Merlin Oneshots

The Deceived Dopplegänger

Merlin was well and truly exhausted.  He spent the wee hours of the morning chasing down two spies before conveniently making them disappear.  Or, as it really happened, they thought dueling Merlin would be a good life choice so Merlin hit them both with a fireball, incinerating them where they stood before sweeping their ashes away. 

Then came a little bit of light in Merlin's day, "Rise and shine!"

The typical groan came in reply, so Merlin did the only sensible thing and pulled the covers as well as a Prat out of bed and only for him to unceremoniously onto the floor with a thud.

"Merlin!"  Arthur shouted and we went to grab a chalice by his bed and was rudely interrupted by a knock and a surprisingly not-drunk Gwaine sauntered in. 

With an amused face at the scene, he said, "Princess, there is some sorcerer in the throne room requesting an audience.  He says his name is Emrys."

The change in Merlin's stature was impossible to hide, in one instance he was still snickering at Arthur, the next he was storming out of the room, slamming the door on his way out.  Gwaine and Arthur glanced at eachother, beyond confused at the mild-mannered servant's behavior, but shrugged it off as nothing more. 

----Time Skip----

Everyone was gathered in the throne room, Arthur on his throne, Merlin behind him, and everyone on edge.  They all thought this was Emrys, the Emrys of legend, the one who was supposedly the most powerful sorcerer to ever exist.

Arthur addressed the man standing before him, "If I may ask, what brings you to Camelot?"

"I am here to serve you my lord.  After all, it is my job to protect the Once and Future King."  The man said snarkily, as though it should be obvious.

Instead of staring at the man in front of him, he glanced back at Merlin, who was barely hiding his rage through a thin mask, or so he thought.  The rage was evident in his eyes, the ocean blue just daring to sink a fleet without hesitation.  Arthur only knew of one person to ever call him the Once and Future King, not Gaius, not Geoffery, not his father.  Only Merlin had called him that.  Looking back at the man in front of him, who had not yet dropped his smirk nor his cocky demeanor, Arthur then asked, "Say you are Emrys.  Then as my protector if I am the Once and Future King, why have you not been here.  In Camelot.  Protecting Me." 

The edge in Arthur's voice was clear.  If this man had that power, he would have been here from the beginning, and a cursory glance at Merlin showed he was possibly right in his hypothesis.  Merlin returned the glance, obviously confused at Arthur's words, but the ocean had slightly calmed.  That calming confirmed that this man was not Emrys.

The man's cocky demeanor had cracked slightly, and then he made a grave error.  "But I am!  I could not come here under your father's rule!  I would have been executed on the spot!  How would I protect you then?"

"If you are who you say you are, Emrys that is, then a simple knight nor King would scare you," Arthur slowly stood from his throne, "The legends say you are an immortal.  So tell me now.  Why would you fear something that you can never experience." 

The man's demeanor instantly changed to pure hatred of Arthur.  "You killed my family Pendragon!  You will die!" With his final admission of hatred, the man started summoning a fireball in each hand, incanting more and more as the knights stood back, baffled at the man's crude display of power.

"Can I just not get a single day off." Merlin muttered, kicking off the wall, before stepping out in front of Arthur.

The knights and Arthur were shocked at the change in Merlin's stature.  He held the posture of a royal and every fiber of his being emanated power.  How they had missed it for all these years perplexed them.