The first thing Merlin noticed was blood. It was running out the wound in the man's chest, forming a little pool. Merlin checked for a pulse, nothing. Straightening up, he scanned the room. Noticing blood smears on the immaculate white walls, he could peace together this man's final moments. He had been stabbed close to the window on the far wall, Merlin could tell from the way the blood was splattered across the glass. He had then staggered into the wall on the left, and knocked over a book case. And he had collapsed here, where there was a small pool of blood.

Merlin sighed, and radioed Arthur, who was waiting outside. "Arthur? Its a no go. The victim is dead, and I see no evidence to suggest where the suspect has gone"

"Merlin... Be careful. I've just seen the suspect, he is on the floor above and it looks like he's about to go down, probably to see if the victim is dead. He has a knife."

"Thanks Arthur, I'll be careful."

Merlin cut the transmission. He felt confident that he could convince the man to back down. He heard footsteps descending the stairs and got ready. He hoped the suspect wasn't crazed.

Outside, Arthur couldn't help but feel nervous. He knew Merlin was an excellent negotiator, but they didn't know what the suspect's mental state was. Arthur could only hope it wasn't beyond Merlin's skill. Stop. Thought Arthur to himself. Merlin is a very capable negotiator. Still, he turned on the radio, ready to help if things turned sour.

The door opened and in walked the suspect, Simon Myers. He was obviously startled to see a copper as he froze and tried to back out.

"Please don't do that Mr. Myers." said Merlin cheerfully.

"My armed colleague is downstairs and will take action if you do. I only want to have a chat with you."

"Why should I believe you?" Simon Myers had a raspy voice. And it sent shivers down Merlin's back. Undeterred, he pressed on.

"Please Mr. Myers we only want to know why you did it."

"He deserved it. He double-crossed me. Tried to take the money and the drugs."

So he was a drug dealer, thought Merlin. "You realise that that man, Mr. Ian Jackson, had a wife and daughter? How do you think they will feel?"

Myers actually laughed at this. "His wife is a whore, she won't care. Me and some of my mates have had her a few times. And his daughter is a 19 year old bitch!" He said this last word with vehemence. "She wouldn't do anything for us, yet she took our money quite happily"

Merlin took a breath, he had the confession, it was time to arrest the man in front of him. "Simon Myers, I'm arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Ian Jackson. You do not have to say anything, however it may harm your defence if you do not mention something you may later rely on in court."

Myers' eyes widened. Then narrowed at the young copper who had taken out a set of handcuffs. "You won't take me!" screamed Myers, who raised his knife to attack Merlin. The room was small and he didn't know how long he could evade or tackle Myers. He turned on his radio and shouted "Arthur!" hoping he would show up quickly.

Arthur, who had already been running up the stairs after hearing the entire exchange heard Merlin shout "Arthur!" through the radio, before a scuffle could be heard and Myers yelling. Arthur doubled his speed. He would not allow the man to hurt Merlin.

Bursting through the door, Arthur drew out his gun and pointed it at the man, who froze with shock and fear. Arthur's face was a cold mask as he spoke;

"Put the knife down Mr. Myers. We don't want anymore bloodshed."

The man complied. He obviously knew he was outmatched. Arthur thanked his lucky stars as he ordered the man to lie on the ground and placed handcuffs on him. Turning to face Merlin, who was a little red faced from the scuffle he had with Myers and checked to see if he was okay.

"Are you alright Merlin?"

"Yes Arthur I'm fine, honestly" he added when Arthur raised an eyebrow.

Shaking his head at Merlin's stubbornness, he looked back at Simon Myers, who was still lying on the floor and shaking. Arthur busied himself with ordering a forensic team in to sort out the crime scene as Merlin's phone rang.

"Hello?... Arthur! Good to hear from you. Yes? No, no, I'm with other Arthur. Yes, that one. No, we just apprehended a suspect. Sure, when? Okay see you then, bye."

Merlin, turned to Arthur and apologised for the phone call.

"Sorry, it was Arthur."

"I'm Arthur Merlin." was Arthur's humorous reply.

"I meant Arthur Kirkland, my brother."

"Oh, that Arthur, what did he want?"

"He wants to meet me. Something about an excavation into some reportedly Albionic ruins."

"You best be quick, he hates to be kept waiting."

With a grin and a wink, Merlin left calling over his shoulder;

"Do keep an eye on Myers and take him to the station for me would you?"

"Sure thing, you go enjoy your meeting." Arthur laughed.

After Merlin had left, Arthur wondered, what did Arthur Kirkland, personification of England, and the overall world representative of Britain, need to see Merlin for, if it was just some ruins? Normally, England would ask over the phone and Merlin would let him know the answer, which was usually yes. A thought struck him. Could it be one of the kingdoms' cities? Arthur's train of thought was cut off as the forensics team arrived. He nodded to PC Gwen Jones, who would manage the crime scene, and after giving a brief recount of what happened, drove to the station with Myers.

Merlin arrived at the café, Louis', and spotted his 'brother', Arthur Kirkland. To call him his brother was a slight stretch as Merlin, whose real name was James Kirkland, had existed before him as the nation of Albion. He'd come about before the Kingdoms' personifications, and before Arthur and his brothers, but as they had come about before Merlin and the kingdoms had reached their 200th year of existence, and Britannia was still around, they were lumped together as brothers.

As he walked over to Arthur, he thought about how even though the kingdoms' were lumped together with them, they all had different last names, as they had emerged at different points in time and the only similarity was that Britannia had been the personification before them, and Merlin, who had not known until about the youngest kingdoms' 85th year that he was also a personification, had come about just before them, however as the kingdoms had not yet fallen or dissolved, could not take his position as personification of Albion, until then.

His brother rose to meet him and shook his hand. "Ah, James, good to see you again old chap. I've not seen you for a while, how are you?"

Merlin grinned at his brother as they sat down. "I'm fine, thanks for asking. And Arthur, you know I prefer to be called Merlin."

Arthur waved his comment off with a laugh. Turning to order from the waiter who had just appeared, and placed his order. Fish and Chips and a pint of ale. Shaking his head, Merlin ordered the same, but with mead.

"You know Arthur, everytime I've met you here you've always ordered the same thing."

"You can't beat fish and chips. And the ones here are the best."

Pausing to sip his mead, Merlin asked Arthur;

"So, what's this about Albionic ruins?"

"Well, during an excavation which myself, Prussia and Germany were working on, we uncovered a tomb."

"Go on" encouraged Merlin.

"The inscription read that the tomb held the last rulers of the Kingdoms, and I wondered if you could tell me more about it."

Merlin processed this information. The forgotten tomb had been found. The tomb himself and the Kingdom personifications had made and hidden. Well, he thought, I suppose its time to reveal it.

"The tomb you refer to is known as the Forgotten Tomb. As the Kingdom personifications were the last rulers, they knew we had to place bodies somewhere. So we chose the noblest of each Kingdoms' knights, and told them of our plan. They agreed. Those buried there are the knights who took the personifications' roles just before their deaths, so in effect, they are the last rulers."

Arthur nodded through this, and had a long sip on his ale. Thinking before speaking, he said;

"So we know the truth. You see, I want to make this find public, and both Prussia and Germany want to do research and analyse pieces found. Can we do that?"

Merlin nodded. "You can, as long as you don't disturb the bodies. That was our promise, and so it should be your promise."

"I give you my word, as will Germany and Prussia, once you meet them."

"Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt? I've never met them, even though Prussia was a country during my time, and Germany didn't appear until after I was a personification."

"I know, that's why we're going to meet them now."