Point of No Return.

'How long ago were they killed?' Merlin asked one of the on-scene officers. He'd crouched down in the white forensics tent set up around the man, Aaron Ward, and studied him. The bad weather was going to be a problem for evidence. He could feel the rain weighing down the sky. It made the air cooler, wet, the wet earth already hanging heady and strong within it, even though it hadn't rained yet. The wind had picked up though, howling, whistling, clawing against the white fabric of the tent with vindictive intent.

'About an hour and a half, sir,' she said from outside. 'His watch appears to have broken in the struggle.'

'Witnesses?'

'None so far.'

He glanced up at her. 'It's the middle of a Friday and this area isn't that quiet.'

'I know that, but the first anyone knew that this had happened is when a girl came here for her lunch break. She was spending the day at the Weiner library working on her thesis. We cordoned everything off and called CID. We haven't touched the scene otherwise. Brought in forensics and all, but the victims- They're how the girl found them. Uniforms are canvassing the surrounding buildings now too, but it's been little more than a half hour at best.'

Her dark brown eyes were intelligent, young, close to his own age if not younger. She looked to the side when Arthur called her over. He was examining the woman, Isabella Hemming.

'Sir,' she looked at him, asking permission.

He nodded to her and focused back on the man. He was face down on the pavement, eyes open, mouth open, and lips bloody. His grey tweed coat bunched up at the back of his neck where a scarf and the thick collar pressed in and wrapped around skin and dark brown hair. An hour ago. One hour beforehand they had been alive. Merlin sighed into the mask, his temple throbbing with the beginnings of a bad headache. He leaned in closer and tried to imagine the struggle which had led to the slice marks in the man's hands, his forearms, which of the nine stab wounds had really killed him. Where the point of no return had been.

Magic had given him answers faster over the last year, but that wasn't an option. He almost hated himself for how reliant he'd become on his powers. If anything should have taught him different it was what Nimueh had done to him and Mordred.

Merlin rolled his neck in the suit and stepped out of the small protective tent to stretch. He turned to see Arthur heading off to the side, pulling his hood and mask down. Merlin ducked in to examine the woman's body. They knew their names already, but the distance at a first glance helped. The woman had a ring on her ring finger, either wedding or engagement. Also stabbed nine times, only she was facing up, eyes closed. Nine times, deep wounds from what he could tell, and close if not identical locations. Once in the side of the neck, below the collar bone, beside the sternum, twice in the right side, one wound in the right hand, and three times in the stomach. Defensive wounds again, only this time more. A lot more. Cuts in her cheeks, fingers, deep and down to the bone.

He stepped out and followed Arthur back out of the direct crime scene, under the tape, to where he was almost finished stripping the white skin and turning back into normal street-wear Arthur as he pulled on his coat.

'Hey,' he said. Arthur turned to him just as he pinged off the second shoe-cap. 'What do you think? Identical stab wounds, but Isabella has more defensive wounds.'

Arthur frowned. 'You'd have thought they'd scream for help or something at least. Even manage to call 999. That no one saw or heard anything is weird. They were given access to this park to scout it for a fashion shoot, so we should start with the company and see where that gets us.'

'You okay?' Merlin asked when Arthur's frown smoothed out into something expressionless and withdrawn. He was avoiding his stare.

'Stab wounds, you know. We should head over to Wales Bonner's main office,' he said and walked out of the park. Merlin tugged everything off as fast as he could without tripping and jogged after him, coat in hand. Was Arthur put off because he'd seen him get stabbed over four months before? He was stronger than that. Merlin shrugged on his coat in time for a gust of biting wind, eyes watering with it, and then he saw Nix. Arthur, ten feet ahead, stopped. Nix gave him a slow, sharp smile, that strange light visible in his eyes even from several feet away. The camera flash caught Merlin off-guard and he blinked the splotches out of his eyes. He turned to his side to see the thirty-something man with the camera.

'Hey,' Arthur shouted and walked over. 'This is an active crime scene. Get out of here before I have you locked up for interfering with a murder case.'

'I know my rights. You can't stop me,' the man leered and lifted his camera to take another snap. Merlin moved, hand against Arthur's chest to stop him, and walked until he was a foot away from the man.

'Which paper do you work for?'

'Evening Standard. I'm not going to let you drop like the others have. You're a massive story waiting to break. Accused of murder, stabbed into a coma, not to mention the rumours 'bout you being a little skew.'

