Chapter Text
Almost a week had passed since they found Cornelius Sigan’s burial chambers, but nothing happened. Uther has started to have transferred the fortune’s part that was in coin to the royal vaults, and he called appraisers for the rest. The long wait when nothing happened, didn’t calm down Morgana, Merlin and Arthur, more like the opposite. Morgana’s bags under her eyes grew darker day-by-day and she had nightmares about ravens almost every night. The bustle around the tomb made the tension in Arthur’s shoulders rise, he went down literally every hour to check if the crystal was still there, and he became super irritable. Merlin made amateur mistakes after mistakes in his work, and every one made him super annoyed with himself. That’s why the only person Arthur didn’t shout at these days was Merlin, because the man was meaner to himself than Arthur could ever be.
Gwen seemed to sense their distress. She then quickly got them to spill everything, and then, realizing that she couldn’t do anything to help with the actual problem, she did everything she could to ease their minds. Whether it was making them tea, decorating their rooms with flowers, or stopping a shouting match between Arthur and Morgana, escalated because of the stress and tension in the air. Morgana and Merlin called her an angel at times like this, and Arthur quietly agreed with them.
Arthur felt completely helpless. He remembered that there wasn’t such a big time gap between finding the tomb and the return of Sigan. He just didn’t know what he did differently that delayed (Just delayed; he was certain. The problem was the crystal, which was still there and there was no way they would just leave there an incredibly valuable looking stone. Arthur couldn’t even get it to safety, because then it would be him Sigan possesses.) the horrid events. Was it because he increased the guards? Or was it somehow because Morgana, Gwen and Merlin knew too? He once heard about something called the butterfly-effect: that even the smallest actions can cause great differences in the future.
-
Arthur is on his usual route to check if the crystal is still there, when he literally bumps into someone. Stumbling - no, just stepping; a Prince doesn’t stumble - backwards, he looks at his “attacker”. It’s that peasant man that tried to get Merlin’s job; what was his name…? Cedric! That’s it. When the man sees who he bumped into, he bows.
“My sincerest apologies Sire. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Arthur waves his hand.
“Don’t mind it. And what are you doing down here?” He raises his eyebrows, because the only people allowed near the tomb were the guards and the appraisers.
“King Uther told me to deliver a message to the appraisers.” Arthur nods. Well, the man's job is now to deliver messages, letters and small packages within the citadel, so Arthur lets him go.
“Good day then.”
“Sire.” Cedric bows again, and leaves in the opposite direction.
Arthur gets going too. When arriving upon his finish, first he notices the absence of the guards. Then he sees that they are there, they are just laying (sleeping? knocked out?) on the ground. Then he steps into the tomb, and the world turns with him. The crystal is gone. Well not exactly gone, looking around, upon more still bodies he finds it, but it has lost its otherworldly blue color, and looks more like glass now.
Picking it up, he starts running back where he came from. It was Cedric. He needs to find him (or Sigan?) and incapacitate him before he does any harm. On his way he shouts at a patrolling guard, telling him to sound the warning bells. He bursts out to the busy corridors. He looks around; there’s no sign of Cedric. Fuck. He has no chance of finding him just running around the corridors like a madman. Merlin. He needs to find Merlin. He starts running towards his chambers; his manservant is supposed to be there. On his way he hears the warning bells. Good. At least even these idiot guards can take orders. He almost knocks the door down when he enters his chambers. Not only Merlin was there, but Morgana and Gwen too.
“Arthur what happened? We came here as soon as we heard the warning bells.” Morgana says, shaking. “Is it…?” Arthur just holds up the discolored crystal. Merlin pales, Gwen gasps, and Morgana bites her lips so hard that it draws blood.
“I need my armor.”
-
“Father, it’s about the safety of the people of Camelot! I don’t care if it’s just a bedtime story or not; if there’s the slightest chance of it being true I will not risk the lives of all who live here upon that chance!” shouts Arthur flailing his hands that are still holding the glass-jewel. “Ordering unnecessarily the people not to leave their houses until we say it’s safe would cause no bigger harm than slight annoyance, but letting them bustle around while there’s an attack can result in dozens of people losing their lives!” Uther stares at Arthur like he’s seeing him for the first time. It is the first time his son declared his opposing opinion so fiercely. Neither of them speak for moments. Then the King slowly nods.
