PAIRING: Merlin/Arthur from the Television Series: Merlin.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the TV Series. I am not making any money. This is for entertainment only. This did not happen. This story is slash fan-fiction. Slash means that the main characters are Gay. If you don't like this sort of story, don't read.
SUMMARY: Rating MA. Angst/Humor Romance/Danger Merlin is body swapped to a future Merlin from a different world. Can he get back to Camelot or will Future Prince Merlin from another Timeline drive Arthur mad? Will Merlin be able to figure out how a toaster works?
RATING: MA
AUTHOR: Rufferto9 (rufferto9 )

Thank you so much for reading! Reviews greatly appreciated.

CHAPTER 13 of 15

The first thing Prince Merlin noticed was the sharp, stinging pain in his arm where he had been shot. The second was that he could hear bullets flying towards the mouth of the cave. That was how he knew he was back in his own time, the monsters were man-made... and he was in normal clothing at last. He groaned from the pain and took up a more defensive position. Apparently all he was armed with was a knife. The altar was still glowing and he didn't want to leave it and he wasn't quite sure what was going on out there. He glanced back at the altar with a tight sensation in his throat as he was feeling a strong pang of regret. He'd left behind the only man that could hold his own against him. Everyone else in his world just let him get away with it.

He heard some shouting between Lance and Arthur up ahead in the cave. What Lance was doing there he couldn't fathom. He stared again at the crystals because they hadn't fallen back on the altar. They were still swirling there. He could almost see the other Merlin and Arthur through them. They were kissing and it hurt. He looked away and briefly tried to shut the 'gate' with his magic. It was having none of that.

The firing stopped for a moment and he heard Nimue's voice. "Surrender, Arthur and we'll let you and your friend go! All we want is Merlin."

Nim! He snarled as he crept closer down the tunnel towards the entrance. He kept well in the shadows so no one would see him. He knew she was trouble when his mother strongly disapproved of their relationship. He kept seeing her because she irritated Uther and when he discovered she had tampered with a condom, he'd dumped her like a hot rock for betraying his trust. Her expression that he'd seen in the Ice made him shudder.

"You have a daughter, Lance. You shouldn't be here." This new Arthur was telling Lance softly. They were taking the moment's reprieve to reload.

"I'd never be able to look my wife and daughter in the eye if I let them take Merlin." Lance shook his head.

From the shadows he looked at the man who looked so much like the Prince he'd left behind. It was uncanny and Merlin drew a shaky breath.

"We're outnumbered." Arthur took a moment to analyze the situation outside, as much of it he could see. "And they have more bullets than we do."

"We can't let them in here, Arthur." Lance shook his head.

"I think we should rush them." Arthur concluded. "It might take them by surprise."

"Oh for god sake," Merlin muttered from behind him. "You're as bad here as you were back there. Force my way through, that's the plan. Huh?" He clutched his arm, blood dripping through his long fingers.

Arthur whirled around to see him and just stared for a long moment. "Prince Merlin..." He whispered. Somehow he knew. His heart plummeted and had him scrambling to throw a mask on his emotions. He hadn't really been able to say good-bye properly.

"So you're Arthur, my stepbrother." Merlin sized him up then looked over at Lance. "Never thought I'd see you here..." he smiled at the older man faintly.

"I didn't do it for you." Lance said sharply. "Your gun good?" He asked Arthur.

"Yeah." Arthur was still fixed on Merlin. It was ... worse than he'd imagined. He didn't see any of Merlin. He was almost an entirely different person. It was like looking at a complete stranger and it felt like someone had just shoved as sword into his heart.

"No no, hell no..." Merlin shook his head, "Put those away. Neither of you are dying for me." He held up his head proudly and looked like he was about to stalk outside but Arthur stopped him.

Arthur held onto Merlin's arm. "Don't!" He felt hope sinking. There was no trace of the man he loved. Only his face, oh... god. This was worse than death. He was finding it hard to breathe, hard to think. If only he could get rid of the memories and just be Arthur of this world.

"Get off me!" Merlin shook away Arthur's grip and for a long moment they both just glared at each other. It was a bit déjà-vu from the very first moment he'd laid eyes on him. Merlin breathed heavily as he stared hard into the eyes of the blonde and could not mistake the emotional pain he saw within them. He didn't have time to deal with feelings and Arthur would just have to suck it up for the moment. He did briefly relent and reached over to put a comforting hand on his shoulder and spoke in a lighter tone. "I don't know what happened here, mate. We'll talk. I promise."

