Apocabigbang: Fic: Postremus Regum Britanniae; Merlin; R; Chapter 2
Chapter 1: The Earth was Ripped Asunder
Chapter 2: Following the Unicorn Takes You to Strange Places
Hands tight in the unicorn’s mane, Will and Merlin walked through the streets. It had taken them a little while, but they had realised that, while their fingers were woven into its hair, they were as good as invisible to everyone and everything that passed them by. It led them through huddles of people, past the police station, which was burnt to a cinder, dead bodies fallen around it like dominoes. They passed by monsters too, some creatures so hideous that Merlin felt sick just looking at them, some creatures that were beautiful and almost human, until you saw their eyes.
There was a woman walking through the streets, barefoot, wearing a long cloak. She was surveying the damage around her with something akin to triumph. She saw the bodies and the twisted wreckage of cars and buildings. She saw the huge rifts in the road, where the earth had torn apart and she smiled.
Her eyes slid over Merlin and Will and she frowned for a moment. Merlin held his breath, praying that she would not look back at him. She didn’t. She just kept walking onwards like a queen surveying her kingdom. He was glad when she was out of sight, in her presence, every muscle in his body seemed to seize up and his blood chilled to icy.
“Who was that?” Will asked, clearly affected similarly judging by the hushed tone of his voice.
“I have no clue,” Merlin admitted, and he did not want to find out.
After they had been walking for a good twenty minutes, there was a strange thundering noise around them that made the whole street shake. They looked up to see what seemed to be a huge bird flying above them, except no bird had a tail like that, or was as large as that.
“Holy shit,” Will said. “That’s a dragon.”
“Yes,” Merlin said a little weakly, “it is.”
His hand tightened in the unicorn’s mane and, in a strange show of comfort, it nudged its neck into his arm, or maybe it was trying to tell him to loosen his grip.
“Sorry,” he said, trying not to look up, even as the shadow of wings fell right on top of them. He had seen dragons on television and films; he even had a poster of one on his wall, breathing fire. He really did not want to get on its bad side.
*
The unicorn led them through the streets until they came to what seemed to be a scorched hole in the ground.
“You sure about this?” Will asked, looking down dubiously into the charred black of the pit.
“No,” Merlin said, “but unless you have any better ideas, I’m following the magical unicorn.”
“Remind me to record you saying that later,” Will muttered as they were led down what might once have been stairs but were now melted beyond recognition. “I need a new text alert.”
*
The bottle was empty, had been empty for a while. Arthur had held it upside down for ages to try and get the last drops out. Jeff, whose musical taste seemed eclectic at best, was teaching them the words to Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult and Tomorrow Never Comes from Bugsy Malone.
But the sound of footsteps made them all freeze and Arthur had never seen anyone go from drunk to sober so fast.
He was on his feet in seconds, looking around for a weapon, any weapon.
“It could be someone like us,” Lance hissed at him.
“It could be something like them,” Arthur replied, picking up a pipe that might, earlier that day, have been attached to the ceiling. It was heavy and just small enough for his hand to wrap around. He edged over to the end of the wall, trying not to show any fear.
There was something wrong with the footsteps, he could hear at least two sets, but there was another noise, a clop-clop that sounded almost as if there was a horse.
Suddenly the sounds stopped and, for a second, all Arthur could hear was the breathing of the people around him, a little desperate.
He glanced over to where Morgana was sitting, her head cocked to one side as though she was listening. He didn’t know how she fit in with all of this, but it was beginning to look like she was not as insane as he had thought. He remembered the past few days, the headaches and the strange voices. All of that had gone away since the earthquake. It was as though something was back on kilter again, even when he should have been going out of his mind.
The footsteps were replaced by voices.
“What? You can’t stop here,” a man’s voice hissed. “We’ll die if you leave us here.”
“Will, leave it alone,” another voice said, obviously concerned
“I won’t bloody leave it alone,” said ‘Will’, whoever he was, “it’s the only thing that’s kept us alive and now it’s going to just abandon us in a hole that looks like it was at Hiroshima ground zero. Come on, you stupid pony.”
There was a hrumph and the clopping sounds began again, fading into the background.
“I think you insulted it,” said the second voice, slightly amused.
“I think it insulted me,” Will replied. He sounded petulant, like a little child.
“Merlin!” Arthur spun around to see Morgana standing up in one flowing movement, smiling, honestly smiling.
“What?” the second voice from round the corner said in confusion. “Hello?”
Morgana was round the corner before Arthur could stop her. He did not think that the newcomers were enemies, but it never hurt to be sure.
Hiding pointless now, he walked around himself, letting the bar hang down by his side in the least threatening position he could manage. Lance and Jeff followed him, Jeff only daring to poke his head out.
Morgana had her arms flung around the neck of a young man who looked vaguely familiar, and more than a little shocked.
“Uh hi,” he said, the words squeezed out with the little air her grip was allowing him. “Morgana, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said, pulling back. “You’re alive. Thank God. I was beginning to think it was all over.”
“What?”
“The world.”
“I wish people would stop saying that the world is ending,” ‘Merlin’ replied, frowning. “I mean, you can’t just decide it’s the apocalypse.”
“Would you prefer a government proclamation?” Arthur found himself asking, sarcasm dripping from his voice. ‘Merlin’ looked at him, his eyes widening.
“Arthur?” he asked. Next to him, Morgana smiled wickedly. Arthur blinked, he was sure he had not met this man before, despite the familiarity he seemed to feel.
Then it hit him.
“The bar. You were at the bar last night,” he said, pointing, his mouth falling open. He turned to the other man. “And you were there too.”
“And you were supposed to meet,” Morgana said, crossing her arms, “not just sit there and ignore each other.”
“So what,” Will said, smirking a little. “You’re actually called Arthur? That’s so funny it’s not even funny anymore.”
“You mean Merlin’s your real name?” Arthur asked incredulously. “No one’s called Merlin.”
“I am,” said must-be-Merlin with a shrug. Arthur gaped openly, aware of Lance’s confusion fading to amusement next to him.
“Merlin and Arthur,” Jeff said, thoughtfully. “This sounds like some sort of television show, or a novel.”
