Britain Boys, Part 8/10

[nyxelestia]

A bunch of soldiers came for them, in a big helicopter that both boys waved at even as they scuttled back while it landed.

Several soldiers with big guns hopped out before it even landed, and four of them surrounded Arthur and Merlin in moments, one man without a gun crouching before them.

“Are you boys okay?” the one crouching asked, pulling up his mask to show a kind face beneath the helmet and goggles, shouting to be heard.

“Kind of,” Merlin shouted back, as Arthur wheezed slightly.

The man smiled. “I can work with that. I’m Captain Dup-….Captain Bedivere, from the SAS. We’re here to take you home!”

Merlin and Arthur nodded, grinning at each other as they ran towards the helicopter, the four large soldiers surrounding them.

“Any broken bones?” Bedivere ask. “Besides your famous fingers?”

“Arthur’s got a broken rib, I think,” Merlin said, and accordingly, while Merlin was helped onto the heli by being lifted up from under his arms, Bedivere grabbed Arthur by the waist to help him up.

Inside, the door was pulled shut, as Merlin saw the shadow of another helicopter overhead, and he and Arthur were seated against a bench that ran the length of both sides of the chopper, as Merlin realized there were yet more soldiers on here.

“Any other injuries?” Bedivere asked, before he stopped and stared at Merlin’s neck. The actual collar was gone, but there were still some burns left, and some bruises from their escape.

“This,” Merlin said, pointing to his neck. “That’s it.”

“Not much worse,” Arthur echoed.

Bedivere nodded, before shouting some random things which sounded like flight commands at the piloting soldiers, and he told the rest of the boys to “Strap in for exfil!”, before he set about using the belts along the benches to strap them in, being careful with Arthur’s chest and Merlin’s neck.

Merlin continued to clutch onto Arthur’s arm, and Bedivere just wound the belts around them as one person instead of trying to separate them.

“Merlin,” Bedivere shouted as he felt the helicopter start to rise. “This is going to be a bumpy ride, so you’ll need to support the prince and keep a firm grip on those ribs. Prince Arthur, you’ll need to keep Merlin steady in case he has trouble breathing the higher up in the air we get.”

Merlin nodded tiredly, him and Arthur leaning into each other. He could feel his heartbeat slowing as the thoughts of home flew through his head.

Bedivere grinned back. “You boys are going home. Your parents are worried sick.”

Merlin smiled at the man a bit, only a bit – even his face felt tired. “We know.”

“There was a telly – in the room we were being held in,” Arthur said, leaning much more heavily against Merlin than Merlin was against him. “We saw. Everything, watched all the news.”

Bedivere smiled, then. “Well, then, I have to say – that move with the hands, it was brilliant. Stupid, but brilliant. But even if you saw the news, you have no idea how much it helped the people believe in you.”

“I think we have some idea,” Merlin said, breath fading in more relieved laughter, managing another small smile, as he felt Arthur tremble with almost-laughter beside him. Merlin felt like he was bordering on hysterical and delirious, but it didn’t matter because they were going home. “We-”

BANG

Merlin and Arthur jumped as the soldiers all tensed, before suddenly the trained men were pulling themselves out of their restraints and running towards the doors.

“What was that?” Merlin asked, worried. What now, when they were so close to escaping?!

Before Bedivere could answer, they were hit by another barrage of BANG-BANG-BANG’s, and Merlin screamed as several of them landed on the outside of the chopper, only feet away from where he and Arthur sat – he could feel the vibrations in the metal walls.

He didn’t know how, but suddenly he and Arthur were clutching at each other, arms wrapped around each other in fear as the soldiers moved around them, and one of them swore, “Fuck, we’re being shot at!”

Shot at.

Merlin had heard all about it and seen it in films his mother didn’t like him watching at night, but none of them were like this!

“One pistol and a long,” Bedivere called out to his soldiers. “Tight E&E, protect this package at all costs, and get the others to land and capture!”

He turned to the boys and shouted, “How many people are down there?”

“About two or three,” Arthur shouted back, only barely able to make himself heard over the sound of the rotating blades.

“But they called for back-up when we escaped,” Merlin added.

Bedivere nodded, relaying this to the other solider in the piloting area, who shouted this into the radio.

Then Bedivere, making sure they were well inside the chopper, went with the other soldiers, slid the door open part way, and pointed his rifle right outside.

“Arthur,” Merlin said, pulling Arthur close to him, careful with his grip. “I’m scared.” Because he was and he didn’t care if it made him a big baby, anymore.

“Me too,” Arthur said simply.

Merlin gave a choked-off laugh and pulled Arthur even closer, wrapping his magic around Arthur’s rib to help him, and around the helicopter to protect the soldiers standing there in the open door, defending them. His muscles screamed and his soul protested, because his magic was still scared, but so was Merlin and he didn’t want anyone to die.

Then Bedivere started firing.

Both boys pulled each other close, and Merlin shut his eyes and buried his face in Arthur’s hair as Arthur hid in Merlin’s neck, but it did nothing to block out the sounds of gunfire over the helicopter motor or the smell of engine oil and gunpowder around them.

The fight was short.

