Chapter Text
The oncoming train was approaching fast, this would be a close call! The boy on the skateboard jumped but it was already too late, the train hit him square and pushed him off the railroad. Again!
Frustrated Merlin threw his mobile onto the desk and started to bop in the ergonomic chair. A glance to the monitor revealed that there still was 43% to go of this test series. His fingers were itching with the temptation to speed it up with magic but there was a high risk that it would screw up the results. Once really was enough, thank you very much! The last time the consortium had him accused of manipulating the numbers to make them authorize his research grants and he had a hard time explaining the irregularities away.
The last gulp of stale Pepsi didn’t help, neither his growing hunger nor his impatience. Merlin glared at the door to the laboratory as if his resentments could keep it locked. If the results of the tests turned out to not hit the mark, he had to go in there again and adjust the magnetic field anew. And boy, was he tiered of that! Come to think of it, he most likely hadn’t been outdoors for the last three days.
Loud grumble from his stomach finally made him call it quits. The percentages wouldn’t move faster while being watched!
Mackenzie had gone upstairs to do some necessary paperwork two hours ago. Surely she was hungry, too. He pushed himself out of the chair and pocketed his phone.
Taking two steps at a time Merlin jumped up the metal stairs and pushed the heavy door to his living area open.
He found Mackenzie in the kitchen part of the open living concept. Sitting hunched over at the counter of the middle isle, she was typing away on her laptop. The huge TV on the wall was running on some news channel, but muted.
„Hey!“ Merlin greeted and opened the fridge to get himself an energy drink. Mackenzie just casually waved a hand without looking up and absentmindedly pushed her black-framed glasses back up her nose.
Merlin cracked the tin and took a sip of the disgustingly sweet drink. On the screen a representative of the WHO was talking dedicatedly.
„Are they talking about that virus again?“ he asked, watching the man’s lips move silently.
„Hmm. They’re on about it the whole afternoon. Seems they’re going to declare it a pandemic. There are cases outside South America now.“
Wow. This was becoming concerning slowly. Merlin started searching for the remote to listen in for a bit but before he found it, the news had switched to a different topic.
„Lawrence from ARPA mailed, he wants to Zoom you tonight.“ Mackenzie told him and pushed a note over the counter in roughly his direction while her other hand was still clicking the mouse vehemently.
„Ugh! Why can’t he leave me alone?“ Merlin whined, knocking his forehead against the nearest cabinet. „Things are not speeding up if bothers me constantly!“
He opened the cabinet in a fruitless attempt to get himself a bag of crisps but found it empty.
„I think he wants you to hold a speech in front of a bunch of investors.“
„Yeah, fat chance!“ Merlin mumbled.
He gave up and stepped back to the fridge, that, as he already knew, held also nothing remotely edible.
„‘You hungry?“ he asked.
„Oh my god! Starving!“ Mackenzie gushed.
„Okayyyy…“ Merlin opened the door to the pantry. „Options are – tinned beans on toast, toast without beans or …pizza!“
„Pizza!“ they both decided simultaneously.
„Alright then. Big tuna?“
„Big tuna, no onions.“ Mackenzie confirmed.
Merlin fished his mobile out of his pocket and thumbed for the right number but suddenly he paused and his shoulders slumped.
„Fuck. We can’t! It’s Tuesday!“
„So?“ Mackenzie turned in her seat and raised an eyebrow at him.
„It’s his shift, we said, we avoided that.“
„Be realistic, Merlin! Giovanni’s is the only restaurant that even deliverers this far out. I’m not going to eat beans just because my arsehole of an ex- boyfriend is the fucking pizza boy!“
„He shouldn’t even have this job, the way he harasses you every time!“ Merlin mumbled annoyed.
„I deal with him since secondary school, I’ll be fine. Now order the bloody pizza!“
Merlin was not happy but he made the call and ordered their pizzas. Mac often got pretty rebellious when she felt like he was living out what she called his knight complex, something that he considered one of his better features. He assumed it was because she was so short, that she was very careful to never be treated like a child. Which he didn’t! This guy was simply an arse! Merlin suspected, he spat on their food before.
To cut the waiting time short, he began to write a shopping list. He was basically out of everything. If the tests turned out to be positive he was going to take a day off tomorrow, maybe two even, if he felt lavish.
