I do not own Merlin.
When Merlin woke up to find himself on the floor in Camelot's throne room, he could honestly say it wasn't the strangest thing to have happened to him. Considering he once woke up in Morgana's hovel to her tending to his wound he could also say it wasn't the worst place to wake up in. He looked around at the familiar throne room and noticed a few changes from that last time he was there. The biggest difference was this big piece of cloth draped on the wall. He also saw a huge banquet table along the side of the room opposite the windows filled with delicious-looking food. There were also huge benches and chairs scattered about the room with what looks like bedding material attached to it. The benches and chairs all faced where the throne would be if the cloth draped on the wall wasn't covering it.
While it looked as if they were in the throne room Merlin knew and tolerated, this place didn't quite feel right. There were little things out of place or missing, things you would only know if you spent a lot of time in the room or say had to scrub the tile, as Arthur had made him do when he was particularly angry with him. These observations led him to believe he wasn't in Camelot. He tried to remember how he got to this strange place that looked like Camelot but wasn't. Merlin couldn't remember.
The last thing he remembered was visiting his mother after the Disir incident. He was upset over having to lie to Arthur, especially about the very nature of magic itself. He had done what he thought was best at the time, but it blew up in his face, as it had so often in the past. Whenever he tried to prevent horrible things from happening, it only seemed to cause them. While Gaius was always there to help him through these feelings most of the time, recently he began to doubt his destiny. Could Arthur really accept magic after all it has put him through? Even if he did would he ever forgive Merlin for all the lies? Would he ever trust him again?
A groan drew his gaze toward the huge wooden doors of the throne room. He realized his mother and Gaius had appeared. They were sprawled on the floor as he had been.
"Is everyone ok?" He asked. "Mum? Gaius?" He quickly walked over to help his mum up and to make sure she was unhurt despite her assurances she was okay.
"I'm fine Merlin however I cannot say this situation is ideal for a man as old as I. Be a dear and help me up will you?" Gaius answered. Merlin rushed over to help him up and then continued surveying the room.
To his relief and confusion, he saw Arthur, Gwen, and Elyan had appeared. Then seconds later, so did Gwaine, Percival, Leon, and, to Merlin's complete shock, Lancelot.
They were all on the floor like him, scattered about the throne room. He was the farthest in the room and therefore could see the entire place. He felt he was missing something vastly important and couldn't comprehend the storm of emotions he felt at seeing all of them. He felt like he hadn't seen them in ages. He didn't think he would miss everyone from Camelot after just a few short days he'd been traveling to Ealdor. He shook these thoughts from his mind as he reminded himself of their current predicament. He got up and continued to survey the room as did everyone else. There was a smaller table in the room next to the huge table with food. This table was covered with brown knapsacks for everyone, each labeled for a person in the room.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Merlin.
"I'm fine…. Guinevere? Are you okay?" asked Arthur with a look at Lancelot. Arthur felt many different emotions seeing him. He was glad he was here but still hurt by what had happened. Regardless, he had other concerns at the moment. Arthur rushed up to her side to check on Gwen and help her up from the floor.
"I'm fine," replied Guinevere. "Elyan?" she inquired.
"Here and unhurt," Elyan answered. He too looked worried about Gwen until he laid eyes on her and confirmed she was unhurt.
"I'm fine too in case anyone was going to ask about me," said Gwaine. He picked himself up and glanced around.
"I'm good too," claimed Percival.
"And me," said Lancelot.
There was silence for a second.
Lancelot glanced up at the silence and studied everyone's faces.
"Lancelot?" Merlin asked wearily. Gwen gave a gasp of surprise. Arthur pulled Gwen a little closer and studied Lancelot warily. Gwen clung to Arthur and still didn't believe her eyes. She wasn't sure how to feel with him here after everything. All she knew was she was still sorry that Arthur got hurt.
"Merlin?" Lancelot looked at him and, at that moment, Merlin knew this was the true Lancelot, not what he had seen the last time they crossed paths. Lancelot broke the eye contact and looked at the surroundings. "How did we get here? The last thing I remember was…well I'm sure you remember the veil? Did it work was everyone alright then?"
Lancelot looked at the rest of the knights who were staring at him open-mouthed. "Um is everyone okay? What?" He didn't understand why everyone was looking at him like that. He thought Merlin of all people would have the answers, but he looked as surprised as everyone else.
Merlin stepped forward and hugged him. "Lancelot it's been a long time. It's hard to explain but yes your sacrifice through the veil worked even if it was incredibly stupid."
