[Fic] fanfic challenge #6 - Tree of Life

[jayeinacross]

Title: Tree of Life
Rating: PG
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Word count: 2591
Summary: "Arthur doesn’t know why he ends up here all the time, but he does anyway, with barely a thought to it."
A/N: Written for the merlinxarthur comm's Fanfic Challenge #6.

Arthur doesn’t know why he ends up here all the time, but he does anyway, with barely a thought to it. Whenever he’s upset, or angry, or even when he’s just happy, for some reason he comes to this place. It’s misty today, and there’s nobody else around. It’s just Arthur, sitting on the bench, underneath the massive tree, the mist twisting around his feet, and the branches of the tree hanging over him.

Some days he doesn’t just sit on the bench, but walks up to the tree, lays his hand on the rough bark, and it sounds a little crazy, but it’s comforting. Now he stands, walking to the tree once more, trailing his hand through the ferns that hang the lowest. He braces his forearms on the tree and rests his forehead against the trunk.

He leaves soon after that, casting a single glance over his shoulder, back at the tree, the branches moving a little with the draft, the ferns swaying, as if it’s waving goodbye.

***

The next day, Arthur’s back. He’s just had a row with his father, another one, and he’s furious and frustrated and absolutely miserable, and he heads straight for the tree, this time sitting down by the roots, his back against the trunk. It should be uncomfortable; the bark is coarse and uneven, knots and bumps digging into his spine, but he still feels calmer now he’s here.

He always hates fighting with his father, and usually tries to avoid it, but the arguments have been happening more frequently lately, and each one is louder and more heated than the last. Arthur seems to be unhappy all the time now, except when he’s here.

Arthur’s eyes are half-closed, drifting off in sun; the weather is warm today and there’s just a faint breeze, and the slight rustling of leaves is relaxing. Then he says quietly, just to himself, “This is nice, just being here.”

The rustling seems to get louder for a few moments, and there’s a whisper with the movement, saying, “You think so?”

Arthur’s eyes snap open so fast that everything blurs, and then he’s scrambling away from the tree, looking around wildly for the person that the voice belonged to, but there’s nobody there but him. He tells himself that he’s imagining things, and he leaves. The breeze has died down and everything is completely still and silent.

***

Arthur stays away for three days, until he’s convinced himself that it was just a dream he had while he was half-asleep, but he still sits on the far end of the bench away from the tree, instead of on the ground by the tree.

The tree’s rustling, and it makes Arthur feel restless, and he only stays for a short while before leaving, and he walks faster when he thinks he hears a sigh of a voice. “Stay.”

***

Eventually, Morgana confronts him. “What’s gotten into you lately, Arthur? You’ve been acting so strangely.”

“It’s nothing,” Arthur mutters, wishing he could avoid this conversation, but now Morgana’s gotten her claws in, she’s not going to let it go.

“Just tell me what’s wrong. Is it Uther?”

Arthur shakes his head. “No. It’s...stupid. It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously not nothing if it’s got you acting like this,” Morgana says. “Just tell me.”

“I think a tree has been talking to me,” Arthur blurts suddenly, then turns red.

“A tree?”

Arthur nods. “Yeah.”

“Show me.”

***

“I must be crazy,” Arthur moans. “I’m an insane, hallucinating person with some sort of mental deficiency. Take me to psych ward now.”

“Don’t be silly, Arthur,” Morgana reprimands, skimming a palm down the trunk of the tree. Everything’s completely still, it’s almost unnatural.

“Why me? Why did it have to be me?”

“Oh, stop whining. Maybe it only speaks to you?” Morgana suggests.

“Pardon?”

“The tree, maybe it only speaks to you. You’ve been here before, right? So maybe it...likes you, or something.” Morgana pauses. “Although only god knows why it would want to talk to you.”

Arthur glares at Morgana. “Thanks for that.”

“I’m going to go wait in the car, and leave you alone with your tree,” Morgana says, then strides off, leaving Arthur standing beside the tree alone, feeling stupid.

“It’s not my tree, either!” Arthur yells after her.

Arthur stands there for a few minutes, and he’s seriously considering getting out of there when he hears a faint voice that makes him jump.

“You came back.”

Arthur stares at the tree for a minute, then checks that there’s nobody else around and Morgana’s not hiding in a bush taking the piss out of him, then he flees.

***

“What are you doing back here?” Morgana scolds when Arthur flings himself into the front passenger seat of Morgana’s car. “Did you just run away?”

“Of course not,” Arthur scoffs. “Pendragons never run away.”

