Post by Arctura on Jul 15, 2014 20:23:05 GMT
The series can be classified as post-canon fics. These stories chronicle my take on what happens after the show stops. In the Merlin FF world, this traditionally means the story will eventually come to depict Arthur's resurrection from Avalon a.k.a. a resurrection/reincarnation fic.
Update: The sequel to this is called "As the World Comes to an End". It is split into several parts (no real significance for the divisions - it's just to help with readability).
Also, I realize that this can be read as an ending to my other fic, "Destiny Fulfilled". Though, it was just a canon telling of the last few moments of the finale. No need for extra heartbreak, right?
Update: The sequel to this is called "As the World Comes to an End". It is split into several parts (no real significance for the divisions - it's just to help with readability).
Also, I realize that this can be read as an ending to my other fic, "Destiny Fulfilled". Though, it was just a canon telling of the last few moments of the finale. No need for extra heartbreak, right?
Full of Grace
Merlin told Arthur to destroy it, but he knows for a fact that the King did not listen to him. For a time, Merlin had contemplated using his magic to destroy it, but something had made him pause. It had ended up buried deep in the vaults of Camelot, hidden in a box in a disused armoire between two dusty bookshelves.
The horn of Cathbhadh.
Getting into Camelot is simple. Merlin merely chooses to make himself invisible. He takes a brief moment to wonder at how easy it is for him to do things that used to be so difficult.
He enters the vaults, takes the horn, and leaves as silently as he entered.
He passes Gaius in the halls on his way out, and when Merlin sees the look of sadness on his mentor's face, his heart clenches painfully and he stops. As he watches Gaius walk away, he stares down at the horn in his hand.
He leaves Camelot behind him.
…
Merlin returns to the lake of Avalon and waits. He eats only when he knows his body will shut down without food, drinks only because he knows he needs it. He sleeps only when staring out at the lake becomes too painful.
When he sleeps, he dreams of his King; wakes with Arthur’s name on his lips and tears drying on his face.
Time passes without any real meaning, but Merlin knows when he needs to go.
He leaves the lake and journeys to the Great Stones of Nemeton.
He reaches them on the morning of Beltane, just in time to watch the sun rise over the stones.
He brings the horn to his lips and blows it without a second thought.
...
When he opens his eyes, he’s bathed in an unearthly blue light. He’s not sure where he is, if he is really even anywhere, but it doesn’t matter, because he can see a shape coming closer to him, surrounded by a light so blindingly white that he has to shade his eyes.
When the light fades, Merlin blinks, and there, standing right in front of him, so close he could touch him, is-
“Arthur.”
It’s the first word Merlin has said in months, and his voice is hoarse and broken. But it feels so good to say Arthur’s name that he says it again, only this time it comes out as a sob.
“Arthur.”
Merlin doesn’t even attempt to hold back his tears. Arthur looks just like he did when he laid him to rest. Chainmail in place, red cloak pinned to his back perfectly. Excalibur gleams where it hangs from his belt. It’s him. Arthur. His King, his best friend, his whole world. He looks regal and strong, radiant...and beautiful. Merlin feels himself choke up.
“Arthur.”
It’s the only word he can say, the only word that matters, and Merlin begins to tremble.
Arthur takes a step toward him and reaches a hand out to his shoulder. Merlin feels Arthur’s touch - warm, comforting - and he wants so badly for this to be real. But Arthur’s hand never quite makes contact, and Merlin finally accepts that Arthur is truly gone and he will not be able to get him back.
It hits him hard, so hard his knees buckle, and he collapses to the ground.
But Arthur stays with him. He wraps his arms around Merlin in a ghost of a touch. It’s not real, Merlin knows Arthur can’t really touch him, but he feels it just the same. He feels the love and concern in Arthur’s embrace, and when Merlin breaks down and sobs, Arthur kneels with him and quietly holds him.
“Merlin.”
Merlin pulls away at the sound of his name, looks up into Arthur’s eyes, and sees the amount of affection mirrored in those blue depths.
“I didn’t want to leave you, Merlin, but my time was up. You have to know that I wanted to stay. I want to come back, Merlin. But I can’t. Not yet. It’s not my time. Albion will need me again someday.
“What about what I need?” Merlin asks desperately, tears pouring down his face.
Arthur smiles at him sadly, and Merlin watches a single tear fall from his King’s eye.
