Chapter Text
Prologue
Welcome to the Academy of Bravery and Wisdom, of Friendship and Compassion; to the place where faith in humanity and kindness is the only thing that is left. The Academy is famous for its graduates: magicians and warriors, politicians, musicians, great villains and powerful sorcerers, friends for life and foes for all eternity. You can walk and see the Great Hall for yourself, where all the battles to death and oaths to love had taken place (all the stories are available in the last edition of “SSA: The tales of the Walls”). As you enroll into the Academy, you are at the beginning of your own story of greatness, and how it will end depends on you and you alone, for your actions shape your destiny, you are the creator of your own path, and every choice matters. Never forget this, and welcome, welcome to “The Swords and Sorcery Academy”!
Arthur re-read the brochure for what felt like the hundredth time, sighed and chanced a look at his father. Uther was sitting beside him, his posture stiff, waiting for the meeting to begin.
It was a standard procedure at the SSA: after confirming the will to attend the school, all the parents, with their children in tow, were to be at the Greeting Ceremony at 11 in the morning on the 25th of August to receive the full information about the rules, required possessions and also to better understand the Academy’s agenda. As Uther had said during breakfast, the meeting promised to be very boring and very long, so “Arthur, eat your porridge and don’t talk”.
As Arthur was looking around the enormous bright room they were sitting in, staring at the golden lights and elaborate decorations, the stage lit up and a group of people greeted them. Then one very old and very interesting-looking man began to talk about ranks and duties (“He looks lizard-y. His beard is too short for him to be a magician, but he’s definitely not a knight. Maybe that’s how Headmasters look.” - thought Arthur and decided that there was definitely something lizard-like in all the Headmasters in the world, though he had never ever met one before. After all, who knows, perhaps all Headmasters were made of snakes - he had heard, snakes are very clever creatures), and though Arthur was only 7, he tried to understand every single word, because it was his responsibility to know and obey the rules of the Academy.
By the end of Mr. Kilgarragh’s speech, his thoughts were somewhat mixed inside his head, and he decided to make a list of them as to not forget anything important.
Arthur’s mental list of things about school #1:
1) we are going to live in the dorms with all the magic kids so we know that they are no different from us except that they have magic;
2) boys live with boys and girls live with girls. (“Well, at least there will be no girls to spoil all the fun”, thought Arthur. And then, “But what if someone is mean to Morgana?” he frowned. Well, in that case, he guessed, he would do whatever he could to protect her, because she was his responsibility, even though she stole his toys and sneaked into his bed at night and tugged all the blanket to herself)
3) at the age of 11 we are going to be paired up (a magician - a knight) and put into a separate room, so we will have a stronger bond, because it is needed for future deeds.
4) we can’t choose who we are going to be paired up with, so I need to try to be on good terms with everyone
5) It is most important to protect my magician because there will be no one else to do so.
6) I will be able to see Dad every second weekend during the first year, every third one during the second, every two months during the third and every three months during the fourth year. When I’m eleven, I will be back home only for the summer holidays and Christmas.
7) If I’m excellent as a knight, I will be paired up with the most powerful magician, so I need to be the best. (That wasn’t what Mr Kilgarragh said exactly, but Arthur concluded it was how things worked , because it was logical)
8) If a student is caught on undignified behaviour (note: look up what does “undignified” mean exactly), they and their parents have a talk with the Headmaster about his staying at the school. If a student is caught causing violence or bullying - he is to be expelled immediately.
9) I don’t need to be afraid because “everyone here will do everything they can to protect me” (This, Arthur didn’t really understand. It is, after all, a school, what could be dangerous enough to scare him?)
10) we are to be back here on the 31st of August (which is in five days), the classes begin on the 1st of September.
With a few final words, thanking everyone for listening, Mr Kilgarragh introduced one of the leading teachers, who looked slightly ominous to Arthur, as the tutor who will answer all questions about domestic matters.
As one of the parents was asking about whether or not the children are allowed to come home if they get ill, a large emerald butterfly flew up in the distance, and Arthur instantly turned to look at what had happened. Across the aisle, in the fifth row from the stage, a woman began to tell off her kid, a tiny dark-haired boy with ridiculous, enormous ears, who looked at his hands guiltily. Suddenly, the room went dead silent, and Arthur heard the woman talking in a hurried whisper:
“Merlin, this is a serious meeting, stop fooling around and pay attention!”
