Merlin OneShots

Why aren't you saving him?!

It was cold.

Merlin looked up into the sky. How amazing it could be, right? Especially at night.

"Can't you sleep?"

Merlin tore his eyes from the stars away and looked up to his friend. "Mhm", was all he could say. It really was a beautiful night, one of the prettiest nights he had ever seen. "Me too", Arthur mumbled and both of the brothers glared at the moon, again.

The night seemed to be lovely. Calm and peaceful. But it soon would turn into something horrific and fearful. Just as Morgana did.

The king noticed his friends stare, sighing. "Why?" None of them knew the answer. But still, Arthur asked. "Why is she doing this?" Silence. "Morgana is... full of hate. Uther did something to her that no words could describe." Merlin had to think of how she must've felt. He had Gaius, Kilgharrah and Lancelot. Morgana, on the other hand, was all alone until her sister came. Somehow, Merlin felt guilty. He could've stopped her. By being there for her.

"Sometimes I think it wasn't her fault." Merlin turned around, now fully looking on Arthur or-... well, his side. "But my father's. He abused her. In a mentally way." Arthur now also turned around, both heroes looking each other into the eyes. "How would you feel if you had to hide who you really are? If you would've been afraid every day in your life because someone wants you dead? And then of all persons - this someone has to be your father."

Oh, if you just knew...

"It would be horrible, I assume", Merlin said a bit colder than expected. "But you can't blame Uther for everything, Arthur. He chose his way. Morgana had the choice as well. And she took the same way as her father did. But you... you can learn from their mistakes. Be the king that everyone needs. Be strong. For Camelot." But he could never forgive Morgana.

It was one of those moments, where Arthur didn't know what to say to his friends. Sometimes he would just call him wise but quickly take it back. Sometimes he just said what was on his mind.
But this time, he didn't say anything. He just fell asleep.

"Rise and shine!" For a moment, the king felt like he was in his chambers again. But he wasn't. He couldn't. Morgana stormed the castle.

"Please tell me you're saying this every morning to our princess."

Merlin nodded, not considering it necessary to hide his grin and the other knights of the round table laughed. At least those, who escaped with them. Percival was still in the castle, captured and probably tortured by Morgana and her army.

"If we're going to survive this, then..."

"Prat."

"Clotpole."

"That's my word!"

Suddenly a noise came out of the forest. We stood still, the knights pulled out their swords. A golden-locked head appeared in front of us. "Leon!" The spoken-to man was out of breath. "T-the... cost is clear, s-sire..." No one was joking anymore. No one dared to speak. Because everyone knew: They - a handful people - would now try to stop Morgana.

"Have I already mentioned that this plan is horrible?" It was Gwaine, who still talked. Not to Arthur's amusement. He gave him a death stare, that was saying: 'If you say one - only one small word, I'm going to destroy all your mead-reserves'.

Gwaine, Leon, Elyan, Gaius and Gwen were all chained together, a few knights of Morgana stood there. One of the knights was holding Merlin at the other side of the room and two black dressed minions held Arthur. They were forcing him to kneel, just like young men did when being knighted. But there was no king with a sword, there was just Morgana, sitting a few meters before him on his throne. On Arthur's throne.

"You are my sister... I always thought I meant something to you...", his voice was full of pain, but his fists were clenched out of anger.

Normally Morgana would shout at him, saying him how much she hates him. She would first torture Arthur's friends - his family - and break him. But this was unlikely.

She was silent.

She stood silently up. She silently took her sword. She silently started walking towards her brother.

Merlin followed every move of hers. He was watching in slow motion, ready to use and reveal his magic any moment for his friend.

The sword was raised, stopped - and as concentrated as possible Merlin saw every centimeter it moved towards Arthur's head. Ten centimeters. Nine and a half. Nine.
He would use his magic before the sword could come closer than about one centimeter.

It never happened.

"Why aren't you doing anything?!"

Morgana turned to Merlin, leaving everyone confused. Shit...

A glance to Morgana, then to Arthur and back to Morgana. No!

"What?"

Fury burned in Morgana's eyes and she started to yell.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Why aren't you saving him?!"

Merlin now realized how close she was. Every emotion, every twitch - Merlin could see them all. At this moment, he felt like crying. That confused Morgana even more. She was searching for any sign in her enemies face. And it made her angry. Really angry.
She turned around, pointing at Merlin's chest.

"He's a sorcerer! Just like me! I want you to see how he practices magic! He should feel your hate and despair! Getting insane from the thought, that his so-called best friend wishes him death!"

She turned back to Merlin, who was giving her a level look. Everything in Merlin screamed, his soul cried and he felt like he was flinching. As much as he didn't want to, he couldn't resist but glance at his friends. Some faces were shocked, others confused and Merlin would bet he saw fear.

There was only one face he didn't dare to look at.

"Morgana...", Merlin's voice sounded dangerous, but at the same time calm and quiet, "I'm not like you!"

With his whole strength, he kicked her between the legs. Arthur used this moment of distraction and hit the two men who had been holding Arthur the whole time. Merlin tore his arm from his guard and ran pass Morgana. Slowly, the others seemed to recover from the shock and yelled: "Run!"

Merlin and Arthur ran.

"Emrys!"

The crackling of the fire seemed to be way louder than usual. Merlin didn't miss Arthur's glares. His body and soul were riddled by those glares, making him feel weak and weird.
It felt like a thousand years that no one said something.

"Is it true?", Arthur broke the silence.

"What?"

"What she said. That... you're a sorcerer."

The blonde earned an undefined look.

"I-I... it's just..." Arthur didn't know how he could say this. "It would make sense. I mean: Benches falling, weapons flying - we're getting away all the time. I always thought it was luck. But now..." Sigh.

"Are you a sorcerer?"

"I assure you, Arthur, I'm..." Merlin couldn't talk. The words were stuck in his head. He could now tell his best friend. He wouldn't be alone anymore. No one would think he's useless anymore. He dreamt of a moment like this for years. He dreamt of Arthur asking him this one, special question. 'Are you a sorcerer?' He would say yes and Arthur could accept him and his kind. Albion would be born. There would be no hate and pain anymore.

...

"No."

(1.200 words)