Fic: Once these people came from the future…
Title: Once these people came from the future…
Summary: Crack crossover. Merlin/surprise fandom. I’m very tired.
Rating: PG
Word count: 2106
Characters/pairings: Arthur, Merlin, other people
Author's notes: It’s my first Merlin fic! And…I still hadn't seen the season finale when I wrote it! I don’t know if it’s very accurate because this, as said, is my first try. Also, I haven’t done anything related to the other fandom for ages so honestly, it may not even be very IC. Whatever. I had fun writing it. I hope you guys at least get a bit of a chuckle out of it.
“How can you still not know what cleaning means?” asks Arthur disgustedly, walking into Merlin’s (admittedly rather messy) room and Merlin leans back against his pillow with the magic book shoved haphazardly under it and says: “Hello, Arthur.”
“Are you just sitting in here on your arse?” says Arthur and Merlin bridles, about to say something utterly stupid like, “No, I’m studying magic!” and then reins himself in.
“Er…” he says instead, probably looking as daft as Arthur seems to think he is most of the time. “Yes?” Arthur walks a bit closer to him and Merlin subconsciously wriggles a bit backwards, feeling the book edge into his back and silently thanking Gaius for saying “Good day, sire,” very loudly when Arthur entered his room.
“Well stop,” says Arthur. “I don’t think I have a single clean piece of clothing remaining and I assume that’s thanks to your slothfulness.”
“That’s not fair!” says Merlin. “I just had them cleaned a few days ago and you can’t tell me it’s my fault if you mess them all up sparring!” Arthur glowers at him and Merlin meets his stare stubbornly. Eventually, Arthur throws up a hand in annoyance.
“You’re completely useless,” he says but at least he’s smiling a little bit now even though it’s in incredulity. “I can’t even believe you sometimes. You don’t have a notion of how a servant’s supposed to act.”
“If you ever start acting like a decent human being,” says Merlin but at this point they’re just going through the motions of the same argument they’ve had hundreds of times before. For a moment, it seems like the day’s actually going to be all right, like Arthur’s going to make some sort of excuse to back off and Merlin will be left to figure out this solution to the latest magical threat to Arthur’s life (it’s some sort of weird cold snake thing this time) in peace.
No such luck.
“Well, if-” is all Arthur manages to say before the air glimmers somewhat in front of them and then glows and soon they both have to bring their hands to shield their eyes against the light filling the room.
Then, just as quick as it appeared there, the light recedes, leaving three people standing in front of them, people who seem to be around Merlin and Arthur’s ages. One of them, the dark-haired man, who seems to be in the middle of reaching forward, stops, looking a little confused and then looks around himself. The other two people, a brunette woman and a ginger man holding a small hourglass don’t spend any time catching their bearings. The brunette lets go of the ginger man’s shoulders and looks sharply at him.
“Honestly, Ron,” says the woman. “I told you. I said it was broken but you just had to keep charging in-”
“It was making the whole bloody place completely….I dunno, unstable or something!” Ron hisses back at her. “I had to do something before the room collapsed in on us!”
Merlin glances nervously over to see Arthur looking over to the door as if he’s begun to contemplate the idea of running out of it and Merlin makes sure that Arthur isn’t looking at him and then whispers a small spell to lock the door. Turning back to the drama beside him, he notices the dark-haired man looking at him sharply.
“Time-Turners are very dangerous!” snaps the brunette. “We could have all been killed.”
“We weren’t though,” says Ron long-sufferingly. “And I’m still holding the bloody thing so we might as well try and figure out a way to use it to get home.”
“There might not be one!” says the brunette in a near-shriek and Merlin winces and looks towards the door again, worrying about Gaius this time.
“You-” says Arthur finally. “How…sorcery!” Merlin can’t help but think that what most annoys Arthur isn’t the magic, it’s the fact that he’s been thoroughly ignored for the past minute. It doesn’t help matters any when the couple continue to ignore Arthur.
“Well, there might be a way, though, and if anyone’s going to figure it out, it’ll be you and you’re not going to be able to do it while yelling at me,” says Ron, handing the brunette the hourglass. She takes it and glares at it.
“I don’t know if you’ve realised yet,” says the dark-haired man, turning finally back towards the other two, “but we’re in someone’s room. And someone’s in the room.”
“Yes, of course I did, Harry, don’t be silly,” says the brunette briskly. “There were just other, more important things to be dealt with first.” Ron turns around and gapes at Arthur and Merlin, clearly not having noticed them.
“This…this blatant use of magic is exceptionally reckless!” says Arthur and Merlin puts his hand over his face, hoping that these three idiot sorcerers will be able to get out quick. “Do you even know who I am?”
“No,” says the brunette, advancing on him, “we don’t. Are you going to tell us or are you just going to stand there and be arrogant at us?” Oh dear lord. She’s actually just said that. Merlin thinks that she’s very lucky that she’s pulled that off in a manner similar enough to Morgana that Arthur is actually taken aback and doesn’t go for his sword in an attempt to mend his wounded pride. Instead, his eyes go a little wide in quickly suppressed shock and then he draws himself up stiffly and says, “I am Prince Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot.”
To the woman’s credit, she’s clearly not mental. She gasps slightly and then backs off, looking worriedly at the hourglass in her hand.
“Arthur?” says Ron. “The Arthur? Actually?”
And then the woman pulls out a wand.
Merlin changes his mind. Clearly, she is completely mental.
Arthur’s hand goes to his sword. And then he changes his mind and strides quickly towards the door, rattling at the handle before finding it completely locked.
“Oh no!” says Merlin, hoping his dismay doesn’t sound too staged. “They must have locked it magically!” His eyes dart sideways to look at Harry pleadingly and Harry nods slightly, agreeing to keep his secret.
