A/N: Hello again :) I don't really have anything to tell you so…

Read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

CHAPTER 19: EXPLAINING ANGEL

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Merlin charged at Morgana, wielding the sword as if it was an extension of his arm. It looked as if what Merlin did was solely on instinct and the archangel himself was surprised by this as he had never really practiced the fighting with a sword.

His shining blade crashed against the black steel of Morgana's scythe, resulting in a few sparks flying through the air.

Merlin pushed himself back again, just in time to avoid a slash straight towards his chest. When Morgana's weapon cut through nothing but air, she raised a hand and quickly sent a lightning bolt after him.

Being quick to react, Merlin raised his sword for protection, totally neutralizing the lightning with its holy power.

He could hear Morgana snarl and her crimson eyes seemed to darken, but it could very well be a result of the large cloud which had just positioned itself in front of the moon, their only real source of light.

The demon lunged at the archangel with her scythe again, this time managing to scratch his left shoulder but Merlin didn't even acknowledge, just concentrating on performing a counter attack. He lifted himself a little higher into the air and then leaned forward, striking with his full weight supporting his sword.

It didn't go as planned though as Morgana summoned a barrier, letting Merlin crash against it heavier then he normally would, his wrist aching from the harsh impact.

As Merlin regained some distance, a plan started to slowly form in his head. With a determined nod to himself, Merlin started to form an invisible barrier around his left arm.

Morgana attacked again, but Merlin dodged it and instead sent a large fireball towards her left wing, successfully setting a few feathers on fire but Morgana seemed unfazed, not even bothering to extinguish the flames.

Instead she seemed to keep on attacking with her scythe, even fiercer than before, her true strength only now coming to the surface.

Merlin actually had a hard time keeping up parrying all those strikes, but he somehow managed to only receive little scratches, so small he barely noticed them.

All the while, Merlin concentrated on slowly rising into the air, the others on the ground only visible as small dots by now.

Morgana either did not notice their increase in height or maybe she simply did not care but Merlin was satisfied. Everything went according to his plan.

He did not attack much as he required a big amount of his power for later on. It was crucial to not just spend everything now.

While thinking about his plan, Merlin failed to see a strike to his right wing coming, gasping in pain as the scythe made a small cut on the tip.

The raven haired glanced at it and winced at the red blood staining his white and golden wings. He carefully flapped his wings, relieved to see that his flying abilities weren't hindered, but it was painful nonetheless. He would just have cope with it.

His teeth gritted, Merlin concentrated on not letting his defense down again. He was satisfied to see that Morgana slowly grew tired of attacking him.

After a few minutes of continuing their rather pointless melee, they had reached the clouds. It was very wet all around them and Merlin could only make out Morgana because of her glowing red eyes.

With one last flap of his wings, Merlin broke through the first layer of clouds, looking at the endless, cotton-like sea. He hadn't been that high for quite a long time, he really had missed it.

Morgana soon followed him, looking around with a frown, but she stayed silent. It was only then that Merlin noticed how few the girl had spoken. Actually, she hadn't said anything yet, Merlin didn't know whether he should be wary or not.

Merlin waited for Morgana to attack again, but this time he didn't simply parry, he actually counterattacked, swinging his sword at the hilt of the demon's black scythe.

Morgana seemed startled by his action, slightly losing the grip on her weapon. The archangel used the chance and kicked the scythe out of the dark haired girl's pale hand.

Morgana watched wide eyed as it fell through the clouds, instantly being out of her reach. She was just about to rush after her weapon, but Merlin was quicker. He initiated the first part of his plan.

He reached down towards the clouds, barely brushing them with his fingertips. He let all his saved power float into them, watching with satisfaction as they turned into solid ice.

It somehow defied the rules of gravity, staying floating in thy sky. Morgana crashed against the floor of ice, hissing in anger as she realized that there was no way to get her scythe back now. She turned her head, glaring daggers at the raven haired. "Do you really think that'll help you?"