When the doorbell rang, Mackenzie slapped her notebook shut and took some money out of the jar on the counter.
„Hey, wait! I‘ll go.“ Merlin stopped her, letting his inner knight flourish.
„No way! I can’t let him think that I’m weak and avoid him!“
„Being absent isn’t a sign of weakness. He wouldn’t know.“
„I would know, that’s enough!“
She shoved him out of the way and went for the front door.
„Fine! But I’m right behind you! If he tries anything again I’m going to turn him into a toad!“
She giggled but Merlin was dead serious. He placed himself behind the door blade and peered through the gap on the side when she opened the door.
„Mac! What a pleasure to see you - I’d love to say, but I can’t!“ the guy on the doorstep greeted with a nasty grin, dark eyes sparkling with venom, black curls weirdly pushed down over his undercut by a green cap, stating Giovanni’s Pizza Place.
„Hello Sam,“ Mackenzie answered with a sigh. „I’m just as happy to see you! Can I have my pizza, please?“
Pizza boy made no attempt to hand his goods over.
„What the hell are you wearing?“ he asked, tucking at the hem of the checkred shirt she wore over ripped jeans. „God, you used to be hot, once. Now you look more like a half dead librarian.“
„That’s too kind of you. My pizza?“
„I bet you haven’t had a man in years, have ya? No wonder when you’re hiding your titties under all that flannel!“
He made another try to pull at her shirt and Merlin almost jumped out of his skin behind the door. With a firm hold on the handle, Mackenzie stopped him from interfering, batting Sam’s hand away at the same time.
„If you don‘t hand me the damn pizza now, you can keep it and I won’t pay you! Then you can explain to your boss, what kept you from delivering.“
„Whatever…“ Sam grunted. He took the boxes down from his shoulder where he had balanced them, all casually, and they exchanged pizza and money.
„Finally, I’m starving!“ Mackenzie murmured.
„Hey, if you’re really starving and need someone to give it to you good, you can always call me! And don’t pretended you’re getting it from your boss,“ he added. „He’s a poof, blind man can see that!“
Wow. He really was an arse!
Merlin lost the rest of his patience. His eyes flared golden and Mackenzie let out a shriek, almost dropping the pizza.
Merlin peered around the door and sure enough there was a fat toad sitting on the garden path, half hidden by a green cap.
„Oh my fucking god, Merlin! Are you nuts?“ Mac sounded shocked but was also dying with laughter. „You can’t just turn people into toads like that! I never thought you meant that literally!“
„He deserves it!“ Merlin shrugged, unimpressed.
„What if he tells anyone?“
Merlin snorted „They will probably think he had a bad joint or something. …and he won’t remember anyway. Toad brains are small!“
„You have to turn him back!“
„I will, no worries. Let’s just close the door first and give the man some privacy when he comes to.“
Merlin did what he said – magically closing the door and undoing the spell – while shoving his assistant back towards the kitchen. Mackenzie turned around several times, glancing back to the entrance with a worried face.
„Jeez, will you stop fuzzing! I didn’t do any permanent damage….as far as I know?“
„As far as you know? Wow, way to go with those morals, Mister!“
„My morals? Did you hear what he said?“
Mackenzie snorted, dropping the pizza boxes on the counter. „Now, being called a poof is where you set the limits, yes?“
„No?“ Merlin frowned at her while pulling one of the boxes to himself. „It’s his attitude! I couldn’t care less what people think about my love life! That’s your pizza.“
„You don’t have a love life.“
„Not true…“ he muttered.
„I wouldn’t call that a love life! Having a boyfriend, who is bouncing around all over the planet while you endlessly wait for him to return. He hasn’t been here once in the last three years!“
„I talk to him every night!“ Merlin pouted. He grabbed a slice of peperoni pizza and stuffed his mouth so he didn’t have to answer to her comments. If she knew that he was always alone while talking to Arthur and the man never replied, she probably had him admitted to a mental ward.
„You know, sometimes I’m not sure if you made him up.“
Well, sometimes he wasn’t so sure himself.
„Can we change the topic please?“
Mackenzie knew at what spots not to poke too hard so they quickly moved over to talk shop about the test series, still running in the basement.
