A.N.:// The art is Arthur and Merlin fighting over nothing. Not fic specific, but I thought it kind of fits. 
.... 
Actually I kinda wanna animate this. I don't even know how to animate. But you know like...
I'd kinda want them to smooch ya know. XD 
YAs in: "And now kiss." You know what I mean.

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Uther Pendragon was aware of many things in his kingdom. Many, many problems. Never once has passed a day where his desk wasn't overflowing with reports and quests and ... let's just generally call it papers.
It was a torture for his brain. If it weren't for the many feasts he held in these halls, he was certain he would have burned down the entire kingdom himself at one point or another.
Not that he hadn't.
Burned down parts of the kingdom that is.
Sorcerer's burn surprisingly well.

He sighed, as he looked over the newest reports. There had been sightings of fairies, or so the scouts claimed.
Uther bit his lip. There had been a rising in magic among his people, but also all over Albion. The perilous lands used to be the center of everything that was connected to magic in itself.
But that was three hundred years ago.
For a while the old kingdom had been dying, but now it was full of growth again.
Uther tapped on the desk with his quill, as he read the report.
This was getting out of hand.

That's the literal thought he had, right before he opened a letter that had been send to him by Lord Bayard of Mercia .
He expected bad News already, when he opened the letter. Bayard never send messages. Only when war was upon them.
But then he actually read what was written on it.

"My scouts have sensed a growth among the magical people in the perilous lands. We're afraid to assume that the magic king is rising again."

Uther heard his chair scrap over the wooden ground, before he realized that he had stood up.
Fuck fuck FUCK!
The magic king had been dying for hundreds of years! His land was bound to his power and it had been withering for a while.
If he was rising that meant magic itself would come back to Albion.
Which, naturally, included Camelot.
And the boy – Merlin – was still missing!
The boys magic was exceptional. And perhaps the only defense they had against the magic king.

In a fit of rage, Uther threw over the table and regretted it immediately. It took forever to get all the scrolls in order and the little ink bottle had now shattered on the ground and ruined parts of scrolls he had already finished.

"No no no.", he muttered regretfully and grasped on his hair. He knew what this meant.
I mean... apart from more work.
If the magic king was returning, then he had a good guess who captured Merlin.
The boy had magic. Powerful magic at that.
Of course the magic king would want strong sorcerers as his personal knights. And what idiot would refuse such an offer?
At least, compared to Merlin's career chances in Camelot.
Uther bit on his lip and began to pace.
This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
By now Uther was convinced that Merlin had protected the kingdom for quite a while now.
But he hoped it wasn't as much as he assumed.

Because if it was.... and Merlin just got hired by another king, Camelot was doomed.

"Guards, send for Gaius. I need to talk to him."

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The lake of Avalon was pretty calm and quiet, when Arthur and the knights finally arrived.

It lay there, still and calm, surrounded by mountains and forests.
Wild flowers decorated it's shore and a soft wind brought fresh air over the land.

Hmm.... it took them long to get here. Longer than Arthur had expected.
The lake lay within Camelot's borders. They should have reached it within a day. They've already been searching for Merlin for days.
And they weren't exactly slow on their horses.

"Good evening, knights of Camelot.", a strangely melodic voice welcomed them.
Arthur whipped around. From the depth of the lake, a woman had broken through the surface.
With wet, brown hair and the smirk of a playful cat.
She stood on top of the calm waters, as if it was but a puddle and the ground beneath her wasn't bottomless at all.

The other knights began to mutter.
Gwaine, who had spend most of the ride just talking about his tavern experiences, now flipped his hair back and approached the lovely lady with a wink and a charming smile.
"Hello, my Lady.", he said and bowed before her.
We could pretend she wasn't a goddess, but the lady wasn't here to flirt. She was here for business, so she ignored Gwaine's advances, despite sending him an amused smile.
Gwaine winked and shot her finger guns. He apparently understood her gestures better than Arthur did, because he backed of without even receiving an answer.

"Who are you?", Arthur was less polite.
The woman laughed. "My name is Freya. I am the lady of the lake. I have been waiting for you for a long time, once and future king."

