FIC: It's not the end of the world (but you can see it from here) (Merlin, 6/6)
Continued from Part 5
Once the arks had all set their courses and humanity was as safe as it could be, there was nothing left to be done except let the crew get on with their jobs. The remaining leaders of the remnant world all dispersed to find their families. For only the second time in his life, Arthur had no idea what to do with himself.
So he took Merlin's hand once again, because he could, and no one could stop him except Merlin. Merlin just blinked at him wearily, but did not pull away as they left the bridge in search of Leon.
The corridors of the ark still bustled with people, but no one gave them a second glance. Leon appeared just as Merlin was starting to tug Arthur persistently toward the smell of the galleys.
They followed him to a quiet corner of the ark. "Your stateroom, sir," Leon said as the door opened, then smiled. "I took the liberty of having Dr. Emrys's belongings moved here as well. As you were quite concerned about space earlier."
"Yes, well done," Arthur muttered.
"I have belongings?" Merlin said as Arthur shoved him inside.
Food had been brought and set up on the small table. The last time Arthur had eaten had been a quick breakfast in his rooms at Clarence House, a literal age of the world ago. While Merlin examined the room, Arthur set to and tried not to shovel the food into his mouth.
"I can't believe you sent my books." Merlin touched the medical texts that had been set up next to Arthur's mother's family Bible on the shelves over the small desk alcove.
Arthur forced himself to put his fork down before he consumed Merlin's food as well. "I went through everything you left in storage in London when you left," he said. "I had Leon send the things I thought you'd miss the most."
Merlin bowed his head and did not answer. Arthur got up and went to find his own luggage as Merlin came to sit and finish what was left of their dinner.
He dug out a clean shirt and trousers, then stood there staring at them. The wall of exhaustion had caught up with him at last, and he felt like he was standing with his nose pressed against it. His mind went blank.
His stupor was broken by warm hands on his shoulders, turning him around and tugging off his jacket. "That would be you, by the way," Merlin said, looking only at the buttons.
"What?"
"What I missed the most when I left." Merlin still did not look at him, and Arthur realized they were no longer talking about the present time. He pulled off Arthur's filthy shirt and tossed it aside. "When I got on the plane, I thought I'd feel free. But I just felt lost."
He closed his eyes and dropped his head as Merlin fumbled with his belt. "If you'd come back, we'd have found a way to work it out." God knew he had thought of a thousand compromises once it was too late.
"Maybe. But I couldn't keep changing my mind." Gently, almost clinically, he tugged Arthur's trousers open and pushed them down. "It wasn’t fair to you."
Arthur offered whatever minimal cooperation was necessary to kick off the trousers, then let Merlin push him towards the bed. He started to sit, but stopped and turned back to face Merlin.
"All right," he said. "Let's be fair to me now."
Merlin stopped halfway through pulling off his own shirt, leaving it draped over one shoulder. "What do you mean?"
"Tell me straight: are you going to stay? Or is this some sort of apocalypse reunion tour?"
"I want you," Merlin said simply. "I don't know what life is going to be like from now on, but I want to live it with you. No matter what happens."
"Even if we find survivors and Lancelot runs off to build hospitals for them?"
Merlin huffed a laugh. "Well, I might go help him build. But I would come back. Is that okay?"
Arthur nodded once, curt, embarrassed and relieved. "So there we are."
"Yeah," Merlin agreed, managing to look both joyful and like he was about to pass out. "Though if you had doubts, maybe you should have said something before you held my hand in front of Leon."
Arthur started to make a cutting retort about which one of them was the idiot in this relationship. Except that Merlin's hands were suddenly on his face, and then Merlin kissed him. It was brief and dry, and Merlin's shirt was still hanging half on and half off, but Arthur felt everything settle into place.
When they separated, Arthur lay down and closed his eyes, dizzy with exhaustion even while supine. Now that everything was done, he craved rest. Merlin finished undressing himself and climbed in beside Arthur as though they had never stopped sharing a bed. Arthur curled around him and gave in to his need for oblivion.
***
2007
He had suspected he would fall in love with Merlin the second time he woke up beside him. Merlin was sprawled half across him, sound asleep and drooling into Arthur's pillow. He stretched as well as he could without dislodging Merlin, who mumbled something, then stilled. Just like the first time, it should have felt wrong, intrusive for someone who guarded his privacy as jealously as Arthur.
Instead, just like the first time, it felt more like home than ever.
He had dismissed the feeling after their first night together. It had been one last minor rebellion against the shadow of Buckingham. That was all it was and all it could be, though he would cling to it as long as he could.
