From The
Ashes
By RandomSlasher (Trilliah)
*Review of Part Two*
Summary: When
Merlin uses magic to save Arthur's life, he is condemned to death, and Arthur
is too late to save him. But when the grief-stricken prince, along with Morgana
and Gwen, journeys to Ealdor to return Merlin's ashes, a series of strange
events leads them to believe the warlock may not be as dead as they thought.
Rating: NC17
Couple:
Merlin/Arthur
Read it here and
don't forget to give Trilliah some love!
Rolling into Part II after
a short break in reading to get some writing of my own done and I'm wondering
how Arthur will react to the question Hunith bestowed upon him at the end of
the last part. Hm. Only one way to find out. *reads*
…Okay, so Arthur has magic
now. I just thought Hunith was, well, I dunno what I thought but I wasn't
expecting Arthur to come down with a case of magic. Now I really wonder how
this all connects back to Merlin.
You know, I wonder how
Uther would react to discovering that Arthur has powers. Not that it's been
brought up into the story yet, I'm not even sure if it'll be covered at all,
though that doesn't stop me from being curious. He'd still kill Merlin for
saving Arthur's life with magic, would he kill his own son for having magic
too? Hm. Something to mull on for the time being.
Arthur has magic, Merlin's magic in fact, and Gaius is
teaching how to use it, though Arthur's failing miserably and hasn't used magic
outside of his visions of Merlin's memories (see? I know what to call them now
:P). Anyway, Arthur discovers why he can't use the magic through another one of
these visions and, really, the answer is quite simple and remarkable.
*silence*
*crickets chirp*
What…? Did you think I'd
tell you why he can't use Merlin's
magic? Ha! Yeah right. Read the damned story already and you'll find out! :P
So, anyway, he finds out why he can't use the magic and then he rushes to Gaius
to relay his discovery.
And, I have to say, upon
discovering why he can't use Merlin's magic, Arthur turns into a freaking
school girl. It's cute. It really is. And it's the first bit of hope we've seen
since Merlin actually died. It shows how much Arthur actually cared about
Merlin and how happy he is to realize his connection to Merlin now. How Arthur's, in a way, keeping
Merlin alive.
You know I always find it
amazing how Gaius (and others) turn to books to answer all of the odd happening
surrounding Merlin, even though there isn't another magician exactly like
Merlin. So really, they'd have nothing to go on.
Gaius does, however,
discover something in a book that might help them. A soul-bond. Though the
criteria of one doesn't exactly match what has happened between Arthur and
Merlin, but at least there's hope now. Hope wasn't something they had before.
Upon this latest discovery,
we're beginning to glimpse more of Arthur's feelings, though he still isn't
directly showing them. I say this because of how Gaius explains a soul-bond:
“A
soul-bond?” Arthur frowned, squinting at the pages. “What does that mean?”
“It means two
people who care for one another very dearly may choose to join their lives in
more than simply the traditional sense,” Gaius told him.
What Arthur is
experiencing may not be a soul-bond,
but he doesn't deny nor say anything about Gaius' explanation. At least, not
yet.
*snickers*
Okay, it's sad that Uther
could see something between Arthur and Merlin when Arthur couldn't, though
honestly I don't think his apology will do anything to endear him to Arthur. If
fact, I think it'll enrage him all the more.
Or he'll just have no idea
what Uther's implying. I'll blame that on the fact that he's still getting over
Merlin's death and then discovering the connection between his dreams, the
magic, and Merlin.
I love Morgana. Why?
Because she's always ready to tell Arthur the truth no matter how much it might
hurt him or how hard it is to say or hear. She really is a strong character and
I love seeing her working together with Merlin and Arthur instead of against
them.
“Arthur.”
Morgana shook her head. “Merlin is…was…?”
“Is,” Arthur
stated firmly, and Morgana nodded.
“Merlin is in
love with you.”
Arthur stared
at her, wondering if he’d heard her wrong. “I…what?”
“Merlin is in
love with you. He has been for…I don’t know how long. Ages. Probably since that
time we all went to Ealdor, if not before.“
Arthur's reaction is very
realistic when he hears this. He has difficulty believing it, to the point of
denying it all together. Even going as far as saying that Merlin was interested
in Gwen, though Morgana can easily counter this. In the end, Arthur needs time
to process this new bit of information and come to terms with finding out about
Merlin's feelings and, I think, he also needs to come to term with his own
feelings even if he's doing so unconsciously.
“Of course,”
she said again, backing up a few steps, smiling. “And Arthur?”
Arthur lifted
his eyebrows, looking up at her.
She grinned.
“Go easy on him, when you do talk to him?” she said. “He’s not the first person
in the world to fall in love with someone he knew he couldn’t have.”
Wow!
The story goes from Arthur
finding out about Merlin being in love with him to Arthur shoving one off while
thinking about what it would be like to fuck Merlin. Nice. Not that I'm
complaining or anything. Sure it was sudden, but it wasn't rushed. It was like
everything that Arthur hadn't realized about Merlin before had suddenly made
itself known and while he was exploring the idea, things turned sexual.
He tosses off and then is
filled with an overwhelming sense of heartbreak because he realizes that what
he had in his fantasy isn't something he can have in real life. Simply put,
he's missed his chance.
But it was
bittersweet pleasure, mixed with a deep pain. No matter how he could imagine
Merlin now, he would never know how Merlin might really respond to his touch.
He would never know the feel of Merlin writhing beneath him--would never get to
feel the press of his lips against Arthur’s own, or feel the warm, slim weight
of him in his arms. He had missed his chance, and even if he could somehow
reach him, he would still be simply a presence in Arthur’s mind. Preferable to
never seeing or speaking to him again, of course. But certainly no substitute
for what they’d had--and what they might have had, if Arthur hadn’t been so
blind.
And, wouldn't you know it.
Arthur's realization might've been the reason he finally found Merlin awake. I should've seen this coming, because
that's how these things work out, right?
What's even more
interesting is that Merlin doesn't seem to know what he's where he's at (he
doesn't even realize that he's not in the physical world that he's in Arthur's
dreams). I had expected him to wake up and admit that he had known this would
happen all along and that there was an easy way to fix the problem, but
wouldn't you know…he doesn't even know he's dead.
Oh no.
He thinks Arthur's dead!
*shakes head* It's so Merlin that it's beautiful!
Other things happen,
obviously. Epic things, I mean Merlin punches Arthur, but you'll have to read
the story to find out why. Of course when Arthur wakes up, guess what he
realizes carried over from the "dream". Oh yes, the punch. :D
Obviously, whatever the dream world is…it's real.
After making this
discovery, he rushes off to tell Gaius and the others. Before he does this,
however, he decides to dump over Merlin's ashes. Desecration aside, he and
everyone else realize that the ashes are missing something. Something that might prove that Merlin never was really
burned. The ashes are just that: Ashes. No human bones or teeth or any other
remains.
“Ashes,”
Arthur repeated, looking at Gaius, who was frowning at the pile on the table,
and then at Hunith, whose eyes were beginning to dawn comprehension. “Just
ashes. No bones, no teeth. Ashes.
Gwen, you’ve worked forges--how hot does a fire have to be, to destroy everything of a man?”
“Far hotter
than it would ever burn on a pyre,” she said, confusion and hope sparking in
her eyes as she looked at the pile of ashes, then at him. “What...?”
“This isn’t
him,” Arthur said, grinning so broadly his cheeks ached. “It’s just ash. Burned
wood, maybe some of his clothes. But Merlin didn’t burn.”
“But...if
Merlin didn’t burn...” Gaius frowned, looking up at him, eyes going wide.
“Exactly,”
Arthur said, beaming at them each in turn as they stared at him in dawning
comprehension.
“Merlin isn’t dead. ”
And thus ends the second
part of From The Ashes, join me in
the third part and read the flipping story ASAP!!
