onceandfutureprat | .021 - i'm sorry arthur has nothing public to say about that flood :c

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.021 - i'm sorry arthur has nothing public to say about that flood :c

[Arthur is a restless sleeper. And half the time he ends up curled around a pillow just to have something to hold. While that habit will probably be a good thing in his marriage, it's not really that great when the person he's got an arm around is Morgana. Because they were kids yesterday and he let her sleep in his room because hers wasn't suitable and it wasn't as though either one of them would've accepted sleeping on the floor.

So he's holding her like she is his wife, and he's not awake enough to realize that it's all wrong.]

[Private to Merlin]

Lord Merlin, hm?

[Private to Scrad/Charlie]

I apologize. For my behavior towards you in the flood.

[Private to Arya]

Would you like another lesson in your swordplay?

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What had started out as Charles more or less humoring Arthur instead of continuing being lectured about whether or not he was helpless as long as he was paralyzed had turned into something Charles was actually taking relatively seriously, because while he still thought his chances of winding up in a port with a sword were pretty slim, improving your reflexes and generally knowing how to fight seemed like a good idea, considering where they were. So he usually tolerated Arthur's hazing without much over all complaint

But he can tell something's different about today before he falls on his ass, and he doesn't bother asking him for a hand up, instead just glancing up at Arthur as he pulls himself back to his feet.

"Are you alright?"

Arthur was about to offer him a hand up when Charles pushed himself up, so okay. He wipes the back of that hand across his forehead instead.

"Oh perfect, Charles."

Charles just gives him a bit of a look. It's not really a directly accusatory "I know you're lying to me" kind of look, but it's still a "I really don't think I believe that and if you need to talk, I'm alright with listening" sort of expression.

"You're sure?"

No. He's not sure. He's not sure of anything.

"Yes," Arthur answered, looking away from Charles and down at his sword. His sword that he pulled from a stone, because of a story that Merlin told him, and God, he didn't really do that either, did he.

He could blame it all on Morgana and the flood but he asked Charles not to speak to him about her anymore, and he intends on holding up his side of that.

"... no."

Charles liked to think of himself as a more or less honest person, in that he didn't weave a web of lies so much as just willingly omit the truth a lot of the time with people, and he does that now, mostly because he doesn't think Merlin would appreciate Charles telling Arthur Merlin was upset with him.

"What happened?"

Arthur kinda knows that Merlin is angry with him.

He doesn't say anymore for a moment, still looking at the sword, staring at the word take me up, twisting it over to see the cast me away.

"Merlin told me this... stupid story about how a king of Camelot put this sword in a stone for his future heir. And I believed it. I believed that freeing it made me worthy of being their king again. But people can't pull swords from stones, any more than they can put them there. Not without magic anyway."

It's not the magic that bothers him. Not really. It's that it wasn't by his own merit that it happened. It was because Merlin willed it.

Charles frowned, honestly not sure where this was going and if it was a good idea or not to remind Arthur that in every single Arthurian legend ever, Excalibur was meant for him and him alone because he was the rightful king of Camelot. And in all the legends, Arthur had pulled it out himself, Merlin hadn't been standing in the background snapping his fingers to release it from the stone.

But he know it wasn't fair to make judgments based on stories that clearly weren't true for his friends, and he knew it bothered him when people did the same thing with him, so he kept his mouth shut.

"How do you know Merlin helped you pull it out?"

Arthur could use a peptalk about how he should be king, that he's born for it and it's his right and his duty.

"Because Merlin's behind everything." He didn't say it, Merlin didn't have to tell him everything that he'd done for him but he could guess. From the dragon, he could figure it out.

"Do you know that for certain, or are you making assumptions?" Because honestly, Charles was pretty sure either one could be true - again, their lives were pretty different from the myths - but he also really didn't put it past Arthur to get mopey and overreact to something like this. Sorry, Arthur.

Arthur does overreact to things like that. Though he doesn't see it that way.

"He didn't have to tell me everything," Arthur answered, turning the sword over in his hand again before putting it back in its place on his belt. But you're right, Merlin didn't fess up to everything but Arthur also told him not to. He was too concerned with how Merlin had poisoned his sister.

Charles just frowned, because again, if Merlin had said something, that would be different, but accusing him of manipulating him or lying about this seemed a little unfair without actual proof. He did get that there had been a major violation of trust here, but at the same time, he still did understand why Merlin had done what he'd did. Honestly, Charles didn't know if he would have come clean at all, in Merlin's shoes. He still didn't really love people knowing who he was and what he could do, because they did treat him differently once they knew.

"Then how do you know it wasn't true? I don't mean to remind you of the legends, considering we both know they're not exactly the most accurate things ever written, but I've never read one where Excalibur was given to you because Merlin interfered. It's your sword because you're the rightful king of Camelot, and no one else is supposed to wield it."

Merlin did make up the story about the sword in the stone but Excalibur had been fashioned for him by a dragon. Though Arthur didn't know any of this. Because of secrets.

"Why me?" Arthur asked, more to the open air than expecting Charles to tell him all the reasons why he'd been chosen for this fate instead of his father who had won himself the kingdom or Merlin who clearly had the power to defend the kingdom against any evil. It couldn't just be because he was a Pendragon, so was Morgana and look how she turned out.

Charles just gave him a look that was definitely along the lines of "are we seriously having this conversation."

"Because you're the rightful heir to the throne and a good man. Brooding about the subject isn't going to do anyone any good."

Arthur could name a hundred good men. But Charles had a small point, brooding wasn't going to get anywhere. Normally the next step would be taking his thoughts out on the training field but he felt like it was sort of unfair to do that to Charles again.

"Perhaps you're right," Arthur said after a moment, though his long face didn't perk up very much. "I'm sorry I think I was too rough with you."

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.021 - i'm sorry arthur has nothing public to say about that flood :c

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