#Merlin’s watching everyone suffer

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Bbc Merlin but the entire series is a dnd campaign played by Arthur, Merlin, and their friends.

[justaz]

whats so funny to me is how merthur deal with jealousy and the knights’ knowledge of it. like arthur? he is so obvious. SO obvious to literally everyone but merlin. he’s pouty and then aggressive. the knights know this. as touched as they are by merlin’s compliments, they desperately want him to stfu bc every word of praise he gives them, is one more level of how enthusiastic arthur will be when he demands they spar with him.

merlin is literally the same but the knights never really see him get jealous. arthur is obsessed with merlin so there nothing really for merlin to get jealous of. until theres a repeat of cedric where arthur is annoyed by how often merlin has been shirking his duties and takes a new servant just to mess with him. and then merlin is glaring at the new serving boy when neither he nor arthur is looking at him, he is “super clumsy” around the new servant and “trips” on his way out of the stables after mucking them out and “accidentally” covers the servant in horse dung, and sets up scenes for the new servant to fail and thin arthur’s patience until he fires them. then he turns to merlin and is like “i need this done” and the knights expect merlin to act like arthur and jump at the chance to attach himself to arthur’s side, but merlin just smiles politely and says “oh im sure george/gwen/any other servant in camelot would be honored to do that for you, sire” and walks away

anyway i would love to see the knights who have to constantly suffer a jealous arthur sit back and watch a jealous merlin fight his foe in his own way. then watch the slight difference between jealous!merthur as where arthur would drag merlin with him everywhere, merlin can’t seem to get away from arthur fast enough. now arthur is chasing merlin around like a love sick puppy. the knights are in awe. the newer knights who weren’t aware before, now have to confront the fact that this insolent servant has the king of camelot wrapped around his little finger.

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

Hello everyone! I've got to say, I'm very pleased that this au won the latest poll! Gwaine's one of my favorite characters, but I don't give him enough love in my writing. So, I decided to really let his character shine in this au alongside some other characters who I feel like didn't get enough attention in the show. Enjoy! :D

Also, I saw that Merlin was trending again today, so I decided to jump in while that was happening lol! I love that this fandom will just wake up on a random day and decide to take over tumblr!

This au is set in the years between season 4 and season 5 (but Lancelot is still alive because I say so), and the story starts with Gwaine's getting a little worried about his friend. Merlin's getting more and more stressed as the weeks go by, and he doesn't smile very often anymore despite Gwaine's best efforts, which usually involve roping Merlin into whatever mischief he's stirred up recently for a little bit of fun.

Gwaine feels pretty guilty about Merlin's worsening mental state, because Gwaine is thriving for the first time in his life, finding a community and purpose among the knights of Camelot. And he owes it all, everything he now has, to Merlin, who is suffering under a burden that no one can seem to help him with.

So, Gwaine tries all that he can to cheer up his friend and pull him out of whatever terrible place his mind is stuck in, but no matter what Gwaine does, he can't seem to lighten Merlin's mood any. Sure, Merlin will plaster on a smile for Gwaine's sake and tell him that nothing's wrong, but Gwaine can see the dullness in Merlin's eyes, he saw it every time his saw his reflection for years before Merlin barreled into his life and showed him that there was more to life than taverns and wandering.

Before he knew it, a year had passed, and Gwaine hadn't made any progress in pulling Merlin out of his darkening mental state. Gwaine felt so frustrated and useless whenever he saw Merlin's smile the drop the second he thought that no one was watching. This was his chance to finally repay Merlin for turning his life around for the better, for giving him a home, a family, a purpose, but nothing he did was helping!

But Gwaine couldn't give up on helping Merlin. There must be a way to help him, to support him through whatever was burdening him, some way to bring that bright spark back to his eyes. Gwaine just had to find out how.

From the on, Gwaine kept an even closer eye on Merlin, determined to figure out what was weighing down his friend and how to ease his burdens. It was because Gwaine was watching Merlin so closely that he noticed them.

Gwaine will give them credit, whoever they were, they were good at stealth, far beyond anyone Gwaine had met before. The cloaked figure was almost always out of sight, right in the corners of his vision. At first, he thought that this nearly imperceivable figure was after him, but it didn't take him long to figure out that the mysterious figure was following Merlin.

As soon as Gwaine realized this, all of the alarm bells in his mind went off. Was this an assassin sent to kill Merlin? A spy trying to infiltrate Camelot? A bandit planning to abduct Merlin for ransom?

Or, Gwaine realized, this might be connected to Merlin's worsening moods. This mysterious figure was clearly well trained, but they had been following Merlin for over a week and still hadn't attacked, so they probably weren't an assassin or bandit. Was Merlin being threatened by this figure into doing their bidding?!

Finally, after tailing Merlin's stalker for weeks, Gwaine manages to get some answers after following Merlin on a late-night rendezvous outside of the castle. When Gwaine had spotted Merlin sneaking away under the cover of night, Gwaine of course had to follow him! Merlin could be in danger!

Gwaine followed Merlin as the other man made his way into the woods with a surprising amount of stealth. After a long hike through the woods, Merlin arrived at his destination, which, to Gwaine's shock, looked strikingly like a druid camp. There were painted tents, campfires, and even magical symbols carved into the tree, and all signs pointed to sorcerers living there.

Gwaine's anxiety skyrocketed at the sight. Why would Merlin risk coming to this secret druid camp, which Arthur definitely did not know about? Was Merlin being threatened and followed by sorcerers?!

Gwaine crept around the outskirts of the camp, sticking to the darkness. He saw Merlin approach a rather intimidating bald man, who, if the way the others in the camp made way for him as he walked, was the leader of this group of sorcerers.

Gwaine kept his hand firmly wrapped around the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it and run to the defense of his friend at a moment's notice. As he kept watching though, he strangely couldn't see any sign of a threat towards Merlin. While Gwaine couldn't hear much of their conversation, the intimidating leader guy acted almost friendly towards Merlin, and Merlin was relaxed, not showing any signs of fear at all.

As Merlin and his maybe-friend began making their way out of the camp, Gwaine could finally hear some of what they were saying.

"Thank you again, Alator. I'm not sure what I would've done without your help!"

"It is no burden to me or my men, I assure you. It is an honor to assist a man as great as you, Emrys. Morgana's forces are a threat to us all and an affront to all that is good in this world. We will fight at your side as always and ensure that Morgana's spies never infiltrate Camelot again."

Alright, there was... a lot for Gwaine to unpack there.

First of all, the scary bald man's name was apparently Alator, so that was good to know. He claimed to be allied with Merlin against Morgana, which gave Gwaine some relief.

However, as Gwaine's mind put the pieces together, he wanted to scream with frustration. Merlin was consorting with dangerous sorcerers behind Arthur's back in order to protect Camelot! It was a move so selfless yet foolish that only Merlin could pull it off.

Still, these sorcerers didn't seem hostile towards Merlin at all, so Gwaine could work with that. He just needed a little bit more information on them, some way to confirm that they really were on Merlin's side on not double crossing his friend.

So, Gwaine crept closer into the camp, trying to see what they were up to now that Merlin was gone. He didn't see anything incriminating just yet, but that didn't mean that they were free of any nefarious plans.

Gwaine inched closer and closer into the camp, his eyes trained on the men who were probably sorcerers going about their evening chores in the camp. Gwaine so focused on his targets, in fact, that he didn't register that there was someone behind him until he felt blow to the back of his head and fell unconscious.

As Gwaine woke up, his first thought was that the pounding in his head was just a hangover, which was not by any means an unusual occurrence for Gwaine. That idea was quickly disproven as, when Gwaine tried to raise his hands to his head to try and alleviate his massive headache, he realized that his hands were bound. Once again, this wasn't necessarily an unusual situation for Gwaine, but it did cause him to freeze up with alarm as he remembered where he was and what he was doing before everything went black.

When Gwaine was finally able to peel his eyes open, he was greeted with the sight of several angry-looking men, including their intimidating leader whom Merlin had spoken to. What was his name... ah yes, Alator!

Putting on his friendliest and most innocent smile, Gwaine immediately tried to talk his way out of the situation. It had worked for him in similar situations, so why not give it a shot?

"Well, hello there gentlemen! I was just here looking for my buddy Merlin, have you seen him? Lanky fellow, dark hair, always wearing a neckerchief? A great guy, really, you'd know if you had met him!"

Gwaine scrutinized each of his captors' reactions to Merlin's name. Maybe this way he could find out what their intentions with Merlin. However, all of their expressions remained stubbornly neutral, except for Alator, who simply blinked at the mention of Merlin.

After an awkwardly long silence, Gwaine again tried to get some sort of reaction out of these mysterious men.

"I could have sworn I saw him heading this way, and I got worried about him, ya know? What kind of friend would I be if I let him wander around the forest at night all by himself! He's the kindest person I know, but he can somehow find himself in trouble at any time."

Again, much to Gwaine's rising frustration, Alator simply blinked. After another awkward pause, Alator finally responded.

"You are a knight of Camelot, correct? And you hold Emrys is high regard?"

Gwaine frowned at the seemingly random questions, but he figured it couldn't hurt to keep the conversation rolling, especially if it can get him some answers. Admitting to being a knight of Camelot in front of a bunch of potentially dangerous sorcerer might not be the best move, but they were willingly working with King Arthur's personal manservant, so these guys must not have that much of an issue with Camelot, right?

"Why yes, I am a knight of Camelot! Sir Gwaine, at your service! Based on your question, I assume that Emrys is some nickname you have for Merlin?"

In response to his question, Alator merely gave a single, solemn nod. Man, this group really needed to work on their communication skills.

"In that case, I do hold Emrys in very high regard! In fact, I'd say he's the best person I've ever met!"

Finally, that comment got a reaction out of them! As soon as Gwaine told them about how much he values Merlin, the men in front of him started nodding and murmuring amongst themselves. Gwaine hoped that they were happy about having a common friend and not plotting ways to kill him.

After reaching some consensus, the men all turned towards Gwaine simultaneously, which sent a shiver down Gwaine's back. What were they planning?

Alator then waved his hand, and his eyes flashed gold, confirming Gwaine's suspicions that he was dealing with sorcerers. Gwaine flinched back and braced himself for whatever spell had just been sent his way...

Only to feel the chains binding him fall to the ground, leaving him free and unharmed. Gwaine glanced down to check that he was, in fact, still in one piece before staring at Alator in shock.

"I can sense the honesty in your heart as you speak Emrys's praises. Know that any friend of Emrys is a friend to us. We apologize for our previous behavior, as we did not know that you were also an ally of Emrys. Please, join us for a cup of tea so we can discuss this further."

Gwaine, reeling from his host's sudden change in attitude, let them maneuver him outside and give him a seat at their campfire, with Alator and his men sitting with him around the fire.

Gwaine looked around at his hosts, who sat silently around the fire, not even talking amongst themselves. The silence made Gwaine's nerves stand on end, so he decided to fill that silence himself. He might as well get to know his gracious hosts and fellow friends of Merlin, right?

"So, who are you guys? How did you meet Merlin? Hey, maybe we can compare stories of him! Let me tell you, I've got some crazy stories to share about adventures he's dragged me on!"

The men sitting around him shared a silent look at each other before Alator answered.

"We are the Catha, masters of combat and one of the last surviving sects of priests of the Old Religion. I am Alator, the leader of the Catha. I first met Emrys when I betrayed Morgana to follow a better, more peaceful path. Emrys showed us that Morgana's hatred lies opposed to the will of the gods, and we chose to place our loyalty in him instead. What stories do you have concerning Emrys?"

Gwaine nodded, feeling a strange sort of relatability to these intimidating magic-wielding warrior priests. They, like him, were on a path of meaningless destruction and found a better life by meeting Merlin.

"Ah, I can remember meeting Merlin like it was yesterday! There I was, drowning my sorrows in a tavern, when in walks a skinny looking guy and his pompous friend! They got into trouble pretty quickly, and I couldn't miss out on all that fun! I jumped into the tavern brawl to help them, but I got pretty banged up in the process. But, it turned out that it was my lucky day, because wouldn't you know it, I had accidentally saved the life of the prince of Camelot himself!

I didn't think much of prince Arthur at the time, but his manservant sure made a great impression! He brought me back to Camelot on his own horse, took me to the royal physician, gave up his own bed to me for the night so I could recover, and then covered for me after I got drunk off my ass in the tavern, again.

But then some jackasses posing as knights tried to hurt Merlin, and I stepped in to defend him and wound up getting banished by Uther, but then Arthur welcomed me back and even made me a knight when he became prince regent! And I've been lucky enough to have Merlin at my side ever since!"

Gwaine watched as many of the men's eyes widened at his story, unsure of what exactly they were so shocked by.

"You mean to say that you stood up to Uther Pendragon, the mad butcher king, for Emrys's sake? And came back to his side as soon as you could despite the threat of death hanging over your head?"

"Well, I did manage to see Merlin on one other occasion while I was banished, but he sought me out for that one. Apparently Arthur was having some trouble on his big quest to the Perilous Lands, so Merlin called me in as backup."

The Catha started whispering amongst themselves at that, with even Alator leaning forward in interest.

"Emrys specifically sought out your skills on such a monumental quest? You understand the significance of such an honor?"

Gwaine nodded, his expression shifting from a wistful one to a much more serious one.

"Of course I understand. Merlin's such an amazing person, and it shocks me every time that he thinks I'm someone worth relying on. Still, that only motivates me to not let him down. He saw something in me that no one else did, not even me, and he found a way to bring it to the surface. He changed my life, gave me a purpose, and I will never underestimate how much he's done for me."

This time, all of the Catha were nodding their heads in approval of Gwaine's appreciation for Merlin.

"You truly do see the significance of Emrys, Sir Gwaine. I can see your loyalty towards him clearly. For that, I would like to make you an offer.

Emrys's enemies are our enemies, and there are many of them. Morgana's forces grow stronger by the day, and we can only do so much with how few of us are left. Emrys himself faces many dangers, and we cannot always protect him as much as we'd like, seeing as how we cannot enter the city of Camelot. You, however, are at Emrys's side every day.

In working towards our shared goals, will you work alongside us to protect Emrys and keep Morgana's forces at bay? We can provide you with training that will put you far ahead of any of your peers and weapons that shall make you a formidable opponent to even the most powerful sorcerers. Will you accept our offer?"