“I miss you, too. And I will not tell you not to weep, Merlin. Before I passed into Avalon, I stood on the shore of that island and I saw you standing on the other side. I watched you fall, and I heard you crying, and there was nothing I could do to help you. I know I told you once that no man is worth your tears. But I was wrong. I wanted to help you so badly I thought I would die again from the pain. I couldn’t help you then, but I will help you now. You don’t want me to follow you back to the world, Merlin. It won’t be-”
“Real. I know. I realize that now. I just….”
He doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to put into words all that he is feeling. The anger, the pain, the emptiness and loneliness and sheer agony he feels at having lost that which makes him whole.
They sit in silence for a minute before Arthur breaks it. “Merlin…I have to go soon, lest you become a part of this world. But there’s something I want to ask you to do for me.”
“Anything,” he answers without hesitation.
“I want you to return to Camelot. Gwen needs a friend and an advisor. I need you to help her, to help my kingdom.”
Merlin looks away, feels his cheeks burn red in shame. Of all the things he could have asked him to do….
“Arthur…I can’t…I can’t go back there. I tried. It’s not…it’s just not Camelot without you.”
“Merlin, look at me. Please.”
Merlin uses what little strength he still has and looks back up at Arthur.
“We’ll meet again, Merlin. I don’t know when, but I swear to you that we will. But until then you have to be strong. Camelot needs you. The world needs you. You can do it, I know you can. You’re stronger than you know, Merlin.”
Seeing the hesitation, Arthur adds, “All right. Then do it for me; as a favor to me, a promise. Be strong, Merlin. For me. Please.”
“I’ll return to Camelot. I’ll help Gwen, I’ll help Albion. I’ll…I’ll wait for you, Arthur. I promise.” Merlin says shakily, swallowing all his reluctance.
A worried look passes over Arthur’s face, and he pulls Merlin to his feet quickly. “Make me one more promise, Merlin.” He sounds desperate, panicked, and Merlin would promise anything to make Arthur’s pain go away. “Promise me that you…just…don’t do this alone, Merlin. The thought of you waiting for me is painful enough, but the thought of you waiting alone, I…I can’t bear it
I can’t ask you to wait for me, Merlin. I won’t. But I know you. I know you’ll wait for me even if I beg you not to. All I ask is that you don’t wait alone. Don’t bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. Let others help you. Let yourself love and be loved. I don’t want you to just wait, Merlin. I want you to live. This is my final request.” An order.
“I will,” Merlin agrees, “I promise. But you should know… I’ll never find someone who’s a bigger prat than you are, sire.”
Arthur laughs heartily, and it’s the merriest sound Merlin’s heard in a long time. “I’d never have it any other way. Idiot.”
They stand in silence, smiling at each other, and Merlin wishes he could just stay here forever. But he knows he can’t. “Merlin…it’s time.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Arthur says, and Merlin realizes that they’re both crying and he has no idea when they started again. Merlin pulls Arthur into a hug, never really touching him.
When he steps back, Merlin begins to say, “Arthur….”
“You’re not going to say goodbye, Merlin. I’ll see you again, old friend.”
Merlin smiles at the familiar emphasis on his name, though this time, there is no annoyance. Only fondness. He nods. “And I’ll see you again, my King.”
“You know the rules, Merlin. You can’t look back. I don’t wish to be trapped outside the Veil.”
“I know.” Merlin says for the second time. Even so, it takes all the strength Merlin has, all the strength that Arthur has given him, to turn his back on his friend, walk out of that place, and walk back into Albion.
He doesn't look back.
...
In the end, Merlin does his best to keep his promise.
He returns to Camelot. Gaius is so happy to see him he cooks him his favorite meal every night for a month.
Gwen is grateful to have him back. After many long, late talks, she decides to appoint him Court Sorcerer, and Merlin graciously accepts. He spends his days helping her in all the ways he can, from making decisions on how to rule the kingdom to staying up with her late into the night and recounting their fondest memories of Arthur.
Gwen rules the kingdom fairly and justly. She marries Leon, but in the end, she remains barren.
Over time, Merlin grows closer to Percival. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve both lost someone they love dearly. Maybe it’s the fact that Percival is the only one who knows just how much Merlin cared for Arthur. Whatever it is, the two remain good friends until the day Leon and his knights return from a mission carrying Percival’s body.
On the day that Gaius dies, Merlin decides to age himself at the same rate as everyone around him. As Gwen and Leon grow old together, Merlin grows old, too. But only on the outside. Inside, he remains as young as he was the day Arthur died, and he knows that despite his outward appearances, he will never age a day until Arthur returns.
