Drabble: Your Secret is Safe

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Author: jelazakazone
Title: Your Secret is Safe
Rating: PG
Character/s: Mordred, Merlin
Summary: Mordred makes a mistake.
Warnings: Major character death hinted at
Word Count: 100
Prompt: #34: Devotion
Author's Notes: I hadn’t intended to write more than one piece this week, but this thought came to me as I was falling asleep and I dashed it out. Probably everything I write could fit this prompt.



Mordred coughed, a blow driving all air out of him.

“What did you do that for?”

Tears streamed down Merlin’s face. Mordred staggered back, the weight of his mistake pouring over him.

“You were entirely devoted to him, weren’t you?”

“My whole life was for him. Now it’s ashes.”

Merlin looked like he’d been the one holding armies at bay and had taken the fatal blow.

Mordred sunk to his knees.

“Merlin. That’s not how it was supposed to be. Arthur’s death means freedom for our kind after all these years. That’s all I wanted.” Tears ran down his face.

Comments

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Damn, now that is what I call misguided.

Great job on this, bb!

(And yeah, I think Merlin would wipe Mordred off the face of the planet. Hell, he might even go farther than that...)

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Did you read alba17's fic this week? *shudder*

Thanks! I am going to have to think about it. I think that the show has turned Merlin into something he's not.

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Let me seek clarification. You think that if Mordred killed Arthur that the Merlin from a prior season wouldn't kill Mordred in retaliation?

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Ok, first of all, I don't believe the Merlin we see on the show any more. That's not my headcanon. Having said that, I'm not even sure this Merlin would kill Mordred after Arthur died. I mean, Arthur's dead. He failed. He kills people because he believes Arthur is in danger. I'm not sure he would kill because Arthur's dead. Does that make any sense?

Damn, I wonder what inspired_being is going to write. Part of me is feeling like I need to write a follow up to this to see what would happen, how my headcanon would play out.

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I am gonna have to respectfully disagree on that point. Going back to S1 when he killed Nimueh. That was an enraged reaction to her killing Gaius. That wasn't to stop her from doing anything, her deed was already done.

While I think they've made Merlin act in ways he wouldn't have before, I don't think they are OOC. Yes, he urged Arthur to kill Mordred and opted to not help heal Mordred, which he probably wouldn't have done in the past but we are seeing a Merlin made desperate by the visions he's seen and the prophecies that have been shared with him.

I think it would be OOC of him if he just let Arthur's murderer get away with the killing. Arthur is his everything. I do not see him just letting it go. He'd explode and things would get very ugly.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Ok, yes, on the one hand, that's true. But 10 years down the line, he shouldn't be acting like a tantrumy teenager.

Definitely true, that he's desperate now. I feel like he's lost touch with his inner goodness along the way. His focus has narrowed so much, he can't see the whole picture any more. It's why I liked 5.05 so much. It showed how flawed he's become.

Ok, I'm going to write something later. We can agree to disagree on this:D

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

XD I don't think I've ever seen someone refer to Merlin's killing of Nimueh as a tantrum before!

While I agree his focus has narrowed, somewhat tragically, I don't think he's lost his inner goodness. He still implored Arthur not to kill Odin. He's not just running around killing off anyone who looks at Arthur cross-eyed. It's just that he's so convinced that Mordred, specifically, is the biggest EVER threat to Arthur that he is out to stop him any way he has to.

But, I'll quit now if you'd like. There's no heat here, I just love to debate :D

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

:D

No heat from me either. I love hashing this stuff out too.

And here is what I'm wondering. I feel like in the show, he's lost touch with his inner goodness. Or we are lead to believe he's losing touch with it.

I feel that having Mordred at court has weakened Merlin's notion about Mordred's evilness.

♥

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

OK, aside from his attitude toward Mordred, what other signs have you seen that lead you to believe Merlin has or is losing touch with his inner goodness?

I think having Mordred at court has muddied the waters as far as Merlin's mental picture of Mordred's nature. But as he said, he's not so sure that Mordred is there yet. He knows what Mordred will do but yeah, he doesn't seem to think Mordred has any clue...yet. Now his dilemma is-cut off the threat before it can do damage? Or wait until that switch is thrown and hope he's not too late to stop Atthur's murder?

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

None. Good point. He was very kind to Daegal.

Did Merlin actually say that he thinks Mordred doesn't know his own future? Or was that in a fic? I'm all muddled about what's canon vs not in this season because there has been so much outside my headcanon.

True. It puts him in an interesting spot too, doesn't it? Has Merlin turned villainous? (That's a rhetorical question. Don't answer it.)

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Merlin actually said it but it was in a deleted scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x4LczcVW66Q#!) from ep5.

I'm lucky that I don't seem to get my story-canon mixed up with my show-canon because I remember fic and video differently. I always hear the voices from the show speaking in my head. :D

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

"I don't know and I fear Mordred doesn't know either, which is what makes him so dangerous."

Yeah. I don't know why they cut that scene. It was a good one.

Impressive! Words are words are words. It doesn't matter if I've watched, read, or listened to something, they are all in the same place.