An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
WHAT MORE CAN I ASK FOR? THIS IS A WONDER! MORE THAN THAT IT HAS BEEN PURE FACT!
There are so many fics that pose situations that could very well be canon because that's how amazing fic writers are. And this story manages to go beyond that! Not only could this have been canon, but it even fills in gaps.
It's not one of those reads that you can read in one sitting, but the change is welcome this time. I've had to take breaks and breathe to digest fragment by fragment. Many truths are said, and even if we know them or agree with them, they still leave food for thought.
The narration has been divine, easy to follow given how direct it is, it doesn't go too far to be lyrical but rather takes you by the hand along a path that, although familiar, has not been traveled for a long time.
Arthur is his best version, I admit, he is the man who I would not hesitate to say is the king of the once and future. This would be the Arthur we should have been given for the last few seasons if he hadn't gone through so much trauma. (The one in this fic is also very traumatized, but he retains the growth that his arc foreshadows.)
Merlin is a secondary character and yet I LOoooooVE that he was the best of his facets. The playful one that Arthur knows and the solemn one that has seen more than most souls see. They stole that from him in favor of a plot that they repeated from episode one to the end, without understanding that at some point he had the right and deserved to converge to everything that makes him who he is and not just parts scattered between one life and the secret other.
The dialogues are not tiring at all. One would say that reading something that one already knows by heart would bore one, but the author of this fic manages to prevent that from happening, keeping everything as if it were a fairy tale For adults, fascinating but sober. What a great balance to achieve that!
And the little details like physical contact or gestures that speak loudly to each other because there is no one who knows them better. Brilliant.
Lancelot my man as always the most perfect
The relationship analogy with Gwen. Well. I don't even know how to express how satisfying it was to have someone put into words what I sensed as well. The part where he says he would love her like a husband loves To his wife, but Merlin is something else. BRILLIANT!!!
I don't know how to get over this story now. I would read the whole rest of the golden age with this Merlin and Arthur being Fair rulers and in love and I would be happy.
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) Characters: Merlin (Arthurian), Arthur Pendragon Summary:
When Arthur notices the scars on Merlin, he sets off to find out why a servant of all people has such marks and discovers that Merlin might not be all that he seems.
