A/N: Sorry this took longer to write than I thought, plus writer's block didn't help. I always find it so hard to write that final chapter.

Many thanks for all the reviews to date! They really do make me very very happy!

This is the last chapter. It didn't turn out quite as good as I would have liked but I tried my best and time was getting away on me.

That said. Enjoy!

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Chapter Seven.

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Arthur drank in the sight of Merlin. He could scarcely believe it. How was it possible? How was any of this possible? But right now he didn't care. Emotionally shaken, eyes raking over the young man, he squeezed his shoulder.

"It's good to see you Merlin."

Merlin grinned in that quick effortless way of his. "Yeah. It's good to see you too."

Their eyes met and a shared understanding passed between them. Words, what to say, where to start even?

The sharp sudden pain in his back brought him back to earth with a jolt. He grimaced, that's right present day scenario he had a spinal injury. For a moment he'd forgotten, so lost in that other time and place. His sudden joy with remembering and finding Merlin again.

Merlin obviously noting his pained expression, gripped him by the arm and helped him to his feet. It made him think of that last day. Merlin half carrying him, dragging him, desperate to reach the lake. 'I'm not going to lose you.'

The amount of times Merlin had helped him, saved him. He had always been there for him. That hadn't changed. And this moment … the emotional impact of it. He couldn't comprehend it.

"Y-You … waited?" his voice was still choked. "By the lake, in my dream."

Merlin nodded, eyes clouded with the same emotion. Head bent, as if he was fighting to rein in his feelings as much as he was. Merlin grabbed the walking frame and handed it to him.

"Always Arthur," he murmured. "I had to believe … hope."

He gripped the frame tightly. There was so much to say … so much, but the words wouldn't come. Bombarded by so many different feelings. Martin, his occupational therapist, Merlin his manservant, his friend and shit … He raked a hand through his dishevelled hair. In both life times he had given reality to a world he had need of, making that world more alive and meaningful.

"Martin," his mother called and present day reality came crashing down around them.

Arthur blinked, a sudden fatigue washed over him.

"You should go to her," he said to him.

Merlin nodded again and went to his mother's side.

Then Arthur remembered Gwen. He quickly turned his head. His eyes resting on her face. His heart beat quickened; she remembered. He could see it in her eyes. Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat he held out a hand to her. It felt like he was seeing her for the first time after a really long absence which was kind of surreal, considering he had seen her pretty much every day for months.

Next thing he knew she was in his arms.

"Oh Arthur," she breathed.

"Guinevere," he murmured in her hair, brushing his lips against her forehead.

He wished he could hold her, but it was all he could do to remain standing. He'd pushed his body to its physical endurance. As if sensing his sudden weariness she helped him to a nearby chair.

"Still an invalid," he grimaced as he sat.

She tenderly stroked his face, running her hands through his hair as if the sight of him was something precious to behold, something she had once painfully lost and never wanted to again.

"Rather you an invalid and here with me," she murmured, her breath catching in her throat.

"I never thought to see you again," she whispered. "It was so hard losing you …"

He brushed away the tears that trickled down her cheeks with his thumb. He couldn't even begin to imagine what that must have been like for her. If it had been the other way around, and he had lost her, he shuddered too think.

He framed her face with his hands, wanting to imprint the memory of her from now to that of yesterday. Nothing had changed and yet everything had.

He wasn't the king. She wasn't a queen. Now they were just two ordinary people who had found love with each other again, despite time, despite everything.

It had all been restored to him now.

"I can't believe it …" his voice broke off there as emotion swamped him.

Before he had a chance to say anything more, her lips found his, and time stood still. It wasn't just a physical thing, it was the meeting of two souls, time and distance couldn't keep them apart.

She pulled back and their eyes locked and held. Reaching out an unsteady hand he brushed the hair back from her face.

"I'll always love you," he murmured.

Her eyes filled with tenderness. She smiled in that beautiful sweet way of hers.

"I know."

The loving moment shared between Arthur and Gwen touched Merlin. He remembered the grief all too well, how he had shared it with Gwen. His own grief was still a palpable thing in many ways. His eyes rested on his mother's face and the bruise on her cheek. He could only imagine what his own face looked like. The old man had punched him several times, till his ears rang and blood spurted out of his nose. It had brought back a whole host of memories from his childhood. Memories he'd rather forget.