“It is better to be safe than sorry, you’re right. And it will be easier to catch the thief if no one is allowed on the streets. Announce the curfew.” he declares. Arthur tilts his head, and leaves, guards in his wake.
-
It’s sundown already, and still nothing has happened. Arthur is glad that they had time to get all the people to safety, but now they have nothing to do except patrolling the streets and the citadel, and it was eating him from the inside. There was no sign of Cedric nor Sigan.
He’s worried about Merlin and Morgana. He asked Gwen to look after them, because they are prone to do stupid things, but even Gwen is no match for the Merlin-and-Morgana-combined-forces who could convince anyone about anything, and elude anyone anywhere. If they come out to the battlefield Arthur can’t focus on the enemy and on protecting them at the same time. Because even an all powerful sorcerer’s hands are tied when he is surrounded by Knights of Camelot; Merlin can’t use magic in front of them.
Then just as the sun sets, the events start. Arthur is on the bridge, when he hears shouting from the courtyard. He runs there, his knight after him, and they see one of those giant monsters, which look like magically awakened gargoyles, tearing one of his knights apart. He immediately orders the knights in position, but it’s no use. The spear thrown by Sir Greidd just bounces off of it, causing no more, than just an angrier monster. It strikes among them, Arthur is just barely able to avoid it. Not everyone is so lucky. He swings his sword, causing the creature to recoil and shriek, but it’s far from hurt, it just gets angrier. It throws away and tears apart his best knights like they were ragdolls. Arthur sees his knights have wavered, and scattered backing off.
“Regroup!” he shouts. “Form a phalanx!”
Not even ten minutes have passed and it’s just Sir Bran, Sir Aber, and him. Around them lie scattered the bodies, or parts of their peers, meanwhile there’s not even a scratch on the monster. Why aren’t there reinforcements coming?
It suddenly turns its head away, like it hears something. That’s it! There’s an opening! Arthur thrusts his sword into the creature. It shrieks in pain, then lifts from the ground, taking Arthur’s sword with itself, just to fly back towards Arthur with high speed. He steps back. He’s sure he’s going to die, but then Sir Aber steps in front of him with a raised sword, saving his life. Next second Arthur sees only red, and he stumbles backwards, wiping the blood from his eyes. Then he hears Sir Bran scream, and he knows he’s alone. He’s able to see again, and he quickly picks up Sir Aber’s sword, not looking at his disfigured corpse. He swings at the monster, who is slower now, thanks to its injury, but is still able to avoid all his strikes. He barely manages to jump back from a swipe of its claws, but he loses his balance and falls backwards, hitting his head. The world goes blurry around him, but he still sees the monster above him, ready to strike, and makes a weak attempt to crawl out of the way, when he suddenly feels someone pulling him, successfully avoiding getting impaled by a giant moving gargoyle. He looks up at his savior, expecting one of the knights, but he sees Merlin staring up at the creature.
“ Mer lin! What are you doing here?!” he asks exasperated. That thing could have killed him! Merlin just stares at him annoyed.
“It’s good to see you Merlin, thanks for saving my life…!” his manservant mimics mockingly, but then his eyes widen as he looks at something behind them. “Watch out!” he shouts, and literally jumps on Arthur, knocking him down on the floor again, and falling on him. Arthur sees the monster fly away just above them. Then he notices that Merlin is literally lying on him, his face just inches from Arthur’s.
“ Merlin !”
“Sorry Sire!” Merlin says, quickly standing up, dragging Arthur with him. Then he sees that Gwen and Morgana are here too, checking for survivors. They found only one, and they are lifting him up carefully.
“You are all idiots!” Arthur shouts as all four of them are rushing towards the entrance, the creature still circling above them. He just gets unamused stares.
When they are inside, they lead him to a room, where it seems like Gaius set up an impromptu hospital. There are more than a dozen knights suffering from severe injuries.
“What happened to them?” asks Arthur, horrified.
“There are more than one of those creatures. Knights are fighting them all over the city.” Morgana explains, while Gwen and Merlin hurry away to Gaius.
“So that’s why reinforcements didn’t come.” Morgana nods. “How are we gonna defeat Sigan?” he shakes his head, but stops when he sees the word around him blur again, and feels dizzy. Morgana doesn’t answer his question.
