Legends Reborn - Part 1/2 [Merlin, Arthur/Merlin, NC-17]

[gryvon.livejournal.com]

Title: Legends Reborn - Part 1/2
Author: Gryvon
Rating: NC-17
Prompt: Merlin, Arthur/Merlin. Reincarnation — "I'll miss you till I meet you."
Word count: 13,613
Summary: Merlin's life comes crashing to an end when Arthur dies unexpectedly, bringing their destinies to a halt. Destiny draws them together again and Merlin finds Arthur once more in the modern world, but he's not the only one who remembers the past.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this. The story refused to die...


Merlin felt the entire world freeze as the arrow pierced Arthur's heart. He wasn't entirely certain that the world hadn't frozen, that his magic hadn't stuck everyone in their place. All he knew was that he couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe. Arthur's fingers relaxed, breaking the stillness that had fallen over the area. Suddenly there were more sounds and movement than Merlin could track. None of it mattered.

Arthur's sword hit the ground first. His body followed shortly after. Merlin knew he was screaming, but he couldn't hear it, he couldn't hear anything. He ran, not bothering to dodge or move between the combatants. They flew out of his way, both friends and foes, but the foes didn't get back up again after they landed. He was exposing himself. Everyone would know he was a wizard but he didn't care.

His magic was out of control. Arrows turned midair and sped back towards the archers that had fired them, spent arrows lifting off of the ground to join the barrage, leaving the enemy archers stuck like human pincushions. Swords were being lowered as the combatants on both sides slowly started to notice the mage in their midst, but that didn't stop his magic from striking out at anything he viewed as an enemy. Men were ripped apart, barely having time to scream before their lives were cut short.

He felt nothing.

Arthur's body had landed on the ground between a large rock and a fallen tree. It formed a sheltered hollow, the perfect cover from the fight raging around him. No amount of cover could help Arthur now. Merlin fell to his knees next to Arthur. The blonde prince turned to look at him. His eyes focused on Merlin for a brief moment and then closed. Arthur stopped breathing.

Destiny shattered and Merlin broke with it. He screamed, mindless with grief and rage. The forest around them was being ripped to shreds. Distantly, he heard people running. Uther was out there somewhere, out with his troops. Merlin was keeping him from seeing his son. Tears fell from his eyes and he curled in towards Arthur, resting his head on Arthur's chest.

Arthur was dead. His destiny, their destiny, was over. Nothing mattered anymore. He'd failed.

"I'll find you again," he whispered. "I'll find you and I'll fix this."

His magic raged, consuming everything in its path. He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling tired beyond words. He couldn't think anymore. He couldn't control his magic and instead it was controlling him. When the magical tempest finally died, so did he.

*****

He was late. Merlin clutched his notebook close to his chest as he ran down the halls. They were mostly empty. Few students ventured into this section of campus unless they had a reason to be there. For him, it was home.

He'd overslept. The dreams were back again, stronger than ever. Even now, he still felt disconnected and disoriented, like his world wasn't what it was supposed to be.

The doors to the classroom were shut. He skidded to a halt outside the room and paused for a moment to catch his breath. As soon as his breathing evened out, he carefully grabbed the handle and willed it not to make a sound as he opened the door. He slid inside the room and shut the door quietly behind him. The back row was full but there were a number of open seats in the middle. He slid down the third row from the back and was almost into a seat when Professor Gaius turned.

"Ah, Merlin, so glad you could join us."

He winced and dropped his notebook onto the desk.

"Perhaps you would care to summarize last night's reading for the class."

A smile stretched across his face and he leaned against the desk, palms flat against the wood. "Of course, Professor. 'The Dream of Rhonabwy' follows Rhonabwy as he searches for the prince's brother Iorwerth. During his journey, he dreams that he was been transported back to the Arthurian age. In this story, Arthur did not die during the Battle of Camlann..." He felt a shiver pass through him and swallowed around the lump in his throat. "...as the majority of the Arthurian legends hold, but rather lived on. Rhonabwy watches a game of gwyddbwyll – a game like chess - between Arthur and Owain mab Urien, who we read about last week as 'Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'."

From the looks on several of the other students' faces, they hadn't made that connection.

Gaius nodded his approval. "And what does the game stand for?"

He shifted slightly on his feet. "It's an allegory for battle. While they play, Arthur's men harass Owain's ravens and vice versa. When the game ends, so does the conflict between Arthur and Owain, and a truce is called before they arrive at the Battle of Baddon. There are some who believe that the game itself is supernatural in nature, and that a win in gwyddbwyll guarantees a win in battle."