Merlin tilted his head, golden eyes shining confident of victory because actually, yes, he thought everything went perfectly. He didn't say so though, he had never been one to be cocky.

Instead, he lunged forward, using the invisible barrier around his left arm to knock Morgana to the ground. She yelped at the impact with the icy floor and tried to use one of her fireballs to melt it, but Merlin's power seemed stronger.

Morgana, deciding that she wasn't going to get rid of the ice-floor any time soon, directed her attacks at Merlin again. She had no weapon anymore, so she resolved to throw fireballs, lightning bolts and other nasty things at the young archangel.

Merlin dodged everything with ease, using the icy floor for his advantage. He watched out that Morgana wasn't flying to high, so he could hit her with his invisible barrier, always taking her by surprise. One time he even took his sword in his left hand and moved the barrier to his right, successfully throwing Morgana of balance.

When she crashed to the ice floor the sixth time, she had a hard time getting up, her wings tangled behind her back and soaked wet, making them much heavier.

Merlin's eyes lit up, seeing the huge opening presenting itself. He took the sword back into his right hand, rushing towards Morgana with grim determination. He raised the sword, taking in Morgana's indifferent expression. He wondered how she must feel, if she did feel anything at all, and pitied her for a moment before his sword pierced her chest.

No blood was drawn, but the holy sword nailed her to the icy ground.

The demon instantly started to trash around, trying to get the sword out of her, but is was to no avail. The holy blade had sealed her powers away, she was helpless.

Merlin suddenly felt his senses numbing, realizing he had gone into a trance once again, but by now he was used to it. His powers were acting on his own and Merlin watched his hand being laid on the icy ground. Strange words left his mouth and yet another glowing red circle appeared around the struggling demon.

Morgana started to scream at him, but he barely could make out her voice. She sank deeper and deeper into the ground and Merlin wondered whether she would just fall out under it, but then he realized that was not how these things worked.

With one last scream, she vanished, leaving only his sword sticking out of the ground behind.

After breaking out of his trance, Merlin quickly grabbed the sword and returned the clouds to their normal state. He flew towards the ground, suddenly feeling very tired. If the fight would've continued any longer, he might've passed out again.

It was only when he saw Arthur's golden hair appearing as a small dot on the ground that he realized what it meant that Morgana was gone now.

He would have to clear everything with Arthur, but then there would be peace. Nothing to worry about, no strange presence to chase in the middle of the night and no secrets to keep.

Merlin couldn't keep a smile from creeping onto his face. He knew he probably shouldn't be that happy at the moment, but he just was.

He ungraciously landed in front of the others, throwing his sword to the ground and then falling onto his knees.

"We saw Morgana's scythe falling from the sky over there." Gaius explained and pointed towards the torrential river. "What happened?"

Merlin grinned up at the older man, golden eyes shining bright in the moon light. "I did it. It's over now, once and for all!" He exclaimed happily, changing into his human form again.

He noticed that his golden hilted sword vanished as soon as his wings did and he wondered if it would appear again.

"I knew you could do it!" Gaius said with a big smile and patted Merlin onto the shoulder. "I've always had faith in your abilities and you didn't disappoint me."

Merlin felt himself beam and he looked over to Kilgharrah, who was silently chuckling to himself. "Well done indeed, young angel."

Hesitantly, Merlin looked over at Arthur as well. The blonde didn't look at him, he was staring at the ground. Merlin's smile dropped but he was relieved to see that Arthur wasn't looking outraged anymore but instead there was some kind of acceptance in his eyes.

"You look tired, Merlin. Why don't you and Arthur go back to the hotel and get some sleep? You two look like you need it. I'm going to look after Uther now and Kilgharrah and I still have a few things to discuss, so don't mind us."

