Merlin -- Sweeter Dreams: Part IV

[tierfal]

Title: Sweeter Dreams
Part: 4
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 9,465
Warnings: occasional language, generally mild violence
Summary: Following a rather different ending to 2.10 ("Sweet Dreams"), Merlin and Arthur head to Olaf's kingdom of Valden to put things right. In the process, Merlin racks up an impressive

Comments

[helva2260]

This was a perfect end to a wonderful story, which was, by the way, very definitely well worth the wait.

I loved the descriptions of the individual men lining up to kiss Vivian (and Merlin coming up with the "it's a Camelot custom" excuse *sniggers*). And then it was Colette, yay! Who I had suspected for probably not as long as you had left clues, owing to the fact that I'd originally thought it might be Harper... (and the poor shocked knight who fainted at the sight of girl-on-girl kissing: evidently Valden's knights aren't quite so used to shocks as Camelot's *g*)

Arthur’s index finger stabbed into his chest. “Sorcerer. You. When you told Olaf you and Gaius studied magic, I started to think, and then one thing after another made sense. I’m not stupid-and, apparently, neither are you. We can have the policy debate later; track him down and kill him.” Whoohoo! You've got to love Arthur's priorities! And I adore that he's all, "We're a team, Merlin. This is your part of it so go do it!"

And the big, climactic magic fight was a real nail-biter of a finale. I loved the way it wended its way through the twisty little dark passages and onto rooftops - Errol Flynn would have managed it more gracefully perhaps, but Merlin's abilities at not falling were pretty damn impressive! And then Ian turned out to have some helpful magic too, yay! But most of all, I love that Vivian herself got the final blow. It was only right that she got the opportunity to be the deciding factor, when she's spent so long being little more than Trickler's puppet.

And then the final not-quite-epilogue of leave-taking in Valden and arrival back in Camelot was a perfect finish: Vivian's repeated statements to Arthur that he shouldn't get his hopes up, it was only the enchantment, were just brilliantly in character; and the hug-pile that left Merlin sore, and Gaius' eyebrow of disapproval; and Merlin misunderstanding Arthur's attempt at discretion, having a massive sulk and enchanting his bucket was just hilarious! And I am absolutely, positively always in favour of Arthur man-handling Merlin and tossing him on the bed - especially when he does it with such care as your Arthur! *grins dopily, but very happily*

In conclusion: you are magnificent and I think I love you (and your long-suffering beta)!

P.S. One extremely minor typo that may not be a typo: in the last few paragraphs, did you mean for Merlin to leverage himself up or lever himself up?

P.P.S. Please may I podfic this? (I'd be happy to send you the link before I post it anywhere else, so you can have final approval on quality. Though I do have a couple of podfic projects that I'm working on at the moment, so it would probably be a few weeks before I could get round to starting.)

[tierfal]

You have no idea how happy I am to hear that, haha. XD Still, many apologies for the delay!

Harper would have made an excellent choice too, but I'm glad the Collette plot came out to satisfaction! :D And hahaha, I think Merlin has conditioned Camelot to expecting the worst. Not to mention the fact that they get attacked by hellish monsters, like, once a week, and all... XD

I think as soon as Arthur realized Merlin's magic was another way to kill things, all the other centers of his brain shut down. :'D Got to love that boy's priorities, yes! XD

I struggled with that whole portion more than a bit, so I'm doubly glad you enjoyed it -- when I started out going, "Okay, final battle time," the only thing I knew was that Vivian would be the one to finish Trickler off. XD

Eee, I'm so glad you had such a good time with it!! :D My extremely long-suffering beta and I love you, too! 8D

P.S. I think that's just me using words weird semi-on-purpose, heh. XD
P.P.S. Absolutely, if you want to put yourself through the agony! ;) I would love to hear what you do with it, so definitely go right ahead. I'm flattered! :D (And take your time; I still haven't found and linked to the other various podfics that should get appreciated around here... :x)

[helva2260]

I know you said to take my time podficcing Sweeter Dreams, but I thought I'd better give you a heads up that this is taking way longer than I'd anticipated. Or rather, my previous project is taking a lot longer than I'd thought, so I haven't even started recording this one! D: I will get there eventually though, don't worry...

[tierfal]

Don't worry about it! I, uh, still haven't managed to go through and arrange links to the other podfics, so… yes. And considering how ridiculously long it took me to WRITE the fic, you really, really don't need to apologize. ;)

[helva2260]

I'm about to start recording and I realised: I'm not sure how you pronounce your name! Is it like "tearful," except with an "a" like in "apple"?

[tierfal]

I swear I didn't make it super-cheesy on purpose, but it's pretty much like "tear" (that you would cry) and "fall" (as in, emo tears falling down your face). XD The emphasis is... sort of wherever you want; I think it might be mostly on "tier." XD

...I hope this helps; I'm awful at explaining pronunciations. ^^;