It was bright. Really bright.

Merlin cracked opened his eyes and winced as he adjusted to the light. He was disoriented. Suddenly his blanketed confusion was thrown off of him as a burst of understanding came over him.

He had done it.

It took him a while to observe and understand the fabric of time. But for one who could weave life and death itself, solving time travel was just a matter of… well.. time.

Merlin looked around with wide eyes. He was outside his village leaning against a tree as if he had simply drifted off after a morning of work in the village. This was amazing. He was back. He stood up gingerly and breathed in enjoying the air. It smelled of hay and manure so it was a bit fouler than the air of the future, and yet somehow fresher, full of promise. Everyone that he missed… everyone that he failed… and everyone that failed him, they were all alive. They were all waiting for him.

He needed to be careful. Time is fragile and Merlin had already bent it pretty drastically. It would need time to heal before it would be malleable enough to traverse again. Not that he was planning on going back. What would he even be going back too? But it was important to keep in mind.

He walked back to the village, taking in his surroundings enjoying the long forgotten details of the past. He had lived through many generations but the faces that are most familiar to him all came from this time.

He caught sight of his mother from across the village. Her hair was pulled up and hidden beneath a green rag, keeping the strands off of her face for the most part. She stood up from her work and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the corner of her sleeve only adding to her dirty complexion.

Merlin smiled. His mother. The woman shoveling manure will also be the same woman to stare down the Crown Prince of Camelot and tell him that if she was to die she would want to die fighting.

As if sensing someone's eyes on her she looked around and his eyes caught hers. Her gaze softened affectionately as her mouth tightened into a disapproving line. He ducked his head to hide a grin as he walked over. He was over a thousand years old and he about to get scolded by his mother. Merlin was the happiest he has been in a very long time.

"Merlin, where have you been?! I haven't seen you since dawn! You shouldn't go walking alone my boy, you tend to get into trouble when you're on your own" She shot him one last reproaching look then continued turning over the manure.

"Uh" He laughed nervously, "Sorry Ma", he said clumsily as he took the homemade rake from her hands to continue tilling the soil. She rubbed her hands on her apron as she moved towards the small cottage.

"Well never mind, you are leaving tomorrow… so I suppose you would want to take a walk and say goodbye." She responded walking into the small doorway and out of sight. Merlin put down the tool and followed her. "Although, you better be writing and visiting often" she said.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I'll be back mom. More often than you want me to be, how's that?". Merlin sat down at the small table and gazed around, mom had been cooking something. Most likely some kind of pottage, a soup-stew made from oats and beans. Hunith stilled back still facing Merlin and she bracing her hands on a thin table housing cooking supplies. She breathed in deeply then turned around steel in her eyes.

"You will be careful Merlin. You must be. Camelot is a big place, full of so many people… people of all sorts. You are bound to make friends my boy, but be safe" She turned back around to face the window. "As you have more to guard yourself from than most" she finished quietly, no doubt her mind was running through all the trouble her son could no doubt get into in such a large city. All of which probably happened, Merlin mused.

Merlin stood up and walked behind his mom and plopped his head on her shoulder. She turned around and engulfed him in a hug, which instantly brought him back to his childhood.

"I wont tell you not to worry Ma, because I know how much good that will do me. But trust me. I know what I am getting myself into". This time. He silently added.

He hugged her a little tighter and closed his eyes. He had forgotten how it felt to be truly home. To be with people who cared about him. He didn't want to forget again.

He released his mother and looked down to smile at her and was caught off guard by her expression. Her eyes looked hardened with distrust.

Hunith was looking at him, straight into Merlin's eyes. And it was like she couldn't completely recognize her son. The man that stood before her looked calm, confident, and yet weary. The kind of weary one get's when they have seen far too much. He looked like he was barely grasping ahold onto happiness by his fingertips. Merlin, her Merlin, was always in the thick of things. Energy seemed to roll off of him in waves. A smile was always on his lips. But no giddiness was coming off of her son. Not even excitement. The only thing exuding from this person was calmness; a calm confidence that came with time and experience. A calm confidence, that was very… un-merlin like.