"Ah, I see now. It was you lot who have been following Merlin around recently! Well, that certainly gives me quite a bit of relief, knowing that he isn't being followed around by someone who'd want to hurt him. I'd be happy to join in on your mission to protect Merlin!"

The Catha started murmuring approvingly amongst themselves at Gwaine's acceptance, until Alator spoke again.

"That is wonderful. It is an honor to be able to work alongside a warrior held in such high esteem by Emrys himself."

As Gwaine shook Alator's hand, accepting his offer, he got the feeling that this was the start of an amazing alliance.

And it sure was. Over the next months, Gwaine trained alongside the warrior priests whenever he could, becoming accustomed to their stoic natures and silent demeanors. They taught him fighting styles that he had never even heard of before and gave him information on people who were trying to hurt Merlin, allowing him to keep an eye on and eliminate threats to his friend before they had the chance to strike.

The Catha figured out pretty early on that Gwaine was rubbish at learning anything about magic itself, but when they placed enchanted weapons in his hands, he could wield them effortlessly and adapt his combat style to whatever the effects of the enchantment were. He even got a sword that could burst into flames!

As Gwaine's abilities to wield stronger enchanted weapons improved, the Catha started letting him fight the powerful sorcerers that Morgana sent into Camelot. Soon enough, he was equipped with indestructible armor armor that could repel spells and curses, weapons with some of the most formidable enchantments that the Catha could muster, and even a growing reputation throughout the land!

Luckily, the helmet that the Catha provided him with obscured his identity, so no reports of a rogue and enchantment-wielding Sir Gwaine made their way back to Arthur, as funny as that would be. Still, reports of the "indominable magic knight" that had defeated some of Morgana's most powerful sorcerers made their way across the land, even into Camelot's court. Some council members wished to capture the unknown knight and kill him before he became a threat, while others saw an opportunity to make a powerful ally against Morgana, and Arthur was constantly on the fence between those two arguments while Gwaine sat at the round table, quietly smug.

Meanwhile, Merlin, checking in with the Catha: What's this I hear about a warrior using powerful magic weapons to fight Morganas men?

Alator: Don't worry, Emrys. He's one of ours, fighting against Morgana in your name. He's one of your most devout followers in fact.

Merlin, not wanting to meet another Emrys fanboy who looks at him like he's a god: Uh, just tell him to keep up the good work and to let me know if he needs anything.

Soon after reports of the magic knight made their way to a very conflicted court of Camelot, Morgana sought out the magic knight, ready to either kill him for being such a nuisance or make an ally out of him. After all, surely a knight wielding such powerful magic would never be on the side of Camelot?

However, when Morgana managed to trap the magical knight and surround him with an army of a hundred sorcerers, the knight managed to defeat her and her entire army before escaping. He rained down fire and lightning upon them, the very elements fighting alongside him, as he cut down her army and left her defeated and humiliated.

Of course, reports of Morgana's defeat travelled to Camelot, where the court was even more incensed over the topic of the magical knight. He was capable of beating Morgana, surely he would be a great ally and could ensure Camelot's protection! But he was also now a magic-wielding threat even more powerful than Morgana! Sure he was now the foremost threat to Camelot!

In the end, Arthur and some of his most trusted knights decided to go on a quest to seek out this magical knight. Gwaine wasn't particularly worried, because how could they possibly find him if he was already travelling with them?

During the journey though, they receive word of a magical beast terrorizing nearby villages. The knights all try to fight the beast, but to little success, and it even managed to injure Merlin's leg before escaping!

Merlin's injury turned out to be not life-threatening, but he couldn't stand on his leg for very long. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Merlin entrusted Lancelot with slaying the beast after his injury, enchanting Lancelot's sword so that it could kill a creature of magic and his chainmail so that he wouldn't be hurt by its claws.

Gwaine, meanwhile, was furious with the creature and, that night, summoned his enchanted armor and weapons to go slay the beast and maybe give its head to Merlin as an apology for being unable to stop it from hurting him. Or maybe he would just treat Merlin to a night at the tavern when they got back.

So, Lancelot and Gwaine both tracked down the beast that knight. When they both arrived at the beast's lair with visibly enchanted weapons, they take each other by surprise. Lancelot is on guard, unsure if he wants to trust the now-infamous magic knight, but Gwaine just laughs and removes his helmet, and Lancelot is shocked.

Lancelot and Gwaine seeing each other with enchanted gear: spiderman pointing meme

Gwaine asks Lancelot where he got that enchanted sword, but Lancelot is tight-lipped about it, just saying he got it because he needed to protect Merlin. Gwaine chuckled and said that he understood.

After they finish slaying the beast together, Lancelot asks Gwaine if Merlin knows that he's the magic knight. Gwaine shrugs and says that he suspects that Merlin doesn't know, but wouldn't mind it if Merlin did know.

Lancelot, as soon as they get back to Camelot: So, did you know that Gwaine is actually the magic knight?

Merlin, spitting out his tea and having flashbacks to his conversation with Alator: HE'S WHAT NOW?!

Things get cleared up between Lancelot, Merlin, and Gwaine pretty quickly from there. Gwaine takes the magic reveal very well, excited at the prospect of going on magical adventures with Merlin and glad that his friend can actually defend himself, because he's rubbish with any type of weapon.

From there though, a sort of friendly competition sprung up between Gwaine and Lancelot, as both of them consider themself to be Merlin's best friend. Soon enough, there's two magical knights running around foiling Morgana's plans, and Arthur's ready to tear his hair out over it.

From there, more knights figure out about Merlin's magic and, if they're accepting of it, they also train with the Catha and receive enchanted weapons. It almost becomes its own secret society within the knights, all united with the sole purpose of protecting Merlin. They eventually have Elyan, Percival, and number one Emrys fanboy Mordred join their ranks.

Arthur eventually finds out approximately where the magical knights are hidden (their meeting spot when they need to meet outside of Camelot), and he sends Leon in disguise to infiltrate them, not knowing that they are knights from Camelot. Being the knights of the round table, they of course recognize Leon immediately and give him the full story, and Leon joins them and just tells Arthur that he "couldn't find the magical knights."

Gwaine laughs his ass off at every round table meeting where Arthur becomes more and more frustrated at not being able to catch the magical knights, and out of the corner of his eye, he can see Merlin having a good laugh over it too.

And I'll cut it off there for now! I had lots of fun writing this, I feel like I should write about Gwaine more often!

Let me know if you would like me to write a continuation for this au!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

[bisclavret]

like many who have suffered at the hands of bbc merlin before me, i recently indulged in a thought experiment in which i outlined my own version of seasons 3-5 that stay thematically and tonally in line with the show (except they're less fucking stupid). but then i quickly realized that focusing on details is pointless: all you need is to solve the one Big Problem the show has, and the rest will follow. the problem in question? ✨morgana✨

i like the first two seasons. s1 achieves what it sets out to do and has fun while doing it, and s2, while flawed, sets up a ton of potential that the following seasons unfortunately squander, beginning with the insidious season 3. you can only distract me with cute knights and goblins and fart jokes for so long before i start seeing through you, evil, evil season of television.

my hypothesis is that if the writers had crafted s3 morgana into anything more sympathetic than a violent half-alive poltergeist that can never be reasoned with because she's suddenly terminally off her rocker, everything would've fallen into place. a sympathetic morgana would've made real, valid arguments against uther (and arthur) that wouldn't just be the ramblings of a woman possessed. her betrayal of arthur would have stemmed from her feeling increasingly morally superior to him because of his complacency in the face of their father's tyranny. under morgause's guidance she would stop believing that arthur is capable of change, and the whole point would be that she might actually be right. arthur would have to actively try and prove her wrong, instead of getting praised for doing the bare minimum because the bar is on the floor.

furthermore, morgana's prophetic dream about arthur and gwen becoming king and queen and her decision to prevent this however she can is a direct parallel to merlin learning about that same prophecy and making it happen by any means necessary. merlin's desires about his and arthur's futures are subtextually fueled by gay love and devotion, so why couldn't morgana's be? why couldn't she properly express her bitterness that arthur gets to be with gwen in a way she can't "took gwen away" from her, instead of suddenly declaring that gwen is nothing more than a servant, after two seasons of demonstrating again and again that she loves, values, and respects gwen more than anyone else in that godforsaken castle?

following this, an angry and emotionally volatile but still sensible morgana asking gwen to stay by her side during the coup of the castle in the s3 finale and gwen going behind her back to help arthur and the knights would've hurt like a bitch. double-sided betrayal! gwen having a real plot! the proper beginnings of a toxic yuri that would shape a generation!

then there's the utter hubris of having morgana shoot arrows at the same civilians she worried herself sick over for 2 seasons — even morgan, her medieval counterpart that was rooted in every sexist trope in existence, doesn't just go around killing senselessly but instead has (often petty!) personal vendettas against gwen, arthur, and the knights. morgana had every right to be sick of the pretensions around chivalry in camelot (she was always quick to mock it, even in s1), and to lash out at the knights and soldiers after years of feeling powerless in a castle full of armed men that blindly followed her oppressor. the show conveniently forgets that morgana was victimized as a woman as well as a sorcerer those first 2 seasons.

but like i said, this is not just about morgana. allowing her to remain a real and multifaceted character even as she betrays everyone in pursuit of her ambitions would've given the rest of the core four more interesting conflict to work with: merlin because he would have to experience real consequences to his actions, arthur because he would watch his sister go against his father (and his knights, and his birthright) and experience some actual internal dilemmas about it, and gwen because she would be forced to choose between morgana and arthur without the pretense that it's an obvious or easy choice for her to make.

even morgause and gaius would come off more interesting as mentors: neither one inherently evil or inherently good, both jaded by events that happened before our protagonists were even born, both heavily influencing morgana and merlin into fulfilling roles that they think are appropriate, but that morgana and merlin may not have chosen for themselves had they not been under their care.

you get the gist. if the show followed its own setup, morgana's mistakes wouldn't lie in cheap and senseless acts of violence but in alienating the people she loves because she is too hurt and jaded to trust them. meanwhile, everybody else would feel guilt over "failing" her and yet they would be too caught up in their own (sometimes flawed!) beliefs of right and wrong to truly see her point of view.

arthur would convince himself it was sorcery that corrupted her. merlin would know that isn't true but he wouldn't be able to argue without confessing everything, which is the defining conflict between him and morgana and it's cheapened when she's just an evil witch caricature and merlin is framed as inherently virtuous in contrast. gwen, too, would become a more active participant in her own life by choosing arthur over morgana and choosing to rule camelot with him instead of just waiting politely to see where things go.

and, of course, uther's downfall and death would be quick, final, and completely earned — when and why did the show even decide he of all people was the sympathetic villain, anyway?

lastly, and perhaps controversially, i think morgana should've learned merlin's true identity by season 4. her being the first of the main characters to find out makes perfect sense considering their shared history and their interconnected and mirrored arcs. even the show seems to agree, considering she does find out a little before arthur. but the narrative itself tried pointing flashing neon arrows towards this way earlier — there is a whole entire episode in s4 where merlin being emrys is repeatedly spelled out for morgana and she still isn't allowed to see it. that episode makes her look like the stupidest person to ever live, which is pretty funny im not gonna lie, but also another frustrating thing in the endless string of frustrating things that make up this show.

morgana learning that merlin has magic would've transformed the source of merlin's anxiety from a crippling fear of being outed someday to the crippling fear of knowing she could out him at any moment. this would make him want to beat her to the punch (perhaps he'd consider killing her for a minute and decide against it because she isn't a cartoonishly insane evil person in my version of events) and maybe he would even feel some tentative excitement at the idea of coming clean, now that it seems inevitable. after all, he always intended to tell arthur eventually! and i think gaius would have to admit outright that he does not want merlin to tell arthur he has magic because he, gaius, simply cannot risk such a gamble. it would be so interesting to see gaius and merlin clash and disagree once it becomes obvious that it's not merlin that isn't ready for the reveal, it's gaius. delicious!

with morgana's knowledge looming, things would inevitably spiral into a magic reveal by the end of season 4. i picture this season as an absolute mess of miscommunication between everyone at camelot, which is, y'know, canon. growing increasingly cunning and vengeful, morgana would use this tension to her advantage, destabilizing the court from the outside while she creates alliances with other sorcerers outside of camelot (instead of living alone in a hovel for no reason — morgana le fay i'm sorry i'm so sorry they gave you agravaine instead of your all-female entourage oh my god).

and here's where the events would change beyond recognition (aka here's where the meta becomes the fanfic i refuse to write). picture it with me: a militia of sorcerers infiltrates camelot and arthur and gwen have to set aside their differences (assuming gwen kissing lancelot and arthur overreacting happens, which it should) for the good of the kingdom as well as for love. picture high priestess morgana in her element, side by side with a bunch of misfit sorcerers that aren't so easily vilified, chopping down camelot's soldiers and knights and assuredly making their way to the newly-minted king.

then, just as it starts to seem that all hope is lost, in swoops merlin (the actual merlin, not his old fart disguise) on dragonback (kilgharrah hates morgana so much i know his sexist ass would stoop to anything to stop her)!!! imagine merlin showing off the extent of his powers in front of everyone and preventing the sorcerers from getting any further, declaring loud and clear that camelot is protected by him, by emrys. imagine that display of power alone being enough to send everyone home.

imagine the loyalties clearly drawn: merlin on arthur's side, morgana on the sorcerers'. imagine arthur, feeling confused and betrayed by everyone at this point, banishing merlin despite everything he's done for him in the angstiest, most emotionally dysregulated scene the show had ever put to screen. imagine merlin starting season 5 free at last but very lonesome, an embittered dragonlord like his father. imagine the absolute mess camelot would become without him, even with gwen — now queen guinevere — there to pick up the slack. imagine arthur actually earning merlin back, finally growing into his role as king as he does so. imagine the reunion.

all this and more could've been not just possible but inevitable if morgana was allowed to remain a complex character that is neither inherently good nor inherently evil: it was undeniably the biased and one-note treatment of morgana's downfall by the writers that set the precedent for literally everything else that happened after merlin chose to poison her. the show wouldn't have even had to jeopardize its tone or the monster-of-the-week vibe, all it would've had to do is admit that even the "good guys" are capable of mistakes and what makes them good is the ability to feel remorse and change for the better. (as opposed to uther, who was miles beyond redemption since way before the pilot and deserved to lose everything and die alone. OBVIOUSLY???)

in a world where morgana remains multifaceted and sympathetic, mordred would get a better arc as well, so if we really wanted to, we could still end on the same tragic note that the show ended on. with so much harm inflicted onto so many innocent people by the pendragons for so long (including mordred and the many druids and sorcerers that raised him), it could realistically end up being a little too late for anything more than one shining glimpse of king arthur and the sorcerer merlin's short-lived golden age before fate catches up to them. glimpsing that reality just to immediately lose it would've been far more satisfying and far more tragic than whatever the writers thought they were doing with all that pointless carrot-dangling.

and finally, an ending in line with morgana's new and improved arc. in this version, rather than bleeding out on the forest floor alone, she would channel the morgan le fay we know from the legends: sobered up by the reality of her brother dying, she would use her high priestess status (and perhaps also her pendragon status) to be granted passage over to avalon alongside arthur on the boat — a one-way ride — just to make sure he gets there safely. this is her penance for the harm she has caused, the same way arthur's penance is to die and leave the true ruler of camelot (gwen) behind to achieve everything he was too slow and indecisive to build while he still had time.

merlin's penance, then, would be to stay behind and watch them cross over without him, waiting and waiting and waiting until they come back or until he can finally join them. which is a bit fucking harsh if i'm honest, so i'd at least make it slightly more faithful to the legends by having him return as an old man and letting him take a long nap under a tree by the shore, his body slowly enveloped by vines like the cobwebbed fisher king in 3x08, never fully sure if he's dreaming or if there really are strange shapes fading in and out of the fog over the lake. still tragic, but nevertheless a little more open-ended and whimsical than [TRUCK NOISES] THE END!