When Merlin had reappeared on his door step some weeks later, Arthur had not been surprised. The chemistry between them made an affair nearly inevitable. His own liking and growing affection for his new friend was building a consuming infatuation.
Waking up in London, Merlin's leg across his thighs, it did not feel like a secret affair. Merlin did not look out of place here in a royal house, burrowed into sheets that had never touched common flesh. It felt like they both belonged here. It felt like life.
Merlin stirred again just as Arthur was starting to drift off. He lifted his head and smacked his lips, giving Arthur a couple of bleary blinks before his face settled into resignation.
"So," he said. "That happened."
"Oh, yes, it did," Arthur agreed.
Merlin sighed and let his face plant back into the pillow.
Arthur frowned. "Look, I won't claim a great deal of experience with this sort of thing, but that wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting."
"I don't want to go," Merlin mumbled into the pillow.
"No, I wouldn't recommend it, since it's--" Arthur craned his neck to check the dim numbers on his iPod dock. "Half six in the morning."
Merlin mumbled something else. This time, the only bit Arthur caught was "jet plane."
"What was that?" he said and pinched the skin on the side of Merlin's neck. "Come on, articulate like a proper Englishman."
Merlin did lift his head at that, long enough to deliver a glare. "Why should I? You're obviously just going to be a prat about it."
"I won't." Arthur soothed the offended skin with his fingertips. "And if I am, let's face it, you obviously find that attractive."
"You left first thing. Last time." Merlin sighed and rolled onto his back, away from Arthur. "That means it’s my turn to go."
"Honestly, I'd prefer if you didn't." Arthur settled on his back as well and looked carefully up at the ceiling. "Unless you really want to."
He heard the rustle of sheets and pillows as Merlin shifted to look at him. "I don't want to. But it's not like I can be part of your life, is it?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin." Something light and free bubbled up within Arthur. He did not recognize it, but he already knew he would go to great lengths to keep it. "If I want you, then you'll be in my life. It's simple enough even for you."
It was the furthest thing from simple, and they both knew it. But out of the corner of his eye, he could see Merlin starting to grin. "You want me, do you?"
Arthur took a moment to enjoy his triumph, then flipped himself over on top of Merlin. The pillows scattered as he pinned Merlin's wrists and pushed them up over Merlin's head. "I can see we're going to have to go over this again. You obviously didn't get the point last night."
"I remember getting it quite thoroughly." Merlin snickered, then widened his eyes and mouth in that way that made him look completely foolish. "But you know I'm very slow. You may have to make your point quite a lot before it really sinks in."
That stupid face of Merlin's only made Arthur want to kiss the hell out of it. So he did, and by the time the point had sunk in anew, he had made up his mind that his life would contain Merlin for all the years left of it.
***
He slept fitfully and woke too soon, wrapped tight around Merlin. Arthur fought to lie still, but sleep had gone elsewhere and left him with an aching head and racing brain. The gravity of their situation had reared up and overcome his relief at being safe and having Merlin again.
The strange hum of the ark and his own adrenaline kept Arthur from going back to sleep. When he could no longer stay still, he carefully untangled himself from Merlin and found the clean clothes he had abandoned earlier. He dressed and left Merlin still sleeping.
The corridors were quiet and dim now, a facsimile of night time though Arthur had no idea what time it actually was, wherever they now were. By now, the skies would be filled with ash from the many volcanic eruptions, rendering the distinction of daylight meaningless.
He stopped the first person he saw, a steward with a name badge that read C. Cedric. "Where are the passengers who came aboard with me?" he asked.
"Most of them are below on the mezzanine deck. Would you like me to take you, sir?"
"No, I’ll find it. Thank you." The ship would be home for the foreseeable future; he might as well get to know it.
The mezzanine deck was an open, almost cavernous space, darker than the corridor and stairwell he had just left. Arthur paused to let his eyes adjust, but even after a minute he could not make out anything human shaped in the centre of the room. With the greyness enveloping him, it felt eerily like being the last person on earth.
Then he heard a muffled whimper off to his left, and he realized that people were there, hugging the walls for whatever sense of security and shelter they could find. He took a step toward the sound.
Now that his eyes had something to focus on, his vision quickly improved. He could see the people sitting or lying against the wall. Some of them had luggage; most had nothing.
The sound had come from a Chinese man in a jumpsuit with the Cho Ming project logo on his chest. One of the ark builders, Arthur guessed as he got closer. Sweat beaded on the man’s brow, and he shifted restlessly.