“Oh God,” Merlin moaned, thinking about it. “This cannot be happening. It just can’t. I am not allowed to be stuck in the apocalypse with a man called Arthur.”
“At least Arthur is actually a name,” Arthur snapped.
“Old fashioned, though,” Will said. “Anyway...” he turned to Morgana, “You mean you knew Arthur before you told Merlin about him?”
“You’ve been telling random strangers about me?” Arthur demanded, “I was right, you are a crazy person. You are utterly insane and now, somehow, you’ve managed to get me stuck in an underground station with you.”
“I’d always kind of hoped the end of the world would have popcorn,” Merlin said weakly into the silence that followed.
“I’d always kind of hoped it would happen years after I died,” Lance replied. “It’s nice to meet you, Merlin. I’m Lance.”
“Good to meet you too,” Merlin took his hand and smiled. Arthur groaned. He could tell, just from the way Lance smiled back, that those two were going to get along brilliantly and bond in seconds.
“Well,” Morgana said, looking between him and Merlin expectantly.
“Well what?” Arthur asked. He was gratified to see that Merlin looked just as confused.
“Do you remember?” she asked, “You’ve got to remember. That’s why you had to meet - so that you’d remember and then you could save the world.”
“Remember what?” Merlin asked, looking over at Arthur, who just shrugged, helplessly.
“Remember before - remember Camelot?”
The word echoed round Arthur’s head.
“Camelot?” Merlin said, the word thoughtful. “No, I don’t remember Camelot.”
“But you have to,” Morgana said, getting more agitated by the second. “You have to remember. If you don’t remember then we’re all going to die. You’re Arthur and Merlin - you’re supposed to stop this.”
“I think you’re mixing us up with some other people comically named after mythical figures,” Arthur said, sighing and rubbing a hand across his forehead. He was tired, and it wasn’t even midday yet, as far as his watch could tell.
“Let me get this straight,” Will said, looking at Morgana as though she were a monkey in a zoo. “You think that this Merlin and this Arthur are the real Merlin and Arthur who are going to save us all from dying at the hands of hippogriffs and sludge monsters and dragons?”
“I don’t just think, I know,” she said firmly. “Because I was there.”
“You were there?” Jeff asked, edging away from her.
“I’m not crazy,” she said firmly. “Come on, with all you’ve seen today is this really a greater stretch of your imagination. You’re standing in the ashes of dragon fire. You two were led here by a unicorn and you’re quibbling over reincarnation? It’s a far more accepted theory than any of the others.”
“Yes, by dippy old ladies who aren’t quite all there and teenage girls who want to believe they used to be a concubine in a middle eastern court,” Arthur said. “Dragons, I’ve seen, unicorns... are pushing it a little, but reincarnation is just too far.”
“Fine,” Morgana snapped. “Stay here and die for all I care. I’ve been waiting for this moment for years. I have been watching out and guarding for centuries just because, last time around, I made the wrong decision. But I can see that you don’t want my help. So you won’t get it. Even if I know the only way to possibly save the world.”
“You expect us to save the world?” Merlin asked in disbelief.
“No one else can,” she said. “It has to be you.”
Arthur did not believe it for a second, it was ridiculous, completely ridiculous. How was he supposed to save the world? He was an office worker who had grown up in Surrey, for crying out loud. The biggest thing he had ever saved was two hundred and fifty quid at the last DFS sale. But he couldn’t let her say that and then ignore it. He couldn’t let a chance, any chance to stop this, even one spouted by a crazy woman, pass by. So, against his better judgement, he asked.
“How, exactly, would we do that, anyway?” he tried to sound dismissive, but he knew that the words came out more like a plea. He got the impression that Morgana could look right through him.
“There is a weapon,” she said, sounding a little wary, “It’s one of the most powerful weapons in the world and if it is held by its true owner, then it cannot be defeated, and neither can he.”
“Oh great,” Will said, rolling his eyes. “Just when I thought this couldn’t get any more like a cheesy Hollywood film.”
“Where is it now?” Arthur asked. It sounded too perfect, too easy.
“It was protected,” she paused, “until recently. It was stolen and it provided the final push to break down the barrier.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that this weapon is in the hands of the people we’re going to be fighting - if they are people.”
“They are people. They use creatures and they form alliances with them, but in the end it’s the people we are fighting,” Morgana said.
“Who is this weapon’s true owner?” Lance asked.
“Arthur,” she said. “And the weapon is a sword, you might have heard of it. Excalibur.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Jeff muttered. “I’m in an Arthurian legend and I just got drunk with the once and future fucking king!”
“I am not the once and future anything,” Arthur snapped at him, glaring over at Morgana.
*
If Merlin had been told when he had woken up that morning ‘by the way the world is going to end today, just before your coffee break, and some slightly batty, but extremely attractive, woman is going to try and get you to save it,’ he probably would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. If the world was going to end, then he might as well spend its last hours comfortable.
Well, he probably would have got up and gone to work because apocalypses and prophecies were hazy, ridiculous things and crystal balls just reminded him of Mystic Meg, while work and the bills that he worked to pay were real, solid and he had had previous experience of both of them.
That would have been after he laughed himself sick, though.
Now he was standing on the platform of an underground station being told that he was the reincarnation of someone he had spent his entire life trying to ignore. He was standing metres away from dead bodies and he had almost been gored to death by hippogriffs or whatever the fuck they were, and he was standing opposite someone named Arthur whom he knew, on some level that did not involve them having met before.
He didn’t know what to say to that. It had to be a different Merlin, and a different Arthur. The blond in front of him, while supremely attractive, had that look of senior management about him. The words fast track were practically printed across his face. If it weren’t for the wrinkles of his suit and the stain - rust brown and sickeningly familiar - that covered both knees, he could have been Merlin’s boss (though if Merlin’s boss had had a physique like that he would have got a lot less work done).
He opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to make a joke or just to say ‘fuck this’, but no words came. Everyone watched as his mouth opened, but he couldn’t make it work properly. He could see the irritation growing on Arthur’s face.
Luckily for his social standing (which may or may not have been important at the end of the world) Will’s phone chose that moment to ring.
“Hello?” he said cautiously, answering. “Gwen? Are you all right? What- what did you see?”
