mortality clings to butterfly wings - lit-beyond-measure & sourdough-morbread
Title: mortality clings to butterfly wings
Author: lit-beyond-measure
Artist: sourdough-morbread
Pairings/Characters: Gwaine/Merlin, Gwen/Leon, Aithusa, Percival, Mithian, Gaius, Lot, Drea
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 88,100
Warnings: This fic does deal a lot with depictions of grief and references past character deaths frequently. There are no graphic depictions of actual death, but there is some rather graphic wound stitching in chapter seven, though I have put a warning at the start of the chapter and the section can be skipped. Some graphic descriptions of injuries at the end of chapter six are also present.
Author's notes: Although it can be a habit of a writer to pour pieces of themselves into everything they create, this fic has a few more fragments than usual and has been somewhat of an outlet for me over the past few months. It would not have been possible without the support of my beta readers, Jess and Laura, and the (affectionate) fighting in the Google Doc and I owe you both my life.
Thank you for all your help since April and putting up with me when I was worrying about deadlines, you both have been absolutely wonderful <33
Thank you as well to Mor for offering to complete such a stunning piece for this fic, especially when you’ve had so much going on, words can’t convey how deeply appreciative and touched I am and will continue to be. I will never be over this piece, it’s still so surreal to see the words come to life; you’re amazing, thank you so much, and your artwork is truly beautiful 💕
Summary: Sometimes, Merlin spoke the names of those they'd lost quietly into the dawn, allowing them to be caught in the soft net of the clouds and carried away on the wings of immortality with the breeze.
After abandoning Camelot for half a decade, Merlin finally returns at the request of an old friend and is met with a markedly different kingdom to the one they left behind. In the years spent away from the place they had once called home, Merlin has tried to move on from the failures in their past and sever all ties with their old life in the attempt to start afresh. Upon their return, though, they discover that some foundations cannot be so easily destroyed and find themself tethered to familiar forms by both the shadows of the dead and the promise of the future. With old Camelot on the brink of collapse, Merlin realises that perhaps they have been running from everything for a little too long and, this time, they are determined to not make the same mistakes again. After all, mortality is fragile and easily broken and sometimes it takes a death to fertilise the ground for new life.
Link to fic and art