A/N: Hope you enjoy. first time posting.

Prologue

"Here let me make you a deal, I step to your left, and you to my right?" the boy blushed giving the most gorgeous girl he'd ever seen one of his nervous grins. The latter offered up a smile and a modest bow in apology for keeping him. The boy could only be mesmerized by the girls beautiful dark brown locks and creamy white skin as his stare lingered for much longer than a minute.

As he walked off, he quickly noticed the sour stare his girlfriend Freya was giving him. Merlin knew he deserved it because it doesn't take a person 20 minutes to get two lagers and a basket of chips. But he couldn't help it; it was a rarity bumping into a fellow Irish men or in this case Irish women in France. The city he was currently living in was Paris with his girlfriend who moved here for work and besides the fact he found the women intriguing.

"Glad to see my boyfriend again, how long has it been?" Freya glared harshly. Merlin watched as she began to stand up gathering her things as well. Merlin looked on in disbelief. It had been trouble in paradise for the last 6 months for them, but Merlin was having a hard time adjusting to the change in location as well as the pressure being placed from her parents and his girlfriend into proposing. They had been going out for almost 8 years. The typical teenage sweetheart story was something everyone who they known, met or will meet react in awe.

"Come on Freya, I'm sorry." Merlin tried his best to sound the most sincere. Although if he were being honest with himself and her, he was tired and really didn't want to bother anymore fighting to salvage what was left.

"You expect me to marry someone who went all goo goo eyes for a slut he met at the bar."

"Come on now Freya we aren't engaged and I wasn't going goo goo for her. She is a nice girl and we were just talking about Ireland, she's from back home." His girlfriend's eyes went wide and her piercing eyes revealed that Merlin better find a place to hide; he had just destroyed whatever was left of his relationship. Freya flipped him off and stormed out of the pub.

"Oh Freya." Merlin winced in guilt and quickly dropped everything to gather his things to run out and mend what he had just broken.

Minutes later…

As soon as he pushed out the doors he looked from all directions finding the streets of Paris eerily quiet and surprisingly empty for a Friday night. How could she have disappeared so quickly? Suddenly a loud scream filled the air and Merlin instantly recognized the voice. Freya.

He jetted off toward where he believed the voice was coming from. The screams and the sound of a struggle were getting louder and Merlin knew he was close. Merlin knew he had to think of something fast before running into what he was afraid of might being. He looked a around and found a loose pipe on the side of the street and walked deeper into the dark alley. Merlin knew he wasn't the most manly guys nor strongest; his build was average at most…more like a little below but he was smart and knew how to get himself out of a situation.

"AAHHHHHHHHHH" a loud shrieked cursed Merlin's ears, his heart was beating faster and he was most definitely scared. "Let her go!" Merlin shouted. "I called the police, so you might as well let her go." He lied. All he heard were odd noises that sounding more like a wild animal rather than a human. "Merlin" Freya called out. "Help me." she let out one last blood curdling scream before Merlin's eyes set out on two grotesque looking men. His eyes couldn't believe what he was staring at. This was not human at all. He backed away slowly but remembered what was going on and stood his ground sternly and griped on the pipe harder. The two men…smiled at him and began to move toward him. Merlin held his defensive stance harder as he prepared to attack but found himself gasping for a breath as he felt his insides rip apart. He looked down to see blood spool out of him. He didn't know what just happened only that it was razor sharp and unexpected. What were they? As his body collapsed weakly on the ground, Merlin could barely move as he felt a pool of warm blood surround him within a matter of minutes.

All he could sense was erratic movements, but couldn't see what was happening. He looked to the shadow the street lights projected off the wall and noticed unfamiliar forms ripping apart the two monsters Merlin had seen just kill his girlfriend. His body suddenly gave out and his eyes rolled back all he could remember was hearing a voice of a man.

"What happens now?"

Chapter 1

"Gaius what is going on?" Gwen walked in on her boss scramble from one side of the room to the other. She had never seen him like this, not ever since…"Oh Gwen I forgot you'd be coming by." Gaius was obviously frazzled. Gwen looked on with a sympathetic expression. The only thing that she could think of that was making him act like this was none other than his nephew, Merlin.

About four years ago, Merlin had said a goodbye and vanished without a word. Gwen wasn't surprised considering her best friend had a lot to deal with previous to his disappearance. The news of the attack was everywhere, it made international headlines. "Did you hear from him? Gaius did Merlin contact you?" She stepped forward to interrupt him from his train of thought. He looked up with sad eyes and he felt his body fall toward the sweet girl. Her arms wrapped around him in such a loving way. "It'll be okay. I am sure he is okay."