With that, he spun on his heels. "NIMUE!" Merlin shouted out towards the entrance in a challenging tone that took both Lance and Arthur by surprise. He reached out thoughtfully and grinned. Something happened that he wasn't expecting. He still had magic here! He could feel magic coursing through him. His eyes glittered gold. Oh, that bitch would get hers after what she'd put him through.

"Merlin!" Nimue called from her vantage point. "Surrender and I'll let your friends live!" her voice was sweet but he could feel her dripping hate.

Lance gave him a rather odd look and he sort of shrugged at his friend.

"We're coming out!" Merlin said flatly. That did not mean they were surrendering, however. He lifted his head high, proudly, full of purpose. He looked once to Arthur and then to Lance. "Thank you." He said softly to both of them. He felt the magic vibrate within him and he knew that he could use it.

Lance stared hard at him and reached out his hand to clasp his briefly in a manly, yet meaningful gesture. He did not let go of his gun.

"I sincerely hope you have a plan." Arthur told Merlin softly as they both flanked him.

Merlin laughed dryly, realizing that was what he had told the other Arthur. "The irony of that... I'll tell you later. Trust me, Arthur." He smiled at the other and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I've got this." He grimaced in pain. His shoulder ached, he knew the bullet was still in there but he didn't have time to deal with it right now. It was time to deal with Nimue.

He grinned faintly at his two friends. Arthur and Lance flanked him as he proudly stalked out of the cave. "You failed, Nimue. He's already gone back!" Merlin told her coldly and lifted his chin. They were surrounded by guns and all the thugs that worked for Nimue's operation.

"Drop your weapons, hands in the air!" they were roughly ordered by one of the men.

Merlin glanced over his shoulder at Lance and Arthur and nodded for them to comply. The other two put down their weapons and held up their hands. He simply stood there smugly.

I'm the weapon, you idiots. Merlin thought gleefully.

"Merlin..." Nimue purred and advanced. She still made his blood boil with her sultry body and eyes that tore into his soul, but she was as cold a bitch as they came. Even the red mini-dress that used to turn him on before had no effect.

Arthur and Lance were forced to their knees with their hands behind their heads. Merlin hadn't wanted to get them in further danger but he had wanted to stop the gunfight before one of them got shot.

He called it to him, the magic without drawing attention to the fact. A subtle breeze picked up. Clouds shifted in the night sky. "Nim" Merlin smiled. He raked his eyes over her body then snorted with distaste. "Too bad you're not a hot blonde bloke." He glanced sidelong at Arthur and winked in his direction.

Arthur flushed and looked down. He was angry and worried. What was this Merlin thinking?

Once she was within arm length of Merlin, Nimue reached a hand up and smacked him across his face. With two fingers she held his chin tightly between them, long nails dug into his skin. "We had a good thing." She smiled sultrily. "And you had to go and be a prick." She yanked his chin up and kissed him with her thick red lips. He did not kiss back.

Merlin at her irritation, "Nah, you haven't got anything I want. It was just sex, Nimue." He told her coldly. "I'm giving you a friendly warning now." He folded his arms cheekily. "Back your men off, and I'll be nice. Go back to wherever it is you crawled out of and never come out again. This is a one-time offer."

"How about you shut up, Merlin?" Nimue snarled as she shoved him away from her in disgust. "You seem to forget, you're at my mercy!"

"No." Merlin smiled. The breeze continued to pick up. He wasn't sure where he was drawing the control of his power from. Maybe because the gate was still open, maybe because he was confident he could get them all out of this. "You're at mine."

She screamed in fury as she immediately noticed the workings of a spell and sprang back from him. He'd called the wind just as he'd called the ice but this time he felt that he had a lot more control over it. He waved his hand and spoke something inaudible and the wind sliced through the clearing, cutting at guns and weapons and with enough force to throw all of the thugs off their feet and knock them to the ground.

There was a brief battle of wills between them and Nimue tried frantically to counter him. Merlin's magic had always been more powerful than hers. After a few desperate efforts to fend him off, Merlin caught her throat with invisible fingers and squeezed and it seemed for a little while that history was about to repeat itself.