And a mumbled reply in a ringing voice:
“ ‘Mnot fooling around, I just don’t want to be sad.”
Then the boy looked up through his lashes and saw all eyes turned on him, and blushed a deep shade of crimson. The butterfly promptly disappeared, leaving only a sparkling green trail after itself.
After about five seconds, the tutor continued answering the question, and one by one, people redirected their attention back to the stage, but Arthur was still looking at the boy, waiting for maybe another butterfly or trying to figure out why the boy was sad.
Suddenly, the dark-haired child looked up at him and his eyes widened. Arthur realised he had been frowning, deep in thought, and gave the boy a smile. Tentatively, he returned it, and Arthur, after a quick moment, returned his full attention to what was happening on the stage, adding another point to his mental list of things about school #1:
11) Talk to the dark-haired boy on the first day of school.
~*~
Five days were gone in a flash: all the books they had to buy, all the clothes that needed to be packed, last preparations and one brilliant trip to the amusement park filled all those hours Arthur and Morgana got to spend together with their father before parting for two weeks. Arthur talked to his friends about the school none of them were going to attend, and they made oaths to be friends for life, carving their initials on a wooden deck and burying it under the Big Oak.
Morgana stopped sneaking into his bed at night and spent hours in Uther’s room instead, where they read stories aloud, painted pictures, and sang melodic songs.
Arthur preferred to stay out of it, because even a 5 year old knows that’s it is harder to part if you spend a lot of your time with someone, but on the 30th of August, Uther asked him to come to his room, and talked to him a lot about honour and responsibility, about his duties as a student and as a Pendragon, and by the end of it Arthur was equally thrilled - to be trusted with such matters, and afraid - to disappoint his father. Some of it must have been written on his face, because Uther tugged him close and said, petting his hair:
“I know you won’t disappoint me, Arthur. You are a brave boy and you have a big heart. Just don’t let anyone fool you into doing the wrong thing, and when you are not sure what to do - look into your soul and you will find the answer. I know you will make me proud, son.”
At this, Arthur clung to his dad and started silently crying until he fell asleep in Uther’s arms. When the morning came, he decided his quota for tears was up, and he fully prepared himself for going away to school, determined and ready.
Chapter 1
They arrived at school in the afternoon, and the hours passed quickly in a flurry of serious voices belonging to the parents, cheerful chatting between the children, and formalities like checking all the documents and luggage.
By the evening tea time, everyone gathered on the lawn, before the grey ancient building the students were now considered to think of as a second home, to say their goodbyes and patiently listen through all the talks from mums and dads telling them to: “Be a good kid, don’t forget to take your vitamins, respect your elders”.
The atmosphere was giddy, and although some sad notes hung in the air, children were too excited to cry or dramatize. After all, one can’t be very upset when one has a whole new world to explore; all the missing and the mourning lays on the shoulders of those who are left behind.
As Uther hugged Morgana tightly (who, by the way, wasn’t crying. She was unusually quiet, but her eyes had stayed dry ever since that morning), Arthur looked around and spotted the dark-haired boy from the meeting, clinging to his mum and shaking a little. They were only about 20 steps away, Arthur could hear the woman chanting gently:
“Merlin, sweetheart, I’ll see you in two weeks, there-there, calm down, be a good boy”, but as she was saying so, her own eyes were too bright and her cheeks wet with tears. Arthur knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help it, and just at this moment he felt a pang of something bitter, sitting deep in his stomach. Perhaps, it was because of the porridge.
“Arthur, son,” Uther called him.
Arthur turned to him and his dad made a gesture for him to come closer. Morgana went away to talk to a girl with pretty curly hair she had probably already made friends with.
Uther levelled himself with his son and produced something from his pocket. Arthur saw it glistening in the evening sun, but couldn’t make out what it was exactly yet. His dad opened his palm and there appeared a ring: wide, made of silver with one gold patch, circling its middle. The ring was too big for Arthur’s fingers, that’s why, he supposed, it was on a chain.
