And it's over at last.
Title: Death, Love and Everything In Between [7/7]
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: MerlinxArthur
Length: This part is 1,001 words. Overall, it’s about 13,000 words, chapter average 1,800.
Rating: PG-13.
Status: Complete. Beta’d by fortassetu (who also made my banner) and princessezzy.
Notes: In each part I’ve done some research to make sure I know what I’m talking about. If you read something and go ‘hang on a sec...’ check if I’ve done the research first; if not, please let me know. :) I know the producers of the show don’t bother, but that’s no reason for me not to.
Back to the Start
Last Chapter
Epilogue
When Merlin woke, the castle was still and silent. The sheets he held were soft, and the room was bright with light.
It was over.
He walked softly through the halls, running his fingers on cool stone. He stopped by a window and stared at the courtyard below; the cracks and scorches on the slashed cobbles. Would Arthur let him fix it, or keep it there as a reminder?
No time for dwelling. He had a job to do.
Uther was in his chamber, resting fitfully. Merlin was surprised Arthur wasn’t by his bedside; it became apparent he had collapsed with exhaustion and had to be carried from the room. It didn’t surprise Merlin. He closed his eyes wearily and placed cool fingers on Uther’s temples.
It was a moment before Uther finally opened his soft eyes and saw, and Merlin sent him gently, naturally to sleep again with a mumble of “rest, my liege”.
His King was so fragile it scared him.
It was rather like working for Gaius, he decided as he moved through the halls. Moving from one ravaged (oft bloodstained) bedside to the other, administrating, caring. He thought briefly of the warlock-nurses in the outskirts, how a quiet life was so very easily within his grasp. That Arthur would accompany him, if asked, was a matter of fact.
Was this ‘closeness’?
Was it love?
Gaius’ spell was the hardest to break.
This Imrah was skilled in ways Merlin couldn’t even dream. Evil ways. Even those fellow servants or the occasional (surviving and somewhat reconciled) noble who remembered before ‘the purge’ couldn’t recall an extent of control like this.
Merlin took it how Gaius always told him to. Slowly, patiently, calmly. (Everything he wasn’t.) If he stopped and thought he’d have the answer, and so Merlin moved his hands calmly to Gaius’ forehead.
Gaius smiled when he woke. “I knew you’d do it,” he murmured, and they embraced like the dying.
Arthur peacefully unconscious, gently recovering, he spent this day (and, admittedly, many more to come) moving restlessly through the palace. He had all this power and no sense of it; no control. He wondered what would become of him now. Execution? Decoration? Uther? Arthur?
He smiled. For once, it was nice not to know.
When he finally saw Arthur, it was beauty.
His prince was half dressed (he managed that much by himself and was that pride he felt?) and with Merlin in the doorway they clashed together each halfway, Arthur with one shoe missing, Merlin’s desperate fingers clutching at his tunic.
There was no need for words.
Merlin’s fingers drifted across the buttons; Arthur’s tears smeared on Merlin’s cheeks as they kissed like the drowning, starving souls they were.
Belvedere had nearly managed to get away before dawn, but he was against one of the greatest warlocks of all time, and Merlin was waiting for him in the stables with a wry smile. “For a soldier, you’re really no good at sneaking,” he murmured, and his friend smiled. “Where will you go now? To be a mercenary?”
Belvedere paused and looked at Merlin. “The idea seems perfect, and yet…” His eyes trailed to the horizon with a soft shake of the head. “I think something simple. Something pure. Something far from fighting and death and magic. Something with hope.”
Merlin nodded. “It sounds good enough to me. You’ll always be welcome here, you know.”
Belvedere nodded absently. “I know,” he murmured. “But I don’t ever wish to come back.”
They embraced softly. Belvedere mounted up and looked down at him, smiling beatifically into the early-morning sunlight. Merlin’s fingers trailed in the reins. “I expect I shall come find you someday. Just to make sure you’re not making a nuisance of yourself.”
Belvedere’s smile widened. “I look forward to the day.” He paused and together they were, the last remnant of a legend that would never be told. “Goodbye, Merlin.”
“Goodbye.” Merlin walked and turned away as Belvedere’s horse gave an almighty cry to avoid watching him ride into the sun.
Morgana’s parting was awful.
She was sat on her horse, staring into the distance when Merlin and Arthur approached. Gwen was fiddling with the reins, face streaked with tears, and although Morgana smiled it was one of despair. “It’s time,” she whispered to Merlin, who nodded absently. The horror of Morgana’s fate - one of pure evil - beginning to emerge, Merlin felt truly repulsed; he had always had a blind faith in happy endings. In fixing everything. In perfection. Not today, it seemed. Not today. Morgana turned to Arthur and smiled, albeit shakily, but with an underlying fondness that had, in retrospect, always been there. “When we meet again we will be enemies.”
“When we meet again you won’t be you,” Arthur croaked. “Your sanity? Why?”
Morgana’s eyes slid shut, and the tears escaped. “I never hated you, Arthur.”
She wrenched free of Gwen’s grip and rode. It was moments before she vanished into the distance; seconds before Gwen’s knees hit the stone and she shrieked in agony. “Me neither,” Arthur whispered, and he and Merlin turned inside together.
the future
Arthur’s coronation was joyously sad, the true semblance of tragedy.
Arthur missed his father and Merlin missed Gaius and Gwen missed Morgana and together they grieved for the lost, the fallen, for friends long gone.
That night, Merlin moved to Arthur’s chambers. Arthur smiled and remarked it was by Royal Decree. Merlin kissed away the pain that blossomed in his eyes.
That was the night of broken “I love you”s and promises to last forever.
That was the night Merlin came so hard he jumped into the sun.
“I never wanted this,” Merlin whispered across the pillows; Arthur opened his soft eyes. “This adventure. I wished against it with all my heart.”
“But you went,” Arthur murmured, and Merlin smiled.
“Yes. I went. And look where I am now.”
Arthur smiled. Their fingers entwined across the white.
And now they sleep, and wait for their next adventure.
So that's it! It's over! Thanks all for reading. A load more info can be found in a flail post here that you'll probably want to check out.