“Who’s Gwen?” Lance asked Merlin. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He had clearly slipped his tie off at some point and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows to show off quite nice forearms.
Merlin had to remind himself that they were at the end of the world and if, by any chance, they survived this, then as a bisexual, it would be his duty to sleep with women, not men. Repopulation wouldn’t happen by itself.
He was beginning to think like Will, he realised suddenly. That was a sickening thought.
“Uh... Will was on the phone to her earlier,” he explained, trying not to get into too much detail. Outing the poor girl as a sex line operator probably wasn’t the best thing to do, and telling them that Will had called a sex line might make things a little strained. “She said she’d call back to check we were all right.”
“He gets signal down here?” Jeff asked, a little awed. There was a moment of fumbling as every single person, with the exception of Morgana, reached for their phone.
“I don’t even have emergency calls only,” Lance said, sighing.
“Same here,” Arthur agreed, “nothing.”
“I’ve never got anything here,” Jeff said with a shrug. “I play here once a week.”
“Why?” Merlin couldn’t help but ask. Jeff just shrugged.
“I feel like, I get money and it’s fun...”
“Fair enough.” He checked his own phone, still nothing, and the battery was running down too. He wondered how long it would take to get back to his place. The trains certainly weren’t running.
“I think perhaps you should stay inside,” Will was saying over the phone, Merlin could just hear the murmur of Gwen’s voice at the other end. “I know but- Really? They’re walking through the streets?”
“Who are?” Morgana asked suddenly. “Ask her who.”
“Uh, who’s walking down the streets?” Will asked, waiting for an answer before looking up. “Men in suits,” he said, “they’re collecting people from their houses.” Morgana nodded, her face suddenly paler than it had been before.
“Tell her to get a mirror,” she said calmly, though Merlin could see that there was something she was not saying. Will relayed the instruction. “Now, tell her to look at the men in suits in the mirror.”
“What?” Will said, a few moments after he had relayed the next instruction. “What do they look like then?” But whatever they looked like was lost when Morgana grabbed the phone from his hand.
“Gwen, get out of there... now. Don’t go near those men. Try and find us... we’re underground at...” she looked around and Merlin gestured to the station name fixed to the wall, “we’re at Tottenham Court Road.
“I know. Just find us, and stay out of sight. If they find you... Get out of there!”
The change in the woman was incredible. She looked almost frantic with worry as she spoke down the phone, holding it in a way that showed she had not used one often before. She held it with a finger and thumb, glued to her ear.
“Back door,” Morgana said. “I’m- I’m-” she stammered, her voice failing her. “I’m a friend, Gwen.”
Will snatched his phone back, before Morgana dropped it.
“Yeah, sorry about that. But she’s right - you need to get out of there.” He paused to listen to the woman on the other end of the line. I don’t know who they are. I don’t know much, but I think there’s more safety in numbers. How far away are you? Really? Be careful and, if you see a unicorn... yeah, I know it sounds mad, but if you see a unicorn, go with it. It can help.
“I swear,” Will said, sighing heavily, “I’m not joking. I wish I was. Unicorns, dragons, I half expect to see Harry Potter wondering down the street.
“We can probably walk to you. We’re on the Northern line,” Will said, looking over Arthur’s head at the tube map that Merlin had not even noticed - it was so much part of the scenery. “We’ll meet you at Clapham North?” He looked at the others.
“The tunnels might be the safest route,” Lance said, although a bit dubiously. They shared a look with each other, debating the idea of going back above ground, hazarding the dragons and whatever else there might be out there now.
“We don’t know her,” pointed out Jeff. Merlin glared at him, and found, unexpectedly, that Arthur was joining him. Eventually the student capitulated with a sigh. “Fine... we’ll just leave the safety of here to journey through possibly collapsed tunnels towards a complete stranger who might die on the way.”
“We can’t leave anyone out there alone,” Arthur said, determined, shooting a look at Morgana as though she would argue.
“We’re not leaving Gwen out there,” she said with such determination that she must know the girl. It was a small world, Merlin thought to himself.
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Lance said gently. “We’ve all seen what’s out there; no one should be alone now.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you there. Call if there’s a problem... Right, goodbye.” Will hung up and looked down at the display.
“I still don’t know how you have signal down here,” Merlin commented, shaking his head. “Jammy git.”
“I don’t,” Will said, making to slip his phone into his pocket before freezing, realising what he had just said.
“You don’t have signal?” Arthur asked, frowning. Will lifted his phone up again and checked.
“Not even one bar,” he said slowly.
“Then how did she...?”
“But she did,” Merlin said, trying to gloss over the fact that the world was completely off its head. “She did and now we have to go get her, so let’s get moving, okay?”
“You’re serious?” Jeff asked, looking towards the darkness of the tunnel. “We’re seriously going to walk along the tracks of the London Underground where there are trains and electricity.” There was a pause where he looked around again. “And probably monsters,” he added for good measure.
“There won’t be monsters, will there?” Merlin asked, a little worried.
“Of course not,” Arthur said, like he knew what he was talking about. Merlin wasn’t completely reassured. “Rats at the most.”
“I hate rats,” Morgana said, crinkling her nose.
“Better than monsters,” Merlin said with a shrug. “So, no monsters and the trains won’t be running after that quake will they?”
“Definitely not,” Arthur said. “We’ve been here for hours and we haven’t even seen one go past. The tunnel’s integrity has probably been damaged. They won’t run any trains unless they can guarantee there isn’t going to be a collapse.”
“A collapse?” That didn’t sound much better than monsters. Merlin imagined slowly dying alone, crushed under rocks, like the people on the news after natural disasters.
“Yes, if there’s a fault then even the smallest vibration might lead to-” Arthur noticed Merlin’s rapidly widening eyes, “-absolutely nothing happening. It would take a really loud noise like a train, or a brass band to bring the roof down,” he said, pulling words out of thin air and sounding completely unconvincing. “And even then it would only be a really, really small collapse, just a couple of pebbles really.”
“You’re lying,” Merlin said, noting the way that Arthur’s eyes slid away from his and how Arthur drew a deep breath as he shook his head.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are. You’re talking bollocks,” he said, “and we’re about to go through a tunnel that might be filled with monsters and might collapse on us at any moment.”
