#bbc Merlin imagine

[gayandfairycore]

The prince, the magician and the physician

Summary when the witchfinder accuses you of having magic you must convince Arthur that your feelings for the boy have never been disingenuous. And Merlin must race against the clock to save you but can you be saved? Can your relationship with Arthur? Can love truly conquer Arthur’s prejudice?

Italics mean flashbacks

Word count: about 8k

Warning: torture, mention of execution, feeling betrayed, readers anxious, reader accepts death, canon divergence (but same overarching plot), Arthur may be a bit ooc sorry!

A/n: who’s back with the bbc Merlin fics? Me!!!!!!! Two fics in *almost* the same month-WHO is she? But seriously I’ve been writing more and I’m so glad I have I really enjoy writing these fics for you guys and to everyone who has supported me thank you so much!! We hit 900 followers a few weeks ago and it was such a milestone thank you all for enjoying my fics enough to follow!

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The witch finders arrival had you and Merlin in shambles he had already been pointing fingers and he had been in Camelot for nearly a day and already had been accusing people of having magic.

What was worse, he had witnesses. Three girls from the lower town who had been seeing traces of magic a man coughing up a frog from his throat, to a goblin dancing in the flames of a dying fire. To faces of the drowned in the well. with every confession you sent an angry glare to Merlin beside you, since he was the reason this witch finder had been called in the first place.

Fear bubbled in your throat when the witchfinder said he already had suspects. and who the witchfinder had accused happened to be yourself, Merlin, and the lady morgana.

It was day three when he found “proof” you were a witch. (Of course you were but the proof was bogus. It wasn’t yours.)

It wasn’t Merlin’s either, it was an amulet poorly hidden in a pot. Neither yourself nor Merlin were skilled with charming jewellery, and you couldnt wear bracelets whilst being the court physicians apprentice, besides when would you even have the time to charm jewellery? Between saving Arthur, being gauis’s apprentice, and watching over Merlin you never had a second to breathe.

But despite having never seen the amulet in your life you knew the witchfinder would see no sense. Men like that never would, and what was worse the witchfinder happened to be an old friend of gauis, with a reputation based on brutality and hatred. He despised magic with a passion if he suspected you, you were already as good as dead.

But you couldn’t let Merlin die by the hands of the witchfinder, Merlin had far too much life ahead of him.

He had to protect Arthur. He had to unite Albion. he had to live long enough to see Arthur’s rule And believe me There was nothing you wanted more than to see Arthur unite Albion and bring magic to the land But you weren’t the one destined to unite Albion, you were however destined to protect those you loved and some part of you was okay with dying for the cause of keeping your family safe.

and if you were asked if you regretted taking the fall for Merlin or gauis, of course you’d say no. He was your best friend and gauis was like a grandfather to you. You’d let them sentence you to death a thousand times over if it meant Merlin was safe. If gauis was safe.

“Search through that cupboard and under the bed!” The witch finders commanding voice called out to the guards as they tore apart gauis’s chambers you were aware by now that the moment he walked in he’d already deemed you guilty.

By the way His eyes narrowed like a predator to prey, the atmosphere was tense like he’d been preparing to go for the kill for awhile now. and disgust permeated from his figure in waves this man watched you like you were the dirt on his shoe, some small disgusting insect that deserved to die if he even thought you had magic.

Sharing a nervous glance at gauis your hands wringing nervously in your lap as you watched these knights destroy your home your gaze asked gauis the same question he’d been dreading, where was Merlin’s spell book?

If you were going to go down for magic paraphernalia you fully thought it would be because of Merlin’s spell book not some poorly disguised amulet that wasn’t yours in the first place.

Leon had been the one to find the amulet a haunted look in his eyes you could tell Leon did not want to do this, but honour bounded the knights more than kinship. More than years spent with each other from childhood sparring, to treating his wounds when Leon grew from a bashful baby faced boy into a lean young man practicing to become a knight.

He was honour bound to tell this monster what he found And you’d hate to see Leon burned beside you under the guise of solidarity. It was better for one to burn than two.

“An. enchanted. amulet.” The witchfinder spoke slowly as he inspected the Jewlery, every word sealing your fate “whose is this? Perhaps the boy Merlin Or the girls? Or even yours, old friend.” The witch finder sneered pointing his finger in your face as he circled gauis and yourself like you were prey

Your horror filled eyes flickered to gauis and you watched as his mouth opened and his eyes flashed with familiar selflessness it was clear, what the old man was going to do, he loved his little family as much as you did and you’d hate to see the old man take the blame for you or Merlin again.

living with gauis has already been enough of a burden you couldn’t let him die for something he had no part in (not that you did either but you were nothing if not loyal.) your heart constricted in your chest, your stomach dropping

One of you would surely be executed for this but you would not let it be Merlin, or gauis. It would be you before it ever was them.

Taking a shaky breath you stepped forward your hand out to block gauis front from stopping you “it’s mine.”

And the beat of your heart deafened you the room went deadly silent guards hands went to their swords ready for anything, in the corner of your eye gauis’s face went ghostly pale filled with horror as he watched his youngest apprentice, the girl he practically raised as if his own stare down this false god with cold eyes the sent fear shooting through gauis, you were capable you like Merlin had the ability to destroy your enemies without lifting a finger but gauis knew you better than for you to defend yourself. But you would be brave braver than anyone else.

You steeled yourself infront of the witchfinder your eyes narrowed dangerously. You did not take kindly to those attempting to ruin your family.

“Guards.” With one word the witch finder sealed your fate, looking to gauis behind you, your eyes only let your guard slip for a moment and the old man saw the burning fear that filled your gaze. As Leon’s hands restrained you with hesitation.

“you can’t!” Gauis called pointedly to the witchfinder “it’s not hers! she doesn’t know what she’s saying.” Gauis pleaded desperately after you seething from where he stood, he would not watch another child die.

you felt your heart break for the man who was like your father. “Leon, please.” You pleaded to Leon to release your hands for just a moment and the man you’ve known since childhood released his grip for only a second it was enough for you to break his hold and sprint to take gauis in a hug

Crashing into his arms you closed your eyes blinking away tears And you muttered the one phrase that could save you, that could reverse this fatal mistake, the one thing that stopped the panic in gauis for only a moment “It’s not mine.”

Before Leon’s hands had pulled you from gauis’s comforting arms, your tearful eyes met gauis and you expected to be met with fear but a newfound determination in gauis’s face calmed you, hope filled your heart Merlin would find a way to save you he always did.

Leon bent your hands behind your back and lead you down the halls of the castle

The witchfinder leading you through the halls, your Druid communication had been the most useful in situations like this, situations where Merlin was nowhere to be found

“Merlin, if you can hear this please find a way to get me out of this. The witchfinder has accused us of using magic be careful. Help me Merlin, Please find Arthur.” You didn’t get a response despite the fact You had never begged and you never had sounded quite as hopeless as you did then, even when you were behind enemy lines, in enemy dungeons it was different.

They weren’t your friends, weren’t your family sentencing you to die this was.

As you were dragged through the halls Camelot knights walked all around you, their billowing red capes with the golden dragon crest that once brought you so much comfort now brought only dread, the burning memory being wrapped up in Arthur’s cape on a hunting trip once dearly reminisced now just felt cruel.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The braying of horses and the taps of hooves on the ground as you, the knights, Arthur and Merlin set off on a hunt you found it silly to be hunting for game for fun but you couldn’t refuse the invite considering you were arthurs personal physician recommended by gauis (and Merlin babysitter) and atleast you were with your closest friends who are the loyalist of loyal.

As opposed to being stuck in gauis’s chambers mulling over books like you do almost daily you’d take any possible time with Arthur especially away from prying eyes.

The sun was starting to go down and you were too far away from Camelot to head home so Arthur called it and you’d be camping in the woods tonight, you didn’t mind. It was nice to camp under the stars with your friends away from all the expectations, The watchful eyes. Camelot was home but it was growing increasingly more dangerous.

Here, in the forest with Arthur and Merlin and the knights you were more than just a physician you were equal. You were more then just lower class, you were free and here under the constant cover of trees and the darkening blanket of the setting sun you could be more than some backup physician, you were just y/n. And Prince Arthur was just Arthur.

And if you could have just cupped this moment in your hands and held it tightly to your chest you would have.

Camped by a large oak tree in Arthur’s arms his red cape with the golden pendragon sigil covered your body from the elements keeping you safe and warm and in the light of the fire there was no fear, no worry about expectations. Or watching eyes all that mattered was being truly yourself with the man you love in his arms unashamed.

When sleep finally stole you away from Arthur Merlin couldn’t stop the question that was brewing for months “do you love her?” The young man asked scouring the ground with a stick his arms rested on his knees as he watched the couple together Merlin knew this would turn out badly his best friend, a physician with no title dating the crowned prince of Camelot? A recipe for disaster

He knew what his destiny foretold, he knew the perils and he knew that your role in destiny would surely not let this freedom, this unabashed love stay happy. There could be no room for happiness when you had magic.

“Of course I love her.” The prince found himself telling Merlin hesitation in his voice fear rolling from him in waves, by now it was the late hours of the night, the knights and yourself long since asleep and Merlin and Arthur the only ones still awake

“You know your father would never approve?” Merlin spoke assured that if uther found out you’d most likely be executed

“I know that Merlin, but one day it will be different my father will have no say and I will be king when I am king I want her- to be my queen.” Arthur’s fingers run through your hair softly a promise Arthur swore to himself he would keep his arms wrapping tightly around your waist the soft sound of your breathing calming Arthur’s pounding heart he knew this was reckless and senseless but this was love. And love has no logic.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Now a bitter taste of betrayal sat heavily on your shoulders as you were flanked by those you call friends as they lead you to your death you couldn’t blame them it’s not their fault they have to follow uther but it leaves a horrible taste in your mouth

How things had changed.

It was sad to feel Leon’s grip firm but not brutish still trying not to hurt you as if he wasn’t leading you to what would be your death. You were aware from the moment Arthur managed to steal your heart you’d end up on the gallows or burnt at the stake or you’d face death in battle intentionally scheduled by uther. He hated anyone who was not of noble blood for Arthur.

And No good ever came from destiny, and if it was your destiny to die in place of your loved ones you’d die a valiant death. But it didn’t stop the shake in your hands.

You could mask your fear you would not give the witchfinder what he wants. He would not break you.

But leon could feel the shake in your hand and feel the erratic beat of your heart from the pulse point on your wrist and he wanted nothing more than to damn the consequences and save you but he couldn’t. you could only rely on Merlin to prove the witchfinder a fraud and you to be innocent you could only pray for Arthur’s forgiveness. After your innocence is proven.

But the horrible feeling of dread that was building in your stomach as they were leading you into the dungeons a cell- no doubt already made up- And down every step you felt like throwing up when you finally made it to the bottom of the stair case the scent of wet earth and straw filled your nose the bricks that lined the dungeon and its torches that burned steadily along the side of the stairs made you feel ill.

The witch finder swung open the first vacant cell and Leon was forced to keep you there walking you the the center of the room, the suns rays that slipped through the cracks of the small window warmed your face but it didn’t comfort you, soon the sun would be your clock, your tally mark for your final night alive if Merlin failed.

Leon’s hands left yours and still the ache in your shoulders stayed “I’m sorry” he spoke lowly in your ear before he stepped away you turned to finally face your friend

“Leon, let Arthur know I’m sorry” You called to the man who grew up beside you who had been growing up pledging to die for Camelot even if that meant dying young he never expected the young girl with so much light in her eyes, and gentleness that always managed to calm her patients, he never thought she’d be the one on deaths door before him.

Before the man could reply the witch finger slammed the cell door shut and sneered through the bars “not to worry he’ll find out soon enough.”

Your heart constricted in your chest as you watched them all walk away the iron in the Camelot dungeons nullifying your powers and your connection with Merlin you couldn’t hear his reply to your plea you were well and truly alone you could of course break out from the cells the iron didn’t make you powerless only dulling your connection with the earth, the place your power comes from. But you couldn’t put your friends at risk.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

It was hours later when guards came to haul you away to your sentencing, heavy iron handcuffs clicked into place over your hands large chains weighing you down & tight enough to make the skin on your wrists rub painfully.

As Guards lead you through the castle to the throne room, there you stood at the large mahogany double doors two guards on either side as they flung the doors open all your friends and family, all your previous patients were standing there watching as the witchfinder lead you in as the number one suspect, the guilty witch. two guards gripped your arms and threw you to the ground in front of the king, a man who you’ve spent countless hours mending, and stitching up alongside gauis.

Your hands shook as your knees took the brunt of the force, your chains rattling from where you were you couldn’t see Merlin, or gauis. But You could feel Merlin’s energy over the crowd

“I’m going to get you out of this y/n, I swear.” Merlin promises to you through your Druid telepathy and you bit back the tears as You scowled at the sight of the ground. you couldn’t bare look up at the sight of morgana in front of you, of Arthur infront of you fear that you’ll see nothing but disgust, embarrassment and regret on his face.

“Here is the first witch I’ve uncovered in my short time here in Camelot. The court physicians apprentice. The princes! Physician!” Every word the witch finder spoke booms over the crowd as he exclaims to the counsel shock no doubt painted their faces you’ve treated every single person in this room and you’ve used magic on quite a few to save them. Why was that a bad thing? If you have the power to save someone was that not the right thing to do? Magic is not bad but people are.

“WHO can imagine what she could have used on the prince unsupervised! What magic she could have used and at what cost to the prince!” By the gasps of those standing around the room the witchfinders words seemed to make them angry, seemed to make the king angry he loved Arthur in his own way so for the witchfinder to use Arthur to sentence you, god. You were surely going to die.

“No.” Arthur’s words were quiet this was the first time he had said anything “y/n a witch? I mean come on we’d know! She’s lived in Camelot since she was five. And she wouldn’t harm a fly!” Arthur called like it was laughable resting his hand on his hip like it was obvious but by the look in his eye the look of realisation but you couldn’t find disgust you didn’t have time to search for it.

But It made you turn your gaze to the floor Arthur knows. he knows. you have magic. You’ve healed him countless times. no stab wound, or arrow wound could be healed as quickly as his has or all the time he’s been injured in battle only moments before, before the searing pain has been replaced with a dull ache. Or the times as a child where any scrape or scuffed knee had been eased by a soft kiss over the wound. The look of betrayal passing over his face when you gained the courage to finally look at him made you shrink into yourself

“That’s exactly what someone under her spell would say. I fear, uther that the prince is too close to her to see clearly.” The witchfinder spoke with a voice like acid and you couldn’t stand making yourself small if he was going to do you for magic you would not be ashamed. You would not hide from his gaze.

Your chained hands pushed you from your slumped position on the ground your hair messily falling over your face you stood on shaky legs looking at the people in the throne room, all your friends watching you with pity filled faces you couldn’t stand it.

It made you feel sick, especially the fearful teary eyed look from morgana like she was seeing her future you hated this.

Uthers response felt like it took years, “y/n l/n I sentence you to death.” The room fell eerily silent before a scream filled your head, it was Merlin you whirled around to spot him in the crowd tears in his eyes and anger flashing across his face you wouldn’t be surprised if the next attempt on uthers life would be from Merlin.

“No! Father you can’t. What evidence do you have?!” Arthur pleaded with his father quietly by his throne anger glaring in arthurs eyes pointed not at you, it gave you hope that he didn’t hate you enough to want you dead.

“My word is final.” The king sneered and your hope filled heart broke. Swallowing hard your eyes searched for Merlin the fear in your eyes hit him hard as he watched

you be carted out of the court room your eyes locking with Merlin’s anger and tears filled his eyes before your eyes swept to Arthur’s & the sheen of betrayal sat heavy in his eyes and before you could stop yourself you called out for him one last time. As the guards dragged you to the doors.

“Arthur!”

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The cells in camelots dungeons were always your most hated place to be from the horrid stench to the chill that cooled your bones to the straw that littered the floor In wet mangled clumps. To the extent it weakened your connection to your magic. Your magic was your strength the very essence of you to have it be weakened by the iron felt wrong.

The dungeons were perhaps the scariest place in Camelot there you’d sit, forced to rot as they’re building a funeral pyre for you and your execution is due in a day.

But you’d been there for now two days, and Day by day you were becoming more and more sure that this was the one situation Merlin could not save you from.

by the betrayed look on Arthur’s face when you were lead through the large doors infront of the entire court for your sentencing and the cold look in uthers eyes you were a dead woman walking.

And maybe you deserved it by the look on Arthur’s face as the pieces fell into place and he realised all the times his wounds eased that were not with the help of adrenaline, but magic. it made you wonder did he believe you had enchanted him? Bewitched him to love you? It pained you greatly to even think that Arthur may be in his chambers rethinking every kiss you’ve shared with one another. Would your love ever truly be enough for him to forgive you for magic? Of course he didn’t like magic that was to be expected but he liked you. At least you thought he liked you…

And He liked Merlin, he’d shown countless times indifference to magic, magic that had saved his life countless times, and still the look of betrayal in his eyes made you wonder Were all your secret picnics and stolen kisses in corridors just something to occupy him?

