Merlin stood before the Commander's office door with his hands behind his back, face composed, heartbeat slow.
He'd never been in this room before. He'd seen it, of course. Passed by it during drills. Heard the rumors from scouts who had stood in it before missions—some proud, others broken. But now, standing here in the aftermath of an expedition that had gone too well, he felt the weight of it in his spine.
The door opened before he could knock, showing Levi with an unreadable expression. "Come in."
Inside, the office was tidy, functional. The walls were lined with maps and a single broad window let in pale light. A kettle rested on a nearby shelf, untouched. Two chairs were already occupied.
Hange grinned when they saw him.
"Merlin, there you are! Do you have it?" they asked, leaning forward eagerly. "The spinal fluid sample, I mean—please tell me you found something."
Merlin froze a step into the room.
Oh, right. That.
He smiled, but it was faint—guilt creeping behind his eyes. "Ah. About that…"
Hange's expression crumpled. "No?" They slumped back, grief settling on their shoulders like stone. "Ugh—I should've insisted on coming or on bringing extra nets—"
"It wasn't the priority," Levi cut in before they could spiral. His tone was calm, but his gaze lingered briefly on Merlin. "There were two abnormals. Several wounded even if no fatalities."
Hange opened their mouth to argue—then paused, tilting their head as they narrowed their eyes.
"…Wait. You're defending him?" A slow grin bloomed across their face. "Levi. You care."
Levi's brow twitched. "I care about keeping my squad alive."
Erwin raised an eyebrow without speaking, fingers steepled.
Merlin, for his part, stayed quiet, standing behind the second chair like he wasn't entirely sure he should sit.
Levi ignored them all and began the report. At first, it was standard. Travel routes. Formation spacing. Resource deployment. Then came the deeper parts—movements through Titan territory, the location of the first abnormal, the speed of its charge.
Then his words became sharper, more deliberate.
"The first abnormal should've killed three people before we even reacted, but something helped them. The second one caught an entire outer squad off-guard, but they were miraculously shielded. At least two should've died before we got there."
He didn't say exactly what happened. Didn't say his theories or who was at the center of every moment, every time something nearly went wrong and then didn't. But his eyes—they said it.
Erwin watched him the entire time. Didn't interrupt. Didn't blink. And when Levi finished, standing still as stone, his arms folded tight, Erwin turned his gaze to Merlin.
"You're tired."
It wasn't a question.
Merlin smiled, bland and pleasant. "A long day, Commander."
Erwin's voice was quiet, but precise.
"So you think," he said slowly, turning his gaze back to Levi, "it was Merlin we should… thank?"
The silence thickened as Levi didn't confirm or deny. His jaw merely ticked.
Hange looked between them, confused. "Wait, what? What are you two—what am I missing?"
Merlin didn't sigh. He didn't twitch. He simply looked up and met Erwin's gaze. Eyes clear. Voice level.
"That would be a stretch," he said lightly. "I didn't do much."
Erwin's stare sharpened. "You're saying the lack of casualties was just… luck?"
Merlin tilted his head. "Do you believe in luck, Commander?"
Hange blinked. "Wait—are we accusing him of saving people?"
"No one saw anything," Levi said, finally. "There was no gear fired. No light. But people dodged when they shouldn't have been able to. Moved faster. Recovered quicker. And Merlin"—his eyes flicked over—"looked like someone who'd just run half a dozen missions at once without moving."
Merlin's fingers twitched slightly at his sides.
Erwin's eyes never left him. "Well?"
Merlin exhaled softly. "If I had done something—which I'm not saying I did—it wouldn't be the sort of thing that's easy to explain."
"That," Erwin said, "is the first thing you've said I believe."
Merlin looked away, mouth curving upward faintly.
Hange leaned in over the desk, wide-eyed. "So that's why you were tired! And here I thought you just pushed yourself on your first expedition, what did you do? How did you—"
"Hange," Levi warned, but Hange didn't stop.
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I wasn't trying to hide anything," Merlin said smoothly, still not meeting anyone's gaze. "I just… didn't want to influence your theories. I wanted to observe."
Erwin folded his hands atop the desk. "You're going to tell me everything you've done. Who you really are. Starting now."
Merlin's smile dimmed slightly. "Even if it doesn't make sense?"
"Especially if it doesn't," Erwin said. "Let's see how far the truth goes before we start deciding what's impossible."
Merlin was silent for a moment. Then nodded once, slow. "…Alright."
And for the first time, he stepped forward and sat. The silence was thick after that movement—quiet enough that the creak of the chair beneath him sounded like a shout.
Levi stood by the wall, arms crossed. Hange leaned forward with eyes blazing, and Erwin sat still, unmoving, but with attention sharp as razors.
Merlin folded his hands in his lap, calm but composed, as though preparing to read from a script only he could see.
"I woke up outside the walls," he began softly. "After Shiganshina fell. I remember earth, and moss, and the scent of something wrong. My body ached, but not like it was injured—like it didn't fit. Like I was walking in someone else's skin."
He didn't look at them as he spoke, but his voice was quiet and measured. The kind of honesty that didn't ask for belief, only space. "I didn't know my name at the time. Didn't know where I was or who I was. Everything felt… off. But then I found something. A staff. Humming with power that felt mine."
He closed his eyes for a moment.
"When I touched it, something clicked. And when I saw my reflection—long white hair, violet eyes, robes that looked like they were stolen from a dream—I remembered my name."
He opened his eyes and met theirs. "Merlin."
He said it like it mattered.
Like it had weight.
Hange blinked, voice hushed. "And… who is Merlin?"
Merlin gave them a small smile.
