"You are aware we could've easily done this tomorrow morning? Fresh and early, just like we like," complained half heartedly the white haired man, sighing and kicking at some stones in the ground. He was tall and thin, yet his arms were l defined with slight muscle mass. His complexion was quite pale, so much so that his white skin and hair almost blended into one another.
"Magical artifacts are not going to up and leave on their own accord, you know?" He added.
"Ah, don't be like that Thusa, I'll get you something nice later. Something… something obscenely meaty," replied the other man, young and wiry and dark haired. At this statement, the albino looked up with much interest, making his companion laugh. "That does sound nice, doesn't it?"
"Quite," perked up the other, a little more lively now, "but I can wait for tomorrow morning, I'd love something nice for breakfast."
The raven haired grimaced good naturedly as he continued walking over the uneven terrain of the woods.
"Raw meat for breakfast, mhm, very appetizing," he said with fake gusto.
"We're getting me raw meat?" The white haired man sped up to the other's side, excitement coloring his expression.
"Yes," the young man laughed, "I'll try my best to find something good, Aithusa. I promise. Now give me a moment, I need to concentrate." He stopped, looking around, "we're close."
The dark haired closed his eyes and extended his hand into the air, breathing in the earthy scents of the forest. It had rained some days ago, he could tell. By the smell and the feeling of the earth as he extended his senses and delved in deep with the roots. His magic was one with the earth around them.
He felt a thump of a head on the space between his shoulder blades and he opened one golden eye to glance at his companion.
"Oh, sweet goddess, it's been so long since I had some real meat," Aithusa mumbled reverently.
"Well, we're feeling melodramatic today," the raven haired rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"It's late, Merlin! I'm tired. I'm being the right amount of dramatic with you dragging me around this forest at these hours," the albino buried his nose into the other's back as he whined.
"Thusa, it's not even sundown yet!"
"I need some sleep; I'm barely keeping on my feet as it is."
Merlin gave up, lowering his arm and hiding his face behind his hands. Aithusa was doing this on purpose, he knew it. The dragon turned human liked to make the warlock smile and laugh whenever he could, and he was quite obviously taking advantage of the warlock's good mood.
"You're impossible, I need to concentrate, you hairless beast," Merlin complained.
"Now who's being melodramatic? You could do this in your sleep if you wanted to," Aithusa huffed but finally relented, walking a little away to sit down against a tree. "I'll behave now, my lord," he added with a mocking short bow.
"Thank you," Merlin said pointedly, yet still smiling slightly.
The albino settled down in his place, breathing in the comforting aromas of the woodland, places like this reminded him of home. The forest was beautiful; despite how much trouble he'd been giving Merlin about it, he just enjoyed doing things in the day rather than the approaching dark. Morning people they might both be but, unlike the dragonlord, Aithusa wasn't fond of staying up for hours on end.
He looked at his kin's profile. It took a lot to make Merlin smile most days, life had been long for the both of them, and not particularly kind most of the time. But today had been a good day. A lot of days had been good ever since Merlin had felt the magical pulse calling to him a couple of weeks ago. They had followed it till they reached Adirondack Park, in the USA.
It was unusual, finding these small glimpses of old magic. It sparked something in Merlin like nothing else could, bringing a little bit of life back into his eyes, a bit of the youthfulness he appeared in body. Aithusa treasured it and hoped there would always be things in the world to feed the fire of his brother's heart.
The white haired man vanished the bittersweet thoughts from his mind when Merlin made a thoughtful noise. The gold faded from his eyes and revealed cerulean blue.
"Come, it's this way," he said. Aithusa sprinted up and reached the young man swiftly.
"Do you think it's a creature? I hope it is," the white haired asked in his deep yet soft voice, trying not to let his excitement get too big. They had hoped before and been disappointed, and every single time it had hurt as much as the last.
"I am still not sure. The magic is quite odd, could be anything. But it's also… very old."
"That's good, right?" Aithusa asked, but the young man looked down, a bit of his usual somber self back.
"Perhaps," Merlin agreed halfheartedly.
"It is good, I know it," the albino took the other's hand for a moment and gave it an encouraging squeeze, "old is good. Like us." Aithusa straightened to his full height, proud. He was used to slouching a little so he could talk to Merlin face to face, despite not being that much taller than the other. When he'd been a dragon, it had always been the way he talked with the other; just lowering his neck to reach Merlin's eye level. That had unfortunately passed over to his human body, and the warlock had a hard time making Aithusa straighten up.
Merlin risked a small smile and squeezed the white hand back. Wary of hoping but willing to try nonetheless.
The young man stopped in the middle of a cluster of trees and hummed in thought.
"I feel it too. It must be here," Aithusa answered the warlock's silent musings.
Merlin leaned down and began feeling around the earth until he touched something with a metallic edge. A frown crept over his features, half thoughtful, half unhappy. It was hard trying to pull it out.
"Onlīes folde," he told the earth gently and the dirt loosened, eager to obey him. "This…"
"What is that?" Aithusa leaned forward to get a better glimpse of the strange cubic thing the other was holding. It did look old, but also new, like someone had used parts of different objects to make it.