"No, Merlin!" Arthur struggled to his feet. He couldn't watch Merlin deliberately kill someone without some other purpose. Merlin had killed before, but always only because he had to. "Stop it!"

Merlin's expression chilled him to the bone. He was drunk on power. It coursed through his veins and made them stand out against his pale skin. His eyes were nearly solid gold as he held Nimue on the brink of death.

In the distance they could hear the sounds of sirens and a helicopter. The Secret Service had finally located them, or it was the police. A gunfire battle didn't go unnoticed for long.

Arthur tried getting closer but found himself pushed back by the power. "Stop it, Merlin. She'll pay for her crimes. Don't kill her. She might have information we need!" He was desperate. He didn't want to watch Merlin kill someone! He didn't think he could handle watching that. It would be the final dash to all his hopes. He just wanted, something, anything, some small glimmer. He needed some clue that Merlin was still there, somewhere behind those eyes.

"This witch tried to have me killed, and she was going to destroy Camelot too." Merlin cried to the other and turned back to Nimue. "Give me one good reason why I should let her live!"

"Because if you don't..." Arthur's voice was pleading as he reached out and grabbed one of Merlin's hands. "You'll lose yourself and everything you stand for. You won't be Merlin, you'll be a killer. And ... Please. I need you to be, I need you to be Merlin." He let all his emotion show in just that one moment, laid bare every hurt and begged him with his eyes alone.

Merlin's mouth opened in a little awe at the sight and it was that face that drew back Prince Merlin's rage. He gazed at it for a long time and the gold finally began to recede. They held each other's eyes in a battle of wills and slowly, slowly, Merlin loosed the grip of his magic on her throat to allow her to breathe.

Arthur smiled.

And Prince Merlin smiled back.

It was a moment neither of them would ever forget.

Merlin rounded on Nimue, releasing Arthur. "You're not going to hurt us again!" Merlin heard something behind him, perhaps a call from the cave. The gate was closing and suddenly he knew what to do. So he reached out his hands towards Nimue and pulled at the air.

Nimue screeched and clawed trying to fight him as he drew her energy out. She fought him every step of the way and his body wracked with a spasm from the effort. With a final pull he yanked at the energy and drew it into him, turned, and released it towards the cave.

Both his and her magic collided by the cave entrance and in one great rumble it avalanched in onto itself. It wasn't quite the desired effect he'd wanted but it served its purpose. Nimue was powerless.

Nimue screamed with rage when she realized what had happened. Merlin backed away, gasping for air. She let out a long stream of obscenities while Lance contained her.

Merlin felt spent, but he needed to do one more thing. He called the stones out of the wreckage of the caves and they flew to his hand. With that, his magic had dwindled to nearly nothing. He sagged and it was only then he realized the blood in his shoulder was getting rather ominous and his nose was bleeding.

Hope kindled in Arthur's heart as he stared at the exhausted Prince. "I..." He closed the distance between them and helped Merlin stay upright. Arthur used his sleeve to try and wipe at the blood around Merlin's nose and they held each other's eyes again. This time, it was not a battle of wills. "You did it." He smiled softly, proudly.

Lance had to admit, he was impressed. Normally Merlin would be a sniveling coward but this time. This time he had shown a completely different side of himself, a self that was nothing like the man Lance had known. While Nimue sobbed and raged in his arms he watched Prince Merlin smile at Arthur. He hadn't seen that smile in a long time, not since University. It was a real, genuine smile and it made him relieved and finally at peace.

Arthur's elation bordered on giddy. He crushed Merlin to him in a desperate hug.

Oh god, if only. If only.

Arthur's heart ached. He wrapped his arms around Merlin and held him. He didn't care that the secret service closing in on them would witness the moment. All he cared about was that Merlin hadn't killed Nimue. His heart thundered in his chest.

"Oi..." Merlin gasped urgently. "I can't breathe..."

Arthur jumped and immediately slackened his grip. "Sorry." He looked away.

Fairly soon they were about to get assaulted by news teams, police and secret service and all kinds of crazy. All Merlin could think to do was smirk like his usual self and nudge Arthur in the ribs. "We'll talk." He promised again. Arthur's knuckles briefly brushed his cheek then held it gently. Merlin unconsciously leant into the hand.

That, unfortunately, was all the time they had because his world descended upon them in a whirlwind and there was a lot of backlash to deal with.