"A wizard of legend," he said. "A half human capable of great feats of magic. A dream-seer. A guide. A liar. A prophet. The man who raised and walked beside the greatest king a nation ever had."
He paused.
"He was a man locked beneath a tower by love and fate. Bound by Avalon, cursed to see the world unfold but never touch it. That Merlin could only observe."
He sat straighter, slowly raising one fair hand. "And I… am not that Merlin."
Magic shimmered in the air. A breathless ripple danced across the room, gentle but unmistakable. The office flickered—not the walls, but the world. For one heartbeat, Erwin's desk was covered in ivy, the window opened to a starry sky that couldn't belong to this realm, and petals drifted from nowhere, glowing with quiet light. In the middle, a beautiful tower that shone with hope.
An illusion of Avalon, of Merlin's tower and jail, yes—but deeper than mere sight. It sang in the bones.
Then it vanished, leaving only Merlin standing, calm again.
"I've spent months learning after that," he said softly, "training, digging into who I was. Who I am. I joined the military because I needed to know more. Needed to understand this island."
He looked between them now—Erwin's narrowed eyes, Hange's trembling excitement, Levi's wary gaze.
"And I chose the Survey Corps," he continued, "because I wanted to help. Not as a prophet or as a shadow, but as someone who could make a difference."
He smiled, and for once, there was no mischief in it. Just quiet resolve. "I don't want to watch. I want to act."
That's when Erwin spoke.
"…You said island. What does it mean?"
Merlin's gaze flicked to him.
"Yes," he said. "And island is a piece of land surrounded by water. Where we are is not big enough to be a country, or a continent. It's just a small part of a bigger world."
Erwin's fingers curled against his desk. "You're certain."
Merlin didn't blink. "I can feel it. The world is bigger than this. So much bigger. These walls… they're not the end. They're a corner. A cage. There are people outside them."
Hange gasped softly and Levi's brows pulled tight. But it was Erwin who leaned forward. "That changes everything."
Merlin nodded. "I know."
This truth—this truth—cut through the rest. Not magic. Not memory. Not strange names or illusions. It rattled them more than all the rest combined, heavier than any spell Merlin could cast.
For a long moment, no one spoke. Then, Levi, still standing with arms crossed, eyes sharp and unreadable, spoke.
"You said earlier that you're not quite human," he said. "What does that mean?"
Merlin glanced at him, calm as ever. His voice was soft. "Because I'm not."
He smiled at the way Hange leaned forward again, eyes wide—but this one held no mischief. Only truth. "The original Merlin—the one I remember being—was a half incubus."
A beat of pause. Then Erwin's brow lifted, just a fraction. Levi's expression didn't shift, but his eyes narrowed faintly.
Hange blinked, already pulling a notepad from somewhere, scribbling furiously before Merlin could even open his mouth. "A what?"
"Incubus. It's a demon or spiritual being that exists partially in the dream world, capable of influencing emotions, desires, and illusions," Merlin supplied, still gentle. "At least, partially. Merlin was born of one. They're designed to tempt. To charm. To guide, in the old myths. They feed on dreams, desire, or life force—typically through seduction."
There was a sudden, almost comical pause as Hange's brain caught up—and then their entire face lit up in dawning understanding.
"Aha! That's why you've never been seen sleeping in your room! You didn't want to feed from us!"
Merlin blinked. "That… is not the reason I expected you to jump to, but sure. Partially the reason."
"I knew it wasn't just dramatics," Hange said, pointing at him. "Moblit thought you were pulling a disappearing act!"
Erwin exhaled quietly, breaking through the rising chaos.
"You don't look like a demon. Or a spirit," he said, more thoughtfully than critically.
"I don't feel like one either," Merlin said with a slight shrug. "My nature feels… muted. I don't crave what I should. I don't need to feed from people or emotions. I can eat normal food. I can sleep normally, even if I don't need to. I do it sometimes, though, even if I don't like it. Because when I do sleep…"
He trailed off, gaze flicking toward the floor. "The dreams come."
Levi's voice dropped low. "What do you see in them?"
"What I don't see? Mostly futures, not always mine. Sometimes too many at once. Sometimes they scream, they beg. It's… hard to breathe after."
Erwin watched him closely now, piecing thoughts together. "But you still dream anyway."
"I do," Merlin said. "Because sometimes they show me what I need to see. Like the abnormals we faced today. A few minutes of drowning in images… in exchange for someone else surviving. That's a trade I'll always take."
Silence returned—but it was a different silence this time. Weighted.
"Afterwards, I feel a bit out of it. But the only downside is the way I'm unable to control my charm for a while."
Hange finally broke it with a thoughtful hum, scratching something fast into their notes. "Well, that explains the way half the barracks blush when you sometimes walk by…"
Merlin laughed quietly, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. "I'm trying not to use it. It just sort of… leaks."
"Should we be worried?" Erwin asked, not harshly, but precisely.
"No," Merlin said without hesitation. "I'm not dangerous to you."
Levi spoke next, flat but steady. "But you can be."
Merlin met his gaze directly. "If I wanted to be, you'd have known by now."
The silence that followed wasn't threatening. It was an agreement.
Erwin sat back, steepling his fingers again. "I'm not sure what you are, Merlin."
Merlin smiled faintly. "Neither am I."
"But I know you've helped this squad. And you've saved lives." His eyes narrowed slightly. "That's enough for now. But from this point forward—you report to me. Not just Levi."
"Understood," Merlin said, bowing his head slightly.
"...And I'll want those dreams recorded," Erwin added. "Everything you see."
"That might take a lot of paper," Merlin murmured.
"Then you'd better get writing," Erwin replied.
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