October is here! And that means Merlinktober is here too! Now, I know it's an art challenge, and I know I suck at art, but the prompts were too tempting, so I wrote a short fic and then made fanart for it. I've only written two short fics so far (the second one is coming out tomorrow btw), and made one piece of art, so I can't tell you if I'll be able to post some art for all the fics yet, we'll see. Also, I won't be writing a fic for all 31 prompts, obviously, but I'll try my best.

You can find the art on ao3 (/works/20866394) or for the whole series on ao3 go here: /series/1504544

Enjoy! :)

Day 2
CONSTELLATIONS

. . .

Perhaps, one day, the stars will align just right and I'll hear your voice again.

He's lying on the cold grass close to the lake, hands folded beneath his head, gently supporting its weigh. He's watching the stars. It's a clear night, he got lucky - he can see so many of them. Tiny sparkling dots in the sky, some brighter than others, some barely visible but still there.

He counts them sometimes. And then he gets bored - after a thousand years, who would blame him? It's all always the same.

And he's always alone.

"Counting the stars again?"

He can hear his voice. Did the stars align just right this time? He squints his eyes and sees a shadow made of light float down next to him. It sits on the grass, never minding the dew, and takes the form of his king.

"Have you figured out how many there are yet?"

A small smile tugs at Merlin's lips. "I miss you," he whispers.

He closes his eyes and feels a soft touch on his cheek. "Oh, Merlin," he hears. "And how much I miss you . . . "

Tears well up in Merlin's eyes and he opens them, his lips parted to answer him, but Arthur's gone.

Merlin blinks and brushes the tears from his face. The sky is covered in clouds - it's going to rain. He checks the time - and it's four hours later than when he last looked.

He sighs. He must have fallen asleep again.

He gets up, looks over the lake and up at the sky again. He's had this dream many times before. But the worst thing is, he never knows whether it really is just a dream or whether it's Arthur, somehow finding his way to him before he really returns.

But he chooses to be hopeful.

And perhaps, one day, I'll join you up there and we'll be one.

. . .

the end

Thank you for reading! :)