(Half-troll!reader x Merlin) (Part Two of Lips of an Angel)

Sometimes, missions went wrong. Sometimes the world was dangerous and it got far too bad to really handle. Working with Jim and Claire and the rest of the team was hard work, but you loved it. You loved working with this team full of interesting people.

You loved sitting in the library at the end of the night and resting your head on Merlin's shoulder as he worked out a new spell for the creation of the new Hearthstone enchantment spells. Leaning on shoulders and linking arms were the closest the two of you ever really got to affection. Sometimes, the older wizard would rest his head on top of yours and you'd just sit there, enjoying the moment.

It was bliss, it could have been bliss for as long as you wanted it to be.

But even forever doesn't last as long as expected.

Half-Trolls were created to be durable, strong, and hard to kill. And yet even with that strength, with that pure power and the raw ability to survive, they were killable. It might have taken a lot, but they were mortal as humans. And they'll die. And they will live, and they will die and live and die and live.

And die.

You were dying.

The breaths you took were shakey and tinged with the taste of blood inside of your mouth, choking was the only good way to describe it. The sun hurt like hell and you couldn't even begin to describe how insane it was that someone managed to trap it in a knife.

It was awful and hot and burnt.

And there were only a few minutes left to live and to breathe. To see the night sky shining above you, twinkling like the immortal lives that they got to live. Thousands of years of watching lives and deaths.

Oh Daya's grace, thousands of years.

Merlin.

You gasped, jerking forward against the wall that you had settled next to die, hand fumbling for your pocket and your phone. God your phone, you needed your phone, you had to call him. Your fingers fumbled over the screen and slipped along the numbers, you could feel that stone inching across your abdomen, marching ants that wouldn't stop for anyone along your body. And that feeling wasn't going to stop.

The sound of the phone dialing seemed to go on for an eternity.

So when the one person you wanted to answer picked up his phone, you start speaking.

"I love you-" You gasped, holding your hand over your abdomen and letting out that sigh was almost as hard as standing in the same room ", I love you- So, so much."

It was the first time either of you had said it, and you were the first one to say it. You grit your teeth, sucking in a breath through lungs that were trying to keep working. You could hear the death-like silence at the other end of the phone, where Merlin was trying to focus words.

"(Y/N)" Merlin said, his voice crackling over the line ", Where are you?"

You barked a painful laugh, coughing and shaking your head ", That's all you have to say when I tell you I love you?"

"You're in trouble-" Merlin said, he was good at figuring things like that out ", Where are you? I'm coming to get you."

"No-" You breathed out, head bobbing slightly as you tried to keep your wits about you ", Just- Just listen to me- Please."

You heard a shifting on the other end of the phone, faint and almost non-existent to your mind, but it was there.

"I am listening-" Merlin said, choking as he spoke.

"I love you-" You said again, wincing as the stone crawled up your chest ", I know I have been distant and taking everything slow. And I am sorry for that. I wish I was brave enough to love you the way I want to love you. I wish that I could have really held you, really felt you, touched you, and kissed you-"

"(Y/n)" The wizard whispered, but you continued.

"I love how you brush your fingers over my shoulder. And your smile- Daya's grace your smile is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen, you should do it more. And don't punish yourself so much- You don't lose people, you lose sight of yourself, and that is your mistake. I love how you open doors for me before I pass and how you do that silly little bow when you see me."

There was a slight, muted beep on your phone that was so small it could have gone unheard. It was the tell-tale sign of a phone about to die on use.

But you had so much more to say.

"And your eyes- You have such- such handsome eyes, Merlin." You gasped as the sun crept up your legs and to your chest, it was painful. The sin was painful, Daya's grace it hurt worse than you wanted to admit.

"Your eyes need joy, Merlin, find it, please. You need to keep finding joy in your life-"

"(Y/n)," Merlin snapped on the opposing line of the phone, "Don't you dare talk like that-"

You laughed, it was all you could do in the moment, your had was slowly being overtaken with stone, keeping the phone to your face as the sun crept up. It would have been more painful than it already was, but the numbing sense was taking it away.

"I'm dying Merlin-" You gasped ", and this is the last thing you are going to hear, so listen well- Please."

He didn't say a word, so you kept speaking before the stone reached your jaw.

"I love you- and that's that-" You choked on the words ", So keep living for me, Merlin."

Merlin was quite on the other end, but it didn't matter at this point, the sun was bright in your eyes and you leaned your head back against the wall that kept you upright. You would freeze into stone on the ground, looking at the sun for the first time in your life.

How disappointing.

You would have rather died in battle or fighting some enemy to troll and half-troll kind. Fighting for your freedom and your life, that would have been the perfect way to die. But in the sun because you had lost track of time?

Pathetic.

"I love you too."

You smiled slightly, it was harder to do when the stone was freezing your face. You closed your eyes, who would be the first to find you? You weren't sure. You weren't sure of anything anymore. Even what felt like moving seemed to be an illusion of your dying mind, but it didn't matter cause you were going to die.

You had to be dead at this point.

You told him you love him.

And that was enough.