AN: OK... this is becoming a pattern, I know, but sorry this took so long. At the end of the chapter is an extremely important AN, so please take note of it.

THANK YOU! :)

Merlin pushed the laptop lid shut decisively and scooted it over so he could deposit Arthur's drink in front of him.

"Give it up. The wifi here is rubbish, alright?" Arthur let out a long sigh.

"Why couldn't we just stay at your mum's place?"

"So you could play the same game over and over again until you can do every single mission with your eyes shut?" Merlin responded, rolling his eyes.

"I haven't finished them all on the highest difficulty," Arthur muttered. "You could play too. I can get the game running on your computer."

"You're the one who said I'm 'hopeless at strategy and can't follow directions'," Merlin retorted. "It's nice out. I don't know why you even brought that. You'll just be lugging it around when we're walking." Arthur gave a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement and sullenly put the computer back into his backpack while Merlin checked his phone for the hundredth time since they'd arrived at the café. Still no response from Will. He was beginning to wonder if his friend might simply not show up. If he'd thought it was a feat to get Arthur out of the apartment, getting Will to come was next to impossible… and perhaps it was impossible. "What did your father say?" Merlin asked. Arthur took his time to respond, taking a very slow, careful sip to test the temperature of the drink.

"He didn't say much." The blond set his cup down and watched steam rise from the little opening on top. "He never does. He only ever calls to make sure I'm still alive. It'd be bad form if the prime minister 'lost' his son," he muttered.

"Arthur… come on, that's not true. You know he cares what happens to you."

"Yeah, that's why I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere all summer, and he doesn't bother talking to me except to tell me to behave," Arthur returned.

"He sent you away so you'd be safe," Merlin said firmly.

"I was safe. It's not like the protestors can actually get into the neighborhood. They've been knocking at the gates for the last month." Arthur scowled down at the table. "He won't tell me anything—not about the damages or the reports or even whether he thins things are getting better there. It's like I'm a liability—like he thinks I'm going to take anything he says to the media or something."

"It's not that he doesn't trust you," Merlin objected. "He just doesn't want to worry you with the details."

"Maybe he could let me decide if I want to be worried with them then," Arthur grumbled.

"Maybe you should tell him that," Merlin suggested mildly.

"A lot of good that would do," Arthur scoffed. "You know what happened when Morgana tried to argue with him."

"As if I could miss it," Merlin agreed wryly. Morgana hadn't exactly been quiet about the injustice of being grounded when she wasn't even in Uther's household. "Morgana pushes his buttons on purpose," he said. "You could find a more… diplomatic way to discuss things than she does, I'm sure." Arthur shrugged and continued staring down at his drink. "He must be telling you something if you're on the phone with him so much," Merlin added. Arthur's eyes flitted up to his face for a second, then quickly away again.

"I'm talking to Guinevere," he mumbled, quiet enough that Merlin had to pause for a moment to be sure he'd heard right.

"Gwen?" Merlin's eyebrows rose.

"I need to know what's going on!" Arthur said defensively, eyes narrowing. A smile tugged at the corners of Merlin's mouth

"I always knew poor Gwen had the patience of a saint, but putting up with you when you're in a bad mood? I'd have hung up after the first minute if I was her." Arthur crumpled up his napkin and threw it at Merlin's head, and Merlin ducked it with a grin. "What did she tell you?" he asked in a more serious tone. Arthur's fingers drummed slowly against the side of the cup.

"We've both seen protests before, but she says these are different. People get angry—about the crisis, unemployment, all that… but they don't usually get violent." He shrugged, as if to dismiss the worry written in the tension across his face and the taught outline of his shoulders. Merlin glanced out the window, scanning the street for any signs of Will, but still his friend hadn't come. The wind outside was picking up, and the growing crowd of pedestrians outside the window bowed their heads against it, hair whipping about their faces, some plodding stolidly past the window. Arthur's response drifted through Merlin's mind, half mixing with his puzzled thoughts as he watched the steady stream of pedestrians. "My dad arrested the leaders of the riots today…" Arthur continued. "Something about obstructing functions of the state and speaking treason against its leaders… He arrested that blond woman too: the new MP—Fox—the one who's most open about speaking against him. She was one of the first, and she's popular. It was…" He folded his hands restlessly over the tabletop. "Maybe not the best move. It only made things worse. She's one of the new popular voices. People are angry."