Arthur knelt awkwardly next to him. "Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?"
The man looked up at him, squinting through a fever haze. He said something in Chinese, then groaned. Arthur shook his head helplessly.
"He was not feeling well this morning. He meant to go home at lunch time."
Arthur looked at the man sitting against the wall a couple of feet away and recognized the Chinese colonel he had met at the airfield. "Good thing he didn’t," Arthur said.
The colonel looked up at him, then away. "They would have left us all behind."
"I’ll find him a blanket," Arthur said and stood up quickly so as not to meet the colonel’s eyes. It had never occurred to him to wonder what would happen to all the Chinese soldiers and workers who had built their salvation from nothing.
He jogged back up to his own deck and caught Cedric the steward again. "There’s a sick man downstairs. He needs a blanket and some paracetamol."
Cedric nodded, a little impatiently. "Yes, sir. As soon as I can."
Arthur frowned. "Make that straight away."
"Yes, sir, but the other guests-"
"The other guests have warm beds and room service. These people have nothing."
Cedric’s lips thinned, but he nodded again. "Yes, sir."
"I’ll see you downstairs momentarily, then."
Arthur returned to the mezzanine and stood awkwardly over the sick man, who had quieted. He wondered if he should go wake Merlin, or even Ector. But then Cedric returned with two white tablets and a blanket emblazoned with the ark logo.
"Will there be anything else, Your Majesty?" he simpered.
Arthur arched his eyebrows in an expression of regal frost unmistakable even in this lighting. "Perhaps a glass of water? Or did the other guests drink it all?"
Cedric swallowed and at last began to look properly cowed. Arthur was glad he had not lost his touch. "Of course, sir. Water is no problem."
"And after he's had his medicine, you can start getting water and blankets for everyone else. I'll be asking them if they're hungry, so you'll want to figure out where that's going to come from as well."
A few minutes later, Arthur had a bottle of water and was kneeling at the sick man's head, trying to coax him to take the pills. "Come on," he said as the man tossed his head out of Arthur's grip and groaned again. "You'll feel much better, I promise."
He was about to groan in frustration himself when a pair of hands closed over his, relieving him of water and pills. "Here, let me." Merlin knelt on the other side of the builder and easily got his head up and the pills into his mouth. "There you go. Just a bit of water. All set."
"I had it under control," Arthur protested to hide his relief.
"Of course you did. I'm sure you only would have choked him a little bit. Nothing the Heimlich can't take care of." Merlin rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm going to have him moved. We should limit any contagion. I want Ector to look at him, too, just in case."
"Go find my new friend Cedric," Arthur said, standing as well. "He's been very helpful."
Merlin shot him a look. "Cedric, is it?" he said. "Glad you've had time to make friends already, Arthur."
Arthur smiled to himself as Merlin moved off to corral Cedric as he staggered in with two cases of water. Then he looked along the length of the room at all the people who still needed help. Getting them here had not been enough.
He moved from person to person, making sure he spoke a few words to each of them as
he tried to ascertain their immediate needs. Some spoke English and some did not, but they all seemed glad enough to hear a friendly voice in the dark.
He had not gone far when Merlin returned to Arthur's side. "Lance and Ector will come when they finished with patients at the makeshift clinic they had set up in one of the lounges," Merlin murmured in Arthur’s ear before bending to check the next person for signs of injury or illness.
"Thank God," Arthur muttered back. "I’m certainly well out of my league."
They finally reached the far corner of the room, where Arthur crouched down next to a woman in what had once been a smart and expensive dress, clutching a bundle against her side. "How are you?" he said by rote now. "Do you need anything?"
She looked up at him, eyes wide and wet and slightly vacant, as though she lived half in nightmare. Her hand gripped his sleeve like a claw as she said something too fast for his rudimentary Italian to follow.
"Sorry." He started to shake his head before a tiny moan drew his gaze to the bundle under her arm. It was a small boy, wrapped in his mother's coat. Arthur touched his shoulder, but flinched back as the boy howled in pain.
"Uh oh, here's a problem." Merlin appeared like magic at Arthur's side. He eased the shivering boy away from this mother just enough to check him. "Oh yes, that is a broken arm, all right. Let's get that stabilized. Arthur?"
It was one of the few things Arthur knew how to do without instruction. He helped in silence, putting his hands where Merlin needed them, leaving Merlin free to babble distracting nonsense to the child.
As Merlin finished up the makeshift splint, Arthur noticed the boy staring up at him. He smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, then realized that the mother was also staring at him, wet eyes spilling over.
