Both brothers sat in silence that evening, both facing each other, the fire crackling between them, goblets of red wine resting in their hands. Arthur looked up at Merlin, his brother was currently staring into the hearth, within the last day he had seen a side of Merlin he had never witnessed before. His brother had acted cruelly, had used his magic in the most malicious way, in his fury he had tortured Edwin in the most brutally, without so much as touching him.

In the end when he saw the man was close to losing his life he had intervened. Merlin! Stop! You are killing him. He will never forget the cold, hard look in his brother's gold-rimmed eyes when he had turned to face him, his hand still outstretched keeping the other sorcerer pinned to the far wall gasping in pain. The Merlin he knew and loved was lost in the emptiness of that gaze. Arthur had not let what he saw deter him, he moved closer, wrapped his fingers around his twin's outstretched wrist and implored him to come back, not to let his pain and anger overwhelm his good heart and fair judgement.

Whether it was his desperate need to save his brother, or the unique bond connecting them or just the logic of his words, he didn't know, all he understood was that he had managed to pull his brother back from the darkness. Arthur learned something about the nature of magic through this entire experience that had never occurred to him before.

Magic was a tool, it was the sorcerers intent of its use that mattered. He had seen the same man sitting morosely before him now, both save a life and almost take another using that same tool within the span of a day. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that". His twin's voice jolted him out of his internal musings. Arthur looked into his brother's pained gaze and had the sudden urge to envelope the man in his arms just as he had done countless times when they were children.

Arthur smiled at the man, "You were reasonably angry Merlin, father and even I have done much worse in fits of rage. Father uses his authority to vent, I use my sword and you use your magic, that's all the difference I see. The only thing we can hope for is that the mistakes we make in our rage do not follow us for the rest of our days".

Merlin sat up straighter and stared at his brother in wonder. By the Triple Goddess! Does he even realize how close he has come to understand the true nature of things? Oh, Arthur if you only knew the true extent of the damage our father's rage has already caused.

"It doesn't make what I did right Arthur".

"I'm the one that brought him to you, I knew there was a good chance you were going to lash out and part of me hoped you would". Merlin really looked at his brother "I felt helpless when I saw Morgana and when you told me it was a sorcerer who caused it… I can't imagine what would have happened if you had not been there. She could have died, he could have succeeded in his intention to take revenge against our father".

In his grief, Merlin had forgotten that Arthur loved Morgana too, not in the same way he did, but still. "I am sorry you felt that way Arthur but as you said before; we cannot let our rage override our good judgment. Both our roles in this destiny are too important for us to allow this to happen". Both of them fell into a companionable silence again.

Merlin took a sip of his wine contemplating what Arthur had expressed, his eyes widened, if he could learn the sword, maybe… "Arthur"? Arthur returned to meet his brothers gaze "it's possible. I could teach you to defend against Magic".

His brother responded in surprise "really"?

"It is a basic form of defense, it takes a bit of focus is all".

"Merlin I don't have magic like you and I've heard it takes years of study".

"The ability to use magic comes from an innate human potential. Those with more potential are able to wield higher forms of magic and those with lower potential can use the basic forms. Many druids born with low magical potential can still use it to defend themselves and heal and those with stronger potential can use spells, sense threats even communicate with other magic users through their minds".

"Wait magic users can communicate through their minds"?

Merlin smirked at his brother's question "Gaius and I do it all the time". Arthur looked at him stunned. "If you have even the basic potential then we could find a way to use it to our advantage".

"Alright... so how would we know"?

Merlin remained silent as he gently put his goblet on the floor and moved from his chair until he was in front of his twin. Arthur now looked up at his brother curiously as he gently placed his palms on either side of Arthur's head. "Do you trust me"? He asked and Arthur raised an eyebrow at him. Chucking, Merlin continued; closing his eyes he let his magic flow through his brother. Arthur gasped at the sensation, it felt like he was being enveloped by a rush of warmth, an invisible wave flooding him...

It took Merlin a while but eventually, he found it, instead of the expected potential however what he found was a small flicker of innate magic, much like his own. A dying candle flame compared to Morgana's bonfire and his inferno, yet significant enough for his brother to be able to wield at least defensively. There was something about its nature though, that sparked Merlin's curiosity. As a test, Merlin pushed against it with his magic and to his surprise the flame caved in on itself and disappeared. Merlin knew it was still there but the only power he sensed was… his own…

Merlin opened his eyes and stepped away, looking at his brother in wonder. "Merlin"? Arthur asked worriedly. "What is it"? Arthur was a warrior and capable of using great force in battle, usually initiating attacks when at the head of an army but when alone and faced with a powerful enemy Arthur's instinctual response had always been stealth and deception, it's only natural his magic reflected those same qualities. When faced with the power of Emrys instead of confronting the opponent it had camouflaged itself and hid under Merlin's own magic. "Merlin"! His brother's voice forced him to focus.

"You have a very interesting gift Arthur".

"What do you mean"?

"You have unique magic and I think with enough practice we could definitely call it to our aid. The only question that remains is do you want to learn to wield it"?

Arthur looked at his brother, ever since he learned about Merlin's magic he felt so dependent on him. All his training and battle preparation was for naught when it came to magical threats they faced. To have his own power, stand on his own and not have to rely on Merlin's protection all the time… Determination filling his gaze as he replied, " teach me".

It had been months since Arthur's training began and Merlin was quite impressed with the significant progress his brother was making. He could now, to a certain extent build effective shields to deflect direct magical attacks. His true talent, however, still lay with stealth, Arthur could easily manage silencing spells and now they were working on illusion and cloaking. Due to his magic being weak however, he still had trouble keeping the spells up for too long and got quite exhausted using them. They couldn't do much about it at the moment though he felt it was bound to get better the more they practiced.