A/N: I'm alive. I know, shocking! I'm still working on The King and The Slave, I just got sidetracked by this one! I've become a masssssssive Merlin fan, and this idea just came to me while I was laying in bed, so I hope you guys enjoy it (: love you all! I'll update soon

Chapter 1: Waking Up

The last thing he remembered feeling was the drop of a tear on his forehead and the soft warmth that was spreading through his limbs. He remembered hearing Merlin shout, something between angry and heartbroken, his hands desperately clutching to his arms, his words foreign. He remembered looking at Merlin one last time, seeing the heartbroken, terrified look in his eyes. And then he didn't remember anything.

It felt like seconds and then suddenly, he could feel something. He could feel the pain in the back of his throat, like he was choking, and his limbs felt useless, floating by his side. His eyes were open, yet all he could see was blue, with specks of white. And then suddenly, his eyes burned. From what, he wasn't sure, but he did know he couldn't breathe. He opened his mouth to try and breathe in only to have his mouth filled with water.

Water

He was underwater. That made sense. Not really, but enough for Arthur to accept what was happening. He kicked with his feet, extending his arms forward to feel for the surface of the water. He had no idea how deep he was, or how he'd even got there, just that he needed air and he needed it now.

His arms finally broke through and he came sputtering, coughing, and gagging to the surface. He looked wildly around, all at the same as trying to breathe and being unsuccessful at it.

"Jared! Holy cr- look! There! In the water!"

Arthur really couldn't breathe. And it was causing him to become weak. His arms slowly stopped trying to keep him above the surface and he could feel himself blacking out, something that was all too familiar to him these days.

"He's drowning!" Arthur could hear someone say, as someone else yelled at them to stop. He could hear a splash nearby, and that was all he heard before he slipped underwater, exhausted.

The next thing he knew, there was a mouth pressed against his and hands on his chest.

"Is it working?"

"I don't know."

The second voice, which sounded closer to him, kept whispering "Come on, come on", and there was a constant thumping on his chest.

Finally, the pressure in his chest gave away and he spit out the water that was pooling in his throat. He coughed, the man that had been sitting on him jumping off as Arthur came to a sitting position. He gagged, feeling awful.

"He's alive!" The younger one behind the first one exclaimed. The first one didn't seem so ecstatic. He was merely focused on the man in front of him.

Finally, when all the water seemed to have left his lungs, Arthur looked up at the young boys, one of which was kneeling beside him, asking if he was okay. Arthur simply nodded, trying to thank the boy, but the words came out raspy.

The first one offered to help him up, and Arthur gladly took the hand, pulling himself to his feet. He took a minute to take in the two boys, who he should mention were very oddly dressed. The older looking one, the one who had been on top of him, had dark brown hair, which was soaked and plastered to the side of his forehead. His eyes were dark, almost as dark as Guinevere's. He wore what looked to be a shirt, cotton maybe, with half of its sleeves missing. It was blue, with a weird design of maybe a bird on the front of it. His pants were blue, a darker blue than his shirt and were made out of some weird fabric Arthur wasn't quite familiar with. There were pockets in weird places and a strange metal thing on the front, where his ties should be.

The other boy was dressed similarly on the lower half, but his upper half was covered in what looked to be a baggy tunic with a hood on the back and a strange pocket-like thing in the front, where the boy was currently resting his hands in.

The first boy opened his mouth to say something, but Arthur cut him short, jabbing a finger at his shirt, "Is that a, a bird?"

The boy looked down, furrowing his eyebrows and looking back up at Arthur like he'd grown a second head, "Um, yes, actually."

"What fabric are those?" Arthur pointed to the pants.

The boy again looked confused, "Jeans. Um, are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"

"Jeans," Arthur whispered, repeating the word.

"Maybe we should take him to see mom?" The second boy whispered, as if Arthur couldn't hear him, and the first boy nodded.

"Our mom's a nurse. We live right across the street," He pointed over Arthur's shoulder. Maybe you should back with us. Just to make sure you're okay."

"Nurse?" Arthur whispered. What on earth was that?

The boys didn't really wait for an answer, just slowly started walking in the direction behind him, one of them whispering to the other about how oddly dressed Arthur was. Him? They should look in a mirror. Arthur turned around, expecting to see woods.

