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Merlin isn't really sure when he began to feel like this, when this anger had started making itself known to him, but it had finally reached its boiling point. He couldn't stay in Camelot any longer, Arthur was clear about what he thought about magic and his kind, so what was the point in trying to fulfill their destiny any more? He wrote a note to Gaius thanking him for all he'd done over the years and snuck out of the castle in the dead of night, not looking back as he makes his way towards where he knows Morgana is.
It isn't long before he lets go of the hold on his magic, which means it's quite literally doing whatever it wants. Both making flowers and sending large angry pulses back towards the castle, he can't help but smirk slightly at the feeling of it, and wonders if this is how Morgana feels about the damn place. Now he didn't have to hold onto his magic so tightly, he realised just how beautiful and powerful it felt, and wondered if anyone else could feel it from a much further distance.
It doesn't take long to find Morgana's hut, though he's flung into a tree the second he felt her magic. When she appears, she looks even more wilder than usual "Emrys?!" She calls out, sounding slightly afraid as to what her doom was doing so close "Morgana" he says with a groan, not moving to stand up so that she doesn't think he's there to attack. He sees her do a double take then cackle to herself "did he finally find out about you?" She asks with that all to familiar smirk "or is he making you do his dirty work" she says, looking mildly amused at the thought of Merlin trying to take her down.
Merlin can't help but roll his eyes "fucking hell is this how our people see me?" He asks in annoyance that even Morgana had seen him as nothing more than Arthur's shadow. When she raises an eyebrow, Merlin finally gets to his feet and moves towards her with a smirk growing on his face "I guess it's time to change that" he says in a low dangerous tone that catches Morgana's attention almost instantly "I know everything about that castle, it's weaknesses, it's secret entrances, the guard patrol routine and route" at this point Morgana was smirking as well, though still looking at him in suspicion.
As he takes another step towards her, he lets his magic go completely "what's the catch, already told them everything?" She asks, crossing her arms and stopping him in place causing him to scoff and roll his eyes "as if Arthur Pendragon would ever believe clumsy Merlin would ever have magic, never mind think about attacking his precious fucking Camelot" he spits viciously, causing Morgana's eyes to light up as she realises that Merlin is completely on her side, that he has already come up with some sort of plan.
She lets go of him, making him stumble slightly and caused her to feel slight disbelief that his magic is alot more powerful than hers. The fact that he has magic at all is something they would be having some rather harsh words about in the near future, "do you think our magic is enough?" She asks, watching as his bright gold eyes dull slightly as he talks to someone telepathicly "I have more than enough, but if not we have other magic users to back us up" he says with a shrug "and two dragons" he says, before letting out a loud roar.
Aithusa bolts out of Morgana's hut to stand in front of him, causing the anger and bitterness Morgana had been witnessing to melt as he runs a hand over her head and along her back "it's good to see you 'thusa" he whispers with a fond smile, though there's sadness at seeing how mangled she'd become due to her stunted growth. He lets his magic wrap around the young dragon, surprised to watch as it heals her wings enough that she will be able to fly properly again "I'll make whoever did this pay" he growls quietly, looking up to Morgana with questioning eyes as to what the hell the dragon was doing with her.
Morgana just stands in shock "you're a Dragonlord?" She demands, as if she didn't already have enough questions to ask. Merlin merely nods, as his magic continues to try and fix anything that might be causing Aithusa pain, which seems to be working as after awhile she's able to stand up straight and look a little more menacing, "there's alot to talk about, but right now just know i will do everything in my power to finally end the Pendragon line" he says a little coldly as he moves away from her hut and into the treeline where he sets up camp.
Morgana can't help but roll her eyes and use her magic to pull him into the hut "don't be such an idiot, Merlin. Camelot's patrol passes close to where you were, wouldn't want to be dragged all the way back now would you?" She says a little bit more snarkily than she'd intended, but it makes Merlin smile slightly so she doesn't care. The two lapse into a comfortable, yet awkward silence and for awhile Morgana thinks Merlin's fallen asleep snuggled into Aithusa, but he yet again suprises her by saying "I'm sorry for how things happend, I truly didn't want to hurt you" so quietly she almost missed it.