"A friend of mine who worked for the police up north promised to keep an eye out for him if Merlin passed through…he told me last night that there was a murder a couple of days ago and he said they found remnants of a body ripped apart everywhere and…and…" Gaius didn't need to say anything more, Gwen understood. Gwen cooed. It was hard for the both of them as they both knew Merlin wasn't in the right mind after what happened to him. He had changed; he had become obsessive over things that were unbelievable…out of this world. At first they both assumed it was the attack that trigged something psychological within him, hence why it was causing him to act out which was so unlike Merlin. But they both soon realized that it was something else, it wasn't just behaviour but an obsession over monsters like werewolves and demons. Something else happened to Merlin and both Gaius and Gwen have been spending the last four years trying to figure out what.

"I'm so sorry, but we truly don't know it is really him." Gwen offered up some hope.
"I have a feeling that it is, I feel the end has finally come and I didn't even get to say goodbye." Gaius broke away from Gwen's hold.

Gwen stared at the telly blankly, she couldn't believe it. She refused to believe it. Merlin and she were connected like brother and sister despite obviously having two different parents since Gwen colour for one was a nice chocolate brown and Merlin was on the opposite spectrum. But the two were family for each other since both were raised by single parents. She tugged on her necklace a gift Merlin had given her when they were in their second but last year of college doing finishing A-levels. At first she thought Merlin was buying it for Freya at the time since her birthday was coming up. Gwen had been harbouring a one-sided crush on him ever since they were little and felt a bit jealous over the fact Merlin was buying the necklace Gwen had longed to buy for herself. Freya was a lucky girl she thought at the time.

When they walked out of the store Merlin had turned around and pushed the nicely gift wrapped box into her hands and told her to open it. She looked at him in total shock since she didn't expect the sweet gesture. It wasn't her birthday nor was it any other special occasion/holiday or so she thought. "Happy first day we've met Gwen and became best friends." Merlin smiled and gave her hug. Gwen was speechless and regretted in totally forgetting what day it was and so she kept apologizing. Merlin said he was perfectly fine with it, he said it was not like we celebrate things like this but I just know how much you wanted the necklace and thought today would be a good reason to give you a gift in order to remind you how much you mean to me. Of course later that day Merlin had told her how Freya is planning on them moving to Paris to work. It had deeply saddened Gwen but forced her to realize that Merlin will forever and always be her best friend, her brother.

"Babe what do you want to eat?" Gwen's mind fell back to reality and she looked up to see her macho boyfriend wrapped in her pink kitchen apron holding a pan. His blond hair messily covering his stunning blue eyes, he stood gazing at her worriedly. "Babe you okay?" He asked. Gwen breathed in deeply and gave a forceful smile. "I'm alright, just thinking." She got up and walked over to her strapping boyfriend and hugged her arms around his waist. She placed a soft kiss and hugged him again. She was truly happy with her life as they both held onto each other.

"What's that?" Gwen looked up toward her boyfriend confused, she didn't hear anything. "I hear something."

"Arthur I hear nothing." Gwen looked concern, Arthur had always had a good sense of things, whether it is eyes, smell or sound, he was unique and very helpful to his clumsy girlfriend. "Someone's here." Arthur grabbed onto her hand and pushed her behind him as both of them heard footsteps draw near. Gwen's eyes widen as a form came up from the shadows and as soon as she could yell out Arthur had charged toward the man to attack.

A loud crash could be heard as both men stumbled toward the kitchen, they were struggling against each other. Gwen stood there stunned as she was in shock to see who the figure was. Merlin.

"Arthur stop it!" she cried out.

"Stop it please." She ran over to pull Arthur away as he was clearly winning since he was pinning the almost unrecognizable man. Merlin had surely changed he was a lot more built, almost around Arthur's size but slightly leaner. He had a full grown beard and long shaggy hair.

"It's Merlin Arthur, my friend." Gwen shoved Arthur away causing for him to look at her in disbelief. She instantly hugged the man on the floor. "Merlin…I can't believe it….I…we thought you were dead." She felt two arms wrap around her hugging her just as tightly.

"I know…I'm sorry."

Arthur stared as he wiped blood from his mouth a taste he was familiar with. "Meerlin. You're best friend Merlin, that's him?" Gwen looked over and smiled at her boyfriend, even though his comment wasn't meant to make her laugh she couldn't help but smile as she leapt into his arms to kiss him.

"Maybe I should beat up all of your guy friends." Arthur cheekily smirked. Gwen teasingly smiled and placed another kiss on him again.