He froze. In front of him, not more than ten feet away, was a black strip. It looked to be hard, and it was several feet wide, with yellow lines in the middle. Beyond that was a house, as large as the wealthiest house in Camelot. It was made of white stone, and several strange looking windows covered it. The grass was green and cut short, and a few random decorations, the likes of which Arthur had never seen, covered the lawn.

The boys paused – they must think he was so strange – and waited for him.

He stepped foot onto the black strip, surprised by how cold it was. He looked down to realize he was barefoot, wearing brown trousers and a white tunic, the same thing he had been wearing under his armor during the battle.

The boys led him to what looked like a very large door, lifting some flap and pressing buttons. Arthur jumped back as the door started to open vertically instead of horizontally, making a large, very unfriendly sound. In the middle of this room was a strange, metal, shiny looking thing. He couldn't even describe it, it was just strange.

"Uh, what is that?" Arthur pointed at the metal thing.

"It's a Toyota Camry. I think a 2001. I'm not sure." The older one answered, pausing by a smaller door which Arthur assumed lead to the rest of their home.

"A Toyota Camry?"

"Yeeeeah." The boy said slowly, his tone almost mocking.

They led him inside, Arthur stopping every few minutes to take in the surroundings. There were odd looking machines and shiny surfaces all around him. None of which he recognized. The boys gestured him into a different room, which was covered by a very large rug. A rug so large it covered the entire floor.

He saw a couch on the left side, facing a flat, black object. He knew what a couch was, that made him feel better and he moved to sit on it.

The boys were still awkwardly standing in the corner of the room. The oldest one moved towards the stairs that were just in view at the end of the hallway, "I'm going to get mom. Put the T.V. on or something for him."

The youngest boy nodded, reaching for a long silver object that had several black buttons on top of it. He pressed a few buttons and suddenly a picture – a moving picture – appeared on the flat, black object. Sound emitted from it and the pictures danced in front of him, showing him a few oddly dressed men riding horses towards a strange thing in the sky.

"Cowboys vs. Aliens! I love this movie! Have you seen it?" The boy sat down next to him on the couch.

Arthur couldn't recall a time where he had been more confused.

A young woman, attractive, with her long blonde hair braided neatly behind her back, as Guinevere always had, appeared in the doorway. "Hello," she whispered as if afraid she'd scare him off, "my name is Sarah. My boys told me they found you in the lake."

"We saved him!" The youngest one piped out.

"Shhh, Dylan." She gestured for him to calm down and returned her attention back to Arthur, "They said you were unconscious for a bit. I'm a nurse and it's just a procedure to check if everything is okay. I'm just gonna ask you a few questions, ok?"

"Ok." Arthur whispered. He wasn't stupid. She should stop talking to him like he was a child.

"What's your name?" She sat on the couch across from him.

"Arthur." He said slowly. She should know this. How did she not recognize him?

She seemed taken back by that name, but said nothing. "What day is it?"

He thought back to the battle, what day had it been then? Well, they had rode out on Tuesday, stayed two nights before the battle. Then Merlin had spent two nights with him trying to get him to that island. So that would be…

"Saturday."

Her forehead creased, "Actually it's Wednesday. Do you know what the date is?"

Arthur tried to do the math again in his head, but she interrupted "It's November 3rd"

"November?" He whispered.

"Do you know the year?"

He looked around at the large house, the strange machines, and the odd rug, and the way these people were dressed and he was almost afraid to answer.

"It's 2013…"

His heart stopped, he felt his stomach drop. 2013? That was over 2000 years from the last date he remembered. There was no way, absolutely no way, it could be 2013. Where was Guinevere? Where was Merlin? What had happened to him? He looked up, losing his annoyed look and replacing it with a look of complete confusion, complete loss. "What?"

"2013. The year is 2013. You know that right?" She whispered carefully.

"That's not right. No. No." He looked down at his hands, "Where are we? And how do you not recognize me?"

"I'm sorry?" She glanced over at her two boys, "Um, we're in Wales."

"Wales?" He stood up. "I don't know what's going on. Surely you know me. Or at least heard of me." She didn't say anything so he continued, "Arthur? King Arthur?"

