This takes place directly after this evening's (24 Oct 09) episode of BBC's Merlin, "Beauty and the Beast - part 1".

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SHOW, INCL. SEASON 2.

Merlin belongs to BBC, I make no profit.

This is my first Merlin fic – indeed it's my first complete fanfic! English isn't my first language, but words has that wonderful thing where it corrects your spelling and your grammar *hint* so I hope that took care of the most obvious mistakes. Needless to say this was written quite late in the night, but I wouldn't have published it if I didn't think it was quite good *hint, cough cough, hint*. (25/10 - minor misstakes now corrected.)

This isn't meant as slash (though I guess you could read it as pre-slash if you wanted, but hey, it's Merlin). I do confess I'm generally a slash girl. But, as noted, this is friendship-fic.

That was it I think. Okay, deep breath – here it goes:

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The Once and Future Prat

Merlin stared at the couple in the other end of the hall. He had been too late. He had spent too much time, using every ounce of his power just to get through a bloody wall, and now it was too late. The king of Camelot had married a troll.

While Merlin was fighting to pull in air after his sprint through the castle, a thousand thoughts were still sprinting in his head. He saw in his mind the utter destruction that could come to Camelot. He thought about Arthur suddenly having a troll for a mother. He shuddered at the memory of the powerful magic that had held back his own. He cursed himself for not having simply tried to bring down another part of the wall and escaped that way, surely that would have been faster – and why hadn't he just thrown Jonas aside with a spell straight away instead of trying to force his way past him? The man wasn't human anyway! And behind all these thoughts, a voice was whispering in the back of his head that this was less than Uther deserved for all the people he had sent to death in the name of his hatred of magic. Let the man be married to a troll – there was a sweet sort of irony in it, wasn't there? Poetic justice? But Merlin pushed that voice aside. Camelot couldn't have a troll for queen – she would tear the whole kingdom down before Arthur ever became king. It couldn't happen. So he raised his arm and took a deep breath.

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Arthur had barely taken any notice of the creaking sound of the doors; but then people around him started to turn away from the newly married couple and look towards the doors instead, frowning and whispering to each other, and he did notice that. So he shot an angry glance at the interruption – he might not like the idea of his father getting remarried, but only a completely insensitive idiot would interrupt at this point.

So he shouldn't have been surprised then, that it was Merlin standing in the doorway. And quite a sight he was too: covered in dust and gravel, his forehead shining with sweat and his chest heaving as if he had been running the whole way from Gaius quarters to the hall. Which he probably had, Arthur just didn't understand why. Unless Merlin actually did believe Lady Catrina to be a troll. Did he? Arthur was just debating with himself whether or not it was his responsibility to pull away his crazy manservant and stop him from ruining the entire wedding, when Merlin raised a hand towards Uther and Lady Catrina and began murmuring. For a brief moment Arthur thought that his manservant had finally gone completely mad, and even took a quick step forward, his mind now made up to get Merlin out of there. But then he noticed something that made his stomach turn in a most unpleasant way. Merlin's eyes had gone golden. Arthur told himself it was his imagination, or a trick of light; Merlin was standing in the other end of the hall, Arthur shouldn't even be able to make out the colour of his eyes from here. But the steadily increasing feeling that he might throw up told him another story. Merlin's eyes were golden, and not only that, something was moving in them. And Arthur wasn't so blind that he didn't know that there was only one thing that could be.

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Magic. Uther's heart skipped both one and two beats. The first when he realised someone was using magic right in front of him, in his castle, at his wedding. And then the second when he realised the magic in question was directed against his new wife. Emotions flamed up like fire inside of him. Greif, at the memories of Igraine's death that had suddenly resurfaced in his mind, and sheer resolution that he would not lose another love to magic. But above all, wrath. His wife was being threatened. His laws were being broken. That was all he needed to know.