Merlin stepped back out of the hug, "I'm not sure how to put this Lance but you, you died at the veil. Then you sort of came back but it wasn't really you… but you're back now. Here in this odd place with us so I count that as a good thing."
"Wait," Arthur said looking at Lancelot with suspicion, "What do you mean, it wasn't really him?"
"Um long story?" said Merlin ruffling his fingers through hair before looking helplessly at Gaius who gave him a thoroughly unhelpful look. He turned to Arthur and Gwen and Lance and said, "Lancelot you won't remember the details, but you came back sometime after the veil, but not as yourself. Gaius and I believe some dark magic was used to bring you back somehow and you were enchanted to do some… bad things." Merlin looked carefully at Gwen before returning to Lancelot, "It worked but then you, um, kind of died again once your purpose was served. It's also Gaius', and mine for that matter, opinion that he did something to Gwen as well." Merlin finished finally returning to look at Gwen and Arthur sheepishly.
"How do you know that he was definitely enchanted? And is there a reason you didn't mention this before?" Arthur said tightly. Those horrible weeks without Gwen had nearly been the worst of his life, save the time after his father's death. Now all of that pain was brought to the front of his mind and it turns out there was more to the story.
"Well at the time we didn't really have any proof, and after the fact you would never let me talk about Gwen to bring up my theories. You thought Lancelot had you know, offed, himself and Gwen wasn't there so I couldn't ask her any questions either. But when she came back, she told me Lancelot had given her a bracelet and once she was in the cells, she threw it off. After she did that, she said she just felt terrible. I couldn't find the bracelet, but I believed her of course. However, I didn't believe the Lancelot I knew would give her an enchanted bracelet. Not to mention of course he wouldn't know where to get such an item. After everything I didn't want to open old wounds, so I never said anything." said Merlin shrugging.
"I did what exactly?" said Lancelot confused. Nobody answered him. He didn't like the pitying looks he was receiving but decided maybe he didn't want the answer. They did have other things to worry about at the moment.
"I guess what's done is done," said Gwen eyeing Arthur carefully. "It's good to have you back Lancelot." She was beyond happy that she hadn't betrayed Arthur of her own free will. However, the pain of the situation was still real to both her and Arthur. He had seen her kissing Lancelot right after he proposed to her. She had felt the agonizing pain of abandonment and rejection. Nothing could change that but now that her name was cleared, they could move forward and heal even better than before.
Arthur let go of Gwen and walked carefully to Lancelot. He gave Lancelot a searching look before he punched him in the shoulder and walked back to Gwen's side.
"Welcome back Lancelot," said Arthur. He was never one for overly emotional speeches or gestures. Arthur didn't know what to say now that the truth was out. He wished they would have figured this out ages ago but he couldn't fault Merlin. He'd been furious when Gwen was banished and had all but banished the name from his presence. He wouldn't have been open to discussing this theory, especially with no proof.
He pulled Gwen aside from the others, towards the table of food, and said, "I forgave you a long time ago, but it seems I should have asked for your forgiveness. I knew my feelings and should have trusted yours as well."
Gwen gave Arthur a quick kiss on the lips and said, "It's okay Arthur. We moved past this a long time ago. I don't want to open old wounds again but I'm glad the truth has finally come out." They gave each other a soft hug before returning to the others.
"Well, that wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be," said Gwaine to the other knights who watched this exchange. Percival walked over and gave Lancelot a big hug and the rest of the knights followed.
"We are missing someone. Where is Mordred?" asked Arthur. He had started to see the knight as one of his best knights and worthy of being in his inner circle. It seemed as if whoever brought them here had brought everyone else, why not Mordred?
Merlin wasn't sure how to feel about Arthur's worry over the druid boy. He was happy to see that Arthur cared so much about a druid, even if Arthur didn't know he was a druid. However, Merlin would never stop worrying about the potential ramifications of Mordred's relationship with Arthur.
"There is no sign of him sire," said Leon. Leon, like all of the knights, had grown to care about the boy. They hoped he hadn't come to any harm when they got transported here. This seemed like the kind of adventure he was supposed to be on. They all noticed his absence.
"I guess he didn't get the invite," said Gwaine.
"Okay then, I guess now that nearly everyone is accounted for, does anyone know where we are?" asked Arthur.
The return of Lancelot and the noticeably absent Mordred had momentarily distracted everyone from their current predicament.