The price of immortality is high. He returns to Ealdor to be with his mother as she dies. He watches Leon die. Finally, he watches Gwen die. He sits by her bed, looking like an old man but feeling like a tired young man. As she lies on her deathbed, old but still radiant despite it.
After Gwen dies, Merlin watches helplessly as the kingdom falls apart around him. It only takes a few despots and tyrants on the throne for Camelot to fall to ruin despite Merlin’s best effort. In the end, he can’t bear to watch the death of the kingdom Arthur loved so much. So he sheds the old man, becomes himself as he was when Arthur knew him, and he leaves.
But he never goes far.
...
Centuries after Arthur’s death, he meets a woman who reminds him how to love. She loves him for who he is, reminds him that he has so much to offer the world, and he falls for her. He grows old with her, never telling her that he has magic. She dies in his arms, and as he weeps, he sheds the old man once more and moves on.
She gives him the courage to leave what’s left of Albion and see the world. He watches civilizations rise and fall. Watches countries grow and flourish. He finds causes, fights in wars, watches as Albion becomes England.
He returns to England to end the Black Plague, and he stays for Shakespeare. He wanders through Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, even spends a few months in Antartica, but it’s too bloody cold for him.
He visits the New World for awhile. He likes the thought that the people who have fled here can make a new life for themselves, though he’s not particularly fond of what they do to those who were there first. Still, he helps them fight for their independence, and when they turn on each other, he saves as many lives as he can. In the end, nearly 1 million people lie dead, and Merlin heads in search of something more peaceful.
Over the years, Merlin meets new people, and he falls in love with some of them, men and women alike.
But none of them are Arthur.
He grows old with them, but eventually they die and Merlin finds himself alone. He always visits the lake of Avalon after, hoping that Arthur will return to him. But he never does.
Sometimes, he goes decades, centuries without falling in love again.
Sometimes, the weight of it all is too much. Helping the world, watching everyone he loves die, missing Arthur, wondering when he will come back. He takes long breaks away from everything. Becomes an old man and moves to quiet places where he can be alone. But in the end, he always goes back to society. He made a promise to Arthur, after all.
Merlin may be the world’s greatest sorcerer, but he’s still a man, and he’s in pain. He misses Arthur everyday he lives. It’s like someone has torn out a piece of his heart, and though Merlin loves again, no one can ever truly fill that hole. He visits the lake when things get so hard he can barely stand to keep breathing anymore. In the end, he always leaves. Arthur will return to him someday, and the thought keeps him alive. In the end, he knows only Arthur will make him whole once more.
Cities crumble. Nations pull themselves apart. Even nature begins to tear away at the Earth. Wars envelope not just countries but the whole world. Merlin is sure that World War III will bring Arthur back into the world, but after twenty years of bloodshed and nearly half a billion deaths, Arthur still does not come.
On the day World War IV ends, Merlin grieves, and he wonders if the world will be able to pull itself together again.
…
Merlin’s asleep in the ruins of an old castle in Scotland when he feels the Earth tremble underneath him, and a voice calls to him from far away.
Merlin leaps to his feet. He feels the ground pulling at him, feels a magic intense and ancient rise up from the Earth, and he couldn’t fight it even if he wanted to. He sheds his old skin without trying, feels himself grow young again, and he gasps as the magic pulls at his very core. He grabs his chest and whispers Arthur’s name.
Then he blinks, and he’s at the shore of the lake of Avalon. He was just here a few weeks ago, sending little boats full of candles over the lake’s surface in memory of those who died in the last world war.
He feels the Earth tremble again, and the force of it brings Merlin to his knees. He hears a voice calling to him again. Only this time, he can make out who it is.
It has been centuries, millennia, since he has heard this voice. But he would know it anywhere.
“Arthur,” Merlin gasps, and when the Earth stops trembling, Merlin gets up to his feet as Arthur’s head breaks the surface of the water.
Merlin watches in wonder as his King struggles to shore, weighed down by soggy red cloak and damp chain mail, Excalibur hanging loyally at his side.
Arthur spits out a stream of water, and even from this distance Merlin can see his old friend rolling his eyes.
“Merlin, are you just going to stand there gawping or are you going to help out your King?”
Merlin laughs, and it’s been so long since he’s done so it comes out nearly hysterical. But he doesn’t care. Arthur is here. Whole and alive. He’s finally here.