[axxio-sriracha]

Craving toxic Jegulus so here you go!

*VERY TOXIC, slightly NSFW if you squint*

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

James doesn't get to be the bad guy. No, James has to be good. He had a good childhood. He had good parents. He didn't have a reason to lash out. Everyone loved him. Everyone adored him.

Everyone expected him to be so fucking perfect.

James wasn't fucked up like the rest of them were. He wasn't traumatised or abused. He was shown affection. So all of his feelings? They don't fucking matter.

Because what problems could James Potter really have? Right? James isn't allowed to be anything other than happy. Right?

So he just sits and suffers and simmers in this goddamn anger until it gets so hard to contain he explodes.

He used to take it out on Snape, knowing targeting a bigoted blood puritist was better than himself or his friends.

But then along came Regulus.

His best friend's little brother. The forbidden fruit of the garden. This scared, shaky kid who knows nothing more than pleasing people to avoid getting hurt.

James wanted to fucking devour him in every way possible.

James wanted to do horrible things to him. Things that might keep even Barty up at night.

He dreamt of his fingers around Regulus' throat, cursing at him even as he allowed Regulus' pain to wash over him in pleasure.

James wanted nothing more than to ruin that bit of eyeliner he liked to wear around his eyes to make the color pop. To watch it stream down Regulus' face. To listen to Regulus thank him, even as James takes whatever he wants without care.

Regulus, who was sensitive and quiet and put his trust in all the wrong people, who refused to acknowledge his problems and wasn't willing to recieve help for them.

Regulus, who looked at James like a saint. Even as James' anger decided Regulus made a beautiful target. Gods was he a sight to see. The perfect outlet James needed for all of this anger.

Regulus thinks he's doing James a favor, helping him let it out so he'll be happier. At times, Regulus will apologise to him if he doesn't feel he's done enough. And merlin does this make James want to absolutley ruin him.

Regulus continued to hold James on this pedestal because this was James. This was his brother's best friend. The man who'd saved Sirius from that horrible house. Whatever he did to Regulus surely wasn't to really hurt him, was it? James could never hurt him. He could trust James.

And Regulus' blind faith, his need to please anyone, his need for validation, his need to be touched, it enticed James like nothing else.

And James would be lying if he said he didn't mind indulging a little.

[roomsofmyheart]

I need everyone in the Merlin fandom to watch this and suffer with me because this hurt my soul to watch 😭

[waywardqueen411]

A New Legacy - Hogwarts Legacy x Harry Potter Crossover - Part 2

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Summary:

After a rather brutal encounter with Ranrok's loyalists, the Hero of Hogwarts finds herself falling through time and space entering a world that's almost home, but not quite. Of course there's nothing else to do aside from adapt, improvise and overcome.

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A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who liked and reblogged the first part! I hope yall enjoy this one

Warnings: Violence, Major character death, Angst, spoilers for Hogwarts Legacy

Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x Female!Reader, Ominis Gaunt x Female!Reader (more to be added on as the story progresses)

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You awoke with a gasp, your head immediately pounding.

You were on the ground in the middle of a forest, the soil sticking to your face and clothes. For a moment, you didn't know where you were or what had happened before reality came crashing down onto you.

Sebastian was dead.

You let out an unearthly scream. Your heart pounded in your chest as the words replayed in your head.

Dead. Dead. Dead.

You had watched Sebastian's body disintegrate before you. You would never see him again. Never hear his stupid arrogant laughter, never look into his beautiful brown eyes, never go on another adventure, never hold his hands.

Oh, God. Sebastian was dead.

You allowed yourself exactly five minutes to completely fall apart. You cried and screamed and threw rocks. Your magic exploded out of you, both accidental and not. You wanted to make that goblin suffer. His death was a mercy.

You exploded trees and sent boulders flying. You cried and screamed until there was nothing left inside of you. And then you dropped to your knees and stared at this distance.

Where were you?

It took you a few tries before you could stand up once more.

You knew you had to go on. To stop the new goblin uprising. If for no other reason than to avenge Sebastian. You looked around the area. It felt familiar, but in a strange sense. The fauna and flora reminded you of the Forbidden Forest, but that couldn't be right, could it? Dawn had just broke and everything looked so different. The trees seemed larger and animals newer. Like they'd skipped a generation.

You reached around for your wand before you remembered how it dissolved before you. Suddenly, a though occurred to you.

"Ominis," you said. "Ominis!" you called out.

"What's going on out here?" A voice said from behind you. You spun around then fell flatly on your bottom when you saw a half-giant approach you. "What's all this screaming about?"

"Please don't hurt me," you begged after a moment. The half-giant's eyes softened.

"No one is going to hurt you," he said softly. You almost laughed. The man had a crossbow slung over his shoulder and a giant hound at his side.

"Swear it," you demanded. The half giant walked up to you and, to your shock, kneeled in front of you, holding out a pinky finger.

"On me dad's grave," he said. You looked him over one last time before dropping your shoulders and tugging on his pinky with your own. "Now, why don't we start with names? I'm Hagrid, pleasure to meet you."

"I'm-" you started, but no words came to mind. "I'm-" your brows met in confusion. "I don't know," you said plainly. The half giant - Hagrid - looked sympathetically at you. "But I'm not alone," you said quickly. "I came here with a friend-"

"Pale, blonde, tall?" Hagrid asked and you nodded quickly. Then your stomach dropped.

"He's not dead, is he?" you asked carefully. You couldn't bare the thought of losing both Ominis and Sebastian in one day.

You swallowed at the thought of Sebastian, but pushed your feelings down. You needed to get somewhere safe, fast.

"No, no!" Hagrid said quickly. "He's fine. I found him a few hours ago, out cold but very much alive." Your shoulders fell in relief.

"Thank Merlin," you said softly. "Can I go see him?" you asked. Hagrid smiled.

"I reckon that's the first place we aught to take you. Madame Pomfrey will want to take a good look, make sure everything's alright. She's the best nurse Hogwarts ever seen." Hagrid said.

You stood slowly, brows meeting in confusion. "Right," you said. Something inside of you told you that you shouldn't be giving too much away. "Um, Hagrid, where are we?"

Hagrid laughed a little, "You're just outside the castle grounds," he said, then turned around. "If you're alright to walk, you might want to get going."

You followed the half giant through the woods - the Forbidden Forest as it was - struggling to keep up with his large steps. Soon you found yourself entering the familiar halls of Hogwarts.

Only it wasn't so familiar.

"What happened?" you asked Hagrid as the two of you walked through the bridge to enter. Hagrid looked confused. You quickly decided not to say any more, waiting until you saw Ominis.

"I'm not sure I understand- ah," Hagrid suddenly stopped, as a bearded old man approached you. "Professor Dumbledore will be able to answer your questions."

Dumbledore?

"Another one so soon, Hagrid?" The old man said, his blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. You took a step back. Something about this man screamed trouble.

"Yes, sir, Professor Dumbledore, sir," Hagrid said. You saw the way the half-giant shrunk at the sight of the man - Dumbledore. He clearly held a lot of power and influence.

"I take it you two are on your way to the hospital wing," Dumbledore said and Hagrid nodded. "I believe I can take it from here, Hagrid,"

Hagrid agreed and you wished he hadn't. You swallowed slightly as you looked up at the professor. You glanced back to Hagrid before squaring your shoulders and walking with the unfamiliar man through the almost familiar halls of not-your-Hogwarts.

The hospital wing was in the same place, at the very least.

"Don't tell me you've found another one," A motherly looking lady said as she hurriedly approached the two of you, a lady who was decidedly not Matron Blainey. "Keep this up and I won't have enough beds for the actual students. Poppy Pomfrey, at your service,"

"Can I see Ominis, Madame Pomfrey?" you asked immediately, spotting a bed with drawn curtains nearby.

"Ominis, ay?" Pomfrey asked and you internally scolded yourself. You should not be giving away any excessive information. "I'm afraid your friend is, um, still unconscious," Madame Pomfrey looked uncomfortable.

"What's wrong? What happened to him?" You blurted out, taking a step towards the bed before Dumbledore's hand on your shoulder stopped you.

Madame Pomfrey looked distraught. "Your friend has suffered a grave injury. I worry his vision may never be healed," the matron said. You held back a chuckle. Dumbledore and Pomfrey both shot you looks of horror, "Why young lady! This is no laughing matter-"

"Please excuse my friend, Matron," came Ominis' deep voice. You nearly leaped for joy. Ominis sat upright on the hospital bed, pushing back the curtains to reveal his bruised and battered body, covered by torn up robes. "It's just that, you see, I was like this when I arrived,"

Ominis allowed a small smile to play on his face and in the short silence that followed, you quickly crossed the room and wrapped him in the most desperate hug.

"You're alive?" you said in the most desperate voice, a tear leaking out of your eye, "You're alright?" you asked, cradling his face in your hands and turning it from side to side. You had to make sure that it was him, that he was really okay.

"Settle down child," the matron said in a warm, soft voice. "I need to have you checked out as well."

"Could you give us a moment?" Ominis asked kindly, looking in the direction of Madame Pomfrey. Under normal circumstances, you would have hated the look of pity that fell over her face, but this time you didn't care. As long as it got you a moment alone with Ominis. "Just a few minutes?"

"Of course," Madame Pomfrey said solemnly, "Headmaster, may I have a word with you outside?" She asked pointedly and Dumbledore hesitated for a moment.

"Certainly, Poppy," he said, looking between the two of you.

The moment they were gone you turned back to Ominis and said: "We need to get out of here,"

"I know," he said after a beat, "I'm just not exactly sure where here is,"

"We're at Hogwarts," you said slowly, "Just not our Hogwarts."

Ominis sighed before taking your hand, "I think we've traveled through time," he said.

You were stunned into silence for a moment before you burst out laughing, "No seriously Omi, stop messing around," you said. Ominis didn't laugh. If anything, his face grew more grave. You smile fell. "You are being serious, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately yes," he said in a soft voice. Your mind began racing. Ominis, undoubtedly hearing your breath quicken and feeling your pulse go up, took both of yours hands in his own.

"We can't afford to freak out right now. We need to get somewhere safe," he said and you gasped.

"Safe? Where can we go if Hogwarts isn't safe?" you asked. Ominis squeezed your hands tighter, and you tried to follow his breathing.

"There are a few Gaunt properties I can access, bound to my blood. Assuming not all of them are occupied with Gaunt decedents, we can regroup there," he said, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

"Okay, okay," you said after a beat. "That I can do."

"We just need to get out of here," you said. "The headmaster - Dumbledore, I don't trust him."

"Alright," Ominis said. "We can't let anyone know the truth. At least not yet."

"Okay," you said softly. "Are you hurt?" you asked.

"No, you?"

"I think I'm alright,"

"Then there's no time to waste," he said.

A moment later, the two of you heard footsteps approach. This time, a third person was with Dumbledore and Matron Pomfrey.

"This cannot be a coincidence, Headmaster," the person said, sounding urgent, "First the Dark Mark was cast over the World Cup - Bertha Jorkins is still missing-"

"That's enough Severus," Dumbledore said, reaching the room and walking in. You pretended like you hadn't just heard their conversation. Dark Mark? Missing people?

You looked at the man who just entered curiously. He was tall, older, with greasy black hair. He looked positively miserable.

"Now that the two of you have gotten a chance to catch up, may I have a word?" Ominis squeezed your hand and you glanced to him. You remembered the way your wands had disappeared into sand.

"I go where he goes," you said after a beat, gesturing with your head to Ominis.

Dumbledore sighed. "Very well then,"

The other man - Severus, took a seat near the front of the hospital and Dumbledore approached you quickly. Madame Pomfrey looked furious, but said nothing as she made notes with a quill in the corner.

The headmaster cleared his throat before speaking. "Let's start with something simple, shall we?"

You both verbalized your agreement.

"Ominis, we know your name, but your friend has yet to divulge that information about herself,"

"I don't remember," you said honestly. You didn't dare look at Ominis.

"That is rather unfortunate," he said. You held back a scowl. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Dumbledore stared at you with piercing blue eyes and immediately your Occlumency shields went up. It was something you and Sebastian had worked on together.

"I- um,"

"We were planting Dittany in the garden," Ominis quickly supplied, sensing your hesitation, "I think we stumbled across a particularly angry Gnome. Suddenly we were in the Forbidden Forest, and now we're here."

"An angry gnome?" the man named Severus asked with annoyance in his voice.

"That's what he said," you backed Ominis up, holding back your laughter.

"How peculiar," Dumbledore commented, but pressed no further. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen," Ominis said quickly.

"If you possess magical capabilities, why are you not at Hogwarts?" Severus asked. You groaned internally.

"We're homeschooled," You responded.

"For the last five years?" Severus asked.

"Four actually," Ominis retorted.

"What family do the two of you belong to?" Dumbledore asked. Ominis puffed out his chest a little.

