concept: harry and merlin are visiting for an extended holiday. there passes a tuesday when they realize that they hadn’t seen succubus or seraphim since the evening before, and they’re prepared to brush it off until they’re called into lilith’s office.
“wait there, please. i’ll be with you shortly.”
merlin shuddered at the sensation of her voice being so near his ear when she was nowhere in sight, adjacent to the tune of her office door clicking shut behind them. “glad we have a more tangible communication system. y’ think we should be worried?”
harry made a beeline for the bookshelves on the far wall. he was fascinated by these titles, how ancient they looked. merlin, of course, stayed a respectful distance away. harry spoke over his shoulder, “lilith’s tone wasn’t nervous. i’m sure everything is fine--” and he turned, his mouth open to continue, but was interrupted by lilith strolling in, with two training agents in tow.
merlin recognized simon immediately from photos seraphim had sent him--they hadn’t been properly introduced just yet. and the other one--lydia, he remembered, the budding necromancer training under succubus with one of the strongest northern accents he’d heard in his life.
seraphim hadn’t exactly been overly enthusiastic at the idea of being a mentor, but merlin suspected that had less to do with the simon-shaped responsibility and more to do with what john had left in his wake.
harry smiled, “i see we have company.” and softer, he asked: “where did you two come from?”
both of them were holding rabbits. lydia’s was sleek, black, with lop ears. the fur looked like smoke and velvet at once. the one simon had gently held against his chest was cream-colored, with a nose that seemed to vibrate from near-constant twitching.
but that wasn’t the only thing lydia and simon had in common.
they both looked pale and terrified. harry was taken a bit aback when he saw tears gathering in the corners of lydia’s eyes. and lilith, lilith just beamed. but it was an--odd smile. harry couldn’t quite decipher her expression. “... yes. about that.” she had one hand on each of the trainee’s shoulders.
merlin frowned. he felt fear scrape its fingernail up the back of his neck. “... lilith?”
“well, simon, would y--no,” they’d both tried to pivot and leave but lilith’s grip didn’t break and she forcefully turned them. “simon.” the way she said his name ripped all other choice but obedience away from him, but then she sighed, and it was almost like she was swallowing a laugh. “simon. ... lydia. do you know who these men are?”
“yes ma’am.” simon answered, polite, soft. lydia just nodded and swallowed.
“then you should know that you don’t need to be so frightened.” lilith’s voice gentled. she pointedly met merlin’s eyes, then harry’s. “simon, would you like to explain to the quartermaster what happened?”
simon looked at lilith once, his face pleading, but she just lifted her brows. no mercy to be found.
so.
he took a deep breath, his eyes flickering to the ground as he took one step towards merlin.
“morgan and rae were havin’ us practice mirrortalk.” he began, looking up. he watched their faces before he explain, “it’s uh, kinda like writin’ backwards on purpose. we were practicin’ simple runes, and being able to essentially write them in reverse. it’s a useful thing to know when you gotta work, but you really, really need to hide what you’re doing.” the rabbit stretched up and brushed its nose against his chin. “anyway, what h--”
“it my fault!” lydia burst out, taking a brisk step to simon’s side. “it--it was my fault.” she brushed at her eyes. “i got--i got a part backwards, and then there was this weird crackling noise almost--almost like it was tin foil--”
simon reached out, putting a hand on her bicep. “no, it was my fault. you asked me if it looked right, and i kinda didn’t really look at it--”
“i still should have been more careful.”
“no, no, i should ha--”
“but simon it’s not--”
“enough.” lilith interrupted, but her tone was less stern than it was touched. “you are both still students. and merlin, he’s over training for all of the kingsman candidates, do you think he’s never seen someone make a mistake?“ merlin broke into an easy smile as she spoke, and looked at him. she continued, “one that we can in fact fix, i will add, vida and caroline are already researching the solution. i’m sure they’ll find it soon.” she brushed a hand over lydia’s hair. “dry your eyes. apologize.”
a chorus of “we’re sorry”s and “we are so sorry”s came out in a waterfall. harry chuffed once, grinning.
“it’s--it’s quite alright. but, if i may ask--i don’t understand, what exactly does this have to do with rae and morgan?”
a hush.
simon and lydia locked eyes, then took deep breaths... just before sort of pushing the rabbits into their arms.
harry looked at merlin, who just stared back at harry, brows furrowed. a beat passed before merlin carefully shifted the rabbit upwards into his hands. “... morgan?”
her ears perked, and he felt a tiny boop on his nose. the slight tickle of whiskers.
that was when harry craned his neck, trying to see down at the dark bundle now flattening herself happily against his tie. “... ah. i see.”
they were too busy inspecting their partners to see simon and lydia visibly cringe at the sounds that were floating into the office at increasing then decreasing volume.
“louise! ... louise! ... louise, goddamnit get your cottonball butt back here--!”