Were you nothing more than Arthur’s dirty little secret, a silly little romance that would have only ended in tragedy?

was it all for nothing?

Were you nothing to him?

No you were not nothing. You were everything you were his in private. the only place he didn’t have to perform. He didn’t have to agree with his father’s actions he could just be Arthur pendragon not the prince.

besides It’s better to have loved Arthur and to die for it than to have never had him at all. You may never be his queen but you were for a fleeting moment, for a fleeting moment you were his and he was yours.

And now you would burn because you loved your family too much to watch them die, you half wondered as you sat in that cell if uther knew.

If he had known you and Arthur were courting in secret and if he called the witchfinder to get rid of more than one the little scandal waiting to happen and you wouldn’t put it past uther to condemn you to death so long as Arthur is still under his control.

The longer you sat in your cell the more you stewed, a slue of emotions crashing over you, from sadness to anger, to acceptance.

You would accept the fate of burning for your loved ones but you would not accept the fate of losing Arthur. Not like this.

You would not be separated by death, if Arthur didn’t want you after knowing the truth you would live with it, but you would not live with not knowing.

Your love for the boy had been too strong you were going to marry Arthur in the future, it wasn’t to far away having a family with the prince, having a life.

That could have been your future. If you were not awaiting execution.

You sat there in drenching sadness that crashed like waves, what was worse was the sound of key’s jiggling. Did you misjudge the days? Was this going to be the end? already?

“You and me are going to have a little talk.” The witch finder sneered unlocking your cell and looking down at you with hatred still you didn’t gaze in his eyes. You watched the floor with intensity as he hauled you off to a different cell leading you through the halls past the staircase you caught sight of a shaky morgana your eyes found hers and suddenly you felt a lot more scared than before.

In the cell there was a chair and a table and a small cart of various medical and surgical weapons ‘oh shit’ your mind screamed as the witch finder forced you to the chair “So we can do this two ways. It’s up to you confess why you’re in Camelot and who else has magic. and maybe I’ll let you live. Don’t tell me and I’ll find out myself.” The cruelty in his tone made you rear back subconsciously eyes narrowing at the witchfinders gaze

“Then” you sighed shakily looking at him through your lashes coldly“you’re going to have to find out yourself.” You summoned every inch of anger and willed it in your tone. Trying to be brave despite the frantic beats of your heart.

But It was hours spent in that damp Camelot cell hidden from the other prisoners clamped to a chair and the witch finder inches from your face and array of striking weapons on a small cart made your breathing hitch.

But you’ve had worse, you’ve had to fight wilderin in hengists kingdom for sport. Both yourself and Gwen had been kidnapped under the guise of being morgana and her physician and so yourself and Gwen were forced to masquerade as morgana and yourself and you were stuck in different cells both damp and smelling of blood and wet earth.

And then there was Lancelot who happened to be hengists champion, and a champion who only days later you’d be thrown into the pit with a wilderin with no weapons with a tied up Gwen and Lancelot. Both yourself and Lancelot had stayed behind to give Gwen time to escape and ultimately were the first to be thrown in the cage again you didn’t mind as long as Gwen escaped you’d be fine.

But Truth be told the odds were very against you, but magic was always going to save you, but using it would doom you especially in front of everyone in hengists court. With the use of magic and a bloodied broken bone from the wilderins last meal made for a convenient way to murder the beast. Until another one came and Merlin and Arthur had saved you just in time From its hideous rat jaws the huge bleeding scar of its teeth in your arm made you detest the stench of blood and earth.

That was probably the worst experience of your life until now. And the scar from the wilderins teeth was still healing but the physical scars meant nothing the torture of being in a cell that smells the same as this dungeon was the worst that and the feeling of knowing your life is going to end were probably the most humbling experiences.

But, the only saving grace was that night in camp where Arthur had taken it upon himself to patch up your wilderin wound (poorly might you add as a physician it was odd to let the only man with very little experience patching someone up, patch you up.)

But you let him anyway and Arthur’s hands held your arm with feather light touches the needle threaded through your flesh with clumsy fingers the stiching off centre and rough around the edges but it was Arthur’s way of telling you he cared, the silk thread slid easily through your flesh but it pained you every stitch Arthur was no physician but he was trying.

“I’m glad you’re okay. And Gwen told me when they questioned you about any secrets of Camelot you never cracked.”

“never Camelot is my home.” You smiled at the prince but your attempt at reassurance failed miserably and he ducked his head

“I wish you, cracked. Then they wouldn’t have given you that.” Arthur pointed to the growing black eye rapidly swelling over your left eye a bruise you got for refusing to rat out any information on when guards were on duty, the way to the Camelot armory or anything you overheard as a physician from any loose lipped clients.

“I am not weak Arthur. I can deal with a black eye and brutish men. I’ve been sparring with you and the knights for years” Your eyes pointed angrily at the boy crossing your arms over your chest despite the half finished stitching feeling the half sewn wound twist painful as you did so but you hid the pain to appear strong something you’ve done since you were young

“I never said that! But you- you aren’t weak. I can’t stand seeing you in pain.” Arthur’s blue eyes bore into yours with such an intensity his eyes flashing from your lips to your eyes his hand cupping your jaw as he pressed his lips softly against yours shock prevented you from kissing back as the blonde went to pull away you chased his lips kissing him back with feverish passion.

“I love you Arthur.” You rested your head against his the exhaustion of the day catching up to you he didn’t say it back but you didn’t care he just had to know.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The memory of Arthur made you feel loved it kept you strong, hit after hit, once against your ribs twice against your face, four times against your legs and once more against your face with enough force to split your lip licking the blood that dripped from your lip your bruised body heaved in pain and still you never cracked.

“Come on miss l/n, just tell me two little names and all this can stop”

“You’re deluded.” You sneered before spitting a wad of blood into the witchfinders face smiling gleefully when your blood tinged spit stained his face but the glee was short lived when the man had sent a quick hit to your chest stealing the air from your lungs.

Before he grabbed a tool with a screw and roughly pulled your thumb into it “you will tell me miss y/n what your intentions are with the prince and with Camelot or I will force it out of you.”

The witchfinder shredded his coat as he leaned over you tightening the screw into your thumb the pressure of the screw against your finger had you squirming in your seat as he tightened the contraption more and more

“All you need to do is confess your accomplices. And this will stop.” His voice echoed the room but the feeling of a sharp screw drilling into your finger tighter and tighter puncturing the nail and skin the pain otherworldly and unbearable you tried to hold your scream back but when the man still did not relent and instead tightened the thumb screw you let out your blood curdling scream.

“WHO! Are! Your! Accomplices!” His voice yelled now as he tightened more and more gut wrenching screams ripped from your throat you would let yourself scream, let yourself cry but you would not tell him a thing.

The crushing feeling of your thumb bones breaking made your heart beat incredibly fast your other ironed hand gripped the table with force your nails digging into the wood

He still tightened the screw and by the loud haunting screams that ripped from you and the smile on the witchfinders face he enjoyed your pain you couldn’t help the salty tears and horrible screams the pain unbearable and overcoming your sense but still your mouth locked on any information like a vault.

“Come on!” His voice boomed as his hands squeezed your bicep his eyes crazed as he watched you

“Fuck you!” You screamed eyes red with tears and fighting the approaching darkness in the corner of your vision

“Aredian, sir. The king has called a meeting and requires your presence.” The servant at the cell door had spoken quietly to the witchfinder nervous in his presence

The witchfinder sighed straightening his posture rolled his eyes and moved close to your ear “no matter, miss l/n. The lady morgana, and Merlin will burn with you soon”

Your heart dropped and you struggled against the restraints the excruciating pain from your finger and the rest of your beaten body the pain in your ribs alluded you to the potential broken bones it caused your panicked shouts to echoed through the dungeon and the witchfinders laugh filled the room

“No! Aredian stop.” You cried to his retreating figure “I’ll confess to the use of sorcery if. And only if, you spare Merlin and morgana.” Your eyes close in defeat

“Good choice, miss y/n. take her to her cell.”

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

And there you were again cut off from anyone and anything unsure if Merlin would be able to prove you innocent, or if he’d burn with you, or if Arthur still even cared the woman he was courting was about to be executed and had just withstood torture. Hengist was bad but he never had broken your bones or tortured you only tried to feed you to wilderin.

The pain in your thumb had dulled but the bleeding hole had still gushed the measly bandage that consider of your dress did barely anything to stop the bleeding and the iron cells mixed with the torture made your magic virtually ineffective making you unable to fully heal your wounds only dulling the pain of your thumb.

your time was running out and you were truly alone in the cells your connection to Merlin via your druid telepathy was proving useless he wouldn’t respond you couldn’t warn him of the witch finder and by the shine of the moon in your cell you only had hours left.

There is already a funeral pyre with your name on it in the court yard. You couldn’t help the tears that slipped down your cheeks you didn’t want to die not like this and a prison break wasn’t even on your mind they’d just kill Merlin and gaius in your absence there was no way out. and the crushing guilt of something you cannot change began to pound against your skull. Were you born wrong?

Was it wrong to have this magic? This power that has saved those you’ve loved for years why was it seen as inherently evil? Why were you seen as inherently evil? All you wanted was your friends to be safe.

And between the pain that debilitated you from the physical blows to the broken bones in your thumb and the emotional pain of Arthur most likely hating you made you want to just give up.

You pulled your knees to your chest as you cried the stupid scent of blood, earth, and straw polluted your nose. And you found yourself thinking about how lucky Gwen had been to have Lancelot visit her cell in hengists kingdom determined to break her and by extension yourself out.

You had Merlin in your court but you still wished you had someone to hold your hand through the vent even if it was the last thing you’d ever do you didn’t want to die alone.

“Y/n” you heard whispered from the doors of your cell “Arthur?” You called confusion lacing your voice as your red rimmed eyes met Arthur’s and you couldn’t help but run to the cell door resting your head on the bars sobbing in relief at the sight of him the pain from your body put on the back burner for a moment.

“What happened?” Guilt filled Arthur’s heart at the sight of you, your eye healing from your previous beating and now the sight of your bloodied broken thumb and bruised body Arthur saw red.

He felt betrayed at the revelation of your magic of course but he understood why you had kept it a secret and if Arthur had been paying more attention he would have seen it plain as day when you were kids.

Your magic was obvious since childhood Arthur was too blind to see it.

“I know” was all he said eyes stoney and voice unwavering “I know you have magic the witch finder is right.”

Any hope that bubbles in your chest died with his words “Arthur I- i can explain” You tried shaking your head lacing your uninjured hand in his through the cell pleased when he didn’t pull away

“Shhh Merlin told me everything, everything you’ve ever done to save me. Save everyone. I understand why you did what you did.” Arthur spoke lowly his eyes staring into yours trying to convey his apology

“Merlin has come up with a plan to save you, he’s doing it right now but I couldn’t go another day without telling you I’m sorry you had to keep this a secret. I can’t stay for long but- but y/n I love you.” Arthur spoke with all the love he could muster placing a chaste kiss on your lips through the cell

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I was afraid of my father I am supposed to be king one day to marry someone of noble blood, but I don’t want that. I want you.” Arthur’s voice is quiet as he confesses he wants to spend the rest of your lives together

“I want nothing more.” You felt like crying he still wanted you, magic and all.

“Arthur, I was so scared.” You felt so exhausted from the torture to the ticking clock you couldn’t help but cry

“Shh” Arthur’s fingers ghosted over the skin of your cheeks wiping your tears. “We will prove your innocence, I’ll keep your secret. I promise you.”

Arthur placed a kiss on your lips once more pressing a necklace with his ring into your hand before promising Merlin has everything under control.

With your heart a bit lighter you finally sat down on the hard cell bed clutching Arthur’s ring in your hand you let sleep overtake your body trusting that Merlin will save you.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

When the bright light of the sun shines through your cell window today is the day you are supposed to die, and part of your questioned if you dreamt Arthur’s presence to save your sanity but by the slight pressure of his ring on a chain in your hand reassured your beating heart.

You were not dreaming, Arthur loves you and Merlin just spent last night trying to save you but there’s still a ticking time bomb of the noon execution and by the switch shift of the guards it was almost 12

Time was ticking and still there was no sign of Merlin you felt sick like your heart was going to fall out of your stomach

You prayed to whatever god or deity was out there that you would not burn today but by the size of the growing crowd outside the cell window your prayers would go unanswered there was nothing you could do but just sit there in anxiety

The rattling of keys and heavy sound of chainmail made you accept the fact that Merlin would be too late to save you and Arthur would watch you burn

When the knight reached your cell his keys turned the lock and he walked towards you slowly your eyes met the floor the pain in your thumb still debilitating but you held Arthur’s ring in your hands tightly if you were to burn your burn knowing you were loved.

To your surprise when the knight takes you by the wrist silver key in hand as he unlocks your handcuffs

Confusion takes over your face as you watch the knight with intensity “what?” You can’t help but ask rubbing your now freed wrist nervous when he takes your injured hand but this knight grips your hand with gentleness that’s beyond you

“You’re free to go miss” the knight smiles he looked to be a newer knight of Camelot one you didn’t grow up with but he is kind

“Thank you” you nod to the knight as you stumble from your cell gauis is standing at the end of the hallway white as a ghost but pleased to see you freed from your cell

“Y/n!” Gauis smiles opening his arms and you can’t help but fall into them holding onto gauis tightly your sobs wet his shirt shoulder

“Gauis how did you do it? How did you prove me to be innocent?” You cry your hands shaking and body weak from days spent eating little food and dealing with aredians torture.

“It was all Merlin and Arthur.” The old man smiles his arms supporting you as you walk up the stairs from the dungeons to your chambers

“Tell me everything.”you smile at the old man walking side by side down the corridor gauis’s laugh fills the empty hallway

“Not here, let’s get your wounds treated.” His eyes glance at the bruises littering your body, and the bloodied thumb

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

You had never been so happy to see your chambers in your life, the comforting smell of herbs and bread the familiar scent of old books and the sound of your boots against the stone floor sounded like music to your ears

There’s no scent of wet earth, or blood aside from the metallic smell emanating from your finger you could almost forget the pain of the cells now that you’re back.

But there’s still very obviously signs of damage done by the witch finders raid broken pots, damaged shelves potions and poisons leaving residue on the floor

But still it is your home. gauis filled a pitcher of water and fills a cup for you and once the water passes your lips you come to realise just how parched you were gulping down glass after glass

gauis busied himself with fixing his work station pulling ointment after ointment and an array of bandages from his kit.

“Sit please” gauis pointed to the table and you sat yourself on the wooden bench gauis had begun to take your makeshift bandage from your wound the gaping hole in your thumb and the blood that spurted from your wound made gauis’s breathing hitch

As he gentle distributed ointment over the wound to fight off growing infections and bandaging up the wound with a fresh bandage Merlin would work on reconstructing your thumb when he gets back

Gauis had felt over your ribs and when he had found another break Merlin would be healing that too for now gauis would sit beside you on the dining room table fresh food would be laid out gauis knew what it was like in the Camelot dungeons and the lack of food

So he didn’t comment on how much you ate when approaching footsteps made your heart beat faster and your eyes flicker to gauis his hand rested on top of yours to reassure you, gauis and Merlin would always reassure you you were safe here you weren’t trapped in the cells of your own home.

When Merlin’s figure found himself in the doorway you could see the relief on his face that you were okay aside from the bruises and bandaged thumb you were alive.

“Oh y/n” Merlin’s soft voice cried and before you knew it you were pushing up off of the table and running into Merlin’s arms

“Hi Merlin” you held him tightly you owed Merlin your life and so being in his hold meant being safe, he would never hurt you.

“God I’m so glad you’re back” his hold tightened and he could feel your magic strong and your connection to eachother he wasn’t cut off from you anymore

“I’m so sorry it took me so long.” Merlin’s guilt ate him alive as he pulled away the black eye and split lip made him see red if he didn’t already kill aredian by accident he would have and he would have made him go through what you did.

Merlin’s eyes flashed yellow and the unbearable ache in your thumb and pulsing pain all over ebbed into nothingness.

You could feel your bones reassembling in your thumb and your broken rib fuse back together the pain and bruises once a bright purple colour would dissipate into a light blue and then would turn into the colour of your skin again.

“Thank you, Merlin.” You squeezed his hand tightly he nodded his head and held you tightly in his arms

Before a smile broke out on his face “do you want to hear how I proved aredian to be a fraud?” Merlin helped you sit beside him and poured another glass of water for you

“Of course!”

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

After Merlin had recounted the entire night from convincing Arthur of everything, that despite your magic you loved him with no enchantment and even if you had enchanted him Merlin asked Arthur point blank if what he told him that day you were cuddled in Arthur’s arms if it was still true, if he still loved you.

Arthur told Merlin he would always love you but he couldn’t trust you now with magic Merlin felt like slapping the prince.

How could you trust Arthur? He’s the prince of Camelot. A kingdom that tried to burn a woman at the stake the first day he arrived and you had grown up here watching that and still you treated its citizens and royalty with no malice?

Merlin understood why you couldn’t trust Arthur he can’t. Not because Arthur was a bad friend but he’s the prince.

No one can help how they are born, but you can put yourself in their shoes and Merlin spent hours convincing Arthur and then more hours enchanting aredian.

