Part 7

Ellie had been bustling around the kitchen making coffee. She was in desperate need of the caffeine, having stayed awake for too long pouring over her notes and millionth-checking them. Now that Arthur was actually here, she felt frantic that she hadn't prepared enough. She was rarely flustered, but in this moment of anxiousness, she dropped her sugar spoon which landed with a clang on the countertop.

Merlin emerged from his room with Arthur trailing slowly behind him, both carrying the tea mugs Ellie had left them.

Stirring her coffee, Ellie froze. She hadn't thought she'd be this anxious when meeting Arthur. But Arthur was like the greatest celebrity of her life. She'd been hearing tales of him for hundreds upon hundreds of years. And now he was standing in her kitchen next to Merlin looking at her expectantly.

"Ellie?" Merlin said, pulling her out of her starstruck notion, "Um, there's someone I'd like for you to meet."

Ellie snapped out of her awe and came around the counter to stand in front of Arthur. A strange look passed on his face which Ellie registered in his aura as disappointment, though she wasn't sure why.

"Ellie, meet Arthur Pendragon. Arthur, this is Ellie."

Ellie bowed a little as she knew this was the common way of greeting in Arthur's time.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Arthur," she smiled sweetly.

"Pleased to meet you, my lady."

Ellie smiled even broader at his way of greeting her.

"Are you..?" he started, "Are you Merlin's...wife?"

"His what?" Ellie laughed, as did Merlin, "No, I'm not his wife. Merlin and I are like family."

Ellie saw a wave of urgent relief rush through Arthur's aura. She suspected his prior disappointment had been at the assumption that she was Merlin's wife; that Merlin was taken. The realization made her positively giddy. I knew it! She thought, I knew from Merlin's stories that Arthur must have returned his feelings. How could he not? It seemed so obvious. She would not say anything about it, though. Arthur would have to come to realize and accept his feelings on his own terms. That was of course, if they all managed to survive the upcoming battle.

Merlin beamed at the two of them as they interacted. Watching the two people he loved most in all his life meet for the first time was a surreal and warming experience. He wished there were no impending life-or-death battle. He wished with all his heart that it could just be like this: him, Arthur, and Ellie being happy and carefree. But Merlin had come to know life was never that simple. It gives, and it takes. Once, it had taken his heart. He was more than determined not to let that happen again. He knew he couldn't survive it a second time.

"A lot has changed in the world in a thousand years, hasn't it?" Arthur commented gazing around the flat.

"Arthur," Ellie began sympathetically, "I know this world is going to seem completely alien to you. It'll be like you're in a whole different world...I've tried to compile notes and plans to help teach you..."

"Ellie has spent a lot of time pouring over books and preparing notes to acclimate you to this world," Merlin said proudly, "She's a genius. I could never have done everything that she's done."

Ellie might have blushed a little.

"You've done all this for me?" Arthur asked her, "For someone you've never met?"

"Well," Ellie stated, "Yes. But I did it for Merlin too. And for me. We need you."

"Need me?" Arthur asked, "For what?"

Ellie cast a glance at Merlin. She figured he'd wanted to be the one to tell Arthur about the sorcerer hunters and the prophecy.

"We have a lot to talk about," Merlin told Arthur.

So Merlin told Arthur everything. He told him about Camelot after his death, about his life after leaving Camelot, about meeting Ellie and Oran, about losing Oran, and finally about the prophecy Ellie had uncovered and the murderous sorcerer hunters. Ellie chimed in at times with helpful information. For instance she explained to Arthur that their world today largely didn't believe in magic—that it was considered just a made-up fantasy.

"I was taught to believe that all sorcerers are evil, that they all have sinister motives," Arthur said, "But in my time in the 'in-between', when I had all that time to think, I realized that my father had been wrong. You can no more say that all sorcerers are evil than you can say that all kings are just. There have been evil sorcerers, yes. But it isn't right to claim all sorcerers are so." He looked from Merlin to Ellie. "The two of you certainly are not evil. Merlin, even though I was ignorant to your magic, I knew you. There's not an evil bone in your body. And Ellie, I've only just met you, but you've been Merlin's closest companion for many, many years. He obviously trusts you with his life. And I trust him."

Soon the three of them were in the spare room that contained all of Ellie's notes. She had retrieved the prophecy and it was laid out in front of them on the desk. Merlin and Ellie had already read it countless times but they still read it alongside Arthur.

"Well, the 'great king' it mentions is obviously me," Arthur smiled with mock grandiose.

"No kidding, dollophead," Merlin grinned.

"Hmm...my most trusted and valued ally...that would be...my sword? I'm only kidding, it's obviously you, Merlin."

"I think that's apparent, considering all the stories I've heard about those missions you were meant to embark on alone but you always took Merlin with you," Ellie said playfully.

Arthur let out a laugh, "Well, you know, he was helpful sometimes," his expression grew more serious then, "actually, now I'm certain he was instrumental in everything I achieved."

His aura burned with regret. Regret, Ellie suspected, for never realizing the extent to which Merlin aided him, and therefore never being able to appreciate it.

"You never once sought credit," Arthur said, directing himself toward Merlin now.

"That's not why I did it," Merlin replied, seriously.

"I know," Arthur said, "You told me that before I died."

"You're a much better man than me, Merlin," Arthur stated, "you always have been. I could never have done all you did without expecting praise or credit."

"You were a great king, Arthur," Merlin told him.

"Perhaps," Arthur concluded, "but I could never have become one without you."

This was one of those moments, Ellie decided, that probably happened a lot in Merlin's original life: a moment when he and Arthur had a heart-to-heart and stared into each other's eyes so intently that she almost felt as if they were about to clear all the notes off of the desk and start going at it right then and there. After their session of intense eye-shagging, Ellie cleared her throat.

Arthur turned his attention back to the prophecy. "A knight of immeasurable strength?"

"We're not sure who it's supposed to be," Merlin explained, "we thought perhaps it meant 'knight' metaphorically and that it just meant a strong fighter, so we thought it might have been Oran... but that can't be right."

Arthur noticed the pain in Merlin's voice when he spoke of Oran. He realized that Merlin had lost everyone he had ever known in his original life and continued to lose people in his immortal years of waiting for him. It had all been for him. If this weren't a testament of Merlin's love for him, then what was? The way he stuck by Arthur's side for years, saving his life and going completely unappreciated and underrated? Merlin had more than proved his love for Arthur. No one would do those things for someone they didn't love. And, for someone to go through that many hardships and that much pain, all for someone else, he must have loved Arthur a great deal.