@escalin-week / escalin-week.tumblr.com
Escalin Week Day 7: AU/Free day
(I’m super late again XD)
A Tresure planet AU, Merlin as Captian Amelia and Escanor as Dr.Doppler. Escanor’s attitude here is closer to day time on the surface than in a lot of mu au where he doesn’t change with the sun–because being the haughty to protect my insecurity educated man seemed appropriate.
(As well as Arthur as Jim, Cath as a mix of morph/Silver, Meliodas as the first mate, ect, ect)
We wanted to thank all of you who participated and supported this event! It was an exciting and awesome week!
If you’re still working on an entry, but didn’t get to finish in time, don’t fret! You can still post it, just make sure to tag us.
As for the participants who succeeded in making four or more entries. You’ll be contacted by the mods to discuss about your requests.
遅ればせながらエスマリ週間の5日目！①不幸あるいは悲しみ ②後悔
Late!
Escalin week day5: sorrows / regrets
Merlin can’t help it–odd as it may be whenever she looks at that nervious grin and bright eyes her stomach flips. Meanwhile to Escanor–Merlin is amazing–so much so that he can’t even think of having a crush on her (Or admitting it to himself as it may be).
Escalin Week Day 6:Hope/Waiting (Yes, I’m late XD)
And happy birthday to @bertazsleepyhead !!!’ Ely you are a wonderful person and artist and everything about you is amazing. Hope you like this fic @jacklynnfrost and I have penned :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
And thank you for writing this with me Sam! You are amazing to work with!
While he still has his wits about him, he strolls into the padded cell having to tilt sideways to fit into the ridiculously narrow doorway. He is growing by the minute and, no matter how slow the change actually takes, inside it feels as if his body is tearing apart, stretching with an almost unbearable burn as it makes room for more muscle, more height, and more power. It is a change he has become familiar with, but even after all these years, he is still not used to it.
“Before I slip,” Escanor begins as he shuts the door on himself and peers through the barred window at the beautiful woman he is trusting with such an important task, “I want to inform you just how honored you are that I permit that you study such a- I mean...” He stops as he catches her sardonic expression, her lips curving at the corners and her eyes bright with mirth that has his face burning in a way that has nothing to do with the change to his form. “What I mean to say is, ahem, thank you for helping.”
His eyes dart away, tensing as he looks around his new accommodation. The cell is getting smaller by the minute, the bed standing against the cushioned wall only big enough for his leg at his peak, but he knows he will not be sleeping here. Merlin’s soft voice chimes through the bars as she seals the magic around him. “Of course Escanor, we are just grateful you requested such a small thing in exchange for you joining us. The King himself foresaw-”
Escanor’s chuckle booms, his lip twitching as he regards the beautiful creature through the door, his eyes straying to her cherry red lips. “A small thing?” he mocks. He looks around at the room, feeling the strength of the magic woven into the stones. It is powerful, certainly, but whether it will withstand his own magnificent might remains to be seen. His night self would cringe in humiliation at the prospect of turning part of Liones castle into a mess of rubble but at present, as he pictures the ruin in his mind and the cross faces of the king and his subjects, all he can think is, I told you so.
Merlin is looking at him and the silence rings a little in his ears so, eyes darting from side to side, he mutters, “I have scoured the world in search of anyone who can contain me. All I have learned from this tedious experience is that promises mean nothing. I have not met a soul who can withstand even a poke from my index finger when I am fully charged.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” Merlin’s voice vibrates with a sonorous warmth and Escanor once more feels his face flush. Why does the woman have to be so… delectable? “But I’m not just anyone. You will learn that in time.”
“I know that now,” he mutters to himself.
Merlin’s smile broadens. “What did you say? I didn’t quite catch it.”
