Fic: Bliss

Oct. 31st, 2009 01:43 pm
nyxelestia: Rose Icon (Default)
[personal profile] nyxelestia
Title: Bliss

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Companion piece to Euphoria, Arthur's POV of Chapter 1: Mercy. When Arthur answered the call of Merlin's magic, he hadn't been prepared for what he found.

Pairings: Arthur/Merlin

Warnings: drugs, mentions of prostitution

Spoilers: None

Beta: [livejournal.com profile] jusmine984

Notes: Before you ask, I'm not expanding this - this one is staying a one-shot.

~*~

Turning down another wrong-feeling turn, Arthur pulled over along a fairly deserted street, cars only driving by every few minutes or so. On his phone, he pulled up the contacts, selected ‘Valentine,’ and hit call.

Just one ring, if that. Arthur paid good money for a reason.

“Val Yant, here,” the man answered.

“Don’t you have caller ID?” Arthur asked, before sighing. “Weird PI, you are. Listen, I’m pretty sure I just passed by fucking Soho, so-”

“You’re in the right direction, then,” Val said, tiredly, yawning. Well, Arthur supposed, it was around two in the morning. But when you regularly worked in the middle of the night and people halfway across the world, day and night and people’s normal boundaries of time tended to lose meaning, after a while. “I know it hurts, but this Emrys friend of yours, well, he’s not in a good way. The address I gave you is right – your long lost friend or whatever is there. Though, seriously, he’s pretty fucking young – with all the crap you were giving me about him, I’d have expected him to be much older.”

“You’d be surprised,” Arthur said, dryly.

He’s older than you can possibly imagine.

“Sorry for calling so late,” Arthur said. “Go back to sleep, and thank you.”

“No pro’lem,” Val said, and promptly hung up.

Hanging up and setting down his own phone in the car charger, Arthur sighed. He took another look at the address and directions before continuing on his path.

When he got there, Arthur stared in disbelief at the building Val had given him directions to.

It was a fucking flophouse. And literally, not just the exaggeration Arthur is prone to, but an actual, home-to-drug-addicts-and-hookers-and-all-the-other-dregs-of-society flophouse.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of the car and onto the curb, locking it up thoroughly, and shooting a searing warning look towards a few thugs down the street, before he headed for the building’s front door.

“Hello?” Arthur called out, in some kind of dingy hallway with a few chairs – probably serving as a lobby of some kind.

A well-groomed man with dirty-blond hair, looking fairly incongruous in this rundown place, stepped out from a room, and eyed him carefully. “Who are you?” he asked without prompt.

“Someone,” Arthur answered cryptically. “Drake, right?” Val had managed to get quite a bit on the man. He was a drug dealer, and owned this build-no, flophouse.

“Who wants to know?” Drake said, in a manner that screamed, yes.

“I’m looking for an old friend of mine,” Arthur said. “Merlin? Merlin Emrys?”

Drake just grew more suspicious. “As far as I know, he doesn’t have any friends – said so, himself.”

“Yes, well, he would believe that – listen, I just need to find him, all right?”

“What for?”

“To help him,” Arthur said, succinctly.

“Well, he isn’t here. And I respect his privacy so you’re not finding him from me. Now get out of my building.”

Arthur just scowled, and proceeded to push past this man, intent on finding Merlin.

“Oi!” Drake yelled, grabbing Arthur’s arm.

Almost purely on instinct, Arthur whirled around, arm at just the right angle that in one smooth move, Drake was crying out again as he was pressed up against the wall, arm twisted up behind his back.

Arthur smirked. Fifteen hundred years of learning multiple martial arts, aided tremendously by his sports and hobbies now – he could be a human weapon if he wanted.

“Let go of me!” Drake yelled.

“I have a friend to look for,” Arthur said, releasing Drake and walking straight for the stairs at the end of the hall, heading upstairs instantly.

When he saw the first room from the staircase, his heart sank at the idea Merlin was living in one of these. These rooms were barely bigger than an average walk-in closet (let alone his), only big enough for some sleeping bags or sleeping pallets on the ground, and a few worldly possessions.

