A/N: Hello, Merlin fans! Yes, I decided to bring this story into the archive with a Bradley James quote (and I'm not sorry in the least). This is my first 'Merlin' story, and I know I'm supposed to be working on my OUAT story, but I literally could not until I published at least a bit of this story. This is set in a hypothetical world where Camlann and the magic reveal just didn't happen. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but I couldn't put off Mirror, Mirror any more, so I decided to make it a one-shot. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned Merlin, well…the entire show would just be Merthur borderline-slashy bromance with the other knights thrown, in which everyone survived the finale and the Golden Age of Arthur wasn't all of 3-4 years long.

Though he had grown up there, no one in Ealdor had given Merlin much thought in his youth. He kept to himself for the most part, always running around with Will and causing mischief, but he was not overtly important in the grand scheme of things. In fact, Ealdor was not much changed without the boy, except for the fact that Hunith had to do everything on her own for a while, until the rest of the village boys realized that Merlin had left and pitched in a tad with the manual labor. Some people were even glad that he was gone, muttering about that "strange boy" and looking at the road leading to Camelot with the deepest suspicion, as though he was about to come galloping back at any second.

He did, in fact, come galloping back to Ealdor, almost a year after he had first departed for Camelot. He looked different than he had when he had left, changed subtly enough that only those who had scrutinized him his entire life could discern it. He walked with purpose, as though he had found what he was born to do in the service of Prince Arthur, and unbeknownst to the people of Ealdor, he had. They questioned how anyone could find their life's meaning as a servant, no matter how noble their master was.

Of course, this lapse was most likely due to the fact that the people of Ealdor were more than slightly preoccupied with the impending threat of the vicious raiders. Therefore, it was understandable that all of them (with the notable exception of Hunith) missed the fact that when Merlin had come to protect his village, he had inadvertently brought two-thirds of Camelot's royal family with him (and the future queen, but that's irrelevant).

Even after Merlin had left with his royal entourage, the villagers were too preoccupied with the death of Will and settling back into their lives to notice the unconventional friendship between Merlin and Arthur.

Years passed; the seasons came and went, the crops rose and fell, Uther died and Arthur became king. The incident with the raiders fell out of the forefront of the villager's minds, replaced by the knowledge necessary to survival.

That is, of course, until Merlin came galloping into Ealdor one spring morning, looking haggard and stressed. He jumped off of his horse as soon as he reached Hunith's hut, barely managing to tie the horse to a pole before running into the house like the Hell itself was at the boy's heels. Well, to Merlin, it was, for Arthur had found out about Merlin's magic.

And he had not taken it well….actually, Merlin didn't know quite how Arthur had reacted.

The day had started like most days did in Camelot- with an irate sorcerer making an attempt on Arthur's life while Merlin did his best to thwart them. This sorcerer, however, was quite a bit cleverer than any of the others, because he made no unnecessarily ostentatious display of magic before attacking, nor did he engage in a lengthy soliloquy about his revenge. Silently knocking out the guards, he threw open the doors and simply hurled a dagger at the Arthur. Not one for taking chances, the dagger had been enchanted to fly at unnatural speed and not stop until it found a target. It's speed was so great that Merlin hadn't even had the time to hurl his body in between Arthur and the dagger, and his magic reacted instinctively to the threat, intercepting the dagger and overpowering it, forcing it to change course and clatter uselessly to the floor. The sorcerer's momentary confusion gave Percival enough time to stab the man, killing him instantly.

Merlin's moment of relief was cut short rather rapidly by the fact that Arthur was staring at him, jaw practically unhinged from his face as he gaped at his best friend, whom he had just seen use magic. Merlin could have punched himself as he realized that Arthur had seen him use magic; he thought he had been subtle, but before what he thought was going to be dull council meetings, one of which this was supposed to be, Arthur always stationed Merlin at a point from which the servant was always visible, as Merlin always had a way of entertaining the King, whether through exaggerated facial expressions or sly jokes whispered in his ear as he pretended to fill Arthur's goblet. Before Arthur could move, Merlin's fight-or-flight instincts took over, and he had sprinted from the room.

He didn't even stop to gather his possessions once he got to Gaius' chambers; he only paused long enough to leave Gaius as brief a note as possible, gather the remainder of his money, then use back hallways to leave the castle. The people of the lower town thought nothing of Merlin's flight to the forest, as the lanky manservant to the King was constantly running to collect herbs for Gaius and get back in time to serve the King dinner.

Merlin, however, had no plans to return to Camelot at the moment, as he ran into the forest as quickly as he could. For once in his life, he had a stroke of luck, and was (miracle of miracles!) not accosted by a single bandit on the way to a village near Camelot, where he was able to buy a horse and a meager amount of food. Acting completely on autopilot, Merlin steered the horse towards Ealdor, the only place he believed he could now call home. As soon as he reached his destination and could think straight once more, he would berate himself for truly being the idiot Arthur accused him of being, but for the moment he focused solely on getting to Ealdor as quickly as possible.

Ignoring the gaping villagers, Merlin rode into the village at top speed, spurring the horse on, then skidding to a rather dangerous stop in front of his mother's home. He barely paused long enough to tie the horse to something that seemed relatively stable before he rushed inside. Hunith whirled around as she heard someone enter her home, her shock morphing rapidly into elation then worry as she identified the intruder. "Merlin!" she breathed, as she moved to grip his frail shoulders. "Merlin, what's happened?" she questioned, as she took in the sight of her son, frail and gray, and with the appearance of someone who had aged multiple decades in a few days. "Arthur…" he rasped, taking a moment to compose himself, then continued, "found out about my magic."

Judging by Merlin's haggard appearance, she could tell that Arthur had not taken it well. "Did he banish you?" she queried, expecting that to be the case, as she knew that no matter what the circumstances, Arthur could never bring himself to execute Merlin. Merlin let out a mirthless laugh and replied, "Arthur didn't get a chance to do anything." At Hunith's confused look, he continued, "I ran before he could even say a word." Hunith steered her shell-shocked son to sit in a chair before asking as gently as possible, "What happened?" Merlin took a few shallow, calming breaths before relating the relatively short, though appropriately chaotic tale of Arthur's discovery of Merlin's magic. When he related Arthur's reaction and his subsequent flight, Hunith reprimanded, "You didn't even give him a moment to process the fact that you have magic. He believed he knew you for an entire decade, and-" Merlin cut her off with a pained, "I know, Mother. I know I didn't give him a chance, but I was so scared and I'd had so many awful nightmares about that precise moment that I couldn't handle the reality and I ran."

He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair, and continued, "Besides, now I've spared him having to banish me for my magic." He fell silent, and no matter how much Hunith tried to persuade him that Arthur would do no such thing if given half a chance, Merlin refused to believe that Arthur would forsake the laws for him. He had spent so long trying to have faith while simultaneously watching Arthur condemn magic and expecting the worst when his magic was revealed that his optimism had crumbled and he was left to wander about Ealdor like a ghost as the villagers muttered about what the cause could be.

That is, until a week later, when the King of Camelot came thundering into Ealdor a week later, his blond hair flying behind him as he rode, looking even grayer and more haggard than Merlin himself.

A/N: Do you love it? Do you hate it? Do you think I should just stick to Once Upon a Time fan fiction? Let me know!

Love,

ancientgreekfreak 3