"Glad you can see that at least." Merlin tore his gaze from the window to look at the newcomer in surprise. He hadn't seen the boy come in, but Will was positioned at the edge of the table, and he had neither sat down nor touched the drink Merlin had brought for him. Will continued, ignoring Merlin's bewildered look: "This government's leadership is corrupt. Uther is only proving her point by having her arrested. It's a very foolish move on his part."

"What is he supposed to do? Let her continue organizing protests to burn down the city?" Arthur's frustration with his father predictably vanished with the arrival of a different antagonist.

"So it's better to assume that people are guilty until proven innocent?" Will challenged. Arthur's expression betrayed a confusing mixture of annoyance and concern. He opened his mouth to argue back, but there was something more than mere disagreement in Will's tensed figure and his sharp eyes, flitting now from Arthur's face to the door of the café, and he cut the other boy short before he could respond. "As interesting as your opinions are, I really don't have time to argue with you right now. Merlin," he turned on the warlock abruptly. "Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

"I told you," said Merlin. "The contacts were all scrambled up. I haven't fixed them yet." He shot Arthur a dirty look.

"Never mind that," Will said hurriedly. "Look, you two need to go."

"What?" Merlin stared at him. "We just got here." Arthur looked outraged.

"Why? Do you own this place now?" the blond demanded. Will's gaze darted back to Arthur for a split second, but he passed over the blond and leaned closer to Merlin, lowering his voice.

"Merlin, look." He jerked his head in a miniscule movement towards the window, and Merlin's gaze followed the direction. The stream of pedestrians had grown to something considerably greater now—no longer a trickle but a crowd—and moving with a purpose. Oh God… Merlin's breath caught for a moment, and he felt a surge of nervous energy sparked in his chest. His drew in a sharp breath.

"What's going on?" Arthur demanded, rising to his feet.

"A protest," Merlin said through his teeth, standing as well to situate himself between the other two boys. "Why didn't you tell me?" he hissed. "I thought you said you knew when this was happening!" That caught Arthur's attention, but Merlin couldn't deal with both of them at once, despite how angry Arthur looked now.

"It's not my fault!" Will asserted. "You've seen the news. You know what they're protesting about." Will ran a hand through his hair. "You have to go. Now," he added in a low voice as the door to the café opened to their left. "These people are armed, and they're angry. I can't promise they won't… do something. Something radical. This place isn't safe."

"No. It isn't." A tall man with graying was stalking towards them from the door of the empty café. "What are you doing, Will? Don't you know who this is?" His eyes fixed on Arthur with a keen interest that made Merlin's stomach twist into a knot. "You're Arthur Pendragon, aren't you, boy?"

"Kanen, he has nothing to do with this. Let him be." Will advanced one step around the little café table, reaching out as if to put a restrainng hand on Kanen's arm. Arthur made a dive for the door, but Kanen moved faster than the blond expected, catching him by the wrist with one hand and clamping the other on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur let out a strangled shout when the man pulled him back, wrenched his shoulder for effect, and locked one thick arm around Arthur's throat.

"It's a rebellion, William," Kanen snarled, tightening his grip on a desperately thrashing Arthur. "Someone is going to get hurt. Better the Pendragons than us." Merlin gritted his teeth and extended a hand, palm down.

"Let him go," he said with as much authority he could muster in his voice.

"Or what?" The teen's face was beginning to turn red from the pressure on his throat.

"I'll hurt you," Merlin answered through his teeth. His hand was trembling ever so slightly. I can't do this. Not here. Arthur's struggles were growing weaker, and his hands grasping at the arm clumsier. Kanen laughed.

"What are you going to do, kid? Slap me?" Will darted a look at Merlin. The warlock was beginning to panic. Arthur, Kanen, possibly anyone else who entered the café… there were too many people looking, but Arthur was fast losing consciousness, and Kanen… Kanen had freed a hand from the weakening Arthur, and was pulling out a mobile phone.

"Kanen," Will edged a step closer to the man whose grip on Arthur tightened accordingly in clear threat. "Kanen, please, just—" Merlin didn't wait for the man to call in support. A short burst of magic freed Arthur from the man's grip and in the same instant hurled Kanen back. Kanen hit the wall and slid to the ground, stunned, and Arthur's knees hit the floor once the man's forceful support was torn away.

