Disclaimer: BBC owns them, not me. Good for them, to own a Legend…

Warnings/Spoilers: Pre-slash. Heavy spoilers for season 1 and 2. Written pre-season 3.

Many thanks to nicevenn for beta-reading and support!

Arthur dreams.

He dreams of strange, very strange things he cannot fathom.

Arthur cannot do magic. But he has magic inside him, a small seed from which he was begotten. And that seed draws magic, reflects it, allows him to feel it. He just doesn't know what he is feeling. It's like an unfamiliar scent one cannot identify. He feels it like a thrill, but he attributes those feelings to a crucial point of the battle, or maybe thrill of love like with Sofia, or of annoyance, like with Morgana. Even Gaius makes him nervous, for which Arthur has come to blame the fear of medical treatment. But most powerfully and most intensely he feels it from Merlin.

He dreams of Merlin, and those dreams are eerie and unsettling. Mostly they are very diffuse, unclear and obscure, but some of them clear and sharp as a sword. He dreams of Merlin with a blue ball of light in his hand, of Merlin wielding daggers with his gaze. He dreams of Merlin killing Sofia and her father and saving him from drowning in a very strange lake. When he wakes up, he sees Merlin and his false smile, and the dimwit tries to convince him that he was attempting to elope and that Merlin knocked him out with a club. But then Arthur forgets, pushes it aside, the normal reaction of the mind, blocking out everything unfathomable, forgets till the next dream, when he knows he's seen something similar before.

And also there are recurring dreams, like Merlin talking with a dragon – a real huge fire-breathing dragon – and they are talking about destiny and coins and Camelot, and something great, and Arthur always wants to remember those words, because somehow they seem important, but they elude him.

He sometimes wants to ask Merlin whether those dreams might have a connection to reality, but he has no idea how to go about it. "Merlin, what do you talk to the dragon about?" Or maybe, "Merlin, did you kill the hippogriff?" Because when he sees his servant in the morning, this incredibly clumsy inept helpless sod with shiny protruding ears and a goofy smile, he thinks he has those strange dreams just because it is impossible and he must have an overactive imagination. And if Merlin is a sorcerer, he would have turned him into a toad ages ago, anyway. Why would a sorcerer tolerate such an attitude?

And when the Questing beast strikes him, he sees Merlin and the woman from the forest, and Merlin bargaining something precious for Arthur's life – was it possible that the idiot was offering his own life instead? – and than he, Arthur, is alive and breathing again, and he knows that those dreams aren't just his fantasies. And then Merlin goes, giving him the most ridiculous speech, and the prince is scared, for the first time in his life he is scared to death, scared that Merlin has gone to die and will never come back, and he'll never see those huge ears and that shining smile. He even tries to go after Merlin, but being too weak and helpless, trips on the stairs and falls down, hurting himself even more, and then, somehow having made it back to his bed, sobs like a little boy, soundlessly, but bitterly and inconsolably. That night, he dreams of Merlin producing a lightning bolt from the blue sky, and killing the woman who is the cause of all the trouble. He sits bold upright in his bed, streams of sweat sliding down his forehead; he is terrified, awed, and also painfully excited.

At this point, he is determined to stop this. That is why when Merlin comes back, alive and even unscarred; he deliberately sets up a distance between them. He tries to ignore Merlin's friendly attitude, treats him as badly as possible, and secretly waits to be turned into a pig. Truth be told, for some time the dreams stop. Until he decides to take that new servant, what-is-his name. And after some time when Arthur is knocked off in a battle with some new strange creatures, he sees Merlin defeating that servant, who has been suggesting that Merlin will betray Arthur and join him. Merlin tells the evil guy that he will never let him hurt Arthur. And in his dream - because it is his dream, and Merlin will never know - Arthur is grateful and also very excited at the idea of kneeling at Merlin's feet.

He has more dreams about the dragon. Bargaining, quarrelling, speaking about Morgana… Arthur wakes up and wants to dwell on those dreams, analyze the connection, maybe speak to Merlin about it after all. But the next moment he is confronted with another task, or another foe, another evil, or just his father, and he forgets the dreams and fights for Camelot, for the life of those he loves.

Then the most terrifying reality crushes upon him, enemies in Camelot, Morgana kidnapped, and moreover, the dragon from his dreams comes to life and tries to destroy his kingdom.

And then there are just Merlin and him facing the beast, and he is knocked off yet again, and he dreams, but now he knows it's real, and it's Merlin, and when he wakes up, and the dragon is gone, and Merlin smiles his fake smile and mumbles, You did it, and Arthur laughs – he laughs genuinely and heartily. Then he gets up, pats Merlin on his shoulder, and says, "Merlin, you are such a terrible liar, for a sorcerer."

Merlin's jaw drops, and Arthur uses this very moment to claim the idiot's mouth with his own. He kisses him till they are both breathless, and then he just holds him, looking into his eyes, and when Merlin opens his mouth to speak, he kisses him again, because he doesn't want to hear either any protests or explanations, because he knows, he just knows that Merlin loves him too.