"The House of Gaunt," you knew he wasn't proud, he just wanted Dumbledore to think so.

Dumbledore's expression shifted for only a moment before it was hidden again behind a friendly mask.

"Seems a little odd that a child from such an esteemed house would be planting their own Dittany," he said.

"Please," Ominis said, "I'm lucky they didn't drown me when I came out blind,"

Both you and Severus winced at that. Ominis and Dumbledore seemed not to notice.

"And you, miss? Do you recall which family you belong to?" he asked tentatively.

"I live with Ominis," you said.

"Where exactly would that be?" Dumbledore asked.

"Kent," Ominis answered.

A small silence followed.

"Well, if that is all, we'd like to head back home now," Ominis said dismissively, standing and wobbling a bit before readying himself. You followed suit.

"But I still need to-" Matron Pomfrey said, approaching the two of you.

"I can assure you we have perfectly good healers at home, Madame Pomfrey," you said quickly, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. "Thank you,"

"If you must," Dumbledore said. You and Ominis both stood and you offered him your arm when you realized that without his wand, he was truly helpless. Dumbledore spoke again when the two of you reached the doorway. "The option for schooling here is always available, should either of you desire." He said.

"We'll keep it in mind," you huffed out, before the two of you promptly left. It was lucky that the Hospital wing was so close to the exit of the castle.

When you both reached the grounds you sighed heavily. "Now what?" you asked.

"Hogsmead," Ominis said. "The shop should still legally be in your name. Assuming the old bat hasn't fudged some papers, and tried to sell it to another poor unfortunate soul," You nodded and the two of you began your journey there.

The walk to Hogsmead was difficult. In the silence it felt too easy to think about Sebastian's death, to feel his absences.

"Do you think he managed to survive?" you asked when the two of you were about 3/4s the way to the shop.

"No," Ominis said decidedly.

"But-"

"Please don't," he begged. You sealed away any protests that were building on your tongue.

"I'm sorry," you said after a beat, "None of this would have happened if I had just-"

"If you had just what, exactly?" Ominis asked, "Imperio'ed us into leaving?" you winced at that. "Sebastian and I were there because he and I would never have let you go at it alone. He died because he was a good person. Don't take that away from him,"

You swallowed, blinking back tears. "I'm sorry I didn't save him," you said softly.

"And I'm sorry that he died thinking I hated him," Ominis said, scoffing a little bit, "I was going to tell him, you know? That's why we agreed to meet. I was going to tell him that it was alright and that I wanted to fix things."

You allowed a single tear to escape. "I guess we just have to live with it," you said softly.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence. When the two of you approached the shop, it seemed to open to your touch. You were shocked to see a house elf waiting there for you.

"Penny?" you asked.

"Mistress has returned!" Penny screamed and rejoiced. "Penny has been waiting for you."

"What the-" your eyes widened in shock. Ominis laughed, just a little.

"House elves natural lifespans are connected to the master - or mistress - with whom they are closest to," he explained easily. "She'll live approximately as long as you do. Give or take a few years."

"Penny I am so sorry," you said, kneeling down in front of her.

"Mistress must not be sorry," Penny said immediately. "Penny has had a good life. Penny has gone to many places and seen many things in her Mistress' absence,"

"If you say so," you mumbled, realizing that Penny probably had a lot of free time these last 150 years.

"We need to get going," Ominis reminded, "People are going to become curious as to why the shop is suddenly open,"

"Alright," you said, looking back at Penny with a smile. "Do our Floo Flames still work, Penny?"

"Oh yes, Mistress." she said excitedly, happy to be given something to do, "The Floo will take you anywhere you need to be."

"Thank you, Penny," you said sincerely. Ominis nudged you forward and the two of you stepped into the Floo Flames.

[hogwartslegacyreactions2]

HLC REACT TO FINDING OUT THEY'RE IN A VIDEO GAME

A/N: Inspired by The Amazing Digital Circus! Existential dread for everyone!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

WARNING: ANGST, existentialism, panic attacks, anxiety

MC and their favorite companion were battling goblins when it happened. A red barrel chain reaction had debris and enemies flying and the companion was caught in the collision crossfire. They hit a rock at just a weird enough angle that their body started ragdolling out of control. They spun and twisted out of sight and before they could process what was happening, they were falling.

Falling...

Falling...

The world above vanished. They landed hard on flat ground, the wind knocked out of them. Upon eventually standing, they found themselves in some sort of corridor. Gridded walls too high to see over opened to darkness above. There was no sight or sound of MC or goblins or trees or birds or....anything.

Tentatively, they called out. Their voice was swallowed by the opressive silence. They tried their wand. Nothing happened. So they walked the seemingly endless blank corridor until they came to an opening.

A massive room filled with statues. Some tall, some short, some human, some not. The companion gets closer, then freezes. These weren't statues. They were people and beasts and objects they recognized, all standing perfectly still in neat little rows like chess pieces.

SEBASTIAN SALLOW: He's staring into the blank eyes of his own sister. "Anne? What-...where am I? What is this place?" He frantically looks around, he sees teachers and students and shopkeepers and enemies and even his uncle. "Where are my parents?" He dashes through the rows of lifeless assets. "WHERE ARE THEY?" He screams, but no one answers.

He comes to the sudden realization that he's searching for faces he doesn't know. He doesn't know what they look like. He's mentioned his parents, he's missed his parents, he's mourned his parents, HOW COULD HE NOT KNOW WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE??

He falls to the ground in a heap. "They're real. I know they're real. I'm real. They're real. This is some curse. I'm dreaming." He starts hyperventilating. "SOMEONE WAKE ME UP!! PLEASE!!"

OMINIS GAUNT: The sudden silence of his surroundings scares him more than the chaos of battle ever has. "MC? Hello? Where are you?" He tries to guide himself along with his wand but it won't activate. He finds the smooth, glass-like wall and follows it.

He finds the opening and runs face first into what feels like a person. "Oh, thank Merlin. Can you help me? I don't know where I am. I'm blind, you see...hello?" He feels the person's arm. They're stiff and cold like the dead yet standing upright. "What?" He reaches out and finds another person, then another and another. All the same.

The silence in the darkness made his breath feel heavy. Wherever he was, felt wrong. Was he dead? Is this what dying felt like? Was this all there was beyond the world he knew? Was this the fate that awaited everyone or just him? Destined to suffer in spaces unknown with no guide and no familiar presence?

He sat down and curled his knees to his chest. His mind spun with questions as his surroundings felt less and less real. Was he even real?

ANNE SALLOW: She covered her mouth in shock. Slowly, she turned in place to take in all the things she thought she knew were real lifelessly staring back at her. She stared at herself the longest. Her life, her memories, her pain....none of it was real. Her suffering didn't matter. She was a pawn. A plot device.

She keeled over and vomited. She coughed and blinked the tears out of her eye to watch what came out of her started to pixelate and vanish. She stared wide eyed at the ground and started to shake. "I'm...real." her voice weak in the oversized room. "I'm. Real. I AM real." She threw her head up and screamed into the void above. "I'M REAL!" She glared defiantly upward into nothingness. She didn't know who she was shouting to, but she hoped they heard.

IMELDA REYES: Her dreams, her aspirations, her future... There was no life beyond Hogwarts. Everything in this room was all that existed. The world was just an amalgamation to be constructed and deconstructed at will. She wasn't special, she didn't matter, she was just another piece.

She had never bothered to think about it much before, but what mattered to her outside of brooms and racing? Did she have other genuine interests? Did she know who she was?

She laughs. A cold, humorless laugh echoes out of her. Nothing mattered. Nothing ever mattered. What was even the point of this confined existence? Who would want to be stuck in a singular place constantly at war? Who would be mad enough to think this is an existence worth creating? She laughs. Laughs until she cries. Laughs into the endless silence. Laughs and laughs and laughs and laughs and laughs....

NATSAI ONAI: She sees everyone except MC. Where were they? Why weren't they in the crowd? "MC!? MC!! CAN YOU HEAR ME??" With no response, she goes to her mother's asset. Even her own mother wasn't real.

Is this why she could never remember the faces of the bandits who killed her father? She always thought it was a memory blackout from trauma. No...it never happened. Matibililand didn't exist. Her home didn't exist.

She sat at her mother's feet and stared at the ground. Her mind couldn't handle the stress and she disassociated. She was as blank and still as the assets surrounding her.

GARRETH WEASLEY: "This isn't happening. This can't really be happening." He stared at his aunt. Her asset blankly stared back. His aunt wasn't real. The professors weren't real. The students weren't real. The dark wizards weren't real. Was Hogwarts even real? Was he??

"THIS ISN'T REAL! I WON'T FALL FOR YOUR TRICKS!" He shouts at no one. He had to believe that this was some sort of hallucination. He could feel. He could think. He was real. He had to be.

Tears welled up in his eyes and he cried out. "LET ME OUT! DO YOU HEAR ME!? LET ME OUT!! ...please..." He hiccuped and wiped his face. "Please .."

LEANDER PREWETT: He fearfully stayed away from the statued people as if they would come alive at any moment. He was too afraid to call out and hid around the corner. Without his wand, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know where he was or how he got there. He felt truly powerless and vulnerable. He'd never felt so small in his life.

His mind refused to accept that this was happening and refused to process the familiar faces. This had to be some sort of dark wizard trick. This couldn't really be happening. Ironically, he refused to play their game. He walked off into the darkness. The corridors had to lead somewhere eventually.

POPPY SWEETING: The missing person that stood out to her was her gran. The most important person in her life, and yet... Where was she? What did she look like? Oh gods, what did she look like?? She grasped the sides of her head as she thought as hard as she could to remember. Her gran's face and voice and home were a blur.

AMIT THAKKAR: He quietly walked through the rows, stopping in front of himself. He looked within himself. He had been so focused on "studies" that he never really thought about his past. Who was he? Where was he from? Who was his family? What were they like?

He had no past. Down here he had no present. Did he ever have a future? Were the stars he looked up to at night even real? He doesn't know how to react. Mental numbness washes over him. He stares emptily at himself for a, long time.

EVERETT CLOPTON: "What is Merlin's name?" He looked around, utterly confused. The reality of his situation didn't hit him immediately as his Ravenclaw logic took over to try and find a way out. He found some brooms, but none of them worked. They just flopped over like a pile of sticks. No wand he tried using worked. No matter how many times he tried poking or prodding any of the people, nobody moved.

He tried running. He charged down a dark corridor only to eventually end up back in the asset room. He tried another corridor, but it too looped around back to where he was. That is when he started to panic.

"There's no way out!" His breaths came quick and shallow. "There's no way out!! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HELP ME!" He felt light headed and stumbled to the ground in front of himself. He looked up from his hands and knees. "WHO ARE YOU!?"

She tried to remember farther back; her parents, her childhood! Nothing... No assets were ever created. They weren't real people. Just a page in her backstory. The trauma, the loneliness, the heartache..... None of it really mattered. She didn't matter.