"King Arthur?" She laughed, covering her mouth immediately and apologizing under her breath. "King Arthur from the legends, King Arthur?"

Arthur looked at her, as if she was stupid.

"King Arthur and Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table? That legend?"

Arthur threw up his hands, dropping back down on the couch, "Merlin! Speaking of him, where the hell is he? Maybe he can explain all this bullshit"

"Language, please. Not around them." She gestured to her two children, "Listen, King Arthur was a legend. And even if he wasn't, he would have died thousands of years ago."

"Well that's funny, because I'm standing right in front of you so clearly I didn't."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Merlin was trying to get me to this island cause I had be-"

"Merlin the wizard?" Dylan offered.

"How does everyone know he has magic? Literally, I seemed to have been the only person who didn't know."

Sarah stared at him for a little longer before she offered a small smile, "Well excuse me for a minute, Arthur, I need to make a phone call."

As she stood, Jared went to follow her. He could hear them talking, barely, but he could. The mother was mentioning something about calling her friend at the hospital and taking him there to see someone. He had no idea what a hospital was, but from the sound of Jared's voice, it wasn't a good thing.

"No! Mom! What if he's telling the truth? We did find him in the middle of the lake. He came out of nowhere. Seriously. We were just sitting on the shore and all of a sudden, Dylan's screaming at me that there is a man drowning. Just out there. "

"Honey, I love you, but he's clearly insane. And I don't feel comfortable having him in my house."

"So you're gonna lock him up in the mental hospital? Mom, come on. Give him a chance."

"How do you suggest I do that, Jared? Sit down and listen to his great adventures of Merlin the wizard?"

There was a silence and then the sound of snapping fingers, "That man! At the library, you know, the one that's always sitting in the back. He's always talking about the Arthurian legends. Maybe we could meet with him? Have him talk to him."

"Are you suggesting that you think that man in there is actually someone from 2000 years ago?"

"No," he paused, "But mom, please, just meet with the guy first. Maybe the guy can convince him that he isn't Arthur. If he's still going on and on about it, then you can call the hospital."

"I'm sorry, son. No. I'm calling."

"Then I'm taking him." And with that, Jared appeared in the hallway. "Come on, man."

Arthur was reluctant to stand, but going with Jared seemed like a better option than staying here. He stood, brushing his hand on his trousers.

"Jared. Don't you dare leave this house!" Her voice was near hysterical as she followed Jared out the door they had come in through, Arthur close behind her. Jared continued to ignore her, fishing through his pockets for keys, the strangest keys Arthur had ever seen but keys nevertheless.

"Jared, listen to me! You stop right there!" Arthur brushed past her and suddenly her hand clasped around his bicep, "Don't you dare get in that car with my son! Do you hear me?"

He didn't think right now was an appropriate time to ask her what on God's name was a car.

Jared tapped on his arm then gestured to the open door. Arthur carefully shook her hand off his arm and walked out the door, his mother hysterically crying, which in Arthur's mind was completely unnecessary.

Jared walked down to the side of the street to another odd-looking piece of metal. Arthur paused, pointing to it. "Toyota Camry, right?"

Jared laughed, unlocking the door and opening it for Arthur, "No, just a plain old truck", Arthur hesitated before climbing into the vehicle. Jared pressed the key into the strange whole and turned, the entire machine jumping to life, rumbling under Arthur. Arthur grabbed the side of the 'truck', his heart in his throat, what the hell was this contraption, "I guess I understand now why you ask all those silly questions."

Arthur laughed, "So you believe me?"

He shrugged, and suddenly the truck lurched forward, making Arthur a nervous wreck. Jared laughed, "To some degree. I mean it's kind of far fetched, but anything's possible, right?"

Arthur didn't say another word and they rode in silence for the next ten minutes. Arthur was still desperately clutching to the side of the car for his dear life, especially now that they were surrounded by several 'cars' on a too-thin road.

"If you are who you say you are…and the legends are true," he made a turn onto a less busy street, "then…you could say I'm a huge fan."

