Merlin Au - Blog Posts

Wow, I wasn't expecting to wake up to the news that Merlin's trending again, but I love it! To celebrate, here's another au prompt!

In this au, Arthur finds out about the prophecy of Emrys and the Once and Future King, and, in true himbo fashion, he knows that Merlin is Emrys, but he doesn't know who this "Once and Future King" is supposed to be. So, of course, he gets insanely jealous, thinking that some random guy with a powerful magical sword is going to swoop in, steal his throne, take Merlin from his side, and usher in an era of peace while Arthur is cast aside, forgotten.

Arthur simply cannot accept this, even if this Once and Future King is supposedly Merlin's soulmate, the one who will complete him. So, when Arthur repeals the ban on magic, he includes the stipulation that if the Once and Future King is ever discovered, he should be immediately executed on the grounds of high treason for attempting to steal the throne.

Mordred, distraught and turning to Merlin: Shouldn't well tell him?! Merlin, completely unphased: Nah, he'll figure it out eventually.

Arthur also gets hints from the druids, who are trying to get him to figure out that he is actually the Once and Future King, but Arthur always misunderstands their hints.

Druids: The time of the Once and Future King is at hand, sire. He has already taken up his holy sword, and his people rally behind him, inspired by his leadership and valor.

Arthur: This motherfucker already has his magic sword AND an army?! MERLIN! Send word to Leon to ready to knights for war!

Since my last modern au idea was a hit, here's another one!

In this au, old man Merlin's still waiting on Arthur by the shore of Avalon, even in the 21st century. He's mostly isolated, but occasionally ventures out into the nearby town to buy groceries and chat with some of the locals.

It's on one of these trips that he hears something he wasn't expecting to: apparently the BBC is making a show about him and Arthur, and the first season has been pretty popular.

Intrigued by this, Merlin does some digging (and watches the first season of the show), and he finds out that the BBC are casting for some minor characters to add for the second season. And, seeing as how Arthur probably isn't waking up any time soon, Merlin decides to brush off his old shapeshifting skills and audition for the show, figuring that he'd get a good laugh out of it at the very least.

Sure enough, the casting directors loved his audition, and he was added into the show as a minor character with a few guest appearances throughout the season. And his name?

Leon.

(And Merlin then convinced that directors to not kill off his character under any circumstances, just for the fun of it.)

Since I've been on a roll with short au prompts recently, here's another one! This is an au where, during the battle of Camlann, Merlin manages to save Arthur and defeat Morgana and her army. However, it comes at the cost of revealing his magic and his identity as Emrys. Furious at the perceived betrayal, Arthur attempts to fight him, but Merlin doesn't want to fight.

Here's the twist though: the story is written like a video game boss battle from Arthur's perspective. Here's an example:

Final Boss: EMRYS ATK: 999999999 DEF: 999999999 HP: ∞

EMRYS: I don't want to fight you, Arthur.

What will you do? >Attack Talk Use Item Run

You attack with a steel sword! 0 damage!

EMRYS: Please, stop this. EMRYS chooses to spare you!

What will you do? Attack >Talk Use Item Run

What would you like to say? >Insult Question Appease

You call EMRYS a traitor. EMRYS looks guilty. EMRYS's DEF lowered!

EMRYS: I never wanted to hurt you. EMRYS chooses to spare you!

What will you do? Attack >Talk Use Item Run

What would you like to say? Insult >Question Appease

You ask EMRYS why he has magic. EMRYS: I was born with it. I use it only for you, Arthur. EMRYS's DEF lowered!

EMRYS: My life has always been yours. EMRYS chooses to spare you!

What will you do? Attack Talk >Use Item Run

What item would you like to use? Dagger Steel Sword >Excalibur

You draw Excalibur from its sheath! EMRYS's ATK, DEF, and HP lowered!

EMRYS: If that is what you want, then I will accept it. EMRYS chooses to spare you!

SECOND PHASE CONDITIONS MET!

Final Boss: MERLIN ATK: 0 DEF: 0 HP: 1

MERLIN looks at you with tears in his eyes. MERLIN: I will accept your judgement, Arthur.

What will you do? >Attack Talk Use Item Spare

…

What will you do? Attack Talk Use Item >Spare

Here's a quick au idea that just came to me today:

In a modern au where Merlin is still waiting on Arthur, historians recently discovered a whole batch of legal documents from Arthur's reign. These documents detail many changes he made to the laws of Camelot, including the repeal of the magic ban (which the historians assumed was just a halt on witch hunts).

However, one thing that the historians note as strange were the large number of laws that only applied to the king's personal manservant, who was never mentioned by name in the documents. These laws range from oddly specific, such as 'the king's manservant shall not accompany knights to the tavern', to downright bizarre decrees that make no sense, like 'the king's manservant is hereby forbidden from pointing out stew in the king's hair.'

The historians' first guess was that perhaps King Arthur was going a bit mad in his later years, but they didn't find any other ludicrous laws besides the ones pertaining to his manservant, which then led the historians to question the identity of this manservant and his relationship to the king.

All of this culminates in a historical exhibit showcasing the documents and postulating on this mysterious manservant of king Arthur. Many scholars flock to the exhibit, eager to examine the documents and debate their meaning and impact within a historical context.

Which then leads to a very tired Dr. Merlin Emrys, a medieval history professor, being dragged by his colleagues to see the exhibit and having to stifle is laughter as these world-renowned scholars tear their hair out trying to understand what was essentially a prank war between him and Arthur.

A silly short Merlin au inspired by that one post where Merlin is put on trial in the blorbo court:

An evil sorcerer manages to capture Arthur, Merlin, and the knights as revenge for what Camelot did to the druids. However, this sorcerer is a devout follower of the old gods, so he decides to put Arthur on trial for his crimes against magic to let the gods pass judgement on him. After all, Emrys would surely show no mercy towards the son of the tyrant who burned Emrys's temples and slaughtered his worshippers.

So the sorcerer performs the ritual to summon Emrys, who appears looking like an eldritch monstrosity. It's a good thing everyone's too distracted by the glowing, incomprehensible god in front of them to notice that Merlin's soul has just been forcefully yanked from his body.

Of course, Arthur and the knights are terrified. They're bound, weaponless, and their hindbrains are telling them to run away now! The sorcerer, meanwhile, is giddy. He welcomes Emrys and presents Arthur to him, inviting him to judge the son of the butcher king as he sees fit.

Merlin, at this point, is just pissed. Getting one's soul yanked out from you body isn't exactly a pleasant experience! And now this nuisance who just kidnapped all of them was demanding that he kill Arthur!

But Merlin decides to play along for a bit, just to make this sorcerer suffer for his idiotic choice in trying to kill Arthur. So, Merlin replies, "he is innocent."

The entire room falls silent. Everyone looks at him in shock, but perhaps no one looked as shocked as Arthur. The beat of silence passed quickly though, as the sorcerer starting yelling.

"What?! How can that be true? Lord Emrys, you surely must know of this man's crimes against magic, against your people! He must be punished!"

"I am the judge here, aren't I? I say that he is innocent. You, on the other hand, are not."

Emrys then wastes no time in striking the fool down with lightning. Honestly, who did he think he was, making such demands? Arthur was Emrys's favorite mortal, he could do no wrong in Emrys's eyes!

TL;DR:

Arthur gets put on trial for crimes against magic, but Merlin declares him innocent because Arthur is his favorite little guy!

Hello everyone! Here's a quick Merlin au idea that I might flesh out later:

We know from the show that Merlin is "magic itself", so what if all magic had a form of consciousness or spirit as Emrys? In this au, Emrys has always existed as magic's consciousness and allows magic users to harness his power, but he lacks any physical form on account of being a spirit.

However, when Uther declares war on magic and starts the purge, Emrys knew that he had to act to stop Uther. So, he decides to make a vessel so that he can directly act in the physical world, instead of having to rely on the power of his followers.

Emrys's plan was to intertwine his soul with the newborn vessel's, which would allow him to become one with the vessel and keep his memories, powers, and spirit intact. But, something went wrong while Emrys was attaching himself to the vessel, and now Emrys was stuck in a mortal form without any of his memories as a spirit. And thus, Merlin was born.

Everything after that would go pretty much the same as canon up until the last season. As the golden age neared and Morgana grew stronger, the part of Emrys's spirit that resided outside of Merlin grew more and more insistent. What was left of Emrys's spirit knew that Merlin needed to regain his memories as Emrys and reunite with their spirit to achieve his true potential, but it seemed like nothing was working!

So, Emrys tried everything to get through to Merlin, but Merlin was too preoccupied with trying to keep Arthur alive to notice any of Emrys's subliminal messages.

After a while, Emrys tried reaching out to the Druids and even the Catha to see if they could perform a ritual to unlock Emrys's memories and spirit from within Merlin. Merlin eventually figures out the truth and readily agrees to the ritual, taking any power that he can get if it means that he can protect Arthur better.

However, Arthur and the knights catch wind of this and are horrified. To them, it looks like magic itself is trying to possess Merlin!

This all culminates with Arthur and the knights being too late to stop the ritual. They watch on in horror as Merlin's eyes are permanently stained gold, and his expression holds an uncharacteristic grimness.

Arthur knows, down to his core, that what he's looking at isn't Merlin, but rather magic itself wearing his best friend's skin and controlling his like a puppet. With tears in his eyes, Arthur turns his blade on what was once Merlin, knowing that Merlin himself wouldn't have wanted magic to lay waste to the world while wearing his face.

But Emrys just rolls his eyes at Arthur dramatics. Honestly, his memories of existing as an incorporeal spirit for millennia were kind of boring anyways.

TL;DR:

Merlin gets a cool powerup, while Arthur thinks that he has to kill his best friend, who is possessed by the closest thing Camelot has to a devil: magic itself. Heartbreaking angst (from Arthur's POV) and mild irritation (from Merlin's POV) ensue!

Hello everyone! Here's a new au for you all! Don't worry, I'm still going to be doing a part 3 for the Disir au, but this is something for you all while you wait! Enjoy! :D

This au takes place in a modern setting where Merlin has been waiting for Arthur for over 1500 years. Merlin believes that Arthur will rise directly from the lake, as Kilgharrah led him to believe, but in actuality, Arthur, Gwen, and all the knights were reincarnated and born into new lives without any memory of their past lives.

In this modern setting, Arthur's reincarnation, Arthur Penn, works for a top-secret task force in MI6, known as the Knights. The Knights are tasked with monitoring and hunting down dangerous otherworldly or supernatural threats.

The Knights task force was successful for many years, up until one fateful mission. The team was exploring a cave with high levels of strange radiation, which usually indicated strong supernatural forces. While they didn’t encounter anything in the cave, agent Lance DuLac got separated from the group somehow and was missing for several hours before they found him sitting in front of some crystals, seemingly entranced. 

While he was physically fine, Lance was never quite the same afterwards, having strange dreams or speaking in an unknown language at random. Since one of their best agents was left near-insane and they didn't even find anything, that mission was deemed a disaster, which led to the Knights getting disbanded by their superiors. 

After the Knights were disbanded, Arthur was put on several solo missions, hunting down supernatural creatures, but he eventually got a new mission. 

MI6 had been following and observing an entity known as Emrys for decades, ever since the 1930’s, when reports of an “immortal man” first reached intelligence agencies. 

Ever since Emrys's immortality and presence through history was confirmed, MI6 always had someone trailing him and documenting his actions. However, he had never shown any real threat to humanity despite his estimated power level sitting at that of a god’s. In fact, the only documented case of any sort of power from that they had observed in their 90 years of tailing him was during WWII, when a bomb was dropped over his little cottage and he made it disappear with a wave of his hand. 

Over the years, the post of watching Emrys had become the most laid-back and least threatening job in the entire supernatural department of MI6. After all, he had never hurt anyone in the entire time that they had watched him, so all an agent had to do was keep their distance and they’d be fine. Hell, it was practically a 9 to 5 job. It was, as far as jobs within the supernatural department went, extremely boring. 

Which made agent Arthur Penn extremely overqualified for the post. Unfortunately, agent Gwaine Greene, who had been assigned to Emrys post in the years following the Knights’ disbandment, had been running his mouth to their superiors that Arthur was too high strung and throwing himself into one dangerous mission after the next and needed a lighter mission to cool down. And, even more unfortunately, their superiors had listened to that loudmouth.

So now Arthur was being assigned to watch an old man for an unspecified amount of time. Yay, this was exactly what he hoped his career as an agent at MI6 would look like. Agent coordinator Gwen Smith gave him his debrief, showing him the extensive file that MI6 had on Emrys, his abilities, his routine, and his alternate appearances, because apparently this bloke could change his age as well. 

So, Arthur begins his new assignment with a generally bad attitude, but he still performs his duties. Arthur tails Emrys, during which time Emrys mostly sticks to the routine that Gwen had showed him: walking around a nearby lake every morning, then going into town for lunch and to chat with locals about mundane things like the weather, going back home, reading and writing and cooking and cleaning, and then going to bed. Rinse and repeat. 