“Look at it this way,” Arthur said after a moment of thought. Every person there turned to look at him. “It’s better than what’s above ground.”
“We can’t leave Gwen,” Morgana said, looking at Merlin and he sighed.
“Right, but if we die of being crushed to death by the roof, I reserve the right to tell you ‘I told you so’.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less,” Will said, thumping him on the back. Merlin shook his head.
“I’m mad.”
“Don’t worry,” Arthur said, walking towards the edge of the platform, “it’s not slowing Morgana down.”
Jeff was hurriedly packing away his guitar and grabbing his bag. As he turned round, Arthur noticed and looked at him in astonishment.
“What are you doing?” he asked, “I don’t think you’ll need that.” Jeff turned to him and smiled a little shakily.
“I don’t go anywhere without my guitar. I’m not leaving it here for dragons and unicorns to find,” he said. “Anyway, we will need it - morale. It’s important in times of crisis, and it’ll take my mind off things.”
“Like what? It’s a guitar..”
“My slow and painful death. I’m not leaving behind my most prized possession just because you happen to be a…”
“...complete prat,” Merlin finished. “He’s right: it’ll be useful to have something to do other than stare at each other.”
“If we survive that long,” Will said pessimistically. He received five glares. “Just saying.”
“Then don’t,” Merlin said, huffing.
*
It was approximately five seconds before someone remembered that the Tube was powered by the rails and they spent a good five minutes trying to work out how to tell whether the power was on.
After several minutes, they were suddenly plunged into darkness.
“Damn it,” Arthur muttered, looking around. He couldn’t see anything, not even his own hand when he waved it in front of his face.
“Ow!” he heard Merlin yelp as his hand connected with something.
“Well, you shouldn’t have moved,” Arthur said, but he restrained his movement the next time he reached out. He paused, thinking for a moment, listening to the shuffling and muttered apologies of people trying to sort themselves out. He was trying not to think about the fact that right behind him there was a large drop with live rails at the bottom.
He paused, suddenly.
“If the electricity’s gone,” he said, thoughtfully, “then the lines aren’t live any more.”
“But it might just be the station,” Will pointed out. There was a hollow thumping noise as someone knocked into Jeff’s guitar.
“Be careful!” he snapped from somewhere on Arthur’s left.
“Sorry,” Merlin said. Arthur ignored them both. There were more important things than guitars.
“We’ll need to go up to see whether it’s just us,” he said.
“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Merlin muttered. “There are hippogriff things up there, and slime monsters and I’m fairly certain I saw a dragon.”
“You probably did,” Arthur agreed. “One burnt out the entrance of this station earlier.”
“And you’re suggesting we go out there? Your only argument for going along the tube line was that it wasn’t up there.”
“Well now we can’t see anything and we need to find out if the electricity’s gone out everywhere, so we have to go up again.”
“You can do it then,” Merlin said, stubbornly.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Will agreed from Merlin’s left. “You go look and we’ll just sit here and talk amongst ourselves.
“I’m not going up there alone,” Arthur protested.
“You should take Merlin,” Morgana said from somewhere in the dark to his right.
“I’d prefer to get out of there alive,” he grumbled as Merlin demanded to know why it was always him. “First thing’s first, though: does anyone have any light?”
It turned out that Jeff had a small torch on his key ring and Lance’s phone cast a decent amount of light, but mostly they were just blundering along in the dark. With both of them on, Arthur could see shadowy grey versions of the people he had been talking to earlier. He felt as though he was ten again, telling ghost stories and seeing everyone’s faces in huge contrast. Except this time the monsters were real.
He shook his head and took a step, but his foot, instead of touching the floor, hit something softer that moved.
Arthur was usually fairly graceful on his feet; he was no dancer but he had good balance.
The movement of what he had assumed would be solid ground, however, came as such a surprise, he pulled his own foot away too fast, even as one of the voices around him - in his moment of panic, he couldn’t tell whose - gave a muffled sound of pain.
His foot pulled away too fast and the rest of his body went with it, not prepared for the sudden shift backwards.
If there had been another inch of platform behind him, he probably would have been alright, but he had gone right up to the edge - far beyond the yellow line, and when he foot went to step backwards, instinctively, there was nothing there for it to stand on.
The moment seemed to last forever and not for long enough. He could feel himself tipping backwards, over the edge of the platform and down to where the rails were.
It was further down than he had ever thought before, made longer by the fact he couldn’t see where he was going. As he went, people’s faces flashed out of sight until he was looking at the ceiling and the only sign of life was the light from the torches.
He had a second before he hit the ground to wonder how painful it was to be electrocuted.
Then came the impact.
His eyes were clenched tight, waiting for it to hit him properly, but nothing happened except for the intense pain from having hit the ground.
His back was in agony, he thought, and then, a second later, realised that if he could feel that then he was still alive.
His head spun. All the air had rushed out of his lungs with the force of the impact and when he opened his mouth to take a long, shaky breath, a groan came out.
It was about the moment when he realised he could still move his arms and legs that he realised there were shouts coming from above him and the burst of bright light wasn’t some problem in his brain, it was Lance’s phone light shining right into his eyes.
“Arthur?”
“I’m fine,” he said in amazement, patting himself down. His back felt as though it was going to become one huge bruise, but the rest of him was actually fine. “I’m fine,” he repeated, more triumphantly.
“Well,” he heard Merlin say from somewhere behind the light, “I guess that answers that question. The lines aren’t live.”
“Thank God,” Arthur said with feeling. “They must have gone off with the rest of the power.” He couldn’t quite believe his luck. He had felt for certain then, in that millisecond between falling and hitting the ground, that he was dead. It had seemed inevitable, but he was currently stumbling to his feet, still alive.
“Or maybe they turned the power off after the earthquake,” Will suggested. “Now that we’ve sorted that out, can we get a move on?”
“We don’t all have to get down that way, do we?” Jeff asked, uncertainly. Arthur could just about make his face out to the far right, looking down dubiously and clutching his guitar case.
“I think we can probably work something out,” Morgana said, rolling her eyes.
There was a moment of silence and then, in an uncanny imitation, he heard Will’s voice ring out, loud and clear.
“Mind the Gap…” The silence grew more disapproving. “Oh, come on, you were all thinking it.”