“I fear he has a concussion,” she tells Gwen who comes back with a bowl and a glass of water and bandages. Gwen nods.
“Here, drink this, Sire.” she gives Arthur the glass of water, while she starts to wet the bandages.
“I can do that too,” Arthur says. “You two, go help Gaius, there are people whose life is in danger.” They nod, and leave. Arthur drinks the water, then holds the wet bandages to his head. The throbbing immediately gets better. He looks around. Gaius, Merlin, Gwen and Morgana are tending the injured, Merlin shooting worried glances towards him. Arthur smiles at him reassuringly, to which Merlin responds with a tight smile. Then someone bursts into the room.
“Arthur!” Uther calls out worried.
“It’s nothing.”
“You were right.” Arthur looks at him surprised. It’s not often his father admits he was wrong. “Camelot once again falls victim to sorcery. I was blinded by gold, ignored the evilness of magic.” dread sets in Arthur. He never stopped to think about how his father will, if possible, hate magic even more after this. He just nods. Uther looks around.
“How many dead?”
“At least half our forces,” Arthur shakes his head. “The people are safe in their homes as we know.”
“I’m sealing the citadel.” Uther say after a few seconds. Arthur look at him mortified.
“You can’t!”
“I have no choice! I have to protect those who stand a chance! If I don’t, we will all fall!”
“This is madness father, we are not against ordinary creatures, we are against Sigan! He wants to take over Camelot, he will find another way to destroy us! We can’t just sit around in here and wait!” Arthur stands up.
“Where are you going?”
“Our knights are fighting for our lives in the lower town at the very moment.”
“I forbid you!”
“I will not leave them to die!”
“It’s suicide!” Uther reaches after his arm to stop him. Arthur looks at him, and feels the part of him that looked up on, that worshipped this man, die.
“It’s my duty to Camelot. And to myself.” he says resignedly, then leaves. A small group of knights who are able to stand follow him.
They don’t get further than the drawbridge when they hear one of the creatures growl. It lands in front of them, blocking their way. It’s the one Arthur wounded, his sword is still in its side.
“On me!” Arthur shouts as they get into formation. “Charge!” They rush forward, but suddenly another one appears, and grabs Sir William at his shoulder, lifting him from the ground, while he shouts for help.
“Arthur!” he hears Sir Cador shout, and whipping around he just manages to evade the claws of the first monster, falling onto the ground again. “Arthur!” he hears Sir Cador call his name again, then the creature shrieks. “Retreat! Regroup in the square!” takes the knight the situation in his hands. Arthur will have to praise him later, for not putting his life over ten other men’s. He gets up, and sees that the monster is gone - probably flew away. He backs away into the courtyard holding his sword ready to strike. “Arthur?” he hears Cador’s voice. He carefully turns around, when the creature lands in front of him, separating him from his knights. It turns around, and growls at the group of knights.
“Save yourselves, that’s an order!” shouts Arthur. Cador looks at the younger knights, then back at Arthur, seemingly battling with himself.
“Retreat, retreat!” he shouts at the end. The creature turns back to Arthur, who raises his sword. His head doesn’t even hurt anymore, probably the heat of the battle. He swings at the monster, who jumps back, but slower than before. Maybe the injury, maybe it’s getting tired, but hope sparks in Arthur’s heart. He strikes again, now going for its wing, because it would be much easier if it couldn’t fly, but the creature, maybe sensing what he wants, flapping its wing grabs Arthur, flies high up, then drops him to the ground. Arthur screams as he feels a sharp pain in his leg. He tries to stand up, but his left leg won’t work, it’s probably broken. Shit.
The next events happened within a few seconds. The creature starts to fly towards him at full speed. Arthur then spots Merlin under the arcades. He looks at the creature, then Arthur, who was too far to get him out of there in time, and as he looks at Arthur, tears shine in his eyes. Then he raises his hand, shouts something Arthur does not understand, and the monster explodes into a thousand pieces of rocks.
Did Merlin just use magic in front of him?
Merlin runs up to him, a worried look on his face.
“Are you okay?” he asks, grabbing Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur wants to answer, but he finds that he can’t. And not some poetic shit can’t, but literally can’t. He can’t move, can’t speak, can't make a sound. What is happening?