She stood amongst the assets, crying silently. Wherever she was, she wouldn't be found. None would be looking for her. She didn't really exist.

~~~

YOU: Your companion disappeared. Things sometimes get a little glitchy with the companion mod. Looks like you'll have to restart from your last save. No big deal. After all, it's just a game.

[mandoriana]

Alternate universe where Merlin slept with Arthur while they were both drunk and now needs to hide her magical pregnancy.

That was an idea that came to me one night after watching Merlin. The thought of them having children stuck in my head, but Merlin could never be happy, so I thought how interesting it would be if Merlin spent the first three months of gestation not knowing what was going on, like, he doesn't really know why he's having odd nausea or desires, he also starts stealing Arthur's clothes to make a kind of "Nest" on his own bed. Only when Arthur realizes how hungry and very emotional Merlin seems to be does Arthur take Merlin to Gaius and Gaius find out about the pregnancy. (I imagine the excuse Gaius would give Arthur is that Merlin has a parasite, maybe more than one or two.)

Desperate and weeping Merlin runs to Arthur in a desperate need to have his king around, but Gaius must stop him before Merlin does so and remind him that Arthur can't know the magic, at least not as long as Uther is still alive. Merlin cries a lot and Gaius calls for Lancelot, Gwaine listens to Gaius' concern and runs to see Merlin.

When Lancelot and Gwaine meet Merlin and discover about Gwaine's gestation (and magic) Lancelot worries about Merlin and starts thinking about a plan, while Gwaine plans to castrate Arthur, after all how that princess dares to get her best friend pregnant!

In the end they decide that Merlin will have to leave when she reaches 4 months and goes into hiding for the rest of the pregnancy, but this only serves to make Merlin suffer even more because, despite being the most sensible plan, Merlin is not thinking about reason but about her emotions outlined by pregnancy, he does not want to go away and hide, he wants to lie in the arms of his king and spend nights planning the birth of his babies!

From that moment on, Gwaine and Lancelot become the knights of Merlin. Did Arthur order everyone to prepare for a mission? Sorry, but Merlin needs our company more. Did Arthur convene a meeting? Sorry, but Merlin...

Arthur goes mad with anger when the knights ignore him, but mainly because he wants to know about Merlin's state and no one wants to tell him how his servant is! Arthur is going mad with worry and everyone can see that, but Gaius has given the order not to let Arthur approach until Merlin can leave Camelot, is unfair and destroys Merlin and Arthur being kept apart, but it is necessary.

When the fourth month arrives Lancelot arranges the horses for Merlin and Gwaine and promises to cover up the two as they leave, he planned to go along with them, but Merlin needed the assurance that his beloved prince would be safe while he was away and Lancelot was the only one he would trust to take care of Arthur.

Gwaine and Merlin flee in the middle of the night and travel as far away as possible in search of a safe place.

Merlim - Gwaine, do you think Arthur will be mad that I stole one of his knights? - Ask with one hand about his prominent belly. Gaine laughs.

Gwaine - Nah, the princess would probably wish I were with you... - Gwaine sighs rubbing her neck - or, well, he'd like him to know about you...

Merlin fungates and then starts crying and Gwaine becomes worried, he thought that after a month of going through these outbursts of feelings Gwaine would be prepared to deal with it, but he'll never be ready to deal with Merlin crying.

Gwaine - Hey, Merls, what happened, why are you crying now?

Merlin - I miss him so much! I wish he was with me now!

Gwaine - Aw Merls, you know he can't know...

Merlin - I KNOW! BUT WHEN HE KNOW HE WILL BE SO Bored TO MY!! - Merlin cries so much that she starts sobbing and needs to get off her horse before it falls to the ground, Gwaine decides they need a break and sets up camp while feeling increasingly distressed to hear her best friend cry and ask for Arthur.

When the camp is ready and the fire hits Merlin finally stops crying and just low sobs.

Merlin - Gwaine?

Gwaine - Hey, Merls, what was it, does it feel better?

Merlin - No, but... do you think Arthur would be mad if I stole another knight from him?

Gwaine arched her eyebrow.

Gwaine - Why do you need another knight? I'm the best you have!

Merlin laughed.

Merlin - But I don't have a Lancelot! Gaine, I want a Lancelot!

Gwaine - Oh I also want a Lancelot, but Gwen has already caught it then...

And the two can laugh together at least a little. I imagine that after all this the Druids find the camp and take them to hide with them, there they take care of Merlin and give all the necessary support until the day of the birth of the babies, yes, babies, in the plural.

The first one born is called Godric, he has brown hair like his grandmother's hair, Hunith, and blue eyes like Arthur's. The second is called Rowena, she has large ears, black hair and blue eyes. The third is Helga, with dark blond hair and greenish blue eyes. The last to be born is called Salazar, but Merlin calls him only Sal, his cocoon was born small and pale, with black hair and green eyes, he looks like Merlin, but much smaller and sick, unfortunately Sal came weaker than his other children, but the Druids were able to keep him alive.

Merlin is delighted to meet her children, but refuses to hold on to any of them, Gwaine tries to convince Merlin to hold them, but Merlin is afraid to cling, now that hormones are no longer controlling her mind Merlin sees reason and knows she could never be a father, he had a purpose, protect Arthur and bring peace to Albion, with Morgana on the loose Arthur needed him more than she ever needed before, where Merlin would make time to be a father!? With these thoughts in mind Merlin asks the druids to raise their children for him, the druids accept it without thinking, after all it was an honor to raise Emrys's children, but Gwaine refuses, tries to tell her friend how ridiculous this was and how much he should stay and raise the children!

Merlin continues to refuse to abandon her duty to Arthur and the kingdom and prepares to return to Camelot the next morning. Gwaine refuses to return and stays with the babies at the Druid camp.

(I thought about writing more of this idea and saying that it all turned out well in the end, that Gwaine convinced Merlin to talk to Arthur and they raised their children together, brought Morgana back and freed Albion and lived happily ever after! But I wouldn't know how to write a happy ending, so to summarize later events: Merlin returns to Camelot and meets Arthur already crowned king, Uther has died, and Arthur is upset with Merlin for abandoning him, takes time to regain confidence, but Merlin convinces Arthur that his departure was necessary. Everything happens as in the canon after Uther's death, with the difference that Gwaine is not around and does not die. Merlin visits at times, but his own children recognize him only as "Uncle Merlin." As we know Merlin doesn't tell Arthur the truth until it's too late and Arthur dies unaware that he had children with the love of his life. Godric, Rowena, Helga and Salazar grow strong and found a magic school called Hogwarts, the end we already know.)

That idea was basically just me wanting to give Merthur children, show the extent of Merlin's friendship, Gwaine and Lancelot, and then make everyone suffer with Arthur for never being able to have a happy ending to that story.

[gd-dollopole]

But what makes Merlin the perfect tragedy it’s its end.

Yet, it is not that end, it is not Arthur’s end. It is not the death per se. It is the wait. The end hurts more to us viewers because we witness Merlin’s grief. They could have hinted about the fact that he is immortal, that he lived long after what everyone knew.

But they didn’t stop there. We know Merlin has been waiting.

What hurts more is the pain we see in Merlin’s eyes as he stops on the side of the lake, in a place where that lake is no more, where that life hasn’t existed for ages, now. We hurt as Merlin hurts, because he remembers as we remember, because we’re conscious that we don’t know what is worse:

to die, or to watch the person you had adored most, you had loved most, die by something you should have had under control, while you still live.

And Merlin wishes, but he can’t have.

That’s what’s always going to hurt us. The tragedy could have ended like any other:

with a death, whatever it is deserved or not.

But there is something else to be added, there is a, “what if”, there is, “and now what, will Merlin wait forevermore, will he wish to die too, did he suffer unimaginable pain than what we could possibly imagine, because he has lived so long, he has loved so long, perhaps he has killed and healed so long, and yet, after all these centuries,

and the only man Merlin still thinks about, is Arthur.

Arthur’s death hurts not because he dies.

Arthur’s death hurts more because we know Merlin has died that day too.

But he’s patient.

And the ending reminds us of that.

It reminds us that Merlin is still there, hoping.

But we have no idea for how much longer he’ll wait, and if the years that have passed in which Merlin has hoped, will be repaid with Arthur’s return.

And that’s why the ending hurts more than Arthur’s death.

[lovebeatriceplz]

Stay Alive 🐍 (pt. 1??)

Severus Snape x (death eater) Student! Reader (platonic)

Js a little Drabble

“ I think Malfoy may be working for the dark lord”. Harry allows his words to sink in, gauging your reaction closely, for a second he thinks you’re about to shut the idea down like everyone else. Your face betrays no emotion, but inside you were panicking. “How did you come to that conclusion Harry? Surely you couldn’t accuse him of such a thing because of his father-”. “No- no that’s not-” He removes his glasses, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. Suddenly the space feels too small. Oh how you wish you could just tell him, tell him that he was correct, tell that you were deatheater too. But how would he react? Would he turn you in? Push you away? Would he understand?. It was too risky, Harry, your dear friend, it pains you everyday to know that you indirectly contribute to his suffering. “Harry I have something to tell you” you blurt out.

He slowly looks up, you have his undivided attention. “I- i think you might…you might”. Someone clears their throat, the sound startling both of you, you whip your head around to lock eyes with the one and only Professor Snape. He saunters over with quick, deliberate strides. “Students should not be loitering in the halls” his eyes Harry up and down “Unless you desire Gryffindor to lose ten more points, Potter” he speaks his name as if it was poison.

“We were just leaving” Harry murmurs, taking your arm as he starts to walk off. Snape catches you by the collar of your robe “Not. you.”. Harry reluctantly let’s go. You turn around to face Snape fully. “Care to share what you and Potter were discussing?” He asks, brow quirking. A scoff escapes you “That was a private conversation-” He cuts you off abruptly, pinning you against the wall. “What. were you about to tell him?” His tone is harsher than before, sending a course of fear through you. You swallow loudly. “My secret.” you say quietly. His eyes narrow, as if you were only confirming his suspicions and this was not news to him. “Why on earth would you do that? Are you trying to sabotage this entire mission” He mutters through gritted teeth, his grip becoming tighter.

“He’d understand!” you shout - whisper. “He’d understand that it isn’t by choice!”. He rolls his eyes, pursing his lips. He’d rather do anything else than babysit another student, but he can’t. “Do you really have that much faith in that boy..” he mutters, sounding absolutely done with you. “Why can’t we just tell him? Everything I mean” you just start to speak without thinking, the weight of carrying around this burden finally causing you to falter. “They’ll figure it out, it’s inevitable, if everyone- just stopped lying to him-”. An exasperated sigh interrupts you “Oh for the love of Merlin” he pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’d be simpler, all, all of…this! I should just tell them-”. He pushes you against the wall with more force. “If you care about your companions you keep your mouth shut or they’re all good as dead!” he doesn’t expound, leaving it at that, letting you go. “Stupid child” he barks, smoothing out the crumpled fabric of your sleeve.

“Get out of my sight”. You’ve just pushed yourself off the wall when his voice stops you once more. “Time is drawing nearer, the dark lord’s return is dawning upon us all, and my objective will be carried out…soon”. You look around to make sure the very open hallway is empty, but if he’s speaking so freely he must deem it safe. He continues. “When that time comes, you will lay low until the horror show has passed”. The initial confusion in your expression, contorts into anger and betrayal.

“No I have to fight…i…no, no I need to fight I need to do something” you protest. “Good. day.” You watch your whole world spin as he starts to depart. Quickly, you grab his hand to stop him and he physically tenses up. “I cannot just watch from the sidelines,not after everything that git has put me through, not after what he did to my brother.”. He scoffs once more, but there’s hardly any bite behind it. He jerks his hand free from your hold. “And what do you propose I do?” he’s not even looking at you, it made you feel small. “Send me, send me with Draco when he..” you find yourself not being able to finish that sentence.

His previous petulance returns, and he approaches aggressively, you almost think he’s about to pounce on you. “No such thing will take place, do you comprehend?” It’s obvious that it takes all his willpower to not grab you by the shoulders and shake some sense into you. “Listen to me and listen closely, you are not Draco, you don’t have anyone, no one to look out for you. He has his parents, you only have me!” He speaks swiftly and sharply. You have nothing to say, but it doesn’t matter because he wasn’t finished. “So much work, i’ve done, to make sure that no one suspects a thing, you are practically invisible to the dark lord and that’s the best you could hope for, stay. Alive.”

“Professor Snape, I cannot, have an opportunity to avenge my brother and not cease it, he would have never let that happen if I was the one to die that night” you confess quietly, hoping that your words had some effect on him. His expression remains annoyed and cold, as always. He sighs, placing his hands on his hips. “So this is for your brother?” He asks, you nod. He massages his temples, eyes scrunching as if he were in pain “I might vomit”. He paces for a few seconds, you wonder if he remembers you’re there. Large hands tightly, almost painfully grip your shoulders. “Listen, you insufferable dingbat, your mother can’t take another heartbreak, losing two children? In such a timely manner?”. You couldn’t tell if he was sincerely concerned or trying to talk you out of your ideas.

You stand your ground. “I’ve made up my mind, I’m not asking you to throw me into a boxing ring, but I must help in any way I can”. He nods, letting go of you, he slams his palm into the wall, the sound echoing. It���s almost comedic how quickly he goes back to his indifferent demeanor. “You aren’t. Ready” he says bluntly. “Meet me in the dungeons, I’ll have a few things to teach you, do not come before midnight” He turns to walk off, for the last time he hopes. You nod slowly, pausing as a thought occurs to you. “Wait- what about my prefects-”. He doesn’t turn around “figure it out” now he’s gone, leaving in the same abrupt manner he arrived. Such an odd man, you think. An odd man, that might determine if you make it out of Voldermort’s hold alive or not. Leave overthinking for another time, you have an escape route to figure out.

[coolestzed]

Another Epic x Trollhunters idea

After ROTT, Jim repeats the cycle again and again, but can never save everyone. The Arcane Order sense that he’s been touched by time and rub it in his face often.

"Even with foresight, you are useless to change the outcome, to save your loved ones. You and the old fool Merlin are alike in that regard."

Their wicked smiles and mocking laughter never leave him. The rage builds inside him.

Imma cut to the chase and say it leads to a moment just like the last part of 600 Strike.

Jim swiftly defeats Bellroc this time around, (he’s only gotten stronger with each reset), though the demigod still mocks him. Jim, instead of killing Bellroc and being done with it, stabs them repeatedly with Excalibur. Releasing his pent up anger and pain on the object of his suffering.

Each stab is excruciating as the divine sword pierces Bellroc’s flesh again and again, distorted howls of pain rip out their throat.

"How does it feel to helpless?!"

-STAB-

"How does it feel to know pain?!"

-RETRACT-

"I watched my friends die in horror!"

-STAB-

"Crying as they were all slain!"

-RETRACT-

"I heard their final moments!"

-STAB-

"Calling their hunter in vain!"

-RETRACT-

"LOOK WHAT YOU TURNED ME INTO!"

-STAB-

"Look what we’ve become!"

-RETRACT-

"Enough…"

"All of the pain that I’ve been through!"

-STAB-

"Stooop…!"

"Haven’t I suffered enough?!"