Arthur narrowed his eyes. 'A little skew?'

'Yeah, you know,' the guy flashed a half-grin which collapsed just as quickly, eyes darting between them. 'Gay.'

'Bloody hell,' Arthur huffed.

Merlin knew on any other day that comment wouldn't have meant a thing, but after the last few weeks, after spending his night with Arthur properly, the second time to have every been with him that way? It took all he had to control a blush and the vitriol he felt crawl into his thoughts. 'Two people have been murdered. Report that, not me. I'm no one, understand?'

'Oi!' Arthur called back to one of the Uniforms. 'Escort this man away from the crime scene.'

The tawny-haired woman nodded and started towards the cameraman. He lifted his hands and took several steps back, just before he put the camera out front again. Merlin heard it click and when the Uniform picked up her pace he walked off without another word or glance. Arthur was standing closer to him, behind his right shoulder, but when he turned he saw Nix had moved.

He stood only three feet from them with an amused grin. 'A dateless bargain to engrossing death is sealed with a righteous kiss.'

'We don't have time for this,' Merlin said and was about to walk away when he realised Arthur hadn't made any motion to move as well. 'Arthur—'

'What are you doing here? Was this you?'

Nix gave him a calm look. 'The reporter or the murders?'

'Either.'

'Neither.'

Arthur's jaw clenched. 'I don't give a rat's arse what went on between you and Merlin-'

'Don't you, though?'

'All that matters is that you are a significant person of interest in a string of unusual deaths and are perverting the course of justice by—'

'Standing on a public street?' Nix asked with a small smile.

Merlin put a hand on Arthur's arm and stepped closer. 'What do you want, Nix?'

'To make sure you're all right, darling,' he replied.

'Darling?' Arthur mimicked with disbelief and venom.

'Arthur,' Merlin quickly said and tried to fill the words with control and strength. He had to believe that he could handle this. 'Give us some space for a minute.'

He gave him an incredulous wide-eyed stare. 'What?'

'Just trust me, okay?'

He walked forward, tapped Nix's arm as he passed and made sure to keep the touch as fleeting as possible. Arthur stayed put, glaring, and once Merlin knew they were out of ear shot he stopped. They had crossed the road and now stood by the row of Georgian Grade I listed buildings.

'Go away,' he told Nix, arms crossed against the biting wind.

'We went all the way here for you to say that?'

'Go,' he paused, 'away.'

'You were meant for greater things than that, Merlin,' he said and gestured over to Arthur. 'You know you were. That's why you confided in me on Christmas. That's why you came to me and not Arthur or Gwaine—'

Sickly heat sparked through Merlin's core. 'How do you know about Gwaine?'

Nix frowned gently then it smoothed away again. 'He was at my Christmas Eve party, remember?'

'We didn't use our real names.'

'I've done my research.'

He narrowed his eyes. 'I thought you only found out on Christmas Eve.'

Nix smiled wide and slow. 'Caught me.'

He didn't exactly feel on edge around Nix, he wasn't scared of him, if anything he felt curiosity. The kind of curiosity you felt when you heard something move in your house and you were supposed to be the only one there. Indulge the curiosity and you'd reach fear, concern, grab something heavy and go look. Let it go and you'd go on with your life, or so you'd hope. You could believe that nothing was ever there.

'I told you about the threads that connect us all,' Nix started, but Merlin sighed and cut in, 'I have to go.'

'You and Arthur have a peculiar thread.'

'Please stop.'

'Now you two aren't quite star-crossed lovers, but there's no denying you come from different and wildly opposed worlds,' he continued. Merlin wanted to not care about what he said, but he did. He hated that he did, but he cared and where that came from he had no idea. He loathed it, wanted to tear its throat out, snap its caring neck, gut it top to bottom. 'And Shakespeare made a point I feel is appropriate for your and DS Pendragon's budding relationship.'

'I don't need relationship advice from a stranger.'

Nix didn't seem to hear him. 'I'm paraphrasing here, but he said something like, that with a righteous kiss lips seal a dateless bargain to engrossing death.'

'So you said earlier. Very ominous and disturbing, so thanks for that, now goodbye.'

Nix scoffed. 'You must feel it.'

'Feel what?'

'That you and Arthur won't end well.'

Merlin's stomach twisted and struggled to swallow with how dry his throat was. It wasn't a feeling or premonition. He had every right to be scared that they wouldn't work. 'Another threat?'

