Merlin slowly dipped at the coffee that the waitress, Emilee, had handed him. He pointedly ignores the chattering blond seated to his left thinking, "He isn't real. He isn't real."
"Merlin, come on look at me," the hallucination said. "Look at me and tell me why I had to die. Why couldn't you save me?"
"Emilee," Merlin called. When the young woman appeared Merlin slipped her a twenty and said "Keep the change."
"Thanks Uncle Emrys," the waitress said invoking the town's moniker for him before planting a kiss on each of his wrinkly cheeks.
Nodding at everybody in the silent hello they had come to expect from him, the old warlock made his way out the café door. Once he was outside he sped up as much as his old bones could handle and tried to outrun the man his mind had conjured.
Finally, breathless and thankfully alone Merlin arrived at his book shop. After resting against the wall for a few minutes the old man flipped the sign to open and made his way behind the counter.
"Come on," He muttered, "Someone come in please, he won't come back if somebody comes in."
"Wrong," his mind screeched as Lance, the grocer walked in trailed by the figure that had been haunting him for the past 1500 years.
"Ignore him," Merlin told himself before calling out, "Lance what are you looking for today."
"Just browsing today Uncle Emrys but my cousin here might need help finding something." Lance said with a gesture towards the Arthur hallucination.
"Lance," Merlin whispered, "You can see him too."
"What do you mean?" Lance asked as his face shifted to that of a forgotten friend, Lancelot.
Muffling sobs by biting his palms Merlin slid down with his back against the wall. Then looking up with golden eyes he yelled, "Get out, get out!"
Once the two men had scrambled out of the door Merlin cried out softly, "Get out of my head."
The warlock was still curled up behind the counter half an hour later when Emilee came. She squatted down beside him and asked, "Are you alright Uncle Emrys? Lance said that his cousin seemed to give you a psychotic break. You really scared them."
Gasping for breath Merlin explained, "Lance isn't Lance. He's Lancelot and his cousin is King Arthur and you're Gwen. You're Queen Guinevere, You're all back, I'm not alone any more."
Emilee nodded though she didn't understand exactly what was going on and asked, "And who are you? Why were you alone?"
"Because you left me," Merlin screamed before dropping to a whisper, "because you all died and left me and I couldn't follow because I had to be the immortal Emrys, the great Merlin."
Emilee just stared unsure of how to respond and the small part of Merlin that was still sane began to come back.
"You don't believe me, that's okay I'll just reawaken your memories." The warlock said pressing two fingers to her forehead.
"Oh, oh," She gasped, "Merlin what happened to you? After Gaius's death you just disappeared and now look at you."
The broken man stared into her eyes and replied, "After Arthur died I still saw him everywhere blaming me for his death. Then Gaius died and I saw him too and I thought I could leave them behind in Camelot but they followed me and over time more of our friends joined. Gwen, they're still here haunting me."
"They don't have to," Gwen said hoisting him to his feet. "Come on, reawaken Arthur's memories and he'll be able to tell you that you did nothing wrong."
As the two strode down the street Merlin said, "You know I won't be able to stay. Not after my break down today. You'll have to tell everyone that I was sent to a home and I'll have to leave."
"Then I'll come with you," Gwen hissed fiercely protective.
"No you won't as they walked into Gwen's café which was empty except for Lancelot and Arthur.
Crossing towards the men purposefully Merlin reached out his hands as Gwen said, "Merlin is here to apologize."
"Merlin," the men scoffed. However before more could be said on the matter Merlin touched their heads and the flood of memories began.
"What happened to you?" Lance asked. "Why do you look so old and we look so young?"
Laughing bitterly Merlin explained, "You were reincarnated. I never died hence why I look old it's because I am."
After giving the men a moment of exclamations he said, "Arthur I'm so sorry I failed you. Don't worry I'll do better this time around."
"You didn't," Arthur said, "You didn't fail me."
"Yes I did," Merlin smiled. "Now it's time for me to go. Gwen you remember our story?"
"Go, you can't go." Lancelot cried out.
A smile was on Merlin's face as he responded, "Yes I can, but don't worry I'll see you all again."
With those enigmatic words Merlin disappeared without a trace. Two weeks later a new man moved into town he was twenty-six with black hair, blue eyes, and large ears. When he walked into Gwen's café and said, "Hello, I'm Marvin Emery," the cup she dropped was saved with magic and a wink.
Merlin was back.