EPILOGUE

"So have you got it back?" Arthur couldn't help asking, anxious to know the answer.

Merlin wearing the clothes he had bought, tight and form fitting, was a jaw dropping gorgeous sight. His hair were a mess, and Arthur vowed to take him to a hairdresser the next day. Hair that beautiful deserved proper styling- and damn everyone who called him a diva.

They had snogged some more, and then Arthur had introduced Merlin to simple pleasures of life, like food and hot water. Merlin liked the ice cream- and also the Hawaiian pizza, the freak- that did not surprise Arthur. It was the completely pornographic noises he made that did. Merlin looked a little sheepish after the first time a moan left his mouth, but after a while he just gave Arthur a defiant look. Arthur was feeling magnanimous and didn't comment on it, after all food was delicious, and Merlin had not had any in centuries.

It took a heroic amount of will power- more than Arthur even knew he had- to not follow Merlin into the shower, and just set the right temperature for him. Arthur wasn't a complete asshole, he knew how to take it slow. So he just waited in his room while Merlin showered, and wound himself up in knots.

Not once, had Merlin tried to do magic.

Did he not have it anymore? Was that part of the binding-that Merlin could leave the lamp but also leave his magic behind? The idea was depressing. Didn't Merlin say magic was a part of him? The idea that he might have lost it make Arthur feel sick. Even more was the fear that maybe Arthur caused that, and Merlin would resent him all of his life but wasn't saying anything just yet.

Gutted, and feeling increasingly anxious by the minute, Arthur threw the question at Merlin the moment he came out of the shower. In Arthur's defense, Merlin- freshly showered, wearing loose PJs and his hair still dripping wet - was a sight that would make anyone's higher brain functions to shut up, and make them speak the only thing that was in their mind. Stronger men might have been able to withstand the effect; Arthur was not a strong man.

Merlin looked at him bewildered, his blue eyes even brighter and more mesmerizing on his human face, than they had been when he was a genie. "Got what back?"

"Magic! Magic Merlin. Did you get it back? You did not lose it did you?"

"Lose magic? How does one lose magic Arthur? Never mind. No I didn't lose it." Merlin assured him, but Arthur was too wound up to be calmed down so easily.

"Then why haven't you used it till now? You are sure? You aren't lying to me are you?" Arthur got up and started pacing, only stopping when Merlin put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't need to use magic to know I have it Arthur. I won't be alive without it. Though, I have been wanting to test how much it has grown over the years, and honestly, I want to feel it properly; soak it in. It might take a while though, which is why I was waiting." Merlin looked at him earnestly. "You don't mind if I am lost to the world for a couple of hours?"

Arthur gulped and nodded.

"Please."

Merlin smiled and promptly plopped down on the cold tiled floor. Arthur was going to complain about it, like he always did- floor was uncomfortable and inappropriate place to sit-but he sat crossed legged, in a pose he had Morgana mirror dozens of time, closed his eyes, and started mediating.

In her dingy old shop, behind the curtain of colorful beaded strings, stood the old Witch. There was a wide shallow basin filled with clear water in front of her, at which she was staring intently. Shimmering on the lightly rippling surface was a shadowy image of two people. A blond muscular man, Arthur Pendragon, who had arrived in her shop just a few months back, and the other image made her smile, even though she had spent hours observing it.

It was Emrys.

Lean and tall, with dark hair and pale white skin, to anyone else he would look like a normal human, ignorable. The Witch, though, had seen firsthand the power residing inside that very fragile looking body. And now, she could feel it.

The moment Emrys was released from the spell he had bound himself in- because no one else could bind Emrys; he was the embodiment of magic itself, and no power other than his own could restrain him- the Witch was sure every magical being on earth had, unknowingly, rejoiced. Emrys was back; that meant the days of magic were back.

When she had taken the lamp, wrapped in the Pendragon flag, from the arms of the man called Gaius, she could not have fathomed how long a journey this would be. Time was meaningless for her, for she had been alive long before Emrys had been born, but she still saw ages pass, and Emrys waited. She still remembered everything, while Emrys forgot. He had begged her to make him forget it, swearing he won't be able to go through the centuries living in the agony brought by waiting and hoping-every damn time- so she complied. Emrys grew to hate her, but it was better than hating himself, because when Emrys mourned, every magical being felt it. The pain was unbearable.

She felt joy curl inside her chest- she had always thought she was beyond human emotions, but she was beginning to realize it wasn't so- as she saw Emrys close his eyes, the Once and Future King watching him fondly. Gaius had warned that Emrys would only serve a Pendragon, and no other being ever managed to wake him from his slumber. Every time she handed the lamp to a Pendragon -and the race had dwindled and intermixed so much over the centuries she was no longer sure it would even work, but always relieved when it did- she hoped. Hoped that this was the one, the one who would be bigger and better than the ones before, and be able to bring Emrys- and by that means magic- back to Albion. Every time, she was disappointed.

Some had come close, extremely, agonizingly close. When Ali chose selfish worldly gains over his promise, she had wailed, wreaking havoc to all the buildings near her. They called it a hurricane.

As to why she always sold the lamp, whoring Emrys out as one would say? Well if she was to live through centuries, protecting the very source of magic, she couldn't do it selflessly. Nobody had said she couldn't have a little fun in the mean time.

Now, seeing them together, she understood why Ali was the wrong choice. Why every one of the previous Pendragons had been the wrong choice.

They had not been Arthur. They weren't the Once and Future King.

In the reflective water, Arthur bent forward and kissed Merlin's forehead tenderly, and then sat down in front of him, mimicking his pose. Instead of closing his eyes though, he observed the incredibly powerful warlock in front of him. This was his meditation- the Witch was sure.

