Merlin was on his way back to Camelot, he was feeling slightly depressed that Arthur hadn't risen again, but that was that.

It was mid-afternoon, it would take at least another day to reach Camelot, almost time to look for shelter. Merlin become lost in his thoughts, the way to from Camelot were so seared into his brain, that walking or riding it was habit.

An apple whizzed past Merlin's head, snapping him back to the present. He looked in the direction it came from, and saw three muscular teens. When he looked closer, he saw that they were fairies, all dressed in spider silk. There were two girls (both had strawberry-blonde hair, ginger eyebrows and wings that resembled those of a dragon-fly) and a boy (who had ginger hair, dark brown eyebrows and corn yellow wings that looked like those of a butterfly), and they were fighting. Curious, he made himself invisible, and snuck closer.

"I don't get it." said one of the girls (who was wearing a mauve tunic) to the boy. "You can hit any target with anything that has a blade, but completely miss it with a mere apple."

"I didn't completely miss it, Beck." The Boy replied to the girl in the mauve tunic.

"Max, let me ask you something," said the other girl, who was wearing a mahogany tunic, "the target is there," she pointed to something Merlin quite couldn't see, "and the apple landed there!" She pointed towards Merlin, but they couldn't see him. There was something shiny on her ring finger. "There's clearly a large gap between the target, and the fallen apple!"

"Ri, your getting loud." Max replied, "Why don't we just have a nice Mindchat?"

The two girls looked at him. They clearly weren't saying anything, or moving, but they were certainly communicating, for Max had a sudden look of realization.

Suddenly, they all looked at Merlin. They had a soul-piercing stare, seemly trapping Merlin. Pater, please come here. One of the girls were telepathically communicating with him.

"Who's Pater?" Merlin responded.

You are. That's what we call you. The other girl said.

"Who are you?"

Rita I are your descendants who've time-traveled here. Max is our friend.

Brother! Max is our brother!

He's your foster brother. Besides how can we explain that to Pater without messing up the timeline?

Good point.

"How am I your ancestor?" Merlin had to ask that question.

Come here and we'll tell you.

Merlin hesitated. Should he trust them?

Rita I are Fairy Protectors. See? Both girls showed him their magical red necklaces, that looked like Vona's, but smaller, about half the size.

Intrigued, Merlin moved closer, slowly made himself visible. "I'm here. So tell me."

"Very well." said the girl in the mahogany tunic. "But first, introductions. I'm Rita."

"I'm Rebecca," said the other girl, "but most people call me Becky."

"Hello." Merlin said to them.

"I'm Max." said the boy, who formed a "V" with two of his fingers. "I'm an Honorary Fairy."

"Max, the peace sign didn't exist in the 6th century." Becky said to him.

"Says you." Max responded. Both girls rolled their eyes."So," Merlin asked them, "what are you doing here?"

"We found a portal connecting 21st-century Fairyland to here." Rita answered, nonchalantly.

"Ok." Merlin wasn't sure about their answer. "Now, please tell me how I'm your ancestor."

"We have to tell you carefully, as to not disrupt the timeline." Becky replied.

"Simply put, in the early 2000's, the then Current Fairy and Mermaid Daughter Protectors will both fall in love with one of the sons of then Current Human Mother Protector, both of whom are your direct descendants."

"That son," Becky continued "is our father and he's polygamous, and unlike your eldest, they're fine with it."

"What do you mean, 'Unlike my eldest'?" Merlin asked.

"I've said too much." Becky replied, "You'll find out later." Merlin glared at them. "If we tell you, it could mess up the timeline."

"How?" Max asked them.

"It's better to be safe than sorry." Becky answered. "Now, where was I? Ah yes. Our mother and step-mother both bore our father a set of twins. And as you probably know, before us, they were never twin Protectors or Halfie Protectors. Such things were considered impossible."

"Same thing with Protectors being part Spider," Rita said, proudly displaying her forearms, which both bore half of a birthmark. That birthmark was a Spider with a crown directly above the head, "but Roma IX and your future great-grandmother-in-law proved that wrong. And sometime in your future, Leaf X will do the same."

"Ok. So, how old are you?" Merlin asked.

"14." They all said at once.

"And you?" Becky asked.

"I stopped counting." Merlin lied, he did know his age, but decided not to tell anyone, in case he met them again in the future, didn't matter who they were. He was an immortal after all and habit had set in.

"Ok, Pater." Rita replied suspiciously.

"Why are you calling me 'Pater'?" Merlin asked.

"After a while," Becky started.

"it got to be too many 'greats'." Rita finished.

"So we just call you 'Pater'." the girls said at once.

Merlin took it in. A moment passed, then Rita asked, "Pater, have you ever been in a Magic Fight?"

"No, what's that?"