There's something deeper behind his tone, almost as if he feels just as haunted by everything that's happend as she does, "was it because of my magic like Morgause said?" She asks, even though she knows about his magic now but she still has to know "of course not!" He moved to sit up so fast that he startled both Morgana and Aithusa, who let out a quiet warning growl "She tied the sleeping curse to you, I thought you knew that?" He asks, his eyes slowly growing wide in horror "you truly didn't know, oh Morgana I'm so sorry" he whispers softly, bowing his head in sorrow and guilt. Morgana can only stare at the man in front of her and see just how much he'd changed during his time in Camelot, as well as see just how young he still was.
The rest of the night is spent catching each other up on what's been happening without the other knowing. Morgana becomes increasingly more shocked as the younger man tells her about his life from the moment he stepped foot into Camelot. How he's fought other high priestesses along with Cornelius Sigan, multiple immortal army's, far too many bandits to count, been poisoned, punched, talked down too, been told he's stupid and weak and had things thrown at him day after day. How he had fallen in love but lost her to Arthur, lost his best friend and was told he was evil because Arthur thought it was him that had magic, lost Lancelot after the man realised Merlin was planning on sacrificing himself to the veil she herself created, and had met his father and lost him again in the space of a day and a half.
Morgana wondered how it was only now that Merlin had snapped, hell she wondered how the man was still as sane as he is, when she herself had fallen into madness long before she had snapped and turned against Camelot. The two fall asleep after awhile, though neither stay asleep for long as they jerk awake from nightmares and almost blast the other out of self preservation. She could see that Merlin was getting antsy, but could also see that he was communicating with someone quite regularly, "so do you have a plan or are we going in blind?" She asks, after Merlin's eyes once again shine brighter than should be natural.
He just chuckles quietly, the sound sending a shiver down her spine as he says "oh Morgana, when have i ever NOT had a plan?" The fact that he sounds so confident and powerful brings her hopes back up "I was rounding up everyone i know will help us, we seem to have quite the army on our hands" he says with a vicious smirk that she didn't know him capable of "with an invisibility spell they'll never see us coming, we'll overwhelm them before they even know what's hit them" he's got everything figured out, she can only wonder how long he's been thinking this through.
They spend the next few days making sure the plan is fully fleshed out, before calling all their sorcerer allies to a certain point on the border between Camelot and Essetir. Merlin already casting the invisibility spell on them so they wouldn't be detected by either kingdom. It isn't until night has settled over them that Merlin slips away from the group, finding a big enough spot for Kilgharrah to land so he could tell him what was going on.
The dragon was there quicker than ever before, though Merlin wasn't expecting Aithusa to come flying at him through the trees just as he began talking. It made him chuckle quietly, before looking at the older of the two again "remember when I told you to never attack Camelot?" He asks, causing the dragon to roll his eyes and nod "very well, young warlock. To do so would be on pain of death" he drawls, sounding slightly bored even as his eyes showed curiosity "forget that command, I want you to rain hell fire down on them. You can enter Camelot of your own free will, but I will give the signal to you both when the time is right" he says, feeling the command change just as quickly as he had said it all those years ago.
Kilgharrah raises an eyebrow at him, "Emrys has changed sides" he says quietly, looking his Dragonlord up and down for a few seconds "i could not have predicted this, but I'm at your command," the dragon bows his head far lower than usual. Merlin was slightly suprised to find pride shining in his golden eyes when their eyes met "are we to spare anyone?" He asks, just as he gets ready to take off. Merlin projects his voice to every magic user on their side so he doesn't have to relay it to every single one of them "we are to spare Gaius and Guinevere, those two have been kind and we have no quarrel with them" he feels Morgana both roll her eyes and brighten at this, whilst Kilgharrah lets out an annoyed huff before nodding and taking off.
They start their march towards Camelot at first light, he can feel Kilgharrah somewhere close behind and he hears the dragon marvel at the fact that even though he can feel exactly where he is due to his magic, he can't see him at all. There isn't even a shimmer to give away his invisibility spell, which both impresses the dragon and for once intimidates him as he realises just how powerful his Dragonlord really is.
As soon as they crest the hill nearest the castle, Merlin begins to chant, aiming it at the secret entrances, so that they're open for when he releases his invisibility spell on everyone but him and Morgana, he directs the ones he wants in there before slamming his foot down and sending the rippling effect towards the castle walls, watching as the floor beneath shakes hard enough to rip apart and cause the walls the crack and crumble enough to see over the top of it.
