Bastille

Pompeii (Merlin POV)

A/N- I don't own Merlin (unfortunately), Nor do I own the song. They belong to BBC and Bastille respectively.

"This next song was written by our drummer, Gwaine." Merlin inwardly cringed at the sound of his friend's name. He had to use to it because people these days didn't believe that 'Merlin' was real, so he'd taken up Gwaine's name as soon as people started giving him strange looks when he introduced himself. "He's going to be singing this song, it is called Pompeii." Cheering. Lots of cheering. Merlin loved the sound of the crowd, yet they had no idea what the song truly meant. Even his own band mates had no idea. Upbeat music began to play, and Merlin waited a few beats. "This one's for Arthur..." beat "...a man who was very close to me."

Merlin closed his eyes, took a breath, and opened his mouth. "I was left to my own devices." Arthur left him alone. "Many days fell away with nothing to show." Over a thousand years of nothing. No purpose, no Arthur, no Camelot. "And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we loved." Merlin's heart gave a lurch as he remembered the burning wreckage of Camelot, watching it fall to the ground. "Great clouds rolled over the hills bringing darkness from above." Merlin took a deep breath as the music upped its tempo. "But if you close your eyes... does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?" Merlin closed his eyes and imagined Arthur smiling at him. The thought warmed him some. "And if you close your eyes... does it almost feel like you've been here before?" He took another deep breath. "How am I gonna be an optimist about this? How am I gonna be an optimist about this?" Merlin remembered the sheer irony he felt when writing those lines, knowing full well he was always the optimistic one between him and Arthur.

"We were caught up and lost in all of our vices." He remembered Gwen, although strong through her grief, crying on his shoulder after finding out Arthur was gone. He remembered Percival, tears streaming down his face as he informed Merlin of Gwaine's death, then holding him as Merlin mourned his friend. He remembered Gaius, pale and fragile, mere hours before dying just two years after Arthur.

"In your pose, as the dust settles around us." The smell of smoke, ash and burning flesh as Camelot fell, and Merlin watched from afar. "And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we loved." Merlin tried to ignore the tears the stung his eyes that prickled whenever he sang this song. "Great clouds rolled over the hills bringing darkness from above." He closed his eyes against the pain the tears were causing, but he never let them fall. "But if you close your eyes... does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?" The crowd, who was always quiet during this song, stared up at him.

Merlin thought he faintly heard someone shouting, but paid it no attention."And if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before?" Merlin kept his eyes closed, willing himself to keep his cool. He knew his face was being projected onto the giant screens behind and either side of him, close-ups for the people in the stands. "How am I gonna be an optimist about this?" Someone burst through the doors then, ending up right next to the stage, but Merlin didn't spare it a glance, merely thinking it was just an eager fan coming back from the bathroom. "How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"

The music then quietened, and Merlin prepared himself for the hardest part of the whole song. "Oh, where do we begin, the rubble or our sins?" Camelot, or all the times he had failed Arthur? "MERLIN!" Merlin flinched at the sound of the familiar voice, but otherwise didn't react. He knew it was a hallucination. He sometimes heard Arthur calling to him in his sleep. "MERLIN, IT'S ME!" Merlin glanced in the general direction of the voice, pain filling him as he saw the familiar blonde head. He looked away quickly, however. He couldn't let the frequent hallucination affect him. Because of this, he missed the crowd also looking in the direction of the voice. "Oh, where do we begin, the rubble or our sins?"

"MERLIN!" This time, Merlin looked at him. Their eyes met, and Arthur grinned the grin Merlin so longed to see in real life. But Merlin didn't return the smile, he just turned back to his microphone and closed his eyes for a few seconds, willing the hallucination to go away. To his surprise, Merlin saw hallucination-Arthur pushing his way through the crowd so he was standing almost directly in front of Merlin. That had never happened before.

The music upped its tempo again, and Merlin looked away from Arthur, to carry on singing. "And the walls kept tumbling down..." he then looked directly into Arthur's eyes. Arthur smiled again, but Merlin could've swore he saw it falter when the warlock forced sincerity into his eyes. If this was the real Arthur, he would understand the words Merlin was about to say. "... in the city that we loved." As Merlin had hoped, Arthur went slightly pale. Then, he shouted again. "Merlin, it's me! You're not hallucinating!" Merlin couldn't help it, the corners of his mouth twitched. This was the real Arthur. He had returned. Then he forced the sincerity to return.

"Great clouds rolled over the hills bringing darkness from above." Then, Merlin smiled. For the first time since before the song began, the crowd cheered. Merlin knew there were no photos of him smiling. He hadn't really had any reason to smile at all these past few hundred years. However, now that Arthur had returned, Merlin had every reason to smile. "But if you close your eyes... does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?" Merlin started tapping his foot to the beat as he began to truly enjoy singing the song. Arthur grinned and did the same, much to Merlin's amusement. He made a mental note to take him to a club once he'd settled.

"And if you close your eyes... does it almost feel like you've been here before?" Merlin started putting emphasis into the words. He felt elated at the return of his best friend. Although Merlin had allowed the smile on his face to a more neutral look, his eyes had never left Arthur's. "How am I gonna be an optimist about this?" Arthur shrugged as though Merlin had actually asked him the question, making him snicker despite himself. "How am I gonna be an optimist about this? If you close your eyes..." Arthur laughed then. Even though he couldn't physically hear it, Merlin knew what sound Arthur had made. It was the relieved laugh he had laughed after he believed he had killed Kilgarrah. "... does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?"

As the song started coming to an end, Merlin stepped away from the microphone, but kept one hand on it, and grinned at Arthur. The crowd cheered again, and he couldn't help but laugh. It felt strange in his throat, he hadn't truly laughed in so long. He couldn't see it from the distance, but Merlin knew that Arthur had tears in his eyes. So did he. He wiped them away, still smiling, as Arthur did the same. The song ended, and Merlin knew that that was the end of the show. Merlin and his band mates waved goodbye to the crowd then bowed. Merlin deliberately aimed his bow in Arthur's direction, making the king smile. Then they headed off the back of the huge stage, where they congratulated each other (the other band mates jokingly asked what on earth had happened to make him laugh) and started packing away.

Almost an hour later, they started to leave. "Yeah, I'm gonna head off this way, see you later!" Merlin shouted. Somehow, he knew Arthur would be down there. However, Merlin had once again started to doubt that Arthur was real. The others bid goodnight to each other, but they walked the other way. As he headed down the passage towards the stage door, Arthur came out of his hiding place. Merlin instantly stopped in his tracks. "Arthur?" He said, confusion, fear and hope instantly filling his heart. How he so wanted Arthur to be real. Merlin half expected a snarky remark aimed at him, but it never came. Instead, Arthur walked slowly towards him.

"Still don't believe I'm real?" Despite the hurt that creeped onto Arthur's all-too-familiar features, Merlin ever so slightly shook his head. There was silence for a few seconds where Arthur just slowly looked Merlin up and down, then the newly undead king did something Merlin never expected him to do.
Arthur hugged him.
Merlin stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds until Arthur spoke. "Real enough for you?" He murmured, his arms wrapped tightly around Merlin's neck. Merlin released a breath as he realised that Arthur was indeed real, and he had returned. Then, he threw his arms around his best friend's waist, squeezing him close. "Yes." He breathed back, emotion filling his voice. When they eventually separated nearly five minutes later, both men had wet shoulders.

So, how was that? Obviously. I decided on doing Merlin's POV after all. I really enjoyed writing this, for some reason I always think of this exact scenario whenever I listen to the song, so I just had to write it! Anyways, reviews are very much appreciated :))

Isaac