“Who would’ve believed it?” a deep voice echoes in the courtyard, and the figure of a man looms through the mist. “You, a sorcerer. And a powerful one.” says Cedric. No, not Cedric. Sigan. Merlin glances at him worried, and Arthur tries to reassure him with his eyes. It seems to work, because Merlin stands up to face Sigan.
“I won’t let you hurt him.” Sigan chuckles.
“And you’re going to stop me?” he asks mockingly.
“I’ll stop you.”
“He does not deserve your loyalty.” Sigan looks at Arthur with disgust. “He would have you dead as soon as he can move again, just because you saved his life with magic . You know that.” Arthur sees the visible hurt on Merlin’s face, and desperately wants to shout that he wouldn’t, that he would never, but he can’t.
“That doesn’t matter.” shakes his head Merlin.
“But it must hurt so much… knowing that he never really knew you. That now he does, he hates you.” hums the sorcerer. Arthur knows that every one of Sigan’s words hit Merlin like an arrow to the heart, because he believes them to be true. He finds that he can still cry. But Merlin keeps his eyes locked on Sigan, so he doesn’t notice the tears in Arthur’s eyes, who doesn’t know if it’s a good thing, because he’s got a pride to maintain, or a bad thing, because if Merlin saw him crying, maybe he wouldn’t believe Sigan’s words. When Merlin doesn’t answer, Sigan continues. “You’re young, Merlin, you’ve yet to discover your true power. I can help you.” declares Sigan, and dread sets into Arthur. He’s trying to get Merlin to join him! No, Merlin would never. He has to trust him. “Think, Merlin! To have the world appreciate your greatness, not having to go into hiding just because of the way you were born!” Merlin stares at Sigan with sadness and… hopefulness? He’s not considering it is he? Shit, if Arthur could at least talk! Merlin’s eyes flicker to Arthur, and they widen when he sees the tears in Arthur's eyes. “If you join me, together we can rule over this land! Arthur will tremble at your voice, he will kneel at your feet!” finishes Sigan. Merlin eyes darken at this.
“I don’t want that.” he says firmly. Sigan looks at him like he’s lost his mind.
“You’d rather die?” Merlin looks at Arthur again nervously, then turns back.
“Maybe I won’t have to.” His voice is full of hope. Sigan looks angry now.
“If you will not join me, I will become you, and your power will be harnessed to my will!” he declares. As he says the last word, his eyes widen, he gasps, his eyes roll back into his head, and he falls to the ground limp. Arthur stares at it in disbelief. Did Merlin do something? No, by the look on his face he is as surprised as Arthur is. But then some kind of blue smoke, or mist leaves Cedric’s mouth, circling towards Merlin. Shit, Sigan wants to possess Merlin?! Then Merlin pulls out the heart-shaped crystal, and starts to chant as the blue mist gets closer to his mouth. He just finishes when the mist disappears into him, and Arthur holds back his breath. When Merlin falls to his knees he wants to scream. But a few seconds later he feels that he can move again. He crawls over to Merlin, and shakes his shoulder.
“Merlin? Merlin!” When the man opens his eyes he holds back his breath. Merlin or Sigan will answer him? But then the well-known goofy smile appears on the man’s face, and he holds up the crystal which shines in a blue light again. Arthur drops to the ground beside Merlin with a relieved exhale.
“Arthur…?” starts Merlin carefully, and he wants to answer him, but he feels all the exhaustion and pain fall on him at the same time, and the world turns with him. The last thing he hears is Merlin’s worried ‘Arthur!’ before he passes out.
-
He wakes up in his bed, feeling miles better. He opens his eyes with a groan and the first thing he sees is Morgana sleeping on a chair next to his bed. Gwen, who noticed that Arthur is awake, smiles at him, and puts a finger to her mouth. Arthur smiles back, and nods, but apparently it’s no use, because a second later Morgana’s eyes shot open.
“Arthur.” she says firmly. Then she looks at him, sees that he’s awake, and smiles. Arthur just stares.
“How did you know I was awake?” Morgana just grins at him slyly.
“Women’s intuition?”
“I swear to god you terrify me sometimes,” shakes Arthur his head. Then memories come flooding back. “Where’s Merlin?” Morgana rolls her eyes.
