Merlin Oneshots

Princess and the Phoenix

It was a guarantee in life that everyone had a soul and with it came a creature to embody it.  The creature was half the soul, and with its life came the perks of being truly alive and free and happy.  For ease of life the creature could be shifted into a tattoo to rest or to hide or to travel if need be.  But if, by some forsaken reason, the soul creature perished, the other half was surely sentenced to a slow and torturous death.  The only mark left behind on the tortured soul was that of a swath of black covering the sternum, straight down and prominent.  It was the easiest way to identify the cause of death if the creature or the person died, but there would always be an outlier.

Uther had a bull, named Jornu, strong and stubborn and aggressive and bull-headed.  The russet creature cared not for any other creature besides the mink belonging to Yggraine.

Yggraine's mink, Ishna, was soft, fluffy, pure white.  Adorable and sweet in every contrast to Uther and his bull.  But then Yggraine died in childbirth and with her, so did Ishna, leaving both the King and his bull all alone.

Arthur was the golden haired prince, full of greatness and strength and his soul took the form of a lion.  Vaerni was overall, a sweet lioness, fast, quick, lethal, but showed her strength and courage.  She was the perfect half of the crown prince.

For the Lady Morgana Pendragon, she had a pitch black serpent.  It absolutely terrified the kitchen staff when she traipsed in with her creature around her neck.  In contrast to its exterior, Naru was the kindest soul to exist, just like his counterpart, or at least till Morgause tortured them despite Merlin's efforts.

Lastly, the unfortunately cursed manservant.  Had one to guess, Merlin kept his creature as a tattoo.  He was always so chipper and upbeat, had one to guess, he had a flighty bird or a lively creature like a ferret.  But he never told anyone what it was, only his mother knew, and Gaius never attempted to ask. 

If the Goddess had any mercy, she would give Merlin a break.  However, that was not in Destiny, nor Fate's wishes.  Of course, Arthur had suggested a hunting trip to blow off some steam.  Uther was getting rilled over Morgana and Morgause's apparent betrayals and was taking out his anger on Arthur, and therefore Merlin.  Therefore, Merlin was happy for the reprieve of castle chores. 

The first day of the hunting trip was smooth, Arthur shot a deer and Leon a hare, Merlin found some edible berries and the poor drunkard named Gwaine was "attacked" by his creature, Zaru, a grey wolf, for being drunk again.  The first night showed just how bad of a decision it was to leave Camelot.  The fire would not stay lit, everyone's creatures were on edge, and Merlin kept jumping, despite seeing nothing.  The knights and prince, oblivious as ever chalked it up to nerves and stress, and happily fell asleep.  On the other hand, Merlin, nearly fell asleep from uneasy boredom when something prowled into his vision.  Hyena - Jari.

As recognition flared at the sight of Jari, Merlin attempted to shout, only to find himself succumbing to a sleeping spell.  The hyena's other half gracefully walked out as Merlin's eyes closed - Morgause.

Arthur woke with a start, startled at the foreign surroundings.  Stone lined the walls, runes carved into each block - magic suppression.  Vaerni decided she's waited long enough and went around to the other sleeping knights and woke them up, each creature appearing to check on their other half.  A few minutes later, attempting to recall what happened, and it clicked that someone was missing, where is Merlin?

Merlin was battered and bloodied and tired, but so far, this was nothing to him.  More insults were thrown by Morgause in an effort to get a reaction from the oddly silent servant.  She preferred her whip and the cat of nine tails to get her participants to release their soul to coerce them to talk, but Merlin remained silent.  With a stiffening arm, she sent some guards to retrieve the prince and his knights, after all, maybe the servant would talk then.