From the tincture of belladonna, to the bracelet, to even the frog from aredians throat! Merlin would not fail.

You loved Merlin a lot no one would go as far as he did to save you and you only knew him for a year and a half.

When three knocks sounded on the door Merlin had tried to hide his smile as gauis opened the door to Arthur, in a white shirt freshly showered hair and a Bouquet of wildflowers you felt your heart melt at his kindness

His blue eyes were filled with worry and fear his gaze flicking to gauis and Merlin before he lowered his voice “how are you?”

“Much better now I’m out of that god forsaken cell.” You felt your throat close up at the mention of the cell you spent so long in

Arthur felt guilty about his actions about not saving you or stopping his father. He tried but he could have tried harder

You could see Arthur was drowning in his guilt placing your hand on his shoulder you lead him past gauis and Merlin to your room and sat on your small bed

“You tried your hardest Arthur, it’s not your fault I was thrown in the dungeons.”

“I should have stopped them y/n. I should have broken you out I should have done anything!” Arthur blinked through tears

His hand holding yours in your lap, “Arthur I love you with my whole heart I do not blame you, so please do not blame yourself.”

“I love you and I promise I will spend the rest of my life proving to you how much I love you.” Arthur confessed his eyes full of sincere love

You couldn’t help yourself but to kiss him your lips meshing against one another’s felt like home, it felt like love and warmth and like an apology all in one.

It wasn’t until your lungs burnt for air did you pull back. “I should go I don’t want anyone to become suspicious, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Arthur asked tentatively a part of him afraid of rejection.

“Of course” you placed another kiss on his lip before pulling open your chamber door to reveal Merlin and gauis on the other side ears pressed against the wood looking guilty.

“Merlin…gauis what do you think you’re doing?” You chastise at the pair you expected this of Merlin but of gauis? That was surprising

“Gauis i expected better of you” Arthur laughed from where he stood wrapping an arm around your shoulder

[pigfacedbitch]

HIIII I'm a big fan of your work and I really love it your writing is amazing , this may be a weird request and if your uncomfortable you don't have to do it , it's fine I completely understand, so it's like merlin and Arthur and the reader and they are all soulmates and it's there first time meeting each other . Thank you in advance

Modern! Reader Gets Transported to Albion

idea : modern world! reader gets transported to Albion and meets Arthur and Merlin. unbeknownst to you and the prince of Camelot, the three of you are soulmates.

type : imagines

word count : 0.7k

pairing/s involved : Arthur x Reader, Merlin x Reader

warning/s : almost drowning, panicking

here is my masterlist!

Note : MY FIRST REQUEST! Whoever you are, thank you for reading my works and I might've changed a little bit in your request. Also, I apologize that it took so long, school has been keeping me busy. I hope you like it! 😊

You've always been a fan of BBC Merlin so when you had the chance to take a trip to Europe, you did.

You went to all the locations where they filmed the series like Château de Pierrefonds and Chislehurst Caves. The last destination is where the Lake of Avalon is; Forest of Dean.

Luckily you are alone, giving you the chance to fully enjoy the beautiful sceneries and serene atmosphere.

It made you feel a deeper sense of nostalgia and melancholy— how the precious characters you loved dearly died and were 'buried' there.

With one last selfie, you were about to walk back to you car when you hear it. A faint voice, filled with sorrow and longing.

"(Y/N)... Save us."

It's coming from the lake.

Something glimmers on it's shore, a sapphire drop necklace with golden chain. When you attempt to pick it up, the world begins to spin.

Suddenly, you were underwater.

Panic builds in your chest not because you can't swim, but an unseen force seems to harshly pull you down no matter how hard you try to stay afloat.

"Help me! Please, someone—"

Air runs out from your lungs when a pair of bulky arms grabs your body and begins to swim you to safety.

"Don't worry, I got you."

I heard that voice before.

The stranger easily carries you to ground, draping a large cloak on your shivering body. Rubbing your eyes for better sight, you look up...

Bradley James?

"Are you alright?"

No. You're certain that Bradley doesn't look that young anymore, keeping up with his latest activities online.

"I told you to be careful, Arthur!"

Turning your head, you see Colin Morgan run towards the two of you with a worried expression on his face.

He looks younger too.

"Ah, Merlin. Fetch the horses, she might need medical attention. May I ask for you name, my lady?"

Arthur? Merlin? Wait... Oh my God.

Realization hits you hard when both men stare at you expectantly, waiting for your answer.

The way they speak, their clothes, their appearances... it's exactly the same in the show you binge-watch every Christmas season.

Am I in the show? That's not possible...right?

"W-Where are we?"

"Camelot."

Shit.

You expect someone to go 'You just got punked!'; that would've been better than two men (who you have a huge crush on) staring at you, confused.

You waited for a moment but nothing happens.

This is real. I'm actually in Albion.

Fear and anxiety creeps into your system, as many questions form in your head. Did I die? What's going on? What season is this? How can I ever get back?

Due to the overwhelming emotions, your breath shortens and keeled over.

Bradley, or Arthur (You have no idea anymore), quickly catches you and gently carries you to his horse.

"We must make haste!" was the last thing you heard before you blacked out.

Merlin, on the hand, knew this would happen. In fact, he dreams of you.

He sees you in vague images, like old memories— happily kissing his cheek, witnessing him use magic, encouraging him to do another trick, etc.

He already etched in his mind your pretty face, your melodious voice, your playful grin— everything about you.

Then Arthur shares the same experience, dreaming about a woman who's description mirrors yours.

Kilgharrah told him that the woman of their dreams will arrive soon from faraway land and will play significant role in the prophecy.

However, the dragon didn't specify how. He only said—

"(Y/N) is your soulmate, Emrys. She sees you and Arthur in a light no one else ever will."

Soulmates are uncommon, even for druids. Only a few were blessed, to have something so wholesome and pure.

So when he heard your cry for help, he is ecstatic. You have finally arrived. His soulmate... and Arthur's.

He wryly smiles at this. Funny how he shares, not only his destiny with the prat, but also you.

The trip to the castle was faster than they anticipated. Arthur told him to call Gaius and meet them in his bedroom.

It caught the attention of everyone. The prince carrying an unconscious woman in his private chambers will surely stir gossip.

But Arthur didn't care, and Merlin didn't know if he should be proud or worried.

The court physician said you are healthy, they only have to wait for you to wake up. He left to attend other matters; leaving the three of you alone.

"This is her." The prince laughs in disbelief, incognizant of what Merlin knows. "The girl in my dreams, I can't believe it!"

Merlin tries to hide his smirk, Arthur can be so adorable when he's clueless.

"Nor can I, sire."

[theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction]

Imagine Gwaine learning that you were afraid for him...

“Would you like some help?” Gwaine offered when he noticed your struggle with the vambrace. When he reached in your direction, you pulled away, avoiding his eyes, mumbling something about handling it yourself before leaving.

The knight sighed and pulled off his gloves. You had been avoiding him the last few days and he wasn’t sure what had caused such a reaction.

Fortunately, his fellow knights were quite the observant bunch.

“In case you missed it, Y/n’s furious.” Percival chimed quite unhelpfully as he walked by.

Elyan passed the troubled and roguish knight and added his two cents. “You should fix that before it gets any worse.”

Gwaine looked at his friends and frowned. He didn’t understand why the person he loved would be so upset with him. They rarely argued, always causing small pockets of mischief together.

“What offence have I committed?” He asked.

Leon stepped forward and gave the knight a small smile. He knew exactly what had caused the rift after speaking with you a few days ago but he was wise to know that it wasn’t his place to divulge that information.

“Speak with Y/n, Gwaine. They’ll tell you.”

And so he did. Gwaine rushed through the halls of the castle until he found you sitting on a stone bench. You locked eyes with him and almost immediately stood up and walked in the opposite direction - and he followed.

“I didn’t forget our anniversary, or your birthday. Every mission, I bring back a flower..." He began listing, trying to keep up with you. "Every morning I wake you with a kiss and-”

“I heard about your last quest.” You said simply. “You were outnumbered by a group of bandits and you gave yourself up.”

The realisation dawned on him. You were upset because he had pulled the sacrifice card for his knights to escape. Taking your hand quickly, Gwaine forced you to slow down and stop.

“Hey, hey.” He ushered softly and stood before you. “I didn’t do it without thinking but I-”

“But what?” You snapped. “I would have been at the bottom of the stairs expecting you to come home and you wouldn’t have shown. I would never have been able to see you or say goodbye and I-”

Your words drowned in a sob and the knight instantly wrapped his arms around you, pulling you in.

“You promised that you would be careful.” You whispered.

"I know. I'm sorry."

~ More imagines here ~

[specialagentlokitty]

Arthur(Merlin) x reader - in the snow

Hi! If you still write for BBC Merlin would you be able to write an Arthur x Merlin sister Reader? With the dialogue “Can you use magic?” “I feel unsafe answering that.” (from your 2024 prompt list). Thank you if you do write it! <3 - Anon💜

A/N: I realised I had spelled Gaius wrong after finishing this, but I’m really lazy and don’t wanna correct it 😂😭

You had no real interest in following your brothers footsteps to work for the royal family, you didn’t want to work for anybody else.

You were happy living on your own, away from the world with your house and your dog, your horse, your flowers.

You loved the way you lived.

And yes, every so often the knights would come to pick up your money you had to pay for your land, but since you grew your own food and sold your crafts in towns and villages it didn’t matter all that much to you.

Today was the day that they came to collect your payment, so you made sure to stay home.

Kneeling down in your garden, you were working on your flowers, carefully tidying them up and trimming them down.

You heard a bark, and you looked up.

“Rufus?”

Standing up, you brushed your hands on the cloth and looked to the dirt path where a few horses were coming down.

You grinned brightly when you saw a familiar face.

“Merlin!”

You quickly set everything down and made your way over, the moment your brother got down from his horse your crushed him into a hug.

“Hi!” You beamed.

Merlin laughed quietly, hugging you back.

“Hey, this place looks amazing.”

You pulled away, grinning proudly at him.

“I take pride in my work.”

You turned around to the knights and the prince that was with him, offering him a bow.

It was swift, elegant, you held a hand behind your back and one over your stomach as you leant down, lowering your head.

“Sire, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m (Y/N), I do hope my brother doesn’t give you too much trouble.”

“Nothing I can’t handle, thank you. It’s nice to meet you.”

You stood up, gesturing to the home.

“Rufus is no harm, I’m sure Sir Lancelot knows that.”

The knight smiled softly at you.

“It’s good to see you again.”

“You as well, I’ve got that tea you asked me for, would you like me to make you some?”

“Yes please, honestly you could open a tea shop because you make the best tea.”

You laughed a little bit, leading them all inside.

Only those three came inside, the other knights waited outside for them.

You sat them at a table, bringing over some bread you had made, and you made them all some tea, setting their cups down in front of them.

“Make yourselves at home, I’ll be right back.”

You went into your room, bringing up a floorboard to gather the money you owed before returning and handing it over.

Then you turned to Arthur.

“May I ask what brings you by sire? Normally this is not a matter for a Prince.”

“Merlin had been begging me for weeks to come, i guess it was curiosity to finally meet his sister. You’ve done wonderful things with this land. It was rundown the last I saw.”

“Thank you, the home itself was in good shape, it was a simple matter of getting some men from the village nearby to help clear it then set everything else up.”

Arthur nodded his head.

“How is it going? Have you been selling those crafts?” Merlin asked.

“Oh yes! People love them! They’re very helpful as well, especially for the farmers and the bakers, plant based baskets are easier to replace rather wood, and harder to break.”

Merlin nodded his head.

“You make things out of plants?”

“Yes sire, it is easier to get ahold of around here, they’re easier to work with as well. Especially Ivy. It is easy to manipulate the way it grows, and you can cut some away with the rest coming back.”

That was what caught his attention first, how compared to Merlin you were calmer, you were respectful to everybody even though you didn’t know them, and your craft.

Then there was your house, minimum decorations, just basic things you would need.

But outside was covered in flowers of all colours, the great wolfhound you rescued wondering in and out, and the horse outside just happily grazing in her paddock.

Arthur found himself coming back when he could, pretending to buy things that they needed in Camelot.

It was an excuse to see you, and he could try get there at least once a week since it was only a few hours there and back.

Arthur had to admit he was concerned when it drew to winter, because winter was harsh, and he couldn’t see how you would be able to survive there during the brutal winter.

“She’ll be fine, she always is. She knows how to get survive.” Merlin said.

“Merlin we are looking at the worst winter we’ve seen in years. It’s not even winter and we’re already getting snow. Your sister will be isolated out there for months if this carried on.”

Merlin paused what he was doing for a moment before he carried on.

“She won’t come here.”

“Excuse me?”

“(Y/N), if you ask her to come she won’t come.”

“Why?”

“Because she likes her own space, she doesn’t like crowded places like this and wouldn’t be able to live here for that long, a week or so would be fine.”

Arthur didn’t say anything, he carried on reading the book that was sat on the table in front of him.

“She’s also coming next week, to visit Guis.”

Arthur snapped his head up.

“Really?”

Merlin smirked a little, lowering his head as he carried on working.

“Yes sire.”

Arthur threw the book at Merlin who just barely dodged it and he left the room.

You arrived a few days later, staying mostly with Guis or Merlin if you could.

Arthur finally managed to find you while he was heading back inside the castle, you were stood outside with Rufus catching snowballs you threw.

He made his way outside, standing next to you.

“It’s far too cold to be outside.”

You turned around, offering him a smile.

“It’s nothing I’m not sure to this time of year, I was actually thinking about taking a walk. Do you know any good trails?”

“There is one, it’s possibly the safest. I’ll accompany you if you don’t mind? If anything happens to you I won’t hear the end of it from Merlin.”

You laughed softly at him.

“Yes fine by me sire.”

“Right, come wait inside.”

You followed him, and waited in the hallway.

It took a short while for him to come back, and he held out a thicker more elegant cloak out for you.

“Wear this.”

“Sire I can’t, that’s much to rich for somebody like me.”

“(Y/N) put the cloak on, and call me Arthur.”

You didn’t want to disobey him, so you put it on and he led you outside.

You could see that a few people walked the trail, but not many, and you two held light conversation as you walked.

It was nice for him to not have to act so important, and you were talking to him just like a normal person, as if you two were from the same town or village.

You enjoyed stopping to look at simple things, animals in the snow, the way the sunlight gleamed on the snow making it sparkle.

Arthur was just entranced by you, and how you just seemed so happy.

“You’re always so happy when I see you, why?”

“What is there to not be happy about? I have a home, a brother, a mother, I have friends, food. There is always something to be happy about.”

Arthur hummed a little, nodding his head.

“You wouldn’t want more in life?”

“Not when I already have everything. You don’t need to be rich to be happy, as long as you find something or someone that makes you happy it’s alright.”

Arthur glanced at you, and he smiled a little.

“That’s a very different take in the world.”

You beamed brightly at him, kneeling down to make another snowball for Rufus.

“Hey, look out!”

Arthur went to grab you but it was too late, you slipped down the hill, and he was rushing as fast as he could behind you.

When he reached the bottom he knelt down.

“Hey, hey (Y/N)?”

You grumbled a little, lifting your head to look at him.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“My leg.”

Arthur nodded, looking down at your leg, gently touching it and you winced in pain.

“Here, come on, let’s move you up.”

Arthur helped you up, and you guys slowly walked along the bottom of the hill to try and find a way back up.

After a while you had to stop, so he took his cloak off and laid it on the snow and sat you down.

Rufus laid next to you letting out a whine.

“I’ll try find a way, I’ll be right back.”

You nodded your head, watching him leave.

You knew there wasn’t going to be one, a hill like that there wasn’t going to be a way back up that wasn’t covered in snow.

Making sure it was safe, you held out your hand, whispering something under your breath, and a small trail in the snow fell away, creating a path up.

You ran a hand over your dogs head, scratching behind his ears.

Arthur wasn’t gone long, and he came back, shaking his head.

“I couldn’t find one, I’m sorry.”

He knelt next to you, looking at your leg again.

“I did find some sticks though, do you have anything in that bag to help me make a splint?”

“Oh, of course.”

Opening it, you pulled out your scarf, handing it over to him.

“It’s not the best, but it should help. We’ll sit here and rest, then keep going. I think there’s a storm coming in.”

“I think I saw a path just over there, could you look?”

Arthur looked at where you were pointing.

“Yeah, of course.”

He got up, checking.

He made sure it was stable before grabbing you, helping you up it, then he crouched down.

“Get on.”

“I can’t do that, a Prince can’t be seen carrying someone like me.”

“I don’t care, you’re hurt, get on.”

You sighed, climbing on his back and he stood up, making his way back where you guys had come from.

“I’ll take you to Guis, hopefully you leg isn’t that bad.”

You nodded, resting your chin on his shoulder.

“How did you see the path, I didn’t see it.”

“Maybe in the panic you missed it? Or it blended in the with snow?”

“No, no it definitely wasn’t there.”

Arthur went quiet for a few moment.

“There’s only one thing I can think off.”

“What’s that Arthur?”

