Merlin in Storybrooke

Prologue

It had been three thousand years since Arthur died, and Merlin was still roaming the earth, doomed to immortality and watching those he loves die, whilst he stays behind, forever unchanging from his 21 year old body. Merlin realised that he had stopped aging as soon as he had turned 21. Gaius and Gwen were the ones to point it out to him that he remained the same as he did when first arrived in Camelot. Merlin always looked younger than he actually was, even as a boy, but didn't think much on it. Well, until Gaius and Gwen pointed it out. Merlin was in denial at first. There was no way he was immortal. No way. But, then, after a conversation with the druids, he found out the painstaking truth. He would never die. The druids saw this a gift, gifted to him by The Triple Goddess herself. But Merlin saw this as a curse.

For the first few years, he tried many (failed) suicide attempts. He stabbed himself with a sword, only wake up with a new pink scar in the morning, he tried to hang himself, chop his own head off, jumped into open flames and, even going as far as going into a Serkets nest and getting stung by a few of them. Nothing worked. Although the latter was pure agony, he was seriously hoping it would end that time. But he was extremely disheartened to wake up the next morning, nothing worse for wear, but alive. And by all rights, he shouldn't be. It would seem that not even the Serkets poison is strong enough to thwart his accursed immortality. But not for lack of trying.

A decade after Arthur's death, Gwen found out what he been trying to do. She saw the number of scars upon her friend's body one day, when he was changing and she was horrified. She made Merlin promise not to do it again. And Merlin did. Until Camelot eventually fell. Gwen married Leon five years after Arthur's death and produced an heir. Percival was devastated after Gwaine's death and fell into depression. Merlin suspected they were more than friends.

After that Merlin tried again. But after the first century, Merlin gave up. So he spent the past three millenia travelling. He never let himself get close to anyone because he knows he would see them die. He never had another lover, either. Not since Freya. But even before Freya, Merlin had never had a lover. Gwen was his first kiss. But it only happened once. Then he met Freya, and he fell for her. Even though his heart was already taken by someone who would never love him back. Arthur.

Merlin had loved Arthur since the poisoned chalice incident. Well, technically, he had a crush on him when they first met, but when Arthur saved his life, his love for him swelled. And that was why, when Arthur married Gwen, it broke his heart. He was so deeply in love with him at that point, that his heart shattered. And it never really healed. But he hid it well, even from Gaius. Merlin is pretty sure the elderly physician suspected, though. But he never said anything.

Merlin was always attracted to both genders, but leaned more towards boys. Merlin had fleeting crushes over the years in Camelot, but they never lasted. Arthur was the one who truly held his heart. And he abused it, unknowingly, everyday when he was with Gwen. But if Arthur was happy, then that's all that matters. And Merlin was more than happy to suffer in silence, as long as Arthur remained ignorant of his feelings. Because Merlin would rather have him as friend, than not at all. That was one of the reasons Merlin never told him of his magic. Too afraid to see rejection, betrayal and hatred reflected in Arthur's eyes. But in a way, that made everything all the worse when Merlin eventually told him.

Merlin had always blamed himself for Arthur's death. Even if it was Mordred that delivered the fatal blow, he blames himself for driving the druid boy to Morgana. He was so determined to defy the prophecy, that he was the one who ended up causing it to happen. For he was the one who told Arthur not accept magic into Camelot when the Disir gave Arthur the choice to either accept the old ways, or his destiny will be set. It was his fault that the love of his life is dead. His fault that Camelot lost the greatest king ever known. His fault and his alone. And absolutely nothing can convince him otherwise.

Merlin is travelling again, and he is currently in the US, in Maine. Something compelled him to come here. He was driving along the road when suddenly he felt something. A kind of dark magic that seems to be fading. On the right side of the road was a dark green sign.

Welcome to Storybrooke.

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A/N: I hope you like the Prologue. I apologise that it's so short. I hope the next chapter is longer

@Merthur_Shipper