"This doesn't… it doesn't feel right." Merlin's blue eyes widened, "Aithusa, opiso!" he shouted. His eyes sparked into gold when the object in his hand burst out a crackling wave of energy.
The albino backed away swiftly and instinctually, as he heard the tongue of their kind and the subtle order it carried. But he stopped at once when Merlin let out a painful scream.
"Emrys!" Aithusa called worried, and turned with effort, trying to get back. It had not been a command, but it had carried weight, it always did when Merlin spoke in their language. "Emrys!"
"Kryfthéte!" Was the answer he got, uttered with pained inflection. But this carried the heavy weight of a command. The albino felt it pressing into him.
"No," Aithusa choked out, wanting more than anything in the world to go to Merlin and figure out what was going on and help him.
"Aithusa, kryfthéte euthýs!" The pale man gasped. The command was so clear, it shocked through him, that moment was enough for the Dragonlord's voice to steep into his bones and sink in. There was nothing more for Aithusa to do but comply.
When he opened his gray blue eyes again, the world was big around him and he was soft and round and small.
Only moments before he had been a human man. Now, he was a large white cat.
He heard them then, voices approaching.
Aithusa shook his new form, and hid as was commanded, but crept close again to where Merlin had fallen to the ground. He hid in the underbrush, waiting as multiple footsteps approached. From there he could see his brother and lord, he was writhing in pain, the strange square thrown a few paces from him. He seemed to be recovering from whatever it had done to him though.
"Come on Merlin, get up," Aithusa tried to say, but from his lips only small meows came. It was harder speaking into Merlin's mind when he was in such a form, things felt one step too disconnected. He tried still, pressing his disjointed magic to the other's direction. "Get up," he sent through mind speak.
The raven haired man opened his eyes and searched the direction of the meows. When Merlin's eyes connected with Aithusa's, the now cat could see how utterly terrified he was. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything a 'twiping' sound flew through the air and hit the warlock on the shoulder.
Merlin screamed as a shock of electricity ran through him.
Men came out from the shadows. Guns and weapons at hand, all trailed on the downed sorcerer.
"Fuck, I can't believe it worked," someone said.
They congratulated each other quickly but soon got to work in an efficient manner. Slapping a heavy collar around Merlin's neck made of heavy stone and iron. The young man struggled but he seemed lethargic and weak. The apparatus on his shoulder dispensed electric shocks every minute or so.
They dressed in black and seemed militaristic. A symbol, like a skull with tentacles, decorated some of their gear in the subtlest of ways. A small metal pin in a shoe, an emblem on a watch. Nothing too noticeable. But in Aithusa's perceptive eyes everything was clear.
They began dragging his body away and quickly the white cat began to follow. He couldn't lose their trail and in this form, keeping up with their scent would be much easier. But then again, there was nothing in the world that could stop him from knowing where Merlin was. His kin was like a compass that was tied to Aithusa's own heart, he only needed to follow the cord that connected them and follow it to the other part of his soul.
Merlin's eyes meet with his again, catching a glimpse of Aithusa sneaking around, the terror inundating them was almost unbearable to the cat.
"No," the dragonlord gasped and then screamed again, stronger than he had the previous times. "Keleúo se, ápósxou, min ixneúse me! Apagoreúo soi! Min áfikou moi poté!"
Aithusa's heart sank.
One of the men punched Merlin in the face with devastating force. It disoriented the warlock, but he did not stop speaking. Mumbling the command over and over again in the speech of their kind, even though he was barely conscious enough.
The strange men dragged Merlin away, but Aithusa did not move. He trembled in place, shocked, feeling like his heart was squeezing so bad it was going to burst.
There was nothing in the world that could stop Aithusa from following his soul to Merlin's own. Nothing except Merlin himself.
Merlin had just forbidden him from going after him.
Aithusa felt like he was going to die.
Spells:
· Onlīes folde: Let go earth / lit. release (commanding) earth.
Dragon speak:
· Aithusa, opiso!: Aithusa back!:
· Kryfthéte!: Hide!
· Aithusa, kryfthéte euthýs!: Aithusa, hide now.
· Keleúo se, ápósxou, min ixneúse me! Apagoreúo soi! Min áfikou moi poté!: I command you stay away, do not look for me. I forbid you. You can never come for me.
Abril: Welcome be you all to my very self-indulgent crossover (that by this point has gained so much backstory it should probably stop being a crossover and be its own thing but whatever, we're going to ignore that).
I want to state first that while I am working on the rest of the story (and already have 3 chapters all completely done and 2 more on the way), the rest is not yet ready to be published so I probably won't update with any sort of frequency. But, feel free to talk about it with me, the chapters are underway, so have no fear they'll see the light (:
I made some designs for human!Aithusa if you want to check them out on my art Tumblr (the-red-butterfly) (if you write Aithusa is should appear, it's the only fanart I have of him) or insta ( the. red. butterfly ) without spaces.
And thanks a lot to Phoenyx-Fyre-Writer for helping beta some parts of this story, even though she knows not terribly much of either Avengers or Merlin XD. And a thank you to Azalea Lily Potter for joining the boat and helping with the beta work too!