"You didn't beat me up." Merlin stated as he stood touching his cheek. Arthur immediately glared. "I did to." He replied.

*****************

"Where on earth have you been?" Gaius screamed. Gwen has never seen him like this before, not when she and Merlin were children. He was always gentle with words. Merlin stared at him, he had aged. His face not as youthful looking as it once was. He used to have a soft and welcoming aura to him now he had a cold and lonely one. "I've been fighting and I've even killed them." He sternly spoke. Both Gwen and Gaius stared worriedly at him. "Merlin…"

"Tis not what you think."
"How else do you want us to take it."
"I'm protecting the people I care about."

"From what? We aren't in any danger."

"Yes you are, we all are."

Gwen and Gaius knew what he was going to say next, they had hoped that his disappearing act would somehow heal him. But it has seemed as though it hadn't done him any good at all. Just made it worse for him, Merlin looked up softly toward the only two people left in the world he truly loved.

"There are others like me? They believe it, they've seen it. We've even fought against it."

"What are you talking about?" Gwen was trying her best to understand, she really was.

"Werewolves…Vampires….other ungodly monsters." Merlin replied, his eyes revealing the pain but also the childlike nature the old Merlin always held. Gaius and Gwen looked at each other not knowing what to do anymore.

"Gwen I know you don't believe me." Merlin sat across from her at the local pub, it was around 10 at night and Gwen had promised Gaius to keep an eye out for Merlin. After their talk they both were deeply worried about him so they both agreed to watch him while Gaius went to talk to some of his friends. She had texted Arthur to meet them there as well and she was wondering how come he was late. "Merlin lets not talk about it for now, okay. I'm just glad your back." She replied flustered.

"I missed you to." And Gwen's mood quickly changed as she looked at her best friend making eye contact. Despite everything he was still Merlin, Gwen knew that but for some reason couldn't wrap her head around the idea of a world with vampires or werewolves like Merlin described into more detail earlier that day. It just seemed so close to what we've seen on T.V. and in the cinemas, which is all fake of course.

"Babe, sorry I'm late I got held up." Arthur leaned down and forward to place a soft kiss on his girlfriends mouth. Merlin watched intently, he got this strange feeling about Gwen's boyfriend.

"Oh Meerlin, hello…I would give you a kiss to, but I figured you'd prefer me not to." Arthur was obviously a smart ass Merlin quickly picked up. What did Gwen see in him.

"Arthur…" Gwen gave him a disapproving look, indicating to him to let up.

"Did you eat? We hadn't ordered yet." Arthur had an unreadable expression, like he was keeping something hidden but the look quickly disappeared before Gwen could noticed, however Merlin did and took note of it. He didn't like this guy he thought.

"Sorry babe, Morgie fed me already." He replied Gwen understands immediately like she always did and waved a waitress down since she was starving. The waitress noted down her order and turned to Merlin, "And what would you like?" the waitress was trying to flirt with him. Merlin didn't quite notice or care as he simple replied "Lager" The waitress walked away dismayed by the coldness and Arthur whispered into Gwen's ear.

"He's not the friendliest person is he?" he joked. Gwen tried her best not to smirk.

"Shut up." she softly replied back.

Merlin was happy to see Gwen so happy. As he looked on, and even though he didn't trust this Arthur Pendragon, he knew that as long as he was making his best friend happy he would have no qualms about it.

It wasn't before long the three of them were now walking down an empty cold street heading for Gwen's apartment. Merlin was tense while Arthur and Gwen walked hand in hand. Arthur could sense the man's mood change as he eyed him carefully.

They were about 10 minutes away from reaching the apartment complex as they turned the corner. Out of no where a shadow and an eerie gust of wind passed by them. Only Merlin and Arthur could sense it as Gwen snuggled closer to her boyfriend. "Its getting cold, let's hurry home." She stated.

Merlin started walk ahead getting away from them further, he knew something was wrong and needed to find out what. When he had disappeared he had no idea what he was doing. For months he was alone, moving from town to town trying to find a sense of who he was. At first he couldn't believe it, everyone around him was telling him he was crazy and he was beginning to believe it. He was even debating whether or not to go home back to his uncle and his mother. However, another night sleeping on the streets in Abergavenny changed everything for him. He had found himself struggling against two men or what he thought were humans. He was pinned down and was so close to feeling the two fangs being pressed into the skin of his neck if it weren't for his friends Will and Lancelot who had saved him by staking them in the heart.