Everyone glanced around the room and noticed the same things Merlin had. The benches, chairs, the tables of food, and the brown knapsacks with everyone's name on it.
"Aren't we in the throne room?" said Elyan looking around at the doors and huge windows.
"No," said Leon.
"Not exactly," said Arthur. "But it does look quite identical. This place is like a perfect twisted version of the throne room."
Arthur looked around carefully, "These double wooden doors should have several scratches on them that have never been polished away, same with the stone floor. Plus, it feels wrong. We aren't in the throne room unless someone has magically made all these things perfect. Percival and Elyan look outside the windows and tell me what you see."
They walked over to the windows at once but said nothing. They looked at each other and grimaced.
"Well?" asked Leon.
"It's just white," said Percival.
"What do you mean it's just white? You mean the sun is blinding your poor sensitive eyes?" said Gwaine smiling while walking towards the window to see. Everyone followed suit.
It was pure white outside. Not another spec of color and no town below. Merlin knew at once that something magical was going on. He had no idea how someone had enough magic to do this but this wasn't some cheap trick.
"Okay," said Gwaine uncertainly before forcing a smile and walking over to the tables with food and the bags.
"This must be magical sire, I don't see any other way around it," said Gaius.
"I'd have to agree Gaius. Knights we must be on alert," said Arthur. "We have no idea what we could be facing."
"But where are we then if not in Camelot?" asked Hunith looking at Merlin.
Merlin shrugged. This place felt oddly familiar. Merlin had the odd sense of familiarity without any of the recognition of where exactly they were.
"What's the last thing any of you remember?" asked Lancelot. He wasn't sure how much time had passed from the last time he saw them, but he was guessing it was a lot more than a few days.
"I can remember encountering the Disir and being worried about Mordred. But then we returned home, and he was fine," said Arthur. "Things had been normal for a few days after that, nothing interesting."
"I was visiting mum," said Merlin. "That was just after the Disir." He remembered the Disir incident with crystal clarity. It was why he decided to leave the city for a few days, to clear his head.
"Same here sire," said Leon. "The last thing I remember is a few days past Mordred's injury."
Confirmations went up with the rest of the knights that the last thing they remembered was a normal day in Camelot, just after the encounter with the Disir.
Hunith remembered her son had been visiting, he'd been feeling a bit down. He told her about the terrible position he had been in regarding Mordred and the Disir and how he knew now he'd made the wrong decision. She tried to cheer him up by telling him there was time to fix it, but she wasn't sure he took her words to heart.
"Guess we are staying here then," Gwaine said in response to seeing the bag with his name on it. He opened it and noticed that it had everything he would need. It had his personal possessions that he took anywhere on a mission. He saw his flask of course and his envelope of letters and sigil that no one else but him knew about. Merlin knew about his sigil but not the letters and their significance.
"Whoever got our stuff really took their time and knows us really well. Creepily well," muttered Gwaine.
Merlin gave him a look as if he heard that, but Gwaine shrugged it off.
Merlin walked over the bags and found his. His was somehow bigger on the inside. He frowned, that was impossible.
Merlin also noticed the dragon figurine his father had given him just before he died. He wondered how someone could know its value to him and began to realize that since this person knew a lot about them, did that mean that whoever brought them here knew about his magic? How much did they know exactly and what did they intend to do with the information they seemed to have at their disposal?
Then he saw his magic book. He froze. Whoever or whatever had brought him here, knew about him somehow. This couldn't be good. He could only hope, since no one had any signs of injury, that the person who kidnapped them wasn't out to hurt them.
The others had taken the time to look through their bags and had varying degrees of shock and confusion displayed across their faces. They all had their personal items there with them and items they had never told anyone about.
Merlin was snapped out of his reverie by a noise just outside the room. He turned and was thankful he was now near the door in case he needed to defend everyone from another threat.
The big wooden doors opened.
A man entered who was dressed in robes that Merlin recognized as Druid. He had the typical druid symbols on his hands that Merlin recognized. The man seemed to have a wise air about him but also had the weariness that is present in someone who has been through a lot. The man looked at all of them and Merlin didn't get the impression he was going to do them any harm. Pahoren walked to the center of the room standing just before the huge piece of cloth.
Merlin relaxed a little bit and looked at Arthur to see his reaction. Arthur looked more confused than angry and didn't look like he was going to chop the druid head off. Merlin decided to take that as a good sign.
"Who are you and why have you brought us here?" demanded Arthur in his trademark commanding tone. He had perfected it over the years as a necessity though he didn't enjoy using it, much.