He paused walking, crouching down to set you on the ground before turning around to look at you.

“Can you use magic?”

You tried not to react.

“I feel unsafe answering that.”

“(Y/N), can you use magic?

“If I say yes you’ll have me killed, if I say no you’re not going to believe me, and have me killed. I’m sorry but I can’t answer.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes a little bit, and he spun around to a noise behind him but there was nothing.

Turning back around his cloak and yours were on the ground, and you and Rufus were both gone, leaving not even a footprint in the snow

[iwritefandomimagines]

SWEETHEART — ARTHUR PENDRAGON

masterlist

→ pairing: arthur pendragon x princess!reader

→ description: as a child, you had spent countless summers in camelot, your whole youth characterised by infatuation with arthur pendragon. though the feeling was mutual, your responsibilities as princess of your own kingdom meant that you had not returned in years. arthur had always held hope that one day you would reunite — but when you do, news of your betrothal leads him to believe he may have lost you forever.

→ warnings: angst at first, happy ending!!, merlin being a little shit stirring prat (who i adore).

“So this is the Princess Y/N we’re talking about here?”

Arthur scoffed at his friend’s teasing grin, rolling his eyes at the way Merlin’s arms crossed over his chest.

“The same Princess Y/N with whom you’ve been in love for… quite possibly all of eternity? Who you’ve spoken of constantly since we met? Who you’ve not seen in years except for in your dreams?”

“Alright, alright, Merlin,” Arthur warned, “Yes it is that Princess Y/N. And you’re not to say a word to her. I have waited a long time for this moment and you will not ruin this for me.”

Merlin smirked, uncrossing his arms to raise them in a show of surrender, “I won’t, I won’t.”

There was a moment of silence — Arthur pausing to heave in a deep breath as it dawned on him that you really had just arrived back in Camelot.

It had been almost five years since he had seen you.

Your father and his had been close friends and allies since their own childhood, and so you and Arthur had grown incredibly close.

Too close, perhaps.

You were his first love, and he yours, and having given each other all of your firsts you had both assumed that one day you might wed and rule both of your kingdoms together.

Instead, you had not been back in so long that he had begun to fear you never would.

As the only child in a rare kingdom accepting of a female heir, you had been in training to become queen upon your father’s death since you reached 17.

As a result, you’d not had the free time to visit Camelot, much to your dismay. Arthur too hadn’t been able to visit you, and so contact had ceased entirely as you went about your busy lives.

To say you missed Arthur was an understatement — he had been your absolute world.

From the days of chasing him through castle grounds and giggling under tables, to the days of lovelorn stares and stolen kisses, the arrogant prince would remain the love of your life for as long as you would live. You were certain of that.

And to now be returning to Camelot after all of this time, you were utterly terrified — even more so given the news that you were returning to share.

As soon as you caught sight of Arthur amidst the throng of knights your heart raced impossibly fast; Faster even than it already was at the thought of seeing him.

Now, it was real.

“Is that her?” Merlin pointed a finger directly at you, causing Arthur to twist on his heel and spot you and your guards (though not before grabbing Merlin’s finger and twisting his arm for daring to point at you).

Your pace quickened as you watched his eyes widen, and leapt straight into his arms when you reached him, though you knew this was not something you should be doing in public — even if you were tucked away where only the other Knights of Camelot (and Merlin) could see the encounter.

“My Lord,” you beamed, pulling back from the embrace to take in the sight of the man before you. A man still just as perfect as he once was.

“My Lady,” he smiled, his cheeks rosy as the sound of your voice washed over him still, though he would claim it was due to the cold, “I—I almost fear that I am simply imagining you or that it cannot possibly be you.”

You giggled, biting your lip as you felt his eyes linger intensely on yours, “It’s me, Artie. The same old Princess Y/N/N. Could we talk, perhaps, in private?”

He quirked his brow as he looked down at you, before nodding and leading you elsewhere. You noticed what you assumed to be his servant following close behind, but Arthur dismissed him with haste and he hovered seemingly just out of earshot instead, “Don’t worry about Merlin. I’ll introduce you after.”

You grinned nervously, still taken aback by even being in his presence.

“Little has changed, I see,” he laughed, before leaning to whisper, “You are still as beautiful as ever.”

“Unfortunately, Arthur, that— that’s why I am here,” you frowned at the ground, refusing to catch his eye again, “In fact, a lot has changed.”

“What do you mean, my love?”

“Arthur I—, I—, I have come here to bestow an invitation upon you.”

Arthur’s face twisted in further confusion, a frown set on his face as your words worried him, “An invitation?”

“To my wedding,” you gulped, watching the colour drain from his features as you spoke the dreaded words, “I am to be married in a fortnight.”

Arthur took a step back and you could now no longer feel his breath fanning across your face. You had waited an age to be reunited and to be doing so on these terms was agonising.

“This must be a joke, Princess. Tell me it’s a joke. Please, tell me it’s a joke?”

The tears that had been pricking at your eyes fell freely now as the weight of your confession crashed down upon you.

You would never love a man like you loved Arthur — it was an impossibility and you knew it. Your betrothal was merely the result of your father’s ill health and the influence of your fiancé - his closest advisor.

You were all but trapped in this engagement, and you had to make that clear to Arthur.

Your father had intended to send his Knights to invite the Prince and King Uther, but you had insisted upon breaking the news yourself.

Some small piece of you hoped that Arthur would object so profusely that he would instead beg for your hand — because you knew your father’s love for Camelot might outweigh the influence of Lord F/N and he might change his mind.

But you feared that this was merely a pipe dream, knowing that Arthur’s pride might in fact act as a barrier to his honesty.

He had missed you immeasurably too, of course, and Merlin’s prying eyes and ears couldn’t let Arthur be so silly. He might know Arthur to be a prat, but he wasn’t about to let him waste his chance at getting you back.

Besides, he knew he wouldn’t be able to cope with the moping.

“Arthur, I’m sorry—,”

“Who is it? Who is he?”

“I don’t—,”

“I must know.”

“It— I— I am to be wed to Lord F/N…”

Arthur’s face almost seemed to wash with relief for a moment, before the former strained expression returned. Sure — he could assume you weren’t in love with your betrothed, but regardless you were getting married to a man that wasn’t him.

“Is this a strategic marriage, would you say?” Trust Merlin to interject so impertinently and at such an awkward time.

You looked taken aback, perplexed by the servant boy’s apparent lack of manners, “Excuse me?”

“Apologies, my Lady, but I only ask for the Prince’s sake because I fear he won’t, and I know he wants to. Desperately, actually,” the cheeky grin on his face and Arthur’s wide eyes told you this behaviour was not unusual of him, “Is this marriage purely for the sake of your kingdom, then? Or a love match?”

Of course he knew the answer. It was clear as day — every bordering kingdom knew of your father’s declining health, and of Lord F/N having worked his way up to become his closest confidante.

“Artie— You know I love my father dearly,” you were practically pleading with him as you began to answer, addressing him instead of his servant, “And he cares for Lord F/N. I do hope that one day I might love him. Until then… Well, you have to understand that I have no choice.”

The frown on Arthur’s face was an agonising sight for you to see.

“I’m surprised there was no marriage alliance between your kingdom and Camelot, my Lady,” Merlin continued, still smirking, and Arthur elbowed him in the side, “Ow! I’m just saying… I’m sure the King would have obliged. His heir, wedded to a woman who will also be Queen in her own right. Two kingdoms so aligned. More power. Seems a no brainer to me. But eh, a wedding is a wedding to me! Even if it should be Arthur you’re marrying.”

Arthur looked distraught by Merlin’s outburst.

You couldn’t figure out what to say.

“Right. Leaving you to it. I’ll be just over there.”

Arthur shooting daggers at him had clearly finally hit him, and he scampered off, leaving you and Arthur staring intensely into each other’s eyes.

“Do you think…” you began, your voice barely a whisper as you looked down at your feet for a moment, “Do you think that he is right? Your servant? Do you share his belief that our fathers would agree to such an idea?”

Arthur fought the twitch of a smile threatening to erupt on his face now that you’d expressed even the slightest hope that that could be an option for you.

“I do,” he nodded, capturing your hands in his as he spoke, “And I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t hoped I might have the chance to propose that while you were here. I’m not the childish boy I once was — well, for the most part — and to marry the woman I love as well as strengthening my kingdom? I can think of nothing I’d like more.”

You tried desperately to suppress the butterflies in your stomach at the sound of the words “The woman I love.”

“But would King Uther agree?”

Arthur scoffed, “My father despises Lord F/N, the meddlesome bloody fool. He would have us married today if it pushed that man into obscurity. He’s the reason our kingdoms have become so much less closely allied in recent years. Our fathers rarely see each other because of his interventions.”

You gulped, taking stock of what he had just said and pondering what this might mean.

“And that’s the truth?”

“Would I ever lie to you, Y/N/N?”

At this you sighed — you knew he wouldn’t. You knew he was always honest with you, even if you were the only person who ever had the fortune of being graced with this honesty.

You glanced around you, acknowledging that nobody was looking but your guards, and pulled him behind a wall nearby into the quiet of where Merlin had previously been lurking.

Your hands found his jaw and you tiptoed to kiss him, breathless at the spontaneity of your actions. He was quick to kiss back (and as good of a kisser as you remembered!) and before you knew it he had your back against the wall and deepened the kiss with parted lips.

You were like this for a few moments, before you placed a hand on his chest, feeling the fast thrum of his heartbeat, and shot him a beaming smile.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Where might we find your father?”

———

ok so i had so much fun writing that !!! i hope you enjoyed, i could make this a two parter if anyone would want? (either about them discussing w uther or about the wedding itself? please let me know if you’d like either of those!)

requests are still open as i’m finally back writing, but in the meantime here is my masterlist!

[bowieandqueen11]

Rosy Cheeks / Gwaine Imagine

Request: MERLIN!!!! I would DIE if you did a Merlin drabble/imagine etc. Gwaine has been the loml since I was 10 and would LOVE something to do with a headstrong maid or tavern barmaid reader and him. Like he is so flirtatious and she doesn't think he's being genuine until Gwen points out the way he talks/looks at her. FLUFF GALORE. This request is 100% self-indulgent but I couldn't resist! Your writing is so lovely and I love that you cover so many fandoms. Do what you want with this, sending good vibes :)

I literally cannot believe I haven’t written for Merlin before I think I cried for about three months after the finale aired Christmas Eve ahh but thank you lovely that’s very kind! <3

Clocking in at nearly 4,100 words, this is the longest oneshot I’ve ever written, and I’m knackered! So please, if you like this, do let me know as this took me a solid 3 days to write! 

(I do not own Merlin or its characters, all rights go to creators. Gif credit goes to @babinicz.)

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°

You would know the light tread of Gwaine’s footsteps even in the darkest of dungeons. It was familiar, comforting, and most of the time most welcomed from your best friend, but also incredibly infuriating.

It had already been a long enough day: your boss had started to become distinctly unimpressed by the sight Gwaine gracing his doorway and taking your attention away from serving the drinks until far into the night at every opportunity he could find. Between the large crowd of travellers who had nestled their way into the long tables, spilling their drinks on the lone romantics and starting brawls with the for-hire thugs, sweat was already beginning to cloud your vision. It didn’t help that it had been a warm spring day outside; the verdant fields of Camelot blooming to life with fresh grain and wildflowers cropping their borders rolled past your vision every time you went to stoke the already pounding fire at the left edge of the building. 

Wiping your forehead with the front of your apron, you blow out a sigh as you collect the next round of empty, splattered bowls and chipping mugs, and head back towards the counter, counting down the minutes until Gwen arrives and you can finally roll into bed for some much needed sleep. It doesn’t take very long for all your hopes to be dashed, as the phantom pursuing you like immortal love appears within your line of vision.

‘What’s a pretty maiden like you doing in a dank place like this?��

The face of Gwaine peers over the edge of the tavern’s chipped table like an eager chipmunk: all bright smiles, rosy red cheeks, and a mischievous glint in his eye as he stares straight at you. The crimson tint of his tilted head, as red as a cardinal and twice as beautiful, alludes you to the fact that he had probably already spent half the night in romantic pursuit of various poor patrons at the tavern. The slight pant in his breathe as he spoke clocked you to the fact that it was he you had heard pacing around the tavern, scheming up some new hairbrained joke to swat your way. The droplets of ale he wipes from his stubble with the back of his glove clues you in to the fact that he’s been here, watching you, for a while, waiting for the perfect time to strike when you were most busiest, and, of course, when the tavern owner was watching you with a scowl from the barrels.

Little did you know, in fact, that Gwaine hadn’t quite been wasting the night away waiting for the right moment to strike. He had been pacing with his mug by the doorway: half of him fiddling with the rose he has bought off the old lady outside, preparing himself to finally muster his usual courage and give it to you, and the other half preparing to run back to Camelot and go hide in the armoury till the end of time. He had heard an avalanche of pillows being thrown behind Arthur’s door as he had walked past the corridor earlier, and the familiar sound of Merlin’s wincing cry of  exasperation as he apparently dropped the King’s breakfast on the floor, so he was sure his dear friend would join him in hiding away in the crevices of the castle. Gwen could smuggle them food up from the kitchens, and he’d make Percival keep watch out the door to make sure you would never catch sight of how reticently self-conscious you made the usually so blatant knight.

Yet most of all, Gwaine had spent most of his time shaking his head with a breaking grin, strutting up and down and up and down the entrance and getting in everyone’s way. It was only when Gwen decided to stop in during her daily visit to walk with you back home after your shift, that she finally managed to grab his arm and pull him away from the growing mob of irritated and drunk carousers.

You thump the empty mugs down by his left elbow, grinning as a few drops slosh out and drip over his arm. ‘Gwaine, with all my heart I love you, but if you’re in need of someone to annoy I’m sure Sir Leon has finished with target practice by now.’ Sighing, you lean over him to grab a rag from behind the counter, ignoring the muffled shouts of patrons and wolf whistles to grab your attention.

He seems to flush at your words, shaking his head until his hair splays out over his forehead like a warm dawn’s soft and curling mist. He looks down at his feet, then back to peer at you from behind the safety of his fringe, his eyes burning just as fervently as the gold light of daybreak. It takes him a moment to fall out of his love-struck stupor. In mock offence, he raises a hand and grabs his heart, taking a false stagger back on his heels. He prays you can’t see how fast said heart is pounding in foolish, all encompassing, body devastating, stricken hope. ‘How your words wound me, Y/n! Besides, Leon smells like old goat instead of daffodils and mead. Also... I may owe him a few gold shillings.’

You turn to him with an incredulous look. ‘A few, again!? Already?’ Gwaine just shrugs, and smiles all the brighter as he notices you becoming enticed by his shenanigans. If he could just keep you by him for a few moments longer, perhaps he would find the strength to stop stroking the petals between his gloved fingers and hold it out to you like a proper ‘knight in shining armour trying to woo his true love’ would. ‘I may have said that I could win in a sword fight against Arthur - and I nearly did! If only his trousers hadn’t magically fallen down in the middle of it.’

You press the back of your hand to your nose to try and hide your snort, and Gwaine laughs pleasurably at the sweet sound. Waving away an obviously intoxicated customer who was now slamming his glass up and down on the counter to try and get your attention, you turn away from your now seething boss to look at the blithe knight resting beside you. ‘There is no way that happened. Even I would have heard news of that by now. News seems to travel faster than the crow flies in Camelot.’

Picking up your rag, you turn to move away from the man, but a gentle hand encircles your wrist before you can even take a step. ‘No, please’, he starts with a hitch in his throat. ‘Please don’t go yet. I haven’t finished my tale! Besides... it ends with me fighting a dragon, and being declared the true king of all fair maiden’s hearts by a wizard.’ With a tilted head watching your exasperated feelings flash across your face like zings of magic, Gwaine begins to chuckle through his words. His earthen eyes are dream-like as they trace the outline of your eyes, then the dip of your nose, and further to the bottom curve of your lip, as if you were the brightest beauties of all the heavens rolled into one being.

‘You promise you’re telling me the truth’, you ask, rolling your eyes while trying to hold back your own laughter.

Gwaine unintentionally drags his teeth over his bottom lip as he raises his head up again, wetting the edge of his mouth with a final slight lick of his tongue. His gaze drops for a moment, before sheepishly coming back up to glance at your growingly delighted eyes. His fingers dance a final dainty circle around the pulse point of your wrist, before coming up to draw a quick X in the air above his chainmail. ‘For you Y/n, I’ll even cross my heart.’

‘And you’re definitely not here just to cause me more trouble’, you accuse with a jab at his chest. ‘This isn’t another one of your hairbrained schemes to make me lose my job so I can come work up at the Castle kitchens, is it?’ 

For a moment, just a flicker across his usually radiant face, Gwaine looks crestfallen at the accusation. Whether it was due to the fact that you would think of him in such a way, or the thought in the back of his head that he wanted nothing more than to spend every day working in as close a proximity to you as possible, neither of you are entirely sure. He quickly recuperates himself again, and with a shake of his head and a quick wink in your direction, he’s smiling fondly at you once again. ‘You’re very lucky I like a girl who has a bit of bite with her bark, otherwise you may have just broken my heart.’