"Correct." Gaius turned back to the board, where he'd been outlining the characters that appeared in 'The Dream of Rhonabwy' and how they related to Arthurian myth.

Merlin slowly lowered himself into his chair. He opened his notebook and dutifully copied down Gaius's notes though he didn't need to. A few of his classmates were watching him. They were all new students. Either this was their first venture into the history department or they'd yet to cross over into Merlin's area of specialty – Arthurian legends. Gaius, of course, knew that, or he wouldn't have put Merlin on the spot as soon as he'd walked in.

He wondered how many of the students here would end up in Merlin's follow-up course next semester.

A sudden headache made him close his eyes for a moment. He forced himself to keep breathing evenly. The power was there, waiting. A small breeze ran through the room, ruffling the papers of his notebook. He clenched his hands underneath the table, bunching up the fabric of his jeans.

When he opened his eyes, Gaius was still lecturing but his eyes kept turning towards Merlin. His vision blurred and he saw Gaius not as he was but older and wearing brown robes. He shook his head to clear his vision and had a strange sense of foreboding.

A pawn captures a pawn and advances forward.

Merlin shivered and stopped taking notes.

*****

Arthur sat beside his father, across from the Prime Minister, Tom Jones. He only gave the meeting half an ear. They were talking about a special museum exhibit that was being set up. His mind and attention drifted. There were days, like today, when he felt like he was destined for more than this, that his life was wasted on meetings and college and social obligations. He was a prince but it meant nothing. There were no princesses to rescue, no dragons to slay, no epic battles waiting for him. That was the stuff of legends. His life was anything but.

"The President of Ireland will be visiting in two weeks time," the Prime Minister said, pulling Arthur's attention back to the meeting. "She'll be bringing her daughter Nimueh with her. We're hoping to coincide her arrival with the exhibit opening. PR is spinning it as a display of our shared cultural heritage."

Uther shot Arthur a pointed look and the prince bit back a groan. He didn't mind visiting dignitaries, but he hated it when they had daughters. It was widely assumed that he was going to marry Guinevere Jones, the Prime Minister's daughter, but that didn't stop his father from throwing every eligible bachelorette of semi-noble birth or high political rank Arthur's way.

He really wished people would stop trying to plan out his life for him.

His phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He palmed the device and slipped it into his lap. Two quick taps on the screen brought up the text message. Gwen wanted to go shopping. He swallowed another groan.

*****

Gaius was waiting for him in his office when Merlin finally finished his classes for the day. He dropped his bag on the desk and pulled a can of soda from the box in the corner. Gaius gave him a stern look from behind Merlin's desk.

"One of these years I'm not going to let you sit in on my class, Merlin."

He shot Gaius his most charming smile. "But then you wouldn't have anyone to talk to in class."

The look Gaius gave him in return was not amused. He turned pointedly to the couch in the corner, now partially obscured by an avalanche of papers. There was a pillow at one end and a rumpled blanket spread across it. Merlin winced. He was busted.

"You have a perfectly adequate, if somewhat unkempt, apartment, Merlin. Perhaps you should consider visiting it sometime."

He blushed and dropped into the wooden chair on the other side of the desk. "I was just there the other day." He neglected to mention that he couldn't remember exactly which day that had been.

Gaius leaned across the desk towards Merlin, his expression concerned. "Is it the nightmares again?"

He stared down at his hands and fiddled with the tab on the soda can. That was answer enough for Gaius.

The older man sighed. His chair squeaked as he leaned back. "Have they gotten worse?"

"Yeah." He nodded and looked over at Gaius. The soda can opened with a loud his. He took a sip, giving him time to order his thoughts. "I keep dreaming about Prince Arthur dying, like it was my fault... like I could have stopped it." He sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.

The dreams weren't new. He'd been having them for as long as he could remember. They varied, sometimes pleasant, sometimes not. Recently they'd become more frequent and more... violent. He dreamed about battles and a dragon. He dreamed about magic, stronger magic than he had now.

Gaius was watching him curiously. "You dreamed about the Battle of Camlann? I think perhaps you've been reading-"

"No." He cut Gaius off. His office suddenly felt colder. He shivered. "It wasn't the Battle of Camlann. It was before that. Long before that, before he was king, before he united Britain." Just thinking about it brought images flooding through his mind. It felt like he'd been there, like he was still there, stuck in time but parts of it were missing. "There was a skirmish. Arthur and Uther were travelling back from visiting one of the neighboring kings. They were ambushed. I was in the back of the line, too far away to do anything."

Even now, hours later, the memory of the dream still brought tears to his eyes. He'd woken up crying but the grief had been quickly buried when he'd realized that he was late for Gaius's class. The dream had been equally sharp and blurry. Parts of it had been crisp. He'd smelled the dirt and leaves around them, felt blood on his hands. Other parts were faint, blurred out as if seen through a fog or haze.

