Bring Back Merlin 2021 challenge

but

pet peeve is that so. so many magic reveal fics. which i do adore. agree that arthur has the right? basically? to be angry and feel betrayed that merlin never told him. that merlin didn't trust him enough. when really like. idk bro. why would he? how often did arthur continue to rail against magic and say it's all evil and the only "concession" he gave after becoming king was like not pursuing the druids and going out of his way to continue persecuting magic users as harshly as his father. he didn't exactly give any reason for merlin to believe that it was safe to come forward???

BUT.

Merlin was not ever wrong about keeping his secrets. He was in deadly danger with every breath he took inside Camelot's borders. He protected and saved the city, the kingdom and the Pendragons dozens of times.

Could have been the Mercelot scene of all time. Lancelot teasingly mimics Merlin's use of magic (pigtail-pulling energy), then becomes serious the moment he reads the room. He clears both their dishes. Merlin echoes the words he once said to Freya: "Magic doesn't have to be a curse. It can be a gift." (2x09) vs. "I used to think I was cursed. But now I realize that I have a gift." He pours Lancelot's drink before his own. Lancelot brings up the first time he held a sword, which foreshadows how a feeling that strong never dissolves: even Shade Lancelot, without a single memory of his true self, instinctively reached for his sword. "Slow down. You won't be needing that." (4x09) vs. "That was what I was born to do."

Uther is my father. I am his daughter. He’s been lying to me for all these years. He wants the people to think he is the perfect King. That’s more important to him than his own flesh and blood. He must pay for this.