Chapter 7

When the hunters and the angel came back to Merlin's house the next morning, they found Merlin and Arthur by the kitchen table, talking and laughing. Left on the table lay the books from the day before, together with the plates from Merlin's and Arthur's breakfast.

"Good morning." Sam said, opening the door after he'd knocked.

"Good morning." Merlin greeted.

It was like there was a new person smiling back at the hunters. Sam could swear that Merlin had grown half a meter overnight. He was smiling, and moved with a goofiness that made it impossible not to smile when he was around. Sam's smile suddenly disappeared however when he thought of something.

"Merlin." He said.

Merlin turned around, and the huge smile he'd on his lips disappeared as he saw the look in the young Hunter's eyes.

"Sam, what's wrong?" he asked.

Sam shook his head.

"Merlin, I understand if you don't want to continue." Sam said.

"I don't follow." Merlin said, very confused.

Behind him, Arthur rose. Dean and Castiel took a step closer to Sam.

"You just got Arthur back. I understand if you don't want to help us anymore." Sam explained.

Merlin froze. He looked over at Arthur, and then back at Sam.

"Of course I'll help you." Merlin said, and Sam let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked. "No one would blame you if you didn't want to."

"I would." Dean grunted, but they could all hear that he didn't really mean it.

"Of course." Merlin said. "I wouldn't be back to my young self if it weren't for you guys. You saved me. You brought Arthur back to me. You've done more for me in two days than the universe have done in a thousand years. So of course, I'll help you."

Behind the warlock, the old king of Camelot was smiling. Castiel and the hunters could see the pride in his eyes.

"Which means," Merlin said, "that we need to get back to work. Arthur, take this." Merlin said with a smile.

Before Arthur could ask what Merlin was talking about, a book landed in his lap. Sam smiled, took a book on his own, and started reading.

It was only Dean who noticed that Arthur winced.

.

.

Arthur sat and looked up between pages at Merlin. His friend's eyes were constantly golden, as he could see the eyes ramming through the pages. Merlin never touched the pages with his hands, they were turning to the next page by themselves when he had scammed through them. Books were literally flying around him as he had finished them. Then Arthur looked at the Hunters. The strange angel called Castiel was gone, claiming he had somewhere to be. None of the Hunters seemed to have a problem with Merlin's golden eyes or with the fact that books were flying around in the room, but for Arthur, it was all too much. After their talk the night before, Arthur's view of Merlin had changed. He no longer saw Merlin as weak, or incapable. But as much as he wanted to accept that Merlin was a sorcerer, - no, warlock, - it was hard seeing him using magic so openly. The words of his father Uther Pendragon roared in his head like thunder each time Merlin's eyes flashed gold – SORCERER!

Arthur needed air.

So while Merlin wasn't looking, Arthur rose and snuck out of the cabin.

.

Dean sat and pretended to scroll through the pages of an ancient book. Once in a while, he looked up to check on Sam, ever the protecting older brother. Therefore, Dean was the only one noticing Arthur leaving the cabin. After a few minutes, Dean rose to go and check on him. He found the king of old sitting on the porch outside, a distant look in his eyes as he viewed the treetops surrounding the cabin. Dean sat down next to him, none of the men saying anything for a while.

"Are you alright?" Dean finally said.

"Yes, of course." Arthur said quickly.

Too quickly.

Dean gave him his best 'I-know-something-is-wrong-because-I'm-a-big-brother-look'.

"Maybe not." Arthur finally said with a sigh. "No… I mean…. Ah hell. I'm not so good at this whole 'talking-about-your-feelings-thing'. It was always more of Merlin's thing."

"Neither am I." Dean said. "But it's okay. Sam feels enough for both of us."

That earned him a smirk from the old king.

"Look." Dean began and sat down next to Arthur. "I know how you feel…"

"I highly doubt it." Arthur said, his voice condescending.

"Okay, look." Dean said, holding up his hand. "First rule of the 21st century: All men are equal. You may have been a king, but that gives you no right to sound condescending. My voice and experiences counts too."

Arthur blinked.

"I apologise." He finally said.

"Thank you. Second off, I do know how it feels to come back from the dead."

Arthur's eyes widened, but he didn't interrupt.

"I wasn't dead for over a thousand years, but four months was long enough. I do know how it feels to come back. You feel… different. Older. Like the world has moved in the speed of light while you haven't moved an inch. I can't imagen how it would feel after over a thousand years. But I do know how it feels to have a brother or friend that have or is something that goes against everything you ever believed in, everything you were ever thought was right. Merlin told me about your father. It must have felt awful once you found out Merlin's secret. And you didn't have the time to properly process it. I'll give you that."

Arthur just stared at the man, a man he hadn't seen show any more emotion than grunting since Arthur first got here.

"I thought you said you weren't good at this 'talking-about-your-feelings-thing'." He finally said.

The hunter shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not. Not in front of my baby brother. Because I need to be strong for him. Just like you needed to be strong for of your people, including Merlin. In a way, we're the same Arthur. Two big brothers putting on a brave face for our younger siblings."

Arthur slowly nodded. Dean had a point.

