#au where mordred gets adopted

[saurix5]

[i-upset-to-dead-65]

Adaine Abernant AU where she didn't make her save against Jawbone in the Pit when they first met and had to spend the rest of the season coming to terms with her becoming both a werewolf and becoming the Elven Oracle.

Jawbone harboring so much guilt, especially after Adaine moves into Mordred Manor with him and Sandra Lynn and becoming her adoptive father.

Adaine being held prisoner in Fallinel and her father not only threatening mind control but us hell bent on "curing" her. Adaine telling her father that Jawbone was more of a dad than he'll ever be before punching him dead.

The Elven Council refusing to pay her for her Oracle duties until she "gets rid" of her lycanthropy. Adaine and Jawbone spending full moons together.

[tongjaitongjai]

I want Daegal live! AU, where he survived and became Merlin’s apprentice and Merlin just particularly adopted him. Merlin ADORED the boy, and Daegal highly respected Merlin and helped him share the burden of secrets.

And it became unofficial known that people needed Daegal’s approval if they want to court Merlin, and Merlin was OBLIVIOUS to this.

Daegal, however, took his position seriously and became the ultimate gatekeeper. Not even the king of Camelot could get through him easily. Daegal also lowkey hated it when Arthur didn’t treat Merlin nicely because he knew about the behind-the-scenes stuff/ secret missions Merlin’d done for Arthur.

Arthur: where is Merlin? Tell him I am taking him to a hunting trip with me tomorrow

Daegal: Why should I let him go with you?

Arthur:

Arthur: I am the King of Camelot.

Daegal: Any remarkable skill from your job as the king that can tell me that you can make Merlin happy during this ‘hunting trip’?

Arthur: I AM LITERALLY THE KING OF CAMELOT AND HE IS MY SERVANT

Daegal: And?

Arthur:

Arthur: What the hell is going on I just want Merlin on a hunting trip with me.

Daegal: Merlin hates hunting. Come back when you are taking him to do something he actually enjoys.

Arthur: I AM THE KING OF CAMELOT AND I WILL NOT ANSWER TO THE LIKES OF YOU

Daegal: I saved your life once and this is how you treat me? I am telling Merlin you yelled at me and being classist.

Arthur:

Arthur: Fine! i will take him to a nice picnic next week?

Daegal: Do submit the trip’s proposal two days in advance

Daegal: Also, he cannot go on the hunting trip with you tomorrow because he hates hunting, and I don’t want him doing things he hates. I will be sick tomorrow, and Gaius is away, so he must stay to take care of me.

Arthur:

Arthur: YOU ARE INSANE

Daegal: THE KING IS YELLING AT ME. MERLI—-

Arthur (covering Daegal’s mouth): The proposal will be ready by tomorrow.

He was closed to Mordred as they shared great respect for Merlin. But Mordred is the number one Merthur shipper. So, they are like siblings, but one wants their parents divorced while another is convinced that their parents are soulmates. (Also, Mordred might be a bit bitter that Merlin took Daegal as an apprentice but kept avoiding him.)

Mordred: This is ridiculous, Daegal. Just let them go. Despite what you might think, Merlin enjoys being with Arthur.

Daegal: BUT HE HATES HUNTING AND THE KING INSULTS HIM EVERYTIME THEY GO HUNTING!!!

Mordred: You cannot take away their time together! You just don’t like it when Merlin is away. Stop being so CHILDISH!!!

Daegal: CHILDISH!? SAID SIR KNIGHT MORDRED, WHO ALMOST CRIED WHEN MERLIN DID NOT WAVE BACK TO HIM LAST WEEK! YOU CRYBABY! THIS IS WHY MERLIN DOESN'T LIKE YOU!

Mordred: MOTHERFUC——

Merlin: Sir Mordred, are you insulting my apprentice just because he is lower ranked and younger than you?

Mordred: No, Emrys, but this boy is trying to separate you from the king—-

Daegal: SIR MORDRED WAS THE ONE WHO BROKE YOUR FAVOURITE GREEN POT LAST WEEK. YOU WOULDN’T TALK TO HIM SO HE SNEAKED INTO THE TOWER TO SEE YOU AND KNOCKED IT OFF THE SHELF!

Mordred: BITCH YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER TELL—-

[akilice]

Drew this for my friend @cestacruz's au for where artoria stays instead of gilgamesh after zero, adopts illya, and also causes a summoning chain where Rin gets Guinevere and Shirou gets Mordred and the four of them are the worst team ever against the weirdest family ever

also Illya is a tall girl now <3

[sporadicnerdunknown]

Merlin fanfictions I would like to write (but I won't because I'm too lazy)

Merlin adopting Mordred instead of bringing him back to the druids (I don't remember if Uther had seen Mordred's face but even if he had, that issue could be solved by Merlin using a spell or a potion to change Mordred's face). Arthur could get to know Mordred and realise magic isn't evil ?

Blue Monday by ExpectNothingGainEverything is probably one of my favourite fic and I think a merthur version could be amazing

Soulmate Au where you instinctively get/buy what your soulmate need : Arthur would be confused everytime he feels the need to get bandages/magic books/etc

modern AU where Arthur and Merlin are both med students and Arthur is trying to become a surgeon because his father wants him to, and Merlin helps Arthur understands that it's okay to do whatever he wants to do

Merlin casting a spell to make sure every major wounds Arthur should be getting is transferred to Merlin's body

[gellavonhamster]

assigning each straw hat pirate a knight of the round table

because I am currently obsessed both with One Piece and Arthuriana; not any kind of serious AU material, just silliness; I Wrote This for Me but You Can Read If You Like

Luffy: Arthur, not due to any similarities in characterization but purely on the functional level - the boy king, the inspirational leader and, as Sun God Nika, a mythical figure believed to return when people need him the most

