Title: Lilies are for the dead
Rating: G
Pairing/s: none
Character/s: Merlin, Arthur
Summary: Merlin hates funerals and especially the smell
Warnings: depressing
Word Count: 165
Camelot_drabble Prompt: 410 Flowers
Author's Notes: sorry it’s depressing, really depressing. I will totally understand if you want to skip it.
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
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When Merlin was a boy, to honour the dead, funerals were fire-bright, the smell of meat burning, acrid and final. Then as the centuries passed, it was nailing bodies into lead-lined coffins, shutting out the stench of putrid corpses. Later, it was flowers of all sorts, covering the funeral wagon, left at the grave site to rot, all that scented beauty turned sour.
But it was lilies that Merlin hated the most. Beautiful and fragrant, bursts of colour and perfume, they were hopeful signs where no hope remained. A sad reminder of might have beens. The smell lingered for days after.
It didn’t matter that lilies had meaning, that they symbolized purity, innocence and unconditional love. To Merlin, they only meant loss and endless waiting. Too many funerals, too many friends gone, and Merlin left alone.
When Arthur finally returned, Merlin swore he’d give Arthur roses and sunflowers and tulips, to brighten the day, to show him how much he was loved. But lilies, never.