"Arthur!" Merlin nearly tripping over his chair in his haste to reach the teen, and he caught Arthur by the shoulders to keep him from toppling forward. Arthur's eyes were wide and a little unfocused, but he rallied quickly and brushed Merlin's hands off.

"I'm okay," he gasped.

"Go. Both of you, get out of here, now," Will ordered, crouching in front of Kanen and touching two fingers lightly to his neck.

"Will—"

"I'm making sure he won't follow you. I'll come in a minute, alright? Go!" Will hissed. Merlin didn't like the sound of that idea at all. He wanted to argue—to wait until Will followed—but the shouting outside was growing to a crescendo, and Kanen's head was turned slightly, his eyelids fluttering. Merlin hauled a dazed Arthur back to his feet and steered him out the back door of the café.

"We can't wait here," Merlin hissed, grabbing Arthur by the arm and pulling him back into the shadow of a doorway, ignoring the way Arthur jerked angrily away. He didn't have time to think about whether Arthur had seen anything back in the café just yet. If Arthur had seen anything, he realized it too. "People are going to see you," Merlin insisted. "Everyone knows your face!"

"We have to! We won't make it all the way back on foot," Arthur rasped, his voice still rough from abuse. "This is where Leon said he'd find us. He'll be here in five minutes." Merlin gritted his teeth and turned so he was shielding Arthur with his figure and kept a look out. His heart was pounding hard against his ribs.

"Your friend," Arthur's voice broke the silence, over the murmur of the protestors in the distance. "He's a sorcerer, isn't he?" Merlin's heart clenched.

"No."

"That's why he doesn't like me." Arthur inferred. Merlin curled his trembling hands into fists. There was no way for him to answer that question without condemning either himself or Will. The sound of the crowd in the streets rose again, cutting the interrogation short, and Merlin shifted backwards, pressing himself against the door. The crowds were heading for the square next to the cathedral—to the old building where Uther established administrative headquarters for the city after Ireland fell under British rule. He'd tried to pick a street they wouldn't take to get there, but people could still walk this way, depending on where they came from. He stepped out from the doorway and listened, peering down the street. Damn.

"They're coming this way," he hissed. Arthur shuffled back as well and went very still for a moment, holding his phone in a white-knuckled grip, Merlin's shoulder pressed against his, and the boys listened with baited breath, then Arthur relaxed and let out a little huff of relieved laughter.

"No… That's Leon," he said, his eyes lighting up. And sure enough, there was the crackle of radio static, the sound of heavy boots on the pavement, and several Patroni rounded the corner. Merlin's shoulder slumped and he let himself exhale at last.

"Okay I'll catch up with you." Arthur shifted out of the doorway, eyes widening.
"What— Where are you going?"

"I have to find Will. I'll walk back."

"Merlin!" Leon's voice, surprisingly sharp, stopped him in his tracks. The Patroni with him had spread out and were moving down the street, leaving a few with Arthur as a sleek, black car pulled up to take him back to the apartment. "You can't go that way."

"Why…" not…? Merlin let the question trail off, unnerved by the way the Pendragon bodyguard's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at him. Was that suspicion?

"The street is closed," Leon answered quietly. "A boy has been killed."

Where are you?

Your mum is worried.

Answer your mobile, you arse.

Tell me where you are. I'll come find you.

The last message had never been sent. It never would. There was no point, nor had there been from the start. Merlin had known that when he sent the first message too, despite blindly hoping, even after Leon told him the café, the street name—that it wasn't Will… He'd denied it, until the names were finally released. Kanen had been executed with the rest of the rebellion's leaders, charged with murder in addition to the accusations against his companions, and no credence had been given to his claims that William Dempsie was a sorcerer. In the end, it was bitterly ironic that Will was hailed as some sort of hero for being killed by Kanen, as if he'd been trying to stop the man—Will, who had been so keen on this rebellion from the start. Will had unwittingly done Uther a huge favor. The rebellion could have carried more weight if they'd played their cards right with Arthur… but perhaps it was for the best that he wasn't recognized for that. Will would not have wanted to be known for helping Uther Pendragon. Arthur knew though… and after that day, Merlin never heard a word about Will's 'magic' from him.