Zoro: Lancelot, the perfect warrior who embodies that post that's like "it's not my fault that my love language is acts of service and all I know how to do is kill". There is no Queen Guinevere here, so all the undying devotion is aimed at the king instead. Canonically has massive tits. Mihawk is thus implied to be the Lady of the Lake, and I think that's hilarious

Nami: hear me out: Kay. Sharp-tongued, rather cynical, but loyal to a fault to his king/adopted little brother. Nami as part of the Coward Trio vs. Kay being unlucky on quests and generally the butt of the joke. Isn't known to be a great warrior but occupies an important position (navigator vs. seneschal) that keeps the ship/court going. Besides, looking from the opposite direction, I just think Kay deserves to be the hot girl

Usopp: Usopp, sweetie, I'm so sorry, but I gotta say Tristan. Because Tristan is constantly lying about his identity in the most ridiculous manner possible and it somehow works. That part in Le Morte d'Arthur when he's asked what his name is and goes "Tramtrist" and no one suspects a thing even though "Tramtrist" is just "Tristram" with syllables switched around has big Sniper King energy. Also, can't forget the beautiful blonde healer girlfriend

Sanji: oh, that's the easiest one. Gawain. The Maidens' Knight, the ladies' man, a great warrior and one of the king's closest and most trusted men. If you put together Gawain's characterizations from different texts, from SGATGK to Le Morte to the Vulgate & Post-Vulgate to Chrétien de Troyes to everything, you end up with a contradictory character who is simultaneously the best and the worst guy you'll ever meet, which is how I often feel about Sanji, tbh. Would totally fight at a tournament on behalf of a little girl. Has some kind of an epic gay thing with Lancelot

Chopper: Yvain. Son of a sorceress - ah, pardon, a woman of science; associated with animals; known to be nice and kind (the Vulgate Cycle describes him as the one "whose heart will be filled with every kindness"). Occasionally goes insane in the woods (Monster Point), but, like, who doesn't

Robin: try as I might, I can't pull any direct parallels out of my ass, but I do think that narratively she can be seen as kind of a quasi-Mordred. Since her very childhood she was proclaimed to be bad news and expected to eventually cause a catastrophe, but where Mordred, whom no one tries to persuade the prophecy doesn't define him, ends up becoming exactly what he's expected to become, Robin has people who support her and trust her even after witnessing her be the bad guy in the past, so she never becomes the evil others expect her to turn into

Franky: Sagramore the Desirous (or the Unruly, depending on the text/translation) is a big, strong, good-natured knight who probably has low blood sugar needs to have a snack after fighting because otherwise he'll pass out, much like a certain cyborg needs his cola. In the Post-Vulgate, he and Mordred were raised together, which can be linked to Frobin's fates being intertwined since childhood, because I've Connected the Dots (you didn't connect shit)

Brook: I wanted to pick a character of the older generation who nevertheless isn't a mentor figure to Arthur, and I struggle to think of a better option than Pellinore - not the predatory piece of shit in the medieval texts, but the eccentric but loveable old man in Camelot (1967). Brook is also on a quest focused on an extraordinary beast! Only he's not hunting it, he's trying to get back to it because that beast is his friend 🥺

Jinbei: I honestly don't remember if he counts as the Knight of the Round Table, but I am hereby appointing him Ector - Arthur's adoptive father and one of the nicest parental figures in Arthuriana (and probably one of the nicest people in Arthuriana, period). I've also considered Galehaut for the "(partially) non-human ruler who allies himself with Arthur" angle, but that would imply Jinbei/Zoro and I'm not ready to deal with that.

[star-rie]

an au where merlin adopted mordred for real and he tries to matchmake mordred because he wants his son to finally get over his pining but merlin is very bad at doing it and mordred is just so embarassed

[guardmagicskull]

Woah boy Anon you have no idea what you've just done

Basically the first change is that Zeus is actually a good caring God who wants to protect and help people, and that ended up having consequences for pretty much all other characters.

Zeus takes the form of a teacher at Harvey's University after he's had his accident, getting him the support he needs and harshly punishing those who bully him. Harvey with his help doesn't become bitter and vengeful, instead insisting that he's going to prove everyone wrong by doing good for the world through science and robotics.

Zeus turns into first mate onboard an honest merchant ship and convinces the captain to let Crawfish (who's just a kid at the time) becomes a junior officer. He very quickly proves his skill with ships, rises through the ranks, and eventually when the old captain retires Crawfish is given command of the ship instead. When his home port begins to struggle financially, he uses the ship to bring them supplies

Zeus makes himself curator of an art museum, and makes sure to catch Widow on her very first heist. Instead of turning her in, he encourages her to keep improving her art instead of stealing it from others, and also suggests that if she's good enough to sneak past all that security she could have a future as a crimefighter. She takes him up on it, and with his guidance becomes a secret agent using her public persona as a famous artist as cover.

But Mordred is the one things change the most drastically for.

Mordred's childhood going by King Arthur myths was really not good: His father is King Arthur (making Mordred kind of a prince actually!), and there's a prophecy that Mordred will grow up to overthrow him and destroy the kingdom. Arthur wants to stop that from happening but doesn't know which child is Mordred, only that he'll be born on May 1. So he finds all children born on that day and sends them out onto the sea to drown, where Mordred is the only survivor.

In my normal idea of the world, I'd imagine this is when he washes up on the shores of Astroknights where he later finds out the truth and tries to become king as it's "his right".

In the Hero AU Zeus instead decides to intervene because this whole situation is messed up. He takes baby Mordred to Astroknights himself and gives him to the King and Queen. They're horrified that another king would do something like that to his own child, and adopt Mordred as their own. He grows up as a prince, and becomes a brave and honourable knight.

He sees Elyana as his little sister and they're very close. But as they grow up, people start to pay less and less attention to Elyana in favour of Mordred since he's the oldest child and the one who will become ruler. He also begins to spend less and less time with her as he's busy learning how to be king. She's alone and upset, feeling like everyone has abandoned her.