However, as the weeks go by, Arthur notices something… strange. All the previous agents who had post had reported that, even if he knew they were trailing him, Emrys never really paid them much attention. A passing glance or a knowing smile perhaps, but never anything overt. A few years ago, one agent even made the bold move of having a drink next to Emrys in a pub, and Emrys had only asked him if he was "off the clock". If Emrys was upset about being followed, he certainly didn't show it.

So this? This had never happened to any of the other agents watching Emrys before.

A few weeks into his new post, Emrys had started… staring at Arthur. The stares were accompanies by an unnerving feeling, like Arthur was an insect pinned against a microscope. Like Emrys was looking into Arthur very soul and judging him for something. 

The feeling of being watched by Emrys made the hairs of the back of Arthur's neck rise, just like whenever he was facing down monsters that looked like they crawled out of humanity's worst nightmares. He was the one supposed to do the watching, not the other way around!

After only three days of Emrys's petrifying stares, Arthur decided to go back to headquarters and give them an update. If Emrys's behavior had changed so suddenly, it might be a sign that the entity was planning something bigger, and they needed to be prepared for anything the immortal could throw their way.

Arthur's paranoia at being watched must have really gotten to him over the past few days though, because for the entire trip back to London, he swore he could see glimpses of Emrys out of the corner of his eyes. But every time he whirled around to see if Emrys truly was following him, there was nothing there. Besides, Emrys had never once left that little town by the lake in over 90 years. Why would he leave now?

Arthur arrived back at headquarters by the end of the day, and he quickly arranged a meeting with his superiors. If Emrys was plotting something, the entire supernatural division had to go on high alert.

About halfway through through the meeting, however, the lights started to flicker and the entire building started to shake, as if a massive earthquake was happening. Everyone sprang into action, weapons in hand and ready for any attack, but Arthur's eyes went wide with panic. He knew, somehow, what- or who- was behind this.

Sure enough, a guard burst into the room a couple second later, yelling about how Emrys was in the lobby making demands and shaking the earth with his anger.

Arthur and his bosses ran out to the lobby and were met with a horrible sight: Emrys standing at their front door with the guards' weapons disintegrating before they could even take aim at him.

"I will not ask you again. Where is he?"

Emrys's voice was more impatient than furious, but the threat of his power was more than enough to send a shover down everyone's spine, Arthur's most of all. Because while his superiors and fellow agents were frantically whispering to each other, trying to figure out who Emrys could be referring to, Arthur knew. There was only one mortal Emrys had shown any interest in over the past 90 years, after all.

"He's after me." The whispering of the agents around Arthur ceased as a horrified hush fell over the group. "I don't know why, but he's looking for me."

The agents around him shared a look, which slowly morphed from terrified to determined.

"Then we have to make sure he doesn't get to you," Gwaine said, uncharacteristically solemn. "Whatever reason he wants you for, it can't be good for anyone."

The other agents around them nodded and murmured in agreement, even as their voices were quickly drowned out by the rumbling of the building around them and the sounds of gunfire and screams behind them.

Suddenly, Lance, who had been silent the entire time, cut in.

"I know a back way out of the building. I can sneak Arthur through the back and escape to a safehouse, somewhere Emrys can't find us."

"No, absolutely not. I won't run away and leave you all to fight-"

"Arthur." Gwen's voice cut off his denial. "For all we know, if he gets his hands on you, he could become even more dangerous. Please, if not for your sake, then for everyone's: don't let him get to you."

Arthur swallowed thickly, holding back tears. Lance looked at him, his face growing more and more panicked as the sounds of conflict grew closer and closer to their hiding spot.

"Alright, I'll go, but I expect to see all of you when I get back. You told me not to let him get ahold of me, but the same goes for all of you: no dying on me today, got it? Especially not to some ancient bloke."

His friends smiled and nodded at him, and Lance took his arm and started leading him through the building, running down narrow hallways and darkened corridors until they reached a small, hidden exit on the side of the building, disguised among the building's brick exterior. The two of them burst out of the building into the adjacent alleyway, out of breath from their frantic sprint.

"Alright, where to now? How do we get to this safehouse of yours?"

Lance turned to face Arthur, but there was something strange about him. His face looked oddly conflicted and... guilty?

"I'm sorry, Arthur."

"What? Lance, what are you-"

Arthur froze as a figure stepped into entrance to the alley, blocking the only escape route. Arthur's hands reached for his gun, but he froze as two burning golden eyes stared into his soul.

And then, the world around him went dark.

I hope you all enjoyed this au! To clarify, Lance was trapped in the crystal cave and saw his memories of his past life as Lancelot, which led to him seeking out Merlin and forming a plan with him to get Arthur assigned to Emrys watching post so that Merlin could take Arthur to the crystal cave and finally reunite with his king.

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

Imagine if merlin just shows up in the middle of the prayer like he's spawning out of nowhere scaring the shit out of Arthur and Mordred. Anyway, can't wait to read part 3! Loves and goodbyes ❤️❤️❤️

Aww, thank you so much! I can 100% imagine Mordred and Arthur praying, and in the middle of it, Merlin shows up with his magic crackling with power around him, his voice booming in his dragonlord voice yelling "Who dares summon Emrys- oh wait it's just you."

Arthur's just staring at him in disbelief while Mordred gives him some pastries as an offering.

Maybe Mordred would gaslight Arthur on Merlin's behalf later when Arthur commented on how Emrys very obviously looked exactly like Merlin. Mordred would blink innocently and ask "You mean he looked like Merlin to you? Emrys is known to take on the form of whoever you think of the most, so that's no surprise that your mind saw him as Merlin." And Arthur's just left as a blushing mess after that explanation lol!

Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading your work lately, and I really love it.

They manage to bring tears and laughter to my eyes at the right times. Really cute when they're right and they're definitely my shot of happiness for the day.

So, I don't know, but I got to thinking, because I think you might be one of the people who can elaborate more on the idea I had in mind.

Idea:

Basically… Mordred meets Merlin before canon - Mordred for this story is younger, almost 3 years old -, and decides to simply self-adopt. Because he's a determined toodler.

Only because the druids who were taking care of him, after telling him high praises about Emrys and such, fell asleep. Leaving a little baby Modred completely fascinated and literally wishing to always be with Emrys.

That, without counting that he had heard from other druids that the boy Merlin of Camelot was the young man of the prophecies.

It wasn't much science, he put the pieces together and knew where he had to go… he just had to close his eyes, the magic basically spat him out in the castle courtyard.

Literally.

One day, out of nowhere, he came out from somewhere in the castle with his sleeping blanket, he kindly asked one of the servants to take him to his father Merlin, and he didn't stop insisting until someone took him to Merlin. Who was attending to Arthur.

Merlin, who literally doesn't know when he had a child, because he definitely knows that he was never with anyone, but that child looks so determined that he even begins to doubt his virginity.

"Can babies be created by magic? Gaius!!! Stop laughing at that!!"

The fact that Mordred is a half-breed version of Merlin physically speaking doesn't help much either. Everyone in the castle really takes it as a reality, even more so after the innkeeper came to the castle to collect some bills and publicly said that Merlin had never set foot in his establishment.

He was even surprised to see him saying that he had never seen him in his life.

So, that confession, the physical resemblance and a completely determined baby were enough for everyone in the palace, including Uther, to put two and two together and create the crazy idea that Merlin's escapades were to be with the baby's mother.

Now Merlin, who doesn't know when, finds himself in the need to take care of a baby who is his complete shadow. Who looks at him with such adoration that he follows him everywhere, and it seems that he has magic because strange things happen when Mordred is around.

I love the image of little baby Mordred deciding that he's Merlin's son now and no one can stop him! This prompt has a lot of crack humor energy, but what might make it angsty was if Mordred, after being accepted as Merlin's son for several years, suddenly had his magic revealed. Now Arthur is faced with the decision between his father's laws or his best friend's son, and that would force Arthur to think critically and ask "wait, if no one taught him magic (because who on earth be stupid enough to do that in Camelot?), then how can this little boy do magic?" This could lead to Arthur realizing that magic isn't always a choice, forcing him to reevaluate the magic ban.

I also absolutely loved Merlin's own doubt of "well maybe he is my son, I have no clue how my own magic works!" 🤣

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the love you gave my most recent au! Here's a continuation of the Disir au! Enjoy!

Merlin caught on quickly that there was something... different about Arthur after his return from the Disir's cave.

He was jumpy, constantly on edge, and clearly losing sleep over something. And, worst of all, he was hiding something from Merlin.

Or, more like trying to hide something from Merlin. Because Merlin knew that something had happened at the Disir's cave, and he knew that it had something to do with the old religion.

Really, Arthur should know better than to hide a wooden worship effigy of one of the gods of the old religion in his wardrobe. The very same wardrobe that Merlin digs through every morning to find some outfit to dress his royal pratness in.

But Arthur's laughable attempts at hiding anything from his manservant aside, the crudely carved effigy in Merlin's hands raised the rather uncomfortable question: what was Arthur doing hiding an object of worship tied to the old religion in his wardrobe? If he was trying to learn more about druid customs or attempting to gain some advantage over Morgana, why hide it from Merlin of all people?

And it did seem like Merlin was the only one he was hiding this from, if the knights' shifty behavior and the unusual amount of time Arthur spent with Mordred over the past few weeks was any indication.

Even Gwen was in on it! The queen had started carving out time in the evenings for Arthur to be alone in his study, doing... something. Gwen had not told him what Arthur was doing during that time, only telling him that no one, not even Merlin, was to disturb him.

It felt like the entire castle was conspiring against Merlin! And given that it was mostly likely connected to the Old Religion based off of the presence of the worship effigy, the entire situation set Merlin on edge.

(Plus, there was a strange tingling in the back of Merlin's mind that had started the night after Arthur had returned from the Disir's cave. The odd sensation came and went at seemingly random times, but it didn't hurt. No, it felt more like something inside his mind was trying to get his attention, as strange as that sounded. Merlin wasn't sure what it was or what to make of it.)

The first question that popped into his mind was "do they know?", but something seemed too strange about this entire situation for the explanation to be as simple as his magic having been discovered, as disastrous as that would be. No, if his magic was truly discovered, the reaction would be loud, explosive, like Arthur's temper. There would not be this shifty, sneaking around behind Merlin's back if that were really the case. If Arthur felt betrayed by Merlin, he would not turn to conspiracy. That wasn't who Arthur was.

So no, Merlin's magic hadn't been discovered. Merlin's next guess was that Mordred's magic had been discovered, but that too seemed unlikely, since the king's prophesized killer was still alive and meeting with the king frequently.

Perhaps Arthur was planning on brokering peace with the druids and wanted to keep it hidden from the council to avoid the protests from Uther's lords? It seemed like something Arthur would do, and the thought of it filled Merlin with hope. But still, if that was truly what Arthur was doing, he would have told Merlin by now!

So then what could it be?! What reason did Arthur possibly have for possessing a handmade worship talisman and hiding it from Merlin?!

Merlin even tried to glean some information based on which god of the Old Religion the worship effigy was dedicated to, but the face was carved so crudely that there were no identifying features, and the base was plain, devoid of any symbols of worship that could point to the identity of the god in question.

With all of his other options having been exhausted, Merlin turned to the one method of getting answers that had yet to fail him: eavesdropping.

(Gaius could admonish him all he liked for not being able to mind his own business, but the old physician couldn't deny that Merlin seeing and overhearing things that he shouldn't have had saved the kingdom at least a dozen times over.)

Fortunately for Merlin, Arthur's newfound alone-time was at around the same time every evening, right after he had finished his dinner, and Merlin knew every nook and cranny of the king's chambers better than anyone.

It was almost laughably easy to sneak into the antechambers off of Arthur's bedroom through a hidden and rarely-used servant's passageway. These chambers would normally be where the king's manservant lived, but since Merlin lived with Gaius, they were just used for storage now, with the door between the antechambers and the king's chambers remaining locked for security purposes.

All Merlin had to climb over a few chests to get to the door and peer between a gap in the door's panels, and he now had a full view of the king's chambers without anyone even knowing that he was there.

... He probably should warn Arthur about this gap in his security at some point, since an assassin could easily make use of it, but that would have to come after Merlin had gotten the answers he needed.

Merlin sat and waited, watching Arthur's back as he stood up from his desk, stretched, and started sorting through his paperwork from the council meeting earlier that day. Merlin relaxed slightly at the sight, and as he watched Arthur do paperwork and other mundane tasks over the course of an hour, he began to wonder if he had gotten all of this wrong.

Maybe Arthur had started carving out time alone to fulfill his tasks as the king more independently? Arthur had done similar things in the past after all, pulling away from his friends and believing that he should shoulder all of his burdens by himself.