“This,” Uther began, smiling at him, “belonged to your mother. I want you to have it. Someday it will fit your finger, and when the time comes, you will know you are no longer a boy, but a man. I trust you to cherish it and wear it with pride and honour.”
Arthur stared at the ring, and imagined the smiling face of the woman he saw on numerous photos and portraits in their house. This belonged to his mother, and it meant more to him than he could imagine at this second. He touched the jewelry, thinking about his mum’s hands, and looked up at his father. There were tears in Uther’s eyes.
Arthur was so surprised at the sight, he threw his hands around his dad’s neck and whispered: “I promise I’ll make you and mum proud, dad”.
Uther locked the chain around Arthur’s neck and hugged him, then got up, ruffled the boy’s hair and went to his car.
Arthur watched as the vehicle disappeared in the distance, unable to stop touching the ring. He then hid it under his school blazer and went to the dorms to meet his new roommates and get ready for supper.
~*~
Reaching the doors of their bedroom (third floor up the stairs to the left, through the common room, through the corridor to the left, past the showers, the big wooden door), he heard voices and laughter. Excited, he put on a smile and pushed the door open and was immediately attacked with a stream of questions from the other boys.
“Oh, hey, another one!”
“Who are you?”
“What’s your name?”
“Are you a cry-baby mummy’s boy like this one here?”
The last question prompted another round of laughter and Arthur felt dumbstruck.
“What?”
The boy with a wide grin and cold eyes pointed at something to his right and said in an obnoxiously loud voice:
“Here, meet Merlin, though we’re not sure why he’s here with us, when he should be with the girls, because he’s crying like a girly girl!”
“Well, I’d be crying too if I had such ugly ears!” someone added and the children started laughing again.
Arthur looked where the boy was pointing and saw that dark-haired kid he had decided to talk to. He was quietly unpacking his things, not paying any attention to the teasing, and Arthur would have thought it didn’t even matter to him if it weren’t for the endless tears, streaming down the boy’s face.
Arthur touched his mother’s ring, sitting safely under his uniform, and said loudly to talk down the noise,
“Well, seems like you only have the guts to attack those who can’t protect themselves. I’d rather be friends with boys who are men enough to show their weakness than with a bunch of cowards!” and with those words he marched towards the dark-haired boy’s bed and held out his hand, “Hello, I’m Arthur Pendragon.”
The boy looked up at him, wide-eyed, and his wheezing ragged breath was the only sound to break the silence that had fallen after Arthur’s statement. Those weren’t really his words: his dad had said this when Arthur had asked if it was bad for boys to cry.
For a moment, the boy just stared at him, too surprised to even cry, but then his lower lip started shaking violently, so he threw the things he was holding onto his bed and ran out of the room.
Children around him started smirking, recovered from their shock, and Arthur felt absolutely stupid. He touched the ring again and couldn’t understand what had he done wrong.
Someone came up to him and patted him on the shoulder,
“Come on, mate, he’s not worth it. You’re right, we shouldn’t mock him, he’s pathetic enough as it is,” he glanced at his friends to see them nodding and smiling in agreement. “Hey, I’m Kay, you’re Arthur, right?”
The boy held out his hand and Arthur, after some hesitation, shook it.
“That’s Val,” he gestured at the kid with the wide grin and cold eyes, the one that had called Merlin a girl in the first place. “We were about to go to the common room to meet all the other boys from our class. We’re divided into three groups, like there are two more rooms where guys live, so maybe we could exchange this snotty loser for some cool lad.”
There was a round of affirmative exclamations from the group, and they all strode outside, talking loudly about moving “the loser’s things” to the other room if he didn’t come back after supper. They inevitably dragged Arthur with them, but he excused himself to go to the bathroom.
“Alright, we’ll be in the common room, yeah?” said Kay, parting with him.
The bathroom was on the opposite side of the corridor from the showers, and as Arthur quietly entered it, he heard stifled sobs, coming from the stall at the end of the room.
His steps must have not been as silent as he had intended, because as he stepped further into the room, the crying stopped. Arthur stood, listening, and for a moment decided that he was alone in the room, but then he saw a reddish-gold butterfly flying above the closed stall, dropping a trail of blinding sparks of light.
“Merlin?”
