ONLY FOR YOU // Merlin/Merthur Oneshots

well, this is unfortunate

<< tbh im having brain dead so ideas are being yikes. anyways this is probably gonna be some angsty merthur with a happy ending bc yes uhh don't let the title fool you oop-- lmao no i lied i've spent like,, months procrastinating and can't take anything seriously right now (i'm losing my mind in quarantine) so uh there's a whole lotta stuff in here that i was planning to change but oh well >>

<< a/n pt.2 feel free to skip bc this is already a long a/n, i'm terribly sorry! yeah, i haven't updated in forever. honestly? i lost a lot of motivation to write. i'd started this one a long time ago before finally coming back to it and trying to finish it. i'll try to update some more since my motivation seems to be coming back, though :) so fair warning that since i started this, died, and then came back to it, some things might not make sense because i don't really remember where i was going with it. >>

"Merlin," Arthur said darkly, head turning left to right. "Where on Earth are we."

Merlin made a sound that was most certainly not a whimper. No, not at all. He totally wasn't concerned that they had just been surrounded by a troupe of fair folk, and persuaded into performing a soul bonding ritual with each other.

"Merlin," Arthur repeated, locking his gaze on Merlin, who was slumped on the ground against a tree, staring around with wide eyes.

"I uh-- I think we're in a fae circle," he said after a moment, motioning to the assorted mushrooms in the area around them. They were both within the large, multi-ringed circle, with Arthur standing at the opposite side.

"... A fae circle? And what does that mean," Arthur snorted, crossing his arms. "How did we get here? Last I remember, we were back at Camelot, celebrating Morgana's birthday."

"Yes, well, you know how Morgana invited some of her druid friends to come join us? Those friends brought some of their friends, who happened to be more or less some of the fair folk. They brought some customs and tricks with them, and we ended up here..." Merlin trailed off despite sounding like he was about to say something more.

"And why did we end up here?" Arthur asked, starting to walk over to Merlin. "And why is my chest hurting less over here?"

"I-- I'm sorry, what? Your chest is hurting less?" Merlin blinked up at Arthur. "You didn't say it was hurting earlier?" And he was concerned, because his was the same. He already had a hunch about what was happening, hence the whole 'soul-bonding' idea he had.

"I didn't think it was worth mentioning, but now that you say this might be related to magic? I should've known Morgana was up to something. She loves to play little tricks on me," Arthur said, stopping some couple of paces away from Merlin.

"Uh, no. Unfortunately, I don't think this is one of Morgana's pranks. So... You know how the druids brought that drink of theirs? And how it was really easy to get drunk on it? Yeah, the fair folk took advantage of that. I'm sure other people have gotten themselves stuck in deals or other promises to the fae, but uh, we're also in a bit of a predicament ourselves."

"We-- What do you mean. What did you do, Merlin?" Arthur said, narrowing his eyes at the warlock.

"What did I-- What did I do!" Merlin scoffed loudly, standing up with what appears to be more effort than should be needed to do so. "It was the both of us! You need two willing participants to perform a soul-bonding ritual."

There was a pause, and then Arthur growled, "A what ritual?"

"A soul-bonding ritual. It... Well, a soul-bonding ritual must have two willing participants. Other than that, it can be performed with siblings, close friends, or otherwise, but it most commonly binds the two souls of lovers," Merlin explained slowly. He wrung his hands together, but still held Arthur's gaze.