just stand up and walk away from all of this, but he couldn't with his ankle being in this condition. He looked around, not wanting to see Merlin. He couldn't explain it, but he wasn't sure what he should be feeling when he looked at the raven haired.

His gaze landed instead on the moon. It seemed especially big and bright tonight, Arthur wondered why. He listened to the silence of the night, tuning out Merlin's chattering. It was completely silent, expect for the flapping of some far away bird.

Arthur turned around, trying to pull himself up from where he was sitting. Pain shot through his foot but he ignored it, leaning against a tree for support. But at least he was standing now, the whole sitting around did not do him any good.

Arthur exhaled shakily, this process of getting himself on his feet again had actually been quite exhausting.

He allowed himself to close his eyes for a second, trying to fight back the headache which was slowly but steadily forming.

Suddenly, he felt cold steel on his throat, cutting him and drawing a single line of red blood.

Arthur's eyes widened in shock and he wanted to look over his shoulder to see who was threatening him, but he did not dare to move his head even an inch. Arthur forced his breath and heartbeat to calm down.

"I'm going to let your head roll, brother." Morgana's voice was as cold as an icicle piercing him and just as sharp.

Arthur closed his eyes, waiting for whatever was to come, knowing that there was nothing he could do. He expected the sharp metal to tear his throat apart, but it suddenly vanished.

The blonde slowly peered his eyes open, staring directly into Merlin's golden eyes. The raven haired wasn't looking at him though, he was staring at something behind him. Arthur wanted to turn around but he suddenly found himself sitting on the floor, not even knowing how. Everything around him happened way to fast.

He looked around in confusion, seeing nothing like a white dome around him and Merlin. It was only then that he noticed how hard Merlin's hand was bleeding. He looked at it in concern, but did not say or do anything.

"What happened?" He demanded, not liking to be left in ignorance.

Merlin looked at him for a moment but stayed silent. Suddenly, the raven haired collapsed, fainting right in front of him. "Merlin!" Arthur couldn't help himself from shouting his friend's (?) name.

Suddenly, the white dome around them vanished and Arthur could see Morgana, standing just a few feet away. She held something like a scythe in her hand and her blood red eyes were boring into him.

Arthur had no idea what to do next but he didn't have to. Merlin's teacher and Gaius suddenly were next to them, the teacher raising his hands and creating a dome like the one which had just vanished.

"What happened to him?" Arthur asked, pointing at the unconscious angel.

Kilgharrah shook his head in disapproval. "He just used to much of his power, that stupid boy." He reached for Merlin's hand, the injured one with the dragon symbol, and took it in his own. The man closed his eyes and almost immediately their hands started to glow.

Arthur watched in fascination how Merlin's wound just seemed to close itself, even the blood vanished.

A few moments later, Merlin stirred, slowly opening his golden eyes. He noticed Kilgharrah and Gaius looking at him scolding and he realized what he had done. Smiling sheepishly, he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I should've been more careful. I'm not yet used to my powers."

His still a little fuzzy gaze wandered to Arthur now, who was sitting next to him, looking a little bit awkward and still giving Merlin the cold shoulder.

The young archangel looked away again, still unsure of how he should treat Arthur. Instead he directed his attention at Kilgharrah again.

"What should we do next? It's hard to fight Morgana when she's only after Arthur at the moment." Merlin explained looking at his former teacher expecting some master plan.

Kilgharrah seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I think I'll be able to keep her away from your protégé. (Arthur looked up in confusion at the word) The bigger problem is that she has a weapon and you don't."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Do I need one? I mean, we'll probably be fighting out of the distance anyway, right? I don't have to get close to her, so why should I?"

Kilgharrah let out a short, humorless laugh. "Don't think you can defeat a demon like a fallen angel! You have to paralyze demons in order to summon the banning circle. If you don't they'll just climb out of it again. Therefore, you need a holy weapon."

Merlin sighed, rubbing his temples. "And where can I get something like that?" Kilgharrah chuckled, a mischievous glint in his golden eyes. "We'll just have to make one."

He took Merlin's hand in his own again, the dragon symbol instantly starting to glow. Merlin gritted his teeth, the strange feeling in his hands made him want to vomit.

Kilgharrah on the contrary seemed perfectly fine. Arthur watched all of this in awe, the glowing started to blend him, so he had to cover his eyes with his hands.

When the glowing had stopped, he took them away again, gasping as he saw a wonderful sword in Merlin's hands. It had a golden hilt and on the blade was an inscription in strange, golden letters. He couldn't read them and by the confused look of Merlin the raven haired couldn't as well.

Kilgharrah seemed surprised that whatever he'd done had actually worked and he gave the sword a closer look.

"Truly, you must be an archangel indeed! I have tried to forge such a weapon for a long time but I've never found someone who had enough power to produce it."

Kilgharrah let the white dome around them vanish and positioned himself in front of Arthur. "You are probably one of the few who can stand a chance against a demon, I know you can do it."

Merlin nodded, gripping the hilt of his new sword even tighter.

He remembered when he had first heard about his protégé from the strange glowing light of ball when he still had lived in the heavens. It had said something about a great destiny. Was that what the blue ball of light had meant?

It seemed like that had been such a long time ago, but it was merely two months. Things sure had changed a lot. What would his mother say if she saw him now? What would Will say?

Time slowed down as Merlin rushed towards Morgana, sword perfectly balanced in his hands.

He was going to end this.

Now.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-GUARDIAN ANGEL-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

A/N: I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing this :) I'm planning on finishing this story until Christmas, let's see if I manage :)

Until next time~

By DarkChain