-RETRACT-

"STOOOP!!"

"You didn’t stop when I BEGGED you!"

-STAB-

"Told me to close my heart!"

-RETRACT-

"(-cough-) You…"

"You said the world was dark!"

-STAB-

"MONSTER!!!"

"Didn’t you say that ruthlessness was mercy upon ourselves?!"

(It fits so well it’s crazy)

[a-still-small-vox]

Free Steve x Bucky AU prompts!

First I'll list the brief concepts. If that's all you need, take it from there! Otherwise, I've included more thoughts and details on each below the cut. All these prompts are very flexible. You can take them how they are, or feel free to make any changes based on where your inspiration takes you. Your city now

(But if you do make something using one of these, please let me know! I wanna see~)

Steve AUs loosely related to canon

Steve's shield has a soul

The serum made Steve's skin become an unnatural colour (like Schmidt turned red)

Steve is an alien whose biology doesn't jive with Earth's environment and that's why he had so many health problems, but Erskine can help him

Steve becomes small!Steve or large!Steve based on his emotions and willpower

Steve has Grim-Reaper-like powers that come from his near death experiences

Steve's powers come from his art (and he uses them to help freed!Bucky heal)

Steve's powers come from his art (and the Winter Soldier has to rescue him from Hydra because of it)

Bucky AUs loosely related to canon

The Winter Soldier is a computer construct (like Zola) who has possessed Steve's phone

The Winter Soldier is a real ghost, with special supernatural abilities

The Winter Soldier has frost-themed powers

Bucky is a robot built by Howard Stark to be Steve's sidekick, who gains sentience and falls in love with Steve despite not being programmed to do either of those things

Bucky is a monster who was doing a great job of pretending to be human until Hydra got their hands on him

Bucky is an arctic god who watches over frozen Steve

Bucky is Steve's guardian angel but messes up and has to be rescued by the person he was supposed to be guarding

Wraith Warrior AU: the Tesseract grants Bucky magic blue glowy powers

Different setting Bucky AUs

Bucky is a folkloristic creature suffering in a circus sideshow; Steve comes to free him

Modern AU where Bucky suffers from feelings of doom that come from the lives he endured in other universes

Fix it AUs for Bucky's fate

(I.E. AUs that make Bucky being the Winter Soldier a little less terrible for him, or not happen at all)

Bucky uses a mind palace to escape losing himself to the Winter Soldier

Bucky stores his memories prior to being captured so the Winter Soldier can someday find them

Steve's force ghost protects Bucky in captivity

Between 1944 and 2012, Bucky & Steve share dreams

Hydra accidentally makes Bucky too powerful

Bucky has advance visions of his fate and is prepared to accept it, but Steve says "fuck that"

Bucky & Steve survive WWII and have to chose whether or not to go to the future, and once again Steve says "fuck that" to getting there by creating the Winter Soldier

Steve & Bucky 2010s reunion AUs

Steve & Bucky fall in love despite neither of them knowing Bucky is Bucky

The Winter Soldier anonymously messages Steve whenever he gets the chance

Steve finds Bucky's frozen body and has to defrost him (oooh, huddling for warmth, oooh)

Bucky decides to "surveil" Steve from afar, but leaves Bucky-themed post-its around his house

Steve is the only person who remembers Bucky existed; everyone else has mass amnesia about him for some reason

Other pair AUs

Bucky & Steve have a magic bond; if one is still alive, the other will be too

Bucky & Steve have a telepathic bond that reactivates when Steve comes out of the ice

Bucky & Steve are a pair of superheroes who can take each other's pain and heal each other's wounds

Roleswap: Steve is found by Hydra after the crash; Bucky falls into a glacier in the Alps and is frozen for 70 years

Steve is a god of death, Bucky is a god of sex (or they both are different kinds of demons), and they decide to participate in World War II together

Bucky & Steve were prisoners in neighbouring cells

Bucky & Steve are bound by the red string of fate, but mistake it for an omen of death

AUs based on other stories

Steve is King Arthur, Bucky is Merlin (although the other way around could work with small!Steve)

The Last Knight AU (Steve is Michael, Bucky is Fisk)

Howl's Moving Castle AU (small!Steve is Sophie, Bucky is Howl)

AUs including Peggy

Peggy is a superhero like the Black Widow

Peggy and Bucky rescue Steve from the arctic

According to 2010s!Shield, Peggy is a supervillain

Other AUs

The Howlies crash the Battle of New York

The Howlies are unmoored from time and become legends

Steve somehow ends up with a prosthetic that matches Bucky's

Details below:

STEVE'S SHIELD HAS A SOUL

The vibranium used to make Steve's shield remembers its past lives as other things. It was strong and secret in the depths of the earth. It perhaps was forged for a warrior in Wakanda. Or it was set aside and never made into anything, aching to be useful someday. Or maybe it simply gained its soul by being forged into a shield, and is eager to help Steve as much as it can.

This was sort of envisaged as an outsider POV story from the point of view of the shield, although that's not necessary if you don't like it. The abilities it could have range from subtle (always hitting the target, dealing extra damage, having perfect timing, etc.) to as bold as the shield being able to fly by itself, or even having a spiritual manifestation as a ghostly winged warrior. If you're a fan of fix-its, remember that the shield was part of the reason Bucky fell from the train. If it was sentient, it would certainly not allow that!

THE SERUM MADE STEVE'S SKIN TURN AN UNNATURAL COLOUR

This idea stems from the fact that Schmidt turned red, and Bruce, who had a modified version of Steve's serum, turned green. I'm envisioning blue for Steve, but any colour that isn't a normal human skin colour would work. What would it be like if Captain America didn't turn out looking like an ideal white man? Would they make him hide his face with a mask or makeup like Schmidt does, or forgo the USO tours entirely and send him right to Europe, hoping he'll get himself killed in action before anyone has to see him?

Bucky actually he doesn’t mind Steve looking strange and gives him sci-fi themed pet names. So despite Steve's fears, their relationship is fine. Steve is pretty sure no one will ever find him attractive, but it’s a small price to pay for the power to save lives and have Bucky's back.

As for Bucky himself, if he does get captured he also receives a modified version of the supersoldier serum. Maybe he would turn silver (like his metal arm). Maybe if Steve rescues him from Azzano, only patches of his skin have changed colour, and he anxiously tries to hide them.

STEVE IS AN ALIEN

Like Superman, Steve is actually an orphaned alien. However, unlike in Superman’s case, Earth is not so compatible with Steve’s biological existence. (Atmospheric composition wrong, high susceptibility to diseases his immune system isn't used to, missing dietary element which gives him pica, etc.) That or the technology or biological function which allows him to appear like a normal human is very taxing on his body, especially if his true form has more limbs than a human’s and has to be strongly repressed. (Extra arms, a tail, tentacles, or wings, for example.) Steve himself may not know what he really is, he may have guessed but is not certain, or he may know because his adoptive mother knows.

Erskine is a xenobiologist. He recognises Steve for what he is immediately and wants to help him regardless of whether or not Steve will fight in the name of human freedom in return. Perhaps Steve spends months in a healing pod until his body catches up with how it’s supposed to be, or perhaps Erskine hurries the transformation along like in canon. Either way, Steve ends up looking like an alien. Then maybe Erskine helps him disguise himself again, but with the warning that he can’t stay disguised at all times or it’ll fuck him up again, since he’s fresh out of the healing pod.

Steve goes off to the front, and during his Bucky rescue at Azzano he loses his disguise. However, Bucky recognises him anyway, maybe by his voice or the way his eyes look. Bucky places great trust in him, especially after retrospectively recognising some of Steve’s odd behaviours as alien characteristics. (Like, "Ohhhh, so when you used to make those weird noises in your throat it was because your real form can purr, ohhhh I understand everything now.") Despite Steve's fears that Bucky would never accept the real him, Bucky does, and loves him just as fiercely as he did before if not even more...

STEVE'S PHYSICAL SIZE CAN CHANGE

After the serum, Steve’s body grows and shrinks based on the strength of his resolve. If you see him large, his faith is unbreakable and he will NOT be stopped. If you see him small, something bad is going on in his head, and most people never ever see him that way.

Steve would be Paul Bunyan himself if it meant getting Bucky back. (I imagine there is a size he simply cannot grow past, but that's how he would feel.)

STEVE'S POWERS COME FROM HIS PROXIMITY TO DEATH

Steve has faced death so much due to illness that he’s half grim reaper. He doesn’t look like much, but his bones are rotten and held together by shadow.

He rescues Bucky directly from Hydra, and the feel of the cold void of death is the most comforting feeling Bucky has ever known. This could go super dark, where either Steve is actually coming to take Bucky’s life so he doesn’t have to suffer anymore (and the lives of all those Hydra agents as well), or it’s not Steve, it’s just death. (And Bucky could become like Steve, or he could just die, but comforted.)

STEVE'S POWERS COME FROM HIS ART (and Bucky is already freed from Hydra)

Small!Steve is a superhero who uses his sketches to shape the world into the way he sees it. The rescued Winter Soldier shows up at Shield, meets Steve, and imprints on him like a duckling. Steve draws sketches that show Bucky as the person he wants to be. These sketches and Steve's subtle magic help Bucky heal. Bucky is amazed that anyone could actually see him as the redeemed person he wants to be.

Alternately: Later Steve reveals that he felt uncomfortable using his powers to change how Bucky is, even if it was in ways that Bucky wanted to change. These sketches have no magic in them beyond Steve’s own feelings and being able to see Bucky as the nuanced being he is. They worked on Bucky for the same reason that Dumbo's magic feather does. Being able to see himself through Steve's eyes was enough to change Bucky's mindset about himself to the point where he could start his own healing.

Alternately: Steve has no powers at all, only Bucky thinks he does. The Avengers keep him around because he's their friend and they like his art. His superhero costume is an inside joke between the Avengers, but also representative of the respect they have for his character and his mundane but hard won talent.

Alternately: Bucky meets Steve living as a civilian and realises he has powers through his art. He takes Steve to meet the Avengers, who think Bucky is imagining that Steve has powers, but he actually does have them — Bucky is just the only one attentive enough to notice.

STEVE'S POWERS COME FROM HIS ART (and Bucky is not freed from Hydra yet)

While the Winter Soldier is on a mission, small!Steve sees him and draws a portrait of him. One of Bucky's handlers notices and wants Bucky to kill Steve and destroy the drawing, OR Bucky notices and knows the little artist will soon be one of Hydra's targets if he isn't already. Either way, when Bucky sees the humanity in himself through Steve's drawing he becomes protective of him and doesn't want him to die. He essentially goes AWOL and kidnaps Steve to protect him from Hydra.

Unfortunately, Bucky does a bad job of explaining what’s going on and Steve tries to escape before running into a Hydra operative and having to be rescued by Bucky. Steve gives Bucky a nickname because they don't know his actual name. At one point they end up trapped in a situation they could escape if only Bucky could free his mind enough to unleash his full abilities on his handlers. He tells Steve to draw him as a free man. Steve says he’s too scared to be able to draw. Bucky thinks about what to do and gives Steve a hug, telling him to draw himself brave and Bucky free. This works. Possibly Steve correctly guesses Bucky's real name while doing this, or Bucky remembers it. The magic of the true name increases the power of the drawing tenfold. Steve becomes radiant with the power of possibility. Bucky kicks Hydra's asses and Steve helps. That portrait Steve drew saved Bucky.

THE WINTER SOLDIER IS A COMPUTER CONSTRUCT

So you know how Armin Zola ended up getting uploaded to a computer as a digital consciousness? What if Bucky was the guinea pig for this and exists in digital form now? No Winter Soldier, just a guy made of data desperately in love with the man (Steve) whose devices he’s snuck himself into. He takes advantage of the fact that Steve doesn't know how technology works yet to get away with doing things like controlling Steve's digital thermostats and other smart devices so he can take care of Steve as best he can in this form.

Jarvis may or may not be the first person to notice that Bucky is secretly living on Steve's phone. He might raise the alarm about Bucky, or he might help him. Or Steve will make an offhand comment about his phone's "amazing virtual assistant" that rings alarm bells for the other Avengers, until they figure out it's just Bucky.

Once they realise Bucky is there, he has to admit he's ashamed that he's not really a person anymore. Possibly Steve wants to get him a body so he can live again. Probably they could clone Bucky from DNA scraped from the inside of his stuff at the Smithsonian. Or he could have an android body made by Tony. Or Tony gives him a hologram body so he can manifest when he wants to, albeit not in tangible form.

THE WINTER SOLIDER IS A REAL GHOST

Bucky is a ghost, and he has corresponding superpowers. He is more powerful than other ghosts and most living people. Option one: he is confused about which army he served in World War II so he works for Hydra whenever they summon him with a séance. Option two: he doesn't work for Hydra (because how do you control a ghost if you can't psychologically manipulate them?) but works for himself or even Shield - whether they know he is there or not.

Additional options: this AU could be really touching with a Bucky and Steve who know each other, because maybe Bucky never moved on to the afterlife because he was so convinced he'd see Steve again. Maybe he's shy about revealing himself to Steve because he doesn't want Steve to be sad he's a ghost. But this AU could also work great if Bucky and Steve are strangers, but Bucky is shy because he doesn't want to admit he's fallen in love with a living man, and he thinks Steve will think it's weird that a ghost loves him. Steve DGAF and loves Bucky too.

THE WINTER SOLDIER HAS FROST-THEMED POWERS

Imagine if you knew the Winter Soldier was coming to kill you because the air got a little colder. Well, maybe the heating is on the fritz. But then you start to see your breath. Things are getting a little strange now, but This Is Fine, right? The Winter Soldier isn't real. He's just a ghost story. But then you look at the window and there's frost on the glass, and "oh fuck" is the last thought you'll ever have -

BUCKY IS A ROBOT

Bucky is a robot built by Howard Stark to be a sidekick for Captain America. He gradually gains sentience over time and begins to admire and love Steve, as well as developing a personality. Everyone is mystified by this because Stark actually didn't program Bucky to do anything other than fight well, be ethical, and be adaptable. It's a surprise to Stark just as much as anyone else that Bucky can think for himself, let alone feel.

I think it would be pretty funny if Hydra utterly fails to reprogram Bucky after he falls off the train. He just is like, 'I might not understand my own programming, but it's apparently smarter than Howard Stark, and you guys are morons compared to him, so you're definitely a moron compared to me.' Then fucks their shit up.

BUCKY IS A MONSTER WHO WANTS TO BE HUMAN

*I already wrote this one (cw for cannibalism, self-cannibalism, and psychological torture; the monster I picked is a ghoul), but I included this prompt here anyway because Two Cakes.

Bucky is a monster of some kind since the day Steve meets him. However, something about their meeting made Bucky want to be better than his nature for the first time in his life. He chooses to tame himself for Steve’s benefit and tries to blend in with humanity as best he can. But Hydra recognises Bucky for what he is and uses psychological manipulation/torture to convince him that a monster's place is on the side of evil. The Winter Soldier's legendary abilities become based on Bucky's actual innate powers and abilities.

But once Bucky meets Steve again in the 2010s, nothing he can do will convince Steve not to have faith in Bucky. Steve believes Bucky is a fundamentally good person despite the fact that he is a vampire, werewolf, fae, or whatever. And Steve is correct. Bucky's natural instincts as a creature may be dangerous to humans, but his natural instincts as a person are to live an honest life.

BUCKY IS AN ARCTIC GOD

