“There’s heaven for the cruel, but the devil waits for the kind”

[castmeaway]

Title: “There’s heaven for the cruel, but the devil waits for the kind”

Author: castmeaway

Rating: pg-13/frt

Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Arthur/Gwen, Gwaine/Merlin, (implied) Lancelot/Gwen

Word count: ~1.6k
Beta: the lovely misswinterhill

Summary: What is the point of remembering a past life, if it’s too late to prevent you from making the same mistake over again?

A/N: Story

Comments

[stinabong]

o this fic! this was sad and i know it's sad when my heart feels all ache-y after i'm done reading. arthur's so lonely in this and he has all those memories too D: i thought it was interesting how fragmented and out of order the parts were, but it still flowed. at first i thought it was going backwards, but clearly that wasn't the case.

It’s easy to love her. Has always been achingly easy. Not like the sharp give and take that is his relationship with Merlin. The constant battle for every inch given and taken. He doesn’t have to fight her.

But then, maybe that’s the problem. When the time comes he doesn’t have the strength to fight for her either.

He doesn’t think he has the right to fight for Merlin.

reaaallly liked this part especially. i think it fits with how you characterized arthur.

i'm not very eloquent with words, but i really liked this! :)

[castmeaway]

Thanks for your comment. I think that's my favorite part of the story as well, and I'm so glad it really worked for you.

[castmeaway]

thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked this.

[wldcatsprstr_14]

OOO I really liked this format! Very interesting.

The story was absolutely heartbreaking. IDK what's with me today but I keep tearing up over everything that involves Arthur/Gwen and Merlin/Gwaine and this very nearly broke the dam (not good since I'm in public haha).

Great job.

[castmeaway]

I'm so glad you liked the format. I was a little concerned it wouldn't make sense, but I'm glad that it seems to be working for people.

Honestly that's a real compliment about tearing up. I was in a bad place myself when I wrote this, and i'm fairly certain there were some tears involved on my end at least.

[bloody_beary]

I was listening to a really sad soundtrack (Babe: Pig in the City- Protected by Angels) while reading this and it really struck home the loneliness and futility of Arthur's actions. If only he would have stood up to his father in his new life maybe he would have gotten his second chance. Though I kinda don't like Gwen in this one since it seems like she's happy even when she's hurting him. Good work though!

[castmeaway]

Yeah, Arthur's kind of stuck here. I'd like to think that things ultimately work out for him, but it's certainly a long road getting there.

I'm sorry you didn't like Gwen. She wasn't really meant to be the bad guy by any means...more like, she broke Arthur's heart by doing what he couldn't do and following her heart (although she was also in a better position to do so. I guess it's complicated).

Thanks for your comment.

[mezzo_cammin]

Okay, the last one - that was Arthur finally, finally getting it, right? Learning from past mistakes? right????

This was haunting, and lovely, and bittersweet. But the ending, as I read it, at least, is hopeful.

Nicely done! :o)

[castmeaway]

I don't know. Maybe it's Arthur finally getting it right in a future lifetime? Maybe it's him getting it right from the very beginning? and this was all just a glimpse of "what could be"?

I'd like to think that one way or another, the ending was hopeful though.