*
Chapter 3: A Journey in the Dark
Chapter 2: Following the Unicorn Takes You to Strange Places
Hands tight in the unicorn’s mane, Will and Merlin walked through the streets. It had taken them a little while, but they had realised that, while their fingers were woven into its hair, they were as good as invisible to everyone and everything that passed them by. It led them through huddles of people, past the police station, which was burnt to a cinder, dead bodies fallen around it like dominoes. They passed by monsters too, some creatures so hideous that Merlin felt sick just looking at them, some creatures that were beautiful and almost human, until you saw their eyes.
There was a woman walking through the streets, barefoot, wearing a long cloak. She was surveying the damage around her with something akin to triumph. She saw the bodies and the twisted wreckage of cars and buildings. She saw the huge rifts in the road, where the earth had torn apart and she smiled.
Her eyes slid over Merlin and Will and she frowned for a moment. Merlin held his breath, praying that she would not look back at him. She didn’t. She just kept walking onwards like a queen surveying her kingdom. He was glad when she was out of sight, in her presence, every muscle in his body seemed to seize up and his blood chilled to icy.
“Who was that?” Will asked, clearly affected similarly judging by the hushed tone of his voice.
“I have no clue,” Merlin admitted, and he did not want to find out.
After they had been walking for a good twenty minutes, there was a strange thundering noise around them that made the whole street shake. They looked up to see what seemed to be a huge bird flying above them, except no bird had a tail like that, or was as large as that.
“Holy shit,” Will said. “That’s a dragon.”
“Yes,” Merlin said a little weakly, “it is.”
His hand tightened in the unicorn’s mane and, in a strange show of comfort, it nudged its neck into his arm, or maybe it was trying to tell him to loosen his grip.
“Sorry,” he said, trying not to look up, even as the shadow of wings fell right on top of them. He had seen dragons on television and films; he even had a poster of one on his wall, breathing fire. He really did not want to get on its bad side.
*
The unicorn led them through the streets until they came to what seemed to be a scorched hole in the ground.
“You sure about this?” Will asked, looking down dubiously into the charred black of the pit.
“No,” Merlin said, “but unless you have any better ideas, I’m following the magical unicorn.”
“Remind me to record you saying that later,” Will muttered as they were led down what might once have been stairs but were now melted beyond recognition. “I need a new text alert.”
*
The bottle was empty, had been empty for a while. Arthur had held it upside down for ages to try and get the last drops out. Jeff, whose musical taste seemed eclectic at best, was teaching them the words to Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult and Tomorrow Never Comes from Bugsy Malone.
But the sound of footsteps made them all freeze and Arthur had never seen anyone go from drunk to sober so fast.
He was on his feet in seconds, looking around for a weapon, any weapon.
“It could be someone like us,” Lance hissed at him.
“It could be something like them,” Arthur replied, picking up a pipe that might, earlier that day, have been attached to the ceiling. It was heavy and just small enough for his hand to wrap around. He edged over to the end of the wall, trying not to show any fear.
There was something wrong with the footsteps, he could hear at least two sets, but there was another noise, a clop-clop that sounded almost as if there was a horse.
Suddenly the sounds stopped and, for a second, all Arthur could hear was the breathing of the people around him, a little desperate.
He glanced over to where Morgana was sitting, her head cocked to one side as though she was listening. He didn’t know how she fit in with all of this, but it was beginning to look like she was not as insane as he had thought. He remembered the past few days, the headaches and the strange voices. All of that had gone away since the earthquake. It was as though something was back on kilter again, even when he should have been going out of his mind.
The footsteps were replaced by voices.
“What? You can’t stop here,” a man’s voice hissed. “We’ll die if you leave us here.”
“Will, leave it alone,” another voice said, obviously concerned
“I won’t bloody leave it alone,” said ‘Will’, whoever he was, “it’s the only thing that’s kept us alive and now it’s going to just abandon us in a hole that looks like it was at Hiroshima ground zero. Come on, you stupid pony.”
There was a hrumph and the clopping sounds began again, fading into the background.
“I think you insulted it,” said the second voice, slightly amused.
“I think it insulted me,” Will replied. He sounded petulant, like a little child.
“Merlin!” Arthur spun around to see Morgana standing up in one flowing movement, smiling, honestly smiling.
“What?” the second voice from round the corner said in confusion. “Hello?”
Morgana was round the corner before Arthur could stop her. He did not think that the newcomers were enemies, but it never hurt to be sure.
Hiding pointless now, he walked around himself, letting the bar hang down by his side in the least threatening position he could manage. Lance and Jeff followed him, Jeff only daring to poke his head out.
Morgana had her arms flung around the neck of a young man who looked vaguely familiar, and more than a little shocked.
“Uh hi,” he said, the words squeezed out with the little air her grip was allowing him. “Morgana, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said, pulling back. “You’re alive. Thank God. I was beginning to think it was all over.”
“What?”
“The world.”
“I wish people would stop saying that the world is ending,” ‘Merlin’ replied, frowning. “I mean, you can’t just decide it’s the apocalypse.”
“Would you prefer a government proclamation?” Arthur found himself asking, sarcasm dripping from his voice. ‘Merlin’ looked at him, his eyes widening.
“Arthur?” he asked. Next to him, Morgana smiled wickedly. Arthur blinked, he was sure he had not met this man before, despite the familiarity he seemed to feel.
Then it hit him.
“The bar. You were at the bar last night,” he said, pointing, his mouth falling open. He turned to the other man. “And you were there too.”
“And you were supposed to meet,” Morgana said, crossing her arms, “not just sit there and ignore each other.”
“So what,” Will said, smirking a little. “You’re actually called Arthur? That’s so funny it’s not even funny anymore.”
“You mean Merlin’s your real name?” Arthur asked incredulously. “No one’s called Merlin.”
“I am,” said must-be-Merlin with a shrug. Arthur gaped openly, aware of Lance’s confusion fading to amusement next to him.
“Merlin and Arthur,” Jeff said, thoughtfully. “This sounds like some sort of television show, or a novel.”
“Oh God,” Merlin moaned, thinking about it. “This cannot be happening. It just can’t. I am not allowed to be stuck in the apocalypse with a man called Arthur.”