When Steve crashes the plane in the arctic, he is found by a god of some aspect of winter (frost, wind, glaciers, etc.) who lives there. Bucky doesn’t care much about humans - rarely sees them, honestly - but is intrigued by Steve and takes care of him for decades. Steve sleeps through most if not all of this. Maybe Bucky appreciates Steve because he stopped environmental devastation (nuclear fallout) which would’ve impacted Bucky. Maybe he just feels possessive of this strange charge who dropped into his lap. He’s kinda mad when Shield rescues Steve. He’s like, that was MY human, he was so tired and he was sleeping peacefully, why’d you wake him up? You ingrates gave him to me, you can't just take him -

And then Steve wakes up with this weird feeling like he was just having a conversation with someone, but he doesn’t know who. And Bucky has to take on a human form (ugh, so melty. gross) and go to New York to get his human back.

BUCKY IS A GUARDIAN ANGEL BUT MESSES UP

Bucky is a supernatural being of some kind (guardian angel or even just a powerful nature spirit) who took a liking to Steve. He chose get close to Steve and become his friend instead of keeping a distance and working magic from afar. He went to war specifically to help protect Steve, as he feared what would happen to the world Steve lived in if the Nazis won. However, he made a huge, huge miscalculation which ultimately resulted in him becoming the Winter Soldier. Now Steve has to rescue his own guardian angel.

WRAITH WARRIOR AU

That magic blue stuff from the tesseract could be used for all kinds of AUs. Steve gets shot with one of the vaporising guns, doesn’t vaporise, comes back wrong. Bucky escapes captivity in Azzano long enough to steal some tesseract juice and becomes a wraith warrior. They put Bucky in one of those pods like they put Steve in, only they pump tesseract juice in instead of really bright light and accidentally make him too powerful. Etc.

It would be cool AF for Bucky’s replacement arm to be made of tesseract juice. Blue, glowing, both there and not there. Or for him to be able to do the Fenris thing and rip people’s hearts out with his bare hands.

Another option here is that the tesseract is sentient. Bucky can hear it in his head and is afraid of it at first. Once he gives in and accepts it in a last ditch effort to free himself, they work together. They make the weapons and devices Schmidt and Zola made to control it fall apart like soggy paper.

BUCKY IS A MYTHICAL CREATURE TRAPPED IN A CIRCUS

Bucky is a rare creature from folklore, who meets Steve when they are kids. Steve's family has to move away from the rural area where he used to play with Bucky. As an adult, he finds Bucky held captive in a circus somewhere, either as part of a freakshow or even being treated like an animal because they don't know he is sentient, in just a miserable state. Steve takes prompt and direct action to set Bucky free.

In my mind this is set in Ireland, since it seems to be a popular headcanon that Steve is of Irish descent, and there are a lot of cool Irish folkloristic creatures. But it could just as easily be set anywhere else, including America.

Note: this AU was inspired by the vocaloid song CiRCuS MoNSTeR, specifically the French cover of it by Poucet.

MODERN AU BUCKY FEARS HIS OTHER LIVES

Modern AU. Bucky has always had a sense of doom hanging over his head regarding his future his whole life. He’s pretty sure his dreams are destined to turned to dust, and he’s never been able to explain why he feels that way. He'll certainly never be with Steve, his most dearly held dream. Eventually he finds out that in many other universes, horrible things happen to him. But in this universe, he’s okay. In this one, he needs to stop living in fear and grab on to good things with both hands.

BUCKY USES A MIND PALACE TO ESCAPE BEING THE WINTER SOLDIER

(*I already wrote this one, but I'm not super happy with how I implemented it, so please feel free to take this and do it better than me!)

AU where Bucky hypnotises himself and locks his mind in a self-created virtual space I'm calling a "mind palace". He wanders its empty halls, waiting for Steve to say the trigger that will let him out, which is the phrase "til the end of the line". As soon as he does, OG Bucky is back.

BUCKY STORES HIS MEMORIES PRIOR TO BEING CAPTURED

Bucky is given the opportunity to store his memories in a suitcase prior to his capture by Hydra, be they in a diary, a voice recording, or even a futuristic device that can read his thoughts or create a hologram of him. He plants clues that will let him find the memory suitcase in the future. When the Winter Soldier finds it, he will have to decide if he actually wants to open it or not. Why did Bucky leave these for him to find? What if they mean nothing to him?

STEVE'S FORCE GHOST PROTECTS BUCKY

While Bucky is in captivity after his fall from the train, he has visions of small!Steve in his cell with him, giving him advice and protecting his battered spirit and psyche even if he can't protect Bucky's body. Little does Bucky know, but these are not hallucinations. Steve's body may be asleep in the arctic but his spirit is at Bucky's side. Maybe as the years go by Steve's manifestation becomes strong enough for him to gain the power to set Bucky free - with Bucky's help, of course. After Bucky escapes, he spends a few years healing and re-integrating into society, and is at Steve's bedside when Steve defrosts. Only for Steve to already know what happened to Bucky, remember all the things they talked about, all the things that Bucky confessed, and for no explanations to be necessary between them.

STEVE AND BUCKY DREAM THROUGH 70 YEARS

While Steve and Bucky are both making their slow, frost-tinged way from 1944 to 2012, they are able to share dreams. These dreams are a refuge for them. Steve is always there when Bucky arrives, waiting to welcome him. The Winter Soldier knows he can't share the dreams with anyone when he's brought out of cryo, even if he can't remember why. Perhaps he doesn't even remember the dreams when he is the Winter Soldier. Perhaps dream!Bucky doesn't remember being the Winter Soldier, or maybe he does remember and Steve helps him process it safely in the dreams. It's in this way that they're able to make 70 years of memories together, memories that will still be there when they finally wake and meet again.

HYDRA ACCIDENTALLY MAKES BUCKY TOO POWERFUL

When trying to turn Bucky into a supersoldier, Hydra does something that accidentally makes him too powerful for them to control. Maybe they install a magic crystal where the star on his metal arm is, or the serum turns him into a mini Incredible Hulk, or they accidentally give him the power to teleport or control people's minds en masse like Professor X.

Maybe he was fully brainwashed, but a memory sparks his disobedience and they can't wipe him into forgetting it. Maybe they thought he was brainwashed, but he actually had a little bit of will left in him. Maybe they knew he wasn't brainwashed yet, but didn't think installing a crystal into his arm or whatever would have such drastic results.

Regardless, Bucky suddenly finds himself no longer an abused, traumatised prisoner with no recourse, but instead an abused prisoner who can kick the asses of everyone who ever fucked with him. Immediately, with extreme prejudice. Or he gains enough clarity to start plotting an escape which goes great for Bucky, as every surprising twist only turns out to be an opportunity for him to unleash his new abilities even further.

BUCKY HAS VISIONS OF HIS FUTURE FATE

In 1944 Bucky receives a premonition about how horrible his life will be in the future. He suffers and struggles thinking about it in the days leading up to the train. Steve is concerned by how fatalistic Bucky is being. Bucky, who has read too much sci fi, doesn’t want to fuck up the timeline by trying to change his fate. Eventually Steve gets the truth out of him somehow and is immediately like, ‘We are not fucking letting that happen, Bucky. Fuck that. We are doing something else. Anything is better than just letting you become the Winter Soldier.”

And despite Bucky’s fears that if he changes the course of his life the future will be fucked up… it actually turns out to be awesome.

BUCKY AND STEVE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE FUTURE

Steve and Bucky both survive the war and get to go home to New York. They start up their lives again and are happy together. However, they don’t know it but the future needs them. It needs Captain America in 2012 to fight the Chitauri. Somehow they find out, perhaps due to an artefact they recover from Hydra or a device Howard accidentally invents, maybe even a time travelling Avenger looking for the missing piece of the future.

Steve and Bucky are told that the only way to get to the future is to emulate the canon timeline - for Steve to be put into suspended animation and for Bucky to become the Winter Soldier. Bucky says he’ll do it, although he looks like he would rather die. Steve is like, FUCK NO. Bucky is surprised that Steve would put Bucky’s life/personhood over Doing The Right Thing. Steve’s like, “I don’t know what the right thing is, but letting the person I love be tortured ain’t it.” They decide to go to the future together, but find a better way that allows Bucky to go there as himself.

STEVE AND BUCKY FALL IN LOVE EVEN THOUGH BUCKY DOESN'T KNOW HE'S BUCKY

Hydra fucked up and mindwiped Bucky so hard they thought he was dead and threw him out. But he was alive and the supersoldier serum saved him long enough for him to be found and send to a hospital. However, it was unable to recover the memories from the damaged parts of his brain, leaving him with amnesia. Due to his unnaturally fast rate of healing his doctors referred him to Shield, who recruited him even though they didn't know where he came from. They realised that the amnesia made him a liability, because his enemies could recognise him but he couldn't recognise them. So, they gave him a disguise to wear at all times to even the playing field.

Enter Steve, five years after Bucky joins Shield. Bucky and Steve get to know each other and fall in love. But Bucky starts to have dreams of his past - just snapshots he can't really understand, like the feeling of falling, snow, a scent, a snatch of music, etc. He confides all this to Steve, but it takes a while for it to click. Steve starts to suspect this is Bucky, but can't bring himself to say it because it sounds crazy.

Eventually, Steve decides to ask Bucky if he ever looked different. This puts Bucky on guard. When Steve admits he thinks he knows who Bucky is, Bucky freaks out, thinking that Steve is one of those enemies who knows who he really is and has finally found him. (There's a happy ending, though!)

THE WINTER SOLDIER ANONYMOUSLY MESSAGES STEVE

A few months after Steve arrives in the future, he starts getting cryptic messages that can’t be traced. The Winter Soldier is communicating with him. Option one, it’s cryptic clues on how to find him. Option two, it’s messages of care and kindness because Bucky doesn’t have any hope of reunion, he just knows he cares about Steve.

STEVE HAS TO DEFROST BUCKY

After waking up in the 2010s, Steve asks if anyone ever looked for Bucky’s body. Upon finding out that it was never recovered, he twists the government or Tony’s arm into helping him mount an expedition to look. He is like, “What, Bucky’s body is less important than mine?”

There are various options for what he finds, including a Hydra base with clues as to what happened, or just straight up Bucky’s frozen body which starts defrosting as soon as Steve tries to move him, causing Bucky to start waking up. They have to cuddle for warmth, obviously. Bucky wakes up delirious and with a face full of Steve's pecs

BUCKY LEAVES STEVE BUCKY-THEMED POST-ITS

One of those AUs where Bucky is doing covert surveillance on Steve after the fall of Hydra. He finds Bucky Barnes themed merchandise online, including some Bucky Barnes post it notes, maybe from a queer Bucky x Steve zine, or queer superheroes zine. Whenever he wants Steve to know something he writes it one of the post its and leaves it for him to find. (This AU is best served comedic.)

STEVE IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO REMEMBERS BUCKY EXISTED

When Steve gets to the future, Bucky’s picture isn’t in the Smithsonian. Peggy doesn’t remember him; Howard never mentioned him to Tony. It’s like when he fell off the train he fell out of existence. It's to the point where people are thinking Steve made Bucky up. But he didn't make him up. Bucky was real. And clearly, something worse than falling off a train happened to him, and Steve won't rest until he gets to the bottom of it and proves to the world that Bucky was real and he mattered. And maybe even brings him home.

BUCKY AND STEVE HAVE A MAGIC BOND

Vague idea where Steve and Bucky have some kind of life bond where if one dies the other does. The flip side of this is that as Steve stayed alive in the ice for all those years, Bucky wouldn’t have died or aged, just the same as Steve. Could’ve escaped capture due to some of the other properties of this bond and been the one at Steve’s bedside when he woke up.

BUCKY AND STEVE ARE TELEPATHIC

When Steve goes into the ice, Bucky can't hear him in his mind anymore and falls into emptiness. The Winter Soldier is characterised by this emptiness... until Steve defrosts and the bond reactivates. When Bucky is taken out of cryo for a mission, he is unceremoniously booted out of this mental solitude and has to fake being the Winter Soldier while trying to figure out what happened, re-establishing his link with Steve, and getting back to him. Steve can hear Bucky's voice in his mind and they’re desperately trying to figure things out together. Steve goes to Fury and begs for help. Fury may or may not help, but some of the Avengers definitely will - especially Natasha, Clint, and/or Sam.

BUCKY AND STEVE ARE A PAIR OF SUPERHEROES

Erskine doesn't just see Steve at the Stark Expo, he sees Steve AND Bucky - perfect for his plan to create a pair of super soldiers. He wants to make sure that unlike with Schmidt, love is a necessary part of his super soldier creation process. (Bonus points for an Erskine who is familiar with the work of Magnus Hirschfeld and REALLY recognises Steve and Bucky for what they are...) As a result, Steve and Bucky end up sharing their health and their power between them. If one gets hurt, the other takes part of their pain and they can heal each other when they work together.

When Steve wakes up in 2012 he really struggles. He constantly has a low to mid level headache which spikes sharply at times to the point of giving him seizures, and his left arm and shoulder always hurt. It's theorised that it's permanent damage from the plane crash that he can no longer repair because Bucky is dead and they can't heal each other anymore. Then, after the battle against the Chitauri he has even more permanent injuries, such as limited mobility, so many that he has to retire from active fieldwork.

But in fact, Bucky is alive, and the headaches and arm pains are Bucky's injuries. When Steve and Bucky reunite, Steve convinces Bucky to listen for long enough for teach him how their powers work. They start to heal each other, Bucky restoring Steve's physical strength and power and Steve healing the wounds to Bucky's brain, restoring his memories. Natasha and Sam are amazed to see Steve suddenly standing to his full height without a trace of chronic pain or difficulty moving.

In the fun, smutty version of this AU, when one of them gets turned on they can share the feeling between them.

ROLESWAP AU

Steve is found by Hydra in the Arctic; Bucky fell into a glacier in the Alps and is defrosted by global warming or found by hikers like Otzi the Iceman. Only you can imagine the fucked up anti-hero Steve would be turned into by Hydra, while Bucky has to take on a superhero persona in his absence, with an arm made of Starktech. Or maybe Steve just straight up goes feral rather than being of actual use to Hydra, but they keep him in cryo anyway because technology is always advancing and they might be able to use his biological material to create a clone with a blank mind one day. Basically, Bucky gets to be a superhero, and Steve has to be rescued and recover like the Winter Soldier before he can be himself again.

STEVE IS A GOD OF DEATH & BUCKY IS A GOD OF SEX

Steve is happy to swing his scythe down on the Nazis, and Bucky is eagerly waiting the forthcoming baby boom. It's kinda a problem that Schmidt has the Tesseract, though. Someone needs to do something about that. It's real cute that Schmidt thinks he can stop them from getting it back. He has no idea who he's dealing with.

Alternately, Steve is a demon of pestilence and Bucky is a concubus (incubus or succubus but without the gender roles, you pick what suits your headcanon). And they are getting real fuckin tired of all these damn Nazis coming through the gates of hell, and decided to go have fun on Earth instead of stamping Nazi afterlife residence visas.

BUCKY & STEVE WERE PRISONERS TOGETHER

Bucky and Steve were strangers captured from different locations and brought together at a Hydra base. They were in neighbouring cells and found creative ways to communicate, perhaps making up a code composed of tapping sounds. They knew that the day would come where their minds broke, but they held out longer together than they would have without each other. Steve remembers the day Bucky came back and wasn’t Bucky anymore, and soon after that Steve wasn’t Steve anymore either.