She begins to resent Mordred for having "abandoned her just like everyone else", and angry that he "stole the throne" from her. Eventually after they get into a huge fight she escapes into space.

Everyone assumes Elyana died in space, and Mordred is absolutely heartbroken feeling like all of it is his fault. The cult pops up believing she actually survived, and Mordred joins them because he's desperate to find Elyana and being her back home safely. Instead when he manages to contact her she attacks the kingdom and takes him away because "if you're gone I can be queen".

The player rescues Mordred, and Astroknights mostly plays out the same. Except despite everything he still cares for her, and when the portal is about to close leaving her stranded in space he tries to turn back for her at the last second.

He has an arm and half his face in the portal when it closes on him. He turns himself into a cyborg to survive.

Following all of that, he doesn't want anything more to do with the kingdom. He's extremely upset and just wants to run away from all of it. He gets into a tiny boat and lets it carry him off into the sea not even knowing if he'll survive or not. He drifts close enough to the "modern islands" to be rescued.

Black widow is an agent, so she becomes involved in figuring out what the heck happened to this medieval robot man they found adrift at sea.

Harvey is one of the best scientists, so she gets him involved too because he's pretty much the only one who can figure out how to repair Mordred's robotics while he's in the hospital.

Crawfish had a similar situation to Mordred of sailing too far from home and being picked up by modern people, so he gets called in because he's pretty much the only one who can fully empathise with being lost in this strange new world.

Mordred's bad situation brings the four of them together, and they decide to stick together as heroes defending Poptropica.

[tiodolma]

other anon child acquisition au is interesting. do you think merlin and morgana get to resolve that sexual tension eventually?

God that would be so funny coz essentially MerGana as parents is (1)their kid/charge/pet is initially in the care of one parent (2)Kid sees other priorities or is dissatisfied, (3)makes a choice, (4)then runs away to go to the other. Aithusa was like that. Mordred was funnier coz he kept switching guardians whenever he saw fit.

The way I see it... Merlin’s thing is that he keeps leaving behind and forgetting his loved ones for the sake of his liege lord while Morgana adopts everything he discards.

And this also goes for all the “morgana is unexpectedly preggers with merlin’s child” fics out there. The ones where Morgana hides her pregnancy/kid jfrom him and Merlin only finds out when the babe is born/grown. Kid grows up with the mom and totally becomes startstruck when they meet the dad only for them to return to mom coz merlin is allegiance is first and foremost to the king.

In one arthuriana if im not mistaken, morgan’s son, Yvain, was even like “Merlin is much better than you mom! I don’t want you as a mother coz you’re evil!!!” (kinda like what mordred did hehehe)

So!! With that family dynamic in place... not only will there be UST between MerGana/their kids in the eventual confrontation... there would be those moments of

-“what about us?”;

-“You have to choose between us or your master (or your cause)” ;

-“it’s either you are with us or against us”;

-“duty is the death of love”/“love is the death of duty” ;

- Rewrite the Stars (the song)

....Kind of shenanigans.

Imo UST will be resolved if they are pushed/trapped into a desperate sitquation where they have to work together. When the situation demands that they see/ acknowledge/ find a a compromise with each other’s perspective... then they will see then that deep inside both of them still care or wants what is best for their charge/pet/kid above everything else. That for all it’s worth they just wanted the same thing.

If these conditions are met I really believe that those hidden passions, their desires, their repressed hopes, dreams and attraction will be brought back into the light.

And then when it does they wouldn’t be able to stop gravititatng physically towards each other(like how it was meant to be). Bonus when the moment their hands finally touch there will be sparks and bursts of light (and then when they kiss, the magic becomes uncontrollable and there will be glorious magical chaos and celebration).

[localhornist]

100 Year War 2 - Dating Edition!

So another fate au, this time one ive joint worked on with @k1ng0fn00ts called 100 Years War 2: Dating Edition!

Set in modern times in a world with magjc, it follows primarily Mordred in a magic International School, with stuff varying from basic slice of life to angst. Of the Pendragon fam, there is:

Artoria, Mordy's previously single dad who works as the CEO of a MagiTech company, having previously worked at a security company after leaving the military.

Irisviel, Arty's wife and Mordred's step-mom, meating them when Arty's company was hired whilst she and Kiritsugu were still together, before his death.

Morgan and Arthur as Arty's older and younger siblings respectively. Whilst old family stuff meant all three weren't close, other stuff helped them grow close together again.

Saber (artoria alter), Arty's much younger half-sister, who's more of an older cousin to Mordred than an aunt. Works as a vet.

Illyasviel, Mordred's younger step-sis and a sassy 10 year old.

Shirou, step-brother who was adopted after one of Kiri's jobs.

Merlin, the adoptive parent of Saber after their dad passed away shortly after their birth, and alongside Da Vinci built up the MagiTech company and took the pendragons under their wing.

Ari and Ami (Aria and Ameli, based on Lion King and Storm King), biological twins of Merlin and an older sister to Saber

Kairi - family friend, met Arty dhring their military service. Gets away with lots because Iri falls for his sad boy act. Crimes include giving Mordy a tank.

Then there's other characters. Of them there is:

The d'arc twins, Jeanne and AJ, and their younger sister Lily. AJ is a big rival to Mordy and, looking identical to Jeanne, causes confusion for Mordy when he meets the more mild mannered twin. This little confusion ends up being the start to their eventual relationship. Lily is just a lil pissshit.

Gudako and Gudao, twins. MtF and FtM. Gudako is a rival to Gudako, however when this rivalry ends up spiraling, AJ eventually opens up to her, sparking an odd friendship that eventually goes further.

Cu Chullain, good friends with Mordy and an eventual wingman as he tries to ask out Jeanne.