Many rooms didn’t even have that.

“Merlin!” he called out. At first, he’d knocked on all the doors, but quickly found that it was much easier to just open them, himself – the doors didn’t have locks, and the people inside were usually too doped up to react, or even care.

Finding nothing on the first floor, he tried the second – nothing. No Merlin.

It was the third floor he found Merlin. After yelling out, “Merlin!” and not really expecting a response, he went down the hall, opening doors, and froze in the doorway of one room halfway down the corridor.

“Oh, god… Merlin!”

As the man’s head turned to him, all Arthur could think was, Merlin’s a wreck. Mussed up clothes, pasty skin, matted hair, and white something on his face that Arthur did not want to think about.

The worst were his eyes, not quite deadened, but in a haze, as if he were looking right through Arthur, right through the world, not truly seeing it before him.

“Huh?” Merlin said, after a moment.

His sluggish movements were almost suspicious, and it’s all far too heartbreaking, but Arthur was still relieved at least to find him, after years of searching, and breathed out, “Merlin,” and stepped forward.

He could swear his heart literally shattered when Merlin pushed himself away as he moved, which is impossible, because Arthur could feel the magic pulling them together.

“Go away,” Merlin mumbled, and Arthur is shocked and horrified and… and… and-

“Merlin,” he said again, reaching out for Merlin, and then freezing his hand in the air when Merlin flinched from it. What had happened to him? “Please, you know me.” Merlin couldn’t be that far gone, could he?

“Exa’ly,” Merlin slurred out. “So go away.”

This was wrong, Merlin telling him to go away.

What the hell was Merlin even on? He couldn’t tell, but at least he could tell-

“I… we… you’re high!” Because it was wrong, all of this, Merlin should have come when he was supposed to, make them remember when he was supposed to…

Merlin nodded, laughing, and it was just disturbing. “Yup!”

“And you’re…” he stared at the white glob of something on Merlin’s face, and remembering Val’s comments, realized what it was: semen.

Merlin was a drugwhore, and that realization made what was left of the pieces of Arthur’s heart sink.

“Just go away,” Merlin moaned, looking pained. “I’ve had enough.”

Of what?

And whatever it was, Merlin wasn’t getting out of it! He was going to sober the idiot up and get an explanation for this, because no matter what he’s been through, one way or another, Merlin has always come through for Arthur and the others and brought them back their memories. Always.

He wasn’t letting Merlin slip through his fingers just yet.

Reaching out for Merlin again, ignoring the flinch, he grabbed Merlin’s arm and gasped at the feel of energy flowing between them, making up for two and a half decades apart.

Merlin tried to pull his arm away, movements feeble, but Arthur’s grip is tight around his arm, and he refused to let go.

“You idiot,” Arthur murmurs, falling back on old patterns and insults and rhythms between them. Over the last thousand and a half years, and some things never changed.

“Please, Arthur,” he said, tone begging. “I don’t… I can’t do this, again.”

He swallowed at Merlin’s dopey, pleading eyes, which Arthur never could easily resist.

But this was a time far from easy.

“Let’s get you clean, first,” because Arthur didn’t know how much longer he could stand watching Merlin be like this. “Then we’ll worry about what you can and can’t do.”

Merlin moaned, a sound that went straight to the ruins of Arthur’s heart. “Please, no, I can’t watch you live and die again, watch you age again, without me, I can’t…I can’t…I c-can’t…”

Arthur stared in shock as Merlin babbled on, and shushed him, “Sh…” because that was the only thing he could do, feeling helpless in the face of this Merlin.

Logically, he knew it wasn’t the first time Merlin had sunken into something so serious. But the clearest lifetimes were always this one and Camelot, so the ones in between are hazy, and Arthur’s chest tightened as he feels like this is the first time he’s meeting his soul mate, and said soul mate is… is…

Merlin was dry sobbing, now, and desperately, futilely trying to push Arthur away. He’s so numb, he lets go, and Merlin falls, landing on his back on the pallet.