"And the magic?"

Merlin blushed. The papers on his desk shuffled, rearranging themselves into neat piles along the sides. "It keeps getting stronger, all the time but the dreams... the dreams make it act on its own." He paused. That wasn't right. He shook his head. "No. It's reacting. To Arthur's death."

Gaius sighed. "Have you talked to your mother?"

He groaned. "No. Not yet."

He was glad that he had a supportive mother, that she indulged him in his dreams and the magic and his obsession with Arthurian legend, but sometimes it was a bit much. Sometimes she was a bit too supportive. She'd bought him his first book on Arthurian legend, 'The Lost Years of Merlin'. She'd introduced him to Paganism and New Age and occult interpretations of magic until they'd found something that helped him control what was happening to him. She'd encouraged him to study medieval history and supported him through his Masters and now, his Ph.D.

She was also making a killing off of her latest book series about a young Arthur and Merlin solving magical mysteries in King Uther's court. There was talk of a TV series. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

"Call her," Gaius said as he slowly stood. "She has your best interests at heart."

He said nothing as Gaius walked out. The door shut, leaving Merlin alone with his books. The avalanche of papers on the couch righted themselves into a pile on the round table at the foot of the couch. Food wrappers and soda cans slid into the trash can. His bookshelves tidied themselves until the books were once more aligned and in order.

It was a bit sad that his usual pick-me-up when depressed was magically cleaning whatever room he was in. He must have been a servant in the past life.

A flier slid across his desk, reminding him that there was a new book out on Sir Gawain that he wanted to pick up. He glanced at the couch and debated. It wasn't a tough decision. If he slept, he'd dream and he wasn't quite ready to go back to that yet. He grabbed the flier and his coat and headed out the door.

The pawn moved forward.

*****

Arthur stared at the shelves in front of him with mild horror. "You don't seriously read this trash?"

Gwen shot him a dirty look. "Yes, I read that 'trash'. Your sister does too, by the way. You should try reading some time. It might help add some actual intelligence inside that dense skull of yours."

He snorted. "I read."

"Playboy does not count."

He tucked his hands in his pocket and glanced around. The book store was thankfully empty, and no one seemed to have recognized either of them. Yet. He looked back at Gwen.

"You don't read Playboy. And, besides, I do read. Real books, with thick covers and big words and everything."

She pulled one of the books off of the shelves. It was pink and had a scantily clad woman on the front. Gwen flipped it over, staring at the back while she spoke. "Really? What was the last book you read?"

He thought. "War and Peace."

She glared at him. "That was in college."

"I never said that I liked to read, just that I had."

She put her book back and pulled another one. "That doesn't count."

He shot her a look but didn't argue. He did read, sometimes. It wasn't his fault that most books were boring. Maybe he'd pick up something with swords and sorcery and dragons. That might be interesting. He moved a bit down the row and started scanning titles. One of the books caught his eye. It had dragons in the title. Gwen watched him as he pulled the book off the shelf and scanned the back. Her smile shifted wider.

"You know, that's the wrong section to be looking in if you want to dispel rumors about being gay."

"What?" He stared between her and the bookshelf, confused.

She pointed at the section in front of her. "Straight romance." She pointed in front of him. "Gay romance."

A look of horror spread across his face. She started laughing.

"That's not funny."

He threw the book at her, suddenly feeling childish and out of sorts. She ducked. The person walking around the corner behind her wasn't so lucky. Arthur cringed as it hit the young man square in the forehead. The man wobbled but stayed upright, his hand shooting out to grab onto the bookshelf to steady himself.

"Are you alright?"

The man looked up at him. He had messy black hair and large ears. His face was rather boyish. His eyes sparkled strangely and seemed a bit out of focus. Arthur stepped forward, concerned that the man hadn't answered him.

"Are you alright?"

When the man didn't answer, he gently touched the man's forehead, checking for a lump. A jolt of electricity shot through him. He tried to pull his hand back but it wouldn't move. The man shivered. Behind him, Arthur heard Gwen squawk as books fell off the shelves around him. Arthur stared. The man's eyes were glowing blue. A strange feeling passed through him. He felt like he knew this man.

Suddenly he could move again. He pulled his hand away as the man's eyes rolled back in his head. The strange man fell backwards, landing on a pile of books.

"Dear lord, is he alright?" Gwen asked from right behind Arthur.

"We have to go." He needed to get out of here. He needed to go.

"What?" Gwen protested. He ignored her, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the store.