“Nothing,” says Escanor quickly, then he grits his teeth hard, Merlin’s beauty forgotten as a volcano of power erupts through his form. “It’s coming,” he warns, his words strained as they reluctantly leave his clenched jaw. “You… you had better…”
“I told you, I am here to observe.” Light streams into the room, turning the dust in the air to gold specks as it spills across the polished stone floor. The sun is almost at its peak, and so is he. Escanor looks at Merlin, trying hard to control the mounting arrogance, the impossible urge to lash out and he clenches his hands hard into fists at his sides. “Oh, you needn’t do that, not on my account,” Merlin says, “just let yourself go. Do what you normally would. I am confident this room can withstand whatever you throw at it.”
And he does. Escanor shoots out a fist to punch the wall hard, his knuckles white and throbbing as he pummels the stone. It feels so good, so right, as he exercises his power by unleashing strike after strike on the walls, the window, the ceiling, whatever is in his reach. The bed smashes under his might, only to reform before his eyes, splinters of wood coalescing in the air before setting themselves back on the floor. He does it again and again but it rebuilds itself each time. He looks around, breathing hard, his lungs screaming in his chest with his exertion, but the room looks exactly the same as when he first entered.
“I told you. I’m not just anyone,” says Merlin smugly.
Escanor nods. His arms are like tree trunks, huge and wide and he wants to use them, to punch, kick, destroy. The sun is even higher now. It is so close to noon he can feel the white light of his power flash through his veins turning him from a man into an instrument of aggression. But perhaps it will genuinely be alright this time. The room has withstood all but his most brutal of attacks. Perhaps…
His jaw drops as Merlin appears before him, her form at first just an impression on the air, shimmering magenta, until her body solidifies. Long, lithe limbs clothed in… nothing at all to speak of, just a few wisps of royal purple cloth draped like wallpaper over her satin-smooth skin. Frozen, he stares at her in disbelief. “Merlin,” he manages to rasp out past the sudden lump in his throat. “Merlin! Get out of here now! Before I destroy you!”
Softly, she shakes her head no, her onyx hair shimmering from the light streaming in and it has an alluring sheen, just as all of her seems to awaken in him deeper thoughts. He’s taken for a moment with the sight of her before he feels how close he is to noon, the sun that sets Merlin aglow, sets him ablaze. “Get out!” he hollers, his voice booming in the room growing smaller by the moment. “Go!” His roar more resembles a lion than a man, “I don’t wish- Annihilation is all I’m capable of and you- Get the fuck out!” He reaches as if to force her to go but thinks better of it. If he so much as puts his hands on her while so close to his zenith, the only fate in store for her will be certain death.
At the last moment before noon, while resisting grabbing her, his hands rise to his hair to pull at his roots as he struggles to contain himself and save her from himself. “You think you can contain me?” he sneers, leering through narrowed eyes. “Do you know how many have tried?” His laugh echoes off the stone, he stretches, his fists connect to the opposite walls and his head cracks the ceiling above as he grows too large for the space. “The absolute arrogance it takes to put me in this box- to assume there is anything wrong with me! I have evolved beyond you, the masses are mere cattle in my presence and they are lucky I consider any of their tiny problems worthy of my attention.”
Merlin simply watches, eyes alight with curiosity and fascination. She’s not seen this kind of transformation before and it is not often she finds something that surprises her or stimulates her brain in such a way. The mage raises her hand, points her finger and twirls it in a clear indication that she wants him to spin. Escanor’s eyebrow quirks, his lip curving cruelly and a snort exhales from his nose. “You have the audacity to demand anything from me?” he asks and, rather than argue with him over such a small thing, Merlin levitates into the air by a few inches so that she can perform the circle herself in a hover.
She assesses how he grows, how his change goes beyond physical. His personality compared to the previous evening is, well, night and day. The man before her is clearly intrinsically linked to the sun: his power has bloomed as the orb has risen in the sky, and now that it is high noon she feels as if she is standing in a blistering sauna. But surely, this is a power she knows, one she has seen wielded by a shining goddess. How has Mael’s Grace found its way to a mere human, one with little intrinsic power of his own?
