Word finally got around to Gaius just what was going on. It seemed as soon as Merlin and Arthur had died, nothing short of chaos had ensued. It took Lancelot coming back a second time for the older man to finally demand some sort of explanation from the queen herself, if just to get a straight answer. He knew the gods were involved, but there had to be more to it. There had to be a reason.

"Oh Gaius, I thought you knew. You were always so close to Merlin." She had come to his chambers at his request, his old knees not able to make the journey as well anymore. Lancelot had come as well, a fact that Gaius was secretly pleased about. If it was an imposter again, he'd know.

"I assume my boy is causing as much trouble in death as he did in life. Arthur too if I remember correctly. The gods interfering never bodes well." It was painful to say, but he could do little else. Merlin's death had hit Gaius hard, aging him by a decade. The young warlock had brought life with him everywhere, and his absence was almost unbearable. The lines in the elder man's face had deepened, and his eyes had lost a great deal of shine. A sickly depression hung in the air, and as soon as she had seen the state the older man was in Gwen had felt terrible for not involving him more. Merlin had been close to all of them, but he was a son to Gaius.

"Of course. It's Merlin, after all, and when does trouble fail to find him." It was Lancelot who spoke up. "Trouble, and surprises. Apparently Balinor wasn't his father."

"Of course he was, Hunith-" The door had opened again, the cool air rushing into the chambers.

She had trekked far to get to Camelot, knowing that her son finally had learned the truth. What was happening lately in Camelot could only be explained by Hades' interference, and she knew some people deserved some explanations. Hunith stood, wet from rain and weary from travel, in the small workshop.

"Hello Gaius. It's been some time."

Gaius had stood to greet his queen, but he rushed to greet his sister with an embrace. She had come, knowing that her time now was soon up, and that she would expected to return soon. It was time to give her brother the closure he needed.

"Hunith, my dear, what has happened."

"Gaius, I told you once in letter, again in person, just how special my Merlin was, but it was truer than you know."

"He was Emrys." He shot a glance to the queen, but the name brought no resemblance, only a look of confusion.

"Oh brother, he was far more important than that. All those years ago, when I first had my son, Gaius do you remember my letter?" The old man gave a confused nod. The contents of the letter had been vague, but by no means worrisome. Of course, Hunith would never state how truly desperate she was, not when she had known the struggles her brother went through. "Gaius, I went to steal bread from a local lord that week, in hopes of feeding myself and my son."

"I don't understand what that has to do with Merlin."

"The lord had caught me, and when I fled the archers shot me down and my son starved. I died that day, as did he." And so began the long tale of how a poor woman came to call a god her son.

By the time Athena had spent an hour with him, Merlin's head was swimming. He had already known quite a few gods from the stories, despite Hunith's quite justified hesitation to tell them, but separating the stories from the very different truth was hard. Mortals barely touched the surface of the drama, and most of what they had were lies.

"Leto might not have much influence, but the thought of Hades whisking you away and hiding you from an angry god will have her on our side in an instant. Hera would, of course, also join in considering that she values family above all else, but her hatred of Leto might dissuade her. Get on Leto's bad side however, and Hera might just like you. Artemis and Apollo will be tricky..." Athena continued to plan, but Merlin was lost half way through.

"Doesn't Apollo rule over prophecy and medicine?" Merlin was trying desperately to keep the gods clear in his mind.

"Yes. But Leto is his mother, and while Hera is more important than her, Hera won't betray Zeus so easily-"

"I can win over Apollo fairly easily, I'm sure."

"Oh?" Athena knew this already, but she thought it was cute when others thought they were clever. It might be arrogance, but she reveled in her intelligence. Her family made poor and pathetic choices, and she was determined to set herself apart from that.

"Half my life was dedicated to fulfilling a prophecy, and the other half was spent as a physician's assistant. He'd respect that, right?"

"He might see it as an insult if you put it like that, but we could weave that knowledge in. Mention destiny and prophecy before you demand a trial by combat, it might catch his attention."

The entire evening was spent in much similar fashion. He had to speak a certain way and fight a certain way to please the important gods. Not to mention win against the strongest, there was that as well. How anyone thought he could do that was beyond him, but there was much more at stake here. If he lost, it wouldn't just be his destruction or eternal pain, it would be his father's and allies' as well. Arthur, too, would probably suffer. Though he knew he was free of destiny, the thought of Arthur getting hurt because of his failures was enough to fill Merlin with righteous determination. He couldn't afford to lose.