"Principe," she mumbled. "Principe Arturo."
Merlin helped the little boy curl back against his mother, splinted arm propped across her stomach. "No," he told her. "Il re."
"Il re," she repeated, touching Arthur's arm much more carefully this time. "Il re Artù."
***
Day 27, Month 01, Year 0001
Arthur missed the moment when the outer shielding finally lifted, though he heard Aredian give the order on the bridge. He grinned at Chancellor Tregor almost by accident. Her eyes crinkled with amusement while Bayard snorted. "We're done here," she said. "Go tell your sweetheart the good news."
He managed a careful nod of respect to each of them before hastening off the bridge, leaving them to follow more sedately through the suddenly brighter corridors of the ark. Arthur knew Merlin would be with the other ark inhabitants, eager to step out onto the decks for their first breath of fresh air from the new world. A breeze skimmed his cheek as he followed the signs to the starboard deck.
Outside, passengers packed the deck. Arthur knew most of them by sight now. They all grinned at him and parted to let him through the crowd. Friendly hands guided him in the right direction until he saw Merlin standing against the rail and chatting to Gwen.
He came up on Merlin's other side and slid his arm around Merlin's waist. The end of the world had proved an excellent time to come out. Arthur had made it clear from day two that Merlin was no servant, nor even friendly companion, but the partner and future consort of the king.
After a few shocked looks and whispers, the gossip had spread fast and died almost as quickly. Arthur was becoming a respected leader, and Merlin had made himself popular throughout the ark on his own merits as well. In the end, most people had much bigger things to worry about than Arthur’s choice of partner.
Merlin turned to him with a happy grin. "Hello, Your Majesty. How kind of you to spare time from your royal duties to join us commoners."
"Stuff it, Your Highness," Arthur returned, enjoying Gwen's giggle and Merlin's vaguely constipated look. People had spontaneously started addressing Merlin that way the second week of the voyage, to Merlin's vehement protests and Arthur's smirking delight. "Where's Lance?"
"He and Ector took two of the nurses over to the American ark." Merlin turned and waved at the other great ship that had rejoined their course, though the people on her deck were barely large enough to see. "Their doctors are short staffed with all their extra passengers, so they volunteered."
"Of course they did."
Merlin grinned at the habitual disgust in Arthur's voice. "I've been meaning to ask you--would you have tried so hard to save Lance if you'd known he wasn't my boyfriend?"
"I'd probably have tried harder," Arthur muttered, half to himself.
The subject of Lancelot held no real heat anymore. In between tending to matters of humanity, he and Merlin had spent most of the last twenty-seven days secluded in their cabin, talking, touching, and figuring out what they would have together now that their destinies were on the same path.
"What did the satellite show?" Gwen asked, her normal deference overcome by her eagerness to hear what their new world looked like.
"Good news," Arthur told her. "The waters are receding much faster than predicted. We're setting course for dry land as we speak."
Gwen cheered, and the sound rapidly spread across the deck as everyone who overheard Arthur's announcement turned to repeat it to their neighbour.
"And you'll never guess where we're going," Arthur said into Merlin's ear. He had kept the last piece of news close so he could share it first with Merlin alone.
Merlin turned his head until they were almost nose to nose. "What? Where?"
"Cape of Good Hope," Arthur said, enjoying the stunned happiness on Merlin's face. "The Drakensberg Mountains are the new roof of the world."
"But--that's so close--" Merlin opened and closed his mouth as though afraid to say anything more.
"Yes," Arthur confirmed. "The whole continent has risen. And Helmsley thinks there's a good chance it never flooded at all."
Merlin crowed and pumped his fist in the air. "I knew it! All the people we had to leave--"
"You know that's a long shot," Arthur interrupted as gently as he could. "There was still enormous seismic activity from the crust displacement."
"They're okay," Merlin said with complete, demented confidence. "I know it."
Arthur shook his head. "We'll see," he said. "We'll look all over for survivors as we go. It'll probably take some time to find a place to settle."
Merlin nudged him in the side. "If you try to colonize anyone, I’m going to hit you."
"Merlin. I have never colonized anyone in my life." Arthur gave him his most withering look.
"We'll see," Merlin mimicked, then leaned on the rail to watch as the American and Eurasian arks made the slow, graceful turn onto the new course.
Arthur leaned beside him, looking out at the ocean that no longer seemed quite so endless. They would go back to the camp, and they would see. They would find a way to survive and prosper and start everything again.
And someday, another satellite image would show that Britain had risen from the waters. Then he would take his people home.