“Then get back to that goddamned tree and talk to it.”

***

Arthur reluctantly slouches back to the tree and stands there awkwardly for a while. It’s silent, until he finally builds up the courage to say, “Hello.”

The response is immediate. “You’re talking to me!”

It’s unnerving, this, and Arthur feels supremely weird talking to a tree, but he goes ahead anyway. “Um...yeah.”

“Oh, thank god! Finally, someone to talk to. I’ve tried before, you know, but I not everyone can hear me, and the ones that can all freak out.”

Yeah, Arthur knows that feeling.

“Not many people come here either. Bloody Nimueh had to trap me in a tree that nobody seems to know exists..”

“Wait, you’re not a tree?” Arthur is incredibly confused. “Who’s Nimueh?”

“Nimueh’s a horrible, awful sorceress who decided to trap me in a tree. She’s always hated me. And of course I’m not a tree. Trees can’t talk. Are you thick or something?”

“You’re the one who got themselves trapped in a tree by a girl!”

“Hey, she’s like the second-best sorcerer in the world, except for me.”

“If you’re the best sorcerer in the world, how did the second-best manage to trap you in a tree?” Arthur says, doubtfully. He doesn’t sound like he’s the best sorcerer in the world.

“She caught me by surprise.”

Arthur realizes what he’s doing and wails, “Oh my god, I’m bickering with a tree!”

“You must be thick. How many times do I have to tell you, I am not a tree!”

“Oh my god, I have to go,” Arthur mumbles.

“You’re...leaving? Will you come back?”

Arthur opens his mouth to tell the tree – or, rather, the man trapped in the tree – that no, he will most definitely not be coming back, but he sounds so sad, and instead he says, “Sure.”

***

Which is how Arthur finds himself in the same spot the next day. He’s managed to bring himself to sit down, leaning against the trunk again, like the first time Merlin had spoken to him. That was his name, Merlin, the man who was trapped within the massive tree.

“I’ve been waiting for a really long time,” Merlin had explained. “I’ve been storing up my energy until I’ve got enough to get myself out of here. I should be able to get out soon.”

“So why exactly did this Nimueh person trap you in a tree?” Arthur asked.

“I think she was jealous of me. She wanted to be the most powerful sorceress in the world, so she put me in a tree. Obviously not realizing that just because I’m in a tree doesn’t mean I’m not the most powerful sorcerer in the world. I just happen to be in a tree.”

“Right,” Arthur says uncertainly. “So where’s Nimueh now?”

“Dead,” Merlin says matter-of-factly. “Her plan basically backfired, because she aged like a normal person and died naturally, but while I’m in here my life is tied to the tree, and these trees live for a very long time.”

“How old are you, then?”

“Well, when she trapped me in here, I was twenty-six,” Merlin says, after a moment of thinking. “I have no idea how long it’s been since she first put me in here, though, but I am hoping that I’ll just continue aging as normal after I’m out.”

“You’re only two years younger than me, then,” Arthur muses. They talk more about what Merlin’s life was like before the tree incident, until Arthur realizes it’s getting dark, and he has to go, promising to come back again the next day.

***

He does go back, and Merlin sounds so happy, and Arthur finds himself thinking that he’d come back every single day for the rest of his life to hear him like that again.

Arthur settles himself down by the base of the trunk again, and then asks, “Can you see things, in there? What’s it like?”

Merlin doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then, “It’s strange. It’s like I’m looking from a lot of different viewpoints all at once, from every different part of the tree. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do, it’s pretty amazing. I’m not just inside it, I’m kind of part of it.”

Each day that he comes back, Arthur learns something new about Merlin; about his past, or what it’s like being inside the tree, or just anything in general that Merlin has an opinion on.

“There was this crazy old dragon that I met once, who talked in riddles and always told me that my destiny was with the other side of my coin and silly things like that. I think being chained up in a cave for a very long time drove him a bit loony, to be honest.”

“Wouldn’t it to everyone,” Arthur replies dryly.

Merlin tells Arthur about Will, his best friend from Ealdor, and he talks about him with such fondness that makes Arthur wonder if Will was really just his friend, or something more, and when he tells Arthur that he died, he sounds so sad that Arthur’s heart breaks right there and then.

Arthur wonders if Merlin can cry. If he spent all those years mourning the people he loved, the people he left behind, in silence, unable to move or speak or cry.

***

It’s been a little over a month of Arthur visiting Merlin every single day when Arthur realizes that he likes Merlin, that he really, really likes Merlin. His whole life is a little ridiculous now, he thinks, as Morgana had recently revealed that she was a Seer and that her dreams showed the future, as well as him crushing like a teenager on a guy stuck in a tree.

