AAAAAA
Arthur heard Merlin groan in pain after a painful attempt at a laugh. The day before Merlin had finally managed to break his chains. He had just lain on the floor for a while, practically sobbing with the sweet breath of painlessness. Eventually, he had gotten up and scratched out the runes on his cuffs and a few more on his cell. It had hurt for Arthur to watch, really. This was a person who had, despite all the lies, once been his best friend and an integral part of his day to day life. Now he was hanging from the ceiling of Arthur's own dungeon, trying to maintain his strength and focus his magic.
It was funny how easy it had become for Arthur to start saying magic and sorcerer. He had even made a few slip ups and said warlock in reference to Merlin. He knew that Lancelot and Gwaine had noticed, but with a look from Merlin, they didn't comment. That's what had made it worse, really. Merlin didn't ignore Arthur or argue (not banter, not anymore) with the king. It was as if the sorcerer had come to peace with their former relationship and the shambles that it was now. It was as if he didn't blame Arthur anymore.
He was supposed to blame Arthur! That way the king would be justified in killing him when they defeated Morgana! But with each day, it got harder and harder to convince himself that he was in the right and Merlin was wrong. It was especially hard seeing his former best friend in pain because the man had decided to help Arthur reclaim Camelot. How was he supposed to blame the young man when it was his own fault that Merlin was there in the first place?
Maybe, Arthur reasoned with himself, maybe he wouldn't kill Merlin. Maybe he would just reinstate the 'leave and do not return on pain of death' rule that he had before. It had worked out pretty well. On second thought, it hadn't worked very well. Camelot had been taken over in less than a year, whereas when Merlin was around, Camelot was never truly taken over. Arthur's half-sister might have taken over briefly, but not as long as she did this time.
The King of Camelot didn't like that particular line of thinking as it was erring too close to what Merlin had been saying all this time, so he stopped those thoughts and started thinking about his wife instead. Before he could get too far in that line of thought, the door to the dungeons crashed open and Leon frowned, "It's too early for food. Who is it?"
That question was answered quickly when Morgana marched down the stairs, manic smirk in place. She ordered guards to go into Merlin's cell and put another magic-muffling pair of cuffs around his ankles and take him down from the ceiling. Arthur saw the others all flinch when Merlin crashed to the ground with a muffled groan. Arthur decided to try and take control of the situation, "What's going on Morgana?" He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mordred had stalked into the room behind the 'Queen of Camelot'. Agravaine followed close behind.
Morgana just laughed before announcing smugly, "I'm going to kill all of you in front of your most loyal members of the royal court."
They were all tied together by Mordred and dragged upstairs.
When they made it to the court room, Merlin was still unconscious, having to be dragged behind them by two guards. Arthur looked around and saw about twenty other guards and around ten people in the various liveries of the five kingdoms. He subtly signaled to the knights, indicating that they should get the noble advisors out of the room with the other royals. His ropes constricted his hand movement and he hoped that all of them got the message correctly. Arthur thought wryly that Merlin wouldn't have been able to get it with or without the ropes.
Morgana sat on his throne, back straight and yet somehow still seeming to lounge. She smirked again and started her speech, "You courtiers of the five kingdoms will spread my message and the news of their rulers' deaths. I want all to know that those who defy me, those that choose to fight, they will surely die. But those who do not resist, those that choose to welcome change, they will have a future in Albion. Everyone has a choice. Tonight we will have a gallows built and all those who defy me will receive their punishment. This has just begun!"
She continued to speak, but Arthur wasn't paying attention anymore. He was looking around, making certain that everyone was ready. He glanced again at Merlin's unconscious form, concern for him and concern for the fate of Camelot swirling in his pit. Arthur turned away, but a movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He looked back towards the chained warlock and saw that one eye was open, glancing around carefully. The king was surprised to see gold staring out at the world instead of the milky blindness of the egg remains. He must have wiped it out at some point. Then gold eyes met sky blue ones and Merlin's mouth twisted up in a wry grin and he winked quickly at Arthur before shutting his eye again.
Suddenly Morgana was screaming from the front of the room, "Bring forth Emrys! He will be the first to pay! He has betrayed our kind by protecting the Pendragons, Arthur and Uther alike! He stopped me from killing Uther in his sleep and he stopped Arthur from killing Uther in a fit of rage! He stopped Morgause and Nimueh and Aulfric and Sigan and so many more! I will kill Emrys and usher forth the freedom of magic!" Arthur frowned as he processed everything Morgana had said. Had Merlin really saved him that many times?