Merlin straightened to meet his life head on with Arthur standing behind him.

Neither noticed that Mordred had slunk away... with a rifle.

For Prince Arthur, he could not imagine loving anyone as much as he did Merlin. He'd have moved mountains to get back this wonderful man. He couldn't stop kissing him and it didn't end there. There was a whole Kingdom to save, his Kingdom, but until he was absolutely sure this was real, Merlin was his entire focus and he wanted to be sure.

When they finally broke apart, it was to the sound of the cave rumbling around them and they had to rush out of it while it collapsed. Otherwise Arthur was quite sure that he would have had Merlin right then and there.

"He stopped it!" Merlin grinned. "She's not coming through. Arthur, are you alright?" He looked curiously at his Prince. Arthur looked a little shell-shocked from the entire thing. There was blood and guts all over him. He looked about the entrance of the cave and noticed the monster.

"I am now." Arthur exhaled. "There's nothing I'd like more than to take time to continue this. But we have to get back to Camelot. The other Merlin saw a vision of magical creatures amassing to attack it. And..." He released his grip on Merlin carefully. "That was the worst experience of my life!" His voice took on a more commanding tone. "I thought you were lost to me, don't ever do that again!"

"Yes, Sire" Merlin coughed. With Camelot in danger he didn't have time to think about what was going on at the other side of the stones. He called out and drew the horses back to them. It would take the horses some time to return to them and they had a few minutes to themselves.

Arthur kissed him again with urgent want while they waited. "He looked just like you." Arthur whispered a little brokenly. "He smelled like you, he felt like you." He shuddered from the memories of how hard it had been to keep control of his desires. He stared at Merlin with a sigh and traced his fingers along the outlines of his lover's face. "It wrecked me to look at him."

"I know how you feel." Merlin smiled softly and kissed the tips of the fingers that traced his face. He knew all too well and wasn't yet ready to tell Arthur what had happened on the other side. In time, he would but right now he couldn't afford to have Arthur mad at him. He felt a sharp pang of regret in his heart when he thought of the other Arthur and wondered what had happened there. "Believe me, it wasn't easy being in his shoes."

"So he really was a Prince?" Arthur asked softly as he drew Merlin back into his arms and just held him there.

"Yeah, and apparently a bigger Prat than you, though I think I fixed some things for him. I hope." Merlin leant his head against Arthur's shoulder. "But I may have just made it worse."

"He can take care of himself." Arthur assured Merlin gently. "He was a pain in the ass, but in the end I think he might have grown up a bit."

"You liked him?" Merlin wondered as he looked up at Arthur curiously.

"In a way," Arthur shrugged away thoughts of it. "He's not you though." He kissed one of Merlin's ears and ran his tongue in just that way he did that always drove Merlin crazy.

"Honestly, Arthur..!" Merlin stifled a giggle, "We haven't got time."

"I just need a few minutes." Arthur drew his hands down Merlin's spine and gave a soft whisper. "To take the edge off..."

How could he possibly resist that tone? Merlin blushed and decided that he could ignore any pains for now and it seemed like a good way to pass the time while waiting for the horses to find them.

One touch led to another, a kiss and a groan of need followed. The rest of the world be damned, Merlin sank to the ground and pulled Arthur with him. They needed this.

There was no time to get clothes off, no time to do things properly. After all that they'd been through a kiss wasn't enough and Arthur needed to feel himself buried deep inside his lover to know.

Merlin lay on the ground while a cool breeze wafted about the trees. Arthur was inside him, hard and rough. He held on through it all and let it happen. He let the pain fall away and just ... felt Arthur. Love, he knew, that is what it was. His Prince could do anything and everything he wanted to him and Merlin would let him. Merlin would move the stars for Arthur if he could. He would crawl his way out of another time... he would die for him. A little tear formed and spilled from his eye.

They lay in the earth, Arthur's breath hot against his neck as he drew Merlin's own release out of him. It wasn't by any means beautiful, this carnal act between them here and now, but it was the connection they needed. It was honest and powerful. It tore down their barriers and threw them into each other. Just like that first night it commanded every sense. It reminded them of just what exactly they were to each other. They could make love leisurely when Camelot was safe and when they were sure that life was back to normal.

Overwhelmed and spent, Merlin cried in Arthur's arms until the horses finally came for them.

TBC