A/N: Here's the next installment of Reincarnated Legend. Hope you like it!

Chapter 7

The sunrise came as a relief to Merlin. As the light became visible through the huge windows, he let the handmade torch fall from his hand- hissing in the bowl of water that he had dropped it in. Walking to Thalia, he placed a hand on her forehead. Her temperature was almost back to normal by this point.

"Be safe," he told the sleeping girl in a soft voice. "I'll be back for you soon." With that, he turned and walked out of the lab and into the corridor, starting into a slow jog.

Arthur and Elizabeth had not found them during the night which had only made his worry for them grow worse. He'd left clear enough instructions of where to find them, hadn't he?

Eyes glowing in the half-light of dawn, Merlin used his magic to scour the building for the two. Eventually, he began to feel a pull that lead him down corridor after corridor, passing tons of empty classrooms as he went. He skidded to a stop outside of a door that was labelled 'Cleaners' and tried the handle. The door didn't budge.

"Aliese," the warlock muttered, the spell for unlocking, and heard the lock slide back. With one, flowing movement, Merlin opened the door wide.

Although the cupboard was dark, the boy could still see the two shapes huddled inside.

"Merlin?" asked Arthur's familiar voice, peeling the small girl from his side- only to have her reattach herself barely a second later. "Are those things gone?"

The scrawny boy nodded. "They go when the sun rises," he replied. "We're safe until nighttime."

Arthur stood up with difficulty, still trying to push Elizabeth off him. In the end, he just settled with allowing her to grip onto his arm. "Where's Thalia?" he asked in an anxious tone. "Is she...?" He didn't have to continue the question for Merlin to understand what he was asking.

"I think she'll be fine," Merlin replied. "She's in one of the science labs." He closed the door behind the two as they exited and led the way to the science lab.

[-]

The group had left the school and gone to Merlin's flat. Now, Thalia lay across the sofa- awake though it was obvious that she still wanted to sleep. But she was determined to stay awake to hear what Merlin had to say. Elizabeth sat down at her feet whilst Arthur sat in an armchair nearby.

Merlin himself paced in front of the television, trying to figure out where to start.

"So, are you him then?" Thalia asked suddenly. Her tone was curious, but tired. "The 'Merlin' from the legends? The one with the long, white beard and pointy hat?"

"I never wore a pointy hat," Merlin replied, smirking. "And I only had the beard a couple of times when I was-" He was cut off as there was a knocking at the door.

"Finally," Arthur said as he stood and walked over to answer it. Yanking it open, he allowed the crowd of people waiting outside to come in. Naturally, without consulting Merlin about it first.

Merlin moved in front of them before they could go any further than his kitchen. "What's this?" he asked, directing the question mostly at Arthur.

"I invited them over," the blonde replied. "If we're going to stop this thing then we're going to need more than just the four of us."

The warlock looked over the people as they entered, allowing his eyes to focus on each of them individually. It was the same group Arthur had been sitting with at lunch a few days ago. If only Merlin had looked closer that day.

The boy who seemed adamant not to wear sleeves was muscly, with an almost skin-head (save for the inch of hair he had left on top).

"Percival?" Merlin asked in shock.

"I actually go by Percy," the boy told him warily. "Not many know my real name. How do you?"

Merlin ignored his question and moved onto the next boy. His dark blonde hair went down to his shoulders, messed up and curly. Leon?

The next was eating a startling green apple, his scruffy appearance making it obvious who he was- Gwaine. Elyan was there, too.

His eyes continued searching, trying to look behind them to see the one face he really wanted to meet again. But there was no sign of Lancelot, his old friend. Instead, he was greeted by bright blue eyes staring at him from under a dark green hoodie.

Hello, Emrys, came a very familiar voice in his head.

"Mordred?" came Arthur's close-to-yell. "What are you doing here?"

The small boy stepped forwards to sit on the arm of the sofa next to Elizabeth. "Lizzie invited me," he replied, smirking.

"B-Bu... no! No, no no! You have to leave!" Arthur spluttered.

"Not a chance," replied the boy. "No chance at all."

Arthur gave a small growl and went to grab the back of Mordred's jacket but the boy easily dodged out of the way.

"You invited your rugby team," Elizabeth spoke up. "Why can't Mordred stay?"

The blonde turned to glare at her, obviously not pleased by her words. But he sat down anyway, resigning to the fact that his younger brother was staying. He gave a small huff and folded his arms as Mordred sat back down.

"Have you heard from Morganna? She didn't come home last night," Mordred asked Arthur.

Arthur shook his head. "No, I haven't heard anything from her." He started to say something else but that was when Merlin finally got his words together.

"So, I guess it's good that you're all here," the scrawny boy started. "Because you're all kind of included in this." He glanced over at the two sisters on the sofa. "Well... not you two."

"We are now," Thalia murmured. "And there's nothing you can do to stop that."

Merlin smiled at that before continuing. "Have you ever heard of the knights of the round table?" he asked.

There was a murmur from the group around him. "Well... all of that actually happened. I am Merlin, warlock and friend to King Arthur."

Oddly enough, all of them apart from Arthur himself didn't seem confused by that. Arthur's eyes were narrowed and his head tilted a little in confusion. "You've got to be joking. You're not a warlock."

Merlin was sure it should have been coming back to the reincarnated king by now but apparently not. "I am," he replied and turned to look for something to help prove it but the sound of footsteps caused him to turn back, only to find Arthur's chair empty and the occupant nowhere to be seen.