Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

Regent 10

A.N.: I am making this whole thing unnecessarily complicated for myself... 

Look at this chapter:D It is ONE scene!

Merry crisis, everyone. And merry 10 year anniversary of Arthur's death. 

"A tether."

Merlin had been fast asleep, when Leon roused him from his slumber. It took him a moment to regain consciousness, before he could even begin to comprehend the words.
"What?", was all the response he could muster.
His hand searched for the familiar blonde head that had gotten somewhat used to curling up next to Merlin. Despite Merlin's hesitance, he had to promise Arthur to stay in his room, because the boy kept having nightmares. Nightmares which Merlin's presence seemed to sooth somehow.
However, the child was nowhere to be found right now. Perhaps Gwen had woken him, or he had grown hungry or one of his new friends had asked him to play.
For once, Merlin wasn't too worried about Arthur's whereabouts. One reason being that Arthur had grown quite attached to Aithusa and Morgana's innocent soul. Both creatures were children and awfully powerful. And for reasons Merlin couldn't fathom, he trusted them. Even Morgana's not-yet damaged soul. He was certain that they would protect Arthur. And Gwen insisted that Merlin would let Arthur be a child and not constantly supervised, so he hardly had a choice on the matter anyway.
(Truth is, he did panic a little, but he knew if anything had happened, Leon wouldn't have woken him up with calm strange words but would have screamed at him or something.)
I helped that the entire castle was on Merlin's side and they all tried their hardest to keep Arthur safe and entertained. If anything were to happen, Merlin would be informed immediately. They would call him for a simple scratch, a tiny argument, sometimes just because Arthur would ask about something which they weren't sure they were allowed to explain it to him. Anything they found somewhat significant for Arthur's wellbeing found it's way directly to the regent of Camelot. While that might seem like an overreaction, Merlin was quite pleased with the staff for the way they treated Arthur. (First rule being, obviously, not to let Arthur anywhere near Agravaine's tower.)