You groan, but the man standing in front of you, plain as day as he holds his love out to you on a silver platter, is still hopeful in his smile. 

Distracted for a moment by a weary patron politely tapping you on the shoulder and enquiring as to whether he can purchase some late night grub from this tavern, you don’t notice Gwaine playing back and forth with his hand. After you’ve answered the gentleman, you swing back towards your best friend, who looks as if he’s been caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. Wide eyed, he swings his right hand back behind his back and coughs innocently.

‘What in all the kingdoms are you doing?’, you ask him as you narrow your eyes, trying to figure out why the knight looks so daunted. 

With a quizzical frown, you grab onto his shoulder and try to peer around the chainmail engulfing his torso, but with every move you make he matches it with a swivel of his head. His smile never falters, but the edges seem to quiver a little... almost as if he were embarrassed? As if he were bashful at being caught hiding something from you. You drop back down onto the balls of your feet and raise an eyebrow at him, both deeply puzzled but also determined to find out what secret the man, who usually gushed every little detail of his day to you as soon as you met, could be hiding.

‘Now now’, he chides, ‘it’s not polite to ask a knight what he’s hiding behind his back. I could be holding keys to the dungeon, sent on a secret mission by Gaius to infiltrate the castle and release Merlin, especially after Arthur locked him up again for spilling shoe polish all over his pretty new tunic. Or, it could be a powerful artefact, or a relic I won on my quest to slay, you know, that dragon I told you about.’ You lift a hand up and gently slap the side of his cheek a couple of times. Gwaine raises his eyes to the ceiling, chewing the inside of his cheek in humorous anticipation. 

‘Or, you could have injured your hand giving Sir Elyan a piggyback ride to the jousting arena again, and don’t want to tell me about it. Or, even more likely, Arthur managed to knock you on your bottom during your sparring match, and you landed on your wrist like the big fool you are.’

Gwaine scoffs, opening his mouth quickly, his tongue ready with a new witty retort to your brazen appraisal. Before he can reply, though, Gwen has nearly shocked you out of your skin by seemingly appearing out of thin air to grab the side of your arm. With one hand resting on your bicep, her other comes around your other shoulder, and she whispers quietly in your ear: ���Y/n, may I speak with you for a minute before you finish?’ You nod, and with a final teasing smirk at the knight, you allow Gwen to guide you away towards the fireplace, and through the milling crowd of tipsy drinkers and cheeringly clamorous guests. Gwaine watches you recede through the throng with a pang in his heart, taking the flower out from behind his back and looking at it forlornly as he begins to run his fingers over the velvet petals. 

‘She loves me’, he murmurs, letting them fall through his fingertips. ‘She loves me not.’

If only he could stop flirting for one moment, then perhaps he may have had the chance of being truly happy. With a final sigh, he places the flower between his fingers and heads back out into the crowd.

Thankfully for you both, Gwen had been as good-hearted and observant a friend to you both as she had ever been. Once she had finally managed to persuade Gwaine to approach you, she had settled herself into a corner of the tavern, to watch the confession she knew in her heart was coming. In fact, you had an incredibly wonderful network of kind friends, as Gwen would soon divulge to you, once she had tucked the two of you back into the corner and away from the ears of any passing gossips.

‘Y/n, she started’, letting go of you and glancing back in Gwaine’s general direction with an apprehensive peer. ‘Why on earth aren’t you flirting back with the poor man?’

You stare at her in bemusement. ‘Gwen, my dearest friend’, you grab both her hands within your own, and familiarly begin to rub your thumb over the back of her knuckles. ‘As long as I’ve known Gwaine he’s flirted with any breathing, moving woman. For instance, I remember a certain someone being wooed by said knight only ten minutes after he had set foot in Camelot!’ You swing your joint arms between your chests, and give her a comforting look. ‘He’s a dear, dear friend, just as you are, but he’s not serious Gwen.’

‘Oh Y/n, that was different’, Gwen swings back and forth on her feet, ducking her head as she thinks of the best way to relate to you what poor Gwaine had been so poor at trying to tell. ‘Sir Gwaine may be a flirt, but he loves you.’ Before you can even open your mouth to laugh, or shout, or groan, Gwen has gripped your fingers tighter and pulled you another step towards her. ‘And! And, he’s in love with you. How can you not see it?’

Your mouth stutters for a moment, the flickering of the settling fire warming the growing blush on your cheeks until you wish you could fade back into the shadows. Falling backwards, you trust your friend to catch your fall as you lean against the cobblestone wall and stare, gobsmacked. Gwen only nods fervently at your speechlessness, and you can tell by the seriousness lining her face, by the eagerness in her eyes, that she’s telling the truth.

‘Wh-what?’, you finally manage to muster out after a few seconds shock. ‘We’re... we’re friends. We’re friends! He treats me like a friend, like, like he would talk to any of the knights, or Merlin, or, or you!’

‘That’s not true’, she replies, disappointed. 

‘How do you know?’, you ask in a whisper, afraid to hear the answer.

‘I have eyes! Besides, Merlin told me.’

‘About my crush on Gwaine? That little tattletale-’, you begin to rile up, but Gwen could tell from the way you gnashed your teeth and shook your head that you weren’t seriously angry at your friend. You were just disappointed: devastated, even, by the thought of your friends using your infatuation as a source of teasing.

‘Not about you!’, Gwen was quick to correct. ‘Although... that may have come up, just a little.’ She pinches her fingers together and squeezes her eyes shut in apology at the brimming look of annoyance you give her. ‘More about Gwaine though! Apparently, Sir Leon told him in the strictest confidence’, you laugh at that, knowing your friends too well, ‘that every time he’s passed by the armoury in the last two weeks during his nightly rounds, he’s heard Gwaine’s voice echoing inside, practicing to the shields and crossbows how he’s going to admit his feelings for you!’

That... that startles you. With a languid blink, you take a moment to think, before asking Gwen: ‘did Merlin tell you what he was saying?’ 

Gwen places a finger to her chin. ‘I believe it was something along the lines of: ‘my dearest Y/n, from the first moment I was graced with your company, I knew that you would be the only creature in all the kingdoms to hold my heart, forever.’ Sensing your silence, as you dip your eyes and ponder over her words, your friend continues. ‘Besides, Leon’s not the only one! I heard that Gwaine admitted to Percival, I believe during one of their quests, when they were faced with the Dorocha and of uncertain death, that Gwaine admitted his love too. I think while they were roaming the castle, to try and lighten the mood he told Percival that the first day he had met you in this tavern was the best day of his life, and how he wanted to live so he may return to it once more.’

‘See!’, you finally spring to life, throwing a dirty glance at an old drunkard man who was leaning precariously over his table to lean his ear closer to your conversation. With a final swat of your rag in his general direction, you turn back to the intense conversation at hand. ‘He only admitted he missed the tavern!’

‘No Y/n, if you let me finish, he said that he wanted to return as he had made a promise to himself, all those years ago, that he was going to marry you one day. Do you really find it no coincidence that as soon as Camelot was saved, you were the first person he sought out?’

‘He did hug me rather tight’, you murmur, crossing your arms over your chest and chiding yourself for being so blind. ‘Oh Gwen, how could I have been such a fool too? How can I fix this? He must hate me for the way I’ve treated him.’

Before you can finish your musing thought, Gwen has stepped forward to wrap you in a tight hug, squeezing your shoulders before letting go. Sliding her arms down to your waist, she shakes her head. ‘No one could ever hate you, Y/n. And the solution is simple. Go tell him.’

Glancing out across the tavern hall with worry lines deepening your eyes, your heart is relieved to spot Gwaine still milling about; he seems to be entrenched deeply in an arm wrestle with some young, muddy looking farmer, but you can tell his heart isn’t really in to win. Over the course of your conversation with Gwen, he’s spent every excusable reason to glance over his shoulder and back at you. To make sure you were safe. To make sure no one was hassling you. To make sure Gwen wasn’t going to break your heart by indulging his true feelings for you. To make sure you weren’t about to push through the crowd and run out the door, disgusted by the idea. His eyes met yours: aflame, tense, deep set in their worry, and he’s quick to look back down at his elbow again.

How could it really have taken you so long? To realise that his bitten, plump lips, his rosy cheeks, his overwhelming joy was all solely from the thought of you?

With a resolute gasp, you allow Gwen to gently push you off in his direction, despite how thunderously your pulse was flickering through your body. You nod, and let your feet direct your path, not giving yourself a moment to think over the implications of the incoming interaction. After what feels like an eternity of treading water, you come to an uncertain stop behind the three men. Although Gwaine is still chatting with the green-clad man he had been wrestling innocently with earlier, the other crop gatherer seems to have fallen asleep on the table, his crossed arms pushing his mug of ale until it rested against his nose.

Mustering determination, you quickly prod Gwaine three times against his cape, taking a worried step back as he quickly turns to look at you once again. ‘You just couldn’t stay away’, Gwaine remarks with a warm smile when you finally garner the courage to approach the table he’s currently leaning over. ‘I can’t blame you, not many can.’ With his thumb, he points over at the young man gently beginning to snore on the opposite end of the table. ‘This poor lad grew so tired of my wit and charm he had to close his eyes for a bit.’

He stands up, giving a final wink and a nod at his short-lived companions. His tall frame hunches over you as he steps forward, blocking out the rest of the flitting candlelight from the east end of the tavern; the front of his chainmail brushes against where your hands are bunched into the coarse linen of your apron, sending a jolt flying along your fingertips. He seems to be casing you into his very being, that same soft - so soft dopey smile breaking like dawn across his face as he appraises you from above.

Before he can start whittling off again, and you lose your garnered nerve, you break the laden silence by asking Gwaine the most important question you could think of in that moment.

‘What were you hiding behind your back?’

Gwaine seems taken aback by your query, visibly raising his eyebrows as he begins to bite his bottom lip again. You know him to well to think him puzzled: he’s worried, scared that Gwen may have told you the truth, and you have come waltzing over to tell him off, and in doing so, cleave his heart clean in two.

‘Do you - do you really want to know?’, he asks uncertainly, taking the flower out from where he had stored it in his belt for safekeeping, before placing it behind his back once more. You’re swift to reach around his waist, skirting your pointer finger over the bone until you meet his hand. He gives it to you easily, his palm warm and laden with scars as he allows you to unfurl his fingers.  

‘I think... I think I already do’, you reply with a hitched breath, enjoying the way Gwaine has taken to rubbing the tips of your knuckles as you press against his palm. Before you can lift the flower, though, he’s already using his free hand to tuck a strand of hair back from your ear. With a careful precision he’s obviously spent many nights over the years practicing, and doting on within his dreams, he tucks the stem of the flower behind your ear.

‘Well, I’m glad’, he states, dropping the back of his own knuckles down the side of your cheek, until he’s cupping your jaw. Your pulse point races against his skin as he dips his head down with a flash of pearly whites, not satisfied until he feels your nose bump against the tip of his own. ‘For I fear it has been my quest in life to find you, and love you till the end of days.’

‘Hmm, and a knight must never fail’, you mutter between laughter against the side of his mouth.

His voice is stricken: as serious as you’ve ever heard the rebellious man speak, and you know he has choked trying to speak these words many times before. 

‘I don’t intend to.’

A rapturous wave of applause seems to fill the serene air (even your grumpy old boss manages to roll his eyes and pound the table a little), so dreamlike in its warmth, as Gwaine leans down fully to kiss you. His arms wrap around your waist, seeming to pull you in their vice like grip impossibly close to his chest, until the air you both breathe seems to be one and the same. You can feel him smile against your top lip as he tenderly places a second, lingering, caressing kiss against it, before pulling away to look at you.

Before either of you can breathe out a sigh of relief, though, you’re interrupted by the sound of Gwen cheering from the fireplace. The two of you finally break out in laughter, then, doubling over together and holding onto your stomachs as Gwen covers her mouth with her hand in embarrassment. 

[beautifultypewriter]

Good day~ For another "Mystical Magical Saturday" event may I choose Sir Leon, please? Many thanks as always~

P.S. Don't forget about taking care of your body emotionally, physically, and mentally. Drink enough water, eat healthy food (fruits and veggies, yum!), get enough sleep, take a bubble bath and just relax~ You're amazing, remember it!

(っᵔ◡ᵔ)っ(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

Aww thank you. This one is really short and I’m sorry, but I hope you like it!

The Prompt: “Hold me.”

You had taken to pacing the room. Embroidery had become tedious, the words of your book had started to blend together, and sleep was impossible. So you paced the stone floor of your shared bedroom, twisting your fingers together and biting your lip. You had always hated when he went out with the king and the other knights, but this particular mission had made you more uneasy than any other one had. And the worst part of it was that you couldn’t figure out why. It was pretty standard compared to some of the other quests Leon had found himself on, but your stomach felt heavy and your heart clenched with each turn of your feet.

The door to your room was slowly pushed open and you turned quickly to see a weary and beaten Leon step into the room. You were frozen in place, your eyes moving over his tired body. He stepped further into the room, his head hanging, dirty curls falling in his half opened eyes. His arms looked heavy, hanging at his sides as he shuffled along, his feet barely lifting from the floor. As the door slipped shut and Leon lifted his head, his eyes met yours. That was all you needed to rush forward, your hands grabbing Leon’s as he leaned in close to you.You looked up at him, “What happened?” Leon shook his head and you frowned, “Is everyone alright?” He nodded and you felt some of the weight lift from your chest.

You started to lead Leon over to the bed, wanting to get him off his feet before he fell to the floor. He stopped short though. You turned quickly, searching his face, “What is it? What do you need?”

Leon’s eye met yours, “Hold me.” His voice was rough and you could see his eyes start to water. You smiled gently and nodded as you held your arms out to him. The knight fell into you, his head resting against your shoulder and his own arms wrapping tightly around your waist. You ran a hand through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. Leon sighed as he pushed in even closer to you, his breath fanning over your neck. You whispered comforting words into his ear, your hand rubbing slow circles on his back.

[writeroutoftime]

bbc merlin

-merlin-

Trustworthy- After meeting Merlin unexpectedly, you aren’t sure if you can trust him or not

We Need You - You have something important to tell Merlin, but will you get the chance to?

-arthur pendragon-

Snowball Fights

Being Married to and Having Twins with Arthur Pendragon Would Include…

Dating Sir Leon/Dating Mordred Would Include…

[thee-bat-boys]

Always interested in an imagine with Sir Leon ;)

*if the gif is yours please let me know and I'll credit you/take it down*

warnings; eludes to some kind of torture but not explicit

a/n; i hope you like it! Let me know what you think, I love writing for Leon!

sir leon x reader.

❃❃❃❃❃

Imagines flashed in y/n's mind; Morgana with an unkempt appearance and eyes full of hate. Of Merlin, arms attached to chains and strung above him. Gwaine with sweat dripping from his face as he struggled against rope. Leon, eyes focused on her but instead of love they were filled with concern and a look of betrayal plastered on his face. Y/N fought for a moment, eyes shooting open to see the canopy that sat above her bed.

Feeling frantic as she fought to sit up, her eyes scanned the room until they landed on a familiar man. "Gaius, what happened?" She was met with silence, the older man tending to her before attempting to help her get comfortable. "Gaius." Her tone was firm, a sigh coming from the physician.

"What do you remember?"

"Nothing." It wasn't a lie, y/n would never believe that her dream might have once been a reality. Such a thought was quickly shattered as Gaius described the events that had transpired the past few days. There was silence, y/n not daring to look Gaius in the eyes. She hadn't realised he'd left until the door clicked and a flash of red met her.

Y/n took one look at Leon, his face bruised with a cut lip, and burst into tears. She'd caused this, even if she had been enchanted it had still been her. As Leon moved to comfort her, y/n shook her head and held her hands out to stop Leon in his tracks.

"Y/n...please."

Through her tears she looked at Leon. "No, you shouldn't be here." Leon looked confused, just as he had in her dream, wondering why his wife of merely a week didn't want him to comfort her. "I did that," she gestured to his face "I'm not a safe person."

It quickly dawned on Leon what y/n was talking about and he moved forward despite her protests.

Leon took a seat beside her on the bed, taking y/n's outstretched hands in his own. "That wasn't you." His voice was soft as he spoke, as if he was trying not to spook her. He brought her hands up to his mouth and kissed each one gently.

"The woman i love is in this bed. You, my darling wife, are safe in this bed and you are a safe person. I promise."

Y/n seemed to visibly calm down, allowing Leon to move closer to her. As he did so he kept his eyes on her and made sure their hands remained entwined. He was trying as hard as he could to remind y/n that she was safe, that he felt safe around her - it seemed to be working.

"I'm just happy to have you back." Leon tried to stop his voice breaking as he spoke, failing. "The bright light in your eyes that I fell in love with was gone, there was no laughter to be heard down the halls of Camelot and I thought you were lost to me. I thought i had lost the one good thing I have."

Y/n, hearing the pain in his voice, leaned over and kissed Leon as passionately as she haf on the wedding night. Leon winced, cut lip hurting, but he didn't dare pull away from his wife until she was ready.

"I don't know where I went or what happened but I'm back, I promise." She repeated his earlier words, keeping a hold of his hands.