Merlin glanced uncertainly at Arthur, but then he nodded and stood up from the ground. "Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

The raven haired walked over to Arthur, who was sitting on the ground and still grabbed his ankle tightly. Merlin awkwardly knelt down and hesitantly laid Arthur's arm around his shoulder before gently pulling the injured blonde to his feet.

Arthur hissed and still stared at the ground but let the archangel help him without another word, which Merlin was grateful for.

They took a few careful steps forwards but Arthur adjusted quickly and they were able to walk at a steady pace. After some minutes, they found themselves in Arthur's hotel room.

The blonde sat on his bed, tired eyes staring at the raven haired who stood in the doorframe.

"I guess I'll…uh…see you tomorrow…" Merlin awkwardly looked at his watch, it was almost morning. "Or rather later…Try to get some sleep." He quickly turned around, wanting to escape this tension and get some sleep himself.

"Wait." Merlin spun around again, looking at Arthur who was frowning heavily. "Stay here, I want to have a talk with you later and I can't go searching for you with my foot like this." He explained and then seemed to be a little embarrassed. "The bed is queen sized, so I guess we'll both fit in…"

With that, the blonde threw the blanket over himself and rested his head on one of the pillows. He closed his eyes but concentrated on listening to the noises Merlin's movements made.

First there only was silence but then he heard rustling and he felt the mattress next to him lower itself a little as the angel laid down on it. Arthur heard the breathing of Merlin evening out, the raven haired must've already fallen asleep. Arthur followed him soon after.

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Arthur slowly opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling and just enjoying the warmth and coziness of his bed for a moment. Suddenly, the events of last night came rushing to him and he groaned while sitting up, becoming aware of the pain in his ankle. Morgana, is own half-sister was now…? What exactly…? Arthur had no idea…

Next to him something stirred and Arthur glanced down at the sleeping form of Merlin. A small smile danced around the raven haired's pale lips but he seemed troubled, as if he had a strange dream and he wasn't sure what to think of it.

Arthur decided that, while Merlin was still asleep, he would prepare all the questions he was going to bombard Merlin with when he woke up. A glance at his phone told Arthur that it was already about lunch time.

It would be alright to wake Merlin now, the angel wouldn't be too tired to answer his questions and Arthur really needed answers. He still didn't know what to think of all this and he couldn't bring himself to judge Merlin without knowing about everything.

Arthur tried to climb out of bed but he found that his ankle hurt too much so he leaned against the headboard and tried not too curse from the pain that shot through his leg.

This seemed to have awoken Merlin though, as he sleepily rubbed his hand across his eyes. He then sat up, looking around a little confused. His eyes landed on Arthur and he blinked for a few times before seeming to recall what had happened.

"Oh, good morning, Arthur." Merlin mumbled, leaning against the head board as well, uncertainly glancing at the blende every few seconds before staring ahead again.

"Actually, it's noon already." Arthur remarked with a snort but instantly hissed when his ankle hurt again.

Merlin looked at Arthur's swollen foot with concern and then glanced up at him again. "Uh…Would you mind me healing that? It looks…painful…" Merlin offered, expecting a rejection.

Arthur's reaction however was slightly different. "You can do that?" He asked wide eyed.

Merlin dared to smile at the blonde and nodded. "Healing is not my specialty but something like this is easy to heal. A-actually, I've done it before…" He added, still not sure how to behave around Arthur.

The blonde snorted, raising his eyebrow. "Well, I had hoped you would. I wouldn't let you do it if this was your first time healing something."

Merlin felt a certain kind of warmth spreading through his chest at the realization that Arthur would allow him to heal him, but then he noticed that Arthur had misunderstood him, so he quickly shook his head. "No, I mean I've healed your ankle before."

Arthur looked genuinely surprised at that statement. "What? When should that have been?" He asked skeptically.

"Remember that one time when we bought you a new epee and Morgana attacked afterwards?"