A name stuck in his mind as they walked out and he knew, without really knowing how he knew, that it belonged to the strange young man. The name was Merlin.

*****

Merlin woke with a startled gasp. He shot upright in bed. At the edge of his slowly returning consciousness he registered confusion. This wasn't his room or any room that he recognized, but the confusion was secondary in importance to the wealth of information that was flooding into his brain. He remembered. Everything. It all made sense now - his dreams, the magic, Arthur.

"Merlin!" His mother's concerned voice cut through him. He winced at the lingering pain in his head.

"Not so loud, please, mother."

Hunith bustled through the doorway and into the tiny room. Hospital, he vaguely identified, though he had no idea how he'd gotten here. The last thing he remembered was being in the bookstore and Arthur – that had to have been Arthur, even though he'd been wearing a hat and sunglasses and trying to hide his features, Merlin still knew that he'd met, touched Prince Arthur – had touched him. When Arthur's hand had connected with his head, he'd felt a spark and then it was like the gates of his mind had been opened. He'd seen everything, remembered everything about who they'd been.

"Are you alright?" Hunith asked. She hovered at the edge of his bed and took his hand in hers. "What happened? They said you passed out in the bookstore."

He suddenly remembered why the front of his head hurt so much. The door slammed across the room. "That prat threw a book at me!"

Hunith arched an eyebrow. "Prat?"

"Arthur!" He groaned and clutched his head as it throbbed in pain again.

He could feel Arthur, like they were connected now, bound together by a thin string of fate. There were other strings too, reaching out from him to form a web of destiny. They were all part of it – him, his mother, Arthur, Gaius. Destiny was pulling them all together, trying to mirror the past.

"Arthur? Did you have another dream?"

He heard voices down the hall. A nurse was coming to check on him.

"Yes," he answered automatically, then thought about what she must have assumed. "No. That was different. I met the real Arthur, the present-day Prince Arthur, and the prat threw a book at me." He gestured towards the bruise he felt on his forehead.

"Really!?" Hunith leaned forward. "What was he like?"

He bit back his automatic response. He remembered what Arthur had been like – annoying, incorrigible, arrogant, adorable, charming, the most handsome man alive.... Merlin shook his head to dispel those thoughts. They'd gotten him nowhere in his past life, he doubted he'd get anywhere thinking like that in this life.

"I don't really know. I walked into the aisle he was standing in, a book hit me on the head, and I..." remembered everything... "passed out." He paused. If there was anyone who would believe him, it was his mother. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

The door opened, cutting off Hunith's response. A confused looking nurse walked in, followed by a doctor. His mother stood, intercepting them. Merlin settled back against the bed. His head hurt. He wanted to see Arthur again.

The opposing queen stepped forward.

*****

Arthur pasted a smile on his face and bowed to each of the dignitaries from Ireland. Beside him, his sister Morgana curtsied and murmured pleasantries for the both of them.

"Do you believe in destiny?" He whispered between bows.

She glanced sideways and curtsied again. Her smile turned sharp around the edges. "You mean like how you're destined to be a complete idiot until the day you die?"

He barely resisted the urge to glare. "I mean like how people are destined to do certain things or destined to meet certain people?"

The last of the dignitaries passed and they shifted back towards the edges of the throne room, safely out of earshot of anyone besides the palace guards.

Morgana grinned at him. "Aww, does someone have a crush?"

He did glare this time, but he kept it short, the look there and gone in a second. "No. I just met someone the other day and we... connected. I can't stop thinking about him." It wasn't a crush. He wasn't even attracted to the other man. Okay, maybe a little but seriously, who had ears that big?

"What's his name?" Morgana sounded far too smug.

He started to answer, to say 'Merlin' and then stopped himself. "I don't know. He was kind of passing out at the time."

Morgana giggled. Arthur rolled his eyes. She was having far too much fun mocking him, but that was fairly standard for his life. "Aww, did he faint at the sight of your handsome visage?"

A blush painted his cheeks and he groaned at the memory. "No. I kind of... hithimintheheadwithabook." The last part came out as a rush of sounds.

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He sighed and shifted on his feet. In front of them, Uther was giving a speech on how great it was to have the Irish President and her daughter visiting and how close their two nations were. The daughter, Nimueh, was looking at him with a smug smile. He didn't like her.

"I hit him in the head with a book."

Morgana stared at him. "Why?" She drew the word out and he winced at the accusing tone.

Arthur squirmed. "I didn't mean to. I was trying to hit Gwen."

Morgana's eyes narrowed and Arthur knew that if they weren't in public, she would have hit him. He flinched anyways, remembering how hard she hit.

"Like that makes it any better."