Arthur paused. He had not expected to be addressed... like that. What kind of title was that? Once and future? Sounds ominous.
"I didn't know someone lived here. I was searching for my servant. How are you walking on water?"
Priorities, right?

Freya blinked, then she laughed.
"I am the guardian of Avalon. I protect the doors to the land of the dead. The land of the chosen ones. This place has many names among the living. But you could not grasp it's true name, unless you've passed on to it.
Material things cannot hold me."

"Okay?", Arthur deadpanned. I mean... how else was he supposed to react to that? "So... you're like... a spirit? A goddess?"

"I am but a messenger. I was send to inform you that the rules of time and space were broken."

....

"What?"
Arthur blinked. That follow up was even less expected than the first introduction.
And it didn't help ease his mind. At all.

"It took you days to get here. It should have taken you less than a day.
This will not be the only crack in the world you will encounter.
You will also encounter people whom you will remember a shared history with that has not yet happened.
People who never met each other may be best of friends now. Destiny is completely shaken.
You are free now, Arthur Pendragon."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"
'Yes, I do believe that's a sensible question.', Arthur reconsidered his word choice. Needless to say, he didn't find a better phrase.

"Nothing. You have come for Merlin, haven't you?", she said instead.

Once again, Arthur startled. How on earth did she know that?
"No no. I mean yes. But... you can't just say that and then change the topic."

"I can and I will. Now. If you're asking for Merlin, he was taken by the spring fairies. They have taken him to the perilous lands."

Arthur blinked in utter confusion. "And you're just... giving us that information?"

She shrugged. 'The fucking spirit just shrugged!', Arthur felt himself scowl into himself. What was it with these magical suddenly appearing and then immediately vanishing creatures and their riddles and pointless conversations.
Your words are NOT helpful. Just shut up, that would at least safe us some time!

"Okay... now back to the crack in the world..."

But the woman just smiled, before she dissolved into the surface of the lake.
"Great.", Arthur commented, entirely calm. The vanishing was a vital point of a sorceress's performance. He was not surprised in the least.
"Apparently I just talked to a pile of water."
He turned to his knights. All of which were staring at him with the same confusion that Arthur felt.

Gwaine was pouting, he didn't even have the chance to chat with the lovely lady.

Arthur was about to say something, when all of a sudden there came a rattling sound from the bushes.
Immediately, Arthur and the knights grabbed for their weapons.
The figures that appeared, however, were completely oblivious to their magical encounter and froze in equal alarm upon spotting the knights of Camelot.
Until Arthur recognized the person that now stood before them, chain mail fitted to her size, long hair bound up into a bun. It was merely a little messed up from the wind.

"Mithian?"

The newly crowned Queen of Nemeth rose her hand as a sign for her army to sheathe their weapons. Arthur did the same for his own knights.
There were sounds of metal, clattering and mumbling, until it was finally quiet again.

"Prince Arthur.", Mithian seemed pleasantly surprised. "What are YOU doing here? Has your father send you?"

Arthur nodded slowly. Mithian... Mithian. Strange, he couldn't remember their first encounter. But he did remember a planned wedding that was... both encouraged AND stopped by Arthur himself.
She walked over gracefully and embraced Arthur in a friendly hug.
The embrace may be short, but Arthur couldn't order his mind fast enough to give her an equally friendly greeting, so he just stood there.
"It's good to see you. I assume you're here for the magic kingdom as well?", she leaned back, ignorant of Arthur's confusion and looked at him.

Arthur blinked. "What? No? My servant ran away."

Mithian stopped and stepped back. "Merlin?", she exclaimed, utterly shocked, as if Arthur had pulled at her hair or something.
She clapped her hands in front of her mouth.
"He ran away? Holy... what did you do?"

Arthur blinked. "I didn't unroll my socks. What magic kingdom?"

"You risked your kingdom for socks?", Mithian was gaping. Okay, now Arthur was officially done with the entire situation.
Could people please stop ignoring his questions and actually answer them?
"The magic kingdom, Mithian. What were you talking about?"

"Who cares about the magical kingdom. Merlin is gone! Have you found a trail? Do you need our help? We'll help you!", she nodded heavily.