He shook the thought off as he saw Morgana's men start to drag Merlin's body towards the throne. Arthur and Gwaine shared a look. Merlin had said that he would wait until she was trying to kill them, but they didn't think that he would wait this long.
Then, suddenly, Merlin was standing and the two guards had been flung into pillars across the room. His cuffs flew off in a cloud of metal powder and his skin sparkled with the golden glow of power.
Arthur was frozen for a moment before Lancelot literally pushed him into action, propelling him towards the swords that Mordred had hid in the throne room over the course of the week. The knights all threw off their ropes that Mordred had purposely tied to be easily removed.
Lancelot, Gwaine, Percival, and Arthur fought the guards, ducking, twisting, rolling, and slashing at them as Leon and Elyan grabbed the noblemen and royals and led them out of the room, killing a few guards as they went. Arthur noticed, to his relief, Gweneviere and Gaius run after them into the door. It closed firmly behind them and as far as the king could tell, no one had noticed it.
As Gwaine delivered the final blow, effectively killing or knocking out all of the guards, Arthur heard a boom come from where Merlin and Morgana had been. He looked over, Excalibur in hand, and saw burn marks and broken glass littering their mini battlefield. The boom sound had come from Morgana's hands as she let loose a fire ball easily larger than Arthur's bed, canopy and all.
Merlin didn't have a chance of getting out of its way. He tried to dive to the left, but it still caught his side and sent him reeling to the ground. Arthur froze again as he watched Merlin who smelled like burnt clothing and wasn't moving and Arthur knew that no one could come back from that and there is no way that Merlin could actually be dead and –
Merlin stood up. He slowly pushed himself from the ground, revealing burnt skin all along his right side, but he was otherwise alright. Morgana screamed unintelligibly at him and then snarled out a spell. Another fireball formed and she shot it off, forming a third one and firing that immediately afterwards. The battle was awe-inspiring to say the least.
But then there were two fireballs coming at Merlin and he could only see one of them. The first one he caught and started to extinguish it, but it wouldn't be fast enough to see the other one before it slammed into him. Arthur shouted, "Merlin! There's a second one!"
Merlin spared a quick glance at Arthur and then threw the fireball. It slammed into the first one and they exploded in a tower of flames. Morgana and Merlin both threw up shields to protect themselves. There was silent pause as the flames died down.
And then they were fighting again, throwing objects and fire and light and shadows. Arthur noticed with a sort of sick fascination that by this point neither of them was speaking. They were simply firing off the spells and blocking. He hadn't thought that was possible.
Then Morgana pulled a trick move. She flung three swords at him with her magic and he was so focused on them that he didn't see the small but deadly dagger that flew underneath them. Arthur didn't see it either until it slammed into Merlin's abdomen blade first. Merlin rocked back a little and glanced to his stomach, watching slowly as the bloodstain grew larger and larger.
With the last ebbs of his strength, he looked back up towards Morgana and raised a fist to the sky. The earth started to buck and roll, twisting and cracking beneath their feet. The wind picked up to the point that it was almost a tornado, tearing at Morgana's hair and blinding her with debris. Then the ceiling blackened and curled. Arthur realized that clouds were forming. They broke into a downpour, but it wasn't rain that was falling. Liquid fire sizzled into Morgana, the wind blowing it at her from so many directions, battering all of her shields. Somehow the fire didn't touch the knights, leaving them awestruck at the devastation Merlin could create by simply raising his fist.
Merlin, his hands covered in blood, his side burned raw, a long jagged cut across his face, and his powerful golden eyes lowered his hand slowly, lessening the impact on Morgana, but not removing it. When he spoke, his voice showed none of the pain he must have been feeling, "You have one chance Morgana! You can surrender now and I will not kill you! This is your last chance! Take it! Please! I don't want to kill you or hurt you, so please take this chance!"
Her voice was shrill with pain and fear and insanity, "NO! I will never surrender to you! I will never surrender to anyone! This is my rightful throne! This is my rightful place in life! You cannot take it from me!"
Arthur could hear Merlin's bone weary sigh as his hand lifted again and the wind, the liquid fire, and the earthquakes intensified once more. Then he opened his fist and a bolt of lightning flew down from the black clouds and lit up the room. For a moment, Arthur couldn't see.
When the light had cleared, all that was left of Morgana was a pile of ash. Arthur, Lancelot, Gwaine, and Percival cheered, but then Arthur looked towards where Merlin was. The savior of Camelot was laying on the ground, unmoving, a pool of blood rapidly spreading.
Cold fear stopped Arthur's heart as he yelled, "Merlin!"