Gwen stood near the other end of the room, mixed in with the councilmen and staff. She got to sit and not be stared at. Arthur's envy knew no bounds.

"Did you at least apologize?" Morgana asked.

He flinched, knowing that his next words would definitely earn him a smack as soon as they were out of the throne room. "No, he sort of passed out and we left before the media caught wind of it."

If looks could kill, Arthur would be a smoldering pile of ash on the floor. He shifted slightly away from his sister.

She glared at him for a moment longer and then visibly calmed. Her gaze turned forward, and outwardly it seemed as if she was paying rapt attention to Uther's words.

Minutes passed before she spoke again. "If you're meant to see each other again, you will. Destiny has a strange way of pulling people together."

He certainly hoped so. He had a feeling that he'd need Merlin before too long.

*****

"I'm fine," Merlin repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.

Hunith started to ask how his head felt again. He hung up and turned the ringer off on his phone. The books in his arms threatened to topple as he reached for the door handle. They stopped midair, holding their place as he opened the door and staying there until he wrapped his arms securely around them again.

Gaius sat behind Merlin's chest. Merlin shut the door with a groan and then let go of his pile of books. They floated into place around the room.

"Did mother send you to check up on me?"

He dropped onto the couch and threw an arm over his eyes to block out the faint light in the room. His head hurt again. His head seemed to constantly hurt, ever since he'd had that dream, the morning he'd met Arthur.

"Do you need checked up on?"

Merlin would have glared but moving seemed like far too much effort. He groaned instead.

"Like I told mom, I'm fine, really."

He heard the chair squeak as Gaius shifted. "So you don't believe you're the reincarnation of the wizard Merlin?"

This time he did glare. "Nope, still believe that, thank you."

"I'm not trying to mock you."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I can see that. You just think I'm batty."

Gaius gave him a stern look. "You have a head injury."

"Had," he corrected. "I'm fine now."

They both knew he was lying. He quickly changed the subject.

Merlin stared up at the ceiling. "You know, it's nothing like the legends. Most of them say that Merlin was a lot older, that he'd shaped Arthur's destiny and raised him to be a great king, but that's not at all what it was like." He closed his eyes. It felt like he was back there, still walking the halls of Camelot. "We were the same age. I was Arthur's servant and Arthur... he was a great prat, but he would have been an amazing king. He would have united the land and magic would have returned, grown back to the level it was meant to be."

"But he died."

Memories started to flood in on him and he snapped his eyes open. The grief of Arthur's death never quite left him, always hanging at the back of his consciousness, threatening to overwhelm him.

"Yes," he said, slightly proud that he didn't choke on the word, not this time. "Yes, he died because I failed to protect him. It was my destiny to make him into a great king and I failed."

"Perhaps you've been given a second chance."

Merlin stared. Sometimes he felt like Gaius was just humoring him because Merlin was his nephew and his favorite student. But then Gaius would say something like he just had and Merlin knew that he really got it, that he understood how much this strange destiny meant to Merlin.

"Maybe."

"Do you think he's in danger?"

As soon as Gaius said the words, he knew. Merlin gasped and his whole body tensed. Images flooded his brain, swirling too fast to get a clear picture but throughout them all one face stood out. He knew that face. He'd killed the woman who held that face.

Merlin sat up quickly. His breaths came harshly. "Dear gods, Nimueh."

"The Lady of the Lake?"

He shook his head. "Yes. No. She was a sorceress." Pain shot through his head and he pressed one hand to his forehead. "She wanted to kill Arthur as revenge, because she hated Uther for outlawing magic."

Gaius was watching him carefully. "And you think she's a danger?"

He nodded and then groaned as it caused his head to hurt. A bottle of aspirin and can of soda floated over to him. Two pills floated in front of him. He popped the pills and took a swig from the already open can.

"She's here. I can feel it. It's like everything's coming back full circle – me, you, Arthur, Morgana, Guinevere, Lancelot, Nimueh. Destiny's bringing us all back together again and I'm not quite sure how it's going to end. I'm not sure what's going to happen if Arthur dies again."

Gaius raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm involved?"

Merlin shifted in his seat. He'd yet to mention much of what he remembered to anyone. "You were my mentor in the past life. Mother – Hunith – sent me to study with you in Camelot. You were the king's physician, and you taught me magic. You had a book, knew a bit of the old ways."

The look Gaius shot him was entirely skeptical but he remained silent for several long minutes. Finally Gaius stood.

"I think you need to rest."

Merlin's heart fell. He flopped back on the couch. Gaius walked over and pulled the blanket over Merlin's body. He paused and stared down at Merlin.