Then there was Arthur. Arthur coming to his rescue, Arthur remembering and him and … it was all so confusing, but amazing at the same time. He felt like he'd just been through an emotional wringer.

He touched his mother's face.

"It's over," he told her before pulling her into his arms.

She didn't appear to remember, and maybe that was for the best. She was and wasn't Hunith.

A deep seated anger took hold as he looked across the room to the motionless shape of his ex-step father, the man that had made his childhood a living hell. He felt no pity or remorse. Just relief that it was finally over.

Even in this lifetime he had suffered at the hands of other people. There is no evil in sorcery, only in the hearts of men. Those words from long ago, still spoke true.

Taking the few steps across the floor to his body, he knelt down and felt for a pulse.

It was there, but faint. The mass contusion on the man's head spoke of a head injury. Merlin didn't know how badly and neither did he care. Though maybe he should.

He shook his head. No, it now meant him and his mother were free of this man's abuse and tyranny. They had suffered enough at his hands.

"Is he dead?" Arthur asked from his chair he was seated at.

"No," he returned over his shoulder.

Gwen's eyes rested on Merlin. She had a sudden memory of the last time she had ever seen his face. How still he had looked, unlike his usual animated presence, but so peaceful too. He didn't look to have suffered in death.

She had lived far too long. Merlin was dead. Everyone that mattered to her … now dead.

He had been her life line, just as he had been this life time too. As always she wanted to ease his suffering for him, offer comfort.

Leaving Arthur's side she went over to where he was crouched down, alongside his ex-step father's body. Looking every bit a lost small boy, her heart went out to him.

Sensing her presence he turned towards and she held him, much like she had done all those years ago. She remembered when he'd first returned from the lake, bearing the bad news. He couldn't save Arthur. How broken and shattered he had looked. There was no way she could remain angry with him. He was in hell like she was.

They had both held each other in their shared grief. He had been her rock during that time, and likewise for her. He raised his face to hers, a slow smile crossing his face. "You remember too?"

She nodded and gave a shaky smile in return. "Yeah."

Merlin called the police and the ambulance. Both arriving at the same time. The ambulance officers took away his step father on a stretcher and then there were the police statements. Meanwhile Arthur and Gwen stayed, offering support and their own statements of the events that had unfolded. Of course the use of magic was totally left out. It became a case of self-defence. The gun was collected and taken for evidence. As it turned out the police had been hunting down his ex-step father for the murder of his last wife.

Merlin had shivered at those words. It had nearly been his own mother and him. But he knew it wasn't his destiny to die at someone else's hands. Not this time around.

It was nearly seven in the evening by the time the police had left. Merlin felt shattered both physically and emotionally. His mother made them sit at the table. She poured them all a stiff drink; scotch on the rocks.

It burned going down but it felt good.

"Well here we are," Arthur began, a catch in his throat.

He raised his glass. His eyes met with Merlin's across the table. Merlin nodded. Gwen held out her glass. They exchanged a knowing look with each other, before smiling.

"It's one crazy world," Arthur quipped wryly, shaking his head.

They clinked glasses.

"A toast to the future and whatever it holds," Merlin added.

"The future."

They had been husband and wife. But now ... it was all ass about and as she drove him home he had to ask. "Stay with me."

She nodded. "Of course."

As if he needed to even ask. Just that it felt odd, kind of, there was still so much he had to get his head around.

One thing was for sure, he was never going to let her out of his sight again!

"I thought I had lost you forever," she murmured in his hair later that night.

They were lying in his bed. He held her tightly to his chest. His fingers combing through her loose curls. Feeling her shiver in his arms, he lightly kissed her forehead. "I'm here now."

She snuggled up against him, resting her head on his shoulder, not speaking, rubbing her hand lightly against his chest.

"I think I still would have fallen in love with you even if it weren't for the accident," he spoke, "I was always drawn towards you."

"And give up the blonde bimbos?" she quipped.

A low chuckle escaped his throat. "You still know how to put me in my place."

She snuggled into him. "Hmm, and you like it too."

That he couldn't deny.

There were a ton of questions he wanted to ask, they could wait all but one.

"How did you die?"

