concoursec | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Character(s): Merlin, Rapunzel
Location: The library
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: After Arthur's arrival, Merlin seeks out the only person who knows about his magic.

Arthur was here; and more than that, he was here from two years in Merlin's future; a future where he was King but magic was still banned, where Morgana lived but had become everything Merlin feared, and where Merlin still had to hide.

Arthur still hated magic, and now he was here in this place where they had classes on magic.

If he'd been back in Camelot, Merlin would have immediately sought out Gaius for his advice. But he wasn't in Camelot, and Gaius wasn't here. So Merlin went looking for the only person around that even knew he had magic.

He didn't find her until he got to the library, but by then Merlin was looking distinctly frazzled.

"Rapunzel!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"She can see something in her dreams before it happens? That's amazing! I never thought of magic like that before. But....I guess that's another thing others might want to take advantage of, right?" Because though Rapunzel genuinely seemed a lot better in matters of trusting others for the most part, there was still, and probably always would be a small part that nagged at her of her Mother's paranoia instilled in her after years of her warnings and lies.

"It can be hard, if someone grows up believing one thing then finds out it's....different, but maybe here, if Arthur sees other ways magic can be used, to help people, that aren't necessarily trying to hurt others, or him....if we're given a chance at least..." Things might be different. Whatever Merlin decided, however he dealt with this, Rapunzel would do her best to help him.

Merlin nodded. "Yes. But seeing the future...it's not as amazing as you might think. You see horrible things, things you couldn't bear to ever happen, and then you see them again when they happen for real..." Merlin trailed off. He wasn't a seer, not like Morgana. But glimpsing into the Crystal of Neahtid had been enough. "And maybe. I don't know, I don't think it was ever something that Morgana could control."

"I hope so," he said quietly. "But I don't know what I'm going to do, Rapunzel. He's going to be suspicious of everything here. And it doesn't help that the whole reason we're here is because of magic."

"I guess that's true. She probably couldn't control what she saw, and sometimes it might only have been what might happen unless things changed somehow....." Rapunzel mused, still not entirely sure how this other magic worked exactly but trying to get her head around it and understand nonetheless.

"I know for sure at the very least he'll see people using healing magic, and defensive ones too. So maybe that will at least be a start....though I don't think the Time Compression pulling us here helps too much...." she trailed off, biting her lip.

"I don't know if what she saw ever changed. Seeing the future, it's...tricky," Merlin said, in the understatement of the year.

"You won't show him your magic, will you?" Merlin asked, concerned. "I mean I hope Arthur will come around, but if he doesn't..."

"Maybe it didn't. I am not sure how something like that would work.....it's different from the magic I know." Rapunzel admitted honestly, appreciating the difficulty of it even as she runs a hand through her hair.

"I haven't said anything to him yet. About your magic or mine. I figured that would be best, at least until I could talk to you about it..."

"Your magic is different from anything I've even heard of," Merlin agreed. "Actually, I don't think that magic is always the same in different worlds." He didn't know much about this world's magic yet, but from what he'd read while secretly trying to read up on it in the library, it wasn't the same as his magic. And if Rapunzel's was different yet again...well, who could say that any worlds' magics would be alike?

"Maybe...maybe if he does come around you could, but until then..." But maybe Rapunzel could show Arthur that magic could be used for good, a traitorous part of him said. But he couldn't ask that of her. He couldn't ask Rapunzel to risk herself just to prove something to Arthur, especially not when she'd been through so much.

"It seems....pretty unique, even here. But the healing aspect isn't as much, given they have cure magic here at least. But you're right, I think magic can be different depending on where people are from." she agreed with a nod.

"Well, I thought I should talk to you before I did anything. I want to help show him magic can be used to help others, but I don't want to get you in trouble or anything...." Rapunzel did trust Merlin, after all, and knew Arthur couldn't be so bad if he was Merlin's friend at least. But at the same time, she was aware it could be risky as well.

"Healing's always important, no matter how unique it is," Merlin said firmly. Maybe Rapunzel didn't have Merlin's range or power, but her gift was still amazing.

"Are you sure? If Arthur knows about your magic...I don't even know what he'll say. Would you really be alright with doing that?" Merlin said, looking torn. He was touched that she wanted to help, but at the same time worried for her.

"I think it has more to do with time, for mine at least. It's....like I reverse it or something, keeping people young or reversing injuries, I guess." Rapunzel mused, but agreed that it was important. Gothel had instilled that into her over the years. It was why she had never left the tower.

"Well....I don't think he'd attack because of it or anything? Everyone here has classes in magic, at least the basics. So...if it would help. I've been quiet about it but Eugene is here and he knows about my magic. "

"See, that's still pretty amazing," Merlin said, grinning for a moment. "There's probably not many healing magics that can do that."

Merlin shook his head. "No, he wouldn't hurt you. If nothing else, Arthur will respect the laws here. But...that doesn't mean he'll react well, either." Then Merlin paused, and turned to look at Rapunzel. "...Who's Eugene?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure how other healing works exactly, really....I'm still learning the basic magic at Garden." The healing came more naturally, but she was working at the others too.

That was more or less what Rapunzel had figured so she nodded with Merlin's assessment of Arthur and his likely reaction. "Oh! Eugene...He's the one who climbed up to my tower and I got him to be my guide when I left to see the lanterns!"

"What their magic like?" Merlin asked eagerly. "I've been reading about it, but it's not the same as actually trying it yourself..." Maybe he wouldn't ever be able to use this other magic himself, but he could vicariously attempt to learn about it through Rapunzel.

"Eugene's the thief?" Merlin said, eyes widening. "He's here?"