He and Morgana smirk before they begin to chant together "Thurh minum gewealde ond thinum maegen... geclippath we thone lieg the ealla awestath." Merlin's magic make the fire balls even bigger and deadlier than anyone else's ever could, whilst Morgana's make sure they hit exactly where they want it to. Merlin creates several of his own fire balls at once and throws them as hard as he can, causing the walls to fall even more, a few manage to hit the castle itself. They can't help but chuckle darkly at the chaos it creates as they slowly make their way forwards once more.
They make it into the secret passage ways and past the castle gates, not that it was hard. Their little distraction was working just as well as they'd hoped it would, he could hear the start of the carnage that the others were causing and smirked as he let go of the invisibility spell enough that everyone but he and Morgana were visible, which causes the Knights and guards to jump into battle, only for them to be flung away by the two they couldn't see.
Merlin can't help but take a look around, watching as magic users wage war on the unsuspecting kingdom, watching as they drive the hastily placed knights back and just as Merlin gets ready to reveal himself and Morgana, he sends Kilgharrah and Aithusa a message "now! Give it everything you've got, try not to hurt any of our allies if you can" and just as the final barrier comes down and the hell fire begins to fall, King Arthur rushes out to join the fight. Merlin can't help but release the last of his magic just as the king looks over at him, smirking when Arthur takes a startled step back when the magic lashes out at everything surrounding the warlock.
Merlin can't help but glare at the man, before once again slamming his foot and hand down hard enough to leave dents in the floor, the combined release of power sending shock waves and tremors hard enough to take people off of their feet in all directions.
He didn't stop there as he yanked both faceless and known knights across the courtyard like ragdolls, threw fire balls in all directions when his allies were too far away and distracted to watch his back, and called down strike after strike of lightening, both to hit people with and to show the people of Camelot just how powerful he truly was. Which seems to work as Arthur's steps falter for a few seconds, before a look of determination crosses over his face.
As the king gets closer to them, Merlin sends fast spreading cracks and vines towards the castle, watching in bearly concealed awe as walls break apart and windows shatter as the castle struggles to stay standing "what happened to you, Merlin?" He hears the king yell over the chaos, as he takes a few steps back in order to stay out of the path of such powerful magic.
It wasn't lost on him that the king was looking between the warlock and Morgana with a glare that worsened with every passing glance "you did, your majesty." He spits with a venom he didn't even know he had in him, "You and your father's laws that made my life illegal from the second I was born" he growls, increasingly aware that his anger was causing a whirlwind to form around him with ever step he took towards the king.
Arthur's eyes widen before turning to slits again "you don't have magic, Merlin! I would know!" He yells, once again looking at Morgana, as if she was the one to somehow put her magic into Merlin. Merlin can't help the dark chuckle that escapes him, it causes both Arthur and Morgana to freeze in place as neither one had thought Merlin capable of such a terrifying sound "I don't just have magic, Arthur Pendragon. I AM magic. I am Emrys, I am the most powerful warlock that will ever walk the earth, I am the last Dragonlord and there is NOTHING you can do to stop me" he hissed harshly.
Taking a few more intimidating steps towards the king, Merlin uses his magic to pull Excalibur over to him with a smirk "without this sword you are nothing but the arrogant, supercilious, naive tyrant of a man you've always been and always will be" he finishes coldly just as he gets directly in front of his former king.
His words had gotten to Arthur in a way he's never seen before, making him grin victoriously. He can't help but look the man up and down, before he raises the sword in his hands "it brings me no pleasure to do this, but the reign of terror the Pendragon's have wroght on my people must come to an end" he says, sadness and pity making themselves known.
Even as he thrusts Excalibur deep into Arthur's chest without remorse, twisting it harshly before yanking it back out "Merlin" he hears the king whisper in pained horror, as if he hadn't actually expected the man to do it "goodbye, Arthur Pendragon" Merlin says, before walking away without a moment's hesitation, not even turning back or looking over his shoulder as he goes, whilst Morgana looks down at her brother for the last time "you two could have changed the world, you know" she says quietly, watching as that bright, firey look in his eyes faded out of existence for good, before she followed after Merlin.