He slung his arm around Merlin and turned to face the world.
***
END
All comments welcome!
Once the arks had all set their courses and humanity was as safe as it could be, there was nothing left to be done except let the crew get on with their jobs. The remaining leaders of the remnant world all dispersed to find their families. For only the second time in his life, Arthur had no idea what to do with himself.
So he took Merlin's hand once again, because he could, and no one could stop him except Merlin. Merlin just blinked at him wearily, but did not pull away as they left the bridge in search of Leon.
The corridors of the ark still bustled with people, but no one gave them a second glance. Leon appeared just as Merlin was starting to tug Arthur persistently toward the smell of the galleys.
They followed him to a quiet corner of the ark. "Your stateroom, sir," Leon said as the door opened, then smiled. "I took the liberty of having Dr. Emrys's belongings moved here as well. As you were quite concerned about space earlier."
"Yes, well done," Arthur muttered.
"I have belongings?" Merlin said as Arthur shoved him inside.
Food had been brought and set up on the small table. The last time Arthur had eaten had been a quick breakfast in his rooms at Clarence House, a literal age of the world ago. While Merlin examined the room, Arthur set to and tried not to shovel the food into his mouth.
"I can't believe you sent my books." Merlin touched the medical texts that had been set up next to Arthur's mother's family Bible on the shelves over the small desk alcove.
Arthur forced himself to put his fork down before he consumed Merlin's food as well. "I went through everything you left in storage in London when you left," he said. "I had Leon send the things I thought you'd miss the most."
Merlin bowed his head and did not answer. Arthur got up and went to find his own luggage as Merlin came to sit and finish what was left of their dinner.
He dug out a clean shirt and trousers, then stood there staring at them. The wall of exhaustion had caught up with him at last, and he felt like he was standing with his nose pressed against it. His mind went blank.
His stupor was broken by warm hands on his shoulders, turning him around and tugging off his jacket. "That would be you, by the way," Merlin said, looking only at the buttons.
"What?"
"What I missed the most when I left." Merlin still did not look at him, and Arthur realized they were no longer talking about the present time. He pulled off Arthur's filthy shirt and tossed it aside. "When I got on the plane, I thought I'd feel free. But I just felt lost."
He closed his eyes and dropped his head as Merlin fumbled with his belt. "If you'd come back, we'd have found a way to work it out." God knew he had thought of a thousand compromises once it was too late.
"Maybe. But I couldn't keep changing my mind." Gently, almost clinically, he tugged Arthur's trousers open and pushed them down. "It wasn’t fair to you."
Arthur offered whatever minimal cooperation was necessary to kick off the trousers, then let Merlin push him towards the bed. He started to sit, but stopped and turned back to face Merlin.
"All right," he said. "Let's be fair to me now."
Merlin stopped halfway through pulling off his own shirt, leaving it draped over one shoulder. "What do you mean?"
"Tell me straight: are you going to stay? Or is this some sort of apocalypse reunion tour?"
"I want you," Merlin said simply. "I don't know what life is going to be like from now on, but I want to live it with you. No matter what happens."
"Even if we find survivors and Lancelot runs off to build hospitals for them?"
Merlin huffed a laugh. "Well, I might go help him build. But I would come back. Is that okay?"
Arthur nodded once, curt, embarrassed and relieved. "So there we are."
"Yeah," Merlin agreed, managing to look both joyful and like he was about to pass out. "Though if you had doubts, maybe you should have said something before you held my hand in front of Leon."
Arthur started to make a cutting retort about which one of them was the idiot in this relationship. Except that Merlin's hands were suddenly on his face, and then Merlin kissed him. It was brief and dry, and Merlin's shirt was still hanging half on and half off, but Arthur felt everything settle into place.
When they separated, Arthur lay down and closed his eyes, dizzy with exhaustion even while supine. Now that everything was done, he craved rest. Merlin finished undressing himself and climbed in beside Arthur as though they had never stopped sharing a bed. Arthur curled around him and gave in to his need for oblivion.
***
2007
He had suspected he would fall in love with Merlin the second time he woke up beside him. Merlin was sprawled half across him, sound asleep and drooling into Arthur's pillow. He stretched as well as he could without dislodging Merlin, who mumbled something, then stilled. Just like the first time, it should have felt wrong, intrusive for someone who guarded his privacy as jealously as Arthur.
Instead, just like the first time, it felt more like home than ever.
He had dismissed the feeling after their first night together. It had been one last minor rebellion against the shadow of Buckingham. That was all it was and all it could be, though he would cling to it as long as he could.