With his fears appeased by a familiar and plausible explanation for Arthur's strange behavior, Merlin considered leaving for the night, seeing as how nothing seemed to be amiss.

Well, Merlin was considering leaving for the night and dropping his suspicions there, up until Mordred silently snuck through the door and approached Arthur with a nervous smile. Merlin's body tensed at the sight, his anxiety skyrocketing at the sight of Mordred so close to Arthur with no one else present.

But Mordred didn't sneak up on Arthur with a weapon in hand, but instead greeted him warmly and led him over to the chairs in front of the fireplace. Arthur sat a bit stiffly, trying and failing to not let his discomfort show as Mordred ran around the room, gathering an odd assort of supplies from various hiding places around the room. Merlin narrowed his eyes at the sight, his jaw clenching with concern for Arthur and hatred for that little snake. What was Mordred doing to Arthur?

Merlin nearly threw stealth out the window and crashed through the door when he sensed the faint traces of magic on the supplies- ritual supplies, he finally recognized- that Mordred gathered. The only thing that made Merlin hesitate was the lack of magic on Arthur. If the king was already under some sort of spell or enchantment from that treacherous bane posing as a knight, Merlin would be able to sense it.

Then why was Arthur just sitting there and letting Mordred gather objects for a ritual?! Why would he-

"I'm glad that you're taking so well to the basics of the Old Religion, sire. I'm sure that the Disir would be pleased with your progress. Now that you've gotten the hang of the general worship rituals that druids perform to all the gods, we can start focusing more on the rituals and ceremonies specific to Emrys."

Merlin jumped at the mention of his druidic title, knocking over multiple pieces of furniture in his shock. It was only a quickly placed spell to dampen sound that saved him from revealing his presence.

What was Mordred thinking?! Why was he teaching Arthur about Emrys of all people?

Or... was he trying to sow a distrust of Emrys in Arthur? Yes, that was exactly what that nefarious puppet for Morgana was doing. Turning Arthur against his own protector would allow Mordred the opportunity to drive a wedge between them, leaving Arthur vulnerable and Merlin would not allow this!

Merlin called upon his power, the magic always swirling underneath his skin, and aimed it at that snake Mordred, ready to strike him down before his plans could come to fruition. But, before he could direct his magic to strike, Arthur finally spoke.

"Thank you, Mordred. I don't know how I'd do this without you. I cannot regret agreeing to the Disir's demands, of course, but never thought that the worship of the Old Religion was this complex."

Arthur's words made him pause, freezing in his cramped hiding place. So, it wasn't Mordred pushing Arthur into this?

Hm, shame. It looked like Arthur's prophesized killer was still waiting to play his hand. Merlin would smite him with all his might when Mordred finally revealed his true colors, but it seemed like that day was yet to come.

So, it was the Disir at fault for this? They were the ones responsible for this perversion of destiny's will?

Merlin's lips curled with disgust as he watched Mordred instruct Arthur on how to properly pray to Emrys using a talisman. His irritation only increased as that buzzing headache suddenly came back.

Because this?! This was never supposed to happen. Merlin- and by extension, Emrys- was made for Arthur, to guide and protect him as he fulfilled his destiny. The druids could worship him all they liked in the meanwhile, but Arthur was never supposed to kneel before Emrys, never meant to pray to him.

Emrys is Arthur's servant, not the other way around.

This had to stop. Now.

And that's all for now! I hope you all enjoyed this continuation! I'll probably do a part 3, since I have some ideas on where this will go next!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

A big thank you to everyone who requested this continuation! I'll try to tag you all here, my apologies if I missed anyone!

@rocks-d-xerxes, @lolazoel, @griffonskies, @error-username-not-available, @thesuperstitiousoldelf

@cute1penny, @naniyo, @bogslob, @mortalmab, @celestella5

@thenerdycupcake, @fangirl553, @kintsugikid-moonysversion, @myjeandoe, @tercais

@rem-the-moth, @chaosofbelievers, @clearancecreedwatersurvival, @caraspud, @princess-of-morkva

@veryroadpartystatesman-blog, @a-line-drawn, @elliesalien, @mentallyblurrychild, @musichooman

@parker-the-archer, @scuttlingsleipnir, @sallygodessjackson, @linotheghost, @herstarlight

@larluce, @rosesareredjaybirdsareblue, @neptunesyellowsands, @that-birdy-chick, @roadsidefury

@merthurogies, @tescont, @rainbowsmagicandshit, @dreamsofapiratelife, @annoyingyaoishipper

@thedragonlies, @achillesuwu, @maeryuu, @bombshell-garden, @isaidno

@collectionoftherest, @auldsusie, @justaz, @icurlybooks, @smileytrinity

I would love a continuation for the Disir-AU! And I’d love it even more if you put it on ao3 👀

Aww, thank you so much! I'm working on a part 2 for the Disir au, so that'll hopefully be up soon! As for putting it on ao3, I might do that if I reach a point where I think the story is 'finished', like what I did with the archeologist Merlin and immortal Camelot au.

Hello everyone! I'm back with another Merlin au to celebrate the Merlin tag randomly trending recently! Enjoy! :D

This au starts at the Disir episode, arguably one of the biggest turning points of the entire series: when Arthur refuses the Disir's deal of where returning magic to the kingdom in exchange for Mordred's life. Well, what if Merlin himself was the one injured by the Disir? Merlin would survive, of course, but Arthur did not know that.

And, without Merlin there to advise him, Arthur was left following the only compass he had at the moment: his heart. And, for once, his heart's message was loud and clear: he could not lose Merlin. He took the time that the Disir gave him to think over their offer, but his mind was made up the moment that the three prophets offered him a chance to save Merlin.

As Arthur accepted the Disir's conditions welcoming magic into Camelot again, ignoring the horrified looks on the faces of the knights surrounding him, the three sorceresses grinned, but this time their smiles were far less menacing than before.

"You have chosen well, young king," One of the three began.

"You have passed the test put forth by you by the Goddess, and for that, she shall ensure your kingdom's prosperity," Another one replied, their voices overlapping and bouncing off of the stone walls of the cave.

"And my manservant will be safe? He will recover, right?" Arthur asked, trying desperately to rein in the panic that bleed through his voice.

"Yes," all of the Disir said softly in one voice, "when you return to Camelot, you shall find him there alive and unharmed."

The tension in Arthur's shoulders eased for just a moment before the prophets spoke again.

"To ensure your compliance with your vow, the goddess demands that you establish a connection to the Old Religion: an unbreakable bond that will forever tie you to its power."

Terror and panic shot through Arthur's body again at their words, a familiar dread filling him. The Old Religion always demanded some terrible price, and now Arthur had to pay one himself. He steadied himself before replying.

"What do you mean by that? What type of bond do you speak of?"

The Disir all turned to look directly into his eyes, their gazes so piercing that Arthur felt like he had been pinned in place by their eyes alone. When they spoke, it felt like their words were reverberating around his skull with their intensity.

"To seal your agreement, the Goddess demands your worship, but not towards her own self. It is the will of the goddess that you dedicate your worship and devote yourself to the god you have disrespected most grievously, the god that your father futilely attempted to wipe out entirely. The goddess wishes for you to worship Emrys, the god of all magic and lord of the druids."

Arthur winced as the name echoed inside his mind, almost chanting 'Emrys, Emrys, Emrys'. Arthur was so preoccupied with trying to gather his own thoughts that he almost missed the quiet, shocked gasp that Mordred let out at the name.

"This is your task, your debt to be repaid for the life of your servant. Devote and submit yourself to Emrys, Arthur Pendragon. Embrace magic in Camelot." Disir continued speaking as one, their voices piercing through Arthur's very thoughts so powerfully that he physically winced and stepped back with their force.

Finally, the sorceresses finished their speech, and Arthur took a few second to calm his own mind and reply.

"I... I understand. If my servant truly is unharmed upon my return to Camelot, then I shall do as you ask."

The horrified stares from the knights felt even heavier as Arthur agreed to the Disir's terms, forcing Arthur to stare straight ahead at the three cloaked figures to avoid their gazes.

To his surprise, the three Disir gave a short, but formal, bow to him, and disappeared into the air with a short "Go in peace."

Arthur stood frozen in the cave for a few seconds, as if a part of him was petrified by what he had just agreed to. The cave itself was near-silent, the only noise breaking through the tension-filled air was the quick, panicked breathing of his knights right behind him.

Finally, after Arthur no longer felt like he would break apart into tiny pieces at the slightest movement, he turned around, facing the knights, who all looked just as frightened and shocked as himself.

Well, all of them except for one. Instead of staring at Arthur with absolute horror, Mordred was looking at him with something that bordered on wonder. Arthur opened his mouth to ask Mordred why his reaction was so different, but the clamor of all of the knights suddenly descending upon him and demanding to know what was he thinking taking that offer? drowned Arthur's question out.

The only knight who hadn't descended upon Arthur in a frenzy was a surprisingly somber Sir Gwaine, who took hold of a momentarily overwhelmed Arthur's shoulder and steered everyone towards the cave's exit. Arthur caught the usually jovial knight's eye and saw approval and some sort of grim gratitude.

Ah, Arthur thought as the other knights berated him for his decision, Gwaine understood. These other knights, besides Mordred, were not of his inner circle. These ignorant knights thought that Arthur was giving up his kingdom for just any servant, but of course, Gwaine knew better. Perhaps, if the admiration that he had caught sight of in Gwaine's eyes whenever they looked in Merlin's direction was any indication, Gwaine knew exactly why Arthur had agreed to the Disir's demands so easily.

There's wasn't anything that Arthur wouldn't do for Merlin.

And that included overturning the ban on magic and inviting the Old Religion into his kingdom, into his soul, for Merlin's sake.

Arthur stayed silent on their return journey, and the knights' pestering slowly died down as they realized that Arthur was not listening to them. As they made camp for the night, Arthur was again lost in his thoughts, worried about the state that he would find Merlin in upon his return and anxieties over fulfilling the duty now put on his shoulders.

Arthur was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Mordred approaching him, walking slowly over to where Arthur sat, perched on a log and staring into the campfire.

Arthur startled slightly as the younger knight sat down next to him, his face oddly peaceful in contrast to the rest of the knights'.

"I know that the others will object, but I think that you made the right choice."

Mordred spoke softly, in a heartfelt voice that Arthur had never heard from the newer knight. Still, while it isn't quite as reassuring as Merlin's approval would be, Arthur appreciated Mordred's support.

"If I may, sire, I..."

Arthur watched, still silent and deep in thought, as Mordred trailed off, searching for the correct words for whatever he was trying to say. Arthur tried to give him a small, reassuring smile, but his internal turmoil and anxieties for the future twisted it into something more akin to a grimace.

"You know that I grew up among the druids, and I spend my childhood worshipping the gods of the Old Religion, even if I feel more distant from them as the years have gone by. Should you need any assistance or advice to fulfill your new duties, I would be happy to assist you."

Arthur's eyes widened at Mordred's words. That's right, he had almost forgotten that Mordred was the very same druid boy that he had rescued so many years ago. And if Mordred grew up as a druid, then he would know...

"Mordred, what do you know about Emrys? What can you tell me about him?"

If Arthur was going to be dedicating the rest of his life to a god of the Old Religion, he should at least know about said god's reputation, right? It seemed unlikely, but perhaps having more information on this Emrys would ease Arthur's dread just a bit.

To Arthur's surprise, Mordred brightened at the question.

"Of course! Emrys is a prominent god of the Old Religion and is of special significance to the druids. He's considered to be something of a divine king to most druid clans, including the one I grew up in. He's not just the ruler of all magic, but rather magic itself."

Arthur nods shakily, trying to take in what Mordred had told him. If Emrys really was some sort of king, perhaps he could be negotiated with? Arthur was far more familiar and comfortable negotiating with foreign kings than he was at appeasing a god.

The night went on like that until dawn, with Arthur asking questions and Mordred answering and telling tales of Emrys: his power, his mercy, his blessings.

Arthur was particularly interested in the story of how Emrys struck down one of his own priestesses with lightning for harming a kind old man who was under his protection. Based on Mordred's stories, Emrys seemed to be protective and to do well by those who followed his commands.

What would he make of Arthur, then? The man who had been a leader in the slaughter of Emrys's followers? Would he damn a man who had cut down those who prayed to Emrys for protection?

Who was Arthur kidding? If someone went around killing everyone who was under Arthur's protection, they would be tried and executed without hesitation. Why would Arthur expect any different from the god who was a king to the druids?

Arthur's dread and anxiety built as they reached Camelot again. Would Merlin truly be healed? What would happen when Arthur had to uphold his end of the deal? Would he be forced to leave Camelot to enact Emrys's will? Would his own agency be taken away, his body being made a puppet for magic itself?

(Even as such horrific scenarios flew through Arthur's head, if Merlin was saved, then he couldn't bring himself to regret what he had agreed to.)