"My name is Pahoren, and I mean no one here any harm. I apologize for the abrupt transfer, but it couldn't be helped. I brought you all here so that you can learn more about each other and maybe learn something about yourselves along the way. There are things you all need to know about each other. Here we can hopefully clear some misunderstandings and right some wrongs. I know this isn't how you thought your day would go however if this goes wrong it could have catastrophic effects through the ages. So please keep an open mind," he said gravely.
Merlin was confused. This druid brought them here to learn more about each other? There were specific things Merlin didn't want people to know about. Merlin also didn't like the ominous and grave tone Pahoren was using. He sounded sad and tired. That didn't bode well.
"So, you know no pressure," said Gwaine weakly. He had his fair share of secrets he didn't want the others to know. For one, no one but Merlin knew the truth about his lineage. He was sure the people here wouldn't really care about his lineage but that didn't stop his worry that they would treat him differently because of it. He was always the carefree and laid-back knight. He was the low-class commoner trash among the rest of them, especially Uther's knights in Camelot. While he wasn't the only non-noble knight, he became one of the biggest symbols for change because of his actions.
"What do you mean? All the people in this room are like family and now you are telling me I don't know them as well as I think? And if you wanted us all to get to know each other, then why did you forget Mordred?" Arthur asked confused. He looked at the others but returned to face Pahoren with a frown. Arthur had known these people for many years. They were his closest friends and confidants, Mordred recently included. Why on earth would this Pahoren feel the need to drag them here to get to know each other better?
Merlin knew exactly why Mordred wasn't included here. The absence of Mordred did make him feel slightly better, even if he felt guilty about it. However, he was still wary about this whole situation.
"All will be revealed soon," replied Pahoren mysteriously. "However, transporting you here takes energy out of you so please gather some food and get seated." He gestured to the benches scattered about the room. Nobody moved. Merlin thought about just grabbing a seat, but he knew he couldn't make the first move here.
"And we should trust you why?" said Elyan warily. He'd seen his fair share of magic and wasn't the biggest fan.
"Just know I have the same goal as Emrys, and I care about the future of Albion," said Pahoren. This was enough for Merlin. Though he was sure half the people here had no idea what he was talking about. Pahoren hadn't harmed any of them so far and Merlin believed he was being honest about his intentions. Merlin liked to believe over the years that he had become a good judge of character.
"Who is this Emrys and what is Albion and what does any of that have to do with us?" asked Arthur. He looked to Gaius for answers and for once found his physician at a loss for words. Gaius had no clue where this was going but he didn't like the sound of it. He pretended not to notice Arthur looking at him to avoid answering.
"Gaius," Gwen prompted. It was obvious to Gwen that Gaius knew something, and she hoped he would be willing to share. Though she knew Gaius had Camelot's best interest at heart, he often kept things to himself when he thought it was best. She wondered why he wanted to keep this information to himself.
"In the simplest terms for right now, Emrys is the protector of Camelot," said Pahoren. "It's important you learn this. I only have Camelot's best interest at heart."
"And we are just to trust your word?" asked Leon.
"I haven't heard of this Emrys, how can he be protecting Camelot?" asked Arthur. The name Emrys did ring a bell for some reason, but he couldn't remember specifics.
"It's a long story but Emrys is currently in hiding, which is why you don't know who he is. He has been protecting Camelot for many years and only has your best interests at heart Arthur. Sir Leon I, unfortunately, don't have definitive proof right now but in a few moments, all will be clear. Please take a moment to gather yourselves and we will begin," said Pahoren.
Merlin didn't like the amount of information Pahoren had on him. He really didn't like the fact that Pahoren was alluding to his secret. He wasn't sure Arthur was ready to know about the prophecy or its implications. He guessed it would be nice for Arthur to finally find out what he was destined for in a more neutral environment, if you could call nowhere neutral. Merlin always wondered if Arthur had ever heard of the prophecy before, Merlin certainly didn't want to be the one to tell him.
He was hoping Pahoren was talking about getting to know each other better by talking about childhood memories or fears. He had a sinking feeling that wasn't what Pahoren was talking about. He checked Arthur's reaction and saw him relent.
Looks like they were doing this.
Hey! This is my first story on here! Please review! Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the story! I've had this take on this idea for a while now, so I thought it was time I posted it.
2/27/22 Hi guys finally coming back to this and changing some things. I've got new ideas for the way I want this to go. I'm having them watch the memories and having people react. I'm going to format them differently from the transcripts though.