"I'm back."

[gayandfairycore]

Just hold me

Summary: y/n pendragon, is well protected by the knights of the round table and her big brother but when they’re ambushed in the woods and the capable princess is hurt, Gwaine comes to her rescue. But is he too late to save her?

A/n: I love my Irish husband!! gwaines one of my absolute favourites, I Also couldn’t resist making him reader’s bodyguard ahh so cute!! Princess x bodyguard trope or well Princess x knight. I swear it does end in fluff (nothings ever permanent) Also c/h/n means childhood nickname.

Warning: blood, fighting, reader stabs people, readers kinda savage, until she gets owned, angst, major character death, gwaines a little ooc, grammar mistakes.

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

The, cool breeze of the forest blew through your hair as the horses continued their trot through the woods neighbouring Camelot, your friends hyper aware of every sound, of every creak in the trees, that blew the leaves. They were wary of every rustling of breeze, and every old muddy footprint.

Everyone on edge since morgana turned a new leaf, and decided her siblings were her enemy and the crown was her life’s purpose, it made a heavy sadness linger in your heart. A great deal of dread that made your skin itch.

Your e/c eyes observed the surroundings, Arthur infront, Merlin beside him, you behind Merlin Gwaine next to you, and the rest of the knights littered all around you all in a protective circle, so that if your sister crawled out from the wood work and decided to attack you they would be ready. And prepared for a fight with the witch.

Out of the both of you Arthur had been taking her betrayal harder than you, he had been sulking in his room with Merlin more than usual and the loss of your father, it was a wound too fresh for the man.

From morganas betrayal, to uthers death, magic seemingly left only destruction in its wake, and Arthur’s life felt like it was falling apart. you were Arthur’s only hope.

the only one he had still on his side. still alive. If the boy was protective before he became even more protective after your sisters betrayal, so protective he assigned gwaine as your personal knight.

Smooth talking, drunk, sticks his hands in beehives, Beautiful, talented, quick witted, gwaine. You never wanted a personal guard but he was talented with a sword, and it helped he looked good in the uniform. So you weren’t too angry at your brother thinking you needed protection, you were fully capable of course you’d been sparing with Arthur since you were kids and beating him for just as long.

But no matter your skills you were defenceless against your sisters magic. everyone was.

You let out a nervous breath at the thought, the hairs on the back of your neck started to stand up your purple velvet cape obscuring your face but still you felt bare, like there were eyes on you.

Whirling your head around your eyes bore into the wooded bush a few meters away looking for any movement or any sign of life, you observed the bush with narrow eyes, paranoid.

“Are you alright Princess?” gwaine asked his horse matching your pace beside you, as he leaned to your ear, his hot breath fanning your face as he whispered. His brown eyes staring protectively at you.

“Hm? oh- yes fine…” you trailed off eyes never leaving the trees, your heart dropped to your stomach as you gripped the reigns tightly in your hands the leather straps rough against your skin as you squeezed tightly.

your twin daggers strapped to your hips, their weight giving you a sense of comfort as your brain started to catastrophize.

“You don’t look alright.” Gwaine pressed, his eyes flickering over your face protectively, You could tell he didn’t believe a thing you said. Ignoring the fluttering in your chest you couldn’t stop looking at the woods around you something felt off.

“There’s nothing there, princess.” The man reassured his voice stern but gentle, his hand placed over yours on the reigns. And his comforting hands over yours made you release your bruising grip on the reigns.

“I know, I just have…a bad feeling.” You murmur, your eyes swimming with worry a mix of familiar paranoia, and intuition.

gwaine was inclined to believe you and your bad feeling when he caught sight of a dark figure hidden behind trees.

The man had been hiding his own unsettling feeling since the moment your group ventured further into the forest, but Arthur appeared unaware of his sister, and her guards paranoia as he commanded the group, “we’ll stop here, let the horses rest.”

Arthur always had a voice that seemingly echoed even if he didn’t want it too, and by his tone of voice he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Your eyes locked with Gwaines and it appeared the man didn’t have enough energy to mask his emotions this time. Anxiety was present in his eyes. A wave of nausea washed over you.

As Arthur lead the seven of you to a small grassed area surrounded by trees a small stream only a few steps away the soft continuous flow of water hid the shakiness of your breaths as you shrugged your leg over your stallion, your leg leaving his stirrup as you hit the floor, Gwaine already circling around to you his reigns in hand as you lead your horses to the river.

“I have a bad feeling still. and I know you do too. Do not lie to me gwaine.” You pleaded to the man as you lead your horse to the stream and your hands run over your horses back as he drinks beside you. The cool breeze blowing under your cape.

“Please, Princess. I don’t want to worry you.” Gwaine eventually says his gaze lowered onto the stream at your feet.

“Please gwaine, you know nothing scares me.” You tease bumping his arm with yours but your voice betrays you it shakes as you speaks. you had lied to him you were scared. who wouldn’t be, you may have had the knights of Camelot to guard you but it would do nothing if you were caught by surprised and surrounded. Which was easier to do the longer you waited.

Gwaines gloved hand came out to hold yours in a tight grip, “nothing will happen to you princess I swear.” The dark haired man promises his dark eyes stern with promise.

Before you could reply to the man the whiz of an arrow souring past your head and shouts of your friends alert you to your fears and you whip your head up quickly looking into the trees around you, a large group of 60 men clad in dark clothes surrounded you.

Bandits working for morgana, great.

Sharing a look with Gwaine the man draws his sword and a smug smile graces his lips at the idea of a fight and you can’t help but think he looks really hot but the fight around you snaps you from your daydream and alerts you to pull your daggers from their sheaths.

And they glint dangerously in the light the shouts of your friends in your makeshift camp only a few few feet away, fades into nothingness far too focused on yourself and gwaine to worry for your friends. They had more knights than you and Gwaine did.

But by the sheer volume of bandits around, you and gwaine began to realise just how much trouble you’re really in. gravitating toward eachother you stood back to back as the leering bandits drew closer.

“Stay close Princess I’ll take majority. if they come at you, you know what to do?” Gwaine asked his sword out infront of him protectively

“Kill em?” You look up at the man with a tilt of your head a mischievous look in your eyes and the knight beside you laughs

“Yeah, kill em.” The raven haired man looks at you with a smug, slightly proud smirk on his face and he gentle elbows you to focus,

So you Hold up your daggers to protect your face an equally smug smile draws across your lips and in a blink of an eye the fight begins.

the silver sword of one man goes to come down on you and you parry it with ease holding it away from you as you slash across his chest with your other dagger, as his body leans to the side you plunge your weapon into his chest his blood staining your silver blade, and you watch in morbid curiosity as the man groans and he falls to the forest floor dead.

You don’t bat an eye at the corpse, Instead you find yourself ducking a long sword from another bandit as the whiz of arrows fly around you, you can’t see Gwaine in your periphery too busy avoiding the large man infront of you as he stalks toward you. no matter your height he seems to be giant.

“You’re going to die little dragon.” He laughs his voice like charcoal and his sword held easily in his hands

“No. I’m not.” You sneer spinning your dagger in your hand and planting your feet into the mud more as he goes to slash at your torso you leap backwards out of the way, he’s as slow as he is big but the power of his hits shake the very earth beneath your feet.

And what’s worse his powerful hits are full of accuracy, as he whirls around to hit you again and both daggers go to hold him off, the sounds of your blades grinding together hurts your ears and you grind your teeth determined to not die by this giant.

pushing his sword to the ground you surge forward planting your dagger into an artery by his leg in retaliation the giants blade comes towards you at full force his swing takes you off guard and you narrowly miss his blow that was meant to sever your head from your neck. and in doing so you don’t pay attention to the pain that lands itself in your shoulder.

The adrenaline masks any pain, but you’re angry now the smug smile of the bandit infront of you angers you so much you take your dagger in your hand and fling it into the eye of the giant Infront of you and the sharpness of your dagger embeds itself into his eye socket. His eye makes a horrid squish as blood and juices squirt. And the man drops dead beside you. Bus long sword falling beside him.

You sneer and grab your dagger from his eye and as you pull it from the socket more blood squirts, you exclaim in disgust as his blood stains your face

An angry shout from a small dirty blonde bandit fills the air as he makes quick action toward you his battle cry falling on deaf ears and you go to throw your dagger, gwaine beats you too it his sword lacerate the man’s throat and he falls dead easily.

Breathing a sigh of relief you look to the brunette knight and he nods in respect before going to fight more of the approaching bandits.

The sound of twigs breaking behind you urge you to duck and you narrowly miss a sword meant for your head instead you grab the man’s arm and fling him over you as he hits the ground with a groan, he lays underneath you as you prepare to plunge your dagger in his chest. his legs sweep yours and you too end up on your back beside the man and your weapon lays just out of reach as the man crawls ontop of you.

His hands grip your throat tightly and your eyes blow wide in panic as your claw at his hands it’s useless so your fingers vacate to his face and your fingers lodge into his eye sockets as his grip on your throat tightens

“Come on!” Your mind screams at you as blackness swims in your vision before a sword lodges through the man’s chest and drenches you in his blood Gwaine is there standing above you as he watches you cough desperate for air. His eyes filled with worry as he gives you his hand helping you to your feet as you continue to wheeze lungs screaming for air.

“Are you alright princess?!” His hands grip your biceps as he pulls you to his chest hands holding the back of your head in worry

“I’m fine, pretty boy. Thanks for saving me.” You nod at the man but your hands shake as gwaine hands you your discarded weapons the daggers bring you comfort as you look at the world around you still there are more bandits around you but it appears many have dissipated.

Whether they have retreated, or they’ve gone to cause your friends havoc you aren’t sure but you can’t find yourself to worry for your friends. You’re too busy looking into gwaines chocolate brown eyes, and you can’t help but place a kiss to gwaines cheek when you pull back from his bearded face you catch sight of an approaching man.

“DUCK!” You scream and the knight ducks just in time. You quickly bring one of your dagger to block their sword as they manoeuvre their blade back and then you both fall into a kind of deadly dance pushing further and further away from Gwaine. Your blades mash against each other and you continue to miss his slashes and jabs.

The bandit moves his sword quickly, too quick to dodge and he manages to cut off a piece of your hair and slice your cheek your blood begins to trickle down your face and in anger you jam your dagger through his leather armour and directly into the man’s heart.

His blade falls from his hold and he drops limply. His eyes glare at you the entire time his body fails him. The body collapses onto the bottom of you cape staining the purple darker with blood and you make the decision to cut the latch dropping your cloak so that nothing holds you down.

Your tunic, and pants cling to your body tightly stained with the blood of your enemies, you don’t care not about the bodies littering the forest floor, or the wetness in your boot from stepping through the stream for better ground to fight on. Not about your friends and if they’re fighting an onslaught of bandits. All you care about is not dying.

The volume of men have dipped significantly but there are still 4 or 5 of them and one man left is an archer quickly loading his bow and releasing the arrows at yourself and Gwaine, if you two were worse fighters he would’ve loaded quite a few into the pair of you marching toward the man you hold your daggers outward crimson blood drops from the tip and soaks quickly into the squishy mud ridden forest floor. The bandit quickly loads an arrow and lets it fly, you avoid his shot with ease ducking beneath it he knocks another and fires it in quick succession and you find yourself skidding against the mud it coats your pants as you miss his fire and the man is panicked now as you stand up,

And you watch his hands shake as he tries to load his bow, it’s too late, you’re on top of the man. “Please! Please your grace, Spare me. I have children! please” He whimpers beneath you and your heart aches in your chest

As your eyes rake the man’s figure you make the decision to hit him over the head with the butt of your dagger and you don’t spare the man another glance before you walk away.

Turning your back to the archer you observe the carnage, Gwaine had gotten quite a few bandits defeated in quick time, the man now intense fight with probably the best bandit here. he’s quick, and talented with a sword.

But Gwaine keeps his own, and you deem it safe enough to not watch the man anymore instead you find yourself up against the final man he’s large like the man you fought before, but this man is smart.

And his dagger drips with something other than blood, a deep blue, oozing liquid? poison. You quickly realise

And now you’re sure you never want to let this man’s weapon touch you. his stinking grey teeth peak through his lips as he sizes you up, the princess of Camelot, clearly exhausted. Clearly covered in a mix of blood and mud, and very obviously in pain. The giants sword from before had managed to rattle your teeth with his hit but you’d been so distracted it hadn’t even registered. clearly the adrenaline of your other injuries had began to wear off.

And This man is quicker then expected as he hurries to you, his sword cuts through the air like butter and he’s clearly just as skilled as the man battling against gwaine. And looking back on it they seemed to be twins.

the moment his blade comes too close for comfort you’re parrying his strike, and the grinding of blades are deafening in your ears.

the ache in your shoulder swells through you the gruesome cut oozing and it makes your strength falter you move slower the burning pain shooting through your shoulder sends you waves of more then just discomfort.

you feel bile well in your throat but you don’t falter as you slash at the bandit he avoids it with ease, every duck, every twirl, every slice, he avoids.

It’s like he’s been watching you? observing your moves? and it’s abundantly clear even with the exhaustion plaguing your muscles and the slick mud beneath you. It makes you worried.

Springing back away from the man you slash at his shoulder nicking him with the blade and watching as he cringes back in more annoyance than pain. and when his sword goes to make contact with your body you duck away from the man until eventually you find yourself behind him

just when things began to look up, just when you were finally winning.

Until The pained shout from gwaine only a few feet away causes you to lose focus and your gaze is set on the Irish man on the floor his chain mail dirty, his face covered in blood and mud, his hair a mess, and a sword held above the man. In a deadly fashion.

And your body moves before your mind and you find yourself flinging your dagger into the bandits back watching satisfied as the man falls dead over the top of gwaine, letting out a sigh of relief at the sight you completely forget that you were mid fight with a bandit yourself. A bandit with a blade coated in poison.

“Y/n!” Before you can get your bearings in order gwaines shouting Your name

And you turn just in time to see the man drive his sword in your side and you whip your head up to look at the man who just stabbed you a horrid smile on his face, as the sharp searing pain of a sword impaling you burns your insides. your warm blood trickles from the wound around the sword, and you drop your spare dagger to the floor unconsciously you seemingly have no control of your body, and your eyes shine with unshead tears. It’s the worst pain you’ve ever felt in your entire life like the world is spinning and your side feels like it’s on fire.

The man stand carelessly above you smiling a sickly smile as he rips his blade out of you and you don’t muffle your shout of pain, you know you’re going to die when the man brings his sword up to cut you down and your tears fall you can’t bare to look at his face your mind filling with thoughts of gwaine if you were going to die you’d die with the man you loved on your mind.

Shutting your eyes tightly you expect the killing blow, only to feel nothing? Cracking an eye open Gwaine’s sword embeds itself directly in the bandits heart, you watch as gwaine pulls his sword out quickly and rushes to your aid as he watches your knees buckle. And you don’t go to stop your knees from colliding with the mud instead your shaky hands go to hold your bleeding wound, your hand immediately stain with blood when they come into contact with the wound.

Gwaine Holds your bloody form in his arms your hands stained with your blood you feel sick to your stomach, and sweat begins to break on your forehead, you feel like you’re already losing feeling in your feet.

As Gwaines strong arms wrap around you as the knight lifts you up against him, his arms around your knees and shoulders respectively.

He moves quickly to the rest of the knights, and despite the delirius state you’re in from the lack of blood you can only heart your heart beat in your ears but everytime he runs you see a glimpse of his face and you can see he’s screaming.

Your heart constricts in your chest and you whimper in his arms “j-just hold me.”

the man looks down at you with eyes full of tears and that shine with something akin to love. But almost as quickly as the shine came its gone, replaced with fear. It makes Gwaine tighten his grip on you and scream louder

And through the blurriness of your vision you see your brothers scared face break the tree line and b-line to you, as your head lulls to the side you watch Arthur get closer to you and you feel him take you in his arms, sobs escape the young kings as he slumps to his knees you in his embrace “y/n- c/h/n, please don’t do this to me.”

Arthur mutters rocking you back and forth and you see Merlin over his shoulder, face white as a ghost. Hands tightly held over his mouth, and the last thing you see is the servant boy boss the knights around with commands about how to help you, before the darkness takes you.

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

There’s a guttural ache in your bones from the fight and a dull burning from your stomach it’s accompanied with a hard pressure on your wound that makes you yell out a sickening blood curdling scream and by the feeling of multiple hands holding you down to stop the thrashing it’s abundantly clear Merlin’s trying his best to save you.

Your brothers hands are familiar as they grip your shoulders, holding you down, you’re alive, mentally you’re awake but you can’t open your eyes.

You can’t control your own twitching body, the wet feeling of your sticky blood on your side, but you can hear every little thing around you, and yet you still can’t open your eyes and there’s this horrible wheezing sound.

And you come to realise it’s your breathing…it feels like you’re breathing through sand and every breath you take fills your lungs with sand like an hour glass.

and then you feel that familiar pressure on your wound and suddenly you feel everything, every burning stabbing sensation, all over your body it burns as quickly and as hot as a wild fire and it feels like hours before you finally feel absolutely nothing again.

