Merlin couldn't tell you how old he was at this point, but he did know when things started to change for the better, he had grown older and older as the years went on, his features pausing in time five times over the years. He had never really understand the reason behind it but he could have sworn that he felt Arthur. March 5th, 1861, November 1944, April 30th until May 2nd 1973, August 15th, 1978 , these dates meant nothing and were so random and latest random times that he didn't bother to look.
Now currently at his 87th year old version, he really wished he would have. It was familiar in a number of ways to him and it was amusing that it was during this time that he started to reverse. It started on January 24th, 1979, at least the local and important timezone of the one that his friend was reincarnated in. When he woke up he realized he had de-aged almost 10 years in one night and knew that Arthur was back.
He leaves that night to the Americas, it wasn't the first time but he was surprised that his King was born in America, he had thought it would be Britain of some-type from the years gone by. The plane is horrible but at least he won't have to worry about using his powers. If he had thought that it had been a bad idea to be a wizard in Uther's court, well the modern world was even tougher. He refused to think about this and forced his focus onto times long ago with his friends in court.
He lands and can not sense were to go from his current location, the child has settled into his family and is happy. He had only sensed the country from the shock of the birth itself. He settled into the town and looked for the supplies he would need for his travels. After three weeks he was set and started out on the road just traveling back roads and enjoying the people he ran into. Taking care of some of the bastard version of creatures that stalked the woods. He didn't out right hunt them, but some was drawn in by his power. He was magick after all and it sometime leaked, it wasn't controllable, it just was what it was. It was how he still lived and had started to grow younger. It had slowed greatly at the moment, but he wasn't worried. The child had a long time to grow up and Merlin wasn't in a great rush to see what was left of his friend.
November 2nd, 1983 is the next time he de-ages, this time five years but he was already in his early seventies. This time the pain rang in his head, it shook and moved. Tore across Merlin's brain and he was left curled up in a hotel bed for a week before he could do anything other than eat, sleep and take care of his bodily function. He knew the state and town even the damn street his old friend was currently on but he didn't rush in. He needed to heal, his mother gone for the second time, once more by magic and Merlin felt a hand tighten around his heart again.
Would it be like before, would he hate magic before he even knew of Merlin and what they would do. He sighed and stayed at the hotel for a second week before hitting the road, not driving anywhere but knowing he was headed for Lawrence. By the time he arrives he realizes that the family has already moved on from the small town and is on the road. Merlin sighs and heads to the road himself, he would only go in if it seemed like there was no coming out. If Arthur was to become the ruler he needed to be he needed to grow up and he did that without Merlin the first time.
There had been a number of times over the years he had almost stolen across the night to be beside his friends side, no matter what the risk but instead he found and settled into a bar named the Roadhouse. He worked alongside Ellen and Bill Harvelle and was surprised when their daughter Jo Harvelle turned out to be Morgana, but this was a different kind of woman. She was kind and decent and Merlin watched her grow up being loved and it make a world of difference. But as the family grew older Merlin started to grown younger still, it was later in the year of 1989 that he gets a shock from his past friend. There isn't much to do, it isn't really a threat just his father and him as normal.
It was Christmas Eve 1991 that he actually had to leave the room, his body grasped in a panic attack that his other half would not let himself feel. He took a deep breath as Ellen came up behind him and he knew the intake of breath meant that she was seeing his face change in front of her. He also had started at this point to grow upwards slightly his spine going straighter than it had been in years. Their eyes meet and he sighed deeply, she just smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You can come and explain it to everyone." He told his story that evening, told Jo a little about their connection as he knew she would soon be able to tune into it on her own, she didn't have the magick from the past but she still had some. They accepted him quicker than he would have thought. It was 1995 this time and a new type of pain arches into Merlin, a loss of innocent. He knew that Dean had embraced his fathers wishes and knew he should be there to help him but he couldn't go to him yet. It faded into regret and loss of family and Merlin had packed up before he realized he was half way out the door.
Jo stopped him this time, one of the tales of their lives in her arm and she just shook her head, "not yet." Then they had retired to the living room and read for the rest of the evening and the pain slowly started to fade before he felt his soul torn in two and knew Dean had found someone he had loved and wondered what had made him so sad. He would have to remember to ask him someday if he ever got to meet him.
Life seems to settle slightly around everyone, he ran into a few more people he knew in the past, it was most ever gathered. That was when it really started, pain from Arthur almost every day, his life changing and rolling non-stop. There were a number of times he had to stop himself from leaving the roadhouse over the next two years, and when he felt them coming he ran. He fled and started to hunt more, trying to keep space knowing that it was never going to be the right time. This went on for another year before he felt the ticking clock finally and knew he was too far away even with magic and then it was over. He had deaged to be about forty years old and it was unfair.
He stumbled back to the roadhouse and crashed out, crying and being held for the next three weeks, it was ten times worse than when he held him in his arms. At least then he had know he had been alive, he wept and missed the friend he never met this time around. Which is why the morning he woke up and was twenty eight again, the age that Arthur died the first time he couldn't help but rushing from the room and vanishing to the grave site he knew the bones rested. He waved his hand over the single cross marked grave and the dirt pulled and rolled itself out of the way to show a hand push past the wood and into the now empty space.
Another arm and then a head and shoulders presented itself, Merlin reached down to take his arm, "Arthur, nice to see you, gonna give the third attempt a good shot right."
"Who the fuck are you?" came the reply from the man in the grave, "what the hell happen?!"
TBC? what do you think? should I go on?