"I'm serious.", Arthur said slowly, as he saw the foreign knights slowly nod at each other, as if Merlin was more important than magic rising within the lands.

"So am I. Arthur. I know nothing is more important to you than Merlin!", Mithing put a calming hand on his shoulder. "We will find him. I promise."

She wasn't wrong, but that didn't stop the fact that there was a growth in magic and she had information about that!
Who knows what kind of attack these .... was it sorcerers? Magical beasts?.... were planning?

"Alright fine. Merlin was probably, most likely captured by fairies. So, we don't actually have to worry, according to the bandits.
So, stay calm, Mithian."

Mithian sighed in relief. "Oh good. Fairies don't hurt people. They just grant favors. That's good. Merlin is a very likable guy."

"Yes... that much has been established by now.", Arthur rolled his eyes. Then he blinked in surprise.
Did she just ignore the bandit comment?

"Actually.", suddenly Mithian paused and tilted her head to the side.
"I may have heard that the fairies reside in the perilious lands. That's where we were headed before. Maybe the two instances aren't entirely unrelated?"

Arthur sighed and shrugged. This would all be so much easier, if she already told him what she knew.
Maybe then, he could actually answer that question.
"I don't know. But we should really hurry. I haven't seen Merlin in days. Perhaps, the fairies were kind to him, but who knows how many other creatures there are?
The perilious lands are full of Wyverns! We should hurry.", he finally decided.
Arthur willed down his inner panic.

Over the last few days, he had gotten quite a good grasp on controlling his emotions. He had forced his knights into more frequent breaks too. Because he knew, they would be of no help to Merlin, if they were completely exhausted.
Besides, he was pretty damn certain Merlin was okay.
He would feel it, if anything had happened to him.
At least Arthur believed that to be true.

When Arthur had grasped his thoughts again, almost everyone had mounted their horses again.
Mithian had ridden past him to lead the way.
"Hurry, friends of Camelot! Merlin is THIS way!"
Sometimes Arthur wondered, why he even bothered.

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"Emrys, you say.", Uther was pacing in his room, once again.
This time however, he had a witness. The man in question was a rather old physician. He had long white hair and an eyebrow line that was entirely surreal, even without him giving "the eyebrow", as Gwaine would probably call it.
He had a long face, which seemed always judging. It was hard to tell whether or not he ever made jokes.
Especially when one Uther Pendragon was involved.

"Yes, Sire. I am sorry I have kept it from you for so long." This was a lie, of course.

"And the druids really believe he is this magical king?", Uther stopped to look at his physician.

"I don't think so, Sire no. The druids speak of an ancient prophecy though. That one day, the most powerful warlock of all time would rise in Albion. He would serve and protect the once and future king and make him the greatest to have ever lived.
Together, they would bring magic back to the land. I believe they would refer to him as the druid king, perhaps?"

Uther cursed under his breath. "Merlin is this Emrys, you say?"

Gaius blinked. Underneath his unreadable expression, you could see a layer of fear bleeding through his facade. Not that it hadn't been there before, but Uther's glaring made his mask crack.
Gaius had not been prepared for this conversation and the king casually stating: "I know your ward has magic, do you know how powerful he is?", had not been on the list of things he had wanted to discuss today.

"The druids seem to think so, yes.", Gaius nodded.
Do not assume he had been easily convinced to admit to the king what he knew about Merlin. In fact, Uther had to retell how he found out and promise to neither hurt Merlin nor Gaius for possessing magic or hiding a warlock.
They were an exception, Uther had claimed.
Which did nothing to ease Gaius' mind.
Though, to be fair, Gaius was still trying to process how easily Uther admitted that he could never hurt the servant.
"For more reasons than one.", he had stated and stroked his non existent beard.

The answer had been unreliable and vague.
Which is exactly the kind of nonsense, Gaius was used to by all kinds of magical creatures, so he finally cracked and told Uther everything.
Of course he had apologized for keeping the secret.
But Uther simply waved it off.
"I would have done the same. Your ward has a strangely charming personality, Gaius. You should be proud.", was ALSO not what Gaius had expected Uther to say. But by then he had been expectant of surprises.

At this point in the story, it was probably wise to inform you that Uther was kind of ... a little bit... lying to himself.