As they rode through town and approached the citadel, Arthur's heart pounded in his chest with twisting dread.

Arthur's joy upon seeing Merlin waiting for him in the courtyard, with color having return to his face and relief shining in his eyes, barely overtook his dread for what was to come.

And that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this au, and please let me know if you'd like to see a continuation!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

Reblogging for the awesome additions! Thank you so much @bollitolyn20 and @roxineedstosleep! I love both of your ideas! <3

Hello everyone! I'm back with another Merlin au! I hope you all enjoy! :D

In this AU, Merlin is born much, much later than in canon, such that Arthur is already in his late thirties and has been on the throne for over a decade by the time Merlin arrives in Camelot.

In this world, Uther had been assassinated by Morgause, leading to Arthur taking the throne and, at first, continuing the purge as a means to avenge his father. However, after some kind druids help him in finding Morgause after getting lost in the woods during a search party for the witch, Arthur slowly starts to soften his heart towards the druids, allowing them to live undisturbed on Camelot's lands. After all, they kept to themselves and offered assistance whenever a curse befell the land.

After a few years of peace with the druids, some of the druid elders travelled to the city itself, something they had never done before, and requested an audience with Arthur, claiming to have important information regarding a prophecy and Camelot's future. Trusting their word and curious about this prophecy, Arthur welcomes them into the castle and hears what they have to say.

And what they had to say was earth-shattering information for Arthur. They spoke of a prophecy as old as the Old Religion itself, how a king would be born to unite the warring land of Albion and restore peace, bringing the land into a gold age as the gods intended it. They spoke of how this Once and Future King would have a counterpart, the other half of his soul who would complete him and make him the glorious king that he was destined to be.

They told Arthur of Emrys, all-powerful magic made into the form of a man, the son of the Triple Goddess sent to the mortal plane to complete the Once and Future and guide him towards his destiny.

And just like that, Arthur's whole life changed.

The thing you have to understand about this Arthur is that he is very lonely. He has friends, people he trusts, but he's never been able to have a friend that sees Arthur instead of the prince or king. But the prophecy, according to the druids, says that Emrys would see beyond his titles and have a connection to Arthur, not the king. That Emrys would complete him in a way that he'd never fully comprehend.

They also describe Emrys's godly abilities, far beyond anything a mortal sorcerer could ever hope to achieve. He could command the elements of nature, the powers of all the world arose at his call, and time itself bowed to his command.

(And this all sounded very appealing to a repressed Arthur. Soon, Arthur's pleasant dreams started to feature a powerful cloaked figure bringing Arthur to heel, just as he had brought all the powers of magic under his control.)

So, Arthur eagerly awaits Emrys for years, waiting for the day that he meets his other half of the coin and the golden age can finally begin.

The druids, some of whom now stayed permanently in the castle to help Arthur with matters concerning magic until Emrys arrived to take over that role, told Arthur that they could sense when Emrys was nearby, and that they would alert him if they felt Emrys's presence in Camelot.

So, Arthur waits, and waits, and waits, never once giving up hope of meeting his destined other half.

He waits, until one day, the druid elders calmly announce at court that the day has come. Emrys had arrived at the gates of Camelot.

And Arthur's heart nearly leapt out of his chest with excitement. He was here! At long last, his life would be complete and he would become the great king his people deserved!

Arthur rushed to call for the entire court to assemble in the courtyard, ready to welcome Emrys with fanfare, and he sent word to the servants and cooks to prepare a celebratory feast as soon as they could. He needed to make a good first impression on his "other half of the coin" after all!

Arthur, not for the first time, wondered what Emrys would look like when he arrived. The druids didn't have a physical description for him, since his unimaginable powers gave him the ability to change his appearance at will. Perhaps he would look like a druid himself, or would he take on a more noble appearance, befitting of his status? Would he teleport himself into the courtyard with flair, or perhaps he would ride in on the back of a magic beast, like a dragon or unicorn!

Between all of the rush to prepare the castle for Emrys's grand arrival, Arthur forgot all about a skinny peasant boy accidentally bumping into him. The boy had apologized and asked politely where he could find Gaius's chambers. Arthur had looked at him oddly, since that was a rather large breach of decorum to ask the king such a trivial question, but Arthur simply brushed it off and pointed the young man in the right direction.

Finally, after everything was prepared, Arthur stood outside on the steps of the castle with his entire court behind him, straining his eyes at the gate for any sign of movement.

And he waited, and waited, and waited. But there was still no powerful warlock coming through the gates.

Finally, he turned to the druid elder next to him and asked, "Where is he? I thought you said he was in the city!"

The druid responded patiently, "He is, my lord. He might be in a disguise though, as to avoid attention. It is known that Lord Emrys is rather humble."

Arthur grumbled about prophesized warlocks never arriving on time and dismissed his court to attend the feast, hoping that perhaps Emrys would make himself known there, in a less public space.

The feast in its own right was a splendid time, with fresh food, fine wine, and even an famous songstress brought in for entertainment. However, as the night went on and the chair to Arthur's right remained empty, his mood soured. Emrys was supposed to be here, by his side, so where was he?!

Arthur was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed the moment when the singer's voice became threatening, her song became sinister, and an unnatural stillness came over everyone in attendance.

Arthur watched with barely-open eyes as the sorceress unsheathed a dagger and took aim and his chest, a vengeful smile on her face.

He could barely breathe as the dagger flew, his death drawing closer and closer until...

Until the blade stopped in mid-air, frozen by magic. Arthur's breath hitched. Could it be?

Arthur felt himself be pulled out of his chair, and the dagger hit the back of it, right where his chest had been moments before. The sorceress turned to where Arthur and his savior had landed with a furious expression, but before she could even take a step towards them, the chain holding the chandelier above her, which had never shown any signs of rust or damage, snapped, landing directly on top of the witch with a loud crash.

With the witch now dead, her spell was lifted, and Arthur scrambled to his feet the second that his limbs no longer felt like they were made out of solid lead. With his heart hammering in his chest, he turned around to face the sorcerer who had stopped time itself to save him.

This was Emrys, right behind him, and all of a sudden, Arthur wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Arthur turned and gazed down at the man still sprawled out on the floor, his arm outstretched to where the chandelier had been hanging. His eyes flickered wildly over his form, unsure of what details to take in first.

When his mind was finally calm enough to catch up to what his eyes were seeing, his thoughts came to a screeching halt. Because this man was certainly Emrys, and he had certainly been in the castle today. Arthur had seen him after all.

He was the peasant boy, from before. He had indeed snuck into the castle under a disguise to avoid suspicion, and had tested Arthur's heart, just as the druids said that he would. Any other king would have ignored a peasant asking for directions, or would even had them punished for such disrespect towards royalty. But Arthur had stopped to help him, and he must have passed Emrys's test, because he had saved Arthur from the witch's dagger with his own two hands.

Arthur's didn't know how much time passed as he and Emrys looked at each other, both of them staring with wide eyes.

Finally, after what felt like hours of silence, Emrys climbed to his feet and looked around the room with wide eyes, taking in the shocked and awed stares of everyone in the court.

Looking back at everyone with matching shock, Emrys stuttered out "I'll, uh, be going now. I, um, hope you all enjoy the rest of your feast," and ran off before Arthur's mind could come up with some kind of response, weaving in between shocked lords and bowing druids.

After Emrys had left the room, all eyes turned to Arthur, who took a moment to calm his breathing and his racing thoughts.

"It seems that Emrys has truly arrived in Camelot at last! Since this feast was interrupted, let's postpone the festivities to tomorrow, when Emrys can truly be in attendance."

That seemed to bring the court back to reality, and they slowly began to make their way out of the feasting hall, moving slowly so that everyone could talk amongst one another about Emrys's sudden appearance.

As soon as the last of the courtiers had left the hall, Arthur sprinted out of the room, running to his own chambers as fast as his feet would carry him. He only stopped briefly to breathlessly ask one of the druid elders to pass along a message to Emrys, inviting him for a private meeting with a king later that evening.

Racing back to his own rooms, Arthur was beyond glad to find them spotless. His chamber servants would get a raise after this, they had outdone themselves this time. Everything was perfect, his rooms free of any dirt, his desk immaculate, his furniture exactly where it was supposed to be, and his bed made.

Arthur anxiously paced around his own rooms, worrying about what Emrys already thought of him. Had he been too dismissive during their first encounter? Was he disappointed that Arthur could not recognize him, the other half of his soul, through his peasant disguise?

Finally, there was a soft knock at Arthur's door. Taking a deep breath, Arthur called out, "You may enter," in a deceptively steady voice.

The door opened slowly, revealing a now-familiar face in the doorway. Arthur's breathing sped up as Emrys slowly stepped into his rooms and closed the door behind him.

"You- you wanted to see me?"

"Of course! I apologize for not recognizing you when we first met, but I did not expect you to come in such a disguise. Now that we are alone though, you can drop your magical glamour and reveal your true face. You do not need to hide anything form me, I promise."

But Emrys simply looked at him, blinking with confusion.

"I... appreciate that, but what are you talking about? What glamour?"

"The illusion that makes you appear like," Arthur waved his hand at Emrys's peasant garb, "this. You can freely show you true splendor here!"

Again, Emrys looked at him with nothing but confusion.

"But... but this is what I look like. I'm not using any sort illusion right now."

A beat of silence. Then, one dumbfounded word escaped Arthur's mouth.

"What?"

TL;DR:

The sorcerer Arthur thought he was getting:

Vs the sorcerer he actually got:

Hello everyone! I'm back with another Merlin au! I hope you all enjoy! :D

In this AU, Merlin is born much, much later than in canon, such that Arthur is already in his late thirties and has been on the throne for over a decade by the time Merlin arrives in Camelot.

In this world, Uther had been assassinated by Morgause, leading to Arthur taking the throne and, at first, continuing the purge as a means to avenge his father. However, after some kind druids help him in finding Morgause after getting lost in the woods during a search party for the witch, Arthur slowly starts to soften his heart towards the druids, allowing them to live undisturbed on Camelot's lands. After all, they kept to themselves and offered assistance whenever a curse befell the land.

After a few years of peace with the druids, some of the druid elders travelled to the city itself, something they had never done before, and requested an audience with Arthur, claiming to have important information regarding a prophecy and Camelot's future. Trusting their word and curious about this prophecy, Arthur welcomes them into the castle and hears what they have to say.

And what they had to say was earth-shattering information for Arthur. They spoke of a prophecy as old as the Old Religion itself, how a king would be born to unite the warring land of Albion and restore peace, bringing the land into a gold age as the gods intended it. They spoke of how this Once and Future King would have a counterpart, the other half of his soul who would complete him and make him the glorious king that he was destined to be.

They told Arthur of Emrys, all-powerful magic made into the form of a man, the son of the Triple Goddess sent to the mortal plane to complete the Once and Future and guide him towards his destiny.

And just like that, Arthur's whole life changed.

The thing you have to understand about this Arthur is that he is very lonely. He has friends, people he trusts, but he's never been able to have a friend that sees Arthur instead of the prince or king. But the prophecy, according to the druids, says that Emrys would see beyond his titles and have a connection to Arthur, not the king. That Emrys would complete him in a way that he'd never fully comprehend.

They also describe Emrys's godly abilities, far beyond anything a mortal sorcerer could ever hope to achieve. He could command the elements of nature, the powers of all the world arose at his call, and time itself bowed to his command.

(And this all sounded very appealing to a repressed Arthur. Soon, Arthur's pleasant dreams started to feature a powerful cloaked figure bringing Arthur to heel, just as he had brought all the powers of magic under his control.)

So, Arthur eagerly awaits Emrys for years, waiting for the day that he meets his other half of the coin and the golden age can finally begin.

The druids, some of whom now stayed permanently in the castle to help Arthur with matters concerning magic until Emrys arrived to take over that role, told Arthur that they could sense when Emrys was nearby, and that they would alert him if they felt Emrys's presence in Camelot.

So, Arthur waits, and waits, and waits, never once giving up hope of meeting his destined other half.

He waits, until one day, the druid elders calmly announce at court that the day has come. Emrys had arrived at the gates of Camelot.

And Arthur's heart nearly leapt out of his chest with excitement. He was here! At long last, his life would be complete and he would become the great king his people deserved!

Arthur rushed to call for the entire court to assemble in the courtyard, ready to welcome Emrys with fanfare, and he sent word to the servants and cooks to prepare a celebratory feast as soon as they could. He needed to make a good first impression on his "other half of the coin" after all!

Arthur, not for the first time, wondered what Emrys would look like when he arrived. The druids didn't have a physical description for him, since his unimaginable powers gave him the ability to change his appearance at will. Perhaps he would look like a druid himself, or would he take on a more noble appearance, befitting of his status? Would he teleport himself into the courtyard with flair, or perhaps he would ride in on the back of a magic beast, like a dragon or unicorn!