“At least Arthur is actually a name,” Arthur snapped.
“Old fashioned, though,” Will said. “Anyway...” he turned to Morgana, “You mean you knew Arthur before you told Merlin about him?”
“You’ve been telling random strangers about me?” Arthur demanded, “I was right, you are a crazy person. You are utterly insane and now, somehow, you’ve managed to get me stuck in an underground station with you.”
“I’d always kind of hoped the end of the world would have popcorn,” Merlin said weakly into the silence that followed.
“I’d always kind of hoped it would happen years after I died,” Lance replied. “It’s nice to meet you, Merlin. I’m Lance.”
“Good to meet you too,” Merlin took his hand and smiled. Arthur groaned. He could tell, just from the way Lance smiled back, that those two were going to get along brilliantly and bond in seconds.
“Well,” Morgana said, looking between him and Merlin expectantly.
“Well what?” Arthur asked. He was gratified to see that Merlin looked just as confused.
“Do you remember?” she asked, “You’ve got to remember. That’s why you had to meet - so that you’d remember and then you could save the world.”
“Remember what?” Merlin asked, looking over at Arthur, who just shrugged, helplessly.
“Remember before - remember Camelot?”
The word echoed round Arthur’s head.
“Camelot?” Merlin said, the word thoughtful. “No, I don’t remember Camelot.”
“But you have to,” Morgana said, getting more agitated by the second. “You have to remember. If you don’t remember then we’re all going to die. You’re Arthur and Merlin - you’re supposed to stop this.”
“I think you’re mixing us up with some other people comically named after mythical figures,” Arthur said, sighing and rubbing a hand across his forehead. He was tired, and it wasn’t even midday yet, as far as his watch could tell.
“Let me get this straight,” Will said, looking at Morgana as though she were a monkey in a zoo. “You think that this Merlin and this Arthur are the real Merlin and Arthur who are going to save us all from dying at the hands of hippogriffs and sludge monsters and dragons?”
“I don’t just think, I know,” she said firmly. “Because I was there.”
“You were there?” Jeff asked, edging away from her.
“I’m not crazy,” she said firmly. “Come on, with all you’ve seen today is this really a greater stretch of your imagination. You’re standing in the ashes of dragon fire. You two were led here by a unicorn and you’re quibbling over reincarnation? It’s a far more accepted theory than any of the others.”
“Yes, by dippy old ladies who aren’t quite all there and teenage girls who want to believe they used to be a concubine in a middle eastern court,” Arthur said. “Dragons, I’ve seen, unicorns... are pushing it a little, but reincarnation is just too far.”
“Fine,” Morgana snapped. “Stay here and die for all I care. I’ve been waiting for this moment for years. I have been watching out and guarding for centuries just because, last time around, I made the wrong decision. But I can see that you don’t want my help. So you won’t get it. Even if I know the only way to possibly save the world.”
“You expect us to save the world?” Merlin asked in disbelief.
“No one else can,” she said. “It has to be you.”
Arthur did not believe it for a second, it was ridiculous, completely ridiculous. How was he supposed to save the world? He was an office worker who had grown up in Surrey, for crying out loud. The biggest thing he had ever saved was two hundred and fifty quid at the last DFS sale. But he couldn’t let her say that and then ignore it. He couldn’t let a chance, any chance to stop this, even one spouted by a crazy woman, pass by. So, against his better judgement, he asked.
“How, exactly, would we do that, anyway?” he tried to sound dismissive, but he knew that the words came out more like a plea. He got the impression that Morgana could look right through him.
“There is a weapon,” she said, sounding a little wary, “It’s one of the most powerful weapons in the world and if it is held by its true owner, then it cannot be defeated, and neither can he.”
“Oh great,” Will said, rolling his eyes. “Just when I thought this couldn’t get any more like a cheesy Hollywood film.”
“Where is it now?” Arthur asked. It sounded too perfect, too easy.
“It was protected,” she paused, “until recently. It was stolen and it provided the final push to break down the barrier.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that this weapon is in the hands of the people we’re going to be fighting - if they are people.”
“They are people. They use creatures and they form alliances with them, but in the end it’s the people we are fighting,” Morgana said.
“Who is this weapon’s true owner?” Lance asked.
“Arthur,” she said. “And the weapon is a sword, you might have heard of it. Excalibur.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Jeff muttered. “I’m in an Arthurian legend and I just got drunk with the once and future fucking king!”
“I am not the once and future anything,” Arthur snapped at him, glaring over at Morgana.
*
If Merlin had been told when he had woken up that morning ‘by the way the world is going to end today, just before your coffee break, and some slightly batty, but extremely attractive, woman is going to try and get you to save it,’ he probably would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. If the world was going to end, then he might as well spend its last hours comfortable.
Well, he probably would have got up and gone to work because apocalypses and prophecies were hazy, ridiculous things and crystal balls just reminded him of Mystic Meg, while work and the bills that he worked to pay were real, solid and he had had previous experience of both of them.
That would have been after he laughed himself sick, though.
Now he was standing on the platform of an underground station being told that he was the reincarnation of someone he had spent his entire life trying to ignore. He was standing metres away from dead bodies and he had almost been gored to death by hippogriffs or whatever the fuck they were, and he was standing opposite someone named Arthur whom he knew, on some level that did not involve them having met before.
He didn’t know what to say to that. It had to be a different Merlin, and a different Arthur. The blond in front of him, while supremely attractive, had that look of senior management about him. The words fast track were practically printed across his face. If it weren’t for the wrinkles of his suit and the stain - rust brown and sickeningly familiar - that covered both knees, he could have been Merlin’s boss (though if Merlin’s boss had had a physique like that he would have got a lot less work done).
He opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to make a joke or just to say ‘fuck this’, but no words came. Everyone watched as his mouth opened, but he couldn’t make it work properly. He could see the irritation growing on Arthur’s face.
Luckily for his social standing (which may or may not have been important at the end of the world) Will’s phone chose that moment to ring.
“Hello?” he said cautiously, answering. “Gwen? Are you all right? What- what did you see?”
“Who’s Gwen?” Lance asked Merlin. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He had clearly slipped his tie off at some point and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows to show off quite nice forearms.