Seeing the confidence in his father's eyes made the young god smile, however. He'd never had the chance before to make someone proud like this. Gaius was a father figure to him, no one would argue that, but there was always a measure of secrecy and hesitance between them. There was none of that between Hades and his son. If something horrible happened, they'd both be in the thick of it.

Athena had been a surprising addition to their little coup, but Merlin found that he enjoyed the time spent with his cousin. She was lightning quick with her sarcasm, and he had to fight to keep up with her. It was a comfortable rhythm though, like talking with Arthur almost. He always lost those verbal battles, he never expected anything less, but sometimes he thought that perhaps she might enjoy talking to him as well.

It took the rest of the day to go through their plan of verbal and subtle attack, all the while Hades and Poseidon trained with each other, listless and ready for the fight to come. Watching everyone around him prepare, Arthur felt the most useless of all. What could he even think to do against the divine?

He had no special powers or edge against any of the gods. Never in his life – or death, had he felt so useless. It was in that mood that Morgana found him.

"Come now, brother. I thought your ever-present optimism and gross confidence would be shining through now, of all times." But of course, his sister had never seen him in his true times of conflict, when only Merlin was there to pick him up and set him on track.

"I think you have me confused with another. Dark hair, son of Hades, does it sound familiar?" He met her eyes, sitting on the steps of the courtyard. Merlin was still inside, and the two brothers sparred endlessly just near the far edges of the walls.

"Unfortunately, it does. But he's not so confident right now, nor cheerful." And that was true. Looking at his friend, Arthur could see the strain the world was placing on him. How did they expect to win this? Morgana joined him, smoothing her skirts down to sit next to her brother. It sparked memories of times long gone, where doing what was right and damning the consequences was feasible, and their greatest enemy was their father.

"That was always his job, though. Whenever hope was lost, when the battle was against us or it seemed like we would fall, Merlin always was there to reassure. Miracles happened around that man, and it felt like with him by my side, nothing bad would happen. But now it's his turn to face his enemies, and I'm powerless to help."

"How do you expect him to be confident when the man most important to him keeps looking at him like he's already failed? Knock yourself out of this woe-is-me bullshit. Merlin needs his best friend now more than ever, and if you're finally ready to admit that he's important to you, you better damn well start acting like it. You can't just take, Arthur, sometimes you have to give. You commanded him to kick some ass, now tell him that he can has the power to do it."

"When did everyone get so wise?"

But Morgana had already went back inside. She was right, though. They weren't powerless here. True, they couldn't fight, but not all battles were against someone else. The hardest battles were against yourself, and Merlin needed him.

Less than a few hours left before the trial, tensions were high. Athena had returned, spinning her web of words in the court, weaving ideas into the lesser minds of her relatives. Poseidon, too, had returned to his home. Hades had taken Merlin aside that evening, to simple hold him close.

"If you lose, we lose together. As it should've been in the beginning. I tried my hardest to protect you, and I won't go down without a good fight. None of us will. You're important Merlin, and we can do this. Rest up, and we'll go into this refreshed and prepared."

Arthur had spent the day with Merlin, silently realizing it could be the last time he did. He spoke nothing of that to his friend, however.

"Honestly Merlin, you'll be fine. You've gotten out of everything with barely a scratch, and I doubt that luck will leave you now."

"That wasn't luck, it was magic."

"No, magic is what you did to fight things. Luck is the fact you were able to not trip while doing it."

"Can I have that hug now?"

"No." But Arthur grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug anyway. "Come back to me Merlin."

"I will." How could he disobey the order of his king?

Hades interrupted them, walking forward with a clenched jaw and a sad smile forming.

"Are you ready son?"

"Yes, I think I am." Merlin adorned the cloak his father gave him, and bid farewell to Arthur, before leaving for Olympus.

AN: A short chapter, but there will only be one or two left before it's finished. Hopefully, it might not take as long to get them out. I've felt like I've hit a brick wall with writing, so I hope this is consistent with quality. Unbeta'd as usual, so please mention any mistakes (grammatical or plot wise). Thank you and enjoy!