“He’s bringing you lunch, he should be almost back.” Guinevere answers, because she’s the kind one.
“He told us what happened.” says Morgana. Arthur frowns.
“He did?”
“Yeah. I’m not saying this much, but well done.” nods Morgana in acknowledgement. Arthur raises his eyebrow. What now? What did Merlin tell them? Not the truth for sure, because then he wouldn’t get ‘well done’-s, instead he would never hear the end of it from Morgana that Merlin saved Camelot instead of Arthur. And to be honest Merlin should get the ‘well done’-s.
Speak of the devil, the door opens, and Merlin enters with a tray of food. As he sees that Arthur is awake, he averts his eyes, looking at the floor. Arthur gets out of his bed. He finds that he is indeed much better than he thought he was, he can move around with no problem. He looks at Morgana and Gwen.
“I appreciate you worrying for me but I’m fine now. Would you two leave us alone for a moment? I need to talk to Merlin.” Morgana looks at him with eyebrows raised high, then at Merlin, whose ridiculously big ears have gone red for some reason.
“Fine, but I have no idea what makes you think that I was worried about you.” she grins. “Oh, and Uther said you will have to report to him as soon as you’re capable, because he wouldn’t have a peasant’s report.” she rolls her eyes, and flipping her hair, she leaves. Gwen smiles at them apologetically, then leaves behind her.
As the door closes behind them, an uncomfortable silence falls upon the room. Arthur looks at Merlin, who suddenly finds the floor very interesting. The Prince opens his mouth, then stops. What should he say? He’s shit at words. Before he could think out what he wants to say, Merlin speaks up.
“I’m sorry Arthur.” he finally looks up. Tears shine in his eyes. “I should’ve told you, I shouldn’t have lied to you, I just couldn’t, I was afraid of the pyre, I still am to be honest. I’m a sorcerer, Arthur, I have magic. Well, warlock actually, I was born with it I didn’t really have a choice-”
“Merlin.”
“-but I only use it for you, Arthur, I’ve only ever used it for you. I know you’re angry, and hate me now, I would understand-”
“Merlin!”
“-but please, Arthur, believe me that not all magic is evil, I’ve really only ever used it to protect you, to protect Camelot…”
“Merlin!!”
“What?!”
“I know.” Merlin just stares at him with blank eyes.
“What..?”
“I know that you have magic. I have for a while now.”
“You-”
“-know. Yes.” Merlin doesn’t speak for a moment.
“...How long?”
“Little more than a month now maybe?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Merlin asks, visible hurt in his eyes.
“I… didn’t know how to. I’m sorry.” Now Arthur looks down on the floor.
“And… you don’t hate me?” Arthur’s heart swells at the hope that fills Merlin's voice, and at the fact that he asks if Arthur hates him, instead of is he getting executed or exiled.
“No.” Arthur says firmly, looking up to Merlin. “I was angry at first. But I never hated you. And my anger was more for the fact that you lied to me than you having magic. I…” Arthur stops. He never really had a heart-to-heart with Merlin outside of life-and-death situations, but maybe it was time to change that, Merlin needs to hear these things at least once, and then they can go back to the easy banter. “I don’t think I’d be capable of hating you. And… thank you. For saving Camelot. Now, and all the times in the past which I don't know about.” Merlin’s eyes are filled with tears again, but for an entirely different reason. Then, quickly before Arthur could react, he launches himself into Arthur's arms, hugging him tightly. Arthur feels his face heat up. They never hugged. Well, except the time Arhur thought Merlin was dead, and the time Arthur was dying, but that doesn’t count. And now Merlin is pressed against him, and his face is in the crook of Arthur’s neck, tears slowly soaking Arthur’s shoulder. The blonde awkwardly pats the other’s shoulder, then clearing his throat he gently pushes him away.
“There, there. It’s alright. Khmm.” He looks at Merlin, who this close is visibly taller than him, which is really annoying. “I hope you didn’t get snot onto my shirt, because you will be cleaning it.” Merlin chuckles, muttering something under his breath, which awfully sounds like ‘prat’, and Arthur can’t stop the smile growing on his face either. “Now, tell me what in god’s name did you tell Morgana and Gwen because I will have to report to my father, and I can't exactly say that my magical manservant saved Camelot can I?”