Between all of the rush to prepare the castle for Emrys's grand arrival, Arthur forgot all about a skinny peasant boy accidentally bumping into him. The boy had apologized and asked politely where he could find Gaius's chambers. Arthur had looked at him oddly, since that was a rather large breach of decorum to ask the king such a trivial question, but Arthur simply brushed it off and pointed the young man in the right direction.

Finally, after everything was prepared, Arthur stood outside on the steps of the castle with his entire court behind him, straining his eyes at the gate for any sign of movement.

And he waited, and waited, and waited. But there was still no powerful warlock coming through the gates.

Finally, he turned to the druid elder next to him and asked, "Where is he? I thought you said he was in the city!"

The druid responded patiently, "He is, my lord. He might be in a disguise though, as to avoid attention. It is known that Lord Emrys is rather humble."

Arthur grumbled about prophesized warlocks never arriving on time and dismissed his court to attend the feast, hoping that perhaps Emrys would make himself known there, in a less public space.

The feast in its own right was a splendid time, with fresh food, fine wine, and even an famous songstress brought in for entertainment. However, as the night went on and the chair to Arthur's right remained empty, his mood soured. Emrys was supposed to be here, by his side, so where was he?!

Arthur was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed the moment when the singer's voice became threatening, her song became sinister, and an unnatural stillness came over everyone in attendance.

Arthur watched with barely-open eyes as the sorceress unsheathed a dagger and took aim and his chest, a vengeful smile on her face.

He could barely breathe as the dagger flew, his death drawing closer and closer until...

Until the blade stopped in mid-air, frozen by magic. Arthur's breath hitched. Could it be?

Arthur felt himself be pulled out of his chair, and the dagger hit the back of it, right where his chest had been moments before. The sorceress turned to where Arthur and his savior had landed with a furious expression, but before she could even take a step towards them, the chain holding the chandelier above her, which had never shown any signs of rust or damage, snapped, landing directly on top of the witch with a loud crash.

With the witch now dead, her spell was lifted, and Arthur scrambled to his feet the second that his limbs no longer felt like they were made out of solid lead. With his heart hammering in his chest, he turned around to face the sorcerer who had stopped time itself to save him.

This was Emrys, right behind him, and all of a sudden, Arthur wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Arthur turned and gazed down at the man still sprawled out on the floor, his arm outstretched to where the chandelier had been hanging. His eyes flickered wildly over his form, unsure of what details to take in first.

When his mind was finally calm enough to catch up to what his eyes were seeing, his thoughts came to a screeching halt. Because this man was certainly Emrys, and he had certainly been in the castle today. Arthur had seen him after all.

He was the peasant boy, from before. He had indeed snuck into the castle under a disguise to avoid suspicion, and had tested Arthur's heart, just as the druids said that he would. Any other king would have ignored a peasant asking for directions, or would even had them punished for such disrespect towards royalty. But Arthur had stopped to help him, and he must have passed Emrys's test, because he had saved Arthur from the witch's dagger with his own two hands.

Arthur's didn't know how much time passed as he and Emrys looked at each other, both of them staring with wide eyes.

Finally, after what felt like hours of silence, Emrys climbed to his feet and looked around the room with wide eyes, taking in the shocked and awed stares of everyone in the court.

Looking back at everyone with matching shock, Emrys stuttered out "I'll, uh, be going now. I, um, hope you all enjoy the rest of your feast," and ran off before Arthur's mind could come up with some kind of response, weaving in between shocked lords and bowing druids.

After Emrys had left the room, all eyes turned to Arthur, who took a moment to calm his breathing and his racing thoughts.

"It seems that Emrys has truly arrived in Camelot at last! Since this feast was interrupted, let's postpone the festivities to tomorrow, when Emrys can truly be in attendance."

That seemed to bring the court back to reality, and they slowly began to make their way out of the feasting hall, moving slowly so that everyone could talk amongst one another about Emrys's sudden appearance.

As soon as the last of the courtiers had left the hall, Arthur sprinted out of the room, running to his own chambers as fast as his feet would carry him. He only stopped briefly to breathlessly ask one of the druid elders to pass along a message to Emrys, inviting him for a private meeting with a king later that evening.

Racing back to his own rooms, Arthur was beyond glad to find them spotless. His chamber servants would get a raise after this, they had outdone themselves this time. Everything was perfect, his rooms free of any dirt, his desk immaculate, his furniture exactly where it was supposed to be, and his bed made.

Arthur anxiously paced around his own rooms, worrying about what Emrys already thought of him. Had he been too dismissive during their first encounter? Was he disappointed that Arthur could not recognize him, the other half of his soul, through his peasant disguise?

Finally, there was a soft knock at Arthur's door. Taking a deep breath, Arthur called out, "You may enter," in a deceptively steady voice.

The door opened slowly, revealing a now-familiar face in the doorway. Arthur's breathing sped up as Emrys slowly stepped into his rooms and closed the door behind him.

"You- you wanted to see me?"

"Of course! I apologize for not recognizing you when we first met, but I did not expect you to come in such a disguise. Now that we are alone though, you can drop your magical glamour and reveal your true face. You do not need to hide anything form me, I promise."

But Emrys simply looked at him, blinking with confusion.

"I... appreciate that, but what are you talking about? What glamour?"

"The illusion that makes you appear like," Arthur waved his hand at Emrys's peasant garb, "this. You can freely show you true splendor here!"

Again, Emrys looked at him with nothing but confusion.

"But... but this is what I look like. I'm not using any sort illusion right now."

A beat of silence. Then, one dumbfounded word escaped Arthur's mouth.

"What?"

TL;DR:

The sorcerer Arthur thought he was getting:

Vs the sorcerer he actually got:

An idea that just came to me: an au where Merlin, by virtue of his status as Emrys and a dragonlord, is part fae.

However, he wasn't always fae, so his new powers come as a shock to him when they start appearing soon after he banished Kilgharrah. Still, Merlin starts reading all he can on the fae and their powers, trying to know what to expect, but there aren't many books on the fae available to him in Camelot, so his knowledge is very limited.

So, the next time Arthur took Merlin out for an overnight hunt, Merlin prepared a stew dinner for the both of them, which was nothing out of the ordinary. But, when Arthur ate the stew, something happened, Merlin could feel it. It was like his magic had suddenly grown an extra connection to Arthur, and it was very strange.

What was even stranger was the fact that every time Arthur or one of the knights ate food that he had prepared, Merlin's strange magical connection to them got stronger, like strings of wool being woven together to form a stronger fiber.

By the time Merlin learned about the rules surrounding fae food, it was already far too late. Merlin freaked for a very long time over the fact that he apparently owned all of his friends' souls, and now there was no way to undo it!

However, as time went on and things continued on as they usually did, with all of his friends acting normally towards him and not like they were under any sort of magical compulsion, Merlin slowly relaxed.

Eventually, after a disastrous encounter with a Sidhe in disguise who was trying to trick Arthur into selling his soul, Merlin decided that this might be a good thing. No one else could take his friends' souls if he already owned them.

Besides, he loved all of them! He'd take very good care of their souls, treating all of them with the respect and kindness they deserved.

(Some part of Merlin, buried deep below, cried out in horror at the notion of owning any person's soul, let alone his loved ones', but it was quickly silenced by a new instinct, some foreign logic that now took over his mind. This was his nature, after all.)

And perhaps, one day, Merlin would be correct in that him owning his friends' souls was a blessing instead of a burden. When, one fateful day, Merlin stood at the shores of Avalon holding his king's dying body, he refused to give up Arthur's soul.

Avalon could take Arthur's body if it wanted it that badly; Merlin could always create a new one for his king with his magic alone. But Arthur's soul belonged to Merlin.

Forever.

(And whether this is a good or terrible ending for Arthur is up to you!)

Hello everyone! Part 2 of Merlin refuses to leave Camelot after a magic reveal won the latest poll, so here we go! I hope you all enjoy this continuation! :D

NOTE: You can find part one here.

Without further ado, onto the story!

For the first time in what must have been several years, Arthur recalled the dolls that Morgana used to play with when she first moved into the castle.

They were well-made dolls, crafted with fine cloth and neat stitching, but they were also well-worn from Morgana carrying them around with her, hugging them close for comfort wherever she went in the unfamiliar castle.

Arthur could remember scoffing at Morgana when he had seen her playing with the dolls in her new room, imagining names and lives for each of them and moving them around to play out whatever story she wished.

If his memories served correctly, Arthur believed that that was one of the first fights he got into with Morgana, after he had taunted and teased her for playing with those dolls. He had called it a stupid little game, only fit for girls.

As he watched Merlin Emrys go about his days exactly as he had for the past ten years, acting for all intents and purposes like nothing had changed at all and that he was just an ordinary human servant, Arthur was disturbingly reminded of Morgana playing with her dolls, moving them around this way and that and having complete control over their lives, their very reality. The irony of the comparison wasn't lost of Arthur either, given how many times he had also teased Merlin about being a girl.

Perhaps this was a part of Emrys's grand plan? To get back at Arthur for all of the humiliation he endured at the hands of the ignorant king by turning the king and all his people into little more than dolls, forced to play along with his fantasy of being a regular servant lest they also be struck down by his rage, their souls tossed aside like broken little ragdolls?

If that truly were the case, then this punishment was far lighter than what Arthur deserved. He had hunted down and slaughtered Emrys's followers, burned his temples, and had demeaned the god of magic himself for nearly ten years by somehow missing the fact that his manservant was secretly a god the whole time, and his punishment was to simply continue on as if everything was the same?

No, that couldn't possibly be the case. Emrys's forgiveness might extend enough such that Arthur wasn't immediately struck down for his hubris, but he had to have some other punishment in store for Camelot. But now, the question remained: what punishment would the god of magic levy upon the kingdom that had so greatly disrespected him, and could Arthur spare his people from the divine wrath that he had brought down on them?

As Arthur sat at his seat at the round table, feeling the full weight of Emrys's gaze on his back, he made a solemn vow to himself: whatever retribution, whatever wrath that Emrys wished to rain down upon the people of Camelot, Arthur would shoulder it all. This was his duty as king.

But, to Arthur's dismay, no matter how many times he pleaded with Merlin Emrys to spare his people, the god never obliged, simply giving Arthur a menacing smile and setting out his clothes for the day, dressing Arthur up like a helpless doll.

Arthur couldn't even get away from Emrys long enough to convene with his knights and form a plan of attack against the god of magic holding their home hostage. Nothing that Arthur did was outside of Emrys's sight, and any attempt at resistance was snuffed out before it could even begin.

(Arthur couldn't help but think about how Merlin's constant presence was a comfort, before... before the truth.)

The only time when Arthur got any privacy from Emrys was at night, when he was able to climb into bed and stay up late into the night wracking his brain for any strategy, any way to persuade Emrys that might protect his kingdom.

But the next morning, after a restless night that bore no new ideas to beat Emrys with, the god would burst through the doors of the royal chambers with a tray of breakfast in hand. And, like every morning since that damned battle at Camlann, Arthur would leap out of bed, sword in hand, only to be disarmed and sat down at his desk with little more than a flash of gold in Merlin's Emrys's eyes. Pushed around like a ragdoll.

After dozens of mornings like this, over a month of feeling powerless and useless, Arthur had had enough. His already too-short patience had run dry, and in his frustration, he made a stupid, foolish mistake. The kind of mistake Merlin- before- would have chastised him for and then have gently guided him towards the better solution.

But Merlin wasn't here. He was gone, perhaps he never even existed and was just a lie the whole time, and Arthur was stuck with an unpredictable and dangerous god in his place.

Namely, an unpredictable and dangerous god whose head Arthur had just thrown a platter at with all of his might in a fit of rage.

Oh no.

Arthur's heart dropped to his gut as Emrys, with an irritated huff, froze the platter in midair and the reality of what he just did came crashing down on him, making his knees weak with horror.

His only method of keeping his people safe was by keeping Emrys appeased enough to limit whatever punishment he had in store for the kingdom to only Arthur himself, and Arthur had almost just hit him in the head with a platter!

Arthur opened his mouth to beg and plead for his people's safety, kingly pride be damned in the face of his entire kingdom being wiped out by divine wrath because of a stupid mistake that Arthur himself made, but was cut off by a sound that once made his chest bloom with warmth, but now only brought dread.

Laughter. Merlin Emrys was laughing at him. Was the god of magic truly so excited about finally smiting the king that had humiliated him for almost a decade that he would laugh about it?

... On second thought, the laughter made sense. For what felt like the hundredth time in the past month, Arthur braced himself for the agony of being struck down by divine wrath, certain that this time he had finally crossed the line and that Emrys would put an end to him here and now.

"Oh Arthur, you really never change, do you? Always such a prat no matter what."