The stuck in a tree bit really takes the cake, though.

About a week after that, Arthur finally brings Morgana to meet Merlin.  

“It’s very nice to meet you, Merlin,” Morgana says when she’s standing in front of the tree. “Arthur’s told me a lot about you.”

“Has he, now?” Merlin replies, sounding smug. “Good things, I hope.”

“Only the best,” Morgana promises, and Arthur groans.

“Oh, shut up, Morgana.”

Somewhere during their conversation, Merlin suddenly blurts out, “Morgana, you’re magic!”

“What?” Arthur says, confused.

“That’s what’s different about you!” Merlin exclaims triumphantly. “I knew there was something, but since I haven’t actually met any other magic users in a really, really long time, it took me a while to notice.”

“Yeah, well,” Morgana says, uncomfortably. “I figured that since you were stuck in a tree and still alive, there must be some magic about you. I was going to wait until I could talk to you alone, because Arthur’s only know for a few weeks.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Merlin says, sounding chagrined.

“Oh, my god,” Arthur moans. “You bloody sorcerers are all ridiculous.”

“He seems to be taking it quite well, actually,” Merlin comments, then he and Morgana start chattering on about magic and seers and whatnot.

When Morgana finally leaves, Arthur’s sitting on the bench, staring sullenly away into the distance.

“Don’t sulk, Arthur,” Merlin says.

“I am not sulking,” Arthur says primly.

“You are. You’re pouting. Don’t be like that.” Merlin’s voice is pleading. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I haven’t talked to anyone but you and her in so long, let alone another magic user.”

Arthur’s resolve starts to break when he hears how sad Merlin’s voice is. “Well,” he says, “I guess the magic explains why she was so calm when I told her about the talking tree.”

There’s a moment of silence, then Merlin makes a snorting sound. “Yeah, that would explain it.”

Arthur laughs, his jealously gone, for the most part, but he makes a mental note to not bring Morgana here again.

***

A few days later when Arthur visits Merlin after work, he’s met by an onslaught of excited chattering and can barely discern what Merlin’s trying to say. The branches of the tree are moving quite a lot, even though there’s barely even a breeze, and Arthur hopes nobody goes by and sees this odd occurrence. He can practically feel the happiness and satisfaction radiating off Merlin’s tree.

“Merlin, calm down,” Arthur says. “What’s up?”

“I think I’ve figured out a way of getting out!” Arthur finds he can relate completely to Merlin’s exhilaration – he wants nothing more than for Merlin to be out of that tree.

“Oh, my god – are you going to do it then? Now?”

“Yeah,” Merlin says, then the tree seems like it’s almost shuddering. Arthur backs away, feeling apprehensiveness along with the excitement, but there’s no time to dwell on that, because there’s suddenly a skinny, dark-haired man tripping over a tree root and landing straight in Arthur’s arms.

“Merlin?” Arthur asks tentatively. He’s frighteningly skinny and probably a little taller than Arthur, but he looks young, and his dark hair is falling into his eyes and he’s dressed in medieval-style clothes that are tattered and worn.

“It’s me!” A huge grin spreads over Merlin’s face, and Arthur feels quite breathless, because those bright blue eyes are looking at him with such joy. “Oh my god, I’m a person again!” He lets go of Arthur in shock, and his knees give way, but before he can fall, Arthur catches him again.

“Hey, hey, just come over here and sit down,” Arthur says, supporting Merlin while he shakily walks over to the bench. “So, what does it feel like?”

“Weird, after so long,” Merlin says, “but good. Really good.” He keeps looking around at everything with wide eyes, like he’s seeing things from a completely different point of view, but every few seconds his eyes will return to Arthur, and he’s almost shy, looking up at him through his long eyelashes.

“So, what do you want to do now that you’re human again?” Arthur asks, and he’s grinning now too; Merlin’s childlike excitement positively contagious.

“I don’t know! Everything!” Merlin laughs, and then says quietly, “but there is something I’ve wanted to do since I first saw you,” and leans over and presses his lips against Arthur’s.

Arthur’s too shocked to respond, and Merlin pulls away, looking embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, it was stupid-”

“Merlin? Shut up,” Arthur says, and kisses Merlin’s soft lips again, and they stay like that for a while until they finally part, and just stay there on the bench, kissing and whispering to each other and laughing, and Arthur can’t think of the future, can’t think of anything but now, because Merlin’s everything Arthur’s ever wanted, and he’s here right now with him.