Rolling in the deep, ain't ever been this deep (onesideofthecoin)
The druids and Kilgharrah had yet to cease reminding the young warlock on a consistent basis that he was born of all the magic Uther had attempted to destroy; thus he was the most powerful magic user that the world had ever known charged with the duty of restoring magic to Camelot. He was powerful magic user fated to change the world; or so they claimed, but Merlin never felt that would ever be him. He was just a kid born with magic that had a rough enough time trying to survive, let alone conjuring powerful fate changing magic. Frankly, Merlin would gaze at himself in the mirror and the whole matter was settled. Who in their right mind would pick the lanky and scrawny young man out as someone fated to change the world?
Merlin passed a glance back at his companion with an sly, but embarrassed smile, “yeah I have actually. It was a situation somewhat like this but I ended up screwing it up. I promise it won’t happen with you though, I learned my lesson.” His heart would be broken if he let Dean down in any shape or form. He just wanted, no needed, for something to go right for once.
The warlock chewed nervously on his bottom lip momentarily before speaking up again, “true. Maybe there is a dragon egg that has yet to be uncovered. Even so, a dragonlord needs to call the dragon into existence, they cannot just hatch…” his voice drifted off as another grim series of thoughts claimed the poor young man again. He was the last dragonlord. If dragons were more plentiful in Dean’s time and were killing people, it would be his fault for they could not be alive without his assistance. He felt so ill… Dean was going to hate him.
"Thank you for the leap of faith, I will try not to let you down Dean," Merlin somehow managed a smile in the man’s direction even though his heart was throbbing in his chest. The manservant led the way through the winding stone laden hallways of the grand castle towards the library. "To be honest, getting you to be a knight will be easier than you think. Once we get a family crest and seal for you, I will ask my friend Gwen to outfit you with proper armor, shield and a sword. Her father was a blacksmith so she has incredible knowledge about such things. Getting you in Arthur’s good graces will be even easier. All I have to do is tell him that I think you could beat him in a duel, once you manage to either beat him or fend him off for a while, it will be impossible for him to refuse you knighthood. When it comes to Arthur you got to appeal or work his ego," he grinned. Arthur did not think his manservant was perceptive at all, and yet here Merlin was with a near perfect analysis of the prince and situation. "Does that all seem plausible to you?" Merlin asked glancing back at Dean again. Poor Merlin could not bear to tear his eyes away from Dean for long.
Merlin stopped at a door and pushed it open to a cozy, medieval torchlit library with ancient books and manuscripts covering every shelf. After carefully shutting the heavy wooden door behind them he flashed a smile at Gregory of Mammoth - who eyed him inquisitively before going back to scribbling notes on parchment with his quill. Merlin motioned Dean to follow as he maneuvered through the library to a shelf towards the back where the musty scent of the books happened to be the most prominent. He grabbed hold of a heavy and thick tome and dragged it off the shelf and to the nearest table. “This book has all the crests of all the known royal families, even the most obscure ones, so let’s hope they have a Winchester crest in here.” He drew in a deep breath wishing them luck as he began to page through it.
"While I make my way through the book, have any questions? About anything really."
Surprised to hear that Merlin had made a seal before-and failed- Dean tried to hide his amused expression from him, following him with his hands tucked behind his back, making him look more refined than he'd ever be, but he was trying (perhaps too hard) to fit in here, to not stand out and get noticed, but there was no way he could appear like a servant either, his bulk and strange aura made that almost impossible.
A Dragonlord? What the hell was a Dragonlord? "A what?" he asked him, catching up and walking at his side. "Dragonlord, I've never heard of one of those, I think the dragons in my time have evolved into something different. Probably to survive, since in this time they're hunted rather viciously," he conceded after a moment.
He didn't always agree with hunting things down, not like he had when he first started hunting on his own. Dean had quickly realized that just because they were monsters-different-didn't mean that they were all evil, though admittedly a lot of them had to be evil because hunters gave them no other choice, they had to live in a certain way.
Survival.
"Then again, it was said that they bred with humans and took on a lot of human traits, or something like that. Who knows, there are plenty of rumors and not enough facts," he told Merlin.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you found one," Dean told him, referring to the family crest. "We're and old family and if there's none for Winchester then there's my mother's side, the Cambells, I know there would be one from them," he told him with an arch of his brow, looking around as they walked, rather enjoying the views of the castle, he'd never really been in a real one before.
"As for beating Arthur, with a little practice I'm sure that will be easy, I'm pretty good with a sword for someone who doesn't use one on a regular basis, besides, I'm pretty sure what I don't know, you'll teach me, right? you've seen them at work," he assured him, patting the boy on the back, his hand lingering for a moment as they slipped into the library, his green eyes going to the old man there.
"And yes," he mumbled. "Plausible."
He eyed the man back before following Merlin, looking down at the book he had in his hands, leaning his chest up lightly against the other male's back as he peered over his shoulder, turning his eyes to Merlin's face when he spoke, their eyes meeting.
"Yeah, actually," he murmured, his green eyes crinkling at the corners as he offered up the boy a roguish smile. "Are you single?"
Mostly he'd asked to be cheeky, but he wasn't going to deny the attraction of the male with his intense eyes and boyish smile. Dean wasn't gay, but he had nothing against it really, he admittedly considered himself an all around kind of lover, plenty of him to go around and plenty to love. He'd only fucked around with men before when he was too drunk to catch himself, and although the interest wasn't strong enough to have him flipping Merlin over a table and have his way with him, there was something there.
"Oh, and after this... can we eat?"