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Magic. Some of the most powerful magic Merlin had ever been up against. 'But not more powerful that Nimueh,' he thought. 'And I killed her.' That had never been something Merlin felt particularly proud of, but now in the heat of battle, he found he did. The problem still remained though, that even if the troll wasn't in fact more powerful than Merlin, her magic was so different. As it swarmed around him when she returned his attack, he fancied it smelled like her, like that foul stench in the dungeon where she'd slept. It crept into his clothes like that smell had, brought tears to his eyes like that acrid air. He made another attack, breaking through her magic for a while and revealed her to the people gathered in the hall as the horrid spectacle she was. Merlin was vaguely aware of screams. The troll didn't even bother to try and turn back as she attacked him again.

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Horror seemed to be the only feeling Gaius was capable of today. When he had woken up that morning, it had been fear and anxiousness about the possibility that a troll might marry his king and – so Gaius liked to believe at least – old friend later that day. As the wedding ceremony went on, that fear had only grown, and the thoughts of what might be keeping Merlin had spawned ever more worries in him. But never had he thought it was even possible to feel such fear as he was feeling now. It was so strong that it was causing him actual, physical pain. Every muscle and bone in his body screamed with it. He didn't believe he could move a finger if he'd tried, or even blink. He just stared at the scene in front of him. The troll, vile to look at, had just married Gaius' master and was now attacking his ward in an even battle. People were in panic, they had begun to flee the room, screaming or stricken dumb by terror, all except the king, who hadn't even seemed to react to the sudden change in his new spouse. Merlin was doing magic.

Gaius new Camelot was in extreme danger and he should be more afraid about that than about anything else, but quite frankly Camelot was in extreme danger every week or so and had made it just fine this far. But Merlin was doing magic. In front of the entire court. In front of the King. The one thing Gaius could see before his mind's eye was a vision of Merlin being burnt to death out on the courtyard, screaming in pain. And there would be nothing Gaius could do about it.

The pain of fear that had frozen Gaius' arm was interrupted by the duller pain of someone bumping in to it on their way out of the hall, and suddenly something snapped into place in Gaius' mind. The king hadn't reacted to the sudden change in his spouse. Gaius tore his eyes away from Merlin and studied the king, who had now thrown off his red cape, drawn his sword and was heading towards Merlin. A glowing red pearl gleamed on his chest. The troll had enchanted the king quite literally, then. Gaius cried out in warning.

'Merlin, the king! Destroy the necklace!' Gaius voice reached Merlin as he threw his most powerful curse so far towards the troll. High on fear and power both, he wasted no time in spinning his head around in search of the king even as The Troll flew into the wall, crashed to the ground and remained still. It took him half a second to see the necklace Uther was wearing. With a short spell and a flick of the wrist, he crushed it. Uther froze in the middle of a movement, with his sword held high above his head. Merlin took a step back to avoid being hit by it when the king would snap out of the troll's spell. For a moment, everything was still and quiet. Merlin hadn't even realised that the hall was now almost empty.

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Uther hadn't even realised that the wizard was someone he knew, until something near his chest made a sound as of glass breaking and his vision suddenly seemed become clearer. With his sword still raised, he recognized the thin, poorly clothed and now dirty form of Arthur's manservant. Blue eyes – 'Weren't the golden a moment ago?' – stared back at him. Neither of them spoke.

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Arthur felt dizzy. He had just thrown up, the evidence of this weakness left on the floor. Thankfully, in the all around panic, no one had noticed. Lady Catrina really was a troll. His father had married her. Was that marriage still valid, he wondered? A laugh escaped him. Morgana glared at him. Merlin was a wizard. Arthur's head was spinning. Watching the battle between the troll and the wizard, so many things that he had disregarded in the past as being freak incidents, luck or fate, had gained a whole new meaning. The scales had fallen from his eyes. Idiot, indeed. Clearly there had been two of them.

Because Merlin was obviously an idiot, wizard or not. Only an idiot would perform magic, powerful magic, in front of the king of Camelot. Arthur's father was holding a sword above Merlin's head. Arthur felt as if he would be sick again.

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'No!' Gaius shouted as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did. Surely watching Merlin get killed would be the end of Gaius as well. He threw himself between the king and the boy, who had been staring at each other for what felt like hours but had likely only been seconds.