"I got this." Max interjected, "It's when you use non-deadly magic to fight Magic Users. It's great fun." His almond shaped eyes slyly shifted to Rita, "Let me demonstrate." With a swirl of his hand, an icy blast went from him to Rita's left arm, covering it in ice. Surprisingly, his eyes stayed the same color.

An amused smile crossed Rita's face. Her left arm burst into flames, melting the ice, yet her arm didn't burn, it just produced fire. Then, with the same face, she stomped her foot, resulting Max being sent sky high with a sudden mound of earth rocketing from the ground beneath his feet.

Max, flying just above the trees, nodded at the two girls. Then suddenly, they all yelled, "Magic Fight!"

That started what Merlin could only describe as strangely wonderful. Two of his very-great granddaughters and their friend/brother, blasted each other with their magic.

C'mon Pater, join in!

"I don't know how."

It's easy. Look at us!

It did look fun. Still, Merlin hesitated. Since Arthur died, he'd only used his magic for survival and entertaining the people of Camelot. At first, it was just for Sara, Gwen and Gaius. Finally, he joined in.


The Magic Fight lasted the entire afternoon, and went on til evening. It was late, so they all decided to make camp for the night.

"I'll get the firewood." Merlin said. He recited a spell, then huge pieces of wood came flying towards them, and set themselves ups perfectly. The fairies eyes grew wide.

"Teach us." Rita said in amazement.

"I will, in the future." Merlin responded. A slight groan was heard. Merlin couldn't help but chuckle.

Becky suddenly chirped up. "I've been working on a new trick." Everyone looked at her. She gave a bright smile, then, she took a breath, & breathed out a funnel of fire!

That's not a new trick!

Watch. She lifted her hands into the fire and swirled them, the funnel turned into what Merlin could only describe, as a snake-like dragon. Becky stopped blowing, soon the dragon flew through the air, doing an intricate dance. Finally, it head-dived into the pile of wood, setting it ablaze.

"Wow." Everyone else breathed.

"Teach me that." Merlin stated to Becky.

"Sorry, Pater. It's Fay Magic." Becky answered, "Only the fay can do it."

"Oh." Merlin was obviously disappointed.

"It's ok, there's stuff you can do, that we could never do." Max reassured him.

Merlin smiled. He was a Dragonlord, he could control dragons with ease. They couldn't.


Merlin woke up to an earthquake. He looked around, and saw Max suffering from a nightmare. His "sisters" tried to wake him.

"What's going on?" Merlin dared to ask.

"Max is having a nightmare, so his Earth Powers are reacting." Becky explained.

"Why?"

"Our powers are connected to our emotions." Becky continued to explained.

A splash was heard, followed by a scream. The earth soon stilled.

"Max," Rita said in a soothing tone, "what happened?" She was full of concern, one of her hands was placed on his shoulder, the other on his leg.

"Gr-Grace," Max struggled to say, "she was, was in trouble."

Rita embraced him, she was like a caring mother. Although, Merlin couldn't help but notice something romantic about it. Rita continued to sooth Max, while Becky made her way to Merlin, who noticed Max puling out what looked like a mirror. (To us it was a Magic Mirror combined with a smartphone)

"They're so close," Becky whispered to him, "it's as if we're triplets."

"Are they," Merlin struggled to say it, "courting?"

"No," Becky gave an amused smile, followed by a slight chuckle, "just really close friends. They already got romantic loves."

"Who?"

"Well, Max is head-over-heals for Grace, that's who he was having a nightmare about. If anything happens to her, or any of us really, he gets really upset, as you've seen."

"What about Rita?"

Becky rolled her eyes. "Just some rouge named Hans." She looked directly at him, "His family's evil. Who'll stop at NOTHING to rule the multiverse."

"Then, why does she love him?"

Becky's gaze lowered, then she looked back up, her eyes had turned from a sage green to an icy blue. "You can't help who you fall in love with." her eyes partly closed, "That purple light that doth decide mates of soul is both a gift & a curse."

Merlin gave her a look. One second she's upset, the next, she's like a prophet. Becky gave no answer, instead she simply gazed at her siblings, who had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Rita's strawberry blonde hair which had been in an elaborate updo, had become slightly undone.

Pater, how long do you expect people to believe that you and Lailoken received the gift of prophecy while in the woods?

"I already told you, when the time's right."

Becky gave a small sigh. Then handed him a letter. Don't open this until Gwen's funeral.

"Ok." and he put it into his bag.

OOO

Merlin stared at the tree. It was a magical tree, this was the tree where the portal that linked 6th-century Albion to 21st-century Fairyland. He still remembered Rita taping the bark, to reveal a glowing light, emerging from the tree. "Remember," Becky had said, "expect a surprise when you return to Camelot."

"Always expect a surprise when you return to Camelot." Rita added.

"I will." Merlin responded to them. Happy, they went into the tree. When they were gone, the light shrunk, until it was just a tree again. But Merlin knew it was so much more.

With a sigh, he returned to his horse & rode back to Camelot.