"That was you? I already thought I had some kind of phantom pain!" Arthur exclaimed surprised and looked at Merlin for a moment. "I guess I should thank you…"

Merlin blushed a little but quickly shook his head. "Don't. I just did my job." He then gently took Arthur's ankle in his hands concentrating on letting his powers enter it. His hands glowed for a moment and then it was over already.

Arthur hesitantly moved his foot around, surprised by the fact that it didn't hurt anymore. Even the swelling had vanished.

"Tha-"He was interrupted by a smiling yet head shaking Merlin. "Just doing my job." He did appreciate it though, it was always good to know that what you did helped someone.

"What do you mean, 'your job'?" Arthur asked, deciding he would start his questioning now.

Merlin seemed to take a deep breath. "I am your guardian angel, this means I have to protect you at any time."

Arthur was silent for a moment, pondering about Merlin's word. It actually made sense. Finally, everything made sense. All the things he had wondered about in this past month seemed to be a lot clearer now.

"You said you weren't allow to tell me." He inquired while rubbing his chin.

Merlin nodded, thinking up a way to sum up the angels' laws. "Guardian angels are never allowed to let their protégés know about their existence. Could you imagine what kind of chaos there would be if humanity knew about us?"

Arthur nodded although he felt like in some kind of fantasy novel right now. "But aren't you in trouble now?"

The raven haired just shrugged, looking a little too indifferent for the blonde's liking. "It can't be worse than a demon, now can it?"

"Demon?" Arthur hated how he sounded so stupid right now, but he just had to ask.

"Oh, that's what Morgana turned into."

"But she wasn't born like this, right?" Arthur asked, staring at Merlin in expectation.

The raven haired chuckled at the blonde's expression but shook his head. "No, her hatred turned her into a demon. What a terrible fate…"

Arthur stayed silent for a moment, before he asked. "What did you do to her and Mordred? And presumably Morgause too?"

"You know, Mordred and Morgause were fallen angels, they're like the pre-stage of a demon. Demons and fallen angels can't be killed, so the only thing you can do is ban them from earth. But this requires a huge amount of power, that's why only archangels can do this sort of thing."

"So you're an archangel?" Arthur asked skeptically with a raised eyebrow.

"Practically yes, but I'm not like the other archangels. Normally, you have to do something great and you must at least guided the life of one protégé. I on the other side was kind of forced into this position, with two fallen angels and a demon roaming about and such."

"Does every human have a guardian angel?" Arthur asked, wondering whether half of the people he knew were actually angels.

Merlin chuckled at the idea of this and once again shook his head. "No, there by far not that many angels, I'm afraid. Only those humans who have a great destiny are blessed with a guardian angel. This includes you." He explained with a serious expression.

Arthur gulped, wondering what his destiny could be. But it was probably better to not know something like this, right?

"So, how long are you going to stay here?" Arthur asked, suddenly realizing that Merlin only was here because it was his duty. He felt cold when he thought about the fact that the idiot would leave one day.

"Until the day you die." Merlin explained, suddenly looking sad.

"But you'll probably be an old man until then! I don't plan on dying any time soon, you know."

"The lifespan of an angel is much longer than a human's. Even after your death, I'll life on for many years…" He said, pensively staring at the ground.

"That sounds terrible…" Arthur mumbled. He could only imagine how that must feel, watching the people you spent such a long time with suddenly die and having to live on. But that was probably what differed humans and angels the most.

Arthur decided he had to change the topic. "Are there any other angels in this city besides you?"

Merlin looked up, still looking a little depressed. "Yeah, there would be Freya, my…girlfriend…and Gaius of course."

Arthur stared at the raven haired wide eyed for quite a long time before he opened his mouth. "Gaius?! He too?! I've known him since I was, like, four years old!"

It was only then that the young angel realized his mistake. "Oh no, Arthur, forget what I just said! Or at least, don't aver speak of it again. I'm so stupid, Gaius will get into trouble, just because I couldn't hold my blasted tongue!" The raven haired whined, burying his head in his hands.