'Sire, I beseech you! The boy was protecting you! Look!' And with this he extended a shaking arm to point at the body of the troll that was still lying motionless in a corner. Without moving any other part of his body, Uther slowly turned his head to look at his bride. He stared at it, at this thing, in silence. Gaius stared at the king. He tried to read the look in the other man's eyes, but couldn't. With a sudden lapse of balance and a stumble, Uther lowered his sword and turned back to Gaius.

'What is going on here?' he asked. His voice was so weak; Gaius wouldn't have believed it belonged to the king if his own eyes hadn't been telling him so.

'I told you sire,' Gaius began, impressed by how strong and steady his own voice still was even as the Merlin from his inner vision was still screaming in his head, 'Lady Catrina died with her family. The woman who came to Camelot was a fraud, a troll disguised as a human. You were under a spell, sire.'

At that word, Uther's head snapped up an inch and his glare was turned on Merlin.

'You! You were using magic in my court!' There was no weakness in the king's voice now. 'Guards! Arrest this man! He is to be charged and punished for sorcery!'

Gaius tried to protest, but what came out of his throat was not words; it was barely human. It was the sound of pure agony. The king didn't even look at his physician, he just pushed him aside. It wasn't overly violent, but it was all it took for Gaius to fall down. He didn't get up again. The imaginary sound of Merlin screaming had grown so loud it was filling his head and pushing out all other thoughts.

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In the corner of his eye, Merlin saw Gwen and Morgana rushing to Gaius' side, their eyes wide and their faces pale. He saw Arthur, whose face had taken on an ashen shade, staring at Merlin. Merlin met his eyes for a while. This wasn't how Merlin had thought things would end.

Guards and knights were advancing on him. Some of them had been hiding behind pillars or pieces of wall and ceiling that had fallen down during the battle - now that Merlin thought of it, the hall really was in quite a state; worse than Arthur's bedroom on bad day -, and were now trying their best to act arrogant an unaffected again. Most were failing spectacularly. It didn't take more than two of the more unfazed men to grab hold of Merlin though. Merlin felt their strong hands close around his arms, much tighter than necessary. 'I'll get bruises', he thought. He probably shouldn't be feeling this calm. Maybe he had used up to much of his strength fighting the troll. Not that either strength or panic was going to do him much good now. Uther's eyes were fixed on him, burning. Merlin would hardly have been surprised if they'd turned golden that very moment. Uther could sure build up a magnificent rage.

The knights pulled at Merlin's arms so hard that he stumbled and began to drag him away when another voice was raised.

'No!'

It echoed through the hall. The tone was that of a power that will not be questioned; it was a voice that could call down thunder from the skies and make the earth shake below. Merlin thought that if it wasn't Uther, it surely must have been the voice of a god.

'Let him go, now!'

To Merlin's astonishment, the knights let him go as if they'd been burned. The sudden lack of support made him fall head first to the floor. He turned around rubbing his elbow and gingerly touching his scraped chin, and saw that the knights looked pretty surprised too. And then Arthur was there.

Merlin had never seen Arthur look like he did now. He knew Arthur was shorter than Uther, but as the prince walked up to his father now, Merlin could have sworn he was a head taller than the other man. Uther's hair and crown were covered with dust from the damaged ceiling and his cape was lying abandoned by the thrones, but Arthur's crown was shining and the red cape billowed slightly behind him before he came to a halt. The royal prat was nowhere to be seen: this was the man the dragon had been talking about all this time. The man who would be legend.

Uther glared daggers at his son. 'How dare you tell anyone to disregard the king's orders?' he asked in his coldest voice. For once Arthur didn't seem impressed.

'Merlin was helping you, father. He stopped you from making a troll the queen of Camelot.' Arthur sneered at that. So the prat was still alive, then. 'You should be thanking him.'

'He used magic, Arthur. He broke the law.' Uther looked at Merlin and continued: 'Isn't this the same boy as the one who barged in here a year ago, confessing to being a sorcerer? The nerve! All this time, he has been right here in front of our eyes,' he turned back to Arthur, 'in your service! He could have killed you at any time! God only knows what devil's plan he's been cooking up instead.'

