Chapter Text
“I assume you have a lot of questions,” Merlin said to Arthur. They had left the man and set up camp for the night. They both knew they weren’t going to sleep anytime soon.
“Why?”
“Why what? Why hide it from you? Because I’m pretty sure I made that clear.” Arthur had never seen Merlin lash out and act this way, but it was well deserved.
“Why would you do it all? I mean, living under the constant threat of execution for something that you used multiple times to save my life, before we were even friends. You could have easily taken Cedric up on his offer and your life would be all the better for it.”
Merlin sighed. “It’s my destiny, Arthur.”
“What?”
“It has been since the dawn of time. The once and future king would need help from the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth to unite the lands of Albion and better the world for everyone.” He paused. “You’re the once and future king, and you never would have gotten there without my help, if the scars are anything to prove it.”
“And you are-”
“The most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth, yes. I’m better known as Emrys, which is what the druids call me.”
“So you’ve done all of this for destiny?”
“Well that and I believe in the kingdom you will build; the kingdom you are building.”
“Merlin, I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither do I. As much as I wished for the day when I finally revealed myself, I never expected it to actually come.”
“Why don’t you start by telling me all the times you saved my life, unbeknownst to me?”
“There’s too many of them for that. I don’t even remember half of them.”
“Gods, Merlin. You never once sought credit.”
“That’s not why I do it.”
Another pause. “Then why don’t we start with the scars.”
“Sure. Which one?”
---
Hours passed of Merlin and Arthur talking; mainly Merlin telling his stories and Arthur chiming in with the occasional “I knew that couldn’t have happened” or “It all makes sense now.” Before they knew it, the sun had risen.
There were several times throughout the night when Arthur or Merlin had started to cry, or both of them. While Arthur was angry at first for Merlin lying to him all this time, he quickly understood why Merlin felt the need to do so. He, instead, decided to look at all Merlin had done for him in return.
From small feats like knocking down all the tree branches during fights with branches to defeating Morgana’s saxons at the Battle of Camlann, Arthur didn’t know how he could ever repay his dearest friend.
“Merlin, thank you.”
“Am I going deaf or crazy? Because it sounds like you just said ‘thank you.’”
“I did. And I mean it. I know it probably doesn’t count much at this point, but after all these years of you doing everything in your power to protect me, and it obviously worked because I’m still here, I thank you. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“You don’t have to. It’s not why I ever did it.”
“I just feel like I owe you this debt that can never be repaid.”
“Arthur, stop. I’m not asking for anything. I do it to see the future that you and I will build.” They both smiled. “But, you could make it a little easier to protect you by not constantly putting yourself in danger?”
Arthur laughed. It was a sound Merlin had enjoyed. He felt like he hadn’t heard it in forever. The whole night they spent talking was a somber one. Then Merlin paused and turned his head, looking for a small sound he heard.
“Merlin?” As if on cue, a large group of bandits rushed out of the trees, swords swinging. Arthur instinctively pulled out his sword, ready to fight, but a split second later Merlin had his hands out in front of him and the bandits were flown back. The impact killed most of them, but the ones it didn’t ran away and didn’t look back.
Arthur threw his sword into the ground, amazed by the strength of magic his friend possessed. Sure, he had seen his fair share of sorcerers, but powerful ones like him were rare. In fact, the only truly strong ones he had seen were Morgana, Morgause, and the Dolma, although the last one didn’t count because it was Merlin. “You know, Merlin, you sure don’t look the part.”
“What? Should I go around wearing a robe and a pointy hat?”
---
After they made it back to Camelot, Arthur immediately started working on magic reforms. He never had the hatred for magic his father did, and knew the people didn’t either; they were just too afraid to speak up about it.
With Merlin’s help, of course, they started to slowly place into affects to allow magic back into the kingdom. Druids were allowed to use magic once again and sorcerers were not killed unless they had done something malicious with their magic.
A couple months went by with no problem, and Arthur officially appointed Merlin as Court Warlock. The Knights of the Round Table all had very different reactions to it.
Leon was suspicious at first, caring for the well-being of the king and the kingdom, but he knew Merlin as long as Arthur did, and knew he would never do anything to hurt Camelot. Gwaine was hurt that he didn’t tell them, but quickly got over it once Merlin showed that he could refill his glass with beer as often as he wanted. Gwen was sweet about it; she didn’t have room for much hate in her heart. Percival, from not growing up in Camelot, didn’t care much if he had magic or not. After all, it didn’t change who he was. Gaius, of course, already knew.
Thankfully, the dynamics of their group didn’t change much. They still went on patrols and hunts and continued on with the same banter as before. It was a little bit easier to let Merlin take care of the bandits though; the knights all appreciated not having to fight as often. Merlin enjoyed not having to constantly do chores for Arthur as he now had other duties to do. Arthur had ended up with George, which he hated, but Merlin was still there by his side for the majority of the day.
The kingdom took to the changes well. There were a few revolts in the lower town at first, but they were quickly taken care of.
Years went by of the kingdom finally being at peace, and Albion’s time had finally come. Other surrounding kingdoms even took to Camelot’s example, and started allowing magic back into their kingdoms as well.
Merlin just wished that he knew the name of the man who revealed his scars in the first place.