"It's okay, I won't talk about it." Arthur promised hastily, trying to prevent the boy from yelling it out to whole Bristol.

After Merlin had calmed down a little, he looked up at Arthur, expecting the next question. He was more than relieved to see that Arthur was treating him somewhat normally again, the blonde did not seem angry anymore.

There still were tons of questions Arthur wanted to ask, but he thought it was enough for the time being. Instead of asking questions, he should probably say something himself.

"I'm sorry." He started earning a surprised look by Merlin. "For yelling at you and all that. I should've listened to you. I should've at least used my brain. I know, I was a prat, a clot-pole, a dollop-head and an idiot at the same time. I hope you can forgive me…" He trailed off, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

But Merlin just smiled at his friend, feeling his chest fill with warmth. "There's nothing to forgive, I can totally understand your reaction."

"But I even made you cry…" Arthur sounded a little down, as if he was blaming himself for everything that had happened.

"No, it wasn't you, it just was the unfairness of this whole situation. I'm not angry or anything, so cheer up." Merlin sad with a grin, taking Arthur's hand into his own.

He promptly let go as pain shot through it and he could here Arthur hissing as well. "What are you doing, you just said you weren't angry!"

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Merlin looked down at his hand, surprised to see the white dragon symbol on it. His wings hadn't appeared though, he was still in his human form.

He then looked at Arthur's hand, gasping at what he saw. There was a red dragon wiggling on the back of Arthur's hand, much like his own. "What is this?" He heard Arthur's concerned voice and stared down at their hands.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think it shows that you're my protégé and I'm your guardian angel."

"Is that common? You seem surprised."

Merlin narrowed his eyes, examining their hands even closer. "Well, I am surprised. I've never heard of this before but I've also never heard about becoming an archangel like I did until a few days ago…"

Something in the back of his mind screamed for his attention, so Merlin let the memory of his first meeting with Arthur replay in his mind.

"Hey, do you remember how we first met?" He asked the blonde who was still gazing at the back of his hand. "'Course I do. You've tried to move that ridiculously huge trunk up the stairs."

"Exactly and we shook hands that day, remember?"

Arthur paused for a moment, trying for a moment to recall their meeting. "Yes…I felt some kind of strange prickling in my hand that day."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe this got something to do with it." Merlin explained, watching as the dragon symbol of his vanished again. When he glanced at Arthur's hand, he noticed his had disappeared as well.

"Are you going to tell the others about…well, you?" Arthur asked after a while of thinking in silence.

"I might as well, right? Let's go find them, alright?" Merlin offered while he jumped off of the bed. Arthur followed him, glad that Merlin had healed his ankle.

Merlin opened the door of Arthur's hotel room but was instantly thrown through the ground as something flew straight into him. "Merlin! Thank god you're safe!"

Merlin looked up, seeing Freya's face right in front of him. He blushed when he noticed how close she was. After breathing her flowery scent, Merlin sat up and smiled at her. "Freya, what are you doing here?"

Arthur noticed how excited his friend was, so he took a decent step backwards.

Freya picked herself up from the floor and Merlin followed, placing a soft kiss on her lips when they stood properly.

Freya blushed a little but she smiled like the sun. "I came to Bristol to surprise you when I met Gaius this morning. He told me everything, I'm so glad you're okay."

Suddenly Freya seemed to remember something, then she looked over at Arthur, who tried to look on his phone in an indifferent manner but he kept glancing at the two still standing in the doorframe. "Hello, Arthur."

"Err…hello Freya." The blonde responded awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

Freya smiled at the blonde, then she turned around and whispered something in Merlin's ear. Arthur watched as the raven haired nodded, wondering what that was about.

"Oh, so you know about us now? I hope we won't get into trouble…" Freya said, looking a little bit worried.

"I'll be the one to take the most heat and that'll be okay." Merlin said, waving his hand dismissively. Then he added "In fact, Arthur and I were just about to go and tell the others. Would you like to come with us?"