"I said, 'a tether'.", Leon repeated himself and tapped his arms impatiently. "I talked to Kilgharrah."
Merlin sat up slowly, still a bit disoriented from sleep. "How would a rope help us get Arthur back?" Blame it on his sleepy state, but Kilgharrah's riddles were the worst, even if you were sober.
Leon sighed, clearly itching to get some training in. "It's a metaphor.", he stressed. "To get the right Arthur back, we have to mark our timeline somehow, so that our selves of the past can find us faster. That's the entire point of the blood magic. By using the caster's blood, you can tell the magical timeline whose magic performed the spell, so it can be redirected to the right time."
Merlin took a deep breath before he could say something he would regret. It was too early for this and he hadn't understood a single word. "I thought time didn't matter.", he tried, because it was the one thing he had understood from Leon's previous attempts to explain the situation. Whoever invented the concept of this time travel magic deserved to burn in hell.
Leon grimaced. "It doesn't for the magic. But it does for the outcome of the spell."
Merlin blinked, then took the blanket and buried himself underneath. "Can you go and bother an Emrys from another timeline to deal with your magic humbo jumbo?"
"You're the one who wants Arthur back."
Merlin peaked up from beneath the warm fuzzy blanket. "I also have no idea what we're doing, since I'm the only person who's never been anywhere near the spell to know how to reverse it. So can you please explain things to me in a way that I can understand?"
"You're not dumb, Merlin. Get up, so we can talk. If you have questions, I will answer them all. I promise I'll try make it simple enough that even someone understands it whose brain only speaks Arthur."
Grumbling, Merlin sat up again and pointed for Leon to sit on the bed. Leon stared at him scandalised as if he had gone mad, then grabbed himself a chair and sat down on it like a heathen. Merlin muttered under his breath, then sighed and tried to stretch himself awake. "So. Tell me what we need to do."
Leon smiled painfully. "Okay, so. The thing is, Arthur is still stuck on his own timeline."
Merlin nodded. Right. Timeline, like a string of wool. Arthur was once at one end, now he's somewhere in the middle of the string. He can only travel on his own stupid time string.
Leon took another breath and continued. "As I said, the magic pulls people from random points of that timeline and and switches them to the time when the magic was cast. Since the spell we intend to use doesn't have a conscience and therfore doesn't know which Arthur it needs to pick from the timeline, we must organise the circumstances around it. The magic will use the easiest gateway. So we have to make it as easy as possible for the magic to find us.
Which means, we have to make sure we're in the same place as Arthur was back then-"
Merlin smiled almost pitifully. "Which we don't know where that is."
Leon ignored him. "It means using the same magic caster who cast the spell in the first place."
"Wait-" Merlin's eyes widened, fully awake now. Morgana had to do the spell? Looking at Leon, that was apparently not much of an issue, because he didn't let Merlin form his question.
"If we don't have the caster, we can use their blood as an amplifier."
"Which we don't have.", Merlin added slowly, only slightly relieved that Morgana wasn't strictly necessary to perform the magic.
Leon now took a deep breath, but his eyes sparkled with some kind of hope. "The thing is, none of these things are strictly necessary." There was a moment in which Leon made a dramatic pause and that moment made hell real for Merlin's already confused heart. "They are a tether.", Leon continued. They are just there to give the spell an orientation point. Something to hold on to, once the spell is cast on both ends in time. Now, we don't have Morgana or her blood and we don't know the place when the spell was cast. But, if we have something that connects Arthur to this time, we can reach out to him. Then all we need to wait for, is for him to grab the tether and pull himself back to us." Leon smiled pleased, awfully pleased with himself.
Merlin found himself skeptical. "Did Kilgharrah tell you that?"
Leon frowned. "As if that lizard ever gives clear instructions. No. He told me some gibberish, I compared it to my book and then I used my brain."
"So you're not sure.", Merlin concluded.
Leon's frown turned into a slight scowl. "Of course I'm sure. It all makes sense."
"Then what do we need to do to get Arthur back?" In truth, Merlin really had no idea what all this meant. Leon stared at him, as if he had gone mad or if he simply found him stupid.
"Not we. YOU. YOU need to reach out to him. You and Arthur are practically tied by destiny. If you're not what binds him to this timeline, then nothing is."
Merlin flushed red. "And why do you think that? Just because Arthur made me his regent, doesn't mean that he's actually in love with me. I mean, I know that's what it looks like and it's what you all want to think and I mean, I get that it seems really reasonable, because -" Merlin felt a ramble coming on and as soon as he realised it, he clapped his mouth shut, surprised by himself.
What on earth had he asked that for? Why did he get defensive all of a sudden? Just because child Arthur had proposed to Merlin FOR the adult Arthur, yesterday? That didn't mean those were Arthur's real feelings. Just because everyone around them seemed to be convinced that Arthur loved Merlin, and just because Leon had talked to adult Arthur, while they were in the past and pretty much ensured Merlin that Arthur had admitted to being in love with him, didn't mean Merlin could just ASSUME things.
Admittedly, even Merlin realised how stupid that sounded. Then again, the idea of Arthur loving him had never sounded so... overwhelming before.
Leon was quietly blinking at him, as if he waited for the pin to drop. When it didn't, Leon spoke very slowly and very carefully. "I said, you two are tied by destiny, Merlin. I didn't say you were in love." He put his fingers together, as if praying to one of the gods that Merlin would leave him alone with his personal problems.
"You told me that Arthur -"
"Babababab.", Leon put a finger to Merlin's mouth to shush him. "I state only facts. This spell only requires destiny bonds. Not love. If you love him, that's great, but neither the spell nor I request it."
Merlin blinked. Then blushed as he realised that Leon was right. He had been interpreting into Leon's statement.
There was a pause, in which Leon seemed to be fighting with himself. Or thinking about something. Eventually he dropped a sigh and simply asked. "Since when are you concerned about Arthur's feelings anyway? You haven't really responded to the VERY OBVIOUS -" Leon gestured his hands apart as far as he could muster "-confessions that he put in his last will or the sigil. And you haven't responded to any of the rumors either. Why the insecurity now?" He seemed uncomfortable with the subject, noticed Merlin.
Merlin looked down at his hands. They were calloused from work, but thin and pale like that of a noble. "I'm not sure." Merlin gnawed on his lip. "Forget I said anything." Clearly, Leon would be thankful for that, right? An easy out for the twirling emotions that fluttered in Merlin's gut and made him want to jump out the window rather than continue this conversation. Just why had he said any of that?
Leon's eyes suddenly softened and he closed his eyes for a moment, then pushed his hand through his own hair, as if to wipe away the frustration. "You miss him."
Merlin raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with it?" Truth was, Merlin did. That was no secret.
"You didn't.", Leon shook his head to Merlin's surprise. "You've been worried about him the entire time, but you haven't really allowed yourself to miss him. You wanted him back to keep him safe. But the point has passed where it's just about that.
Up until this spell, you've always found a way to save Arthur. Have you ever stopped to consider what it may feel like to fail? To not get him back?" Leon gave Merlin a look, as if he had seen right through him.
Merlin found that look to be haunting, but he had to admit that Leon had a point. "I-" Merlin shook his head, unable to formulate his thoughts.
Thankfully, Leon didn't need him to. "I think you did, when we found out that we don't have Morgana's blood." He paused as if he thought back on the forest himself. "You can't keep pretending that this is only about Camelot's needs anymore, Merlin."
"Isn't it?" Merlin barely dared to look up, while he fidgeted with his hands. He found his scarf on the bedside table and ran his hands through them, only to have something to hold on to.
"No. And you know it, too. There is no Morgana in this time anymore. And she was the only person who was really a threat to Camelot. Camelot trusts you. You're a good regent. You're not acting rashly, you do what you think is best for the kingdom, what you think Arthur would do. You could easily keep your position until Arthur is grown up. But you don't want to. You want Arthur back and when you realised that we might have run out of options to actually get him, you had to confront the idea that maybe he's lost forever. And what that might means for you."
Merlin's eyes flickered up at him. Leon had a good point. A very good point in fact. Merlin had done what he could to get Arthur back, certain they would somehow make it. Now he wasn't so sure anymore. Now he knew he might never see Arthur again.
Arthur- was his purpose. Not Camelot. Not magic. It was him. Always had been. "You think I'm in love with him.", Merlin stated matter of factly.
Leon huffed a disbelieving laugh. "I think we both know you are. You're just the last to realise it."