β i would like to point out that i didn't know who i was -- β head tilts , eyes soften. he's brought back to the years that had passed. years that he would now never change. ups and downs : yeses and nos. learning how to be a human again.
π πππππ πππ
π ππ πππππ ππππ πππ ππππππ. being nursed back to health -- a true health. the druids didn't know if he would ever get his memories back. it was a hushed topic that never really got to him -- it stayed behind drawn tent openings and shut doors of huts. knowledge of herbs and collecting them, what their uses were and when to apply them directly or in a salve for maximum potency. relearning hunting and sword - fighting , defending the camp with his life. learning the rules of magic and always being a little jealous that he never got any magic. little did he know that he was magic -- of magic. that his destined other half was ruling the kingdom that he learned about. how lord emrys was ruling the kingdom of camelot after the prior king had fallen ; a memory he never got back.
β -- but yes , i've been alive this whole time. β he finishes , smiling up at him. arthur , the ex - king , takes a knee before merlin , looking up and taking his hands. this was his home. [ he grew up in this room , he ran in and out of his father's advisor's legs and giggled as he was shooed away. he cast judgement alongside his father as a prince , the acrid taste of bile filling up the back of his throat when he disapproved of the judgement uther made. he made his own judgements to the best of everyone's lives in his mind with merlin standing not too far from him. ] but it's no longer his. it's merlin's and lord emrys' : one in the same. what the prior pendragon was is no longer who he is now. he's seen how his beloved kingdom became better. every moment in this new life was leading up to this moment. a swear. a promise.
β i swear fealty and service to you , my lord , with my body , my kin , and my sword until my last breath. i shall be your man in battle , pay tribute as custom demands , and hold true to my pledge , under pain of dishonor and exile. β he speaks the camelot's oath from pure memory. the truest act of devotion to a friend -- the protector of camelot. arthur doesn't know how it'll be received but he knows that what's done is done. ππ πππππ'π ππππ ππ ππ ππππ πππππ.