"If, like you say, destiny is bringing us all together, I don't think you need to worry. You're a different man that you were then. You're all different. If Arthur is truly in any danger, I trust that you'll save him."

Gaius started to move away. Merlin closed his eyes. He heard Gaius start to open the door.

"I was going to wait until I was sure you were well, but the Museum of London is opening a new exhibit on Arthurian Legend. They claim to have gathered real artifacts from the age." Merlin's eyes opened and he turned to look at Gaius. "We've been invited, as has Prince Arthur. You'll get to see him again in two days."

The door closed but Merlin found that sleep was impossible. He was going to see Arthur again.

Destiny was moving forward. He only hoped that he'd be ready for it.

The pawn captured a bishop. The queen waited.

*****

Arthur's glass nearly slipped from his hand. He stared. Morgana gave him a questioning look then both Morgana and Gwen turned to follow his gaze. Gwen squealed slightly and tugged on Arthur's sleeve.

"That's him! That's the man from the bookstore."

Morgana gave the man a brief once-over. She smiled. "Not a bad choice, Arthur. I quite approve." She placed a hand on the small of his back and shoved, causing his drink to slosh onto his hand. "Now get over there and apologize."

He glared at her. "I don't need to-"

She smacked him, hard, cutting off what he was going to say.

"Fine." He downed his wine and dropped the empty glass on a table.

The man didn't appear to have noticed Arthur yet. His back was towards Arthur as he studied a sword set in the center of the display room. It was supposed to be Excalibur but Arthur had his doubts. He paused next to Merlin and turned to look at the sword. Even for a fake, it was extraordinarily well done. The hilt was gilded and there was a strange series of letters down the blade.

"It's not real," the man said before Arthur could speak up.

Arthur looked over at him but the man was still staring at the sword. "Oh?"

"The real one's at the bottom of a lake. It wasn't this fancy."

Arthur raised an eyebrow but couldn't bring himself to question it. The man spoke like he knew and there was something in Arthur that told him to implicitly trust the man.

After a moment, the man turned. "Hi." He held out his hand. "I'm Merlin Emrys."

"Arthur Pendragon." He took Merlin's hand. Their flesh touched and once more he felt that strange connection, like destiny was pulling them together.

"I know," Merlin said. "We've met."

"Sorry." He gestured towards Merlin's forehead. There was still a faint bruise there, partially hidden by the fall of Merlin's hair.

Merlin shifted on his feet, falling into a stance that reminded him of Morgana. He arched an eyebrow. "You threw a book at me."

Strangers should not be able to make him feel this guilty. "I didn't mean to. I was trying to hit Gwen."

"Like that makes it any better."

He had a strange feeling of déjà vu. Arthur stared at Merlin. "Have you been talking to Morgana?"

Merlin blushed suddenly and seemed out of sorts. He shifted his gaze back to the sword. "No," Merlin answered too quickly. "We've never met."

Someone was watching them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nimueh hovered in one of the alcoves, talking with King Uther. Merlin shifted beside him and glanced in the same direction. Whatever it was that bothered Arthur about Nimueh, he knew Merlin felt it too. He shifted.

"Want to get a drink?"

Merlin glanced over at him and nodded. Arthur led the way, moving back towards the entrance of the museum where they'd set up an open bar.

"Are you a fan of Arthurian legends?" Arthur asked as they walked. The exhibit opening was a closed event, so Merlin must have had some connection to the museum in order to be invited. He would have remembered if any of the politicians had a son named Merlin.

"You could say that." Merlin looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I'm a professor actually. I teach Medieval Literature with Professor Gaius Emrys." He pointed towards a gray-haired man on the opposite side of the room. "My focus is Arthurian Legend."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You're a professor?" Merlin seemed young for a professor. He appeared to be close to Arthur's age.

"Assistant Professor. I'm still in graduate school, finishing up my Ph.D."

"Ah." He grinned suddenly. "Isn't that weird, though? I mean, I'm Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere is over there." He pointed. "You're Merlin. All we need now is Lancelot and the other Knights of the Round Table."

Merlin blushed suddenly and coughed. "I know Lancelot actually."

They reached the bar. "So you're friends with Lancelot? Coincidence is a scary thing." Arthur picked up two glasses of white wine and handed one to Merlin, who downed his quickly.

"Ex-boyfriend, actually." Suddenly all of Arthur's attention was on Merlin. His body felt hot. "And I don't believe in coincidence."

A grin spread across Arthur's face and he switched Merlin's glass with a full one. Suddenly his night was looking a lot better.

