Hunger Games: Fandom Style

Meanwhile, Merlin

Earlier
An hour of careful work had led to this point. All that separated Harry from the two wolves was a short alleyway. They were traveling parallel to each other at the moment. Time for him to fix that.
"Forzare," he whispered, putting only a whisper of power behind it. A trash can in the alleyway crashed against the opposing wall.
The wolves immediately turned and headed towards the noise. So did Harry.
The wolves arrived at the mouth of the alley first. Harry appeared a moment later.
They should be able to take care of it from here. Merlin felt no satisfaction from his work. Just tired.
As the wolves prowled forward, and Harry drew his wand, it occurred to him that he might not want to be standing in between the combatants. He turned and slipped behind Harry. The wizard frowned slightly as he felt the air stir beside him.
An explosion shook the world. Merlin burst from the alleyway to see smoke rising in the distance.
Specifically, in the area where he had told Arthur to wait.
Fool, he cursed himself as he took off running. You utter fool. How could you leave him alone for a second?
If Arthur was dead, then no one was leaving this arena alive.
Not even a supposed immortal.
It was a nightmare run through the deserted streets. The grey walls of the buildings that lined the streets threatened to collapse in on him. They were all to similar to certain other grey walls, these the solid stone of the cliffs that had framed the Battle of Camlann. The ground there had been nearly as devoid of life as these streets were. He had picked his way through the dead until he'd found Arthur lying beside Mordred, clinging to life with his fingertips.
Merlin had failed him then. He would not do so again.
He ran faster, letting out an inarticulate scream of need.
The very fabric of the world responded.
One minute there was a maze between him and Arthur. The next minute, the world had rearranged itself in accordance to his will.
Buildings pushed themselves out of the way. The road corrected itself into a straight path. The material it was made of had changed into the ideal running surface.
Merlin took off running, the wind at his back. If the invisibility cloak flew back and revealed flashes of limbs, he doubted it was more noticeable than what he had just done.

President Snow stared at the screen. "What," he asked in a deadly quiet voice, "was that?"
Nimue smiled. "I did warn you he was taking an interest."

Arthur stumbled back as an invisible force threw itself at him. Will's knives were out in a second, but they both relaxed as they realized it wasn't a magical attack.
"You dollop head! I thought you were dead!" The hood of the invisibility cloak had fallen off. Merlin's furious face was visible. "Do you have any idea what that felt like?"
Lancelot walked into the encampment, head bowed. Arthur looked up at him. His heart broke. No. He couldn't be gone. He couldn't.
"Bad news," Lancelot said gravely. Then he grinned. "He's still alive."
Of all the stupid pranks -
Agravaine laid a bloody scrap of fabric down on the table. Arthur picked it up gingerly. The fabric was rough and poorly made. It was probably all Merlin had been able to afford.
"I'm sorry, my lord. He was a good servant - "
Arthur held up his hand. Agravaine didn't understand - couldn't understand - that Merlin hadn't been a good servant. He had showed up late or not at all. He had dropped things, lost things, and generally made both himself and his king look ridiculous.
He had been a terrible servant.
But he had been a very good friend.
"Yes, actually. I seem to remember one occasion where you actually convinced Lancelot - "
"For five seconds!" Merlin protested. "You thought I was dead for all of five seconds. You were dead for over a millennia."
Will coughed. "Are all your friends disembodied heads?"
"He's invisible," Arthur explained. "At least he's supposed to be."
"Oh. Right. Well, you see, I sort of rearranged a couple of buildings so I could get here faster, so I'm not sure if there's much point in hiding anymore."
"It would least make it harder for the Capital to aim."
"I'm immortal, remember? I once survived a direct hit from a nuclear bomb. Trust me. I can survive anything they can throw at me."
"A what?" Will asked.
Merlin waved his hand. "It's complicated. What did I miss?"
"Oh. Will meet Merlin. He's a sorcerer, but he's on our side. Merlin, meet our new ally."
Will raised an eyebrow. "A sorcerer, huh?"
"You got a problem with that?"
He shook his head in disbelief. "No. Just got to . . . rearrange some thinking is all. How'd you end up in the arena?"
Merlin and Arthur looked at each other. "Long story," they said at the same time.
"Think of me as his immortal, unkillable, magically gifted bodyguard," Merlin said.
"Not that he has a high opinion of himself or anything."
"Says the man who once pronounced himself the finest knight in the five kingdoms."
"I was!"
"Except for Morgause."
"She cheated!"
"So do I. Your opponents just as dead. What exploded?"
"I climbed to the roof of one of the buildings to get a closer look. Looks like one of the rides went up in flames. There was at least one cannon blast, but more could have been hidden in the explosion. We'll know tonight who it was."
"No need," Arthur said looking grim. "I think I know it was."
"Three," Merlin said. "They holed up in that Mine Train ride."
"But what could have set it off?" Will asked. "They don't normally include explosives as weapons. Not personal enough to suit them." He tilted his head. "Could you have done it?"
Merlin frowned. "Yes, but I wouldn't ha - Morgana."
"Your district partner?"
Arthur looked pale. "She did that?"
"She must have. She's a witch," Merlin explained to Will, "and a powerful one."
"More powerful than you?"
Merlin grinned. "No one's more powerful than me."
"Or got a bigger head," Arthur muttered, but his heart wasn't in it. "We're going to have to take her down, aren't we?"
"You don't have to come," Merlin offered.
"No. I'm not going to hide behind a blanket and pretend this isn't happening. If we're doing this, than I'm going to be there."
Merlin wasn't so sure about that, but he'd marshal his arguments later. For now, he nodded.
"Right then. Who's up for a witchhunt?"