'He hasn't killed me, father, because he's on our side. Merlin has saved my life time and time again! He's probably even saved yours! Damn it, he has saved everyone in here!'

Merlin gaped. How did Arthur know this? How long had he known? If Arthur knew, how come Merlin had never gotten any credit!? He wanted to ask someone all this questions, but noticed that no one was looking at him. Well, wasn't that funny? He should probably take advantage of that and sneak out. 'But if I run now, I can never come back.' He looked at Arthur, all aglow with righteous anger, and the voice of the dragon echoed in his head: 'It's your destiny, young warlock'.

'I hate that bloody dragon,' Merlin muttered.

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It was the truth, Arthur knew it now. Merlin was protecting Camelot; he always had been. In his dreams after he had been attacked by the questing beast, Arthur had seen Merlin killing the thing. Now he knew that wasn't the fever giving him strange ideas – that was a real memory. Every tree branch that had conveniently fallen on the head of some foe, every close call, everything from that first evening in the great hall when Merlin had saved him from the flying dagger to the way Cornelius Sigan had suddenly disappeared without any real explanation just a couple of weeks ago – it had all been Merlin, using his magic to step in between Arthur and all the wretched things that insisted on trying to kill him. 'He's more powerful than Sigan', Arthur thought. 'He's more powerful than any sorcerer Camelot has ever seen'. A chill went down Arthur's spine. For a moment he wondered if he was doing something really, really stupid. There was a reason his father was against magic, and Arthur had never really disagreed with him before.

Meanwhile, Uther gave a sneer that made Arthur think of his own reflection and addressed Merlin again.

'My son seems to think a sorcerer can be of use to Camelot. That you can be trusted, as if any magician can. I think he might have gotten the idea in his head that you would be willing to kneel in front of your king and swear him eternal allegiance and obedience. That such an oath could actually mean anything to one of your kind. It seems he has forgotten how we have all seen enough of your disrespectful behaviour long before this to know you have no sense of propriety or respect for the crown, magic or not.'

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Merlin saw Arthur cringe at Uther's words. The prince seemed to have lost some of the confidence he was showing just minutes earlier. But in Merlin's, admittedly currently somewhat chaotic, mind, a light had appeared. A small but definitely real chance. If he did swear allegiance and obedience, Uther wouldn't know what to do, would he? He might actually listen to Arthur then. And those shades of doubt might disappear from Arthur's eyes.

Still free of the hands of the knight, Merlin drew himself up from the floor. He looked at Uther, steeling himself for what he was about to do. He looked at the king's stern face, the cold eyes, the hand that rested on the sword. Swear allegiance to Uther ... Merlin felt bile rising in his throat. The faces of a hundred people being executed in front of that man had begun to dance in front of Merlin's eyes. He couldn't do it.

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Arthur watched as Merlin walked toward him, past Uther, on wobbly legs. 'So the clumsiness isn't an act then', he thought. 'Nice to know, Merlin.' It was nice to know. It made Merlin human. For a while, he had seemed more like some sort of fairy creature in Arthur's mind – or a god, even.

Without a word, Merlin's eyes locked on Arthur, and the sorcerer knelt in front of him. Arthur felt lost. Merlin had never done anything so subservient before. 'He drank poison for me though'. At this memory, something of the cold that had gotten hold of him lost its grip. And then Merlin spoke.

'I swear eternal allegiance and obedience to you, Arthur Pendragon.'

'Well, my ears are going to fall off now', Arthur thought.

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Gaius slowly came back to life. Someone was shaking him. 'Gaius! Gaius, you have to see this' Morgana hissed in his ear. 'Alright, alright' Gaius tried to say. Even that came out an incoherent mumble. With some trouble, and with more than a little help from Gwen, he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around him. And then he saw what Morgana was trying to turn his attention to. Merlin, the blessed boy. Kneeling like a knight in front of the prince, talking clearly enough for all the people that had remained in the hall to hear.

