#so what he's saying directly contradicts kilgharra or gaius so present merlin probably distrusts him like crazy

[bisaster-energy]

Merlin but Merlin loses it when Arthur dies and instinctively starts a time loop and every time Arthur dies it automatically resets...for angst purposes it could stay tragic..no matter what he does to change the past kilgharra was right. no one can change their destiny nor can they escape it. or by starting this time loop at all he's doing is preventing the rise of the once and future king so by staving off Arthur's death he's actually preventing anyone from ever really living again. a never ending story with one character aware of the narrative but powerless to change it. a puppet with a brain but no autonomy to put it to use. A tragedy of his own making instead the one prophesized

#so that it doesn't work on the first try maybe morgana remembers and interferes or #maybe future Merlin is a sort of apparition that can only act if his old body lets him. he talks to past him like a ghost or demon even #so what he's saying directly contradicts kilgharra or gaius so present merlin probably distrusts him like crazy #merlin becomes another old annoying person in his own ear #who he doesn't even know if he can trust #OR he ends up sending arthur back by accident and arthur is in the past trying to fix shit #and this CHANGES something because now there's warnings of a great ending of all things coming for Camelot and by extension albion #and arthur knowing about Merlin's powers after keeping his knowledge to himself (cos he died RIGHT after learning about the magic) #finally understands the burden merlin had without having to try and understand based on Merlin's summary of an explanation alone #he understands morgana and mordred even nimueh like he GETS it gets it #anyway time goes on canon events are rewritten and the 'great evil' rips a giant hole in space and time and it turns out #future merlin was the cause. because he was smashing alternate realities to pieces looking for arthur is desperation #not knowing where the hell he even sent him breaking any known laws of time and space and reality consequences be damned #arthur cannot kill merlin. he cannot do it. not even for Camelot #so this can be angsty too like merlin loses himself completely in the search for arthur (paralleling the og timeline where Merlin ends up #singularly focused on Arthur's safety instead of his true mission) #and it literally swallows him and their entire known world up #or they get through to him. arthur AND past merlin. seeing that past him was able to diverge from the set path. live more for himself #than just arthur or for the sake of camelot be a PERSON outside of that. and have knowledge that he DID change arthur's mind. #not just as a useless deathbed confession but as something that actively changed and SAVED albion redeemed him of the mistakes he made and #proved that arthur is the man the KING he told every antagonist he was #future merlin sacrifices himself to destroy the black hole he made and it's like that future never even was. #just a bad nightmare you can't really remember. #just thinking about Merlin god bless #bbc merlin #fic ideas