He looked around the room. There wasn’t really anything in it. Some leftover syringes in the corner, bits of food here and there, all of it half-eaten, and a few articles of clothing, though they didn’t look like they’d been worn anytime recently. Otherwise, nothing.

The room was empty.

He sighed and pulled his keys out of his pocket, before reaching down and putting one arm under Merlin’s shoulders and the other under Merlin’s knees and lifting him up.

It terrified Arthur how easy it was to lift Merlin up. He was strong – years spent between multiple sports and his hours on the gym equipment at home made sure of it – but lifting another full-grown person should’ve taken more effort. Instead, he felt like he was lifting a young teenager at the most, or even a child, as he carried Merlin out the door.

Merlin tried again to feebly push away, but by now even Arthur could feel how half-hearted the efforts were. The moron was finally relenting to Arthur, letting himself be taken away.

Arthur was torn – half of him was glad that Merlin was no longer resisting, but the other half was grieving at the thought of Merlin, so strong-willed and stubborn, giving in to anything so easily.

“You’re all skin and bones… even worse than that famine in… what was it, 15th century?”

God, that’d been a nightmare. But at least it was a legitimate reason. They’d all been starved, especially when they had magic to support them and ended up giving food to others in their village at the time. But this… this…

Merlin just tiredly leaned his head into Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur felt the storm of emotions flood his veins as he yet again spotted the dried semen on Merlin’s face, but it spurred on his thousand-and-a-half-years-old protective instincts, and he cradled Merlin closer to his chest for it as he headed towards leaving the building.

“Hey!” Arthur turned to see Drake coming out from the room from earlier. “Where are you taking him?”

“Somewhere safe, decent, and civilized,” Arthur said, feeling nothing but contempt for the drug dealer. “And no, he’s never coming back.”

“Don’t you dare-”

“What, you care? Or are you just sorry to lose a client?” Arthur sneered. God, he had to get Merlin out of here, now – every moment spent here just felt more wrong, and made the necessity to leave feel more urgent.

“You little-”

“You take another step, and I will run you through with a chair leg. I’ve been in rugby since I was five, so don’t think I can’t.” And looking at the chair, thinking it would splinter easily, he probably would, too. He isn’t much of a violent man in this life time, except when a script would require it in front of a camera, but he’s willing to use his skills, honed for over fifteen hundred years, to get Merlin out of here as fast as possible.

Drake stared for a moment, weighing his options, before he seemed to take in the absolute ease Arthur held Merlin with, and said, “Just get the fuck out of here.”

Merlin turned his head towards Drake one last time, and the way Drake stared at the semen on Merlin’s cheek made Arthur sick, and his gut clench, at the realization that the seed was his.

Drake turned and went back towards the room he came out of it.

Immediately, Arthur carried Merlin right out the door, not caring what it looked like as he headed towards his car. He got Merlin to stand long enough to open the door, and then really felt like Merlin was a child with the way he could just gently push the pliable Merlin into the seat and buckle the half-gone warlock into the seat. The other half, though, the not-gone part, watched every movement Arthur made, blinking dopily at him and squinting at him at times in the dim streetlight.

“It’s okay, Merlin,” Arthur murmured to him once he was safely behind the wheel. “Go to sleep. You’re safe, now.”

Merlin smiled, nodded, and mumbled, “Bloody noble prat.” Arthur’s heart soared, that Merlin could still remember this, remember something so true and be able to shoot his banter back at Arthur even in his state.

He tried to come up with a retort as he started the car, but found he couldn’t, so he said simply, “I know.”

And eventually, he smiled in relief as Merlin drifted off to sleep.

He was bringing Merlin home.

~*~


For the record, Val Yant/Valiant isn't actually all that important. I was originally thinking of Val Toreth when I picked the name for a PI Arthur would hire, then thought this name play was just too funny to pass up. ^_^

Comments are love!
 

