Demons

Hey guys, just came up with this idea for a one shot today so I hope you enjoy it. Just to let you know my other Merlin story, the story of Albion probably won't get a sequel before beginning of June time before of exams, anyway this is just a little something. I hope you like, I really really wish I could own Colin Morgan, but sadly neither him or Merlin are mine.

We all have demons, thing that bother us and we keep locked inside but Merlin Emrys well he had more than most. Loads more! Then again that what happened after you had lived for two millennium, there was a lot of time to see stuff you wished you could change, things that haunted you forever.

What haunted Merlin the most through was something that had happened in the first life he had lead. A certain blonde hair, blue eyed man who he had watched die in his mind's eye thousands of times, Arthur.

Some days it was all he could think of, when he didn't get out of bed. The ones when he missed everyone, Arthur, Gwen, Gwaine, Leon, occasionally even Morgana. He had lived other lives since that fateful one, he had been a medic in the war to end all wars, or so they said. He had been a solider the second time around. He had gone from a noble to a beggar, choosing when he wanted to age and when he wanted to go back to the fresh face boy he was when he first stepped foot in Camelot. All of those lives seemed to mould into one after a while through.

Then there were the days when he thought he would never remember his old friends again, those were the worst days of them all. When he struggled to remember what Gwaine looked like when he flirted, what Gwen looked like when she smiled, Gaius's eyebrow move, but he never forgot Arthur. He seemed to be stuck in his mind like an unbreakable bond that had formed between them all those years ago.

In this lifetime Merlin had decided to take a break from the changing world around him, which couldn't feel more foreign if he tried. He had built a house many years ago next to the lake when he had said his final goodbyes. This time he chose to stay there, in his older form because then people just left him alone. He had made an effort to avoid getting too attached to people knowing that one day they would be gone and he would have to keep on going.

He had always come back to the lake, it was like it called out to him, like a home. Everything else in the world had changed, no one believed in magic anymore, but the lake was a constant. Something to hold onto when the world seemed to need it's once and future king.

When Merlin woke up that morning and slowly got out of bed careful of his creaking bones something seemed to be different in the air. As if the world was whispering to him. Merlin ignored it, he had spent most of his life trying to bloke out everything in the world just leaving him with his thoughts and demons.

He made his breakfast as usual before going out and sitting on his front porch, the same action he had repeated every day for this lifetime. Usually there were families around on a picnic or lovers taking romantic strolls by the lake, stopping occasionally to kiss before continuing on their way. No one looked at him, they never did. He was a no body the way he liked it. Today though he noticed that there wasn't anyone around, it was as if the world had finally abandoned the lake completely.

Merlin finally listened to the earth whispering to him, it sounded excited as if something was coming as he listened inside him he felt a strange feeling rising, something he had not felt in so long. Hope. It seemed to shine through him, he looked down at his arms and noticed they were shining brightly, his whole body was. A calm he had not felt since he's days in Camelot came over him as he watched his wrinkled hands change back into those of the young man he had once been.

He walked forward slowly towards the lake seeing it bubble and ripple like crazy, something it had never done before. From the centre a figure rose up glistening in the sunlight. Merlin continued to move forward watching as the man from the lake did the same. They met at the edge of the lake, staring at each other. Merlin opened his mouth and tried to speak, but found he couldn't. Swallowing, he tried again and found that he was able to utter one word in his croaky voice from lack of use,

"Arthur."

Okay review and let me know what you think.

Until next time

Artistic-Blue-Eyes

xxx