A/N: So... yeah. I think I'm in a recharging phase right now (except I keep trying to use the batteries before they're ready and now I have a bunch of random story bits lying around). Anyway, I managed to finish this little thing (yes, I jumped the line and wound up writing whump anyway). I'm sure some of you recognize which movie I was thinking about today :)
Prompt: "Merlin is a fairy." (Sorry, I don't remember who asked for this. Someone on HoC.)
"I'm a fairy."
Arthur stared at the manservant as if he'd just begun braiding his nose hair. The idiot looked deadly serious, but...
"Everyone knows fairies are a myth." Merlin let out a pained grunt and clutched at his chest dramatically. The royal rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the papers on his desk. "I haven't believed in them since I was shorter than your boots."
"Arth-"
"And even if they were real-" a choking noise "they would be evil like all other magic creatures..."
"Stop-"
"...so I would have to hunt them all down and kill them. But that's only if they existed; which they don't."
There was a dull thud and the sound of flesh slapping stone.
"Merlin?" The servant was nowhere in sight – until he stood up.
Spotting his friend collapsed face-first on the floor, one arm pinned uncomfortably beneath his chest, Arthur crossed the space in a flash.
"Merlin, what happened?" The younger man was unresponsive, completely limp as his body was turned over. What-?
An unwelcome memory came to him, something a nursemaid had told him once as a child.
Every time someone says 'I do not believe in fairies', somewhere there's a fairy that falls down dead.
That maid hadn't been around long and he'd dismissed her flights of fancy, but what if...
"No. Merlin, you cannot be dead." He shook the other man none-to-gently but still there was no reaction.
What have I done?