Arthur actually does take out his sword then, holding it threateningly out in front of him. “Right,” he says, “if you don’t unlock that door right now, then-”
“You’ll kill them?” Merlin can’t resist saying. “Unless they open the door so you can get an even larger amount of people to come and kill them?”
Arthur scowls at him. “Shut up, Merlin.”
Ron splutters even more at this. “You’re Merlin?!” he says, sounding utterly shocked. “As in Merlin, the greatest wizard ever?!”
Merlin allows himself about half a second to bask in this praise before he remembers and blanches and says, “Erm, no, must be a…a different Merlin.”
The brunette fixes him with a piercing stare. “Arthur Pendragon and someone who just happens to be called Merlin? That’s a little too much of a coincidence.”
“No,” says Merlin, trying to make her see, somehow, “but I’m not…because magic’s illegal…”
“Don’t be an idiot, Merlin,” says Arthur. “I know you’re a wizard. It’s not even like you’re very subtle about it. I’d have to be extremely stupid not to have noticed by now.”
“Oh,” says Merlin because he can’t think of anything else to say. “Um. These people are probably harmless, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know,” says Arthur. “You can’t be sure. If they’re harmless, why have they locked us in?”
“Actually,” says Merlin hesitantly, “I did that.”
Arthur shakes his head a little despairingly. “You really are completely thick, aren’t you.”
“It was because they’re harmless,” Merlin assures him. “I didn’t want you panicking and going to your father.”
“I never panic,” says Arthur indignantly.
“Excuse me,” says Harry, “if you are Merlin then you can help us, right?”
“Maybe?” says Merlin. “I don’t know. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that we’re trapped hundreds of years in the past with a broken Time-Turner,” says the brunette. “Thanks mainly to Ron.”
“Hermione!” says Ron, sounding a little hurt. “I told you-”
“And I’ve just tried to fix it and I can’t,” says Hermione patiently.
“I’ll see what I can do,” says Merlin, without much enthusiasm. They all seem to think he’s some kind of magical genius and while he does have a certain level of skill, he’s hardly learned how to use it yet. Hermione walks over to hand him the hourglass-Time-Turner-and Merlin stands up off of his bed and takes it, peering at it in a manner he hopes looks very wise and knowledgeable and…such.
“Do you have indigestion?” asks Arthur mercilessly. “Side-effect of the magic?”
“Quiet,” says Merlin, trying to concentrate. The item is inherently magic itself and he can nearly figure out what’s wrong with it when-oh. Everything glimmers and stretches and when it snaps back into place he’s standing in front of a ginger woman.
“Who are you?” she asks anxiously, an edge of anger creeping in to her voice. “Where’s-”
“I’m going to get them, don’t worry,” says Merlin quickly and can’t resist adding, “Hi, I’m Merlin, by the way,” just to see her look a weird mixture of impressed and incredulous before he presses hard with his magic on whatever he pressed on before and things stretch again.
This time he lands back in his own room but it’s old and unused and empty. He’s clearly done something wrong and this is absolutely the last time he agrees to help anyone. He tries again and ends up in the same place he’d seen the ginger woman only now that she’s not there he’s able to recognise it as his room if the wall between his and Gaius’ rooms were removed.
“Sodding Time-Turner,” Merlin growls and wonders if he’s going to be 100 by the time he makes it back to the room where he was.
On his next try, he actually makes it there, but he’s facing himself who glares at him and says, “Go away,” and bristling with the unfairness of it all, he does, arriving back with the ginger woman again, only this time the other three are with her, holding the same hourglass he’s currently holding. Merlin hopes this isn’t just a potential future and that it means he’ll eventually get rid of this wretched thing.
Twenty tries later, a very cross Merlin arrives back into his own room with Arthur, Harry, Hermione and Ron all staring at him.
“What happened?” asks Harry.
“What do you mean, ‘what happened’?” says Merlin petulantly.
“Your eyes went completely gold and then you flickered a bit,” says Arthur. “Have you fixed it or not?”
“I flickered?!” says Merlin, completely outraged. “That’s it!?! That’s all you had to sit through, me FLICKERING?!”
“Stop gibbering and just tell us whether it’s fixed or not!” says Arthur and then Merlin appears in front of himself.
“Go away,” Merlin growls at his doppelganger and giving him a hurt look, the other Merlin does. The remaining Merlin glares about him. “Does that answer your question sufficiently?” Hermione and Ron look a little stunned but Harry nods and Arthur says “Well obviously.” Merlin hands the Time-Turner to Hermione as quickly as he can.
“There,” he says. “I never want to see that again. Ever.”
“Aren’t you going to give them words of wisdom for the future, Merlin, o greatest of all wizards?” Arthur asks, finding himself altogether too amusing.
“Prat,” says Merlin, giving him a look and then says: “Just get back properly, all right?”
“Right,” says Harry and he and Ron link arms with Hermione. “Thanks.”
“Oh this is brilliant how you’ve fixed this!” says Hermione happily. “I can tell what you’ve done already. I mean, it’s incredibly more complicated than you made it look and I really wish I could stay and learn your methods…are you sure I couldn’t come back later and-?”
“Hermione,” says Ron, “shut up and let’s leave now.”
She glares at him. “Oh, all right,” she says, “but I still think that Merlin could teach us loads of things that we don’t even remember anymore in our time-”
“Hermione!” says Ron. Hermione sighs and taps the Time-Turner with her wand and the room shines painfully bright again before they disappear.
“They get back, you know,” says Merlin, “I saw them. On one of the billions of times I time travelled.”
Arthur isn’t really focusing on Merlin but once he speaks, Arthur turns back to look at him. “Right!” he says. “My shirts!”
Merlin groans.