Arthur smiled and Jared returned it. Arthur turned back to look out at the window. There were hundreds of advanced looking buildings, floors high, higher than his castle, with thousands of windows. People were walking around, wearing strange clothes and holding strange devices to their ears, talking into them as if the device could hear them. It was all too much and Arthur turned his eyes to stare at his hands. He felt frustration at his core, and though Arthur could never admit it, he felt his eyes began to sting from tears. What was this world he had been sucked into? Where was the world he had known, had loved? Where was his wife?

When they did pull up to what Arthur assumed was the library, he had managed to calm himself down. He followed Jared into the library, waiting while he stopped to talk to the guy at the front desk, and then followed him to the second floor of the library. The library itself was something familiar to Arthur, it gave him comfort – the smell of old books and dusty shelves.

In the back, against the wall, with a hardbound book laying open in his lap, was an old man, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He glanced up as they approached him. For a moment, just for a moment, Arthur thought he recognized him, but it was gone. Perhaps he looked familiar, and the more Arthur thought about it the more Arthur realized the man looked liked Dragoon the Great. Except Dragoon the Great was really Merlin and that caused a painful feeling in his gut.

"Mr. White?" Jared said in a hushed voice, "Can we join you?"

The man – Mr. White – looked confused for a moment before nodding and gesturing to the table nearby. He slowly stood to his feet, closing the thick book, and followed Jared to the table.

He took a moment to fold his glasses up and set them on the table in front of him. Arthur sat directly in front of him, his hands in his laps.

Jared cleared his throat, glancing at Arthur before he turned his full attention back to Mr. White. "This is a bit of….an odd situation. But I want you to hear me out before you judge, okay? I mean, if you don't mind."

The man leaned back in his chair, nodding, "I'm listening."

"You know a lot about the Arthurian legends, right? I mean I kind of assumed because you're always talking about it," he paused to measure the man's reaction before continuing, "Do you, honestly, like seriously, believe that Arthur could be reincarnated?"

The man took a moment, letting a small smile slip onto his face. "In answer to your question, no. Reincarnation suggests that Arthur would return in a new body and begin a new life. The legends suggest he will return, not reincarnate. Arthur will return in his original body. If the legends are correct, of course."

"Reason I ask…" he laughed to himself, "you're gonna think I'm insane. But this guy," Jared pointed to Arthur, "says he is Arthur."

The man leaned forward all of a sudden, grabbing his glasses and hurriedly placing them on his nose. He suddenly stood, moving over to a bookshelf. He grabbed a book off of it, sat back down, cracking it open in front of him. His fingers traced the lines of the books, his eyes scanning.

"The only description it ever gave of Arthur was a man of shorter stature, blonde, beard," he mumbled to himself more than the other two men.

"I've never had a beard. Guinevere didn't like the look of it." Arthur stated absentmindedly.

Mr. White looked up at Arthur, "Young man, what makes you think you are Arthur?"

"I don't think it. I know it. And I know it cause I am." Arthur groaned in frustration. "Ask me anything. I'll know. Just ask."

Mr. White shook his head. "I'm not going to quiz you. So you really are King Arthur?"

"You can close those books and I can recite to you everything that happened. The Knights and the Round Table, Merlin, Guinevere. I can tell you anything about anyone," Arthur's glare was intense, willing him to believe him. Wishing with everything that someone would believe him.

And that's how it happened. Arthur relayed to him the memory of the battles he had fought, the people he had saved, the laws he had enforced. The entire time Mr. White and Jared sat back and listened. But by the end, and after answering a million questions even though Mr. White told him he wouldn't quiz him, he thought he had them convinced.

"Well…" Mr. White laughed, "Tickle me pink. I never thought I would be able to come face to face with the true Arthur. I am a fan, you know. Now you probably will have no luck trying to convince others who you are. People aren't near as believing as the people of your time."

Arthur smiled, how he had managed to convince them, he'll never know, "Ok. Thank you."

"I have so many questions for you." Jared laughed.

"I think I actually have a few questions for you, Mr. White." Arthur whispered.

Mr. White's eyebrows shot up, "Questions for me? Shouldn't I be the one asking you questions?"

"Guinevere…what happened to her? Do you know?"

"Legends say she never remarried. She died a natural death, in her sleep." He said sympathetically. "She kept Camelot at peace for many years."