When Merlin had reappeared on his door step some weeks later, Arthur had not been surprised. The chemistry between them made an affair nearly inevitable. His own liking and growing affection for his new friend was building a consuming infatuation.
Waking up in London, Merlin's leg across his thighs, it did not feel like a secret affair. Merlin did not look out of place here in a royal house, burrowed into sheets that had never touched common flesh. It felt like they both belonged here. It felt like life.
Merlin stirred again just as Arthur was starting to drift off. He lifted his head and smacked his lips, giving Arthur a couple of bleary blinks before his face settled into resignation.
"So," he said. "That happened."
"Oh, yes, it did," Arthur agreed.
Merlin sighed and let his face plant back into the pillow.
Arthur frowned. "Look, I won't claim a great deal of experience with this sort of thing, but that wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting."
"I don't want to go," Merlin mumbled into the pillow.
"No, I wouldn't recommend it, since it's--" Arthur craned his neck to check the dim numbers on his iPod dock. "Half six in the morning."
Merlin mumbled something else. This time, the only bit Arthur caught was "jet plane."
"What was that?" he said and pinched the skin on the side of Merlin's neck. "Come on, articulate like a proper Englishman."
Merlin did lift his head at that, long enough to deliver a glare. "Why should I? You're obviously just going to be a prat about it."
"I won't." Arthur soothed the offended skin with his fingertips. "And if I am, let's face it, you obviously find that attractive."
"You left first thing. Last time." Merlin sighed and rolled onto his back, away from Arthur. "That means it’s my turn to go."
"Honestly, I'd prefer if you didn't." Arthur settled on his back as well and looked carefully up at the ceiling. "Unless you really want to."
He heard the rustle of sheets and pillows as Merlin shifted to look at him. "I don't want to. But it's not like I can be part of your life, is it?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin." Something light and free bubbled up within Arthur. He did not recognize it, but he already knew he would go to great lengths to keep it. "If I want you, then you'll be in my life. It's simple enough even for you."
It was the furthest thing from simple, and they both knew it. But out of the corner of his eye, he could see Merlin starting to grin. "You want me, do you?"
Arthur took a moment to enjoy his triumph, then flipped himself over on top of Merlin. The pillows scattered as he pinned Merlin's wrists and pushed them up over Merlin's head. "I can see we're going to have to go over this again. You obviously didn't get the point last night."
"I remember getting it quite thoroughly." Merlin snickered, then widened his eyes and mouth in that way that made him look completely foolish. "But you know I'm very slow. You may have to make your point quite a lot before it really sinks in."
That stupid face of Merlin's only made Arthur want to kiss the hell out of it. So he did, and by the time the point had sunk in anew, he had made up his mind that his life would contain Merlin for all the years left of it.
***
He slept fitfully and woke too soon, wrapped tight around Merlin. Arthur fought to lie still, but sleep had gone elsewhere and left him with an aching head and racing brain. The gravity of their situation had reared up and overcome his relief at being safe and having Merlin again.
The strange hum of the ark and his own adrenaline kept Arthur from going back to sleep. When he could no longer stay still, he carefully untangled himself from Merlin and found the clean clothes he had abandoned earlier. He dressed and left Merlin still sleeping.
The corridors were quiet and dim now, a facsimile of night time though Arthur had no idea what time it actually was, wherever they now were. By now, the skies would be filled with ash from the many volcanic eruptions, rendering the distinction of daylight meaningless.
He stopped the first person he saw, a steward with a name badge that read C. Cedric. "Where are the passengers who came aboard with me?" he asked.
"Most of them are below on the mezzanine deck. Would you like me to take you, sir?"
"No, I’ll find it. Thank you." The ship would be home for the foreseeable future; he might as well get to know it.
The mezzanine deck was an open, almost cavernous space, darker than the corridor and stairwell he had just left. Arthur paused to let his eyes adjust, but even after a minute he could not make out anything human shaped in the centre of the room. With the greyness enveloping him, it felt eerily like being the last person on earth.
Then he heard a muffled whimper off to his left, and he realized that people were there, hugging the walls for whatever sense of security and shelter they could find. He took a step toward the sound.
Now that his eyes had something to focus on, his vision quickly improved. He could see the people sitting or lying against the wall. Some of them had luggage; most had nothing.
The sound had come from a Chinese man in a jumpsuit with the Cho Ming project logo on his chest. One of the ark builders, Arthur guessed as he got closer. Sweat beaded on the man’s brow, and he shifted restlessly.
Arthur knelt awkwardly next to him. "Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?"