'The truth, Merlin. We can change our fate, and I believe you had the chance and chose not to take it. I believe that you even felt it, something off, a disconnect, when you met him,' he explained. Merlin countered everything he said in his mind. It hadn't been a disconnect, it had been missing memories, a life together buried in time. It wasn't bad or good. It just was. 'You still chose him. The man from a world that will never understand. You might not know the date, but you struck a bargain with death, and I mean real death, when you chose him.'

'If I see you again I'm arresting you.'

'On what charges?'

'Harassment, stalking, obstruction of justice, interference with our investigation.'

'And what if I were to tell them we spent a night together on Christmas? That you were with me those three days helping plot how we'd evade any police interference?'

'They wouldn't believe you.'

'I have proof.'

'No, you don't.'

'Video and physical evidence. What video you might ask, well I'm a cautious man and protect myself by all means necessary, including surveillance in my own flat. Then there's your saliva on beer bottles and your hair fibres and blood in my flat.'

'How would you explain the blood?'

'You like it rough,' Nix said without hesitation, smiling to reveal a canine. It then smoothed out into something soft and close to charming. 'You're on a knife's edge, darling, and I'm the knife. No matter what you decide, which way you fall, and you will fall, you will be cut.'

Merlin tried to keep his expression blank, stern, but he felt it breaking. He turned around and walked towards Arthur, heart thumping, adrenaline making his hands shake as the wind rushed ice into his skin and thoughts.

'Let's go,' he said and took Arthur's hand to pull him along and away. He didn't care about where they were headed, just away. Electricity crackled through his skin where they touched and he managed to take a calming breath.

'Merlin, what's wrong?'

Arthur walked along with him and held his hand in return, squeezed it, and Merlin realised they'd made it to the imposing shadow of Senate House Library. The entire area was sharp with something old, large overhanging trees, dark wood, solid and strong architecture which stamped power into the air. It was quiet here at the intersection between Keppel and Malet street, the darkness making every sound sharper, making it feel closer and distant at the same time.

'Hey,' Arthur said and pulled them to the side of the pavement. Merlin stared past his shoulder at the weathered sandiness of the tiered library, at the dark and old trees which struck out of the pavement like a watch-guard. 'Talk to me. I don't need to explain that if you and Nix have interactions off-book it will compromise that investigation. So, talk.'

'I know that. That's why I'm avoiding him.'

'He said something that got to you.'

Merlin flicked his stare to the right and met Arthur's eyes. He could still smell him, feel his skin against his, hear his heart pound in his chest. Stepping forward he closed his eyes and kissed Arthur. There was that flutter in his stomach, the nerves he hadn't felt for over a year. They flooded into him again, and his whole body relaxed as they moved their lips and tongues against each others'. Arthur's hand pressed against the back of his head, the other slipping out of his hand to reach inside his coat to his waist.

When Merlin pulled back he took Arthur's hand again. Arthur was grinning at him, a new light in his eyes. They'd done that twice now, but this, this, was different. The first Merlin had wanted to cry, wanted to disappear into him, had thought he was going to die for him. This time the world was ahead. Dorocha, Cailleach, Nix/Alvarr, and unresolved magic issues aside that is.

Arthur's smile slipped a little. 'We should get back to work. The victims both worked for Wales Bonner. My guess is they were scouting out the park for a fashion shoot or something. Their HQ is on The Strand, I'll just figure out how to get there. We should go have a chat with them. Elyan and Percy are going to notify and talk with their families. Oh, we'll also need to head back to the Yard to reconvene.'

'Wait,' Merlin said when he started walking again, iPhone out and Citymapper lit up green as he searched for the best route. Arthur paused as the app loaded and looked up at him, clearly trying to kill his smile. 'Nix, what he said—'

'Yeah?'

'He said I struck a bargain with death when I chose you. That he's this knife that's going to cut me no matter what I do,' he said and pulled his hand back to cross his arms. He watched Arthur's expression close in on itself. 'It was an obvious threat, and he's definitely not mentally stable, but—'

'But?'

'It gave me this bad feeling.'

Arthur flashed a surprised smile. 'A healthy reaction to someone threatening you, Merlin.'

'It's more than that,' he added.

'Do you think he's right? About the death thing?'

'I have no idea,' Merlin said and sighed. 'It's not something we can understand, is it? Being here in the first place, it's all over our heads, isn't it?'

Arthur regarded him with a careful look. 'Do me a favour?'

