With Great Power (merlin)

[iambickilometer]

Title: With Great Power
Fandom: Merlin
Wordcount: 3,730
Warnings: Spoilers for Le Morte d'Arthur. This may not make sense without having seen it. Also, character death.
Notes: Thanks to bornbackwards, and especially ladyyueh for the enthusiastic support and beta (the latter of whom didn't even know the fandom).
Summary: In which Arthur takes a midnight ride, and

Comments

[flammablehat]

this totally seems like it could be the next episode in the series! poor merlin having to drag himself along following the bobbing carrot that is arthur. :DDD i think you did great with merlin's voice, btw. i could totally imagine him mumbling to himself throughout the journey.

arthur's tenderness at the end was extremely touching, and OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KILLED GAIUS. i mean, you make me believe merlin actually would have made that choice, and i think that was really brave and smart because i know i totally would've copped out with uther, but still. OMG GAIUS. D:

anyway, loved it, great job, and as always - write more!!!

also if you ever do need another beta for merlin/havemercy/okay, let's be honest any of your fics i would gladly volunteer!

[iambickilometer]

Arthur the bobbing carrot! That demands fanart. :D I'm very pleased you enjoyed the story. And Merlin's voice. And 'like an episode' was definitely part of the original inspiration, so while it got a bit deeper than that, I'm glad that still came through. :D

Someone had to be nice to Merlin. especially considering what comes next in my headcanon, um. AND YEAH. YES I DID. AND I'M NOT SORRY. that's totally a lie That part was hard to write - the part where Merlin made his choice, I mean. At first I went through all the options, had him consider the pros and cons, but then I realised that I had to put some suspense in it. I wanted to hit everyone when they least expected it. But I'm glad his thought process still led to the conclusion I intende it to.

Thanks again! :D I am, actually. This fandom is consuming my brain.

eeeeexcellent. :D I will take you up on this offer. Beware.

[flammablehat]

i'd love to draw that fanart, would that i could! surely somebody on your flist is an artist??

well, merlin's choice was my favorite part, even though i hated his decision. guess that's why it was my favorite part, yeah? it's supposed to hurt. and i think the suspense worked - it was better not knowing and assuming a certain outcome would happen, only to be taken by surprise.

MOO HA HA HA HA.

[iambickilometer]

Alas that you cannot. I'm sure there's an artist on my flist somewhere. If not, I might draw it.

Thanks! I enjoyed writing that part. I'm glad it did. Did you think Uther was going to die, then?

[archaeologist_d]

I think Gaius is the right choice although I would think Merlin would have ended Uther's life before Gaius's. At least this time he chose rather than having the choice forced on him.

Well done.

[iambickilometer]

Thank you!

I spent a long time trying to figure out who would end up dying. And I did consider Uther for a while, before eventually settling on Gaius. It all comes down to priorities, though granted, I'm fairly new to this fandom and easily could have got Merlin's priorities wrong. What's your reasoning?

[archaeologist_d]

Arthur would never forgive Merlin if Uther died and Merlin knows this. Gwen is too young and pure of heart and I think Merlin wouldn't choose her because that. Morgana is also really too young to be killed by Merlin's choice. The only ones left are Hunith and Gaius and Merlin would never choose Hunith. Gaius has also told Merlin before that he'd lived a long life without much meaning in his later years. That indicates that he might be willing to sacrifice himself for Arthur.

I could see Uther being a choice that Merlin could live with, though, mainly because of Uther's ruthlessness.

[iambickilometer]

I do see what you mean - in fact, my reasoning did follow along similar lines. Good to know my characterisation seems to work well. :) Thanks for your answer.

I think Merlin could live with Uther's death quite easily, if his conscience were the only factor in his decision, yes.

[tigger_01]

Oh wow. He actually chose Gaius? For a second there I didn't quite understand stupid skim reading, but when I read it again... When Merlin went to check on Gaius did he believe that maybe it would be days or years before his life was actually taken? Because I was a little suprised that he wasn't suprised, if that makes sense.

This was fantastic - but the character I really thought was done well was Nimueh. Just the right amount of talk about the Old World and you captured her just right - I thought the line about the gift of blame was my favourite. :)

[iambickilometer]

Yes indeed, he did. I think... Merlin knew Gaius would be dead as soon as Arthur woke up, or at least would begin to die, but he didn't know how Gaius would die, and he also didn't want to believe that it would actually happen. So no, he wasn't surprised, but until he had confirmation he was going to pretend (poorly) that nothing was the matter.

Thank you! And I'm so exceedingly pleased you thought so, because while I had a blast writing Nimueh, I wasn't sure if I was Doing It Right.

On a side note, this fic does seem to bring out my loquacious self-explaining side. Er.

[samescenes]

Oh god, this is wrenching. I do love it so, but man. Merlin's absolute fatigue and hopelessness at the end completely broke me. Fantastic work.

[iambickilometer]

Thank you! Yeah, not such a happy fic, I'm afraid. Nice to see I achieved the desired effect, though. 'Wrenching' is a good adjective to see.

[puckling]

This was a really great fic. I especially enjoyed the atmosphere, which I think that you captured really well.

[iambickilometer]

Thank you! I've been working on my mood-setting. :D I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it.