Merlin Emrys shook his head, laughing and smiling all the while, much to Arthur's bewilderment. What was he playing at?!

Suddenly, Arthur's feelings of hurt and betrayal welled up alongside his frustration, and his mouth moved before his brain could register it.

"At least I haven't changed. The same cannot be said for everyone."

Emrys's eyes widened at his words, looking shocked and, surprisingly, hurt. But why would a god care about what a king that he was holding hostage thought about him?

"But I haven't. I haven't changed at all, Arthur, it's only your perception of me that has changed. I've always been... this. And I'm happy with my life as it is, and I don't want it to change.

Don't you see? That's why I'm still here, why I'm doing all of this. I don't want anything to change."

Merlin looked at him earnestly, as if pleading with Arthur to hear him. It was strange, thinking about a god looking at him, a mortal man, pleadingly.

But, if this was truly all he wanted? To live out his life as Merlin the manservant, and not the all-powerful Emrys?

While Arthur certainly couldn't understand it, if treating Emrys as his servant would be what kept the god of magic's wrath at bay, then Arthur would play along and pretend for as long as he needed to.

For everyone's sake.

Arthur gave Emrys Merlin a strained smile as his new plan to ensure his kingdom's survival formed in his mind.

"In that case, why don't you get my armor and weapons ready for training later today, Merlin? We've got a long day ahead of us."

As Merlin gave him a familiar bright smile, Arthur prayed to any gods who weren't Emrys that he hadn't just made a deadly mistake.

And that's all for this au for now! I hope you all enjoyed Arthur's POV! Please let me know if you would like to see a continuation of this au!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

Also, a big thank you to everyone who showed support on this au! I'll try to tag you all here:

@obsessionrepression @transteddyd @merthurogies @dontknowanythingohwell @scuttlingsleipnir

@auroraboringaliceinwonderland @thedollopheadofcamelot @starlight-kestrel @iron-niffler @rainbowsmagicandshit

@linotheghost @sugar-coated-prat-dragon @archiveofcamelot @elementalpirate4 @anemwevieam

@spekulatiusmuffin @theintrovertedintrovert @esoulix @wheneverfeasible @auldsusie

A little Merlin angst for you all on this lovely day!

In the show, we never really see the "consequences" that Kilgharrah speaks of when Uther wields Excalibur instead of Arthur in season 1.

What if, by being the first person to be granted Excalibur by Emrys (even if it was accidentally), Uther was made the "Once and Future King" instead of Arthur? Uther, of course, never lifts the bans on magic, and the show goes on as normal. However, 1500 years later, as Merlin sits by the side of Avalon lake awaiting his king's return, it isn't Arthur who rises from the lake, but Uther.

Poll Time!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I did a poll, and I need a little motivation to work on another au, so here we go!

Happy voting! I look forward to seeing what you all choose! :D

Aww, thank you @sugar-coated-prat-dragon! But this imagination is both a blessing and a curse, as I am constantly tormented by fic ideas that I do not have the time to write, which leads to my drafts folder looking like this:

And all of those are au ideas that I started and haven't finished 😅

But the plot bunny demons whisper in my ear, and I cannot ignore their calls!

Hello everyone! I'm back with another au! Enjoy! :)

This au picks up at the battle of Camlann, where Morgana uses a spell to deactivate Merlin's aging spell. All of Camelot's forces look on in horror as the old sorcerer on the ridge turns out to be Merlin. Merlin himself looks devastated by this.

Morgana then begins goading Merlin by loudly revealing all his secrets to Arthur, Gwen, and all the knights on the battlefield, intending to make sure that he could never return to Camelot. She reveals that he is Emrys, all-powerful, magic incarnate, the son of the Triple Goddess, and a god of the Old Religion in human form. He is the the most feared creature in all of Camelot, and they never even knew it.

Merlin, enraged by this, viciously fights Morgana with his magic. Mordred abandons his goal of battling Arthur to rush over to Morgana's side, trying to defend her from Emrys's wrath.

Merlin, still carving a path of destruction and death through the battlefield, doesn't hesitate to strike Mordred down with lightning. While Morgana was too busy being stunned and horrified by what just happened, Merlin takes Mordred's fallen dragon-forged blade and runs Morgana through with it, ending her for good.

The remaining soldiers in Morgana's Saxon army, now decimated and seeing that their leader is dead, killed by a force far more powerful than she herself, turn around and flee, desperate to avoid being slaughtered at the hands of a god.

With the Saxons gone, the battlefield of Camlann goes quiet, with the only sounds being the quiet whistling of the wind blowing through the valley. Camelot's knights are frozen in fear and shock, looking at Arthur for guidance for what to do next.

However, Arthur himself is frozen still too, unable to tear his eyes away from Merlin, the man who he trusted more than anyone, who was never even a man to begin with. His manservant, who was secretly a god the entire time!

But Merlin has his back turned to Arthur, and is simply gazing out into the distance. He turns around though, and he meets Arthur's eyes for a split second, before vanishing into thin air.

A second later, Arthur could swear that he heard Merlin's voice whisper along with the wind, "I'm sorry."

Staring out across the now empty battlefield, Arthur had no choice but to shakily order the knights to pack up and return to Camelot. There was nothing left for them here.

They returned to camp and started the journey back to Camelot in silence, everyone's minds reeling from what had just happened. The sudden revelation of Merlin's true nature had left Arthur, Gwen, and the knights terrified and unsure of everything.

Once back in the safety of Camelot, Arthur has a huge breakdown, wondering how the hell he's even alive if the man he's bossed around for the past ten years was actually capable of brutally destroying an entire army with a wave of his hand the entire time. How had he survived if he had been humiliating a god every day for years, a god whose followers had been slaughtered by his hand!

Their return to Camelot had been stressful to say the least, all of them on edge despite their victory. Yes, Merlin Emrys had ensured their victory, but who knew what plans the god had for Camelot now that his true nature was revealed?! What revenge would he enact on the kingdom responsible for the purge?!

These thoughts haunted Arthur even as he returned to his chambers, changed himself into his nightclothes (and ignoring the fact that the god of magic had been dressing him for the past decade), and fell into a fitful sleep.

Arthur was shocked and terrified when, in the morning, he was awoken with a very familiar "Rise and shine, dollophead! You have a full schedule today!"

His heart stuttered with terror as his eyes shot open and beheld the sight of Merlin, smiling and looking as he always did, as if nothing had changed. His heart pounded with sudden fear as he leapt out of bed, scrambling for something, anything to defend himself with against the man who had once been his closest friend. But, Arthur's mind hissed at him, what good would any sword do against a god?! He was as good as dead already!

Merlin Emrys, to Arthur's shock, didn't even bat an eye at Arthur pulling a blade on him and set the tray full of breakfast on the table, completely unphased.

"Come on, we don't have time for this, Arthur! Just sit down and eat your breakfast while I pick out your clothes for the day."

Arthur's however, didn't move from his place against the wall. Did he really think Arthur was stupid enough to fall for something like that?

Well, Arthur's mind hissed again, you were stupid enough to mistake a god for an manservant for ten years.

Emrys simply rolled his eyes, his impatience now showing, and Arthur braced himself to be hit with the full force of divine wrath.

Something in the air shifted, and Arthur suddenly found himself sitting at the table without having moved a muscle, with the breakfast tray in front of him.

"There we go! Now, please hurry up and eat. I didn't even steal one of your sausages this time! So, for today, do you want to wear your training gambeson or your more formal set?"

Arthur said nothing in response, too busy staring, petrified by fear and bewildered beyond words, at the god of magic lay out his clothes for the day.

The rest of the day goes on like this, with Merlin pretending like everything's normal while Arthur, and everyone else in the castle, is completely terrified by Merlin's presence alone. But, they can't really make him to leave.

Knights who draw their swords at the sight of Merlin find that their blades turn to dust as soon as he looks at them. The servants who see him, who have no doubt heard the disturbing news about his true nature as Emrys, scream in terror and run away at the sight of him.

Even Guinevere, who was sitting on her throne next to Arthur when she saw Merlin out of the corner of her eye, holding a pitcher of watered down wine like it was an ordinary day, tensed up with fright, her hands gripping the arms of her throne and her breathing picking up as her mind replayed memories of Merlin, her dearest friend, raining death down upon Camlann.

Eventually, Arthur gathers enough courage to ask Merlin why he's still here, what he wants from Camelot, and what it will take to have him spare Arthur's people.

And Merlin's response is to simply smile and tell Arthur that he will not leave. He is Arthur's servant, and there's nothing Arthur can do about that other than accept it.

TL;DR:

Arthur, fearing for his entire kingdom: Please, Emrys, just tell me what you want! I'm sorry about treating you like a servant! I'll do anything, just please spare my people!

Merlin, doing laundry and desperate to avoid his life changing in any way: I'm :) your :) servant :)

Hello everyone! I'm back with another au! Enjoy! :)

This au picks up at the battle of Camlann, where Morgana uses a spell to deactivate Merlin's aging spell. All of Camelot's forces look on in horror as the old sorcerer on the ridge turns out to be Merlin. Merlin himself looks devastated by this.

Morgana then begins goading Merlin by loudly revealing all his secrets to Arthur, Gwen, and all the knights on the battlefield, intending to make sure that he could never return to Camelot. She reveals that he is Emrys, all-powerful, magic incarnate, the son of the Triple Goddess, and a god of the Old Religion in human form. He is the the most feared creature in all of Camelot, and they never even knew it.

Merlin, enraged by this, viciously fights Morgana with his magic. Mordred abandons his goal of battling Arthur to rush over to Morgana's side, trying to defend her from Emrys's wrath.

Merlin, still carving a path of destruction and death through the battlefield, doesn't hesitate to strike Mordred down with lightning. While Morgana was too busy being stunned and horrified by what just happened, Merlin takes Mordred's fallen dragon-forged blade and runs Morgana through with it, ending her for good.

The remaining soldiers in Morgana's Saxon army, now decimated and seeing that their leader is dead, killed by a force far more powerful than she herself, turn around and flee, desperate to avoid being slaughtered at the hands of a god.

With the Saxons gone, the battlefield of Camlann goes quiet, with the only sounds being the quiet whistling of the wind blowing through the valley. Camelot's knights are frozen in fear and shock, looking at Arthur for guidance for what to do next.

However, Arthur himself is frozen still too, unable to tear his eyes away from Merlin, the man who he trusted more than anyone, who was never even a man to begin with. His manservant, who was secretly a god the entire time!

But Merlin has his back turned to Arthur, and is simply gazing out into the distance. He turns around though, and he meets Arthur's eyes for a split second, before vanishing into thin air.

A second later, Arthur could swear that he heard Merlin's voice whisper along with the wind, "I'm sorry."

Staring out across the now empty battlefield, Arthur had no choice but to shakily order the knights to pack up and return to Camelot. There was nothing left for them here.

They returned to camp and started the journey back to Camelot in silence, everyone's minds reeling from what had just happened. The sudden revelation of Merlin's true nature had left Arthur, Gwen, and the knights terrified and unsure of everything.

Once back in the safety of Camelot, Arthur has a huge breakdown, wondering how the hell he's even alive if the man he's bossed around for the past ten years was actually capable of brutally destroying an entire army with a wave of his hand the entire time. How had he survived if he had been humiliating a god every day for years, a god whose followers had been slaughtered by his hand!

Their return to Camelot had been stressful to say the least, all of them on edge despite their victory. Yes, Merlin Emrys had ensured their victory, but who knew what plans the god had for Camelot now that his true nature was revealed?! What revenge would he enact on the kingdom responsible for the purge?!

These thoughts haunted Arthur even as he returned to his chambers, changed himself into his nightclothes (and ignoring the fact that the god of magic had been dressing him for the past decade), and fell into a fitful sleep.

Arthur was shocked and terrified when, in the morning, he was awoken with a very familiar "Rise and shine, dollophead! You have a full schedule today!"

His heart stuttered with terror as his eyes shot open and beheld the sight of Merlin, smiling and looking as he always did, as if nothing had changed. His heart pounded with sudden fear as he leapt out of bed, scrambling for something, anything to defend himself with against the man who had once been his closest friend. But, Arthur's mind hissed at him, what good would any sword do against a god?! He was as good as dead already!

Merlin Emrys, to Arthur's shock, didn't even bat an eye at Arthur pulling a blade on him and set the tray full of breakfast on the table, completely unphased.

"Come on, we don't have time for this, Arthur! Just sit down and eat your breakfast while I pick out your clothes for the day."

Arthur's however, didn't move from his place against the wall. Did he really think Arthur was stupid enough to fall for something like that?

Well, Arthur's mind hissed again, you were stupid enough to mistake a god for an manservant for ten years.

Emrys simply rolled his eyes, his impatience now showing, and Arthur braced himself to be hit with the full force of divine wrath.

Something in the air shifted, and Arthur suddenly found himself sitting at the table without having moved a muscle, with the breakfast tray in front of him.