She let out a deep relieved sigh. Finally the idiots were together again. Hope had been rekindled in the lands.

Whispering quickly in ancient tongue, she let the illusion drop, and the shop around her dissolved in thin air. She was standing outside her hut, in the old forest, which was hidden by hundreds of spells, so no one would stumble here accidently. This was her sanctuary... her home.

Walking a few steps she reached her peculiar hut made of trees, and stepped inside as the trunks bent to make way for her. Inside, she sat down on the damp soil, closed her eyes, and reached out.

Gold tinted her vision, as she spread the tendrils of her magic into the soil, spreading in all directions. For miles, she could feel nothing but old, strong magic of deep forest, the roots of the trees soaking it up inside and growing. She reached out further, until she had stretched her magic as far as she dared, touching the edges of the cities in all directions, covering a roughly circular area of approximately 50 miles in diameter, and waited. Every living soul slowly but inevitably synchronized their breathing with her, inhaling deeply, and then breathing out, in unison. Everything with magical core inside it tugged at her tendrils, starving for strength that had been depleted from them over the centuries where magic had dwindled, hungry and desperately puling at her strength, wanting to absorb and claim it for their own use, but she held back and resisted.

This is why she never reached as far out as she had today. It wasn't safe. But she had a different purpose today.

Slowly, minutes later, she became aware of how everything in front of where her magic reach ended, had started getting greener. The green color moved closer and closer to her, spreading out at an alarming speed, and instinctively she wanted to cringe away from it. That much strength had not boded well for everything magic in ages, but she held her ground, waiting for it to approach.

Brilliant, shining wisps of green met her golden, intertwined with it, and for a second she could not breathe because of how glorious it felt. If she had to guess, this was what a man dying of dehydration, with their throat parched, would feel if given cold sweet draught of water. She basked in the warmth that she had almost forgotten the existence of.

Emrys.

His magic kept spreading, not stopping when it met her, but it didn't leave her either. It greeted her like an old friend, and lend her his strength, and emboldened, she reached out further that she had ever before, feeling the very tips of leaves where they grew, and the foot falls of humans as they walked on the soil. Whenever she faltered, she felt the green magic giving her a push, turning golden and merging with hers, to help her reach out even more, until she could feel tears spilling out of her closed eyes and down her face.

Emrys.

He gave his strength to everything that tugged at it, never hesitating. Every pull and draw that she had resisted whenever she had spread her magic before, he welcomed it. He gave, and gave and gave, helping fledgling unicorn that would've withered away given how deficient the earth was in magic, grow and heal. The little fae latched on to one of the threads that accidently wandered towards their colony- everyone knew to stay clear of that area because they were notorious for sucking away any magic as they were creatures of it, and this was their meal, draining it dry. The Witch winced, momentarily scared that they would weaken Emrys, but to her shock two more tendrils came that way, and pulsed with even more energy than the first one, letting the fae feast and gorge themselves on it, sating their hunger for the first time in ages. The old withered trees, and the young weak sprouts, everything drew on the energy pulsing under and around them, and Emrys just let them.

The Witch felt herself sob. This is what selfless love felt like. This is what Emrys coming back meant. The whole earth under her feet was alive and brimming with it, with magic.

Emrys was more powerful than her-there was no doubt about it- but she could not let him beat her in graciousness- at least any more than he had already. So she lent her magic to the little blue pixie to heal her broken wing and fly once more, she helped the troll hiding in a cave, because she could not change her appearance any longer, morph into the shape of a young lady, so she could walk among normal people once more without fear; she healed wounds where ever Emrys had hurried; where he had stopped and gave just enough to preserve life before rushing to save something else, she gave more until it thrived.

Red, blue, silver, orange, and every spectrum of colors joined in, because magic is generous by nature. They had all grown misers and hoarders, not realizing that magic thrived in company, it became stronger when it was shared.

Emrys.

Emrys had made them all wake up, lending his strength and making them do what they should've been doing all along: making earth alive with magic.

Softly crying, tears still streaming down her face, she withdrew her magic reach closer to home, to her forest. 'Sorry,' she tried to tell it, to the place that had given her shelter and comfort through ages,' I am so sorry, I didn't take care of you. Sorry I was selfish. Sorry I let you get weak. Let me make amends, let me lend you my vigor. '

And she proceeded to do just that. She might be imagining it, but the green wisps curled around her golden as she was sowing the seeds of magic in the soil, so that anything that wanted could pull and borrow energy from it. To her vulnerable and guilty heart, those green wisps seemed proud of her. It might be wishful thinking, but she never wanted to let Emrys down again.

'Thank you.' She let her magic say to the Emrys', and she could swear she felt it tell her,' Any time.'

Merlin opened her eyes, seconds, minutes, hours later- Arthur really could not be sure, so mesmerized he was by how the warlock looked with the calm face and the insane strength palpable under the thin frame- and grinned.

"Yep." He declared. "Definitely got it back."

He seemed so happy, so absolutely awestruck with euphoric bliss, that Arthur wanted to kiss him senseless. Realizing that there was nothing stopping him from doing so, he reached forward and grabbed Merlin's face to do exactly that.

.

A/N: Okay I am going to get a tiny bit emotional. I have said it before but really, I wasnt planning on this story being long at all. I wanted to write crack basically. But I won't deny I loved writing this. And I honestly wouldn't have managed to write it at all without the support of my sister. She read and critiqued every chapter and would always shove me towards the laptop when I whined that I can't write and I suck.

ALSO, all of you. Every time you left a comment you made me want to complete this at least. So thank you. You probably have ZERO idea of how important and special it had been for me.
Thank you all for reading this. I hope you had fun.