The man looked up at him, squinting through a fever haze. He said something in Chinese, then groaned. Arthur shook his head helplessly.
"He was not feeling well this morning. He meant to go home at lunch time."
Arthur looked at the man sitting against the wall a couple of feet away and recognized the Chinese colonel he had met at the airfield. "Good thing he didn’t," Arthur said.
The colonel looked up at him, then away. "They would have left us all behind."
"I’ll find him a blanket," Arthur said and stood up quickly so as not to meet the colonel’s eyes. It had never occurred to him to wonder what would happen to all the Chinese soldiers and workers who had built their salvation from nothing.
He jogged back up to his own deck and caught Cedric the steward again. "There’s a sick man downstairs. He needs a blanket and some paracetamol."
Cedric nodded, a little impatiently. "Yes, sir. As soon as I can."
Arthur frowned. "Make that straight away."
"Yes, sir, but the other guests-"
"The other guests have warm beds and room service. These people have nothing."
Cedric’s lips thinned, but he nodded again. "Yes, sir."
"I’ll see you downstairs momentarily, then."
Arthur returned to the mezzanine and stood awkwardly over the sick man, who had quieted. He wondered if he should go wake Merlin, or even Ector. But then Cedric returned with two white tablets and a blanket emblazoned with the ark logo.
"Will there be anything else, Your Majesty?" he simpered.
Arthur arched his eyebrows in an expression of regal frost unmistakable even in this lighting. "Perhaps a glass of water? Or did the other guests drink it all?"
Cedric swallowed and at last began to look properly cowed. Arthur was glad he had not lost his touch. "Of course, sir. Water is no problem."
"And after he's had his medicine, you can start getting water and blankets for everyone else. I'll be asking them if they're hungry, so you'll want to figure out where that's going to come from as well."
A few minutes later, Arthur had a bottle of water and was kneeling at the sick man's head, trying to coax him to take the pills. "Come on," he said as the man tossed his head out of Arthur's grip and groaned again. "You'll feel much better, I promise."
He was about to groan in frustration himself when a pair of hands closed over his, relieving him of water and pills. "Here, let me." Merlin knelt on the other side of the builder and easily got his head up and the pills into his mouth. "There you go. Just a bit of water. All set."
"I had it under control," Arthur protested to hide his relief.
"Of course you did. I'm sure you only would have choked him a little bit. Nothing the Heimlich can't take care of." Merlin rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm going to have him moved. We should limit any contagion. I want Ector to look at him, too, just in case."
"Go find my new friend Cedric," Arthur said, standing as well. "He's been very helpful."
Merlin shot him a look. "Cedric, is it?" he said. "Glad you've had time to make friends already, Arthur."
Arthur smiled to himself as Merlin moved off to corral Cedric as he staggered in with two cases of water. Then he looked along the length of the room at all the people who still needed help. Getting them here had not been enough.
He moved from person to person, making sure he spoke a few words to each of them as
he tried to ascertain their immediate needs. Some spoke English and some did not, but they all seemed glad enough to hear a friendly voice in the dark.
He had not gone far when Merlin returned to Arthur's side. "Lance and Ector will come when they finished with patients at the makeshift clinic they had set up in one of the lounges," Merlin murmured in Arthur’s ear before bending to check the next person for signs of injury or illness.
"Thank God," Arthur muttered back. "I’m certainly well out of my league."
They finally reached the far corner of the room, where Arthur crouched down next to a woman in what had once been a smart and expensive dress, clutching a bundle against her side. "How are you?" he said by rote now. "Do you need anything?"
She looked up at him, eyes wide and wet and slightly vacant, as though she lived half in nightmare. Her hand gripped his sleeve like a claw as she said something too fast for his rudimentary Italian to follow.
"Sorry." He started to shake his head before a tiny moan drew his gaze to the bundle under her arm. It was a small boy, wrapped in his mother's coat. Arthur touched his shoulder, but flinched back as the boy howled in pain.
"Uh oh, here's a problem." Merlin appeared like magic at Arthur's side. He eased the shivering boy away from this mother just enough to check him. "Oh yes, that is a broken arm, all right. Let's get that stabilized. Arthur?"
It was one of the few things Arthur knew how to do without instruction. He helped in silence, putting his hands where Merlin needed them, leaving Merlin free to babble distracting nonsense to the child.
As Merlin finished up the makeshift splint, Arthur noticed the boy staring up at him. He smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, then realized that the mother was also staring at him, wet eyes spilling over.
"Principe," she mumbled. "Principe Arturo."
