Summary: Gwen's dying wish was to be brought to Avalon.
Author Note: This is an extended version of a two part drabble/gifset I made on tumblr
Disclaimer: Don't own Merlin
Reunited in Avalon
It's the same window she'd gaze out when she was alive. She'd watch the activity in the courtyard, anxiously waiting for Arthur and the knights to return from a mission. There was nothing to see outside the window now. No servants, no nobles, no guards, no knights, no Arthur. Merlin couldn't tell her what was in store for her beyond Avalon's mist, and she didn't know how much time passed from the moment she drew her last breath to when she opened her eyes and found herself standing at the window, but it already felt too long. Was she to spend her time in death alone? No. She had hope. She always had hope. She stood straighter, young again, determined to see Arthur.
That's when she heard it. "Guinevere," her name caressed by the voice she longed to hear.
She turned around and the room filled with a blinding light. A silhouette formed, growing larger as it got closer. Gwen's eyes widened as Arthur emerged from the light.
She didn't know who moved first, but she was in Arthur's arms and that's all that mattered. The ethereal light was gone and replaced by the glow of candlelight in their bedchamber.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Guinevere," he whispered into her neck. His breath tickled her skin, and her heart pounded. "I said I'd never leave you. I promised you. I…" Arthur's words muffled as he buried his face deeper into her neck and curls and tightened his embrace.
"Shh, it's alright, my love." Gwen ran a soothing hand along his shoulders, and as it came to rest on his back, she could feel his warmth radiate though his tunic; his warmth she'd been so long without.
It seemed like a distant memory now. A memory as cold as the old body she left behind. Death was cold, she thought, but the warmth of Arthur's body and the beating of her heart…these aren't characteristics of the dead.
Because they were very much alive.
"Everything is alright."
Arthur pulled back to look her in the eye. "How long as it been?" he asked, confused. His eyes searched her face. She realized she looked exactly the same as she looked when he last saw her. She knew he feared that she had died not long after him.
Gwen bowed her head. "Almost forty years." Forty long years. She would've died sooner if she wasn't living for him, for Camelot. They were married for less time than they spent hiding their relationship. She spent more years alive as a widowed queen than as a humble serving girl. Arthur was shocked. It seemed time didn't exist in Avalon. Arthur said his death only felt like yesterday, that he'd fallen into a dreamless sleep. When he woke up, she was there.
He tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I had grey hair," she muttered. He stroked her cheek. She closed her eyes and smiled at the familiar touch. "I had wrink—" Her words cut off as he kissed her. He pulled her close again, hands gliding along familiar paths.
As if it were yesterday.
They laid entwined in their bed. Gwen indulged in the return of Arthur's weight on her left side. She remembered the morning after their wedding night. His snoring woke her, and she would gladly endure it for eternity because she was with him, her husband. They could have that eternity in Avalon, except Merlin told her that Arthur's return was foretold, and for the briefest of moments she feared she would be alone again. Her hand rested on his chest, over his heart. Still beating. His hand covered hers, lacing their fingers. She lifted her head to see Arthur smiling down at her with his signature boyish grin.
She believed Merlin. Arthur will rise again.
But he won't be going back alone.