Chapter Text
Merlin stared out over the waters, as he had every day for the past almost thousand years. He hadn't lost hope. Others of his friends had come back, him knowing of their birth, life, death by the tingling that alerted him whenever they came. His lesser friends had come at first, and many were long since gone, the most recent one of which had died in the 1940s in the war. Merlin shuddered. It was only by using his magic that they had narrowly avoided losing that one. He tried to use it as little as possible, but sometimes it was difficult not to.
Then, about twenty years ago, several of his closer friends had been born in the surrounding areas, one to two a year. Gwen was the last, and after Merlin had united them all, they had become very close friends, growing up together, Merlin having taken a younger form to go along with them. He knew that with them, Arthur couldn't be far behind. Of course, they would have to make up the age difference to when Arthur died.
Merlin was very proud of his friends in the modern world. Most of them were currently in universities very highly regarded, like Oxford and Cambridge, and their friendly rivalries kept them studying harder. Merlin himself had attended multiple schools, though of course this wasn't publicly known, and had mastered many different fields of work without magic. Mostly.
Merlin sighed and stood up. Nothing today. He pulled his hood up and got on his skateboard. He would come back tomorrow.
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Several weeks past. The tingling grew stronger. But it wasn't nearly strong enough for Arthur, was it? No. Who else was missing then? Merlin ticked off his fingers. He had Gwaine, and Perce, Gwen obviously, who had dated Lance for a while before they broke things off and decided to just be friends. Merlin was very thankful that had happened BEFORE Arthur came. Leon, Freya had come a while back, but it hadn't been the same. She had been terrified as before, but this time she wouldn't come around. Oh well, maybe it was for the best. She had died a couple years ago in the hospital she was at after going to a zoo and being attacked by a panther. The scratch marks had reminded Merlin much of her own attacks back in Camelot. Thinking harder on the task at hand, Merlin continued going down the list. Gaius was upper-middle-aged by now. So who... Morgana. It must be her. Who else could it be? And because Merlin had not been on too good terms with her the last years, that must be why her tingling wasn't as strong as the others' had been.
So off Merlin went, searching, searching, searching. He told his friends he was going on a road trip for some time alone. He thought Gwen understood. She had known something bigger was going on, that Colin wasn't his real name because he took too long to respond to it most of the times way back, so he had told her. At first she'd thought he was crazy, before he showed her the magic. And he'd told her about the tinglings, so she of all people should know what he was really doing.
Surprisingly, it didn't take Merlin all that long, only a couple of weeks, to find Morgana. She was finishing up her last year of school before university, when she would head to Oxford. Merlin smiled. She would be with Gwen.
Merlin walked into her lunch room. It was a fairly small school, small enough for just one lunch period, although admittedly it was a large cafeteria for this purpose. He scanned the tables. Where WAS she? He stopped to ask at a table and was quickly bombarded with questions, mostly from the girls. Some played with their hair, some smiled flirtingly, and others actually fluttered their eyelids. Merlin was immediately uncomfortable.
"Um, would one of you perhaps direct me to Morgana Pembroke?"he asked, avoiding their eyes. A few of the girls pouted.
"Oh, HER. She's over there, with all the other losers."
Merlin raised his eyebrows. "Loser. Well, I wouldn't quite say that. I'm sure that if she wanted to she would do nasty things to you all."
Some of the girls sniggered. "Her? Do 'nasty things'? That goody-goody teacher's pet wouldn't DARE do anything."
They had mostly lost interest in him, at least as boyfriend material, by now. He headed off gratefully in the direction they had pointed. He caught sight of a black-headed girl and headed hopefully in that direction. If what the girls said was true, she wasn't bad yet.
Passing a few more tables he finally caught sight of her face, and he stopped in his tracks. He had nearly forgotten what she looked like before she had gone dark, and he was pleased to see that, at least so far, she was still showing all her good qualities. He intended to keep it that way.
She was talking to a small group of people who, by today's standards, Merlin would suppose were labeled as either nerdy, geeky, or otherwise unfit to be popular. The girl she was talking to leaned in close and whispered something to her, looking in Merlin's direction and smiling. He could just barely hear it, being able to tune sounds out and in, and what he heard made a blush creep up his neck and face.
"Hey, don't look now, but there's a hot guy staring at you," her friend said. Morgana, of course, turned immediately toward Merlin and was rewarded by a small punch in the arm. "I said don't look now!" her friend hissed, though the laughter in her voice was clear.
When their eyes locked, Morgana's mouth fell open. She gaped for a moment, and Merlin saw different things flit through her eyes, though what they were he couldn't tell. They came and went too fast. He smiled at her and walked towards her, sitting down opposite her and squeezing himself in between two guys lost in homework and earbuds.
Merlin continued to smile. She looked just like she did before her disappearance, except obviously without the dresses and other medieval things.
"Hello Morgana."
It was a moment before she could respond, and her friend looked back and forth between the two of them, obviously confused.
"MERLIN?" she finally got out in a bewildered whisper. Merlin was taken aback.
"You - you know who I am?" he stuttered.
Her friend just looked even more confused. "Um, I guess you two have a lot to talk about, so..." She began to rise from her seat.
"No, Mithian, it's fine, we'll go," Morgana said, pulling her back down beside her, her gaze never leaving Merlin's. "Some things are better said away from the public ear."
Ah, Mithian, of course. Merlin had thought she looked familiar, although he didn't remember the two ever meeting in his time. She gave Morgana a look that clearly said you-will-tell-me-everything-when-you-get-back before Merlin got up and followed Morgana out of the cafeteria and into a deserted hallway.
"How do you know who I am?"
"How did you find me?"
"Well, I got this feeling and... You didn't answer my question!" he said defensively.
"How wouldn't I know who you are?" She seemed genuinely confused.
"Well, no one else did. I eventually told Gwen, but only because she knew something was off."
"'No one else'? 'Gwen'? Who all's there?"
"Uh, well, Gwaine, Percival, Leon, Gaius, a few others."
"Not Arthur?"
Merlin sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Not yet. It'll be soon though. I know it."
Morgana nodded. "Well, I suppose all we can do now is wait, then."
"Yeah." They stood there for a moment in silence, and then Merlin turned back to the door.
"Merlin," Morgana called. "I really am sorry, for everything."
Merlin paused, gave a slight nod, and then left, but not before writing down how to find him and the rest of their old friends.
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"Who was that?" Mithian demanded as soon as Morgana sat down next to her.
"Oh no one, just a friend from a long time ago."
Morgana reached into her backpack and smiled, pulling out a sheet of paper with a list of names and addresses.