Frankie, Jeanne's friend, and has non-speaking autism, and wears silencing headphones to help stop overstimulation. Ends up becoming friendly with Mordy after he shows he knows sign-language.

Astolfo, a band kid (tuber) and somehow friends with everyone - no one knows where he's from (Quebec). Also has "The Tea" on everyone, so finds Mordy and Jeanne's mutual crushing hilarious.

Lancelot, Guinevere and Mash - family friends of the Pendragons. Mash is friends with the Gudak twins.

Nightingale - school nurse, Saber's long time crush (joined Med school just to impress her)

Shakespeare - english and drama teacher, secretly dug tunnels underneath the school do he could get to both classrooms quickly.

Jack - foster kid in the younger years, friends with Lily.

Sieg and Siegfried - brothers, Siegfried is in college.

Iskandar - same year as Mordy and folks, kept back one year.

Waver - nerd friends with Sieg, both play DnD. Besties with Iskandar.

Achilles and Atalante are part of the volleyball team, Chiron is their coach.

[captain-lovelace]

I have all these thoughts about that one modern AU with Artoria adopting the Orkney siblings that I wrote and I don’t know if I’ll ever write anything else for them so:

- Agravain realized he had to get himself and his siblings out of Morgan’s house when Mordred concussed himself after falling off the coffee table and Morgan did absolutely nothing about it

- Because the concussion damaged the bones of his inner ear, Mordred has permanent hearing loss on his left side

- Agravain has an elaborate model train set. Also he and Artoria have a bonding activity where they sort the week’s mail together on Sundays

- All of them refer to Bedivere as Uncle Bedivere because he basically helped raise them

- Gareth’s really into like, practical effects makeup

- Fran works part-time fixing cars while she gets a degree in some kind of engineering (in college). She and Mordred have been restoring a really shitty car together for a long time

- Fran got adopted by Babbage and Moriarty because Victor fucking sucked

- Moriarty is Artoria’s main rival for mayor. He doesn’t necessarily want to be a legitimate mayor but he does want to give her a run for her money, just for fun and also because she’s less likely to catch onto crime things that way

- Agravain is the oldest (because fuck canon birth order). He’s 2 years older than Gawain, 4 years older than Mordred, and 7 or 8 full years older than Gareth

- Lancelot and Tristan are around Gawain’s age and they have an on-again off-again bromance-romance thing going on

- They were all fucking terrors to have in school for different reasons, except Gareth, who was a pleasure to have in class every year except her senior year of high school when she decided she was tired of being nice and it was time to go apeshit

- Sisigou is kicking around SOMEWHERE in there, being Mordred’s substitute dad. Waver is his ex

[akozuheiwa]

📖📚📓📜👀👀👀

I have like over 80 AUs so I'm gonna tell you about FOUR OF THEM since you sent four emojis, I'm sorry and it's under the cut cause it got long

Fanfic Idea Ask

1: Arthurian Aliens AU: Set in wiz-fic verse aka my versions of Arthuriana, this AU shifts the timeline back to the time of Camelot. Aja and Krel, along with Varvatos and Luug, are dropped right into the forest surrounding Camelot, where they reunite with their long-lost great-aunt Iros (an OC I reference in wiz-fic), become friends with Crown Princess Anna and Prince Mordred, and get sucked righ into the behind-the-scenes war and betrayal that will eventually lead to Arthur's death (or will it?).

2: Dark Fialkov AU: After his wife falls in battle, King Fialkov of Akiridion-5 becomes a ruthless leader and conqueror of planets, so that none will be able to hurt his family again. He detests and squashes his daughter's love of combat and nourishes his son technological skills. So Krel works with Morando in order to create deadly tech for Akiridion-5, while Aja is heavily disillusioned with life on Akiridion-5 and her father as king.

3: Fae and Prince AU: In this AU, Aja and Krel are the princess and prince of the fae kingdom, and Steve and Seamus are the princes of the human kingdom. The humans and fae don't get along, neither trusts the other as far as they can throw them. Douxie is a changeling child, which basically means the fae found him in the forest, abandoned, and adopted him. Toby is the grandson of Duchess Domzalski so he's a noble, but his best friend is palace chef apprentice Jim. Jim is already dating Steve in secret at the beginning. Krel and Seamus meet in the forest and become friends, and eventually Seamus brings Steve and Jim and Krel brings Aja. The endgame is Space Camp and Stajim.

4: Internship AU: Seamus's internship at "space camp" is ACTUALLY a confidential internship with Area-49b. So Seamus very quickly finds out that Aja and Krel are aliens and very quickly switches sides to help them when he realises, oh, fuck, Kubritz thinks two teenagers are evil and she wants to experiment on them and I gotta save them. I actually have some of this written!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this long-ass post of me rambling about AUs! Thanks for the ask!!!

[merlinfic]

Hi! I'm looking for a Modern AU fic where Arthur adopts Merlin as a child; Merlin is adamant that he can remember all the people/stories from Camelot, but it's never clear if that's true or if he's traumatised/unwell; most people think it's the latter. He is frightened of Morgana at first, and gets into a school playground fight with Mordred.

Hi anon! That’s Wings to Fly by bad_peppermint!

Summary: Arthur had no idea what he was thinking, adopting a child. Especially a crazy one. Arthur had enough issues on his own.

[mythologyfolklore]

We're adopting you, sign the papers - introduction

(A/N: A modern AU for Arthurian mythology, where Arthur is a temporarily blind pop star, the Knights of the Table Round are his band, body guards and friends. Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot are in a romantically supportive polyamorous relationship (there are not enough threesomes out there). Morgan Le Fay doesn't dislike Arthur, she's just not so fond of Guinevere (doesn't hate her either, though). Mordred (Arthur's nephew, not his son) is a scarred teenager with abusive parents, who has a parental relationship with Arthur and Gwen. Also, Morgan and the Lady of the Lake are still Fae and Merlin is now one too, because why not, and Avalon exists. And Mordred is transgender. Deal with it.)