Date: 2009-10-31 10:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kesterel.livejournal.com
Oh yay! Thankyou for explaining the Val reference and writing more in this verse. Loved it again xD Will there be more to Euphoria soon? Can't wait to see the others reactions and the h/c that is sure to come once Merlin comes off his high and starts going into withdrawl.

Date: 2009-10-31 10:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
More to Euphoria soon, yes. Hey, I did say the posting schedule would be rather erratic! ^_^ I'm glad you like the story. :D

Date: 2009-10-31 11:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] archaeologist-d.livejournal.com
Loved this and the 'verse! I'd love to see more of things as they are progressing with Merlin.

Date: 2009-11-01 05:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
More coming soon, I promise. ^_^

Date: 2009-10-31 11:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pianeko.livejournal.com
love reading this! I'll wait for your euphoria update too ^^

Date: 2009-11-01 05:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Glad you like it! ^_^

Date: 2009-10-31 11:43 pm (UTC)
ender24: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ender24
damn, how much must it have hurt arthur to see merlin as such wreck!
gods, please make them better and find solution for merlin not being so hurt anymore :)

Date: 2009-11-01 05:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Yes, it must've hurt.

And, see, the thing about solutions is that they end things, which isn't so much fun...;)

Date: 2009-11-01 12:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] saint4u.livejournal.com
Awesome as always lol Loved how strong and determined you made Arthur in this and that his POV made things what happened in the original piece all the more heartfelt and easier to understand. I am thoroughly enjoying this and of coarse all your other works in the Merlin fandom and look forward to more work from you in the near future :)

On that note, your writings have finally ignited my fanfic bug again in not only Merlin but also Harry Potter, and so I hope to have some of my own contributions up soon.

Oh and to answer your previous question before in another post, they are not showing season two of Merlin in my country yet which is why I catch what is going on through other Merlin sites on live journal and snippets on youtube and downloads. It did not rate well I think which is why season two looks to be a non issue for my local tv stations, so it looks to be downloads, youtube and eventual dvd purchase for the next seasons.

Date: 2009-11-01 05:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
I'm glad you like Arthur's POV - I imagine his determination is something that would stick to him through every reincarnation. ^_^

And I can't wait to read what you write!

As for watching S2...

http://community.livejournal.com/merlin_tv/tag/resources:+links

Join the community if you haven't, already, then go to this tag, and scroll through the f-locked posts: there are posts were people post up links from all over the net - and there are dozens of them on each post - to download the full episodes. And if you don't have the right media player, just ask - people around there are quite happy to give you links to download the best, free players, too. ^_^ I live in America, and NBC doesn't really show it for quite some time and I don't have BBC Ameirca, so that's what I use. ^_^

Date: 2009-11-01 05:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] saint4u.livejournal.com
Oh thank you very, very much ! I try to catch episodes on youtube and they yank them down almost overnight and thus I am left sometimes hanging lol I also joined the ontd merlin community so that will help but this link is awesome !

I am looking forward to the next episode though that is the Witch Hunter one. It looks to be like Merlin himself will be pushed to the extremes and hopefully that will mean again Arthur will come to aid him and thus, hopefully, Arthur will finally at least get a small nagging suspicion on who or what merlin really is.

Date: 2009-11-01 06:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] orion-nightbane.livejournal.com
Yay for Arthur's POV! Will there be more of Euphoria soon? :D I really liked that fic. And ohhhhh the ways u can torture Merlin XD *shifty eyes* lol. yeah. :) Keep up the awesome work! ^_^

Date: 2009-11-01 09:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Mm, yes, more of Euphoria coming soon, I promise. And yeah, torturing Merlin is just so much fun and easy...

