From The Ashes Pt. 2

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!!