Master Fic Post: And the World You Promised
Title: And the World You Promised
Author: Jesterlady
Pairings: Arthur/Gwen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 66,739
Warnings: Crazy!Morgana, cryptic descriptions of torture
Summary: After the battle of Camlann Arthur and Merlin must somehow come to terms with the ramifications of Merlin's secret in time to defeat Morgana and fulfill their destiny.
Author's notes: Thanks so much to Moon01234 who offered to beta this for me and really helped me think things through. Also to jennybliss for her artwork. It's so beautiful and perfect. This was written for the paperlegends Big Bang 2013.
Hopefully this fic will deliver what I felt the show didn't, an actual resolution to the problems that stopped Arthur and Merlin's destiny from being fulfilled, and usher in that Golden Era. My intent was to focus on Arthur and Merlin's friendship and as well as Arthur and Gwen's marriage. But I also missed Merlin/Gwen friendship and strived to showcase that here. This means there wasn't a lot of time for knights and so I feel bad Leon, Percival, and Gwaine get shafted a little bit here and there wasn't as much Gaius/Merlin interaction as I like in my Merlin stories.
Hopefully no one is annoyed by the many scenes where Merlin tells stories about the past, but I personally always wanted to just get other people's reactions to the history of the show, so I hope that doesn't bore you.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. Some lines are from the show. The title is from a song by Hillsong. All of the chapter titles are from the song King by Lauren Aquilina. There is an amazing Arthur fanvid on Youtube using this song by missjessieban and I highly recommend you check it out.
Chapter One: You're Alone, You're On Your Own
Chapter Two: You Don't Get What All This is About
Chapter Three: You Don't Gain a Single Thing From Misery
Chapter Four: There's Method in My Madness
Chapter Five: You Lost Your Mind in the Sound
Chapter Six: You're Too Wrapped Up in Your Self Doubt
Chapter Seven: Count Your Blessings, Not Your Flaws
Chapter Eight: Put All Your Faults to Bed
Chapter Nine: Rid of the Monsters Inside Your Head
Chapter Ten: Have You Forgotten What You Have and What is Yours
Chapter Eleven: You've Got That Young Blood, Set it Free
Chapter Twelve: You Can Reclaim Your Crown
Chapter Thirteen: Glass Half Empty, Glass Half Full
Chapter Fourteen: You Can Be King Again
Epilogue: You're in Control