"Which is why it sucks for me to say this," Dean said, "but you must put on that brave face again. Just for a while. Even if I know that you're struggling with seeing Merlin like this."

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"For Merlin, Arthur. As I do for Sam, even though his abilities scares me more than I'll ever admit. Even though I go to bed every night, terrified that Lucifer will claim my brother before the sun comes up, I still put on that brave face. And now you must do the same for Merlin. Did you know he was a wreck when we first got here? He'd had over a thousand years to mourn you Arthur, but he still couldn't say your name without tears in his eyes. He need you if we shall ever have a shot at this. He needs you."

Arthur was speechless.

"I don't- I don't matter that much to him." Arthur said.

Dean surprised Arthur by laughing.

"Even I can see that is a lie. He needs you."

"He needs me?" Arthur asked.

"Yes." Dean said.

Then the hunter looked into the air as if he thought of something.

"He needs you." Dean muttered.

"What?" Arthur asked confused.

"He needs you. He needs you!" the hunter exclaimed and flew on his feet. "I got it! I know why you're here. Come on!"

Still confused, Arthur followed Dean into the cabin.

.

.

Merlin closed his spell-book with a sigh. It was clear what he had to do, and a week ago he would have welcomed it. But now? Now it felt like the universe was mocking him. It wasn't fair. Merlin sighed again, making Sam look up from his big volume.

"Merlin, are you alright?"

Merlin smiled at Sam's kindness.

"Yes." He said.

Then his smile disappeared.

"No."

"Arthur?" Sam asked, a look of understanding in his eyes.

Merlin was taken back for a second by the kindness and understanding in Sam's eyes, before he nodded. It was a half-truth, but Merlin didn't want to worry Sam just yet with what defeating the Devil would really mean to the young hunter. What Sam would be put through for Merlin's plan to work.

So instead, Merlin thought about Arthur. He had noticed Arthur leaving, and he tried to ignore the pain he felt in his heart as he did.

"Arthur says he accepts me, accepts my magic, but I don't think he does."

"Arthur needs time." Sam said. "As does Dean. You must remember the views Arthur was brought up with. You don't easily forget what you've been told your whole life is right and wrong."

Merlin nodded in understanding. A sad smile played on Sam's lips, and he put his hand on Merlin's shoulders.

"But that doesn't mean that you're not allowed to be hurting."

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, when he was interrupted by Dean and Arthur storming into the cabin. Sam flew on his feet, his Hunter-instinct on high alert. Merlin rose too.

"What happened?" Merlin asked.

"Happened? No, nothing has happened." Dean said. "It's just, I thought of something."

Sam and Merlin visibly relaxed.

"What is it Dean?" Sam said.

"Well, Arthur and I were thinking…."

"Thinking? Now I'm really worried." Merlin said as Sam said: "Be careful so you don't hurt yourself."

The two looked at each other, grinning, as Dean and Arthur said "shut up" at the same time.

All four smiled before Merlin turned to Dean again.

"What were you thinking of?"

"Well, I was thinking about how Arthur was destined to return when the world needed him the most. But then I thought about how you said that magic is all around us, in nature, in us, in the creatures that we hunt, that every supernatural thing has traces of magic in them, and how you said Merlin that in a way, you practically were magic."

That made Arthur raise an eyebrow. Merlin waved at him, a wave that said he would explain it later.

"I don't follow." Merlin said to Dean.

"If all things on earth has a fragment of magic in them, and you basically are magic, you're, in a way, a part of the whole World. Or the whole world is a part of you."

"Maybe?" Merlin said sceptically.

"So maybe Arthur wasn't destined to return when the World needed him the most? Maybe he was destined to return when magic needed him the most? When you needed him the most?"

"That's…. actually very reasonable." Sam said, pride in his voice. "That's even clever Dean."

Merlin just stared at Arthur with big eyes.

"You mean… Arthur came back because I needed him?" Merlin said.

"Yes." Dean nodded.

A huge smile spread across Merlin's lips.

"Let's ask Castiel what he thinks of this." Sam said, bursting Merlin's bubble just a little.

"Already ahead of you." Dean said. "CAS!" he called into the air.

"Dean." Castiel's voice immediately said from behind him.

"Jesus Christ!" Dean said, jumping in surprise.

"I don't see what my brother Jesus has to do with anything." Castiel said. "Was that why you called me?"

"No." Sam said, barely able to hide his smile. "Dean has a theory."

Dean quickly explained his theory, and Cas nodded, turning to Arthur.

"That can explain why your door was open in heaven, and I could bring you back."

Arthur just nodded, trying to catch up.

"Well, now that that huge piece of the puzzle is solved, maybe we could go back to trying to defeat Lucifer?" Sam said, Merlin's smile dying on his lips as he did.

The rest of them nodded. Merlin took a deep breath, readying himself for the storm that would follow once he'd said what he was about to say.

"I've actually found a way." He said. "And it won't just trap Lucifer in his cage. It'll kill him."

A/N: So… it's been a year. I'm sorry. Thank you for sticking to the story nevertheless. I hope you all like this chapter. I promise it won't take a year until the next one. Stay safe.