.

In a big mansion near the Welsh town of Newport, Lancelot was standing at the hearth, cooking and making tea for Arthur and Guinevere, who were out for groceries. No thanks to the Table Round, the previously stuffed fridge had gone empty within less than a week, so his two lovers had gone out to refill the supplies. And Arthur's half-sister Morgan was coming along to help, because there was going to be a LOT of stuff to be carried.

Lancelot silently prayed that Gwen and Morgan would not engage into a spat like they did almost EVERY TIME THEY WERE TOGETHER!!!

The water boiled and the Frenchman poured three separate cups, Darjeeling for Arthur, peppermint for Guinevere and coffee for himself. Also a glass of vodka for Morgan, because nothing cheered the crazy, headstrong Fae up like hard alcohol (she didn't get drunk easily either, so Lancelot wasn't too concerned).

Just as Lancelot had set the table in the living room, someone rang at the door. He frowned; there was no way they could be back so quickly.

“Coming!”, the brunet Frenchman called out, before setting down the tablet and going to answer the door. One the way he picked up his gun; one could never know if it wasn't some stalker here to creep on Arthur or Guinevere. Or him, for that matter.

But when he looked through the spyhole, he sighed in relief and opened the door to reveal a flaxen-haired teenage boy with silvery eyes, who was wearing an over-sized grey hoodie and worn-out jeans and looked like he had run the whole way here.

“Hello, Mordred”, he greeted kindly, but his smile vanished instantly, when he saw the kid's state: his face was flushed from running, he clearly couldn't breathe and was on the verge of passing out and his eyes were red and filled with grief.

“Hey … Lancelot”, he gasped hoarsely, “Is … uncle …?”

“Come inside first”, Lancelot said and supported the boy's weight with one arm. “Warm up and catch your breath, before you faint on me!”

Mordred was too out of breath to protest or agree. He just let the older man help him into the nearby kitchen, only to collapse before they even neared the table.

“Merde!¹”, Lancelot cursed and laid the teenager down on the floor.

“I'm really sorry for this”, he apologised, then stripped the younger of his hoodie and shirt, then undid the bandages around his chest (bandages! Why was the boy not wearing a binder?!), before administering first aid.

At last Mordred's eyes fluttered back open.

“What …”

“You fainted!”, Lancelot snapped – and instantly regretted it, when he saw the other wince. He sighed and continued more gently: “Pardon. I mean, you collapsed and fainted, because you couldn't breathe. Come on. I'll help you into the living room and you can lie down on the couch.”

Lancelot had to help him put his shirt back on, because Mordred was still a bit too out of it. Then he helped him into the living room and onto one of the couches, then folded the boy's hoodie and placed it on the table.

“Stay here and breathe deeply”, he told Mordred, “I'll be back.”

And hurried back into the kitchen, this time to make the other some hot chocolate, heat up the tea for Arthur and Guinevere and gather his own nerves and thoughts.

This was the third time this week that Mordred had run away from home. It was nothing uncommon (unfortunately) and often Mordred's older brother Agravaine would be with him, when things became too much at their parents' home.

Lot and Morgause Orkney led one mess of a family life. Lancelot didn't know details, but it had to be awful. When their eldest son Gawain had left home, he'd taken Gareth and Gaheris with him (they had been nine and seven at the time). But he hadn't been able to take Agravaine and Mordred with him too and neither had forgiven him for leaving them behind.

The two never specified, what happened at home.

Lancelot wished Mordred and Agravaine would trust them enough to tell, but to pressure the boys into doing so would do no good.

He sighed and returned back to the living room to bring the boy his hot chocolate.

Mordred smiled just a little bit, when he accepted the cup.

“Arthur is out shopping with your aunts Gwen and Morgan, they'll be back soon”, Lancelot informed the flaxen-haired boy, who nodded in acknowledgement.

“Until then”, the Frenchman continued and put a chair next to the couch, “you and I will have a little talk, jeune homme.²”

Mordred tensed up, clearly afraid. It made Lancelot's heart crack a little.

“Easy, mon cher³”, he cooed. “I'm not angry. It scared me a bit, when you suddenly dropped back there, but I'm not angry. I promise.”

Mordred relaxed and finished his hot chocolate.

“Still though. We need to talk about your bandages.”

“I …”

“Listen, I know you have … uhm, what's the English term for it?”

“Gender dysphoria?”, Mordred supplied.

“Oui! That! Anyway, I won't pretend to know how that feels like. I can imagine that your breasts make you uncomfortable, but … bandages?! Sacré, Mordred, mais á quoi pensais-tu?!⁴”

“… English please?”

Lancelot sighed in frustration; sometimes his brain refused to supply even the simplest English phrases or words, so he'd say it in French instead. He took a deep breath to sort his mind and remember the translation.

When it came to him, he tried again: “I said: Dammit, Mordred, jus what were you thinking?! Surely you must know that there are binders for that and you use bandages to flatten your chest?! That's dangerous! I have seen the scars where they cut into your flesh! They were so tight they cut off your air supply too! You're lucky I knew CPR, because an ambulance wouldn't have made it in time! You could have suffocated, Mordred! Are you aware of that?!”

The flaxen-haired boy let out a small whimper.

Lancelot sat next to him on the couch. Then he hugged the younger tightly and they both cried.

.

After they had calmed down, Lancelot gave Mordred a pack of tissues to wipe his face.

“I will make us both some tea”, he said. “Chamomile is good for the nerves and we need it. Do you want more hot chocolate?”

Mordred nodded, smiling. “Yes. And thank you, Lancelot. You're an amazing uncle.”

Lancelot couldn't help but grin like an idiot.