Arthur continues to struggle up the shore as Merlin runs, faster than he’s run in a long time, maybe ever. He reaches Arthur before he’s out of the water and the force of their meeting knocks them both off their feet. They land in the water hard. Arthur barely has time to indignantly shout out “Merlin!” before Merlin grabs him in a bruising hug.
And it feels just like coming home.
You've been gone for a long long time
You've been in the wind, you've been on my mind
You are the purest soul I've ever known in my life
Take your time, let the rivers guide you in
You know where you can find me again
I'll be waiting here 'til the stars fall out of the sky
When you left I was far too young
To know you're worth more than the moon and the sun
You are still alive when I look to the sky in the night
I would wait for a thousand years
I would sit right here by the lake, my dear
You just let me know that you're coming home
And I'll wait for you
- In the Wind, Lord Huron
- In the Wind, Lord Huron
Merlin told Arthur to destroy it, but he knows for a fact that the King did not listen to him. For a time, Merlin had contemplated using his magic to destroy it, but something had made him pause. It had ended up buried deep in the vaults of Camelot, hidden in a box in a disused armoire between two dusty bookshelves.
The horn of Cathbhadh.
Getting into Camelot is simple. Merlin merely chooses to make himself invisible. He takes a brief moment to wonder at how easy it is for him to do things that used to be so difficult.
He enters the vaults, takes the horn, and leaves as silently as he entered.
He passes Gaius in the halls on his way out, and when Merlin sees the look of sadness on his mentor's face, his heart clenches painfully and he stops. As he watches Gaius walk away, he stares down at the horn in his hand.
He leaves Camelot behind him.
…
Merlin returns to the lake of Avalon and waits. He eats only when he knows his body will shut down without food, drinks only because he knows he needs it. He sleeps only when staring out at the lake becomes too painful.
When he sleeps, he dreams of his King; wakes with Arthur’s name on his lips and tears drying on his face.
Time passes without any real meaning, but Merlin knows when he needs to go.
He leaves the lake and journeys to the Great Stones of Nemeton.
He reaches them on the morning of Beltane, just in time to watch the sun rise over the stones.
He brings the horn to his lips and blows it without a second thought.
...
When he opens his eyes, he’s bathed in an unearthly blue light. He’s not sure where he is, if he is really even anywhere, but it doesn’t matter, because he can see a shape coming closer to him, surrounded by a light so blindingly white that he has to shade his eyes.
When the light fades, Merlin blinks, and there, standing right in front of him, so close he could touch him, is-
“Arthur.”
It’s the first word Merlin has said in months, and his voice is hoarse and broken. But it feels so good to say Arthur’s name that he says it again, only this time it comes out as a sob.
“Arthur.”
Merlin doesn’t even attempt to hold back his tears. Arthur looks just like he did when he laid him to rest. Chainmail in place, red cloak pinned to his back perfectly. Excalibur gleams where it hangs from his belt. It’s him. Arthur. His King, his best friend, his whole world. He looks regal and strong, radiant...and beautiful. Merlin feels himself choke up.
“Arthur.”
It’s the only word he can say, the only word that matters, and Merlin begins to tremble.
Arthur takes a step toward him and reaches a hand out to his shoulder. Merlin feels Arthur’s touch - warm, comforting - and he wants so badly for this to be real. But Arthur’s hand never quite makes contact, and Merlin finally accepts that Arthur is truly gone and he will not be able to get him back.
It hits him hard, so hard his knees buckle, and he collapses to the ground.
But Arthur stays with him. He wraps his arms around Merlin in a ghost of a touch. It’s not real, Merlin knows Arthur can’t really touch him, but he feels it just the same. He feels the love and concern in Arthur’s embrace, and when Merlin breaks down and sobs, Arthur kneels with him and quietly holds him.
“Merlin.”
Merlin pulls away at the sound of his name, looks up into Arthur’s eyes, and sees the amount of affection mirrored in those blue depths.
“I didn’t want to leave you, Merlin, but my time was up. You have to know that I wanted to stay. I want to come back, Merlin. But I can’t. Not yet. It’s not my time. Albion will need me again someday.
“What about what I need?” Merlin asks desperately, tears pouring down his face.
Arthur smiles at him sadly, and Merlin watches a single tear fall from his King’s eye.
“I miss you, too. And I will not tell you not to weep, Merlin. Before I passed into Avalon, I stood on the shore of that island and I saw you standing on the other side. I watched you fall, and I heard you crying, and there was nothing I could do to help you. I know I told you once that no man is worth your tears. But I was wrong. I wanted to help you so badly I thought I would die again from the pain. I couldn’t help you then, but I will help you now. You don’t want me to follow you back to the world, Merlin. It won’t be-”
“Real. I know. I realize that now. I just….”
He doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to put into words all that he is feeling. The anger, the pain, the emptiness and loneliness and sheer agony he feels at having lost that which makes him whole.
They sit in silence for a minute before Arthur breaks it. “Merlin…I have to go soon, lest you become a part of this world. But there’s something I want to ask you to do for me.”
“Anything,” he answers without hesitation.
“I want you to return to Camelot. Gwen needs a friend and an advisor. I need you to help her, to help my kingdom.”
Merlin looks away, feels his cheeks burn red in shame. Of all the things he could have asked him to do….
“Arthur…I can’t…I can’t go back there. I tried. It’s not…it’s just not Camelot without you.”
“Merlin, look at me. Please.”
Merlin uses what little strength he still has and looks back up at Arthur.
“We’ll meet again, Merlin. I don’t know when, but I swear to you that we will. But until then you have to be strong. Camelot needs you. The world needs you. You can do it, I know you can. You’re stronger than you know, Merlin.”
Seeing the hesitation, Arthur adds, “All right. Then do it for me; as a favor to me, a promise. Be strong, Merlin. For me. Please.”
“I’ll return to Camelot. I’ll help Gwen, I’ll help Albion. I’ll…I’ll wait for you, Arthur. I promise.” Merlin says shakily, swallowing all his reluctance.
A worried look passes over Arthur’s face, and he pulls Merlin to his feet quickly. “Make me one more promise, Merlin.” He sounds desperate, panicked, and Merlin would promise anything to make Arthur’s pain go away. “Promise me that you…just…don’t do this alone, Merlin. The thought of you waiting for me is painful enough, but the thought of you waiting alone, I…I can’t bear it
I can’t ask you to wait for me, Merlin. I won’t. But I know you. I know you’ll wait for me even if I beg you not to. All I ask is that you don’t wait alone. Don’t bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. Let others help you. Let yourself love and be loved. I don’t want you to just wait, Merlin. I want you to live. This is my final request.” An order.
“I will,” Merlin agrees, “I promise. But you should know… I’ll never find someone who’s a bigger prat than you are, sire.”
Arthur laughs heartily, and it’s the merriest sound Merlin’s heard in a long time. “I’d never have it any other way. Idiot.”
They stand in silence, smiling at each other, and Merlin wishes he could just stay here forever. But he knows he can’t. “Merlin…it’s time.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Arthur says, and Merlin realizes that they’re both crying and he has no idea when they started again. Merlin pulls Arthur into a hug, never really touching him.
When he steps back, Merlin begins to say, “Arthur….”
“You’re not going to say goodbye, Merlin. I’ll see you again, old friend.”
Merlin smiles at the familiar emphasis on his name, though this time, there is no annoyance. Only fondness. He nods. “And I’ll see you again, my King.”
“You know the rules, Merlin. You can’t look back. I don’t wish to be trapped outside the Veil.”
“I know.” Merlin says for the second time. Even so, it takes all the strength Merlin has, all the strength that Arthur has given him, to turn his back on his friend, walk out of that place, and walk back into Albion.
He doesn't look back.
...
In the end, Merlin does his best to keep his promise.
He returns to Camelot. Gaius is so happy to see him he cooks him his favorite meal every night for a month.
Gwen is grateful to have him back. After many long, late talks, she decides to appoint him Court Sorcerer, and Merlin graciously accepts. He spends his days helping her in all the ways he can, from making decisions on how to rule the kingdom to staying up with her late into the night and recounting their fondest memories of Arthur.
Gwen rules the kingdom fairly and justly. She marries Leon, but in the end, she remains barren.
Over time, Merlin grows closer to Percival. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve both lost someone they love dearly. Maybe it’s the fact that Percival is the only one who knows just how much Merlin cared for Arthur. Whatever it is, the two remain good friends until the day Leon and his knights return from a mission carrying Percival’s body.
On the day that Gaius dies, Merlin decides to age himself at the same rate as everyone around him. As Gwen and Leon grow old together, Merlin grows old, too. But only on the outside. Inside, he remains as young as he was the day Arthur died, and he knows that despite his outward appearances, he will never age a day until Arthur returns.
The price of immortality is high. He returns to Ealdor to be with his mother as she dies. He watches Leon die. Finally, he watches Gwen die. He sits by her bed, looking like an old man but feeling like a tired young man. As she lies on her deathbed, old but still radiant despite it.
