Cognitive Recalibration (They Hit Ezekiel Really Hard On The Head)

"My friends," called Cassandra, standing up on a library table. "Now is the time; we will rise against the forces of darkness. There is no beast that cannot be slain, no army that will not be faced, together we will fight, and together, we will win!" What was she saying? She sounded like Arthur. Though, she supposed, that was probably because of her role as Prince Charming, a little detail that she was definitely going to laugh about later. From manservant to prince!

"Baird," whispered Stone. "Hey, Baird." The "princess" was batting her eyelashes prettily at Cassandra. She tried not to laugh because she knew Baird wasn't doing it of her own free will. The Libris Fabula's influence was a very strange sensation, and the extent of it amazed her. It took a lot of power to control Emrys. Some part of Cassandra felt bad that she'd destroyed one of the library's chairs for a makeshift sword, but it was hard to care a lot when there were highschoolers-turned-wolves clawing at her.

"Hey guys!" Cassandra called in excitement, "I'm actually pretty good at this." She'd been rubbish at swordplay as Merlin; score one for the Libris Fabula. One of the wolves squealed and fell.

While the villagers cowered, Cassandra heard the disembodied voice of an old man all around her. She could feel the magic practically dripping from the words. The Princess, Prince, and Huntsman—

The wolves that were hunting them were suddenly blind, chimed in Ezekiel's voice. What he said came true and the wolves now floundered around trying to find them.

The wolves hunt your friends, came the old man's voice, they find them…the wolves kill everyone. The wolves rushed Cassandra, Baird, and Stone. She was sure she was about to die…

In mine it only looked like they died, a little girl's voice rang in her ears, because the Huntsman is really a Knight of the Round Table, and they're the best there ever was! The princess is King Arthur in disguise and the prince is really Merlin—you can't kill Merlin!

If only that girl knew how right she was. Cassandra was practically jumping inside; she felt a soft humming in her veins, the distinct feeling of magic she had been missing so much ever since she regained her memories. Those wolves didn't stand a chance now; she gathered a ball of magic in her palm, a simple spell meant to frighten the wolves away. They were normal people controlled by the book, after all.

And using their combined skill, they chased the wolves away! Except for the head wolf, he's forced to pay for his crimes…but he has to eat green Jell-O. Forever. Cassandra and company peered around a bookshelf to see the sheriff on the floor, surrounded by green Jell-O cups.

"I don't even know where these came from," he lamented.

The end.

-o-

"Anyway," Baird said, "that's why so many crazy things have been happening." The sheriff looked completely flabbergasted.

"In fact," came Ezekiel's voice, "you might wanna give everyone in town a pass on the last couple days." Jones brought the sheriff's daughter with him, looking much, much better now that the Libris Fabula wasn't sucking away her life force. The sheriff lit up and hugged his little girl.

"Jaime," he smiled. "How are you out of bed?"

"Jaime's feeling a lot better," said Ezekiel, "right, kid?"

"Right, dad," said Jaime. "I am."

"This can't be real," the sheriff said. He looked up at Ezekiel, "What did you do?"

"I think this is one of those times when we say 'and they lived happily ever after' and we go our separate ways," replied Ezekiel. Everyone but Cassandra began to walk back to the Annex door.

"But first," said Cassandra, kneeling down in front of Jaime, "I just wanted to say thank you. You have no idea what you've done for me." Cassie's eyes turned molten gold for just a second, and she slipped a little glass rose into Jaime's hand. Jaime's eyes widened, and Cassie winked, then followed the other Librarians and Guardian.

-o-

Through the door they walked, to see Jenkins with a pile of very, very old books. He waved at them.

"A—Are those—" began Stone.

"Yes. Thompson Diedre's arcane book collection, I decided it likely better they come with us. Who knows what else is…" Jenkins trailed off, picked up a rather heavy tome from his left. "I think Cassandra might be particularly interested in this one." She took the book from him, immediately recognizing the cover.

"Is this…?" she asked, Jenkins nodded. She had to open it to be sure but…right there. Merlin's notes littered the pages of the spellbook Gaius had given him. It was her spellbook. And now with her magic back because of the Libris Fabula, she could actually use the spells within.

"What's—" Stone cut off. He clutched his head in pain, Baird doing the same, and both crumpled to the floor. Cassandra ran to his side while Ezekiel checked on Eve. The moment Cassandra knelt, placing her hand on Jacob's shoulder, the pain stopped. He looked up at her.

"M—Merlin?" he asked, eyes wide and pleading.

"What did you just say?" Cassandra asked, breathless. Could Stone be one of the three Santa had told her about? Then did that mean the other two…Cassie immediately ran to Eve's side, hand on her shoulder. Eve, too, quit clutching her head and looked at Cassandra like it was the first time she'd seen her. She, however, smacked Cassie upside the head.

"Ow! Baird!"

"'Greatest wizard to ever live,' huh?" Baird snapped. "Eve remembers growing up hearing stories of you, the smack was for lying, you dollophead."

"Hey! That's my word," Cassie said automatically. She froze, realizing only one person in the whole of history would ever call her that. "Arthur?" She didn't wait for a response, she threw her arms around Eve, around Arthur, determined to hold her until someone proved this wasn't a dream.