And you think maybe it lasts for awhile, but there’s no way to tell time. It’s funny when you can see nothing but the back of your eyelids and the world is dark and you can’t feel the muddy floor beneath your back. you can’t feel the sticks, and the dirt, and the sound of the stream, you can’t smell your brothers familiar scent, you can’t feel the wetness of your boot, or the dried blood on your body, and you can’t see gwaines face.

Or hear his comforting voice, you can’t discern anything but blankness and you half think you’ve stopped breathing. As if your very lungs don’t heave against the poison in your blood stream anymore

But you think whilst you’re trapped in darkness that Your nose bleeds, and your mouth fills with red blood and those who surround your body begin to realise how dire every second is.

Merlin is the only one who can save you. He’s the only one who can rip deaths cold hands from your body and ground you to earth. your chest doesn’t rise.

and those around you know you’re dead. And you can’t feel it yourself, like your spirit is lifting from the cage that is your body up into the sky, ripping through you and part of you is ready to go.

But Gwaine and Merlin will not allow it, Gwaine drops beside your body his hands pumping your chest to start your heart and his lips are on yours pumping oxygen into your lungs.

and it gives Merlin enough time to mutter a healing spell his eyes glow gold and its mere moments that your translucent spirit ripping from your vessel slams back into your body.

Gwaine still continues his assault on your ribs breathing air into your lungs, he ignores the metallic taste from your lips, and he pleads with every god he can that you will come back to him.

And it’s almost as if the gods deem him worthy.

And you wake up gasping for air springing up from your brothers hold your eyes snapping open your chest heaves with effort to fill your lungs and your heart beat is sluggish before beating hard and strong against your chest.

And Merlin’s hands are on your side checking your wound the gaping hole sealed, and Your wound is practically gone. The servant boy quickly bandages your side before anyone can notice but his bandages

Can’t hide the gross greeny purple tendrils that peak out from the off white plaster. Your side feels clean but the blood still sticks to your face and the pain in your side and shoulder still lingers but you can’t bring yourself to care when gwaine gently takes you from your brothers embrace and hold you so gently against him.

“Oh Princess, never do that to me again.” His calloused hands hold you against him tightly and he tries to mask their shaking.

But you don’t care pulling back from his holds Your eyes take his figure and you can’t help yourself, You smash your lips against his and his beard tickles your skin. and it takes him no time to kiss back his lips mash against yours in a feverish kiss. It’s like your lips fit together perfectly and you find yourself wishing to never let go of the knight in front of you.

His tears fall onto your skin and you don’t care, you pull him closer to your body and you don’t care when your lungs burn screaming for air.

You never want to be apart from him.

Not when you just tasted the sour nothingness of death. It doesn’t wait. It’s cold, and uncaring.

And Gwaine feels your hands shake as you pull him closer his heart physically hurts for you he’s sure you’re probably freaking out.

After you pull back from your kisses you look at the faces of your friends around you, Arthur’s blood shot eyes filled with tears stare at you with such fear, such uncertainty.

the ghostly look in his eyes as he looks at you tugs your heart strings. You realise he can’t differentiate if you’re truly here. And alive he had just seen his sister die. And be brought back.

Of course it would be a lot to process.

beside you Merlin his shaky hands and nervous smile his red hands stained with your blood, and his wet teary face that looks so scared as he looks at you with a mixture of nervousness at the use of his magic and happiness you’re alive.

And your eyes flicker to everyone around you from Leon, who you’ve known since childhood- to elyan, and Percival. who you haven’t known for such a long time but still felt their world shake when your heart stopped beating. You were their princess to see you die in front of them…it was heavy.

Your dead body would haunt them for the rest of their days,the cold desolate blue of your lips and the way your head lulled in gwaines arms.

Tears littered everyone’s eyes as your brother and Gwaine were the first to pull you into an embrace the rest of your friends quickly followed, their iron grip on you brought you so much love and peace.

A chorus of “I’m glad you’re alive” to “good to have you back” ranged from your friends before elyan was the first person to suggest moving to a safer area the unsettling feeling of the corpses scattered around you all made you uneasy, it especially made Gwaine the most uneasy, the man couldn’t stop his intrusive thoughts what if it was you they were leaving behind? What if you died and your corpse was left to decay on the muddy floor of the forest no one around to mourn you it made him feel a bit unwell.

So finally you all high tailed it out of there to a new camp well maned by your friends, a camp where absolutely no one could ambush you. Where it was safe enough for Merlin to patch up your friends injuries.

And night fell quickly the stars shone overhead the green grass served as a pillow under your head and the rocks surrounding you like a barrier from bandits.the ruins of an old castle like a comforting shield and The slight hill you all now camped on was far out of the forest of the rival kingdom where you all were ambushed, finally on safe ground.

Merlin had stayed close to you for most of the early evening to ensure you were alright. And that he didn’t seal up any left over poison.

Crickets chirped in the back ground as yourself and Merlin sat in silence staring at the fire. You turned to the boy, speaking gently “thank you, I know what you did.”

You smiled at the boy, a knowing glint in your eye and Merlin felt his heart drop as he shrugged

“It’s what anyone would have done, milady. I’m glad you’re still with us” Merlin smiled kindly he had a soft spot for the youngest pendragon she was always kind to him, and unlike her sister her perception of him didn’t change. Out of every pendragon she was probably the one Merlin trusted with his secrets the most.

You were Always clever and observant, you were definitely someone he’d protect with his life just like Arthur.

“That’s the thing though, Merlin. I was gone…I wasn’t- my heart stopped” you struggled to find the words putting your legs to your chest as you watched the flames

“I was dead. I felt my heart stop, my heart knew what was happening my- my soul? Was leaving my body and something pulled me back in. It wasn’t Gwaines kiss of life although it did help” you chuckled before you became serious again “It was you Merlin.” You spoke your voice shaky but sure of yourself as you looked the boy in his terrified eyes

“Please y/n It’s not like that.” Merlin pleaded, his hand reaching for you and his skin getting sweaty and nervous at the thought of the youngest pendragon knowing he had magic, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust her on the contrary he trusted her whole heartedly but he was always nervous to let people in on his magic it tended to get them killed.

Will, His father, Lancelot… Merlin hated how his magic could save lives but in the end he’s always lose something he hoped this time things would be different.

“I know magic when I see it Merlin, don’t worry I’d never tell. You saved my life. I should have you knighted” You smiled at the boy, before bumping your shoulders together.

“Oh please don’t-“ Merlin started disgust in his voice at the idea of joining your friends as a knight laughing at Merlin’s horrified face

“Don’t worry, I won’t. But really thank you Merlin. You deserve more credit” you smiled at the boy before pushing off of the ground and making your way to Gwaine over by the ruins watching the stars through the window on the second story lost in thought

“Mind if I join you?” You called, watching as the Irish man jumped clumsily almost falling through the window.

“Not not at all, please sit” Gwaine replied shuffling over sitting beside the man you watched the stars from the window in silence for a moment

“I’m sorry” you both spoke at the same time, swallowing a laugh at the unintentional overlap

“You go” you pressed sitting up and looking at Gwaine intently

“I’m sorry, I’m the reason you died…I didn’t protect you. It was my only job and I let you get stabbed.” Gwaine shook his head the man couldn’t bare to look at you in your eyes too afraid he’d see your lifeless ones staring back in a way he was thankful your eyes shut when you died.

In a way it looked like you were sleeping, only the lack of a rise and fall of your chest showed gwaine that you weren’t just sleeping. You were dead and it was gwaines fault.

The man blamed himself, kept running through the last battle moments over and over in his head. If he didn’t shout, if he was quieter maybe everything could have been avoided, or if he listened to your funny feeling maybe you all never would have even been ambushed.

It made Gwaine start to appreciate his friends “funny feelings” something Merlin and the youngest pendragon both shared Gwaine couldn’t get the thoughts out of his head that he was the reason everything happened.

“Gwaine” you placed your hand over his, “it wasn’t your fault, I know what you’re doing. Stop blaming yourself.” Your grip on gwaines hands tightened trying to reassure him it could have happened to anyone.

“But I should have listened to you. I didn’t and you died! You fucking died!” Gwaine cries, his hands cover his mouth to mask his sob he’s striped himself of his chain mail now he’s left wearing a blue tunic and a leather bangle that clings to his muscley arm you know it’s not the right time but god does he look good.

“Gwaine.” You shout shaking his shoulders so he’ll finally look at you

“Just shut up and kiss me.” You sigh in the silver light of the moon, its only Gwaine and yourself in the ruins and you want to take full advantage of that

“Yes Princess”

[pigfacedbitch]

It's A Trap!

summary : Prince Arthur uses reader to lure Merlin out whenever he is hiding from him.

word count : 0.5k

type : imagines

pairing/s involved : Merlin x Reader (?)

warning/s : none. just Merlin pining over reader and Arthur being an ass.

here is my masterlist!

Note : I thought of this when I watched the clip where Arthur is looking for Merlin and he was hiding behind the door. 😂 It was a one shot before and I heavily edited it too.

There is no denying that Prince's Arthur's manservant is in love with (Y/N), a noble lady from one of the most prestigious houses in Camelot.

Everyone, even Arthur himself, knows it. And that's saying something. 🫢😂

From the way Merlin would stare at you with heart in his eyes, how he would follow you everywhere like a dog, or his ears pick up whenever he hears your name.

Gaius almost wants to take a leaf out of Van Gogh's book and tear off his own ears because Merlin wouldn't shut up about you. He also writes about you in his letters for Hunith.

Now, does Arthur take advantage of it? Of course, he does. Like,"Do you know Lady (Y/N) would be there?" or "If you fetch flowers for Gwen, you could also get some for your lady love."

The epitome of the statement, however, is making you his trap. Confused? I'll explain further later.

"Merlin?! Where are you?!"

It's very common for the palace staff to hear the prince of Camelot blaringly calling out to his manservant. Although some people catch Merlin scurrying away from him or has an idea of his whereabouts, no one bothers to tell Arthur anything.

After all, it's completely understandable and why many servants can empathize. As admirable and honorable the prince is, he can be a handful at times.

That's where you come in.

Whenever Arthur has given up searching for Merlin, he would search for you instead.

He often finds you in the gardens with the other noble ladies, helping some servants with menial tasks, or having tea with Morgana and Gwen. Uther enjoys your company too, making the usual stoic ruler laugh and gossip.

"May I excuse Lady (Y/N)? I need her assistance with something."

"Is it Merlin again?"

"...Yes."

You would go to Gaius' chambers, the kitchens, servant's quarters, or anywhere Merlin could've gone to. Then, you would tell anyone that you're looking for him to speak about personal matters and you'll be waiting for him with a place of your choice.

Arthur would wait with you, but he's hiding where Merlin can't see him.

Why do you continue helping the royal prat? It's because you find it funny.

You're also curious, thinking how long will it take Merlin to stop seeking you out because most of the time it's just one of Arthur's traps.

The prince's knights bet on it. Gwaine and Leon are winning— saying how Merlin will never learn.

It's true, he doesn't. I guess love does make you an idiot.

Merlin always approaches you with a beaming grin on his face and blushed cheeks, acting like a lovesick school boy.

"My lady, you were looking for me?"

"Well you see..."

Arthur would wait for Merlin to get closer before grabbing the manservant in his clutches.

"Here you are, you idiot!"

Sometimes Merlin would free himself and run, sometimes he doesn't and Arthur would drag him away while warning him of possible punishments.

But he never misses the chance to look back and give you the most charming smile anyone has ever graced you with.

"Merlin really loves you, doesn't he?" You hear Gwen beside you, linking your arm with hers. Nervous and worried, you reply—

"Yes. I just hope that I get to tell Merlin that I share his affections. But Arthur is always with him."

[theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction]

Imagine Gwaine flirting with you...

Merlin had finally fallen asleep by the fireside. It was a wonder that he hadn’t fallen asleep sooner with the increased pressure of trying to save the crown prince from dying at the hands of his injury.

You smiled at him, hoping that his spell would be enough for Arthur to wake in the morning. You turned to Gwaine and noticed blood on his hands that he was trying to rub away.

Crawling over to him, you took his hand. “What did you do?”

He let out a small exhale at your touch and pulled a brave face. “'Tis but a scratch.”

“And the bruised ribs?” You asked pointedly.

Gwaine smirked at the question. “If you want to see me shirtless, you could just ask."

You looked up at him. He had always been like this. Flirty in the face of pain but you always saw through it. Raising a hand, you touched his cheek.

"Maybe when we don't have an audience."

~ More imagines here ~

[specialagentlokitty]

Lancelot x reader - all the flowers in the world

Hope you've been doing well and keeping hydrated😄. Glad to see that your requests are open again. I was wondering if I could request a BBC Merlin Lancelot x reader with this prompt "If I had a flower for every time I thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever." from your 2024 prompts part 2? Of course you don't have to if you don't want to. Also if you do write this, take as long as you need. Thank you🧡 - Anon 💜

You were walking along one of the trails, it’s was quiet, peaceful, and you were also using this time to collect some plants both for medical use and for food use as well.

Despite being told many times by not only Merlin and Lancelot but by every other knight as well and even Arthur, you still went out by yourself because you found it easier to find the peace in things when you weren’t worrying about other people or having to be quick.

You loved to just wonder.

However, you knew you weren’t really alone out there.

Despite his best attempts to stay hidden, it was clear as day that Lancelot had been following you to keep an eye on you.

Multiple times you had seen him, and once he near ran straight at you when you had tripped up on some tree roots, but caught yourself.

Kneeling down in a patch of wild mushrooms, you began to carefully looking over them, only picking a select few that were safe and ripe to eat.

Lancelot leant against a nearby tree as he watched over you, his hand on his sword ready to defend you at a moments notice as he had too.

“Lancelot?” You called out.

Said knight freezes, unsure if he should reply or not.

On one hand if you needed help he wanted to help you, but on the other you wanted to come out here alone and he wasn’t sure if you actually knew he was there or just heard a noise and assumed it was him.

After a moment of internal debating he walked over and knelt down next to you.

“What is it? Are you okay?” He asks softly.

Turning your head to him, you hold up a small blue flower with a bright grin to him.

Lancelot stares at your for a few seconds before he softly smiles at you, taking the flower from your hands to look at it.

“It’s beautiful…” he says softly.

“It suits you.”

This makes him laugh softly, and he tucks the flower behind his ear, smiling warmly at you.

“Well thank you (Y/N).”

Grinning at him again, you go back to picking some wild mushrooms and Lancelot just stays knelt next to you, his gaze never leaving your face.

Standing up, you carry on walking and this time Lancelot walks alongside of you, offering you his arm so you wouldn’t trip over again and so that he could keep you close.

Looping your arm with his, you rest your hand on his forearm.

“You know you aren’t supposed to come out here alone.” He speaks quietly.

“I know, it’s just nice to escape all the hustle and bustle of life at Camelot.”

Lancelot hums his head in understanding.

“I understand that, but you knew we worry about you coming out here alone, I worry about you coming out here alone. it’s hardly safe.”

“I know, but I’m so used to if you come, then the others come, and they’re never quiet, as much as I love everybody sometimes they start to become a headache.”

Lancelot laughs slightly and he nods his head.

“Believe me, I know.”

Lancelot glances down at you before he goes back to watching the trail. If you stopped he would stop and keep a watchful eye over you.

Every so often you would gather a few more ours to scatter along his chainmail, tucking the stems into the small gaps in the links.

Lancelot couldn’t help but smile as you did this.

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever." You say quietly.

Lancelot’s eyes widen slightly, but his smile never falters.

“You really think about me that much?”

You nod your head.

He pauses, making you stop as well and walks in front of you, placing his finger under your chin to tilt your head up towards him.

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, the whole world would be covered in beautiful flowers…” he whispers.

His smile is warm and he moves his hand to cup your cheek.

“You would be much more beautiful than an amount of flowers…”

Your smile matches his, and he can’t help but smile even more, running his thumb along your cheek.

“Will you let me court you…?” He whispers.

“I would love nothing more…”

His face immediately lights up and he carefully pulls you into a gentle hug which you quickly reciprocated.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad that he decided to come with you after all

[imaginesfordifferentfandoms]

ivy

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Click here to add yourself to my taglist.

Prompt - ‘Taking mine, but it's been promised to another.’

From the start your marriage had been nothing but a sham, a performance put on for the world to see. Vows that promised a lifetime of faith and love slipped from your lips, the lies pleasing those who heard it whilst turning you cold. It was all a lie, a marriage arranged before you had been born, it was what you were born for.

It didn’t matter that you were a Princess, it didn’t matter that you knew how to rule a kingdom, knew that you could lead your people. Nothing mattered except making sure the Prince looked the part. You weren’t needed for your mind, you were simply an accessory, somebody to stand by the prince. One day he would be a great King, everybody told you as much and you could only smile politely and nod whilst desperately trying to ignore how empty you felt.

And you did feel empty. You were far too good to spend your days standing beside the future King. It wasn’t that Arthur was terrible or cruel, as arranged marriages went you knew you had gotten lucky with him. He was kind if not a little bit arrogant but he was loyal and brave, willing to die for those he held dearest to him. You truly did believe he would be a great King, far better than Uther at any rate, you just wished you could be something more than simply the Prince’s wife.

