Author's Note: So I've recently finished watching all 5 seasons of Merlin. It's completely amazing. And, of course, it made me want to write some fanfiction. This one is all about what happens when Arthur comes back. Be warned, I will refer to things that happened in the show, so don't read this unless you've watched the whole series or unless you don't mind reading spoilers. Also, I am not British (unfortunately). I'm American. This is a British TV show, and so I will try to do it justice. I know that some words are different between British English and American English. I will do my best to use the correct terms (such as trainers instead of sneakers), but I obviously won't be able to get them all right. Sorry. If anybody reading this is British and knows of any common words that the British use differently than Americans, let me know. I only know some of them. :(

In Albion's time of greatest need, Arthur will rise again. ~The Great Dragon

Merlin's eyes flew open as the sense of powerful magic - very powerful magic - washed over him. He hadn't felt magic that powerful in decades. A magic powerful enough to bring someone back from the dead.

Only a moment later, a small body was landing on his stomach. "Did you feel it? Did you, Pappy? I felt the magic. Did you?"

Chuckling, Merlin sat up, hugging his granddaughter. She was always so full of enthusiasm. And despite the fact that she was only seven years old, she full-heartedly believed the legend of King Arthur. She waited for his return almost as eagerly as her grandfather did. "Yes, Ellie. I felt it."

"Is it him? Is it King Arthur? Is he finally back?"

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Can we go see? Just to make sure? Please?" The little girl bounced up and down, causing her grandfather to wince in pain.

Merlin looked at the clock. "You need to start getting ready for school."

She pouted. "Please, Pappy? Please, please, please? What if it is him, and he's just walking around out there all by his lonesome self? He might be sad. We have to go and see."

He sighed. When she really put her mind to it, she was difficult to argue with. If Arthur truly was back, then it was likely that he would be bumbling around like a clotpole. "All right, but you have to get ready first. We'll eat our breakfast on the way."

Ellie cheered and rushed out of Merlin's bedroom. Merlin couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's infectious happiness. She was so much like her grandmother.

Oh, how he missed Kate.

His darling wife had been gone for twenty-three years, but the pain was still there. Some portion of it, anyway. Just as the pain from the deaths of Arthur, Gwen, Gaius, Balinor, and Hunith were still there. He didn't think that pain would ever fully go away. There would always be a dull ache that he couldn't soothe.

"Pappy! I'm ready!" Ellie came into the room again, her black ringlets bouncing against her back. She was wearing a pink shirt with an image of a unicorn on the front. She wore a turquoise sequin skirt over a pair of multicolored leggings. She had green trainers on her feet.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "That was a fast change. And my, you are an array of colors." She usually was, though. He always let her choose her own outfits, and she always chose something with lots of color. He didn't see any reason not to allow a young child to have control over her own wardrobe.

She giggled. "Pappy! You're not even dressed yet! Get up! It might be Arthur!"

"All right, all right." Merlin got himself out of bed. "Go brush your teeth and hair, please."

Ellie ran out of the room again. Merlin quickly got himself dressed. He wasn't as confident as his granddaughter that it was Arthur, but he couldn't get rid of that ray of hope that was forming in his gut.

Ellie gripped his hand as they left the house together. She practically dragged him to the shore of the lake. Merlin had built the house only twelve years after Arthur's death. Of course, it had gone through many renovations throughout the centuries. It had began as nothing more than a hut, really. Now it was a fairly large, one-level home. A home where he had been able to raise his family.

Ellie skidded to a stop near the water's edge. She took a bite of her toast.

The water of the lake was smooth, undisturbed.

Merlin opened his mouth to say something about it, when Ellie shook her head. "Shh. He might just be hiding."

She wouldn't let him talk at all, afraid that talking would somehow keep Arthur from coming back.

But Arthur was nowhere to be seen.

Merlin sighed. They had been waiting and watching for nearly an hour. "It doesn't look like it was Arthur, Ellie. I'm sorry."

"But, Pappy…We can't give up. Maybe we just can't see him yet. We have to wait." And with that, she plopped herself onto the ground and wrapped her arms around knees. She looked resolutely at the lake.

With a sigh, Merlin sat beside her. He supposed he could give her a few more minutes. Out of his three children and four grandchildren, Ellie was the only one who believed in the magic of Avalon, in magic itself. Of course, it helped that she had magic.

He remembered a conversation he'd had with his youngest daughter, Hanna. The whole family had been swimming in the lake earlier in the day. Hanna was only ten at the time.

"Dad? Why do you always stare at the lake like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're waiting for something."

Kate, standing nearby, had laughed. "He is waiting. He's waiting for a very important person to return. Arthur." She had grinned wickedly at her husband. She had known the truth, the truth about his past. She had known exactly how long he had waited for the Once and Future King to return.

Jenni, who had been sixteen, had looked up from her book. "King Arthur? With the Round Table and all of that?"

Merlin had nodded, lost in thought. "Legend says that when he died, he was taken into the lake of Avalon and the waters gave him immortality of a sort, until Albion's time of greatest need. Then, he would rise again to save it. Some think that this is the lake of Avalon." Of course, it was more than just legend to Merlin. Merlin knew that this was the lake of Avalon, even if the rest of the world didn't. He knew exactly where Arthur's body had been placed.

Fourteen-year-old Arty had snorted in contempt. "That's stupid, Dad. I've gone swimming in this lake a thousand times. I'm not immortal. And you've got grey hairs. There is no such thing as King Arthur or Avalon or any of that other crap that you're always going on about. They never existed."

Now, as Merlin looked out at the lake, he almost wondered if it had all been a dream. Camelot, Gaius, King Arthur. If little Arty had been right, and that none of it had every existed. But he knew it had all happened. It had been real.

Ellie had asked him, if he was immortal, why he let himself look so old. "Why can't you make yourself a boy, so we could play together even more?" she had wanted to know.

He supposed he could make himself look young again, by taking off the aging spell. But he knew it would create more tension between himself and his family. They didn't need to know his past.

He glanced at his watch. "All right, Ellie. It's time for school."

"Five more minutes. Please, Pappy?"

"No. You're already late. Come on. I get in trouble enough as it is for not having you to school on time. I always seem to bring you in late." He stood and held his hand out to her. With a sigh, she took it.