To both their endless relief those tests turned out to be successful only an hour later. Mackenzie called it a day and left on her electric moped, good new energy systems researcher that she was, but not without searching the garden first for an enchanted toad that potentially could still sit there. Merlin was a bit annoyed. His clothes and his car were gone, of course Sam had turned back from a toad into a prick! Not to mention that his magic had gotten pretty reliable over the last millennials, it was not as if he didn’t know what he was doing!
After Mackenzie had left, Merlin cancelled his Zoom meeting with Mister Lawrence from Houston. The man would never understand why Merlin was not willing to leave England (or to hold speeches in front of people in any country). The most promising tactic was to avoid him as long as possible and let Mac deal with the backlash. That was the advantage of a highly paid assistant.
With that off the table Merlin decided that he probably could do with some exercise after sitting in front of a computer for days. Since daylight had left about an hour ago, running over slippery meadows was not a healthy option. The treadmill would have to do. Merlin put his AirPods in, turned his favourite Slipknot album on and started running to the drumming beat.
After heavy jogging for the length of the album he added ten minutes of walking pace to cool his circulation down. Over the span of his way too long life Merlin had learned the hard way to take care of his body and keep himself fit. In the end there was only so much, magic could fix. If only his eating habits were better! It wasn’t as if he wasn’t capable of cooking, it was more an issue of him forgetting everyday tasks like buying food. Mackenzie had suggested several times that he should have groceries delivered or even have a housekeeper but that would only mean local people sticking their noses into his business. It would complicate things unnecessarily.
Pleasantly tired Merlin stood in front of the panorama window, staring outside into the dark landscape while nursing his water bottle, though the only thing he really could see was his own reflection.
,Emrys!’ out of nowhere a voice sounded in his head.
Merlin spluttered his water over his t-shirt and spun around, although he was pretty sure that, whoever had spoken, was not in the room.
Breathing heavily he pressed his back against the cold glass of the window and slit into a crouch. His heart was going like a jackhammer. Nobody had talked to him in his head for at least a century. More importantly though – it had been thousands of years since he heard this name spoken in the old Britonnic dialect!
Maybe he had imagined it.
‚Who are you?‘ he carefully tried to make contact in his mind.
,Emrys!’ the voice repeated. ,The time you so patiently waited for has come. Return to where you left us!’
And now he also recognised the strange timbre to the voice, as if several people spoke at the same time. But it couldn’t be! His hands started shaking violently and he clenched them around his knees, fighting to anchor himself.
Helplessly he tried to string words together to reply or - to even start to think about the fact that he should likely reply. But the only words in his brain were a constant tantrum of can’tbecan’tbecan’tbecan’tbe!
Merlin slapped himself in the face, much harder than he intended to, but it got him out of it.
‚You want me to return to the tower on the island?‘ he mind-asked, rubbing his aching cheek.
‚Yes. We are awaiting you.‘
So it was true.
Arthur.
They wanted him to go to the island and pick him up. Because that’s what they meant, right? Why else would they call him?
It seemed absolutely surreal.
After all this time they made something like a bloody phone call and told him to get his cleaned laundry!
Really, fuck the Gods!
Well, after he had Arthur save back with him! Definitely after!
What was he supposed to do know?
With a start Merlin noticed that he was still sitting uselessly in his gym without having moved a muscle yet.
There was a plan! He had a carefully prepared plan for that case, adjusted every few years to the given situation. The only thing he had to do now was remembering it!
Merlin sunk down on his arse, spread his knees and breathed deeply into the gap to avoid a panic attack. Then he realised how much the whole situation resembled giving birth and he fell into a fit of giggles.
Focus! he scolded himself.
Alright. Wear sports clothing! Check.
No, a warmer set, it was cold outside!
He shakily climbed to his feet, run to his bedroom and slipped into his outdoor running gear. It would take him fifteen minutes by foot to the lake, ten if he ran. Taking the car was not an option, Arthur would be traumatised enough by all the changes that the world had gone through without stuffing him into a modern vehicle.
In the back of his wardrobe there was a small rucksack waiting – new clothes for Arthur if he needed them, a bottle of water, if required. Also a spare key to the house because it was a given fact, that Merlin would always misplace his keys when he was in a hurry.
Okay.
Mobile? Check.