After Gwen dies, Merlin watches helplessly as the kingdom falls apart around him. It only takes a few despots and tyrants on the throne for Camelot to fall to ruin despite Merlin’s best effort. In the end, he can’t bear to watch the death of the kingdom Arthur loved so much. So he sheds the old man, becomes himself as he was when Arthur knew him, and he leaves.
But he never goes far.
...
Centuries after Arthur’s death, he meets a woman who reminds him how to love. She loves him for who he is, reminds him that he has so much to offer the world, and he falls for her. He grows old with her, never telling her that he has magic. She dies in his arms, and as he weeps, he sheds the old man once more and moves on.
She gives him the courage to leave what’s left of Albion and see the world. He watches civilizations rise and fall. Watches countries grow and flourish. He finds causes, fights in wars, watches as Albion becomes England.
He returns to England to end the Black Plague, and he stays for Shakespeare. He wanders through Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, even spends a few months in Antartica, but it’s too bloody cold for him.
He visits the New World for awhile. He likes the thought that the people who have fled here can make a new life for themselves, though he’s not particularly fond of what they do to those who were there first. Still, he helps them fight for their independence, and when they turn on each other, he saves as many lives as he can. In the end, nearly 1 million people lie dead, and Merlin heads in search of something more peaceful.
Over the years, Merlin meets new people, and he falls in love with some of them, men and women alike.
But none of them are Arthur.
He grows old with them, but eventually they die and Merlin finds himself alone. He always visits the lake of Avalon after, hoping that Arthur will return to him. But he never does.
Sometimes, he goes decades, centuries without falling in love again.
Sometimes, the weight of it all is too much. Helping the world, watching everyone he loves die, missing Arthur, wondering when he will come back. He takes long breaks away from everything. Becomes an old man and moves to quiet places where he can be alone. But in the end, he always goes back to society. He made a promise to Arthur, after all.
Merlin may be the world’s greatest sorcerer, but he’s still a man, and he’s in pain. He misses Arthur everyday he lives. It’s like someone has torn out a piece of his heart, and though Merlin loves again, no one can ever truly fill that hole. He visits the lake when things get so hard he can barely stand to keep breathing anymore. In the end, he always leaves. Arthur will return to him someday, and the thought keeps him alive. In the end, he knows only Arthur will make him whole once more.
Cities crumble. Nations pull themselves apart. Even nature begins to tear away at the Earth. Wars envelope not just countries but the whole world. Merlin is sure that World War III will bring Arthur back into the world, but after twenty years of bloodshed and nearly half a billion deaths, Arthur still does not come.
On the day World War IV ends, Merlin grieves, and he wonders if the world will be able to pull itself together again.
…
Merlin’s asleep in the ruins of an old castle in Scotland when he feels the Earth tremble underneath him, and a voice calls to him from far away.
Merlin leaps to his feet. He feels the ground pulling at him, feels a magic intense and ancient rise up from the Earth, and he couldn’t fight it even if he wanted to. He sheds his old skin without trying, feels himself grow young again, and he gasps as the magic pulls at his very core. He grabs his chest and whispers Arthur’s name.
Then he blinks, and he’s at the shore of the lake of Avalon. He was just here a few weeks ago, sending little boats full of candles over the lake’s surface in memory of those who died in the last world war.
He feels the Earth tremble again, and the force of it brings Merlin to his knees. He hears a voice calling to him again. Only this time, he can make out who it is.
It has been centuries, millennia, since he has heard this voice. But he would know it anywhere.
“Arthur,” Merlin gasps, and when the Earth stops trembling, Merlin gets up to his feet as Arthur’s head breaks the surface of the water.
Merlin watches in wonder as his King struggles to shore, weighed down by soggy red cloak and damp chain mail, Excalibur hanging loyally at his side.
Arthur spits out a stream of water, and even from this distance Merlin can see his old friend rolling his eyes.
“Merlin, are you just going to stand there gawping or are you going to help out your King?”
Merlin laughs, and it’s been so long since he’s done so it comes out nearly hysterical. But he doesn’t care. Arthur is here. Whole and alive. He’s finally here.
Arthur continues to struggle up the shore as Merlin runs, faster than he’s run in a long time, maybe ever. He reaches Arthur before he’s out of the water and the force of their meeting knocks them both off their feet. They land in the water hard. Arthur barely has time to indignantly shout out “Merlin!” before Merlin grabs him in a bruising hug.
And it feels just like coming home.