Freya nodded and linked arms with Merlin, leaving the room with Arthur following close behind them.

They soon found the rest of the fencing team sitting in the park behind the hotel together with Gwen. They all were wearing serious and worried faces, Merlin could understand. After all that had happened…

"Hey guys." He greeted them with a grin.

They all looked up in surprise, stopping with whatever they were doing.

"Merlin, Arthur!" Gwaine called out, regaining his voice first of all. "And Merlin's girlfriend, I assume?" He said with a grin towards Freya who was still hanging onto Merlin's arm.

She blushed a little but smiled at all of them. "Hi, my name's Freya. Nice to meet you."

Before Gwaine could respond, Gwen spoke up. "Merlin, Arthur, does one of you care to explain what happened here?" She asked, her voice surprisingly fierce and her eyebrows challenging Gaius'.

Merlin took a deep breath and then started to explain…

…

…

A few minutes, more like an hour, later, Merlin had finished explaining (He also had to change his form, in order to stop Gwaine from saying 'Mate, you're even more drunk than I am.'). Arthur and Freya had helped him fill the gaps a little and Arthur learned some new things as well.

The reactions had been quite interesting.

After Gwaine had been convinced that, no, Merlin wasn't drunk, he had toppled over with laughter, slapping his leg. "Oh, that's just so damn fitting! Merlin as an angel, I couldn't imagine anyone else more suited!" He then had whined about that Merlin had never told him and when Merlin mentioned the angels' laws, he had just snorted and said "Who cares about laws?" But then he had slapped Merlin on the back, telling him that they were going to have a lot of fun with any kinds of pranks now.

Gwen had all the while just smiled and nodded, as if this wasn't taking her by surprise at all. She had even told "I always knew Merlin was special. The way he was always around Arthur, caring so much about him, even when they had just known each other for a few days... Everything makes sense now." Merlin was glad she took it so well. Her calmness rubbed off on him.

Lance's reaction had almost been the same, he had actually chuckled and shook his head with a smile when everyone else was still disbelieving. Merlin wondered if he actually knew more than he let them know…

Leon had been relatively silent all the while, but asking the right questions in the right moment. He seemed to be rationally overthinking all of this because he was one of the first to believe him. "I don't see why you should lie about this to us and I really appreciate it that you told us now, even if it maybe gets you into even deeper trouble. Maybe you shouldn't have…" Merlin had reassured him that it wouldn't change anything but the curly haired man hadn't seemed convinced.

Elyan had been more critical from the beginning, wanting to know every little detail, just so he could find anything he could asking even more questions about. Merlin assumed that he had a harder time believing it than the others, but he Percy had helped breaking Elyan's stubbornness.

Speaking of Percival, the big man had actually believed him from the very start. When all the others had still been skeptical ("Oh please, Merlin, we're not that stupid." "Yeah, he thinks he can fool us just because he's drunk!" "Oh shut up, Gwaine.") Percy hadn't had any doubts at all. He had just smiled and said "Why shouldn't we believe him? It's Merlin and when Merlin says he's an angel then he is one."

Currently, they were all sitting in the bus on their way back to the college.

Much to his irritation, Merlin had ended up sitting next to Gwaine and the brunet was already annoying him to no end. "Merlin, can you make apples out of nowhere?"

The raven haired sighed, glaring at Arthur who was smiling at him spitefully. "No, all I could do would let an apple tree grow."

"Would that take long?"

"No, it wouldn't but I would need soil for it."

"Can you do it now?"

"Gwaine, we're in a bus! Where would there be soil?!"

"Can't you just summon it?"

"DO YOU EXPECT ME TO SUMMON A LARGE PILE OF SOIL IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUS JUST SO YOU CAN HAVE AN APPLE?!"

"…"

"…"

"…Actually, yes."

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A/N: I don't know what's the deal with Gwaine and apples :D I hope you liked the chapter :) The next one will be the last…

Until next time~

By DarkChain