Heart? Still beating. Unexpectedly fast and hard but definitely beating!
Merlin patted his chest where the treacherous organ was racing underneath, nodded to his refection in the mirror and off he went.
The night was cloudy and a bit chill for April, the course over the grassland to the lake dark and bare of any people, but Merlin knew the way with his eyes closed and where he didn’t, he had his magic to light things up
When he reached the waterline, he could make out the black mass of the small island and the tower on top, a sight, only he was left being able to see nowadays. The lake had shrunk quite significantly over the last few hundred years and probably would have been gone completely meanwhile if he hadn’t pushed the district in the 70s to turn the area into a nature reserve.
This also meant - no landing stage, no boats, no obvious way to cross the water.
While Merlin was still pondering which way to use his magic to solve the problem - there were actually several ways he had come up with but none seemed particularly brilliant now in the dark – a shallow punt appeared, teetering on the little waves that rolled onto the sand. In fact, it looked very much like something they would have used in the age of Camelot and the memory sparked a sharp pain in Merlin’s chest. Well, it surely wouldn’t be the last one tonight.
He stepped into the boat and his magic set it in motion. The journey was short but slow and his anticipation grew with every second.
He knew he was better off than any other human being would be, remembering things or, in particular one person, over such a long span of time, because he had used magic to preserve pictures in his mind but… what if that falsified everything? What if nothing had really happened the way he remembered it?
Well, one thing was for sure – the island, the dark tower with its walls, bare of openings except for a gate that appeared out of nowhere when he approached, the strange timeless and completely empty inside, it all looked exactly the same as the last time he had been there.
Merlin suppressed a laughter about his own wording. The last time – as if it had been six months, not six months and 1485 years. Yes, he was actually still counting!
„Emrys. Welcome!“ his thoughts got interrupted.
Oh well! As were the three absolute identical women with the annoying habit to speak at the same time. Not changed at all!
„Thank you , Your…“ he rummaged through his vocabulary for the right term : „ …Deity?“
„We are the personification of the triple goddess. It is our….“
„Yes, I know for fucks sake!“ Merlin grumbled, clearly too rude for a conversation with a goddess. „Why did you call me though? I thought you meant to give Arthur back to the world? Right?“
„Merlin.“
Merlin closed his eyes before he turned his head. The voice. The voice was exactly as he remembered!
He took a deep breath and dared to look.
There he was, appeared out of thin air like everything here did. They had stripped him off his armour and left him in his familiar tunic and breeches, all his wounds healed, clean and unmarked and not the smallest bit changed from how he had always been.
Everything slowed down and became very still for a minute. He remembered everything right. This was exactly how the world was supposed to be!
With a whoosh time caught up to him and Merlin breathed out shakily.
„Arthur!“ he whispered and then hurriedly pressed the heel of his hand against one eye to stop himself from starting to bawl like a baby.
Arthur crossed the room with quick steps and pulled him into a tight hug.
Jesus fucking Christ! The man even smelled and felt like in his memory! Merlin took his time to just stand in Arthur‘s arms and soak everything in until he was sure he would not have a breakdown and become completely useless to the situation.
„You’re real!“ he murmured when he was sure his voice would hold. „This is way too perfect to be one of my dirty dreams!“
Arthur chuckled and loosened the embrace to take a step back and hold him at arm’s length.
„You look pretty real, too!“ he confirmed with a smirk.
His eyes travelled over Merlin’s form and slowly his smile turned into a thoughtful frown. Clearing his throat he moved his fingertips over the fabric of Merlin’s Softshell jacket, the zip. Finally he lifted Merlin’s arm and stared at the smart watch at his wrist.
Damnit, sometimes he was way too clever for his own good!
„How long have I been sleeping exactly?“ he asked in a suspicious tone.
„Arthur, no! Come on, we don’t have to do this now! I’m going to take you home and tomorrow I will explain…“
„How long, Merlin?“ Arthur raised his voice and his face became a little pinched.
Merlin looked away and bit his lip. He couldn’t just blur it out like that, Arthur would be devastated!
A hand closed around his jaw and Arthur forced him to look back at him.
„Don’t be stupid, Merlin! You know you will have to tell me eventually. Unless you plan to store me in a dungeon and keep me away from the outside world!“
Merlin forced himself to smile at the well-meant attempt at a joke. Preventative he closed his eyes again. Nobody could bring him to watch Arthur crumble at the news.