Merlin had to remind himself that they were at the end of the world and if, by any chance, they survived this, then as a bisexual, it would be his duty to sleep with women, not men. Repopulation wouldn’t happen by itself.
He was beginning to think like Will, he realised suddenly. That was a sickening thought.
“Uh... Will was on the phone to her earlier,” he explained, trying not to get into too much detail. Outing the poor girl as a sex line operator probably wasn’t the best thing to do, and telling them that Will had called a sex line might make things a little strained. “She said she’d call back to check we were all right.”
“He gets signal down here?” Jeff asked, a little awed. There was a moment of fumbling as every single person, with the exception of Morgana, reached for their phone.
“I don’t even have emergency calls only,” Lance said, sighing.
“Same here,” Arthur agreed, “nothing.”
“I’ve never got anything here,” Jeff said with a shrug. “I play here once a week.”
“Why?” Merlin couldn’t help but ask. Jeff just shrugged.
“I feel like, I get money and it’s fun...”
“Fair enough.” He checked his own phone, still nothing, and the battery was running down too. He wondered how long it would take to get back to his place. The trains certainly weren’t running.
“I think perhaps you should stay inside,” Will was saying over the phone, Merlin could just hear the murmur of Gwen’s voice at the other end. “I know but- Really? They’re walking through the streets?”
“Who are?” Morgana asked suddenly. “Ask her who.”
“Uh, who’s walking down the streets?” Will asked, waiting for an answer before looking up. “Men in suits,” he said, “they’re collecting people from their houses.” Morgana nodded, her face suddenly paler than it had been before.
“Tell her to get a mirror,” she said calmly, though Merlin could see that there was something she was not saying. Will relayed the instruction. “Now, tell her to look at the men in suits in the mirror.”
“What?” Will said, a few moments after he had relayed the next instruction. “What do they look like then?” But whatever they looked like was lost when Morgana grabbed the phone from his hand.
“Gwen, get out of there... now. Don’t go near those men. Try and find us... we’re underground at...” she looked around and Merlin gestured to the station name fixed to the wall, “we’re at Tottenham Court Road.
“I know. Just find us, and stay out of sight. If they find you... Get out of there!”
The change in the woman was incredible. She looked almost frantic with worry as she spoke down the phone, holding it in a way that showed she had not used one often before. She held it with a finger and thumb, glued to her ear.
“Back door,” Morgana said. “I’m- I’m-” she stammered, her voice failing her. “I’m a friend, Gwen.”
Will snatched his phone back, before Morgana dropped it.
“Yeah, sorry about that. But she’s right - you need to get out of there.” He paused to listen to the woman on the other end of the line. I don’t know who they are. I don’t know much, but I think there’s more safety in numbers. How far away are you? Really? Be careful and, if you see a unicorn... yeah, I know it sounds mad, but if you see a unicorn, go with it. It can help.
“I swear,” Will said, sighing heavily, “I’m not joking. I wish I was. Unicorns, dragons, I half expect to see Harry Potter wondering down the street.
“We can probably walk to you. We’re on the Northern line,” Will said, looking over Arthur’s head at the tube map that Merlin had not even noticed - it was so much part of the scenery. “We’ll meet you at Clapham North?” He looked at the others.
“The tunnels might be the safest route,” Lance said, although a bit dubiously. They shared a look with each other, debating the idea of going back above ground, hazarding the dragons and whatever else there might be out there now.
“We don’t know her,” pointed out Jeff. Merlin glared at him, and found, unexpectedly, that Arthur was joining him. Eventually the student capitulated with a sigh. “Fine... we’ll just leave the safety of here to journey through possibly collapsed tunnels towards a complete stranger who might die on the way.”
“We can’t leave anyone out there alone,” Arthur said, determined, shooting a look at Morgana as though she would argue.
“We’re not leaving Gwen out there,” she said with such determination that she must know the girl. It was a small world, Merlin thought to himself.
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Lance said gently. “We’ve all seen what’s out there; no one should be alone now.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you there. Call if there’s a problem... Right, goodbye.” Will hung up and looked down at the display.
“I still don’t know how you have signal down here,” Merlin commented, shaking his head. “Jammy git.”
“I don’t,” Will said, making to slip his phone into his pocket before freezing, realising what he had just said.
“You don’t have signal?” Arthur asked, frowning. Will lifted his phone up again and checked.
“Not even one bar,” he said slowly.
“Then how did she...?”
“But she did,” Merlin said, trying to gloss over the fact that the world was completely off its head. “She did and now we have to go get her, so let’s get moving, okay?”
“You’re serious?” Jeff asked, looking towards the darkness of the tunnel. “We’re seriously going to walk along the tracks of the London Underground where there are trains and electricity.” There was a pause where he looked around again. “And probably monsters,” he added for good measure.
“There won’t be monsters, will there?” Merlin asked, a little worried.
“Of course not,” Arthur said, like he knew what he was talking about. Merlin wasn’t completely reassured. “Rats at the most.”
“I hate rats,” Morgana said, crinkling her nose.
“Better than monsters,” Merlin said with a shrug. “So, no monsters and the trains won’t be running after that quake will they?”
“Definitely not,” Arthur said. “We’ve been here for hours and we haven’t even seen one go past. The tunnel’s integrity has probably been damaged. They won’t run any trains unless they can guarantee there isn’t going to be a collapse.”
“A collapse?” That didn’t sound much better than monsters. Merlin imagined slowly dying alone, crushed under rocks, like the people on the news after natural disasters.
“Yes, if there’s a fault then even the smallest vibration might lead to-” Arthur noticed Merlin’s rapidly widening eyes, “-absolutely nothing happening. It would take a really loud noise like a train, or a brass band to bring the roof down,” he said, pulling words out of thin air and sounding completely unconvincing. “And even then it would only be a really, really small collapse, just a couple of pebbles really.”
“You’re lying,” Merlin said, noting the way that Arthur’s eyes slid away from his and how Arthur drew a deep breath as he shook his head.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are. You’re talking bollocks,” he said, “and we’re about to go through a tunnel that might be filled with monsters and might collapse on us at any moment.”
“Look at it this way,” Arthur said after a moment of thought. Every person there turned to look at him. “It’s better than what’s above ground.”