:D

Date: 2009-11-01 09:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kuhekabir.livejournal.com
i loved the update...i was just about to ask you when you would write more because i totally adore this story/verse...i cannot wait to see merlin pov again...Thanks! :)

Date: 2009-11-01 09:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
More coming soon, I promise. ^_^

Date: 2009-11-01 01:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] et-cetera55.livejournal.com
Oooh so good! I love Euphoria and was so happy to see you posted this. I'm possibly enjoying you tormenting Merlin a little too much... :)

Date: 2009-11-01 04:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
The problem is I enjoy tormenting the boys a bit too much! ^_^

Date: 2009-11-01 04:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] et-cetera55.livejournal.com
Is there a "too much"...? ;)

Date: 2009-11-01 04:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
*eyes plans for multitude of Merlin fics* Um...you know, that's actually a good question...I know the boys will definitely say yes if they see these, but, well, for us dear fangirls...

Date: 2009-11-01 04:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] et-cetera55.livejournal.com
Ok well now I *really* can't wait for your next posting :)

Date: 2009-11-01 04:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Well, I have a lot of homework, this weekend, which means I'll likely end up devoting all my time to fic, so it may end up sooner than you think. ^_^

Date: 2009-11-01 02:18 pm (UTC)
ext_302385: My default here and on LJ (Default)
From: [identity profile] macbyrne.livejournal.com
I completely missed the play on the PI's name. *facepalm* I'm going back to bed now.

I love this 'verse a ridiculous amount; I absolutely adore reincarnation stories, and I love the direction you're taking this one. I cannot wait for another update!!!

Date: 2009-11-01 04:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Um...would it be any consolation if I told you that right now, I haven't slept in about 25 hours, and I was supposed to go to bed last night, and now it's almost noon and I haven't...? T'is Halloween and all that...

I'm glad you like this 'verse, and more on their reincarnations is to come. ^_^

Date: 2009-11-01 10:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dk323.livejournal.com
Awww...poor Merlin! I'm glad that Arthur was there to rescue him. :)

Merlin smiled, nodded, and mumbled, “Bloody noble prat.” Arthur’s heart soared, that Merlin could still remember this, remember something so true and be able to shoot his banter back at Arthur even in his state.

I really liked that bit - Arthur's sheer relief at Merlin maybe not being as far gone as he thought because he was ready to banter with him easily enough. Ha, Arthur is such a 'bloody noble prat' - very true. ;)

Date: 2009-11-02 04:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
It's hard for Arthur not to be a knight in shining armor when he is actually a knight in shining armor! ^_^

Also glad you liked the banter bit. ^_^

Date: 2009-11-14 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anna6285.livejournal.com
This was beautiful. It truly is, but I can't help but feel indignant about the whole thing. I can't believe it took Arthur this goddamn long to realize that Merlin was so important to him. What? It took a Merlin high on drugs and fucking someone else and in general suffering because of that moronic prat for Arthur to figure out that he loves Merlin? How long had it been? How many lifetimes had passed? I am really, really sorry for my rant, but I just can't help it when it took him that long to admit his feelings for Merlin. Sorry for the rant ;)
Good story, though xD

Date: 2009-11-14 07:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
*shakes head*

I think this was one of those things in which you might miss out a bit if you don't read the original - Euphoria - first.

Every lifetime, they've been together. Only recently has Merlin gotten fed up with him, and Arthur's been looking for him - and just found him.

I'm glad you still liked it in spite of that, though. ^_^

Date: 2009-11-15 01:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anna6285.livejournal.com
ASDFGHJKL~
AHAHA, yeah, I read Euphoria right after this and I totally get it now.
Lmao, I know. I overreact sometimes xD
I still love the whole story though
:DDD

Date: 2011-01-01 05:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wake-the-dragon.livejournal.com
Valiant was the PI? *snicker*

Poor Merlin, he's really fallen in this lifetime.

Arthur's POV for this chapter was good, and exactly what I thought he'd be thinking when he found Merlin.

Good chapter.

Date: 2011-01-01 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Eh, it was originally a reference to Val Toreth from The Administration, but then I figure the Valiant/Val Yant thing was too good to pass up. :D As for POV's - I am a big fan of multiple POV's of the same event, so I'm glad you liked the effect in this case. :D

Profile

nyxelestia: Rose Icon (Default)
nyxelestia

March 2013

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728 2930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 28th, 2025 12:11 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios