There can be no place for our love in Camelot [MERTHUR]

Could we have a happy ending?

The Pendragon ran all the way to Merlin’s house; only stopping once when he accidently crashed into a fruit stand and dropped his bags. As Arthur burst through the wooden door the two guards both spun around and tried to restrain him but this time the prince was prepared. Arthur grabbed one of the guards and kneed him in the stomach before knocking him over the head. Then the second guard ran at the prince from behind but Arthur just elbowed him in the face.

Merlin looked up from his bags and at the two unconscious guards on the ground, “Impressive.” Arthur smiled victoriously before both men ran around the table and desperately pulled each other into a hug. The prince squeezed the smaller man tightly and kissed the side of his face as Merlin laughed against him.

“I am never letting you go, I swear” Arthur muttered sweetly in between sloppy kisses.

The man-servant smiled sadly, “But I have to leave Arthur.” The prince pulled apart but kept his arms around his boyfriend.

“You’re not going alone Merlin, you need to get out of Camelot and I’m going with you.” Arthur stated boldly.

“Arthur, I have to leave… you don’t. You have to stay in Camelot and become king.” Merlin was so conflicted, he desperately wanted Arthur to stay by his side forever but he also wanted him to be in Camelot so he could fulfil his royal destiny. In the end Arthur made the decision for himself.

“Don’t start this again, I’m coming with you and nothing you say can change my mind.” The prince insisted, not taking no for an answer.  Merlin would have protested more but he also wanted Arthur to come with him and anyway the Pendragon shut him up by kissing him passionately.

“But you still momentarily have to let me go” Merlin laughed, pecking Arthur on the nose. The prince sighed and hesitantly let go of his boyfriend.  “Don’t worry there’ll be heaps of time for that later” The man-servant reassured, wiggling his eyebrows comically, as he went back to the table.

“There better be!” Arthur winked back suggestively.

Merlin smiled in reply before asking about more serious matters, like their plan, “So, where are we going to go?” The man-servant picked up two of his bags and hung them both loosely over his shoulders. The Pendragon then waltzed over to his lover and kissed his forehead reassuringly.

“Doesn’t matter, just far away from here” Arthur answered, taking the last bag off the table and placing it over his head and shoulder.

“Thank you” Merlin replied, noticing the sweet gesture.

“You’re welcome.” The prince murmured before silently holding out his hand for Merlin to grab. The man-servant gave him a wide smile before placing his hand in Arthur’s. “Let’s go” The prince stated as he dragged Merlin by the hand out the door and onto the street. Arthur looked at Merlin and once his boyfriend gave him an approving nod he took off, running down the street. The two of them ran side by side through the town; between buildings, behind houses and around people but never once letting go of each other’s hand.

They ran towards the castle gates with their bags flapping around behind them, they were going to leave this place far behind them and although this had been their home they were both happy to be leaving. Suddenly from out of nowhere the three guards that were in Arthur’s chambers jumped out and attempted to grab the two wanted men. The prince roughly shoved two of them of his way and Merlin tripped the last guard over before they both kept running down the footpath.

“PRINCE ARTHUR! MERLIN! STOP WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW!” One of the guards shouted as he pushed some poor couple out of his way. Arthur snuck a quick glance behind him and let out a tiny and very girl yelp as he noticed the guards were rapidly gaining on them.

 “Merlin faster!” Arthur ordered, quickening his pace but by now the man-servant was breathing really heavily and struggling to keep up. They both sprinted through a very crowded market square, across an old bridge and through some even older gates but the guards were still in hot pursuit.

“YOU WON’T GET AWAY!” The same guard taunted as he was only around 10 footsteps behind them. Arthur could hear his boyfriend huffing and puffing and he so wanted to help him but at the moment there wasn’t much he could do so they just kept running. Merlin and Arthur ran out through the castle gates where they passed two guards that clearly didn’t know what was happening. “GET THEM, DON’T LET THEM LEAVE” The original guard ordered the other guards but it was already too late.

By now the two boys were way in front of their capturers but they were still in danger; Merlin was on the edge of passing out and now there were five guards chasing them. The less athletic man stopped running but Arthur knew that couldn’t slow down because the guards were already quickly catching up.

“Please Merlin, we have to keep going! Just a little bit more I promise, we can lose them in the forest.” The Pendragon encouraged and squeezed his boyfriend’s  hand .

“I can’t Arthur” Merlin huffed, leaning over and gasping.

“Merlin, I believe that you can!” Arthur whispered in his boyfriend’s ear before looking behind him and seeing the guards charging at them. Merlin just gave the prince a weak smile before they both started running again, towards the forest.  Once the prince and man-servant reached the border of the forest they relaxed a bit and hid under a small ledge of earth.  Arthur laid down first and Merlin pretty much collapsed on top of him, still breathing heavily and sweating but somehow they were still holding hands. As the guards followed them into the forest they shouted things like, “catch them!”, “don’t let them get away!” and “they have to be here somewhere!” but they ran straight past them.  After around 20 minutes and Merlin had caught his breath they both stood up out of their hiding spot.

“Are you alright Merlin?” Arthur asked in little more than a whisper just in case anyone was still around.

The man-servant shrugged his shoulders, “I should be alright now. As long as there isn’t much more running?”

“Not much” the Pendragon smiled, pulling Merlin into a quick hug, “but we still have to get out of here.

“Then we should get going.” The man-servant suggested as they pulled out of the hug. The prince and Merlin walked hand-in-hand in no particular direction for a very long time until the castle was way out of sight and they were sure they were far away enough.

“Well I did not think this is how today would go when I woke up this morning” Arthur joked as they both slowly walked up a small hill.

“I must admit me neither but we were pretty awesome running away from them guards” Merlin laughed, feeling quite good despite everything that has happened. Once the two boys had finally stopped joking around and they had reached the top of the hill, they stopped.

“So that farm, Merlin?” The Pendragon asked giving his boyfriend a suggestive smile and a wink.

“I would love to have that farm with you” Merlin smiled before sweetly pulling him closer and kissing the prince.

 The two men lived out the rest of their days together on a cute little farm in Sussex with a cow, a few sheep, and lots of chickens. Their life was never elegant or spoilt again once they left Camelot but they were both more than happy to just be able to live happily and openly together. Surprisingly they were never found by Uther and his men, Merlin guessed that they would have abandoned the search for them and instead started looking for another heir to the throne.  Arthur was able to get a message to Gwaine indicating where they were so all their friends could visit them on their little farm. I would love to tell you that Merlin and Arthur both happily died together or they somehow lived forever by each other’s side but that’s not how life works. All stories must come to an end and luckily for us this ending is a happy one. Merlin died one late August at the old age of 65 in Arthur’s arms and the Pendragon died little under a month later. Some people say it was from a broken heart but the much more realistic possibility was from all the delicious food Merlin fed him. In the end all that matters is that they ended up happy and they were able to keep their love burning through the tough times.