But that is a question that will have to wait. The immediate problem is how to enable this man, and any unfortunate enough to find themselves near him during the day, with the necessary protection to allow Escanor to join the Sins. A few possible solutions come to mind. Perhaps she can design a kind of liquid sunblock that he can rub on himself each night and so ward off the effects of the sun? But no. They will need Escanor in this state sometimes, however much of a strain it places on his body. Such a potion would make it too difficult to allow Escanor the ability to transform when required.
Merlin pauses in her perusal to look at the enormous human, biceps quivering and knuckles white. In this state, Escanor rivals Meliodas in sheer strength and power. Wasting that would be unthinkable.
The challenge thrills Merlin, a kind grin brightens her face. She has worked out how to contain demons through the goddess amber and now with Escanor before her she must work out how to do the same with Mael’s Grace. Only, this is more complicated as what she needs must be easily removed or this man's usefulness with be null.
When she completes her orbit around the sun-blessed man, she taps down to the cracking floor once more to peer up at him. The crumbling of the ceiling has not healed yet and she isn’t sure if his head did permanent damage or it simply can’t reform with Escanor having grown so large. She gives a flinching start when she sees his eyes trained on her, aggression coloring his expression when she has grown used to him looking softly upon her.
“You have made a mistake, Mage.” Escanor chuckles, eyes narrowing in as the air around him bends from the heat he is exuding. “The hubris it takes to follow me inside this containment unit!” His laugh bounces his bulging chest with each hissing inhale. “I suppose I cannot blame you, you are not the first moth drawn to my flame. You, of all people, will understand how graced you are to witness me at my best before your inevitable death. It is rather poetic.”
Merlin’s eyes grow wide, her heart races and she takes a step back remembering how at night, Escanor had warned her that he expelled as much of his excess energy as possible during his peak to make the next day a tad better, easier to manage. Here, that outlet is gone. It’s just her before him. “Escanor,” she scolds, acting stronger than she feels, “get ahold of yourself.”
“I am The One,” he intones and Merlin’s jaw drops as she looks at the man who is not a man. He is a monster: a shining, beautiful, terrible monster. “Behold my power and despair.”
Quick as a flash, Merlin waves a hand in the air, sealing herself inside a Perfect Cube. The roar, the rush of the blistering hot air, is suddenly stilled. Inside the cube, it is calm, cool and she watches with interest as Escanor flings a fist into her magic, the walls of her creation withstanding the might. He is an interesting specimen, certainly. Mael had not been subjected to the change in personality; this must be a sign that the human is controlled by the Grace and not the other way around. This would make sense of the man’s deep sense of shame when the moon is up and he is his true self: he knows that he is just a tool, an instrument manipulated.
Then a huge splintering smack resounds in her ears. Merlin stares in horror, blood freezing in her veins despite the onslaught of sudden heat as her Cube breaks, a visible crack spreading like a spider web from Escanor’s gigantic fist. “No,” she whispers, her eyes wide and her breathing shallow. “This is… impossible.” And she feels fear, fear such as she has not known since the day all the power of the Gods was hurled towards her home and the towers of Berialiun crumbled like dust to the floor.
Escanor’s face is stark, the light of the goddess clan circling like a halo as he peers down at her with a cold sneer. She feels as if she is inside the apex of a storm as if thunder is booming and lightning crashing before her. It is all she can do not to whimper as he places a giant finger on either side of the crack and pulls the Cube apart with his bare hands. She cannot speak, cannot cry out, the only thing running through her mind, This is a stupid way to die. She remembers that she cannot die, then wonders if even her immortality can survive the upcoming assault.
Her fear peaks as a jolt of electric adrenaline floods down her spine, the cube shatters and flakes like glass shards in the wind, it’s fallen. As she watches the Cube disintegrate into dust around her, twinkling as it fades, the man suddenly pulls back. He is still enormous, his head bowed so that he can look at her, but the expression he wears is suddenly less terrible and more tentative. He is breathing hard, his hands rigid at his sides as he takes several large gulps of air, his barrel of a chest heaving with considerable effort. He is winning the fight. The Grace inside him is burning, searing, but he does not give in.