Bedivere probably thought they couldn’t hear him, but Merlin felt Arthur tense up when one of the other soldiers said, “Both of them down, sir, one wounded, one dead.”

“Delta-6 is three minutes away, Delta-5 is on the ground and ready to apprehend,” the man at the radio said.

“Good!” Bedivere called.

Then Merlin felt a large hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Bedivere crouching before them again.

“Don’t worry, boys,” he said, as the soldiers slid the door shut behind them. “It’s over. You’re going home.”

~*~

Merlin and Arthur never let go of each other the whole ride over to wherever it was they were headed. Bedivere seemed worried about them, but let them be, and so Merlin kept himself pressed up against Arthur the whole way back, letting what meager magic he could get wrap around them both to keep them upright.

They flew for a long time, Bedivere regularly asking, “How’re the ribs?” or “How’s the neck?” When they neared wherever it was they were going, Bedivere had the pilots radio someone, telling them where they were going, and Merlin heard him list off his and Arthur’s injuries.

When they landed, Bedivere unbuckled them without asking them to move, but once they were free of the strappings, Bedivere pulled them off the seat and towards the side, where the door was opened, again. Holding each other’s hands, they inched forward. They were crouching by the edge, waiting as Bedivere and his unit hopped down, then reached up and lifted them down.

“Where are we?” Merlin muttered, looking around.

“Airbase of some kind?” Arthur offered once their feet were firmly on the ground.

They were in what appeared to be some army barracks somewhere, and they were down specifically on a runway of some kind just a short way off from what appeared to be an air-hangar.

As soon as their feet touched the ground, hands still joined together, they heard loud shouts of “Arthur!” and “Merlin!”

Both boys’ eyes widened, and turned to see their parents shouting from the door of the air-hangar.

Mum, Merlin thought, and Bedivere, laughing, stepped aside as they took off, Merlin holding up Arthur from his broken ribs – but Arthur, in his delight didn’t seem to feel them.

It was with a rush of relief that Merlin ran into his mother’s arms. There was no place in the world like it, never was and never will be.



“Mum,” he said, on the verge of sobbing in joy as she pressed her lips to his forehead.

“Merlin,” she murmured in his ear, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, god, Merlin – you’re back, you’re back, you’re all right, Merlin…”

He was back. They weren’t in that horrible room anymore, they weren’t scared, and they weren’t hostages anymore.

And he was still holding onto Arthur, who beside him was getting being held tightly about the waist by a frantic Uther.

Merlin heard the sounds of an approaching ambulance and saw those beds on wheels they have in hospitals and clung even tighter to Mum, and to Arthur.

“We’re going with them, to hospital,” Mum said in his ear as he buried his face in her neck. “Don’t worry, the King and I will stay with you and Arthur. You’re not leaving our sight for quite a while.”

“Good,” Merlin said into her neck, and she pulled him even tighter.

Distantly, he heard a camera clicking.

He didn’t know it right then, but one of the world’s most famous photos had just been taken.

~*~

The Britain Boys Are Back!

Coming to you live from the United Kingdom:

Over a month ago, Arthur, Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister, Hunith Emrys’ son, Merlin, were kidnapped together by the Blesseds, an extremist sect of the magic-rights activist group the Avalon Mages. Just last night, however, the boys were rescued from a warehouse in the middle of Anglesey, a small island off the Welsh mainland.

The boys, themselves, had played a critical role in their own release. The details are unknown, but the boys had somehow managed to escape their captors and evade them long enough to gain access to a telephone and call for help, a call which was traced to their location, allowing a helicopter extraction team to be immediately deployed.

During the take-off from the warehouse they were being held at, they were attacked by two of the offenders. One was killed, and the other was severely wounded. A third offender was later found inside the building. There are reports that more associates of the two attacking captors were seen approaching the building, and they had seen the conflict and retreated – but not before being spotted and followed by one of the helicopters. The hunt for the retreating associates is on, and the wounded captor is currently in a hospital under MI5 custody, waiting interrogation to learn more about the elusive Blesseds.

While the nation has been witnessing the boys’ maltreatment on a daily basis through photographs being sent by their captors, their wounds had never been more serious than broken fingers – until their escape. They came out with severe dehydration and minor malnutrition, as well as a plethora of cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Merlin Emrys was reported to have more severe bruises and some minor burns around his neck and a swollen throat, likely from the magic-suppressing collar he was seen to have been wearing during his captivity. Prince Arthur was also covered in bruises, and had some fractured ribs, though the extent of the damage in currently unknown.

According to some rumors from the air base to which they had landed after their rescue, the boys clung onto each other from the moment they were attacked while in the helicopter, and haven’t let go since, even on their second helicopter journey to hospital – an amazing testament to the trauma they have gone through, especially considering the intense hostility the boys had infamously shown to each other in the months preceding their kidnapping.

The two families – both of the boys, Prime Minister Emrys, and King Uther – are presently ensconced in King Edward VII’s Hospital, under a heavy guard surrounding the entire hospital and several streets around it. While details about their current condition are still unknown, there seems to be no evidence of severe or permanent physical damage. The extent of the mental trauma, however, remains to be seen.

~*~

Part 9