No answer. Arthur approached the stall and tried again, speaking gently.
“Merlin. I know you’re there. I can see the butterfly.” He looked up where it was floating in the air, making the shadows on the walls move in a fascinating way. “It’s so beautiful. If you can create them when you’re sad, I wonder what it looks like when you’re happy.”
Still, silence was the only answer he got.
Arthur contemplated going to the common room and leaving the boy here: after all, he couldn’t make Merlin like him. He sighed and leaned his head on the door of the stall.
“Listen, Merlin. I meant what I said. You don’t have to pay attention to what they’re saying. I personally don’t think you’re a girl, because you obviously are a boy, and Dad says it’s low to call someone a girl as if being a girl is bad, so even if they call you a girl, that shouldn’t offend you, because my sister’s a girl, and she’s pretty amazing and if she heard them, she’d turn them all into frogs, because she thinks being a girl is better than being a boy and once she dared me to wear a dress because she said boys are too cowardly and I spent a whole day wearing a dress and she was so proud she said I’d have made a really pretty girl, which she considers to be the best compliment, by the way...”
Arthur went silent when he realised there was a soft laughter on the other side of the door. He frowned a little in confusion, but then heard the lock clicking and stepped back.
The stall opened and he saw Merlin’s face: red-rimmed eyes with tear-flicked lashes, swollen lips, and a runny nose. He looked so thin in his white shirt and black trousers, thinner than any boy of his age should be. Although, his cheeks were round, and his ears stuck out of his mop of ravenous hair. All in all, he looked a bit like a lollipop. With ears.
Arthur smiled at the thought. Merlin sniffed, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, and smiled weakly right back.
“Your sister made you wear a dress?” his tone was light and not in the slightest teasing.
“For a day.” Arthur made big eyes. “But...don’t tell anyone, okay?” he added hastily.
“Okay.” Merlin smiled wider, and went to the sink to wash his face.
He then sat on the floor, with his back to the wall, and Arthur joined him without hesitation.
“Why were you crying?” he asked abruptly.
“I miss my mum.” Merlin replied simply, looking at his folded hands.
“But you’ll see her in two weeks, right?”
“Yes, but I’ve never been away from her.” He mumbled, and then added with determination: “I don’t want to be away from her. What if something happens? What if she forgets to lock the door? What if she puts the kettle on and falls asleep? What if there’s thunder and lightning and she’s in the forest?”
Merlin’s voice started to quiver dangerously, and Arthur tentatively put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and said,
“Come on, Merlin, that’s stupid. Why does something bad need to happen? She’s your mum, she’ll be fine.”
“How do you know?” Merlin turned to him angrily. “If you aren’t worried about your mother, well, congratulations, but I actually more care about her than this stupid school with its stupid rules and stupid kids!”
At this, Arthur blinked and lowered his hand to touch the ring on the chain again.
“I’m not worried about my mum, because she’s dead.”
Merlin’s eyes went the size of a platter, and he opened his mouth in shock.
“But my dad is not. And I do worry about him, he’s all alone now, and I think he’ll be very lonely without Morgana and me.”
Arthur tugged at the chain, about to show Merlin the ring, but then thought better of it. It was just his. For now. He’s not the man to wear the ring just yet, he’ll tell Merlin all about it one day. Someday.
“But if I am good, he and mum will be proud of me, and I think it will make him happy. Maybe, when you graduate, you’ll be able to buy your mum a big house and look after her, but you certainly can’t do it if you keep crying and making her worry about you.”
Arthur chanced a glance at Merlin from under his fringe, and saw the boy staring at him with clear blue eyes, still glistening with tears.
“I’m sorry. About your mum.” Merlin told him softly. “I think she’s proud of you already, Arthur, you’re the wisest person I know. Well, after my mum, obviously.”
He then sneaked a hand into the pocket of his trousers and produced a bar of milk chocolate, which he shoved into Arthur’s palm.
“Is this one of your tricks?” laughed Arthur, unwrapping the treat. He broke it into halves and gave one to Merlin, who smiled happily at him and, instantly stuffing his face with it, mumbled around a mouthful:
“Nuop. Wthith ith,” and with that he extended a hand and the air around them filled with glitter and little floating lights, and definitely no butterflies.