"There we go! Now, please hurry up and eat. I didn't even steal one of your sausages this time! So, for today, do you want to wear your training gambeson or your more formal set?"

Arthur said nothing in response, too busy staring, petrified by fear and bewildered beyond words, at the god of magic lay out his clothes for the day.

The rest of the day goes on like this, with Merlin pretending like everything's normal while Arthur, and everyone else in the castle, is completely terrified by Merlin's presence alone. But, they can't really make him to leave.

Knights who draw their swords at the sight of Merlin find that their blades turn to dust as soon as he looks at them. The servants who see him, who have no doubt heard the disturbing news about his true nature as Emrys, scream in terror and run away at the sight of him.

Even Guinevere, who was sitting on her throne next to Arthur when she saw Merlin out of the corner of her eye, holding a pitcher of watered down wine like it was an ordinary day, tensed up with fright, her hands gripping the arms of her throne and her breathing picking up as her mind replayed memories of Merlin, her dearest friend, raining death down upon Camlann.

Eventually, Arthur gathers enough courage to ask Merlin why he's still here, what he wants from Camelot, and what it will take to have him spare Arthur's people.

And Merlin's response is to simply smile and tell Arthur that he will not leave. He is Arthur's servant, and there's nothing Arthur can do about that other than accept it.

TL;DR:

Arthur, fearing for his entire kingdom: Please, Emrys, just tell me what you want! I'm sorry about treating you like a servant! I'll do anything, just please spare my people!

Merlin, doing laundry and desperate to avoid his life changing in any way: I'm :) your :) servant :)

Series 1 Trailer for @larluce's awesome Time Travel AU!

Merlin's arms strain with the effort of hauling Arthur, barely-conscious, towards the misty shores of Avalon. It takes little more than his presence to call the Sidhe forth from their sanctuary in the lake, but Arthur groans with both pain and shock as their winged blue forms fly out of the water.

"You must save him! I am willing to give up my own life, but he must live!"

Arthur weakly struggled in Merlin's supportive arms, protesting Merlin's plan now that it had become clear that Merlin was set on self-sacrifice.

Hovering above the gleaming surface if the lake, one Sidhe gave Merlin a sharp, almost menacing, grin.

"While we cannot take your life to exchange for his, Emrys, there is another sacrifice you can make that would save your king."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur gently places a young tree that's barely tall enough to brush against his knees into a prepared spot in the center of the royal gardens.

There are no tears on his face, for he ran out of those long ago.

"I hope you like the view from here, Merlin. I think you'll be able to see out over all of Camelot in a couple years."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The knights watched as Arthur viciously pulls out the axes that had been stuck in the tree's trunk and had carved a large gouge in its base. Arthur whirled around at them, and many, including his closest companions on the round table, flinched back at his near-feral expression.

Arthur's eyes locked into the spy responsible for this.

"Anyone who so much as touches this tree pays for their transgression with their head."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So you can perform the spell, then?"

"We can, your majesty, but only with the proper materials. A blade bearing the lifeblood of 300 men and 3 dragon scales are not easy to come by."

Arthur leans forward from where he's sitting on his throne, his eyes wild in a way that disturbingly reminds the druid delegation of the look in Uther Pendragon's eyes as he hunted down every living creature with a hint of magic.

"Do not concern yourselves with that. I will gather these materials for you. Just make sure that you can perform the ritual successfully when the time comes."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two pairs of eyes, the owners of which both believed themselves to be dead moments before, blink open to the same sunny morning. An unforgettable morning that they had both lived through before, many years prior.

This was, after all, the morning that their destiny was set into motion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this! I tried to write some scenes that are implied in larluce's au, but are never directly shown, so that you aren't spoiled for many scenes in the au!

Check out the time travel au here! (You should definitely go read it right now because it's awesome!!)

*Holds up megaphone* YESSSSSSS!!!!! I LOVE IT!!

I love stories where Camelot has preconceived notions of Emrys that were leftover from the purge! It has so much potential! Angst, humor, misunderstandings, self-reflection, it has it all! I wish more fics would explore it.

(This also reminds me of an au idea that's been sitting in my drafts for months. I should probably finish that one!)

One of the first prophecies in Albion was of Emrys and the Once and Future King. Every Seer in the realm had similar visions of the two powerful, glorious beings that would one day walk the earth. The prophecies remained prophecies for a few centuries before it began to grow into a fairytale story. Children were told stories of Emrys and the Once and Future King that would one day bring peace to Albion. Then it grew more and more as a story that people began to forget it was once a prophecy. When Uther began his Purge, he changed the story he himself had grown up hearing. He made Emrys out to be a creature of pure evil. If Emrys was magic incarnate, he couldn’t be anything other than evil. Children still heard of Emrys after the Purge, but he was a boogeyman, a villain that would snatch disobeying children from their homes and feast of them in the woods.

Arthur grew up hearing tales of the horrible, fearsome Emrys. Uther used Emrys as a tool to get Arthur to behave and be a perfect prince. Merlin heard of the fairytale version of Emrys from his mother. The Druids continued to worship Emrys as their deity but people thought them mad, he’s nothing more than a character in a story, but the Druids never forgot the prophecy. And with their Sight, their ability to recognize Emrys on sight, Uther lumped Druids in with the evilness he had slapped on Emrys’ name. He said the Druids performed sacrifices and rituals in Emrys’ name to try and conjure the demon to steal children’s souls.

Anyways, post-magic reveal Mordred calls Merlin Emrys and Arthur just freezes bc he Knows that Mordred is a Druid, and he Knows that Druids worship Emrys and would not take his name in vain or call someone else the name of their deity, and he was brought up hearing stories of Emrys being a demon, pure evil. So he just kinda. Looks. At Merlin who just grumbles about being called that but responds as if it’s normal and Arthur is a bit terrified. He’s like “You’re Emrys?” To Merlin who shrugs and is like “I guess” (unaware of the horrifying stories Uther spun of Emrys, only knowing what his mother and Kilgharrah said and how the Druids worship him).

The other knights have heard of the Demon Emrys except Percival who grew up in Druid camps but doesn’t have their Sight so he didn’t know Merlin was Emrys until right now. Gwaine laughing a little uncomfortably to break the tension and is like “So…taste any good children lately?” Arthur slaps him up back the head. Merlin just looks disgusted and confused. Mordred and Percival are offended on his behalf. Lancelot is amused by it all and sits back to watch the chaos. Leon and Elyan are shaking their heads at Gwaine’s stupidity. Why the hell would he say something like that to a DEMON????

Another thought on this, you know what would also be funny? If Arthur, Merlin, and the knights, while on a quest, came across a colony of trolls living in a cave.

Of course, they all prepare to be attacked by the angry trolls, but then one troll barks out in a gravelly voice, "Wait, isn't that human with the gold sword Grolda's stepson?"

The trolls pause and look at Arthur, and they start murmuring amongst themselves, while Arthur, Merlin, and the knights all glance at each other, very confused, but they begin to creep back towards the exit while the trolls are distracted by whatever they're talking about.

Before they can make it to the exit and escape though, the trolls turn back to them with grotesque smiles on their faces. Suddenly, one of the trolls started speaking to Arthur, who had to resist the urge to violently flinch backwards at the smell of its breath.

"Well, we had heard that that old wench had gone and disguised herself as some ugly princess to trick the king of Camelot into marrying her, but none of us thought she'd ever get away with it! It turns out you humans are a bit thicker in the head than you think! Never thought we'd be seeing you around these parts though!"

Arthur and Merlin both take sharp inhales at that, realizing now that these trolls must have known the one that pretended to be Catrina and infiltrated Camelot.

The group of trolls then starts to crowd around the group of humans, putting them on the defensive. The trolls push them back, further into the cave and towards a long slab of rock that looked like it was being used as a long feasting table, if the rotten fruit and meat piled up on it was any indication.

Arthur's anxiety increased with each step back he was forced to take. Were these trolls aiming to avenge their friend? Oh god, were the trolls looking to make a meal out of them?!

Arthur swung his sword at the troll in front of him with all his might, fueled by fear and desperation. He couldn't meet his end at the hands of these disgusting creatures!

To Arthur's horror though, the beast simply caught his arm in an inhumanly strong grip and laughed, his breath somehow smelling even worse than before.

"You've got some fight in ya! I'm sure you'll fit right in, but that still no way to greet family!"

Arthur lowered his arm, confusion somehow overpowering his fear. "Family?" His tone was filled with disgust, confusion, and sheer disbelief.

The troll grinned at him again, this time slinging a grimy arm over Arthur's shoulders.

"Of course! I should introduce myself. The name's Bronk, and I'm your step-uncle!"

(Merlin almost couldn't stop himself from laughing hysterically, but he managed to barely stifle his laughs.)

And that's how Arthur found himself, dumbfounded, sitting with Merlin and the knights at a feasting table filled with rotten food, listening to his new "extended family" introduce themselves and discuss all the best ways to introduce him to the troll lifestyle.

The trolls all tolerated the knights, but funnily enough, they seemed to be enjoying Merlin's company, laughing at the stories that the manservant was telling them. At Arthur's questioning look, Merlin shrugs and says "It's not that different from sitting with the knights during feasts. They have all the same manners anyways, and at least the trolls don't demand me to fetch them more mead."

And that's how Arthur got forcefully adopted by his troll stepfamily! :D

(also @sugar-coated-prat-dragon, since I promised you something fluffy! <3)

You know what's one thing I'm disappointed we never got in Merlin? After the troll episodes, the entire event was never brought up again!

I mean, I understand if the people of Camelot would rather forget about the whole thing, but Arthur had a troll for a stepmother for like a week and Merlin never teased him about it later on?!

I would really like to write a fic or au some day set in the Golden Age where it's discovered that dragonlords got their powers from being descended from ancient powerful dragons that shapeshifted in humans and had half-human children.

And Arthur's reaction is to turn to Merlin and go "So what you're telling me is that one of your ancestors was deranged enough to sleep with a dragon? That certainly confirms my theory that your insanity is passed down through your blood."

And of course Merlin immediately fires back, "And remind me Sire, which of our family trees includes a troll?"

Arthur sputters for a moment before shouting that that doesn't count, she enchanted his father and the whole thing was a trick, before Geoffrey pipes up and says, "Actually sire, as it was an official wedding, Queen Catrina the Troll was officially added to the Pendragon family tree. And as the marriage was never formally annulled before her death, she cannot be removed from the record."

Arthur's left horrified by this, while Merlin's laughing his ass off.

I just think a scene like that would be neat!

Hello everyone! I'm back with a (kinda late) spooky au! This is the monster-themed au that won the last poll, so here we go!

In this au, set in season 4 (post-Aithusa), where, after feeling Aithusa call to him from within her egg, Merlin could now sense dragon eggs.

Since dragons mated every year and laid multiple eggs each time, and there were only so many dragonlords around to hatch them, there were hundreds of dragon eggs hidden around Albion, waiting for a dragonlord to get close enough for them to call out to, yearning for the world outside of their shells. And since the dragonlords were nearly wiped out in the purge, those hundreds of eggs were still hidden, still waiting for a dragonlord to call them into life.

And now that Merlin can recognize their calls and knows how to call them forth them their eggs, he collects and hatches as many dragon eggs as he can, determined to bring the magical creatures back to their former glory.

And this goes fairly smoothly, except for one issue: he needs a place to hide all of them. They're all still so young, despite growing rather quickly, and the world is still hostile towards dragons, not seeing them as the majestic creatures of wonder that they are.

So, Merlin finds a hidden place for all of them to nest: an underground cave system beneath a mountain. It was near enough to Camelot that he could visit frequently, and the tunnels were large enough for all of them to have their own space, even as the number of baby dragons grew from five, to ten, to twenty, to well over seventy baby dragons took refuge inside the caves.

Aithusa was delighted by each new baby sibling Merlin brought to her in the caves, and she took care of them as best she could. (Kilgharrah, the rubbish babysitter, was not invited to the nests, as he would surely fill the babies' heads with all sort of nonsense about hating humans.)

And so, Merlin kept this up for well over a year, hatching dragons and bringing them to the nests, where he would be bombarded by baby dragons looking to cuddle with their egg-father. He loved spending time with all of them, but he worried about them too. What would happen when grew too large for the caves? Where would they go? Would they be safe?

But as the young dragons grew, they were content to stay in their hidden sanctuary, keeping each other company and eagerly awaiting their egg-father's sporadic visits. They especially enjoyed his stories of Camelot and his golden king. They loved to imagine the man their father was describing, a man with gold for hair and jewels for eyes. He must be the greatest treasure in all the lands! It was no wonder their great and powerful dragonlord kept him safe in his hoard!