She shifted in his arms. "I was pretty old, for those times, though not by today's standards."

Perhaps he shouldn't ask. He hadn't given thought to this being painful for her.

"I was 58."

It was hard to imagine her so. "You don't have to talk about it," he hastily said.

She snuggled into him. "No, it's alright, can't remember how I died as it is."

His hand returned to her hair, his fingers absently twining those curls around his fingers.

"Just that I felt so very tired and weary and sad," she continued, her voice not much more than a whisper. "So very very sad."

His hand tightened in her hair at the sudden anguish in her voice.

"I went to bed and I never woke up."

Taking a deep breath she raised her face to look at him. "It didn't hurt."

But she must have been hurting at the time given the shadow in her eyes. Raising a hand he lightly caressed her cheek.

"Why were you so sad?"

Her gaze lowered to his chest, and her hand that rested there. She took so long to answer that he didn't think she would.

"Merlin had died," she murmured at length.

His body froze for a moment. Of course Merlin would have died. He was re-born like them, just that Arthur couldn't imagine it. Neither could he imagine Guinevere being there to witness it.

"H-He trusted the wrong person …" her voice broke off there as if the emotion of that day was still so real for her.

And hadn't they all trusted the wrong people from time to time, he bitterly mused.

"Leon and Percival carried his body to Lake Avalon. We knew Merlin would want to be with you there, Arthur."

That explained the dream. Merlin waiting, always waiting for him. Gwen rested her head against his chest, and his arms tightened around her. He planted a kiss to her forehead.

None of it mattered now.

He was the same person but in many ways also different. Two sets of memories interlinking with each other was bound to cause odd moments of confusion for him, and not just him, but also Guinevere and Merlin. But they coped, had many long conversations, heartfelt moments. How special those moments were.

It was like discovering each other all over again. In Merlin's case, his friendship, brotherhood and there were no more lies, or secrets. With Guinevere, unconditional love.

He had had only three years with Gwen before. Now he made the most of their time together. Marvelling at how he'd found love with her again and how he'd nearly screwed it all up. If it hadn't been for the accident, he might not have found love with Gwen, though he liked to think otherwise. Merlin certainly would never have come into his life. As difficult as his recovery had been it had changed him. Made him a better person. Six months on and with a little help from Merlin's magic he was walking again, unaided.

He was still left with the physical scars, but they were just that, physical. Gwen was right about that too, with time he'd become used to them. Or maybe that was the unconditional love of a good woman. She had gently caressed and kissed the scars on his body till he no longer felt so self-conscious of them.

Merlin's ex-step father never did wake up from his coma. He spent what time he had left in this world a vegetable from the head injury he sustained. Merlin was never accused of physical bodily harm as his case was one of self-defence. He never had to worry about him hurting his mother again. Even if he had survived his injury he would have spent what was left of his life in prison.

Merlin felt as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He marvelled at the memories returned to him. He had once been Merlin … him … just a nobody and … not. He was Merlin, not Martin. Now the memories had returned so had his ability to use magic. He remembered how to use it once more.

Arthur didn't look at him as if he was a freak. In fact Arthur was really overly protective. He worried far too much.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, Arthur," he'd reassure.

Arthur would rake a hand through his hair, looking stressed. "You don't know that Merlin."

He was like that with Gwen too. He drove them both batty at first, but luckily Arthur's irrational fears settled down as the months passed.

Christmas day came around. They had a family luncheon at Uther's mansion, and even Uther was there for it. He wasn't quite the same tyrant in this lifetime. He didn't remember, and Merlin along with Arthur and Gwen were extremely glad about that. Too much bad water under that particular bridge.

It was just him, Arthur, Gwen, Uther and his mother dining at the table. A far cry from Camelot days. There was no royalty now, maybe the class divisions still existed but Merlin didn't have to worry about ending up in the stocks if he was insubordinate. And another thing; there had been no such thing as Christmas day back then. This was the best Christmas day Merlin had ever had. Being with Arthur and Gwen once more the perfect Christmas present.

Sometimes his thoughts would drift back to Camelot times. He'd think of Gaius, Gwaine and the knights. A lost sense of nostalgia would swamp him. He'd shake it off. Maybe they were alive like him, out there, somewhere, waiting. Just maybe they would run into each other again? No one knew what the future held after all.