"'Ey, mate, you just gonna ignore me over here?" said Jacob, in a way that sounded nothing like Stone but entirely like a certain knight.

"Gwaine?" Cassandra and Eve asked. Jacob nodded and Cassie amended her earlier resolve, released Eve, and clung to him.

"I'm not alone," she whispered, tears falling on Jacob's shoulder. "Santa told me I wasn't, but I don't think I fully believed him, please, please tell me this isn't a dream."

"It's not a dream, Merlin," Jacob soothed, hugging her tightly. "And by the way, I'm so sorry I didn't trust you. What you did…that was before you remembered, right?" Cassandra nodded into his neck.

"I'll never ever betray you again," she sobbed.

"You're more loyal than any knight ever was, I know you won't."

"Uh," chimed Ezekiel, "would someone like to clue me in here?"

"I'd like an explanation as well," said Jenkins. They all just stared at each other. Where do you even begin with something like this? Cassandra looked at Jenkins.

"Oh! Galahad I didn't mean…Of course I had you, and Kilgarrah and Aithusa, so I wasn't entirely alone, but this is different. This is Arthur and Gwaine! They're Arthur and Gwaine, Galahad!" Cassandra bounced in front of him, eyes shining. There wasn't anyone Merlin was closer to than those two, except perhaps Gaius.

"My king," Jenkins knelt before Eve. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Did you just say Galahad?" she asked Cassandra, then turned to Jenkins, "You're Galahad? But I thought—"

"That I was really old?" Jenkins laughed. "I am, there's a long story involving accidental magic…"

"Still seriously in the dark over here," called Ezekiel. Cassandra had forgotten he was even there, but if Baird and Stone were Arthur and Gwaine, then surely Ezekiel was the third person Santa had told her about?

"Santa told me there were three...I think you both got your memories back because of the power of the Libris Fabula; Ezekiel probably doesn't remember because Jaime never changed his archetype," Cassandra explained. "It would only make sense for him to be the third."

"You think Jones of all people was a knight?" Stone asked.

"Not necessarily, he could be anyone, we don't know what the Old Religion's purpose was in bringing you all back. Though it's possible you're just here because of me. Most of my soul never died," said Cassandra. Eve and Jacob gave her a look. "Ever wonder why Excalibur was sentient?"

"Well you certainly have a lot to explain," said Baird, "but what do we do about Jones? Just knock the memories loose?" She grabbed Merlin's spellbook off the table and hit Ezekiel in the back of the head with it, mostly jokingly.

"Ow! Why would you—" Ezekiel cut off, clutching his head. It didn't last, however, and he looked like a deer caught in headlines when he looked up. "Okay. I'm going to say something you'll probably never hear from me again. I'm truly, sincerely, sorry for everything I did to you.

"I'm Mordred."

"Mordred? Mordred of all people?" asked Baird/Arthur. "You killed me!"

"You killed me too!" Jones/Mordred replied. Cassie and Stone just looked at each other; they'd both been killed by Morgana. Their grudges against Mordred solely involved his defection to the witch's side. Only Merlin knew that he had sided with her before, as a child.

Mordred's loyalties were never concrete, but Cassie believed that for all his showboating, Ezekiel was firmly loyal to the Library. She stepped between the bickering knights and placed a hand on Ezekiel's shoulder.

"You've been hurt, you've suffered unforgivable losses, but you've hurt us in return," Cassandra spoke kindly. "Can we let the things we did to each other in the past stay in the past?" She directed this last part to all three of them. Cassandra was so excited to have friends from her past with her, but she didn't want those memories to tear apart the friendship they had built here and now. Even with Ezekiel, even with Mordred. They all nodded. Eve and Jacob shook hands with Ezekiel, a sign they'd at least try and forgive him. Mordred vowed to do the same.

Cassandra's eyes suddenly lit up and she rounded on Ezekiel, "Can you still do magic? I couldn't until Jamie used the Libris Fabula, 'cause my magic's repairing the ley lines, and yeah I don't have all of it back yet but any magic is better than no magic!"

"You're starting to sound like Flynn, mate," said Ezekiel. He looked at a small, locked box on the Annex's center table. "Tospringe." The lock disengaged and the top popped up with a click.

"That is going to be a lot of fun," Ezekiel concluded. Baird and Stone were gaping, open-mouthed at him.

"You have magic?" asked Baird.

"Seriously? I was a druid, of course I had magic. I'm not sure why you thought I didn't, but I did appreciate not burning at the stake," said Ezekiel.

"Sorry Arthur, but there is a lot you didn't know about Camelot," Cassandra said. The king really was ignorant of just how much magic there was in his kingdom. "Oh, I should probably mention you didn't kill the Great Dragon, the egg from the Tomb of Askenar survived and hatched and...well, they're both still alive. They attended the Conclave."

"...What?"

This is the first two-shot of the series, because the And the Fables of Doom part is not long enough on its own, but it also doesn't connect well enough (I decided on about a two, maybe two and a half week time gap) to the And the Rule of Three part to be a oneshot. Everything's finished, though, so I'll upload the second chapter right away.

-Vi

Alternate Titles by L:

Merlin Annoys Arthur Even Before She's Arthur Again

Time To Get Over Killing Each Other