*****

Merlin giggled, though he wasn't sure what he was giggling at or why. The joke Arthur had told wasn't even that funny, he just knew that he wanted to laugh suddenly and couldn't stop. Arthur's arm was around his shoulders and he leaned against Merlin, his body pressing against Merlin's in a way that made his skin tingle. He was fairly certain that he hadn't gotten his keys properly in the lock, but the door had opened for him anyways. The lights flickered on as they entered.

If Arthur noticed anything odd, he didn't say anything about it. "You live here?" The prince's voice was a mix between curiosity and disgust.

"No," he giggled, "I just thought it'd be fun to break into some other Arthurian-obsessed history nut's apartment."

The room was slowly cleaning itself. Socks slid out of the way to hide under the couch. Garbage rolled through the shadows to bounce into the trash can. He had a feeling the kitchen and bedroom were being less covert.

Arthur was too busy staring at Merlin's packed bookshelves to notice. "Did you actually read all of these?"

He felt himself automatically slipping into his old insolence. It was a reflex. He couldn't help himself. "No, they're decoration." He rolled his eyes behind Arthur's back. "Of course I did, you prat." Then he giggled again. He'd called the prince a prat. It felt good, right.

Arthur turned suddenly to stare at him. "What did you call me?"

He couldn't stop giggling. "Prat." It seemed funnier than it should be.

After a moment, Arthur grinned back at him. "Come here and I'll show you just how much of a 'prat' I am."

Merlin stepped closer. His giggling stopped as Arthur's mouth closed over his. A tongue slipped inside of his mouth. It felt amazing. His hands spread across Arthur's chest and it was like he was touching a live wire. Arthur's hands slid down Merlin's back to cup his ass and he groaned into the prince's mouth.

"Fuck," Merlin cursed as soon as Arthur pulled away to breathe in a quick gasp of air.

Arthur's smile turned smug. "I'll take that as an invitation."

Sometimes, destiny was an amazing thing. He grabbed Arthur's shirt and pulled the blonde towards his bedroom. In their last life, he hadn't been sure of Arthur's orientation, but apparently, sometime between now and then, Arthur had taken an appreciation for men. He wasn't going to complain. Merlin wasn't sure how long he'd been in love with Arthur. He hadn't even realized it, hadn't had a name for his attraction until he'd seen Arthur killed before his eyes.

The memories of Arthur's death threatened to crowd in on him again but he fought them off. Arthur's skin was warm beneath his hands. He peeled Arthur's shirt off and pressed the prince down onto his bed. His lips found the spot where the arrow had pierced Arthur's chest, right over his heart, and he kissed there, licking and kissing the skin over and over again while his hands worked on the button of Arthur's pants. His own clothes were similarly being stripped away but he pulled back before Arthur could open his pants.

Merlin dropped to his knees and stripped the last of Arthur's clothes off. He barely gave Arthur time to register the change in position before he was leaning forward, one hand closing around Arthur's burgeoning erection, holding the flesh steady as his mouth descended. He sucked in a deep lungful of air before swallowing Arthur down to the base. Arthur's erection pressed against the back of his mouth. It felt wonderful.

Apparently Arthur agreed with Merlin. He moaned in pleasure and grasped Merlin's hair tightly. How many times had he fantasized about doing this during his lifetime? He'd thought his attraction had just been based on looks. Arthur was a handsome man and Merlin had known since he was young that he was attracted to handsome men. Lancelot was proof of that, as were the rest of Merlin's past boyfriends. But it was more than that. He lusted after Arthur because he was Arthur, the man who shared his destiny, who was his king, his prat, his everything.

He could have come just from this. His mouth was full of Arthur and he could taste him, all the way in the back of his throat. He sucked greedily, filling the apartment with loud, wet noises as he bobbed his head up and down.

"Merlin," Arthur gasped. He tugged on Merlin's hair.

He looked up but didn't stop moving.

Arthur groaned. "Get up here."

He pulled off of Arthur with a lewd pop. Arthur's hands helped him to his feet and then pushed him down onto his back on the bed.

"Do you have lube?" Arthur asked. That was probably the best thing Merlin had ever heard him says.

The bedside drawer opened seconds before his hand touched it. The bottle of lube jumped into his hand. Arthur was pulling his wallet out of his discarded pants. He retrieved a foil packet from the wallet and then let the wallet fall back to the floor. The foil packet was opened and tossed to the side. Merlin watched with interest as Arthur rolled a condom down his erection.

He started to uncap the lube but Arthur took it from him.

"Have you ever done this before?"

Merlin raised an eyebrow and wrapped his legs around Arthur's waist. "No, I just magically learned to deep throat all on my-"

Two slick fingers pressed inside of him, cutting off the rest of Merlin's retort. He moaned in appreciation and arched into Arthur's touch. Another finger joined the others, rubbing inside of Merlin and stretching him expertly.