He and Arthur hadn't talked a lot about the future. Merlin had sensed Arthur's reluctance and it made sense. He'd just found Guinevere, he wanted a future with her, a future that had been denied him last lifetime.

His eyes met Arthur's across the dining room table. Arthur smiled and nodded as if is reading his mind.

Merlin did the same.

Arthur took a sip of wine, his eyes scanning the room. His father was engaged in a conversation with Merlin's mother over by settee near the bay window. Merlin and Guinevere were sitting together on the sofa. He was teaching her how to play Mine craft. Who would have ever guessed that she was once the queen of Camelot and Merlin the most powerful sorcerer to walk the earth. Right now they reminded him of nothing more than children.

Whatever reason he came back for, Merlin had said something about him being the 'once and future king of Albion' whatever that meant, it didn't matter.

Just the here and now is what mattered. And time, what he made of that time. What the future held for them, he didn't know. He guessed one day, maybe, it would all be revealed. But he could wait for that day. For now there was a life to be lived, and he was going to live it. Marry Guinevere, have children, the white picket fence, just be a husband and a father. Experience the very thing things he hadn't yet lived to experience.

He would never take it for granted. Not ever. He'd lost before, knew what that was like. Once having been there, it now gave him a whole new understanding of how the world worked. What mattered the most; love, friendship and family.

His eyes drifted across the room and came to rest of Merlin, sitting of the sofa with Guinevere once again. He doubted he'd ever grow tired of seeing it. They were smiling, laughing, happy. A deep contentment took hold. It was as it should be. This was the 'restoration'.

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~~~Epilogue~~~

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30 years after Arthur's death – 7th Century England

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Trust was a precious thing. He should have known that after all this time, but he had put his trust in the wrong person.

The sword that pierced his heart, much in the same way he had killed Morgana all those years ago, was his own; Excalibur. He could only ever die by an immortal blade.

Glancing up at Tybalt through pain filled eyes in disbelief he had to ask. "W-Why …?"

Not that he was afraid to die but he had to know, after all he had trusted this person.

"An old debt to be paid," Tybalt sneered.

Merlin swallowed, of course, his hands were not totally clean.

Tybalt gave him a smug look. "Morgana may have failed but not I," he boasted, "I've just killed the most powerful sorcerer to walk the earth."

Such arrogance on that face. How had he been fooled? Betrayed by his own apprentice!

'Now I will be the most powerful.'

A slow chuckle escaped Merlin's throat.

Tybalt turned sharply to look at him, scowling. "You laugh …" he began, confusion mixed with outrage burning in his dark eyes.

"You think you've won," he managed in a broken hoarse voice. "This isn't the end."

The anger left Tybalt's eyes and was replaced with uncertainty.

"It's only the beginning. I will return and Arthur will rise again."

He felt his own life force begin to leave his body. "Thank you," he managed to gasp, "You've done me a favour. I don't have to go on living and suffering."

He took a last gasp of breath. "Now … I'm free."

He'll join Arthur at the lake and wait. For the time will come when they both lived again just as the prophesy foretold.

His eyes slowly drifted shut, shafts of sunlight flittering through the leaves of the trees the last thing he saw of that world.

Peace claimed him. His body drifting in the lake. Her felt her arms slide around him, holding him. His lady. Freya. The lady of the lake. He would be with her now till it was time for her to let him go.

'Rest Merlin,' she whispered. 'I've got you. I will hold you. Rest my sweet love.'

The world receded into shadows and he remembered no more, just her presence, her arms always holding him. And the knowledge; he would see Arthur again.

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A/N: I included the epilogue at the end of this chapter as it was kind of short and I felt it would be mean of me to send it separately, even if it were only a day later.

Like I said, it's always so hard to end a story. I didn't want to elaborate too much of them remembering each other as I've already done that in my other story. In fact I hadn't even planned to write as much as I had in this last chapter! I'd initially planned to end it much how it ended last chapter, but I figured people would start sending pitchforks my way :)

Please review. Love to read the feedback on what people thought of this little story of mine over all.

Thank you for following this story. I hope you all enjoyed the journey the characters undertook. I know I loved writing it.

Cheers

Carol