Arthur treated your marriage as though it was a real one, which it was for all intents and purposes except for the fact that you didn’t love Arthur. The two of you shared a bed, spent your days side by side, he kissed your cheeks and held your hand in public. The kingdom adored the pair of you together. Arthur was happy and you woke up each morning feeling another piece of you wilt away into nothing.

You supposed it wasn’t all bad. Sure you had been moved from your own kingdom, losing everything you had known but you had gained something from it. One saving grace, one good thing that kept you from drowning and losing yourself.

It was wrong, terribly wrong. If the people, if Arthur or Uther found out you hated to think of what kind of punishment would be brought down on you. But yet you couldn’t resist, not when it was the only good thing you had to hold close.

Merlin.

You didn’t even remember fully how it came to be but from the moment Arthur introduced his servant to you you couldn’t help but smile wider, watching as he stuttered a greeting out before averting his eyes causing you to giggle as Arthur told you to just ignore the idiot.

Merlin spent almost as much time at Arthur’s side as you did, which meant he spent most of his time with you. Whilst Arthur occupied himself with royal duties you turned to Merlin and spoke quietly amongst yourself, Merlin still a stuttering, flustered mess but you couldn’t help but find it endearing. You yourself weren’t much better, biting back smiles and giggling softly like a small child with her first crush.

Months passed where nothing happened between the two of you but you could feel your feelings grow for Merlin as each day passed. What started as a slight infatuation turned into something more real, it wasn’t love but you thought that under different circumstances, in another life maybe it could have been.

The slightest touches from Merlin seemed to transform the emptiness and loneliness you felt surrounded by the royals, the brush of his fingers against your back as he passed, the way he stood slightly closer to you during events. All of the little touches, the stolen glances, all of it made everything better, even if they were tarnished when you were reminded that Merlin could never be yours.

One day everything became too overwhelming, you felt like you were choking on the expectations people had of you and excused yourself from Arthur’s presence before you were due to sit in with the King. Arthur’s concerned glances did nothing to help how tormented you were feeling and when he asked if he could do anything you shook your head, telling him you’d seek out Gaius.

You waited only long enough for him to enter the room before heading the opposite direction from Gaius’ chambers. You walked for long enough that your feet hurt but it did you good, the fresh air and being away from the palace helping you to clear your mind. You had no idea where you’d walked to but stopped when you came across a large tree.

The trunk stretched high in the air, wisteria growing from the branches, spreading off into all different directions before draping downwards and offering shade. There was a lake not too far in front of the tree, the purple flowers reflected in the clear water. It was a beautiful picture, the tree standing out against the greens of the others, and you couldn’t think of a better place to sit with your loneliness.

You sat down softly, letting your back rest against the thick trunk as your thoughts began to wander, your fingers pulling at the blades of grass beneath you as they did. You knew you were lucky, knew most women would kill to marry the Prince, to have a life of riches, to never have to worry or want for anything. You knew that as a result of your marriage your people back home were looked after and yet you couldn’t help but hate it.

Sitting here it felt like you were nothing more than a ghost of yourself, grieving for your loss, grieving for a life that could have been beautiful and happy. Now the only happiness you had in your days was stolen moments with Merlin.

It wasn’t even like you could tell anyone how you were feeling, nobody would understand, not able to look beyond the life of a Princess. They all saw what they were meant to see, a Prince and Princess in love who would one day rule the kingdom of Camelot. Even the thought of you and Arthur not loving each other, of you hating your life in the castle walls would seem unfathomable.

You had no idea how long you sat against the tree for, staring out into the water but eventually you were startled out of your thoughts when you heard leaves crunching nearby. You stayed silent, hoping it was just an animal and you hadn’t wandered out far enough for any bandits to be skulking around.

Your heartbeat seemed to speed up when you saw a familiar figure emerge from the trees and you couldn’t stop the pull of your lips into a small grin.

“Wasn’t sure if you’d want company.” Merlin said by way of greeting, a smile mirrored back as he came close and sat down next to you, close enough that your shoulders brushed as he set a basket down in front of you. “But I brought you some food.”

“Thank you.” You said softly, keeping your eyes on him instead of the food. “You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to. Arthur said you weren’t feeling well but when I asked Gaius he said you hadn’t been by, don’t worry though I told him that if Arthur asked to say you had. Is everything ok?” Merlin asked as he pulled some fruit out of the basket and set it on the blanket he had been carrying.

You stayed silent, not knowing how to answer that question without lying. You didn’t want to lie to Merlin but you could hardly tell him the truth, though you longed to but he was Arthur’s servant, it wouldn’t be fair to put him in a position of keeping secrets for you.

Merlin turned to face you when you didn’t answer, seeing the sad look that you frequently wore when surrounded by Arthur and the other royals. Merlin hated to see that look, it hurt his heart each time he did but what could he do? He couldn’t give you the life you deserved, you were a Princess, the future Queen of Camelot, Merlin was always going to be beneath you.

He knew Arthur’s marriage to you was nothing more than an agreement between two kingdoms, a way to keep trade and peace for another generation. He hated that to meet you you had to marry another, Merlin knew your mind, it was brilliant and it was going to waste at Arthur’s side.

Merlin wasn’t a selfish man. He’d do anything to help Arthur, he’d give his life for the other man every chance he got if it meant Arthur would be safe. Merlin wasn’t selfish but he longed for you, he wanted every part of you for himself. For months he had watched you, pined for you and you were so close and yet he could never quite reach you.

You don’t know where the sudden stinging of tears came from, one second you were keeping your emotions tightly locked up and the next a single tear escaped your eye and slid down your cheek. Maybe it was the soft sympathetic way Merlin was looking at you, like he knew how much weight was on your shoulders, forcing you under until you couldn’t breathe or maybe it was just finally too much for you to handle.

Merlin felt his heartbreak for you when he noticed the tear and reached out a hand to take yours gently, his fingers entwined with yours and his thumb brushed against your skin. He knew he shouldn’t have enjoyed the feeling of your hand in his as much as he did but he still let himself savour the feeling, not knowing when or if he’d get the chance again.

Your eyes were immediately drawn down to your hands before you scrunched your eyes shut to keep the tears at bay. Merlin’s hands were cold in yours but the touch seemed to ignite a fire within you. It was wrong to want Merlin so badly, your life already promised to Arthur and yet here Merlin was, so deeply embedded in your every thought, haunting your dreams and your waking hours.

You both wanted more, the simple touch of your hands waking the flame of wanting that was too loud to ignore. Merlin swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat, desperate to do something more, to steal one more moment of you for himself, consequences be damned. You pleaded to any greater being that would listen, begging for Merlin to do anything, to give into what you both wanted.

You tore your gaze from your joined hands and looked to Merlin, his pupils so wide you could barely see the ring of blue around it. Merlin’s eyes were drawn to your lips, watching as your tongue poked out to wet them and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning in towards you.

He paused when his face was close enough that you could feel his breath against your face, waiting to see if you would pull away but you didn’t move away. You’d waited for so long, dreamt about what it would be like to finally give into temptation, to be selfish for once and not put your people or your duties above yourself.

Merlin’s free hand came up to lightly cup your cheek, his thumb brushing against your skin as he tilted your face upwards slightly. You were sure he could hear your heart threatening to beat right out of your chest as you waited for him to close the distance between you.

Merlin didn’t second guess himself, didn’t give himself a chance to overthink what a terrible idea this would be. You were the Princess, the future Queen of Camelot and he was just a servant, a servant who was already hiding a secret that would get him killed so what was one more secret and what a secret it would be having felt your lips against his.

He couldn’t wait any longer, had waited long enough. He didn’t rush when he pressed his lips to yours, practically shuddering into the kiss as he felt a thrill of sparks shoot through him. His hand still on your cheek pulled you closer and you followed without hesitation.

This kiss wasn’t hurried, it was soft and filled with longing but it didn’t stay that way for long. After a few moments the kiss turned greedy, both of you suddenly desperate for more, more, more. It had been months, bordering on a year of secret glances and quiet pining and now you finally had each other.

Merlin’s hands slid into your hair and you moaned into the kiss as his fist closed around the strands whilst your hands ended up on Merlin’s chest, smoothing your palms against him. Merlin tugged you into his lap without breaking the kiss and you let him guide you onto him, moaning softly into the kiss and unable to help yourself from grinding down onto him.

Everything from that moment on was a hurried mess of limbs, the pair of you exploring every inch of each other. Merlin’s hands running up and down your body, touching what should have been Arthur’s. You knew you could never go back to the pining, the longing stares, you may have promised yourself to Arthur but you would always be Merlin’s.

From that day on you and Merlin made a choice, one that if anybody found out would see you both facing severe punishments but the risk was worth it for the stolen moments alone with each other. It was intoxicating, sneaking out of the castle and hiding away with Merlin, being able to hold his hand, to kiss him, to have him hold you as the hours passed by.

It was hard coming back to the castle, to sit for a court session, Arthur’s hand in yours whilst your eyes caught Merlin and the two of you shared smiles and held silent conversations from across the room. When it was just the three of you in Arthur’s chambers, Merlin pottering about as Arthur sat beside you, talking about something you couldn’t focus on because you’d rather be anywhere else with Merlin.

It went on for months, the sneaking around and it was the first time since your marriage, since you arrived in Camelot, that you felt truly alive, that you weren’t just waking up to a miserable life, you finally had something to look forward to. Even if you and Merlin couldn’t get out of the castle, just seeing those blue eyes looking back at you was enough.

You did wonder why Merlin seemed so eager to be in this relationship, cursed to have it hidden from the world, cursed to never be able to live the lives you wanted because of your marriage to Arthur. You never broached the topic with him though, you never wanted to discuss the matter when you were alone with Merlin, more than content and more than distracted by the man’s presence to even think of Arthur.

Merlin had been away with Arthur for three days and you missed him greatly. Guinevere had come by Arthur’s chambers plenty of times during those few days, chattering about how she was sure you were missing Arthur’s company. You let her talk though, not daring to tell her you hadn’t thought of your husband once since he’d left for his hunting trip, instead your thoughts had been filled with opal eyes and secret meetings.

When they returned it was almost night fall and Merlin prepared a late meal for Arthur not long after. You were practically itching to get a moment alone with Merlin after not seeing him for days and whilst Arthur was occupied with his food you moved around the room, brushing past Merlin.

“Meet me at our spot in an hour.” You whispered softly, the words only for him to hear and as you moved away you looked behind you to see him smiling ahead and he nodded without looking at you.

Arthur was eager to get to bed after eating and dismissed Merlin who left the room with only one glance back over his shoulder at you. The minutes ticked by and you lay still under you felt Arthur relax completely, his breathing evening out. You didn’t move straight away, not wanting to wake him and having to come up with an excuse as to what you were doing.

You left it for twenty more minutes before climbing out of the bed as silently as possible and slipping into a pair of shoes, not bothering to change and only slipping a cloak over your night clothes. You weren’t planning on running into anybody but Merlin anyway.

There were plenty of guards on duty and you only had the soft glow of the moon to aid you in moving around when the coast was clear. The spring air was cool when you finally snuck your way out of the castle, heading down the old familiar path towards the lake that had quickly become yours and Merlin’s spot.

Merlin was already waiting for you and you wasted no time falling into his arms, letting him pull you in for a hurried kiss, your arms around his waist, his hands cupping your cheeks. You whispered a soft greeting against his lips and watched a smile spread across his face as the two of you lay on the blanket Merlin had brought with him.

It was a quiet night, the occasional rustling of the leaves, an animal moving well off in the distance could be heard. The sky was clear and littered with stars, each reflecting from the lake in front of you. The wisteria tree was bright against the moonlight, in full bloom in the spring weather.

It was peaceful. You wished you could have these moments with Merlin all the time, wished you didn't have to sneak around for them. You let your thoughts wander, dreaming of a life with Merlin far away from Camelot, from the pressures of royal life and all the expectations that came with it.

“Some days I just wish I could run away, you know?” You said softly, not lifting your head from Merlin’s chest. You felt his fingers pause in your hair for a second before they continued brushing through the strands. “My marriage was planned before I was even born, real love has never been something I thought I could have so I never even dared to let myself dream about it.”

“Would you run away?” Merlin asked and you frowned because your initial answer was yes, of course you would in a heartbeat but deep down…

“I don’t know.” You sighed. “I dream about it all the time, about leaving behind everything I’ve ever known but then I think about how much my people would suffer.”

Merlin stayed silent for a long moment, the two of you content with the quiet as your thoughts ran wild. You pondered over if you would run away if Merlin asked, would you let yourself be selfish? You thought you could and didn’t know how to feel about it. You knew Merlin wouldn’t ask though, he wouldn’t put you in such a position where you’d have to make that decision and truthfully you weren’t sure Merlin would ever leave.

Despite everything happening between the two of you, despite the fact you were both sneaking around behind Arthur’s back, Merlin was still fiercely loyal to Arthur. Whenever you asked about it Merlin just shrugged and got a far away look on his face before telling you that he was sure Arthur would be a great King one day and he believed in the future Arthur would bring.

Plenty of people had said it to you over the year you’d been at Arthur’s side and you knew that most people just said it because it was the polite thing to say, the right thing to say about their future King. When Merlin said it though you truly believed it, you could see how much he believed it, how much he believed in Arthur. It was like he had seen the future Arthur would bring to Camelot, so convinced in whatever Arthur was going to do.

It made you feel torn, Merlin was obviously so loyal to Arthur and yet this relationship threatened theirs. It wasn’t that you and Arthur loved each other but he was your husband and both of you knew the importance of appearance both publicly and behind closed doors. As future heir to the throne Arthur couldn’t have a wife only to show off publicly, he needed a wife that was only his all the time.

You wished things had been different for both of you, that you could be free to love Merlin and that Arthur had the chance to find somebody he truly loved, who would proudly stand by his side bursting with how much love they had for him. You both deserved more than you had but these were the cards you’d been dealt and you had to live with them.

You had Merlin in the only way you could and you couldn’t give that up, you’d be damned before you willingly left him.

“You said real love.” Merlin suddenly said, his voice soft, barely above a whisper but you heard him clearly. “Is that what this is, real love?”

You froze for a moment, not realising your earlier words but seconds later you relaxed against him before moving around so you were face to face with him and you could see the smile on his face.

“Yes, I’d like to say so anyway.” You said whilst matching the quietness of his voice.

Merlin’s hand came up to brush your cheek before he pulled you close to him, him meeting you halfway, pausing before your lips could meet.

“I love you too, Y/N. I wish I had more to offer you but-” Merlin told you but you cut him off with a gentle kiss.

“You’ve given me more than I could ever have hoped for, Merlin.” You whispered, pulling back far enough to look up at him and he could see the sincerity in your eyes. “I thought for so long that my destiny was to just be lonely. Before you I was wandering the halls of that castle like a ghost, mourning a life that would never be, then you kissed me and I fell in love with you and everything was different, better. No matter how much we wish it could change, it’s worth it to be with you because I love you.”

“One day things will be different.” Merlin promised before pulling you into another kiss and you prayed he was right but for now, now these moments were enough, this love was enough.

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@nomajdetective​, @black-rose-29​, @kodiakwhiskey​, @alexxavicry​, @instabull​, @hydeonysus​ @writeroutoftime​, @polyglot-noodle​, @bookfrog242​, @nashja​, @deathjawd​, @myeyesandheartadjust​, @lazyxsquirrel​

Thank you so much for reading!🤎

[luminara123]

I'm not sure if I've already posted this on here, but... I have a public reading list of Arthur Pendragon x OC BBC Merlin fanfictions that I enjoyed and love.

[multifandomfix]

Imagine Merlin struggling to find you the perfect gift.

Everything was wrong. It just wasn’t good enough. Not one single thing was what he was looking for, but the problem was, he didn’t know what he was looking for. All he knew was it had to be perfect. It had to be worthy of you.

Gaius had offered Merlin several suggestions, and when Merlin turned every single one of them down, Gaius sent him away, making him Arthur’s problem for the day. And Arthur had proved to be even less help than Gaius, though that was of no real surprise.

Gwen. He should have talked to Gwen. But there wasn’t time. He was meant to meet you in the marketplace at midday and he had nothing to show for it. He stumbled awkwardly through the stalls and vendors, hoping for something, anything, that he could pass off as good enough, but then he caught sight of you.

It was now or never. He spun himself right into a cart full of flowers, and whisked a handful out of their water bucket in order to present them to you. He was just hoping you weren’t seeing any of this. He threw down some coin and made his way to you, flowers behind his back.

“I got you these,” he said, presenting them to you when you approached. They were pretty at least. That had to count for something. And you were smiling. Another good sign.

“Merlin, they’re perfect! How did you know these were my favorite?”

“Oh, you know,” Merlin fumbled, reaching a hand behind his neck, “lucky guess.”

Happy Valentine’s Day @dancingwith-sunflowers

Merlin: @retvenkos, @dancingwith-sunflowers, @randomfandomimagine, @locke-writes, @danzalladaggers, @living-for-romance, @chaotic-mushroomz, @psychosociogentleman, @sammus-white, @geekyandgay98