'What?' he asked, apprehensive out of habit.

'Stay with me.'

Merlin frowned. 'Uh—'

'With Aredian only a few months ago and now this creep I think it's the smart thing to do,' Arthur explained and Merlin relaxed even more.

'You'll be my personal bodyguard?'

'I'll be a lot more than that,' he said with a dark look which broke into a toothy grin.

Merlin smiled at him. 'Yeah.'

'You'll stay round mine?'

'Yeah. Unless you want to stay with me and Gwaine—' he trailed off and a new wave of fear crashed back into his head, foamy and soaking and bitterly cold. 'Let's sort this out fast and go check on him, yeah?'

'Agreed.'

They walked to catch the next bus that would get them there, within fifteen minutes if they were lucky, and when the 68 pulled up they climbed in and kept close to one another on the bottom deck. It was always surreal. A few minutes ago in a suit examining murder victims, now on the bus with Arthur they could be anyone. Anything. No magic, no jumping from a balcony, no- He pushed distractions aside as best he could and focused on the case, focused on the pattern of Isabella's wounds, how they matched Aaron Ward's. A coroner's report would give them more detail, but the wounds had been precise, controlled, which said something about the attacker. If emotional it was containable, if not it had something colder as motivation. He focused on the way his abdomen twinged when he moved too quickly, stretched too high, how he could have died, how he forgot about it entirely when Arthur kissed the scar, when he moved against him. You like it rough.

'We're here,' Arthur said and Merlin blinked the haze out of his eyes. They stepped out into rain.

.

.

.

Will climbed off the motorbike behind him. 'She's up there?'

'Yeah.'

'And she's a witch?'

Mordred locked up his Yamaha YS125 in the parking bay next to his building. The rain had started well before they'd left and now it poured relentlessly as they got back to the building in Pimlico. He checked his watch to see 22:49. No wonder he was so out of it. They'd spent the entire night and nearly their entire Friday giving statement after statement, writing up reports which Marten insisted on, and getting Will double-checked at the Royal London Hospital. Will had plied him with question after question throughout, just like the officer from Scotland Yard, and the IPCC, and Commander Marten. Throw in the witness statement, his own unnecessary excessive check-over from the paramedics, and his mind was about to close off from everything except a soft bed. Shock had hit and gone, leaving him exhausted. He was beyond tired, beyond worry, beyond a lot of things. Morgana calling, Morgana being alive at all, wasn't one of them.

'Basically,' he said.

'And you're a wizard.'

'I guess,' he said after a long yawn.

'So Harry Potter—'

'Fiction.'

Mordred pulled off his helmet, ruffled up his hair, and led Will into the five storey cream terrace. The building was lit up by the halogen street lamps and one lamp hanging in the entrance before the door. It flickered on and bathed them in a clean yellowish light while he fished out his key. The shaking had thankfully stopped seven hours before.

'Accurate fiction?'

'Not really.'

'Still awesome.'

'Glad you think so, Will,' Mordred said, hid his smile, and led him inside to the lift.

'Why aren't you a crime fighting superhero if you have magic?'

'I'm figuring it out. We all are. I also have a job and a past,' he paused. He'd almost forgotten in the flurry of the day's events. Forgotten about the past, the soft ache in his chest just under the skin stained black by Morgana's spell, the fact he still hadn't seen Merlin.

'Tragic backstory?'

He sighed and pushed the 3. The lift doors slid shut. 'Will, you need to understand that this is a big situation. It's too much to explain tonight for a start and anything you know, anything you see or hear or do-' he stopped and drove his stare into the other man. 'You can't tell anyone. Ever.'

'Then it's a good thing the only person I'd care to tell is you,' Will said and Mordred's heart fluttered. The lift was small but filled with mirrors and light and he saw his reflection blush. 'Don't forget that we've got a mole in our operation, Commander Marten can be a massive tool, and most of my friends forget I exist when I disappear for months undercover. I haven't got a lot of trust or reliability in my life right now. Besides you.'

'I don't have a lot of friends either.'

'I'm not complaining. In our line of work they either wouldn't get it or they'd get killed in some revenge plot or taken hostage or something. Not being able to tell them anything is another point against it all,' Will explained. 'I'm just saying that you can trust me.'

Mordred stared at him. 'I'm sorry I've given you another secret to keep.'