The person in front of her seemed to sense her hesitancy, and she saw panic flash in his eyes. "Trust me!" He said again, with more anxiety than before. "That's all I ask". Trust him. Trust Merlin. There was no doubt that she could. But who was this man. This wasn't her Merlin. Her child. He looked like him, he even felt like him in a way. But he felt… older… much older, but still familiar. She looked in his eyes once more. Searching.

Merlin held his breath as his mother's probing eyes seemed to search his soul. He should have known that his mother would be able to sense a difference in him. It had been only them two against the world for his entire life. Always depending on each other. There was no one that knew him better. He had been clumsy. Not back here an hour and he was already causing suspicion.

Hunith put one of her hands to her son's cheek and searched. For a moment no one spoke. Merlin continued to hold his breath. Whatever his mother was looking for she seemed to find it, as her eyes softened and a small smile graced her lips. She said something then which Merlin had never heard her say before.

"It just struck me how much you look like your father" she rubbed his cheek motherly one last time, smiled, and then turned around satisfied and continued cooking.

Merlin silently sighed with relief, and surprise. His father was never a topic Merlin and his mother talked about. He asked when he was younger and always got some vague answer, which hid a great deal of pain on his mother's part. Merlin figured that he never knew the man and so it didn't hurt much to continue to not know much about him. It also looked like it physically hurt for his mother to talk about that time of her life. Merlin was always curious, and a little sad about not having something that others took for granted but his mother was more than enough. Now, of course he knows why. Meeting Balinor and hearing his story only brought him and his mother closer together. He wouldn't think of it now. There was a lot to do and other things must take priority.

Tonight he would eat at home, and tomorrow he would be venturing forth towards his destiny… and his destiny's unfortunate ego. Oh god. What was he going to do?

Merlin awoke early and grabbed his pack. He kissed his mom on the cheek goodbye and went on his way. She stood in the doorway smiling, her eyes misty as she watched her son walk down the pathway and out of her sight.

It was early, and cold. Water still hung in the air and on the tips of leaves as they do in the early morning. Merlin walked towards Camelot with a spring in his step that he hadn't had since leaving Camelot all those years ago. He finally found his purpose. He wasn't walking around aimlessly anymore; he knew where he was going and whom he would see when he finally got there.

The trip into the city took two days and one night. He stopped along the side of the road and with practiced hands set up a small camp out of sight and made dinner. As he sat near the small fire he looked off into the darkness. The darkness no longer scared him. He no longer worried what was out in the woods, because he knew all too well that dangers would find him. It didn't matter if he worried or not.

He set up a small barrier around him and his fire. The barrier was not a strong one. It simply held a suggestion; the suggestion to look away, and the promise that nothing was there.

Your eyes see everything; it's your brain that chooses what information is most important for you to remember. Any person who is panicking and therefor working with only survival instincts would be able to see right through this magical safe guard. But it was a quiet night. No real danger here. Merlin knew where the true danger was, as he was headed straight for it.

Merlin twisted a small stick in the coals as he lounged near the fire to catch some of the heat radiating off.

What was he going to do? Impulsively he decided to come back to this time, his desire to belong strong enough to cloud his judgment. But what is done is done. Now what do to about it?

He needed to be careful. Change too much… and the timeline would deconstruct. He wouldn't be able to help anyone if he can't tell what's to come. But he needed to change some things. He wanted to save those who didn't have to die. He wanted to stop the torment of those who suffered due to his clumsiness. But another part of him argued that it wasn't about him. This wasn't just a chance of atonement. This was a chance to rise up and be all that he should have been the first time for Arthur. To say exactly what Arthur needed to hear. It was a chance for Merlin to have the answers for once instead of just endless questions. That way Arthur could become the King he needed to be and have the time to rule and change the world for the better

He was going back to Camelot. A place with a past and a future that only he knew the full extent of. But how was he going to focus on the present when he was trying so hard to prevent the future? Merlin furrowed his brows and threw the nub of a stick he was playing with into the fire in frustration.

He lay down facing away from the fire. The warmth seeped into his back and into his heart as he remembered that the best part of his life was yet to come. He was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine. This time he was going to get it right.

A/N: Hey all! Welcome to my first Fanfiction. PM me or leave me a review to let me know what ya think and to give me any helpful tips :) Thanks