"Ah!" Merlin shifted his legs until he could get enough leverage to push against Arthur's fingers. "I see... you've done this... before too."

Arthur just smirked at him and curled his fingers. Merlin bucked in pleasure.

After another minute, Arthur's fingers pulled out. He untangled Merlin's legs and turned him, positioning Merlin up on his hands and knees. Merlin groaned his appreciation and gripped his pillow. The mattress shifted as Arthur moved forward. Hands gripped Merlin by the hips. He was never going to get used to the thrill that shot through him every time Arthur touched him. Then Arthur was pushing into him and it was so much better than anything Merlin had felt before.

Arthur filled him. His erection was hot and thick inside of Merlin, stretching him. He shivered in pleasure and gripped the pillow. His senses were suddenly on full alert. He felt everything, every point where skin touched skin tingled, afire with sensation. Merlin moaned loudly and buried his face in his pillow.

He had a feeling that he was going to be loud tonight.

Fingers dug into his sides, not enough to bruise, but enough to reinforce that Arthur was in control. He started to move. The pillow barely muffled the wanton sounds Merlin was making. He bit into the fabric as Arthur slammed his hips forward, making Merlin keen.

"God, you feel good," Arthur gasped from behind him.

Merlin whimpered in response and pushed backwards as Arthur slammed forward, forcing Arthur deeper inside of him. It felt amazing. He wanted this, wanted Arthur inside of him forever.

"So tight."

He was going to have trouble walking straight tomorrow. Arthur's gentleness was slipping and Merlin encouraged it. He wanted it that way and he moved to tell Arthur so.

"Ah!" He should have kept his head down. His voice was too loud. He hoped his neighbors weren't home, otherwise he'd never be able to look them in the face again. "Harder," he gasped. "Please, Arthur, fuck me harder. Want it. So much. Want you. Gods, please."

Arthur pulled out suddenly and Merlin almost cried, afraid that Arthur was going to go away, was going to leave him like this, hot and needy and so close to the edge. Instead Arthur turned them, pushing Merlin down onto his back and shoving inside of him again. Merlin gasped and forgot how to breathe as Arthur pushed Merlin's legs up towards his head, opening him up wide.

"Hold these," Arthur commanded.

Merlin whimpered and did as he was told. He wrapped his arms around his knees and held himself open for Arthur. The prince's hands moved back down to his hips, gripping tightly and pulling Merlin towards him each time his hips slammed forward. Merlin was being loud but he couldn't bring himself to stop. Then Arthur leaned forward, pressing Merlin's legs back towards the mattress as he kissed Merlin deeply.

He screamed as he came, the sound mostly drowned out by Arthur's mouth over his own. His magic surged, bridging the gap between Arthur and Merlin and connecting them for a brief moment. He felt Arthur, deeply, intimately, and it wasn't just that Arthur was physically inside of him, suddenly he was emotionally and mentally inside of him. He felt what Arthur felt – the delight at making Merlin scream for him, the pleasure when Merlin tightened around him, the wonder and confusion as he suddenly realized that he was feeling things that weren't his own.

Merlin? Arthur thought.

Arthur. He answered in kind.

Then the connection was gone, leaving Merlin feel suddenly bereft. He gasped, arching up into Arthur reflexively. Belatedly he realized that Arthur had come as well. He was still inside of Merlin but the hardness had faded. He was in no hurry for Arthur to move.

Arthur was staring at him but Merlin couldn't speak, couldn't do anything until his magic settled. He pressed his hands against Arthur's chest. There was still a faint part of him that was connected. That thread that connected them, the web of destiny that entwined them all, had just tightened. Instinctively he knew that he could now find Arthur, wherever he went. Merlin's magic had bound them together.

"I think I'm too drunk for any of what just happened to make sense," Arthur said suddenly.

Laughter ripped through him. He wrapped his arms around Arthur and kissed him soundly. "That's fine. Sleep?" He felt like he could sleep for days.

Arthur's expression shifted to a grin. "Yeah." He pulled out of Merlin and tied off the condom before tossing it into the garbage can. Merlin grabbed a handful of tissues to clean them both off.

He couldn't stop smiling as Arthur rolled them until Arthur was pressed against Merlin's back. Arthur pressed a kiss against Merlin's neck and then settled down to sleep, apparently uncaring that they were both naked and exposed to plain view. The blanket that had been kicked to the foot of the bed earlier stretched over them. Arthur murmured softly and shifted tighter against Merlin's back.

That night, Merlin didn't dream.

The pawn captured a knight. The king advanced forward.


Part 2