'I'm upset you didn't share it sooner. Now,' he clapped his hands together, 'I'd love to meet the infamously presumed dead detective who committed patricide and psychologically tortured you.'

Heat flashed through his body. 'Shit, I'd forgotten all that stuff was published in the papers. You've known this whole time. And don't look so excited by it.'

Will watched him softly now. 'It's true? What she did to you?'

He wanted to say no. He wanted to be normal for him.

Mordred drew in a breath and shrugged. 'Yeah, to a degree. Magic was involved.'

'Do I get to beat the shit out of her?' he asked, calm and strangely serious.

The lift stopped and he walked out onto his floor. 'No.'

Will caught up with him. 'Don't tell me you're friends.'

'That past I mentioned?' Mordred said as they walked down the hallway. 'This is where it comes in.'

'Not even a kick in the shin? A barrage of insults maybe?'

Mordred watched his door get closer and his heartbeat quickened. 'Why be hostile at all? I've moved on. We all have.'

'There you go again. I know when you're lying, Leir. It's all in your voice and lips,' Will said and Mordred quirked a brow at him. 'What? I pay attention.'

The tightness was back in his chest, the weight of what he'd done, on the massive cracks in his relationship with Morgana, Merlin, everyone he'd ever cared about.

'Anyway,' Will huffed out into the silence. 'I can't help it if I want to exert my genetic caveman instinct to protect my mate.'

Mordred scrunched his face up. 'Gross. Please don't call me that.'

'What should I call you then? What are we?'

'You want us to be something?' he asked and stopped in front of his door. He took out the key, avoiding looking at Will, but the pull was strong. Will was staring, pointedly, with an expression that read obviously or really? or maybe come on, man. Mordred held off on unlocking the door. 'I've been distracted lately so haven't given it enough thought. I mean, I'd like to do it again.'

'Save my life?'

Mordred glanced down at his mouth, back up to his pale eyes, and licked his own lips at the memory.

'Kiss you,' he said as nonchalantly as he could manage.

Will nodded thoughtfully. 'I am a great kisser.'

He smiled at him. 'When we find the time we can go somewhere together. A date, maybe?'

'I'd like that,' Will said and mirrored his grin. Mordred felt fingers brush against his hand for a warm second. The weight, the cracks, hung between them. Secrets, darkness in his head and heart, but the warmth was still there. They still cared. They wanted each other, whatever that meant. Will cleared his throat and looked at the door. 'Now, stop stalling.'

Mordred sighed and turned the key in the lock. This was it. This was where worlds collided. The door opened. Will walked in ahead of him and out of sight. Mordred followed, locked the door, and heard Will call back to him from the living room.

'Yeah, I have a feeling she isn't here.'

He came up next to Will. 'What do you mean?'

Mordred's stomach dropped out at the mess in the room. The coffee table was broken, glass shattered across the floor, and the papers and folders from his research were scattered everywhere.

'I can't tell if there was a struggle or if she did this herself,' Will continued and walked further into the room to nudge some of the glass with his boot.

Mordred's heartbeat faltered as a bone-deep cold pulsed out from his chest. He coughed with the shock and pressed a hand over his heart.

Will glanced back at him. 'Mordred?'

Another faltered beat, thud-thump-thud. Another frozen pulse and he wheezed in a panicked breath. Will caught him when he dipped down after losing his sense of balance.

'Leir, man, what's going on?'

Thud-thump-thud. Faltered, slower this time, and his next exhale came out visible in the warm air. Frozen from the inside out.

Will pressed a hand to the nape of his neck to support him. 'That's definitely not normal.'

Thud.

One beat and then it stopped. It resonated through him as he sank to the ground. Will followed him down and slowed the drop. The ink burned on his chest, a pain he hadn't felt in months, months. Not since that day, not since the day Merlin had-

Everything faded. Colours muted, light strained out pale and thin, and sounds muffled, as the world around him was pulled into cold murky water. Mordred drew in a wet, choking breath, and felt another chest inhale in time with his own. He struggled as it filled his lungs with frost. When he let the breath go, frost and water and air, it left him numb and gasping for air that wasn't there. Shadows grew until they clouded his vision.

(Playlist for Point of No Return:

Homeostasis by Nostalghia

Break The Chain by IAMX

Light The Way by Mikky Ekko

Man With No Shadow by KAV

Dress by Taylor Swift

...

Junk by Kitten

Happiness - Single Mix by IAMX

Sleep Paralysis by Gabriel Bruce)