Arthur pressed his face into his hands. "And she won't return, will she?"

Mr. White shook his head slowly, "I'm afraid not."

"What of Merlin?" He grimaced at the thought, having come so close to experiencing it with him before, "How did he pass? When he did die?"

Mr. White's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" He laughed, "How am I supposed to know? Apparently, I've been in a coma for the last 15 centuries."

"Well, I should start off by asking if the legends are true in saying Merlin was a sorcerer?"

"He was. He had magic." Arthur looked at him like he was an idiot, maybe just to make himself feel better that he didn't know that himself for the longest time.

"Well, Merlin himself is magic. The name given to him by the Druids – Emrys – means immortal. He has always been immortal. That's why even though he was an old man when you met him, as the years passed he never detoriated in healt-"

"Old man?" Arthur laughed, "He was younger than me!"

Mr. White looked confused for a minute. "Merlin was young when you met him? No, no, no, the legends have always depicted him as an older man with long, white hair and a beard even longer than yours."

"I never had a beard. Neither did Merlin. And he had short, black hair." He felt like he was talking to a child.

"I wonder why he was written as an old man in the legends."

"Either way, you said he's immortal?"

"Oh yes. Merlin never died. In any of the legends. Well except for in the legends where he was not a person of magic. But most of the legends wrote of him wandering, waiting for you to return. They've had different explanations of how he has gone unnoticed, but I'm not sure which of the legends are true." He was rambling and Arthur had quite honestly stopped listening several minutes ago.

"Merlin is alive though?" He interrupted.

"If the legends are true, yes. He's been alive this whole time."

"Merlin has been alive for over 1500 years?" Arthur said slowly, "How is that even possible?"

It was still weird for him to think of Merlin as being a powerful sorcerer, let alone an immortal, powerful sorcerer. To him, Merlin was still his manservant. His lanky, too clumsy, too daft manservant, who was sometimes his wisest advisor and sometimes, more times than not, the bravest man he had ever met. Merlin was still his best friend, though Arthur would never tell him that. Merlin wasn't the man who had bent over him, eyes gold, and foreign words escaping his lips.

"I'm not sure. No one is. And not many people believe he still exists. I'm not sure I even did for the longest time. Why would God punish someone to walk alone on this dreadful earth for eternity?"

Suddenly, Jared stood, his phone to his ear. "Hey mom," he held a finger up to Arthur and Mr. White before stepping away from the table.

There was silence for a moment before Mr. White leaned forward, "What are you going to do?"

"Good question." Arthur laughed. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do or why I'm even here."

Mr. White nodded, "I don't know either. I…think…I think you should find Merlin. If he is still around, he, and only he, will know what to do."

"How do I find him?"

"I don't know. Merlin has managed to stay out of the spotlight for centuries. He's managed to keep people from questioning him. To slip through decades, looking the same, and still be undetected, it's truly remarkable."

Arthur was starting to feel the familiar panic rising in him again and with everything he had, he shoved it back down. "The lake that he pulled me out of," he gestured in Jared's direction, "Do you think Merlin could still be waiting there?"

Mr. White lit up, standing quickly and rushing over to find a book. He brought it back, flipping through the pages and stopping on one in particular. "Here, is that the lake?"

Arthur followed his finger to the picture it was pointing at. There was an island in the distance, the one Arthur recognized as the island Merlin had been trying desperately to get him to, surrounded by a lake. There in the corner of the picture, sitting on the shore, was an old man, his face gazing out over the lake. In another picture, it was a close up of the man, who was standing now instead of sitting, his eyes still looking over the lake.

"They weren't sure who that man was. Many Arthurian fans thought it might be Merlin. That same man was spotted several times just waiting by that lake. He waited for years."

"He wasn't there when…"

"The last time he was spotted was over a hundred years ago. He's kind of an unsolved mystery."

Then he remembered. He remembered the man standing on the cliffs, bringing lightening down from the sky. The same old man that had seemed so strange to him before, that man had been Merlin. He pointed back at the picture. "That is Merlin. That's him."

Mr. White peered down at him. "You're sure?"

"Yes. No doubt."

"Then he is alive. And we will find him."

So should I continue? Review and let me know :)