Merthur One-shots

How (Not) To Break A Warlock Out Of The Dungeon

Summary: When Merlin gets thrown into the dungeon because of his magic he expects some quiet, lonely hours until Arthur is back from a visit to the lower town.
He is not ready, however, for several (ridiculous) breakout attempts by various knights that may or may not go as planned.
And what will Arthur say when he comes back?

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Merlin had always imagined that, when he finally revealed his magic, it would be in an epic and heroic way.
Arthur would be in danger, fighting yet another evil sorcerer or a dangerous creature that wanted to kill the king. Merlin would swipe in dramatically and save the king, revealing his magic in the process.
As a result, Arthur would be so relieved and happy to see Merlin, he would forgive him instantly for lying and throw himself into Merlin arms before they would make out fiercely and…. yeah well, at that point, Merlin's imagination got a bit unrealistic.

Fact was that Merlin did definitely not expect his magic to be revealed while he was simply playing with one of the castle cats.
Admittedly, it was a rather cute cat and Merlin was really bored.

Camelot had been suspiciously quiet in the last months. No assassination attacks on Arthur, no curses laid upon the kingdom and even the king himself had managed to not get in trouble for some time. Merlin should be grateful for the break but instead he grew restless. Where were the evil guys when you needed them?

The lack of work and excitement was the reason why he was currently sitting in the green grass of the castle gardens, playing with a little, gray kitten that he had named ‘little Arthur’ because it’s huge eyes reminded him of Arthur whenever the king wanted something from Merlin.
However, the absence of threat and danger led to Merlin, letting his guard down and he didn’t think much of it, when he summoned a small, orange ball of light. He let the light dance around himself and Little Arthur happily chased after it.

It was only when a hand came down on his shoulder that Merlin let the light disappear but it was too late.
The two knights behind him had seen his eyes flash golden. They dragged Merlin to his feet, not even bothered by little Arthur who meowed desperately when they took Merlin with them.
The knights were new in Camelot and Merlin wasn’t yet acquainted with them. He thought about fighting but chose to be led into the throne room instead.

Arthur though, could not be found, he still was visiting the lower town so the knights decided to throw Merlin into the dungeon until the king returned.
Merlin wasn’t sure whether he should be glad or not that Arthur did not know yet. Even though the confrontation was unavoidable, he did not feel ready to face his king.

Merlin was already well acquainted with the dungeon cell the two knights shoved him in.
After all, it was the very same cell in which he had spent his first night in Camelot. It was almost ironic that he might spend his last night in here as well.

With a sigh he let himself sink down onto the dirty straw.

He only got to count the stones of the wall opposite from him three times, when a dull thump, coming from the cell next to his caught Merlin’s attention.
Next, he heard a quiet hiss, followed by a series of creative curses.
Merlin furrowed his brows. The other cell should be empty.
It took only a couple more seconds before a smiling face appeared behind the bars of Merlin's cell.

"Gwaine, what the hell are you doing here?" Merlin hissed.

It was clear that the knight had not come through the official entrance but rather through the tiny window in the other cell. How Gwaine had managed to break the bars of the window Merlin did not know.