Merlin helped the little boy curl back against his mother, splinted arm propped across her stomach. "No," he told her. "Il re."
"Il re," she repeated, touching Arthur's arm much more carefully this time. "Il re Artù."
***
Day 27, Month 01, Year 0001
Arthur missed the moment when the outer shielding finally lifted, though he heard Aredian give the order on the bridge. He grinned at Chancellor Tregor almost by accident. Her eyes crinkled with amusement while Bayard snorted. "We're done here," she said. "Go tell your sweetheart the good news."
He managed a careful nod of respect to each of them before hastening off the bridge, leaving them to follow more sedately through the suddenly brighter corridors of the ark. Arthur knew Merlin would be with the other ark inhabitants, eager to step out onto the decks for their first breath of fresh air from the new world. A breeze skimmed his cheek as he followed the signs to the starboard deck.
Outside, passengers packed the deck. Arthur knew most of them by sight now. They all grinned at him and parted to let him through the crowd. Friendly hands guided him in the right direction until he saw Merlin standing against the rail and chatting to Gwen.
He came up on Merlin's other side and slid his arm around Merlin's waist. The end of the world had proved an excellent time to come out. Arthur had made it clear from day two that Merlin was no servant, nor even friendly companion, but the partner and future consort of the king.
After a few shocked looks and whispers, the gossip had spread fast and died almost as quickly. Arthur was becoming a respected leader, and Merlin had made himself popular throughout the ark on his own merits as well. In the end, most people had much bigger things to worry about than Arthur’s choice of partner.
Merlin turned to him with a happy grin. "Hello, Your Majesty. How kind of you to spare time from your royal duties to join us commoners."
"Stuff it, Your Highness," Arthur returned, enjoying Gwen's giggle and Merlin's vaguely constipated look. People had spontaneously started addressing Merlin that way the second week of the voyage, to Merlin's vehement protests and Arthur's smirking delight. "Where's Lance?"
"He and Ector took two of the nurses over to the American ark." Merlin turned and waved at the other great ship that had rejoined their course, though the people on her deck were barely large enough to see. "Their doctors are short staffed with all their extra passengers, so they volunteered."
"Of course they did."
Merlin grinned at the habitual disgust in Arthur's voice. "I've been meaning to ask you--would you have tried so hard to save Lance if you'd known he wasn't my boyfriend?"
"I'd probably have tried harder," Arthur muttered, half to himself.
The subject of Lancelot held no real heat anymore. In between tending to matters of humanity, he and Merlin had spent most of the last twenty-seven days secluded in their cabin, talking, touching, and figuring out what they would have together now that their destinies were on the same path.
"What did the satellite show?" Gwen asked, her normal deference overcome by her eagerness to hear what their new world looked like.
"Good news," Arthur told her. "The waters are receding much faster than predicted. We're setting course for dry land as we speak."
Gwen cheered, and the sound rapidly spread across the deck as everyone who overheard Arthur's announcement turned to repeat it to their neighbour.
"And you'll never guess where we're going," Arthur said into Merlin's ear. He had kept the last piece of news close so he could share it first with Merlin alone.
Merlin turned his head until they were almost nose to nose. "What? Where?"
"Cape of Good Hope," Arthur said, enjoying the stunned happiness on Merlin's face. "The Drakensberg Mountains are the new roof of the world."
"But--that's so close--" Merlin opened and closed his mouth as though afraid to say anything more.
"Yes," Arthur confirmed. "The whole continent has risen. And Helmsley thinks there's a good chance it never flooded at all."
Merlin crowed and pumped his fist in the air. "I knew it! All the people we had to leave--"
"You know that's a long shot," Arthur interrupted as gently as he could. "There was still enormous seismic activity from the crust displacement."
"They're okay," Merlin said with complete, demented confidence. "I know it."
Arthur shook his head. "We'll see," he said. "We'll look all over for survivors as we go. It'll probably take some time to find a place to settle."
Merlin nudged him in the side. "If you try to colonize anyone, I’m going to hit you."
"Merlin. I have never colonized anyone in my life." Arthur gave him his most withering look.
"We'll see," Merlin mimicked, then leaned on the rail to watch as the American and Eurasian arks made the slow, graceful turn onto the new course.
Arthur leaned beside him, looking out at the ocean that no longer seemed quite so endless. They would go back to the camp, and they would see. They would find a way to survive and prosper and start everything again.
And someday, another satellite image would show that Britain had risen from the waters. Then he would take his people home.
He slung his arm around Merlin and turned to face the world.
***
END
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