'I swear eternal allegiance and obedience to you, Arthur Pendragon. All the power I have, is yours. I swear to never use it against you or your people. I swear to use it to protect you and your people whenever you so command. I swear to help you whenever you need it, whether you want me to or not' – Gaius cringed at that. Gwen giggled, but caught herself quickly. 'I swear that I will never lie to you or deceive you in any way from this day forward. I swear that I will be happy to call myself your servant 'til the day I die. I swear this to you, Arthur Pendragon, crowned prince of Camelot, and no one else. I know that until you are king, Uther Pendragon will be your king and any sworn allegiance to you will be sworn allegiance to him as well. But I was asked to swear allegiance and obedience to my king.' Merlin swallowed so hard that Gaius could hear the gulp. He thought he could see tears on the boy's cheeks and wondered whether they were tears of fear, shame or pride –or something else entirely. Merlin took a shaky breath and continued. 'And so I have. Arthur Pendragon, the once and future king.'

With that, Merlin bowed even deeper, until his hair touched the floor. Both the Pendragons stared at him in silence. Gaius sympathized with them. He had never heard Merlin hold such a long and, well, somewhat eloquent speech, and he often had a feeling he was the one who saw the more clever side of the boy.

Somewhere in the hall, someone begun to clap their hands loudly and quickly. 'It's the panic of seeing the troll and the battle that is beginning to let go,' Gaius thought, 'giving way to hysteria in its wake.' But more people joined in, Morgana and Gwen among them, and although most people remained still, the king was beginning to look slightly uncomfortable.

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Arthur looked down at the mop of black hair at his feet. That unpleasant feeling from the beginning of this whole thing had come back. The feeling that Merlin was doing something that Merlin really shouldn't be doing. 'He swore allegiance to me. And obedience. What a joke. Of course you messed that one up before you'd even finished the oath, didn't you Merlin? Can't do whatever the prat says, can we?' But of course, to be honest, Arthur didn't want him to. That would mean that all of Merlin's power really would be his. Arthur wasn't sure he was ready for that. Wasn't sure he'd ever be. The most powerful sorcerer in all Albion was kneeling at his feet, having sworn to serve him until death with a smile on his lips; that was quite enough. 'Oh and I believe you, Merlin. If you could say it to me in my room when no one was listening and you didn't need to impress anyone, then I believe you. Especially since you called me a prat in the next sentence.' That reminded him.

'Did you kill the questing beast, Merlin?' He spoke out loud this time.

Merlin raised his head to look at him, and for a second he smiled that silly smile of his.

'I did, sire.'

There was nothing mocking about the title anymore. Unless the lack of mocking tone was a form of mocking in itself. Arthur felt unsure.

'And afterwards, when I was dying, did your magic cure that?'

Arthur was aware that Uther was approaching them and wanted this to be said out loud, quickly, before his father had Merlin dragged of to be killed. It was a wonder Merlin had been able to stall it for this long. Of course, Merlin's behaviour had always had a tendency to leave people frozen in shock and disbelief, Arthur thought. Merlin was taking his time, looking at Arthur as if he was begging him not to have to answer.

'Answer me, Merlin. You just swore obedience to me, remember?'

'I did. I did cure you. I mean, I couldn't cure you, the magic was to powerful for me, but I gave my life for yours.'

Arthur hadn't seen that one coming. Uther stopped in his tracks.

'You're still alive, Merlin,' Arthur pointed out, adding 'you idiot' for good measure.

'I know. I know that. Nimueh tricked me. She tried to take my mother's life instead.'

'Your mother is still alive as well. Isn't she?' Uther made a grunting noise and tapped his foot. Arthur thought about how close Merlin was to death right now and wondered once again why the hell he was bothering with this. 'What the hell aren't you telling me Merlin, spit it out, you just swore not to lie anymore as well.'

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Damn, he had sworn that, hadn't he? Maybe he really was an idiot, after all. 'Here goes, all or nothing', Merlin thought.

'I killed Nimueh.'