It was nothing new, that Mordred and his siblings called him “uncle”, but being reminded that he was seen as part of the family felt good every time.

At first the children of Morgause had been apprehensive towards this outsider. But after seeing his loving and functional relationship with their uncle and aunt-in-law and how genuinely he cared about them all like they were his own children, they had quickly warmed up to him. And before he had known it, he was part of the family. One day Mordred's oldest brother Gawain (who was only twelve years Lancelot's junior) had just strode up to Lancelot and declared, that he was their uncle now and there was nothing he could do about it. The younger four Orkney brothers had followed suit (it was one of the few things they all unanimously agreed upon) – to their uncle Arthur's great delight and their parents' chagrin.

Lancelot gave Mordred another brief hug and went to make more tea and chocolate.

With chagrin he noted, that his coffee and Arthur's and Guinevere's tea had got cold and he had to warm the latter two up for the second time (his coffee could stay cold, he didn't mind that). Oh well, at least the stew hadn't burned, while it had been left by itself.

As he came back into the living room, he saw that Mordred was reading one of his uncle's books.

“What are you reading?”

“A collection of poems by William Blake”, Mordred replied. “I want to get better at reading Braille, for uncle Arthur.”

“That's sweet of you. He'll appreciate it.”

Arthur had gone blind ten years prior and hired Lancelot for help. They had become friends quickly. But then Lancelot and Guinevere had fallen for each other, complicating things. After a year of secret and shameful pining, they had chosen to come clean in front of Arthur – both of them loving him too much to want to go behind his back. To their surprise he had taken it well, especially after Guinevere had assured him that she loved them both equally. That was how they had ended up in a polyamorous relationship. Along the way Merlin and Morgan had offered to magically restore his eyesight, but Arthur had made clear, that he didn't want to rely on their magic to fix everything. Instead he had adjusted to his blindness, acquired books in Braille and learned to read them. But he was going to have an eye surgery in a few months and hoped that soon he'd be able to see his wife again and “get to know Lancelot's colours”, as he'd put it.

Back to the story, Lancelot had just turned off the stove and Mordred had struggled through the Auguries of Innocence⁵, when they heard the front door open and close, two women's voices bickering and the next moment three people came into the room, each of them carrying two heavy, over-stuffed shopping bags.

First a tall woman with purple eyes and purple extensions in her long raven hair, clad in black from head to toe and with an air of mystery around her. That was Morgan Le Fay.

Then a petite woman with auburn hair and brown eyes, who was struggling with her bags. That was Guinevere.

And finally a stocky man with short flaxen hair (just like Mordred's), who evidently had no problem with the heavy bags, but clearly relied on the voices of the two women to orientate himself.

“We're back~”, Arthur announced.

Lancelot laughed: “Bienvenu⁶. I just finished dinner, so bring the stuff into the kitchen and sit down with us.”

Arthur immediately listened up. “Us?”, he echoed.

Now Mordred quietly spoke up: “Hello.”

The older man beamed: “Mordred! What a nice surprise! What are you doing here?”

“'Sup, nephew!”, Morgan said flatly, though her eyes betrayed her pleasant surprise.

Guinevere greeted the boy with a smile.

Mordred smiled weakly and waved back, but apparently didn't want to speak. So Lancelot waited, till they all had stored the food, then chose to brief Arthur on the situation: “He came about half an hour ago and looked like a complete mess, but he didn't tell me what the matter was, so I made him some hot chocolate.”

The boy only lowered his head, sighed and hid his face behind his long and messy flaxen hair.

Arthur stopped smiling, felt his way over to where his nephew's voice had come from and found him, carefully feeling down his arms and crouching down before him.

“What happened, Mordred?”, the blind man asked concerned, “You're so quiet. Who hurt you?”

Mordred mumbled something that sounded like: “My father.” Then he bit his lip, obviously trying to hold back a sob.

Now Morgan stepped forward, her brows furrowed, but her eyes soft with concern.

She knelt before him and asked him to show her his arms.

Lancelot wanted to object, as it was obvious that the teenage boy didn't want to do as she said, but there was no arguing with Morgan Le Fay.

Her nephew hesitated, before rolling up his sleeves, revealing direly bruised and scratched arms. Guinevere looked deeply disturbed and hurried to get a first aid kit to tend to the bruises and cuts.

Mordred winced, as his aunt-in-law applied the disinfectant to the sore wounds. Once she had finished cleaning them, she allowed Morgan to magically heal them.

“There”, the Fae said. “Can't do anything about the psychological hurt though, that's old man Merlin's thing. Shit, Mordred, what did your father do to you?!”

“I …”, the boy swallowed, “… he hit me with a chair. Kicked me some. Choked and punched me … called me things …” He trailed off.

“Does this happen a lot?”, Arthur questioned, frown increasing.

“… Yes.”

“And your mother doesn't intervene?”

“Never.” A sniffle. “She thinks it's right … that he disciplines us, my brother and me.”

“Where is Agravaine anyway?”

“He's staying over at one of his friends”, Mordred told his uncle. “I have to call him later and tell him I'm here.”

“The phone is all yours”, Arthur offered and his nephew mumbled a thank you.

Then Lancelot asked tentatively: “What about the cuts? Why did you do this to yourself?”

“…”

“Sweetie”, Guinevere spoke gently. “It's awful enough that your parents hurt you. Why do you feel like you have to hurt yourself too?”

“…”

Lancelot felt his heart crack.

He had known that it was bad, but he never would have imagined that it was this bad! What more happened at Mordred's “home”, that he was too ashamed and Agravaine too proud to mention? How long had they gone through this and none of the four adults here had known?!

Guinevere sighed sadly: “Why didn't you tell us sooner?”

“Because I … I …”

The rest was cut off by a whimper and Mordred curled in on himself, sobbing hysterically. Arthur embraced his nephew loosely, mindful of his state. Guinevere, Lancelot and Morgan made it a group hug.

