Merlin Missing Scenes Weirdness

Arthur & Merlin or Arthur/Merlin (you decide) | Teen & Up | No Archive Warnings Apply | Word Count: 500

Arthur Pendragon Returns | Angst | Language Barrier | Sad Ending

For @merlinmicrofic with the prompt "frozen"

Arthur returns but Merlin finds he can no longer understand him.

“You can't understand me, so I will say this-”  “I’m sorry I couldn't stay the same.”  “If I was afforded the choice, Merlin, if there were only one thing left of my kingdom, one soul, it would be you.”  “I've lived so long, I've lived too long.”  “So please.”  “You deserve someone who could’ve held on for you.”  “I need you to understand.”

☾ ☾ ☾

A snowstorm, a series of blue arrowheads and an infernal swirl on the television, arrived a few days before the winter solstice. The dead silence, the disappeared roads and finally, the sudden interruption to the electricity called to Merlin’s slow, ancient mind the way the world had once been, quieter, colder.     

It was then that he felt Arthur’s impending return, unmistakable, a change in the seismograph. 

The lake was solid and as blue as the dawn sky above it. 

The ice was singing like steel cables and whale song. He had waited here many times before, mad with certainty and loneliness that this was the day. 

But this was the day. 

The song rose in tempo, and in a sudden crack, a familiar boat. 

Merlin stumbled forward, fell through where the ice was thin and before he knew it, the once king, the future king, was gathering him, shivering, in his arms.  

Merlin clutched onto him and in his ear Arthur said- 

What were these words? Hard consonants so wholly unfamiliar that Merlin wondered if he had ever understood them, if the same sounds had ever passed his own lips. Emotion broke every other syllable, he could understand the utter relief in them, but the words themselves? 

“I don't- Arthur I don't understand.” 

***

Before they could understand each other without words, but no longer, not when there was so much to say.

Merlin tried, but his eroded memory had too long forsaken learning. The weeks went on, and in the tense and then pleading sounds that Arthur made, Merlin understood two things: Arthur had been frozen and had emerged from the lake perfectly intact; Merlin however could not breach the surface of his own stagnant pool. 

Arthur continued his noises, his hard consonants and the occasional gnashing of his teeth, and Merlin despaired. 

***

It wasn’t fair, Merlin knew. Time meant denial was robbed from Arthur’s grieving. Now Merlin was asking him to bury understanding along with their friends. Instead he piled all of that denial onto Merlin’s unyielding tongue. 

One day in the dusty, moldy space that Merlin resided in, that he struggled to keep in order with time rushing past him as it did, Arthur snapped. He seized his arms, his eyes wild, wet. 

“You’re not trying!”  he cried, angry, in that language Merlin no longer possessed.

“I don't- I’m trying.” 

“You're all that's left.”  

“I’m sorry, Arthur.” 

Sometimes a word would prick Merlin’s ears, and he would hear Welsh, Latin, or else it would stir something in his long memory, but it was recognition without comprehension. The words transformed and melded together, evading his grasp. 

“You can't understand me, so I will say this-” 

“I’m sorry I couldn't stay the same.” 

“If I was afforded the choice, Merlin, if there were only one thing left of my kingdom, one soul, it would be you.” 

“I've lived so long. I've lived too long.” 

“So please.” 

“You deserve someone who could’ve held on for you.” 

“I need you to understand.”

Amazing art for one of my microfics, thank you so much @merthurotica 🥺!

The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart /more at Arthurian Preservation Project

“It is extraordinary that nobody nowadays under the stress of great troubles is turned into stone or a bird or a tree or some inanimate object; they used to undergo such metamorphoses in ancient times (or so they say), though whether that is myth or a true story I know not. Maybe it would be better to change one’s nature into something that lacks all feeling, rather than be so sensitive to evil. Had that been possible, these calamities would in all probability have turned me to stone.”

— The Alexiad, written by Anna Komnene, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, c. 1148.

In a land of boop and a time of boop boop booooop

I know I'm not the only one who felt uncomfortable with Merlin's powers to compel dragons against their will, particularly with the show centred on Merlin trying to achieve safety and freedom for magic users.

But what if that power goes both ways? Dragonlords may be able to command dragons, but dragons can steer the course of destiny and absolutely wreck the ship.

What if dragons can cause a person monumental levels of predestined pain and suffering, absolutely crush them with the narrative and make not just their hero's journey, but the realisation of their destiny pure unadulterated hell?

Dragonlords who abused their power technically end up achieving their goals, but it's at so great a personal cost that the dragonlords of old were like "yeah, no, we're not gonna fuck with that. How about we just be friends and respect each other?"

Of course, no one was around to warn our poor boy Merlin. My new HC is that his and Arthur's destiny looked so different to the one he expected, and that he suffered so much loss on the way, because he messed with Kilgharrah.

arthur’s death

The Terror | 1963 | dir. Roger Corman

Seconded! Had this on tape, it was my second Arthurian piece of media after Disney's Sword in the Stone, it was wonky, but emotional. Our villain Mab has the funniest little raspy voice lol. It's only an hour total and well worth a watch!

This is a bit off topic for my typical stuff

And it's not actually about the show that the majority of you talk about

But I'm just hoping since you're a fan of the character Merlin that there are those out there who have seen Sam Neill's version

Yes Sam Neill, the guy from Jurassic park

There was a Merlin mini series that came out when I was a teenager so this thing is like 20 years old

And you all deserve to get to enjoy it

I honestly have no idea where you could stream it from if you can't find it on an illegal site

But honestly, it's a beautiful thing to enjoy from it's time period

And I hope you get to

ETA: apparently it's on YouTube I've linked it below

IMDb

Merlin (TV Mini Series 1998) ⭐ 7.1 | Action, Adventure, Drama

1h 1m | Not Rated

Sleepy merthur sketch 💛

(References under the cut)

... eepy