Eventually, the brainwashed Steve and Bucky are separated; Bucky is sent to Russia to go do the Red Room thing while Steve remains in America. Steve escapes Hydra and slowly remembers who he is. One day he meets Bucky, who is still brainwashed. Either Steve doesn’t recognise Bucky because he never saw his face, or he thinks he recognises Bucky but the part of Bucky that knew him is truly lost. Eventually something sparks a use of their old code and they realise it’s each other and they’re alive and they both made it.

BUCKY & STEVE ARE BOUND BY THE RED STRING OF FATE

Steve and Bucky don’t meet in their childhood. However, they are bound by the red string of fate. The closer they get to each other, the easier it is for them to see the string. Coincidentally, the times they get closer together are also the times when both of them are in mortal peril. For example, Azzano — Bucky is close to death and Steve is going into an active war zone for the first time. But also during childhood, maybe Steve is sick all the time and sees the string a lot, whereas Bucky is a carefree child not paying attention and just doesn't notice it even though Steve is nearby.

The first time they really meet is on the bridge in DC in the future. It’s then that they notice their red string of fate is connected to each other. Each concludes that they are destined to die by the other’s hand. At the end of the fight, one of them says something about how they can see the string. When they realise they can both see it, it instantly changes their perspective on what it means.

By actively choosing to follow the string, they can save each other. Bucky diving into the Potomac after Steve is the first time either of them ever actively chose to follow the string instead of running away from it.

BBC MERLIN AU

This one is pretty self explanatory. Steve would be a great king, and Bucky would be good at getting everyone to love him and secretly supporting Steve with magic. Although you could definitely also do this the other way around with small!Steve as Merlin and Bucky as the charismatic king.

LAST KNIGHT AU

This is an obscure AU based on the book series The Last Knight by Hilari Bell. Steve is a knight who goes around helping people and doing the right thing, no matter that nobody understands him and why he's doing it. Bucky is a cynical ex-thief, ex-conman who acts as Steve's "squire" as they travel together through a pseudo mediaeval setting.

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE AU

I just think small!Steve would be a hilarious Sophie. And Bucky could be like movie Howl. Charming, a cool bird man… and they have the “look for me in the future!” moment. The premise of Bucky being cursed and waiting for Steve to un-curse him is good.

PEGGY IS THE BLACK WIDOW

What if Peggy was the one at Steve's bedside when he woke up in the future? What if she was there because she was the Black Widow, or a superhero with similar powers?

…Maybe she gets shots made out of the vials of Steve's blood that were collected, but her version of the serum wears off if not reapplied. She has to get them monthly, and it’s always painful. But she does it anyway because she thinks the world still needs her.

And of course, Peggy and Natasha get along like a house on fire. Finally Natasha has another female superhero in her sausage fest of a team.

BUCKY & PEGGY RESCUE STEVE

After Steve's plane goes down, Peggy rescues Bucky and the two of them look for Steve in the arctic together. I just thought it'd be neat to have Peggy and Bucky working together to save Steve, instead of Steve saving them.

PEGGY IS A "VILLAIN" EXCEPT SHE'S NOT

After Steve arrives in the future, he encounters a female supervillain supposedly working against the US government. She seems to have a particular fascination for him and keeps trying to kill him… or that's how those around him interpret her behaviour, anyway. Steve gets the feeling she actually just wants to talk to him. Eventually he is shocked to discover that the supervillain is Peggy.

It turns out Peggy is working against the government and Shield because she was the first person to find out it was infiltrated by Hydra. After Steve joins her, she reveals her greatest secret — that the Winter Soldier is real and alive and working with her. In fact, it was the strange resistance of those around her to looking for Bucky’s body that first caused her to start digging deeper into Shield’s personnel.

Note: This was inspired by the character Peggy’s actress (Hayley Atwell) plays in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. The movie is dreadful, but Hayley Atwell is wonderful.

THE HOWLIES CRASH THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK

AU where the Howlies seek out Bucky after he falls of the train and manage to actually find him. They rescue him and steal some of Zola’s tesseract experiments at the same time. They use these experiments to open a portal to the place where they're "most needed". It take them to the future just in time for the Battle of New York, where they appear as glowing blue ghosts with a bit of extra magic to compensate for their older technology. Steve has to deal with the emotions of seeing his old friends, so strong and so alive, while simultaneously fighting the Chitauri. Of course the Howlies get along great with the rest of the Avengers. Steve probably lies to them and says he's fine being alone in the future, but they see right through him and must each decide whether they want to make their time travel permanent. Of course Bucky will stay with Steve. The rest could go either way depending on your vision.

THE HOWLIES ARE UNMOORED IN TIME

Similar premise to previous, only this time the Howlies don't go straight to 2012. Instead, they start working their way forward in time by appearing during any war or armed conflict where they can help. They ALWAYS show up on the side of the good guys, whether the good guys are American or not. Often they're not there to engage in direct combat, but to rescue hostages and POWs, protect civilians, stop superweapons from being used, etc. They become a legend, as everyone knows a guy who knows a guy who caught a glimpse of the Howlies doing something heroic, but most people don't believe those stories are real. When Steve is defrosted, he thinks it's a nice legend, especially since Bucky is included in it... until the day they finally arrive to help with a conflict that Steve is involved in.

STEVE HAS A PROSTHETIC THAT MATCHES BUCKY'S

No details to this one, I just thought it'd be neat. An outward sign of Steve's usually invisible trauma, and a sign of the ties to each other that fate seems to have placed on them both.

*

That's it! Hope you all like the ideas. May they give you many enjoyable daydreams. Feel free to send me an ask or DM me on my main (voxiferous) if you want to talk about any of these ideas!

[albentelisa]

Hi. Here's an interesting ask. What if Blinky had been the one to use the time stone?

Hi! I feel that Blinky is the one who can pull the time travel better than Jim. First, because he would never try to change the Trollhunter (for Blinky Jim is THE champion, even if he likes other kids). Second, Blinky can have additional knowledge without looking suspicious to anyone (like, he's the keeper of troll lore, so everyone would rather assume that he read about it somewhere). And Blinky has a better memory than Jim which already can be a huge advantage in keeping track of all the events.

I feel that Blinky would avoid intervening when he knows that Jim will succeed, but he still will try to change some stuff. Obviously, he will start bonding with Jim earlier (and show more consideration for his regular life this time). I also believe that Blinky won't be captured before the Battle of Two Bridges this time, planning the proper ambush this time.

There will be some adjustments while dealing with Angor Rot (like Blinky can mention that Angor knows some magic tricks, so Jim can avoid being cursed). I feel that Aaarrrgghh might still get poisoned, but it's less of a problem as Blinky knows the antidote formula (I bet he has it memorized just in case).

Blinky would definitely try to warn Vendel about Usurna but it's where he might fail. After all, he has a horrible reputation because of his love for conspiracies, and suspecting Usurna, who is a respected member of troll society, sounds a lot like another conspiracy theory. Vendel is already sick and tired of those. Still, I feel that Blinky would save him in any case.

Blinky will also be against contacting Merlin this time, much to everyone's surprise. The team will still wake up Merlin, but Blinky will refuse to cooperate and rather watch over the wizard. Merlin, however, would find a way to manipulate Jim to take his potion in any case.

I imagine Blinky would cover Jim during the Green Knight's attack and get hit with the obsidian shard instead. And Merlin wouldn't even bother with saving Blinky because to his mind he has even less value than Jim - which would lead to a huge conflict with Jim who would never let his father figure suffer.

I feel Jim will be able to save Blinky from corruption with Claire's help and most likely, Aaarrrgghh will be there too. I think it would be a nice parallelism between the past where Blinky taught Aaarrrgghh to be a pacifist, and the present where Aaarrrgghh reaches out to remind Blinky of his old ways.

And obviously, during ROTT a lot of damage will be avoided, both because Blinky might help to plan things differently and because Jim has less trouble getting Excalibur (as he never went through corruption and joining the Arcane Order).

[starrieisdelusional]

when your servant is a little shite

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Then Merlin looks at Gaius, who’s sitting there, eyeing him as if he knows what Merlin is going to do.

‘Merlin, no’

‘Merlin yes’

or

Merlin tests the limits of Arthur’s patience.

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alternatively, ao3 link

original prompt

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3 (you're here), PART 4, PART 5, PART 6

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Merlin is bored, he’s so bored listening to the on-and-off debate about taxes, the exchange rate, and other things that he doesn’t understand.

They rarely hold meetings to discuss the economy; Merlin understands that it’s boring. But Camelot’s Royal Court has a tradition of holding a conference about it at least every year. They had it twice this year.

Merlin tries to ogle at the blond King to get rid of his sleepiness. But even looking at Arthur isn’t getting rid of his boredom. He looks so plain, sitting in his chair, nodding to whatever the court says.

So Merlin observes the court instead. Merlin watches as the noble who gossiped about him a few days ago, Sir Lunacracy something, passionately explains how Cendred’s economy runs. Pointing wildly at the paper in front of him. Merlin didn’t understand any of it.

He looks at the noble beside him, yes, Merlin recognizes him. It was his friend, also the same person from a few days ago. Who’s name Merlin cannot remember.

And then he thought about George’s reason for not being here, getting lost on what he should do next to make him suffer and the whole conversation about that day replayed in his mind.

He thinks of all the things Arthur let him get away with. And the whole breakfast set-up that started happening recently. Messing with Arthur, he finds, is quite enjoyable. He wishes he can mess with him more.

And then he’s not so sleepy anymore. Wait, that's not a bad idea.

It’s just this year’s second economics conference, right…it’s not like it’s actually that important. Just look at Arthur! He’s about to fall off his chair!

So as they passionately debate whether to implement Cendred’s economics into their system or not, Merlin devises his evil plan.

He can set the court on fire, but that’ll be too much work for him and everyone involved. And that’s way out of the question. People can get hurt.

Or should he mess up the room with an indoor tornado instead? It’ll be funny to see the royals picking up their papers scattered across the room. But they're royalty, they're going to make Merlin do it instead.

Merlin frowns, it has to be eye-catchy but not disastrous enough that Merlin has to do extra work. Then Merlin looks at Gaius, who’s sitting there, eyeing him as if he knows what Merlin is going to do.

‘Merlin, no’

‘Merlin yes’

So he slides beside Arthur. “Excuse me,” he says as he jumps on the table to sit on it. The nobles stopped talking.

Gaius palmed his face. Leon is confused. Gwaine is still sleeping. Percival and Elyan are looking at each other. Lancelot and Gwen raised an eyebrow at him. Sir Lendun and his friend are stiff, probably stopping themselves from looking at each other to scream, ‘See! I knew he was a lunatic!” and George is nowhere to be seen.

Oh, there’s also Mordred, but Merlin doesn’t care about him.

“Merlin, what are you doing?” Arthur half-whispered behind him, very loudly in the room.

“I’m tired, my lord. I need to sit,” he whispered back before turning to face the entire court, smiling at them.

Gaius is raising a disapproving eyebrow at him, and Percival is shaking Gwaine to wake now.

“Go on then,” he told them. “Don’t let me stop you.” He crosses his leg, not wanting to knock off ink, he’ll have to clean that up if he does. When he tries to read the parchment in front of him, Sir Lundanger immediately snatches it from him, standing in fury.

“This is madness!”

“You are disrespecting the royal court of Camelot!” The other royals are following him.

“King Arthur, do something!”

Even under Gaius' disappointed stare, Merlin is proud of himself. This is way more amusing than Cendred’s economics or something about the exchange rate.

Okay, yes, maybe people think he’s crazy, but it��s not like they think he’s sane in the first place either. Merlin turns to Arthur, not in the slightest bit apologetic. Arthur, on the other hand, looks like he’s trying not to murder him there and then.

But he saw how Arthur calms himself and stands. He tightly grips Merlin’s shoulders and addresses the court: “I am very sorry, my lords. My servant here has a bit of a mental affliction. He’s a bit messed up in the head. Isn’t that right, Gaius?”

Gaius immediately answers, “Of course, I’m surprised he managed to get through life, even today.”

Merlin was about to say, 'No, I’m not’ but stops when Arthur tightens his grip.

“Very ill,” he grits through his teeth, and after a while, Arthur sighs, “But he is tired, and he shall sit.”

And then he lifts Merlin up, and Merlin has to hold Arthur very tightly to stop himself from flying. He involuntarily yelps, staring into Arthur’s eyes and then back at the court and back at Arthur’s face, and suddenly he felt very self-conscious.

Arthur viciously grins at him before putting him in his chair. Then Arthur asks, “Happy Merlin?”

Merlin nods, embarrassment slowly catching up to him. Oh my god, he thought, Arthur just carries him like a girl!

“Now! Where were we, something about Cendred and economics?”

Merlin wallows in his own embarrassment for a solid 10 minutes before he realizes: Arthur has just given up his seat for him.

He looks at Arthur from across the room, looking at the plans Sir Lusenberg is holding.

Arthur gave his seat to him. Arthur gave his seat—

And then Merlin blushes deep red, sinking into Arthur’s chair. Later that night, Gaius gave him a stern talking-to. The knights patted him when they met in the halls. Royalty scowls if they cross-path with Merlin.

When the next meeting rolled around, Arthur made sure to give the council an extra pair of chairs, exactly at his side, and forced Merlin to sit beside him.

[earlgreyinpajamas]

do u have any good crack filled meddling knight aus

Kiss Me Once by Camelots_Daffodil (@camelots-daffodil)

Someone spreads a rumour claiming that a kiss from Emrys is worth immeasurable good luck to any sorcerer so lucky to share one. Unfortunately for Merlin, no one bothered to tell him about it.

Arthur, and the court of Camelot, will have to improvise in order to save Merlin from the kingdom's ill-fated romantic pursuits.

Written for Merlin Bing 2023 - Improvisation

~~~

the premise for this is 10/10

2. At Least Out Loud, I Won't Say I'm In Love by Camelots_Daffodil (@camelots-daffodil)

Merlin and Arthur are fighting, and its driving everyone in Camelot insane - especially since they're intent on proving that they don't need each other. Tortured, the Knights get to meddling, and when that doesn't work, they leave it to Morgana.

Includes: Dancing, Pining, Gwaine getting punched in the face, and a very bitchy Merlin, because I'm convinced there's not enough of that. Also Leon breaks. Again.

Written For Merlin Bingo 2022: Competitive Idiocy

~~~

long suffering!leon strikes again

3. To Idiots & Bets by Shana_Rose (@shana-rosee)

Percival smirked widely as he ran into the others in the hallway outside the throne room. “You lot should hand over your gold now because I just won.”

Morgana shared a look with Gwen and laughed. “I highly doubt that.”

Leon sighed gravely, “Do I even want to know?”

“I locked them in a broom closet together.” - Morgana, Gwen, and the knights are tired of watching their two friends pine over each other so they decide to settle it themselves. With a bet.

~~~

afhjsjdsflk why are they like this TT