And it went on like this for several years, up until Morgana heard rumors of strange growls and reports of terrible beasts coming from the caves underneath the White Mountains. Upon hearing these rumors and sensing with her magic that were was a small army of powerful magical beasts within the caves, she came up with the brilliant plan of luring Arthur, Merlin, and the knights into these tunnels and trapping them there. Those beasts, whatever they were, would surely make quick work of all of them!

Her plan, of course, succeeds. After all, she knew that using a knight as bait would lure all of them into the caves, and then using her magic to collapse all of the exits was simple work. As she walked away from the mountain, she cackled with furious glee. At long last, all of her enemies were doomed! Camelot was hers for the taking!

Meanwhile, underneath the mountain, Arthur, Merlin, and the knights were all trapped. While they hadn't run into any of the monsters Morgana had mentioned, they could hear growls echoing off of the stone walls, heralding their doom getting closer and closer.

(The growling, translated from dragontongue: Papa! Papa! Papa's back!)

As the sounds of the ferocious growling grew closer and closer, they could see the shadows of the beasts approaching on the walls of the cave. They were enormous, with wings and claws! Arthur and the knights all drew their swords, ready to fight to the end against a mob of these horrid beasts.

As the monsters came into view, the shocked gasp came from the group. Before them was an impossible sight, dozens of dragons, each as long as two men and as tall as Percival!

(Merlin gasped at the sight because his babies had suddenly hit growth spurts! They were so much bigger than the last time he saw them!)

Arthur and all his knights braced themselves for what would be a devastating attack from the monsters, when suddenly, to their horror, Merlin ran out in front of them!

"Merlin! This is no time for your sacrificial idiocy! Get back behind us!"

But Merlin didn't even glance back at them, h simply ran forwards towards the beasts!

Arthur gave out a heart-wrenching cry as the monsters pounced on his friend, their razor-sharp claws tearing through his skin and their horrid jaws opening to bite at his flesh.

(Merlin, meanwhile, was being cuddled and playfully licked by his dragons, who took great care to keep their claws and teeth away from their egg-father's soft human skin.)

With a savage and anguished war cry, Arthur ran forward, sword in hand, praying that Merlin was still in one piece. Jolted out of their horror by Arthur's cry, the other knights follow, ready to slay these monsters and save Merlin from their grasp!

The dragons, who recognize Arthur from Merlin's descriptions of him, dart forward, excited to finally meet the golden king that their lord talks so much about! The golden king was as radiant as their lord said he was, and he even gave a play roar and charged at them! He wanted to play and be their friend!

His strange gray hand-fang stung a little bit when it hit their scales, but it hurt no more than their siblings' claws when they were play-fighting together.

The young dragons had a great time playing with all their new friends, who gave play roars and hit them with those strange gray fangs. Their new friends were so fast too, not letting the dragons hit them easily.

This went on for a while, until Aithusa become too excited by all of the play fighting and accidentally knocked the golden king down too hard, knocking the air out of him.

Aithusa whined apologetically as she walked over to him, opening her mouth so that she could breath her healing breath on him, when he suddenly grabbed his grey-fang and aimed it at her open mouth, ready to strike. Aithusa flinched back in surprise, but the golden king's movement was halted by a call from her lord.

"STOP!"

Everyone, knights and dragons alike, froze at the order, even though the command had not been given in dragontongue. Aithusa whined in apology again. She hadn't meant to hurt her lord's king! She had just forgotten he was less sturdy than her siblings!

"Merlin! You're alright! Come quickly, we must leave before these beasts... why is that dragon nuzzling you like an overgrown housecat?"

Merlin gave Arthur his most innocent look, but it wasn't very convincing. Sighing, Merlin wrapped his arms around Aithusa's neck and hugged her, which caused her to start purring with joy, much to the knights' shock.

"Well, you see, I kinda... found a dragon egg out in the woods one day? And I couldn't just leave it all by itself, anything could have happened to it, so I put it somewhere safe! And then, it hatched! And I couldn't just leave the poor baby to fend for herself, so I brought her here, where I thought she'd be safe and not bother anyone. But then I couldn't just leave her alone here, so I came back to visit her and bring her food!

And then, I started finding more dragon eggs and brought all of them here and took care of them!"

Merlin finished his rushed explanation with a smile, hoping that Arthur would just buy it and not ask any questions, like how Merlin found any dragon eggs in the first place. By the end of his explanation, Arthur had gone from alarmed to completely exasperated.

"So what you mean to tell me, Merlin, is that you found dragon eggs, and, instead of killing them before they could become threats, chose to raise them like they were stray kittens instead?"

Arthur's tone indicated that yes, he had bought Merlin's lie, and yes, he also thought Merlin was a much bigger idiot than he did before.

Merlin just nodded, praying to anyone that would listen that none of the knights would possess any critical thinking skills and start poking holes in Merlin's hastily made-up story.

Merlin's fears were alleviated when Gwaine began laughing hysterically, walked fearlessly between the dragons, and clasped a hand on Merlin's shoulder.

"My friend, I knew you were a special kind of crazy for putting up with Arthur all these years, but this! This beats any insane stunt you've done before! You've just tamed dragons, you madman! Hell, you've got them all wrapped around your finger by the looks of it!"

Gwaine, amazed and almost giddy, looked around at the dragons, who were contently cuddling up around Merlin now, tired from all of the play fighting.

Merlin rubbed the back of his neck, nervous and slightly embarrassed at all of the attention. The other knights looked on in wonder as Merlin told the dragons to go off the sleep in the nest, and they all listened. He really had tamed them!

Merlin turned and gave Arthur, who was still looked at Merlin with frustration and disbelief, a nervous smile.

"So, uh, it's probably a bit late to be asking this, but do you think I can keep them in Camelot?"

And that's all for now! I had a lot of fun writing about Merlin army of baby dragons! Please let me know if you'd like a continuation of this!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings!

👀

My angst senses are tingling! This is such a cool role reversal idea!!

foaming at the mouth at evil arthur because of that one fanart sebehdndbgs obsessed:

morgana and arthur swap roles. Morgana ruled as queen with gwen at her side to honor uther’s legacy and arthur doing absolutely everything to tear the kingdom apart.

arthur went rogue for all the hypocrisy and lies of uther reign. He was furious about his mother, the final straw when he saw just how much his other half sacrificed himself for him and then when he saw his father driving excalibur into his heart.

Morgana keeping everything in order so the kingdom wont fall apart in the lost of their two kings. because this will be the kingdom that brings the golden age.

arthur despises it. Every single person who spouts about destiny and prophecies. a child cruelly treated just because he’s the one who’ll bring arthur’s end. His heart ache. He made an oath to bring ruin to camelot with excalibur on his side.

Baby Aithusa AND baby Merlin?! I cannot handle all of this cuteness! 😍

Full of Snausage!

(Inspired by this post)

👀

What if...Ygraine Returns as a Ghost to Care for Her Son

Servant: Sir, I came to inform you that the knights you sent to battle are all dead.

Uther (sitting on the throne, distracted): Well, send their belongings to their families and tell them they were heroes. And bring more cookies, I'm hungry.

Arthur (six years old, watching the scene with distracted eyes next to a very angry ten-year-old Morgana): Good people die young, so when I grow up, I want to be bad like mom. 😌

Morgana: What are you talking about, Arthur! Your mother was a kind and good woman! Where did you get the idea that she was bad!?

Arthur: Yesterday I heard mom say that her dream was for a manure cart to run over dad so he would die once and for all. 🙂

Morgana (eyes wide in complete shock): Your mother would never say such a thing, Arthur… 🫢

Ygraine (next to Uther, trying to strangle him but unable to because she is a ghost): Don't listen to her, baby, mom hates dad and doesn't support anything he's doing! I still can't believe I married this man, listen to what mom says, Arthur, don't follow in his footsteps!

Arthur (turns to Morgana): Mom just said she hates dad, she's also trying to strangle him, but her hands keep going through his body, I think she's a ghost. 🫠 *slowly losing sanity*

Morgana (realizing that the young prince might be crazy): Arthur, maybe she's just joking…

Ygraine (trying to make Uther trip by stepping on his own cape): I'M NOT JOKING! If I could, I would kill him myself! I just can't because I can't touch him!

Arthur: I don't know if the gods would like so much violence…

Ygraine: The gods don't like your father!

Arthur: Okay… 🙂 *takes a cookie from the tray the servant brought*

You know, I didn't think that one of my most popular posts would be a joke about Arthur's troll stepmom, but I'll take it!

Now I definitely have to incorporate this into my next au!

You know what's one thing I'm disappointed we never got in Merlin? After the troll episodes, the entire event was never brought up again!

I mean, I understand if the people of Camelot would rather forget about the whole thing, but Arthur had a troll for a stepmother for like a week and Merlin never teased him about it later on?!

I would really like to write a fic or au some day set in the Golden Age where it's discovered that dragonlords got their powers from being descended from ancient powerful dragons that shapeshifted in humans and had half-human children.

And Arthur's reaction is to turn to Merlin and go "So what you're telling me is that one of your ancestors was deranged enough to sleep with a dragon? That certainly confirms my theory that your insanity is passed down through your blood."

And of course Merlin immediately fires back, "And remind me Sire, which of our family trees includes a troll?"

Arthur sputters for a moment before shouting that that doesn't count, she enchanted his father and the whole thing was a trick, before Geoffrey pipes up and says, "Actually sire, as it was an official wedding, Queen Catrina the Troll was officially added to the Pendragon family tree. And as the marriage was never formally annulled before her death, she cannot be removed from the record."

Arthur's left horrified by this, while Merlin's laughing his ass off.

I just think a scene like that would be neat!

You know what's one thing I'm disappointed we never got in Merlin? After the troll episodes, the entire event was never brought up again!

I mean, I understand if the people of Camelot would rather forget about the whole thing, but Arthur had a troll for a stepmother for like a week and Merlin never teased him about it later on?!

I would really like to write a fic or au some day set in the Golden Age where it's discovered that dragonlords got their powers from being descended from ancient powerful dragons that shapeshifted in humans and had half-human children.

And Arthur's reaction is to turn to Merlin and go "So what you're telling me is that one of your ancestors was deranged enough to sleep with a dragon? That certainly confirms my theory that your insanity is passed down through your blood."

And of course Merlin immediately fires back, "And remind me Sire, which of our family trees includes a troll?"

Arthur sputters for a moment before shouting that that doesn't count, she enchanted his father and the whole thing was a trick, before Geoffrey pipes up and says, "Actually sire, as it was an official wedding, Queen Catrina the Troll was officially added to the Pendragon family tree. And as the marriage was never formally annulled before her death, she cannot be removed from the record."

Arthur's left horrified by this, while Merlin's laughing his ass off.

I just think a scene like that would be neat!

You understand the vision! As funny (and justified) as Merlin fighting the gods would be, I always get a good laugh out of imagining Merlin rampaging through the underworld like:

While Arthur hasn't even been dead for an hour yet!

Silly Little Halloween Story Idea

Hello everyone! While I'm working on my next au, I had a fun little idea for another Halloween au! I don't really have the time to flesh this out, but I wanted to share it anyways!

Basically, in this au, everything in the show goes the exact same way as in canon, including the ending. Arthur dies, and Merlin left to wander the earth without him.

Except this is Merlin we're talking about here. There's no force in the universe that's strong enough to keep Merlin from Arthur's side, not even death.

So, Merlin starts bargaining with the Sidhe, who refuse to give him any information until he forces them to talk. They reveal that Arthur's soul is resting in the Underworld while his body rested in the lake, kept pristine by its magic until the day he was fated to rise again.

Merlin then takes the natural next step of opening a portal to the Underworld and stepping through it while armed with Excalibur, ready to annihilate anything that gets in his way.

So, Merlin fights his way through the Underworld Doomslayer-style, searching for his king. There are, of course, many monsters that he fights along the way, but they're no match for Merlin's magic and the power held in Excalibur.

Finally, after fighting monsters and making his way to the center of the Underworld, a high-ranking demon finally gives him some answers: the King of the Underworld knows that Merlin is seeking out Arthur's soul, but he refuses to give Arthur back to Merlin willingly.

Merlin then begins his trek towards the King of the Dead's palace, cutting down any beast that stands in his way, until he finally faces the demonic King of the Underworld himself. It was a brutal battle, but Merlin ends up victorious and claims the throne of the Underworld for himself. The demonic monsters, who value strength above all else, are more than happy to pledge their loyalty to a stronger king than the one they had before.

No sooner than Merlin sat on the throne of the dead, he demanded that Arthur's soul be brought to him.

The demon forcibly leading Arthur into the throne room: We have done as you requested, Sire.

Arthur, upon seeing Merlin sitting on a throne with demons bowing to him: Merlin, I've only been gone for half a year, WTF?

Merlin, looking VERY demonic but overjoyed to see Arthur again:

That's all on this idea for now, but I might expand on it later! I think Merlin overthrowing the King of the Underworld and become a Demon King just to get Arthur back would be a fun story lol!