"Bloody vamps" Will replied like it was something normal. "Hi I'm Will and this is my friend Lancelot"

Merlin was still trying to catch his breath as he stilled laid on the grown. He looked up and all three of them looked at each other smiling and Merlin knew he had found what he had been looking for the last months.

"Merlin….Meerrrlin….Meeeerrrrrlin." Merlin looked behind him to see both Arthur holding onto Gwen as she had her eyes closed, she was obviously tired. "What kind of person names their child Merlin? What kind of name is Merlin?" Merlin was getting annoyed and his temper was rising since he found Arthur's words insulting, especially since his mother had died not so long ago. The topic of his mother was particularly sensitive for him, it was his fault he thought. He was about to turn back and give Arthur Pendragon a piece of his mind, but suddenly heard a growl and his body flung forward. He immediately knew what it was. Lycan.

"AAHHHHH!" Gwen screamed as she opened her eyes to witness a man attacking Merlin.

"Arthur take Gwen and run!" he yelled as he struggled against the monster. "Merlin!" Gwen ran toward him and tried to pull the man off of him, only to be thrown against the wall of a building.

"Guinevere!" Arthur ran toward her, he felt his temper rise as he saw blood. He looked back over to see Merlin trying his best to fight against the thing that had hurt Gwen. A sparkle in his eyes appeared and he burst toward the figure ready to give a hard blow.

Surprisingly this lycan was a lot stronger than the typical ones he has faced before. "Merlin, hold him." He turned to see Arthur and Merlin could sense something different about the man. Merlin suddenly felt his body being thrown against a parked car. Blimey, stupid Pendragon. "Arthur protect Gwen and go. This is nothing you can understand." He yelled out as he took a blade hidden from within his boot and ran toward the beast again.

Gwen head hurt as she struggled to regain perfect vision. She looked on his shock at the sight she saw. Merlin had stabbed the figure in the shoulder and both Arthur and Merlin were both thrown onto the ground as a loud howl let out from the man. Suddenly her eyes grew bigger as the man was not a man no longer, but…a monster…she was at a lost for words. The blade had only seemed to agitate it and made it worse since the lycan was in his full true form.

"Good job Meerlin…" Arthur winced in pain. "Got any other bright ideas." Merlin could only glare. He really didn't like Arthur. "Just wait…" Merlin replied when suddenly as the beast began to walk toward Gwen who was shaking, Arthur flinch forward wanting to protect the girl he deeply loved. It was unexpected what happened next as beams of light began to burst from inside out causing the lycan to explode. Merlin smirked as he eyed Arthur who looked at him in dislike. "Silver blade, I made it myself." Merlin stated as he got up and picking up his blade and pocketing it back in his boot. Gwen was helping Arthur who seemed like he was doing much better than before.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, but now you know the true." Merlin stared intently at Gwen who did not reply back, she simply began to limb home with Arthur in tow.

******************

"You knew?!" Gwen was livid, she was screaming inside the old antique bookstore that Gaius owned and where she worked. Merlin was sitting on the steps while Arthur leaned against the railing, the two were watching as Gwen was ripping Gaius apart. "I trusted you; you made me believe that Merlin was crazy! When in reality he was telling us the truth the whole time. You acted like it wasn't real." She was crying. Gaius felt guilt, he always had.

"I'm sorry my child. I had to lie, I was only trying to protect you…keep you safe." They had reached the apartment and Gwen immediately called Gaius, who quickly came over and treated their wounds. The next day he had told them to come by the bookstore so they could discuss what happened last night. It was time he revealed the truth.

It turns out Gaius always knew Merlin was right. He had seen them to, when he was a young lad. He had been so fascinated by this whole new other world that he never noticed and soon found himself being sucked in within it. Much to his regret.

"I won't let you hurt her!"

"My dear boy, I thought we had an understanding."

"I change my mind."

"Gaius what is he talking about? Tell me?" the girl let go of his hand and backed away as he reached toward her.

"I'm sorry…I love you."

"Gaius…Gaius…." Arthur called out staring at the man. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to do what is right, I thought what I was doing was right." The poor old man walked passed them and into his office as they all looked with concern.

"We should leave him be, he needs to be alone." Arthur stated.

"I can't just leave him," Merlin replied. "especially since he needs to tell us the truth." He was annoyed with Arthur he found the man to be quite intrusive.
"Well what good are we doing just standing here, he's upset and needs space."

"Please stop guys." Gwen raised her hands up. "Arthur is right, we should go. Even though I still want to hear why he lied to us, I understand and respect him." Merlin looked on and nodded in agreement.