„Around…one thousand five hundred years?“ He cautiously forced one eye open.
„What?“
Arthur took another step back and Merlin could see realisation of what that meant, set in.
„One thousand five hundred years?“ he asked, his voice raised, and turned to the artificial priestesses who had stood aside wordlessly the entire time.
„You made him wait one and a half millennial? Why would you do that?“
Arthur’s face was red with anger and Merlin wondered if he should hold him back before he attacked an actual goddess.
„We apologise for the long wait. We understand that more than a thousand years is a very long time for mortal beings.“
„I don’t care for your apologies!“ Arthur was now downright shouting. „Why! Would you do that to him!“
The finger he was pointing at Merlin was shaking slightly and Merlin feared that, if there was not a very good explanation following here, this would end badly.
He went after him and curled a hand around Arthur’s biceps.
„It’s alright. Really, I’m fine!“
„It’s not alright, Merlin and you know it!“ Arthur growled. Barely awake five minutes and already in full knight’s mode. How Merlin had missed that!
„The decision to bring you back at this time is not made at random. You are the Once and Future King and the future became the present now. There is a reason to your awakening.“
„Then what is that reason? And this better be good!“
„As we explained to you before, Emrys, we manifest at this particular spot of your world because it is the main gate to the realm of the Sidhe. For thousands and thousands of years the Sidhe strive to invade the realm of the mortals to conquer it for their own use. This would set everything off balance. So we guard the portal to our best ability.
„It was around the age of your first lifetime that people began to abandon magic and we realised that their behaviour was weakening the balance too and that we might not be able to maintain order forever. So we set to find mortal leaders who would be able to unite the human kind when the worst shall happen. We were right to choose you. You, Emrys, with your unique ability to contain magic and you, Arthur Pendragon, with the aura to lead people the right way. You proved yourselves worthy.“
Arthur’s face took on a sour expression when he realised, just as Merlin had back then, that seemingly their prophecy had been a setup, that they had been used like rats in a maze. He was ready to tell the women as much, when they continued.
„It is now, we brought you back, because we failed. While they were kept from leading an invasion, the Sidhe had always been able to open small portals inside any water on the earth and send a few of their kind to disturb the human order.
„It was, what your measurements would call, weeks ago that they unfortunately succeeded in striking a deadly blow.“
A deadly blow? That was news to Merlin. Had there been any Tsunamis or other natural disasters recently?
Arthur looked at him with a worried frown and then suddenly Merlin realised.
„The virus!“ he blurred out.
„It is not a virus, it is a magical disease. That is why your doctors are not able to find a cure.“
„But…what am I supposed to do against it? I’m not a doctor and no one would believe me if I said I could help them magically!“
Merlin was profoundly confused.
„And Arthur? I mean I know he can be convincing and all, but I think he will have hard time, coming out of nowhere and charm the prime minister into listening to me!“
„Do not despair, Emrys. We have seen many outcomes and most of them give us faith in you.
„Riiiightttt…another destiny! Just what I was waiting for!“ Merlin mumbled disgruntled. „What about some hints to guide the way?“
„You will learn with time.“
The personification of the triple fucking goddess had the absolute audacity to dissolve before their eyes.
Arthur’s hand came to rest upon his shoulder and squeezed.
„Let it go, Merlin. You will be fine.“
„How would you know?“ Merlin was still fuming and regretted his attitude immediately. The last person he should let it out on, was Arthur!
„Because you made it so far. Thousands of years! Unbelievable, you can do anything! And now you even have me back to help you. It’s a shared destiny, remember?“
Oh god, yes! Merlin looked up and run his gaze over the familiar face he hadn’t seen so unmeasurable long. Arthur was back! All that counted now, was helping him find a place in the modern world. Any gods or fae or magical viruses could kindly fuck off!
„Shall we go home? Wherever that is?“ Arthur asked when Merlin didn’t answer for too long.
„Yes, please.“ he nodded.
I take inspiration for side characters from other shows. Mainly because I want to write the character without bothering with the orignal show it came from.
Sam is inspired by Sam Otto's performance of John Osweiler in 'Snowpiercer'.