“We can’t leave Gwen,” Morgana said, looking at Merlin and he sighed.
“Right, but if we die of being crushed to death by the roof, I reserve the right to tell you ‘I told you so’.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less,” Will said, thumping him on the back. Merlin shook his head.
“I’m mad.”
“Don’t worry,” Arthur said, walking towards the edge of the platform, “it’s not slowing Morgana down.”
Jeff was hurriedly packing away his guitar and grabbing his bag. As he turned round, Arthur noticed and looked at him in astonishment.
“What are you doing?” he asked, “I don’t think you’ll need that.” Jeff turned to him and smiled a little shakily.
“I don’t go anywhere without my guitar. I’m not leaving it here for dragons and unicorns to find,” he said. “Anyway, we will need it - morale. It’s important in times of crisis, and it’ll take my mind off things.”
“Like what? It’s a guitar..”
“My slow and painful death. I’m not leaving behind my most prized possession just because you happen to be a…”
“...complete prat,” Merlin finished. “He’s right: it’ll be useful to have something to do other than stare at each other.”
“If we survive that long,” Will said pessimistically. He received five glares. “Just saying.”
“Then don’t,” Merlin said, huffing.
*
It was approximately five seconds before someone remembered that the Tube was powered by the rails and they spent a good five minutes trying to work out how to tell whether the power was on.
After several minutes, they were suddenly plunged into darkness.
“Damn it,” Arthur muttered, looking around. He couldn’t see anything, not even his own hand when he waved it in front of his face.
“Ow!” he heard Merlin yelp as his hand connected with something.
“Well, you shouldn’t have moved,” Arthur said, but he restrained his movement the next time he reached out. He paused, thinking for a moment, listening to the shuffling and muttered apologies of people trying to sort themselves out. He was trying not to think about the fact that right behind him there was a large drop with live rails at the bottom.
He paused, suddenly.
“If the electricity’s gone,” he said, thoughtfully, “then the lines aren’t live any more.”
“But it might just be the station,” Will pointed out. There was a hollow thumping noise as someone knocked into Jeff’s guitar.
“Be careful!” he snapped from somewhere on Arthur’s left.
“Sorry,” Merlin said. Arthur ignored them both. There were more important things than guitars.
“We’ll need to go up to see whether it’s just us,” he said.
“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Merlin muttered. “There are hippogriff things up there, and slime monsters and I’m fairly certain I saw a dragon.”
“You probably did,” Arthur agreed. “One burnt out the entrance of this station earlier.”
“And you’re suggesting we go out there? Your only argument for going along the tube line was that it wasn’t up there.”
“Well now we can’t see anything and we need to find out if the electricity’s gone out everywhere, so we have to go up again.”
“You can do it then,” Merlin said, stubbornly.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Will agreed from Merlin’s left. “You go look and we’ll just sit here and talk amongst ourselves.
“I’m not going up there alone,” Arthur protested.
“You should take Merlin,” Morgana said from somewhere in the dark to his right.
“I’d prefer to get out of there alive,” he grumbled as Merlin demanded to know why it was always him. “First thing’s first, though: does anyone have any light?”
It turned out that Jeff had a small torch on his key ring and Lance’s phone cast a decent amount of light, but mostly they were just blundering along in the dark. With both of them on, Arthur could see shadowy grey versions of the people he had been talking to earlier. He felt as though he was ten again, telling ghost stories and seeing everyone’s faces in huge contrast. Except this time the monsters were real.
He shook his head and took a step, but his foot, instead of touching the floor, hit something softer that moved.
Arthur was usually fairly graceful on his feet; he was no dancer but he had good balance.
The movement of what he had assumed would be solid ground, however, came as such a surprise, he pulled his own foot away too fast, even as one of the voices around him - in his moment of panic, he couldn’t tell whose - gave a muffled sound of pain.
His foot pulled away too fast and the rest of his body went with it, not prepared for the sudden shift backwards.
If there had been another inch of platform behind him, he probably would have been alright, but he had gone right up to the edge - far beyond the yellow line, and when he foot went to step backwards, instinctively, there was nothing there for it to stand on.
The moment seemed to last forever and not for long enough. He could feel himself tipping backwards, over the edge of the platform and down to where the rails were.
It was further down than he had ever thought before, made longer by the fact he couldn’t see where he was going. As he went, people’s faces flashed out of sight until he was looking at the ceiling and the only sign of life was the light from the torches.
He had a second before he hit the ground to wonder how painful it was to be electrocuted.
Then came the impact.
His eyes were clenched tight, waiting for it to hit him properly, but nothing happened except for the intense pain from having hit the ground.
His back was in agony, he thought, and then, a second later, realised that if he could feel that then he was still alive.
His head spun. All the air had rushed out of his lungs with the force of the impact and when he opened his mouth to take a long, shaky breath, a groan came out.
It was about the moment when he realised he could still move his arms and legs that he realised there were shouts coming from above him and the burst of bright light wasn’t some problem in his brain, it was Lance’s phone light shining right into his eyes.
“Arthur?”
“I’m fine,” he said in amazement, patting himself down. His back felt as though it was going to become one huge bruise, but the rest of him was actually fine. “I’m fine,” he repeated, more triumphantly.
“Well,” he heard Merlin say from somewhere behind the light, “I guess that answers that question. The lines aren’t live.”
“Thank God,” Arthur said with feeling. “They must have gone off with the rest of the power.” He couldn’t quite believe his luck. He had felt for certain then, in that millisecond between falling and hitting the ground, that he was dead. It had seemed inevitable, but he was currently stumbling to his feet, still alive.
“Or maybe they turned the power off after the earthquake,” Will suggested. “Now that we’ve sorted that out, can we get a move on?”
“We don’t all have to get down that way, do we?” Jeff asked, uncertainly. Arthur could just about make his face out to the far right, looking down dubiously and clutching his guitar case.
“I think we can probably work something out,” Morgana said, rolling her eyes.
There was a moment of silence and then, in an uncanny imitation, he heard Will’s voice ring out, loud and clear.
“Mind the Gap…” The silence grew more disapproving. “Oh, come on, you were all thinking it.”
*
Chapter 3: A Journey in the Dark