Merlin closed his eyes, took a breath, and deleted Will's number. He didn't want to see the street with the old café again, the walk from his apartment to school that he and Will used to take every day, or the tree… the old oak tree they'd so often come to, where he used to climb to the very top so he could see their street. Where he always came to be alone, and where Will always found him. He avoided them—all of them as much as possible. He fell more quiet than usual, and likely wouldn't have left the apartment… But if Morgana insisted on running errands for Hunith and bringing Merlin along; if Hunith stayed up late at night reading a book until her sleepless son came out of his room to sit with her; if Gwen called more often than usual to chat about her brother, her latest interview, the books she was reading, whatever was happening in Camelot; if Arthur almost forcefully sat Merlin down and tried to teach him how to properly play his first-person-shooter missions, Merlin didn't argue.

Perhaps it was more out of habit than intent that he found his feet carrying him there again. The sun had been shining all day, and the day before, and he almost wished it would rain, like it had the last time he left Armagh. He put his phone back in his pocket and sat with his back to the trunk, almost not noticing the idle movement of his hand as he pulled leaves from a nearby branch one by one, sending them tumbling to the ground below in torn up pieces.

The tree branches under Merlin rustled. He pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned against the thick tree trunk, closing his eyes.

"How'd you know where I was?" Merlin asked, averting his eyes.

"Most trees don't shred their leaves before dropping them," Arthur observed lightly. Merlin gave a muffled grunt of acknowledgement and buried his face against his arm. This was his place; his and Will's. Arthur wasn't supposed to be here. Arthur's shoes crunched against the bark. Under Merlin, the branch bowed slightly while the other teen used it to pull himself up.

"What do you want?" Merlin asked in a muffled voice.

"Nothing. Just… thought I'd let you know that your mum's looking for you." Merlin pressed his forehead against the inside of his wrist and squeezed his eyes shut. Arthur allowed him a few minutes of silence, then, "We've got fifteen minutes, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Gaius said he'd drive us by the new flat," Arthur reminded him. "And take us out for Indian," he added when that got no response from Merlin. Merlin's lips twitched in a faint smile.

"You're the one who loves food, Arthur." That earned him a glare and a face-full of leaves.

"You'll make us late for the flight, idiot," the blond huffed.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm coming." He prodded Arthur with his foot as he got up. "Move, prat. You're in the way."

When he was very little, Merlin had moved around from place-to-place with Hunith. Home was where she was… until he found a friend at school. And now only one thing tied him to Armagh. Merlin's gaze strayed back to Hunith, and he stood rooted to his spot as the other passengers brushed past him with their luggage. The voice on the overhead was announcing the call to board his flight, but he hesitated, biting his lip. He couldn't explain why… but this wasn't like the last time he left. It felt final. Like if he turned around now and boarded the plane, he would never be coming back.

"I don't have to go," he said at last.

"Yes you do," Hunith answered, putting a hand on his arm. "You have so much waiting for you in Camelot. Gaius will be there, you'll be at an excellent school… and you have good friends there." Merlin looked down and nodded.
"I know." Arthur and Morgana, just a few feet away, had stopped before the line for boarding to wait for him.

"Don't give that all up to stay here with me. I'll be fine," Hunith promised. "And you know I'll always be just a phone call away." She gave him a quick hug and pressed his Viaticus and boarding pass firmly into his hand. "Go on."

"You coming, or did you forget how to walk?" Arthur called. Morgana rolled her eyes and ignored her foster brother.

"Are you alright?" she asked when Merlin reached them. Merlin looked over his shoulder at Hunith. Love you, she mouthed, smiling, and he smiled back at her.

"Yeah." He turned back towards the gate and curled his fingers around the handle of his trunk. "Come on. Let's go home."

AN: And that's a wrap folks! YES. This is the last chapter of Legacies... but it's not the end. There will be a sequel of currently undetermined name. If you have suggestions... feel free to offer them up. :) I will post a chapter here, directing you to the sequel as soon as I write the first chapter.

And in other news... I know my slow updates are frustrating, so I will try to start regular updates when I get back to the states for summer break! I will be out of action in June (digging holes in the ground for science!) but other than that, I plan to post once a week or at least every other week from late May through August. Wish me luck!

Thank you so much to all of you who are following my story. And if you could trouble yourself to leave me a review, I will be eternally grateful. As you know, reviews make me happy!

~Sandyy