Earlier, he had shown a little respect for Merlin's abilities. Had shown fear as well as faith.
But the truth is, he was searching for reasons to warrant his special treatment of the servant.
To warrant the urgency of the rescue mission.
Naturally, he found many.
He had found many reasons to hunt and kill sorcerers. Why wouldn't he find justifications to keep Merlin alive just as easily?

Without admitting that he somewhat enjoyed the way Merlin bickered with Arthur of course.
As many others did as well.

It was kind of nice to see his son so energetic. Challenged and inspired.
It was nice to believe that his son was under constant protection from a guy who was so liked by the people.

Arthur had been right all along.
The kingdom was happier with Merlin in it.
Now that the man was gone, people were constantly worried. Afraid, and downright depressed.
Uther himself was no different.
Life in the castle was dull without watching the prince and his servant fight over nothing.
It kept the spirits up.

Considering all this, Uther found it rather easy to believe in Merlin's good nature. Or rather, he wanted to.
Of course he still had alarm bells in his mind and he acted mostly on those. But for Merlin he kept them down, until the warlock himself would give him an actual reason to doubt him.
So far, Merlin hadn't.

Merlin had even protected Uther's secret of how he started the purge and why. He had been secretive of it, even, or rather especially, in front of Arthur.
He may have been judgmental about Uther after that, but all in all, he had – once again – saved Uther's life.

Merlin reminded him a little of Ygraine.
Just a little.
And for Arthur's sake, he kind of hoped that those good qualities would be adapted by the prince as well.

All in all, Uther was quite fond the servant. Even if he didn't want to admit it. Even if 'fond' in Uther's world meant the stocks instead of the pyre.
Ignorance instead of direct mistreatment and abuse.
Uther was a difficult person to be around in general. For everyone. Merlin included.
But Merlin may just be the one person, Uther could be... kind of bearable around.
Kind of. Let's not push it.

"Thank you my lord.", Gaius bowed. Compliments like "your ward is charming.", were rare after all.

"Do you think this.... once and future king the druids speak of is the magic king within the perilous lands? Do you think the fisher king could be rising again?", Uther was getting more and more worried.

Gaius rose his chin to keep following Uther's movements. Uther was still pacing, while Gaius stood still. Only his eyes were wandering. His hands were clasped behind his back.

"The druids specifically mentioned that... your son.... prince Arthur.... is the king they speak of in the legends.", Gaius explained warily.
Somehow, now that Gaius knew that Uther was somewhat protective of Merlin, he felt more concern for the prince instead.

"Arthur? Arthur is the once and future king? He's not even king yet!", Uther frowned. And finally, there it was. The disapproving frown.
"My son would never throw away the future I build for Camelot. One without magic, one without -"

"Merlin?", Gaius interrupted and that stopped Uther's rage. Confusion settled over Uther's expression and finally he halted in front of Gaius.

He didn't need to utter a single word. Gaius knew what he was asking.
"Emrys is magic itself, Sire. Pure magic incarnate. That is who Merlin is. You must understand, it is difficult for me to understand why you are sparing his life in the first place. Especially since you know about his magic.
But Merlin is so much more than a simple sorcerer. You must realize that.
He is a warlock and the last dragon lord -"

"I assume it was him who protected Camelot, then?", Uther asked, understanding soaking through his skin and he turned around to face the wall.
Of course it hadn't been Arthur. Of course it had been Merlin who protected them.
He couldn't look at Gaius.
Merlin had protected Camelot more that Uther had feared. This was either really bad, or a relief. Considering where his mind wandered.

"If I were to execute your ward. Does this mean, this world would be freed of magic for good?"
All these years of rage and hatred. He had send so much energy into killing sorcerers. And now he stood before the chance to get rid off it all at once.
Of magic itself.
And Uther faltered.

Gaius stared at Uther. That sentence was far more familiar to him. Far more expected. Yet Gaius could not find the words to describe how that would make him feel. How that would make the world feel.
His silence was answer enough.
Uther turned around again, considering Gaius for a second.
The question he asked after that, he asked himself. And he looked at no one but the reflection in the windows behind his physician. He found his own eyes, narrowed in melancholy.

"But at what cost?"