"Well, there are different kinds of magic here. I mean, there is cure, and some defensive spells but there are also ones that are offensive too. I am not sure reading about it would be the same but I've been trying to study more myself." Which was what she had been doing before Merlin had arrived at the library and distracted her, but she didn't mind that. Arthur was more important an issue to deal with, after all. "I'm not sure how to explain it exactly, but it's...different from my hair and it's powers."

"Yes! He is!" Rapunzel exclaimed as Merlin inquired about her guide. "I'm glad he is, that someone else from home is here." Even if that came at the price of learning more than she remembered and the implications that arose from it.

"

Merlin didn't seem to impressed by the range (after all, he could do all of that already anyway) - he was much more interested in other things. "What's it feel like when you use it? It is hard to learn?" he said. "And anyone can't learn it, right? That's definitely not like the magic in my world - you need to have at least some natural ability to use magic."

"That...great!" Merlin said, although his grin was just a little bit off. He was a thief after all, and Merlin wasn't entirely convinced that this 'Eugene' didn't have any nefarious plans for Rapunzel.

...Maybe he'd have to go and meet him for himself. Just to make sure.

"It seems like anyone can learn it? I mean, they are offering us classes and everything, so I think that's true, at least. It might be a little easier for us who have magic back home, it doesn't seem too bad for me at least. It's more the homework and theory that I need to study on more, I guess." But she didn't mind. After all, Rapunzel was curious and wanted to learn about everything. There was still so much she didn't know, spending her life in the tower.

Unfortunately for Merlin, Rapunzel sensed something was off. "Is....everything okay?" She couldn't imagine why it wouldn't be. How could Eugene being here with her be bad? Well, things hadn't started out the smoothest between them but things were different now!

"Maybe I could help?" Merlin said, with what was admittedly a lot of self interest. "Okay, I don't actually know anything about this magic, but I know how to learn spells."

So much for not letting Rapunzel know about his worried. "Are you sure he's trustworthy, Rapunzel?" he said. "After all, he is a thief who broke into your Tower."

"You would help? That would be great!" Rapunzel exclaimed excitedly, relieved and grateful at the offer of assistance. The more confident she felt the better in the possibility of helping Lea or Eugene with their classes later.

"Well, I know things didn't start out the best, but.....but I trust him." She was firm on that, insistent that Eugene wasn't all that bad. He'd helped her and taught her so much, after all. Even if Gothel seemed to think he just wanted the satchel back. Rapunzel saw him differently, and had no reason the distrust him or believe him to be lying as he had arrived here and revealed what he knew past what she remembered. Why did Gothel and others immediately seem to think so badly of him? He'd tried so hard to make her birthday so wonderful. And she really did believe he liked her. A lot.

"Course I would - what are friends for?" Merlin said cheerfully. "And besides, this way I can try and learn some without Arthur finding out."

"Okay," Merlin said, although he was still planning to see if he could meet this Eugene himself some time. Maybe if he at least knew the man himself, he'd know whether he really could be trusted. "But you know if he ever annoys you too much, I can always curse him for you," Merlin added, grinning to show that he was joking.

Well. Mostly joking.

"Oh! Yes, that's a good idea! Or if he does you can just say you're helping me!" Because that wouldn't be so bad an excuse that Arthur would get mad at Merlin for it, right? Well, she hopes so.

"He's not annoying. He's actually nice once you get to know him! But what do you mean by 'cursing'?" Rapunzel asks, both curious and wary as her brows furrow a little. Curse didn't sound very nice for some reason.

"Well we can just tell him we were studying...something else. Something that is definitely not magic," Merlin suggested.

"Maybe I need to get to know him then," Merlin said, as if he hadn't already decided to do that anyway. "And you've never heard of curses? Enchantments? Like making someone coughing up a toad."

"Maybe another class then? Like literature or something?" Literature was a safe excuse, right? Arthur couldn't get suspicious of that if he saw them and they told him that.

"Why would you want to make someone cough up a toad?" That sounded....weird, and a little gross. Rapunzel had experience through Gothel talking to her about others on greed and selfishness, but she herself had never felt any animosity towards anyone before. Concepts like revenge didn't really compute to her, even after finding out all that Gothel had done and what her real motivation had been in keeping Rapunzel in the tower.

"Sounds like a plan," Merlin said, grinning.

"Well it's not the best use of magic, I know. But say there was someone who had been lying, and framed someone for magic by giving people eye drops that would make them hallucinate things like toads coming out of a sorcerer's mouth..." Merlin scowled at the thought of Aredian, and how close he'd come to getting Gaius executed. "But don't worry, I don't actually go around cursing people. Only when they really, really deserve it."

Rapunzel brightened a little at that, glad he agreed and that she could help him in this small way at least.

"I guess....depending on the circumstances. I can see how it might be necessary but it still doesn't sound very nice." she admitted, considering the examples Merlin had given thoughtfully. "I hadn't really thought about magic like that before."

"Magic is...it's like using a sword. It's a tool, and how it gets used depends on the wielder," Merlin explained. "A sword can be used to both to harm and to protect. And sometimes you might not want to use it to hurt anyone, but it's necessary if you want to keep your friends alive and safe." Merlin smile wistfully. "Your magic isn't like that though. I don't think your could ever harm anybody."

"I guess that makes sense, when you put it like that..." Rapunzel agreed with a nod. That definitely seemed to be true for most things, they could be used many ways depending on the intention of the wielder.

"I don't see how my magic could harm someone if it can only heal or keep people young. The magic here might be different though." She had to agree, in terms of her hair's powers she couldn't see how they might hurt someone. Unless it was a situation as Gothel had described and people tried to hurt her or each other to use it's power.