Uther's reaction to that was remarkable. He started as if he'd been struck by lightning, staring at Merlin as if he hadn't already been staring at him since he entered the room.

'You did what?'

'I killed Nimueh.' Merlin bit his lip waiting for any other reaction from the king. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

'Nimueh's dead?' The king's eyes seemed to be the size of saucers. He grabbed hold of his son's shoulder to keep his balance. Arthur rolled his eyes. 'Obviously!' That godlike glow had left him now, Merlin thought. Only the prat left. He'd grown quite fond of that prat though. 'Who the hell is Nimueh anyway?' Arthur asked, but Uther paid him no attention. Instead the king drew himself up to full height again, looked out over the hall and bellowed out:

'The boy will not be executed!' Merlin thought his heart was going to stop out of pure relief. That would have been ironic, wouldn't it? Uther looked down on him. Merlin suddenly realised he was still on his knees, but decided to stay that way a bit longer. Best to seem humble and subservient until he was sure Uther wouldn't change his mind. 'But he will be put in the dungeons - for inappropriate disrespect of the present king', Uther finished with a glare. Merlin smiled at that. Arthur shook his head at him, but he couldn't help himself. As the knights came to drag him off he made no resistance. 'Once and future king indeed,' he heard Uther mutter behind him.

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That evening Arthur found himself sitting cross-legged on the dungeon floor, looking through the bars at his locked up manservant. The guards behind him were giving him strange looks, he knew, but he didn't care enough to lecture them on the proper way of not giving a damn whether or not the crowned prince wanted to spend a perfectly fine evening in the coldest, most uncomfortable place in Camelot.

'You could get yourself out any time you wanted, couldn't you?'

Merlin smiled. That smile really got on Arthur's nerves sometimes. How could someone be so cheerful when they were in prison? 'Knowing you just escaped execution probably helps', he thought.

'Uther wouldn't forgive me twice, would he?'

'I'm not sure he forgave you once, Merlin. I'm not sure what happened up there. Who is that Nimueh person who seemed so important?'

'Was. She's dead.'

'Merlin.'

'She was a powerful witch, that's all I know. Gaius seemed to know a lot more about her though. She was the one who tried to poison you, as well. Or, well, me, she tried to poison me. But then she tried to kill you in that cave, anyway so ... '

'Wait! That floating light thing in the cave, that was you as well, wasn't it?'

'I – I don't know. I wasn't really conscious at the time. But Gaius told me I'd been doing magic in my sleep.'

'While you were dying?'

'Eh, I guess?'

Arthur sighed and hid his face in his hands.

'Merlin ... are there even any limits to your power?'

He looked up. Merlin shook his head. That made Arthur hide his face again.

'I mean, I don't mean it doesn't have any limits', Merlin hurried to explain. 'I just don't know what they are yet. I think ... I think it's still growing. I do know I defeated Nimueh. And Sigan. So, I guess I'm more powerful than them. And ... well ... there's really no one left to compare to.'

'That's what I thought', Arthur thought.

Instead he said: 'The king says you're not allowed to use your magic again, on pain of death. The old laws still stand.'

Merlin's face fell. Arthur leaned closer to the bars and lowered his voice.

'But when I was I alone with him, he added, "as long as I am the king of Camelot".'

Merlin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Probably something he'd picked up from Gaius. 'So ... what? What does that mean? You're not saying I should hope that the king dies, are you?'

'Why, haven't you done that before?' Arthur asked, suddenly curious. Merlin didn't answer, but directed all his attention to a small black beetle that crawled on the floor between the boys.

'Anyway, I think he was hinting that he might step down and leave the thrown to me before he dies. And when I'm king ...'

Merlin was looking at him again now, eyes shining, lips tugging upwards threatening to break out in his trademark smile any moment.

'... when I'm king, since your power is mine to wield whenever I so command ...'

'Now hold on, that is not what I said!'

'... I'm sure we're gonna have a lot of fun.'

'Prat', Merlin muttered.

Arthur smiled smugly.

'That's Once and Future Prat to you.'

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The End