They waited until he had calmed down, before letting go.

Arthur cleared his throat: “I think that's enough questions for today. Either way you're staying here, Mordred. I know you're not comfortable with hiding away here, but we're not letting you go back there. I will not stand for that. Not with how terrible people they are. One should expect that Morgause – my own sister! – would've had the common sense and decency to dump that scumbag and take you with her. But no, she just stands by and lets him hurt you and your brother in the worst ways possible. That's unforgivable. You deserve better, Mordred. I promise, you do.”

Mordred sighed shakily. Clearly he wasn't believing it.

Lancelot deduced, that the boy had been made to believe the opposite for pretty much his whole life, that his parents had drilled into him, that he was worthless, useless and whatnot. Agravaine likely had to deal with the same shit.

This was wrong, so terribly wrong.

Family was supposed to be a safe haven, loving, nurturing and supportive. Not … this.

The Frenchman felt his blood boil and it took a lot of self control not to show in Mordred's presence just how angered he was.

Instead he took a deep breath and stood back up. “It's dinner time. We're having stew. Later you can call your brother and we'll give you a room where you can sleep. You must be tired. We also should find you some spare clothes, since you had none with you.”

The boy shuffled awkwardly at the reminder, that he had run away from his parents' home without thinking to pack spare clothes.

“We'll worry about that later”, Arthur decided. “Personally, I'm starving!”

“As usual!”, Morgan scoffed.

“Oh shut up, you eat more than I do!”

“Hey, magic takes a lot of energy! I need to eat as much as possible to keep my magic and body functioning!”

“Excuses! You just don't want to admit, that you have a black hole for a stomach!”

“You take that back!”

“Never!”

Guinevere chuckled: “When you two are done, let's sit down and eat already, before dinner gets cold.”

.

Later, after Morgan had washed the dishes (meaning she had magicked them clean and levitated them back into the cupboards), Guinevere showed Mordred one of the guest rooms.

“One of your cousins was here for a visit last weekend”, she said and handed him pyjamas. “These are Yvain's. He's your age and currently at boarding school, so you can wear his spare clothes for now. You take a nice, relaxing bath and get some rest. Tomorrow we will get you new clothes. The ones you wear are atrocious.”

“And good binders”, Morgan added, “Lancelot told us about the bandages and you gotta stop. We'll find some binders that won't cut off your air supply at the slightest physical activity. What do you say?”

Mordred swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, smiling weakly.

“Sounds good”, he mumbled.

Guinevere smiled gently and gave him a hug, before handing him the phone. Then she and Morgan left to give him privacy, while he talked to his brother.

Mordred took a deep breath, before dialling Agravaine's mobile phone number.

A few anxious seconds later, a gravelly voice answered the phone: “Hi, uncle Artie. What's up?”

“Aggie, it's me.”

“Momo? What are you doing at uncle's place?”

“I …”

Three seconds of trying to come up with an answer were too long, apparently.

Agravaine started freaking out: “Mordred, what happened?! Are you okay!? Are you hurt?! Wait, of course you are, that's why you're at our uncle's place! Shit, answer me, what's wrong?!”

“Bro.”

“Are Artie, Gwen and Lance taking care of you? Are you in pain? Who hurt you?! I will fucking kill-”

“Agravaine!”

“What?!”

“Calm down. I ran away, but now I'm safe at our uncle's home. Our uncles and aunts fixed me up.”

Mordred heard Agravaine sigh: “Alright. But still, what happened?”

He was hesitant, but he also knew, that he couldn't lie to his older brother.

“Father happened. He got mad and beat me up.”

For a few seconds, there was silence.

Then: “He whaaaaat??? That's it, I'll murder him! … My friend here says he'd help me hide the body and get rid of the evidence.”

“Aggie, no! He isn't worth going prison for murder! And our uncles and aunts promised, that I won't have to go back there and neither will you. They'll sue him, Arthur said.”

“… Fiiine. Say hi to them from me.”

“Will do.”

“Love you, little bro.”

“Love you too. I'll get some rest. You and your friend have fun.”

“Thanks, bye. I'll come by tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Mordred hung up and went to return the phone.

He was looking forward to a warm bath and a good night's sleep.

.

-

.

1) "Merde" - French: "Shit!" 2) "jeune homme" - French: "young man" 3) "mon cher" - French: "My dear" 4) "Sacré ... mais á quoi pensais-tu?!" - French: "Damn it ... what were you thinking?!" 5) The Auguries of Innocence is a moralistic poem by William Blake that was published after his death. 6) "Bienvenu." - French: "Welcome."

A big thanks to @saemi-the-dreamer for her help with the French. <3

[rainbowvamp]

(for the fic prompt thing) Mordred and an altar if thats okay??

This is... so long. It barely has anything to do with an altar. I didn't edit it. I've been trying to finish this for days. I hope you enjoy.

Mordred is Morgana's adopted son. Magic is known. Modern Reincarnation AU. Mordred buys a good fortune spell and it's not a good thing.

--- Mordred buys a spell off the internet. Morgana is furious, naturally. He's grown up in magic, he should know better than to buy spells written by unknown people with unknown intentions. He's already done it, so it's too late to just burn the damn thing. They have to take it to Merlin to see if they can undo it.

It's a spell for fortune, not so out of the box, but fortune is a fickle thing. She comes and she gives, but she also takes. The wheel must turn round and round, up and down. It cannot be stilled. When Merlin sees the spell he sucks air in through his teeth, and Morgana's worst fears are confirmed.

"I can't undo this. Not without hurting him, maybe even killing him. He's used himself as a binder. Usually-" Merlin turns his gaze to Mordred, "If a spell needs binding, we bind it to an object, not a person. Unless you're a cruel and terrible woman." He turns his eyes to Morgana, who shrugs.