"Let's just go home." Gwen looked at Merlin.
"How bout not." they both looked up at him.

"I'm pretty sure we're all tired and still in shock babe."
"Well not really, the only thing that puts me in shock is Merlin's appalling hair." Arthur and Gwen stared toward Merlin. Merlin looked at them in disbelief, though he actually realized why Arthur had said it. It was purposely to get Gwen's mind off of what had happened and for that reason he thanked him on the inside for being so good with Gwen, despite his other annoying flaws.

"I feel naked." Merlin replied as he played with his new short locks.
"You look good." Gwen smiled, giving her first genuine smile of the day. They were once again sitting at the pub waiting on Arthur who was getting off from work

"I'm cold." Merlin slightly joked, this something that caught Gwen off guard. It had been so long since she heard Merlin comfortable joke about.

"It's cause you don't have your coat and hat with you anymore" she was referring to the fact that Arthur and Gwen forced Merlin to cut his hair and shave off the animal stuck on his face.

"I must say Gwen our once ugly duckling is looking quite posh and dare I say dashing with his new do." Arthur pranced his way toward their table and taking his place beside Gwen and wrapping his arm around her. It was still quite awkward, it's been almost two weeks since the attack and they had been trying their best to deal with it.

Though Merlin was already adjusted he knew Gwen was still in shock and he was rather surprised at how quickly Arthur accepted it. On the other hand there was Gaius who was still mum, he had become rather distant. Merlin was worried since he knew something tragic must have occurred in order for the man to lock up like that. Merlin had been by the bookstore everyday, only to see the closed sign up. He would walk inside and speaking for a short moment with his dear uncle before Gaius would get this heartbreaking look in his eyes. Merlin wanted to know the truth.

"How's Gaius?" Arthur asked. Both Merlin and Gwen looked at each other unable to speak much, only to say he is still the same. "Sorry wrong question." The three of them went back to long pauses, to random bursts of chit chat until Arthur felt a vibration. He reached for his phone to see a message pop up.

"Gwen you know what will cheer you up?" He smiled knowingly. Merlin was barely listening as he was contemplating on what he should do next.

"Morgana." Merlin looked toward Gwen wondering what was going on. He saw a huge grin light up as she stood up and ran toward the door. He turned only to see a familiar figure being led by his best friend; the two were laughing and holding hands. He observed and noted their closeness. He also noted the fact everyone had stopped and stared at the young women.

"I told you it would cheer you up." Arthur smiled.

"Oh my gawd, I'm so happy you came out. I rarely get to see you."

"I know I'm sorry, its just work has been keeping me away." Gwen took the empty spot beside Merlin while Morgana on Arthur's side.
"Morgana I'll like you to meet my friend Merlin, Merlin this is Morgana, Arthur's sister." Gwen smiled. Merlin examined the two siblings and quickly remarked in his head the fact the two look nothing like each other. Not even a smidgen of similarity. He noticed himself staring at Morgana for a long time, something about her he thought. She felt like he knew her from somewhere or seen her. His suspicions of the Arthur was growing, especially now with the appearance of his sister.

Arthur sighed a little relieved that Gwen wasn't thinking about the lycan. He needed her to forget about it, but how could he when Merlin was back.

Merlin merely nodded as Morgana said hello. The awkwardness didn't last long when Gwen started to talk about Morgana's new necklace.

Merlin felt uncomfortable, he needed to be alone. He wasn't used to being with groups. Yes, he did fight with a group when he was off drifting from town to town but he had always kept to himself. There were only two people he really only ever talked to which were Will and Lancelot before the fall out. Many thoughts were flowing through his head, a lot of it was regret. He understood how Gaius must be feeling. I never should've come back. But I have no where else to go. Not anymore. When he realized the truth of his choices he was making, he knew he needed to escape and the only place he could think of was the bookstore, with Gaius and Gwen…his family. Taking one last gulp from the lager he had ordered and dropping off a couple of quid with tip, Merlin abruptly stood up and walked away.

"Merlin?" Gwen questioned him but knew nothing could be done. He only gave an apologetic look to Gwen and walked out of the pub.

"Wow what good manners does he have." Arthur commented. Morgana looked toward him and thought to herself silently before engaging herself back the conversation.

"Come here my children." The voice boomed "I hear that you've seen Emrys?" they nodded staring up at him with modest eyes. "Do you know why he has come back?"
"No father."

"Keep an eye out for him, I feel that Emrys' return is without merit. When you do find out report back immediately." The two bowed and walked away as they both wondered what the fascination with the boy is about.