He stands completely still, his form shrinking minimally with each passing second until he is back in the room, the roof reforming over his head, brightness falling as noon recedes further and further into the past. She does not speak - does not dare to interrupt Escanor’s effort - merely watching, absorbing every little detail of the transformation. The stillness inside the containment cell makes it seem as if time isn’t passing at all as the two stare, each having their own internal battles. It is imperative that she find some means to help, else the human will have little time left to him. The strain this change must have on his body is greater than any mortal can bear. It is, in fact, a miracle he is still alive.
“I have frightened you.” His voice still carries the booming qualities the Grace gives, and in spite of his attempt at calming her, she flinches. The stillness is broken. Merlin takes a deep breath to slow her racing heart as she reminds herself that the danger has passed and to never get near Escanor when he is in such a state without a clear escape route ever again.
“No, no, I was just surprised, it’s fine.” Merlin lies smoothly, finding her balance once more. Her kind smile returns but Escanor frowns as she is paler than she was before this started. He tries not to move too much as he is still large while he is coming down from the effects and scaring her further is unacceptable to him. “Good news though. From my observations and these new unveiled discoveries, I have an idea.” To him, her voice is a soothing balm on the burns left inside.
The spark of interest returns to her eyes and he can practically see her thinking as she vaguely looks over his body once more. He does not fool himself as he figures it is the prospect of experimenting that enlivens her so and not he, himself. “I cannot save you, but I can give you many more years that you would not have otherwise.” She looks to him and in his stillness he doesn’t understand that she is waiting for his answer, wanting an affirmation. He ponders her words before her expectancy becomes apparent to him.
He nods, slowly dipping his head forward and resisting the encroaching disappointment he has in himself for being unable to resist his own power. “Anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.” With his words, she gives a brilliant smile, one that starts a fire while the others are dying within, the flame of hope. Her backside is out of his magic prison in a blink and as she disappears the door stays cracked open in a clear invitation that he can leave when he desires.
It’s something he feels he hasn’t earned as with Merlin gone, in her pursuit to help him and prolong his life, his own failure pulls him under. He moves, sagging to sit on the slab bed provided, the mattress bending under his still-excessive weight. Though the peak of the danger has passed, he is still a monster, still an object of pity and fear, still less than a man, less than the prince he was born to be. As he mentally berates himself for not being strong enough to stay in control, the only comfort he has is the memory of her hopeful face and when he finally feels like himself enough to exit his prison he does it with faith in Merlin.
“That woman can do anything.” His voice still booms, louder than he intended but softened with the beginnings of a true affection that glows through him and does not fall with the passage of time.
@escalin-week day 7 | AU
My attempt at Escanor and Merlin after The Lion of Britannia. I hope they have many sweet, restful days yeah right.
Escalin Week Day 7: AU/Free
So, ever since @bertazsleepyhead introduced us to her Escalin twins I haven't been able to get the idea out of my head (I'm not as great as her, but I hope I did it justice💖)
And of course these are dedicated to her because today's her birthday!!! SO, happy birthday to one the most wonderful people I've ever met, you are such a kind human being and I am so grateful to have met you and to be able to call you my friend ^^
Hope you're having a fantastic day! 💖
@escalin-week Day 7: au/free day
beach day ep uwu
Escalin week Day 7: free day/AU Well, u saw this coming! Of course I was gonna draw The lion of Britannia!
Escalin week: day 7
au/freeday
BONUS XD
Escalin week: day 7
au/freeday
Happy B-day Elisa <3
Escalin Week: Day VII
This was supposed to be for day 2... but this was my fave piece so I saved it for last. :))
The final chapter is here for @escalin-week. Please enjoy.
My thanks to my beta @galfridus1 for her hard work and dedication.
My eternal gratitude to @bertazsleepyhead for dreaming up this amazing AU and granting me the permission to borrow it for a while.
Thank you to everyone for reading.
