wonderingtheblue:

So, because I’ve been looking for literally any excuse to, I’ve also made this a reincarnation fic. As in, Oliver is the reincarnation of Arthur Pendragon. And Barry, the reincarnation of Merlin. No actual knowledge of the show Merlin is required. Hope you don’t mind. 

A great deal of this is inspired by multiple conversations I’ve had with @thevoiceofdragons about an Olivarry Merlin AU. I went with the “modern reincarnation” route, but @thevoiceofdragons is going with a different route that is super exciting and I hope to see more of!! 

Here we go—  

Not sure if the story would actually start out this way, but the backstory is something like this:  

When they met an age and a half ago, magic was punishable by death in Camelot. So, Merlin-now-Barry hid himself as a common palace servant. Which wasn’t far off. He was a commoner in Uther Pendragon’s eyes, the once-noble bloodline of a Dragon Lord now considered abominations to be hunted down. However, through a series of events that he blamed entirely on a meddlesome dragon, Merlin had ended up Arthur-now-Oliver’s manservant.  

As Camelot’s prince, Arthur was a self-entitled prat, a product of his upbringing. The really annoying thing, in Merlin’s opinion anyway, was that Arthur was a nice self-entitled prat. He was open to learning about the Druids, about magic, about the conquered and repressed peoples that Camelot had stomped over during its conquests.  

The prince was selfish and selfless at turns, judgmental and kind. And gloriously, wonderfully, fatally courageous. Seriously. The prince was recklessly brave and nearly died twelve times a day. Merlin was always saving the idiot’s ass–in increasingly inventive and stupid ways in an effort to keep his magic secret.

(He was just as reckless as Arthur, but it’d take a measure of self-awareness he didn’t have to actually realize that.) 

Losing his father and his kingdom and having to fight to get it back alongside a wizard and a rag-tag team of commoners-turned-Knights of the Round Table also did a lot to teach Arthur humility.  

(Merlin makes a lot of friends with the Knights, but his favorite by far is Gawain. Gawain, as it happens, is female, and probably one of the bravest and most talented Knights. She’s on a quest to save her older sister, another female warrior that was captured by Wizard Darhk, but that’s another story.)

Merlin still mostly thought Arthur was a ginormous clotpole, albeit a kingly one.  

When Arthur finds out about Merlin’s abilities, and that his friend had been keeping those abilities from him, they don’t speak for a long time. And yet, somehow, their inevitable reconciliation only made their bonder stronger and more intimate.  

Eventually, this new renewed bond turned into sensual touches beyond that of a friendship even as unique as theirs. It turned into them wound together more nights than not in the King’s chambers, and every touch felt like being complete for the first time. No matter what, Arthur’s heart had Merlin, who Magic in human form, with a storm on his lips every time they kissed.  

But Camelot ended, as the dragon once predicted to Merlin long ago. It ended bloody, and both Arthur and Merlin died protecting it. Their bodies were lain together in a boat and launched into the Lake of Avalon by Gwen and Gawain and the remaining Knights, to be received by Freya, the Lady of the Lake, and Merlin’s first love.  

The souls of Arthur and Merlin are powerful and intense, destined to be reborn again and again, to find each other, protect the world in its times of need, and die together as they did before.

Destiny is also not without a sense of irony.  

In the modern day, their souls are reborn once again. Except, this time, Merlin-now-Barry is born the prince and Arthur-now-Oliver is his bodyguard.  

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