Arthur had deserved it.

"So, what's going to happen?"

"Your spell was to bring good fortune. It will come, but it will also go. Your life will be very interesting, Mordred." Merlin dropped the printed piece of paper on the table and got up, going to a line of spell books that were older even than the warlock himself. His back is tense and his voice is lower than it usually is, almost absent. "I'm sorry to say so will Morgana's. The spell specifies your family. Most spells don't differentiate between the blood ties and the love ones. Morgana is your mother by rights, even if not by birth." Merlin pulls a book off the shelf, flips it open and brings it back to them. The tome smells old, and Mordred can feel the magic pouring off it.

"You can't be serious." Morgana says before Mordred can even start to digest the spell, written in the old tongue that he'd been forbidden to learn until he was old enough to understand the consequences of speaking it. "This could kill him."

"So could an over abundance of bad luck."

When Mordred looked back up at Morgana, her grey eyes were thunderous, her mouth pulled into a harsh line that Mordred had only seen a few times before.

"No. I won't allow it. I'll do it."

"You can't-"

"I can. Don't deign to tell me how powerful I am, Merlin."

"However powerful you are, I can't even undo the spell. The only one with any chance is Mordred. If you try it you'll just kill yourself and he'll still be cursed."

"I'm not cursed. Curses are things someone else does to you." Mordred tried to defend himself, but Morgana turned her glare to him.

"Someone has given you a spell to do that will probably kill you. They cursed you."

Mordred glared at her in a way that would usually made Morgana proud. "Well, I'll live with it then. I'm not going to let you die, and you obviously don't want me to reverse it."

“I don’t even want you to try.” Morgana’s eyes are hard, furious, as she turns back to Merlin. “And if you even think about helping him, so help me, Merlin, I will figure out how to end your immortal life and torture you before I kill you.”

“I understand.” Merlin says with a smile and closes the book. He waves one hand and the book disappears. “Best keep that somewhere Mordred can’t find it. He’s got the same look Arthur used to have. All royal and determined.”

“Who’s Arthur?” Mordred asked, and Morgana rolled her eyes.

“He died 1500 years ago. Don’t worry about it.” She takes her son by the shoulder and turns him to go. “I’ll ward the house against the worst of it when the down cycles start. Merlin, I’ll pay you three times your normal rate if you can calculate how long the cycles will be.”

“PayPal me. I’ll have it by the end of the week.”

When Mordred looked back, Merlin was going back to doing whatever unstable 1500 year old warlocks do, looking entirely unconcerned, but the way Morgana clutched his shoulder Mordred thought that was more because of the 1500 year old thing, not because there was no reason to be.

—

“Show me the altar where you performed the spell.” Morgana said as soon as they got home. “If we’re lucky, the magic might have latched onto something besides you that we can destroy. It won’t reverse it, not even close, but it will mitigate the worst of it.”

“I’m sorry.” Mordred said as he got out of the car and followed Morgana inside. “I just wanted us to have good luck for once.”

“We have good luck, Mordred.” Morgana’s voice was higher than normal, almost breathy while she fumbled with her keys to get the door opened up. “I have a house, and you, and a stable, steady job. I know you want to be able to join Lancelot’s silly little crowd of vigilantes, and you want to be the next great Druid Sorcerer, but that’s just not the sort of thing you can wish for.”

“Yeah, you do have a steady job. And I barely get to see you. And when I do see you, you’re always tired. I’ve applied at 8 places, and I haven’t heard a single call back. I was just trying to… I don’t know, get a job, get you a promotion, give you back your damn inheritance, something!” Mordred kicks a rock and Morgana stops trying to open the door and looks solemnly at her adoptive son.

“I know this isn’t the greatest life.” She whispered, her softness forcing Mordred’s mind out of itself and back into the present moment. I wish I could spend more time with you too, and that I didn’t have to work so hard, and that Uther hadn’t left me in the cold when I was sixteen with none of my father’s money and nowhere to go, but I have made something good for us here, and this spell. Mordred, I don’t know what it’s going to do to us.”

“I’m sorry.” Mordred repeats.

“I know.” She smiled softly and pulled him into a hug. “I know. I know you just wanted to do good, and help, but you can’t wish your way to a better life. Magic doesn’t work like that. You’re a good boy, Mordred.” She kisses the top of his head. “And we will figure this out together. Whatever happens.”

Mordred nods and the pulls away, unlocking the door with magic. “I left the altar in the attic.”

Morgana smiled, “That’s where I used to hide my magic from Uther.”

“I know.” Mordred shrugged, and Morgana’s smile became nearly beaming.

“I’ve raised you well.”

“You didn’t raise me. I was already this height when you got me.” Mordred couldn’t keep the smile out of his eyes when he said it, and he was glad for Morgana’s laughter.

“You’re still growing emotionally. I raised you. Grab the salt and I’m going to get an athame. Let’s see if there’s anything up there I can break.”

“Matches?” Mordred called from the kitchen, and he heard her proud exclamation from the next room.

“Yes! And grab a couple newspapers from the recycle bin. It’ll make good kindling.”

“If we set the house on fire, is that the start of our misfortune?” Mordred asked, and Morgana laughed, brandishing the sheathed dagger he was pretty sure she’d told him she had used to try and kill her foster dad.

“Maybe. If it is, then at least I won’t have to pay Merlin to know how long the cycle is.”

—

fin

[hchollym]

After rewatching a bunch of Merlin BBC episodes, I’ve decided that I want a Modern!AU story where Merlin adopts Mordred and Daegal. Even though Merlin’s not that old himself, he just can’t abandon these poor kids to get lost in the system like so many others. 

I want single dad!Merlin who eventually falls for Arthur, and I want Mordred and Daegal meddling in Merlin’s love life to help him get together with Arthur, because they just want their dad to be happy.