CHAPTER 38

I do not own Merlin, Doctor Who, or Superman and I am making no profit off of this.

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THE ONCE AND FUTURE MERLIN

"Merlin, did Jenny ever mention there being flying men in red and blue clothing in the future?" Nimueh asked as she suddenly looked up in the sky with surprise.

"No, I think I'd remember that. Where is this coming from?" Merlin asked in confusion and then he looked up to where Nimueh was pointing.

"Oh," Merlin said as he finally realized what she had been talking about.

"Yeah, oh! He's only wearing bright red and blue so that you can spot him coming from a mile away, Merlin. It's a wonder that you've survived this long with such brilliant observational skills as that. Who is that? Is he about to attack us?" Nimueh asked in growing alarm.

"I have no clue but I'm suddenly feeling like Arthur's still here after those witty little putdowns of yours," Merlin said.

"Sorry, Merlin. I'm just a bit jumpy. He keeps hovering up there watching us for some reason, and I can't help but wonder why," Nimueh said as she never took her eyes off the brightly clad figure.

"I would have said that it's because we're dressed so differently from the rest of the people of this time, but we look positively normal compared to him," Merlin said.

"He definitely sticks out more than we do so why is he up there looking like we're the intruders and he's going to pounce on us at any moment?" Nimueh asked in an anxious voice.

"I was listening to your conversation to see what you were up to actually," Superman said as he suddenly appeared next to them faster than either sorcerer's eyes could follow.

Merlin gave him a nervous smile as he said, "I hope the fact that you're standing here next to us means that you've decided that we're friendly then."

"Let's just say that I've decided to give you the benefit of the doubt for now. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Superman asked warily.

After they introduced themselves to each other and explained what had happened to them to bring them there, the Kryptonian looked at them with a frown as he said, "Magic. Of course it had to be magic."

"Not a big fan of magic then I take it?" Nimueh asked with a grin as she decided that she liked this man.

For one thing, he hadn't made his comments about magic in a vindictive way at all. It was more irritation than anything else she noted.

"Not particularly, no. Every time I run across someone who uses it they always seem to attack me with it sooner or later," Superman admitted even as he smiled back at Nimueh who he had decided to trust.

Unlike most magic users that he could name (like a certain Imp from the Fifth Dimension) at least she hadn't tried to cause any trouble for him yet. That and the fact that she had a healthy sense of humor were definitely points in her favor.

"Now he's starting to sound like Uther," Merlin said in a slightly worried tone.

"Relax, Merlin. He's obviously nothing like Uther. Uther would have already had us tied to a stake by now," Nimueh said.

"No, you're giving him too much credit there, Nimueh. Uther would have already burned us both alive by now. He wouldn't have wasted this much time," Merlin acknowledged.

Superman looked at them sympathetically as he said, "He sounds a little too much like several people that I've come across in my own time. Some of them were from my own world unfortunately."

"So you wouldn't happen to know a way that we could go home would you?" Merlin asked hopefully.

"I know several people who can travel back in time, but I don't think that they would be of much help to the two of you. I'm no expert on magic but it sounds to me like you're in the wrong universe entirely thanks to that spell backfiring. If you go back to this world's past, you'll definitely find a version of Camelot there for sure. It probably won't be the one that you know though," Superman said.

"He's right. I can feel that now. I have no connection to the land at all in this universe. This isn't our home, Merlin," Nimueh said as a sad look came over her face.

"So we're stranded here in a world that's completely different in every way from the one that we knew and with no way out," Merlin said with a look of growing resignation on his face.

"Somehow I don't think so," Superman said as he noticed both Merlin and Nimueh starting to glow with an unearthly aura that covered their entire bodies.

"What's happening?" Nimueh asked in surprise.

"I was hoping that you could tell me. It's your spell," Merlin said.

"My spell couldn't be doing this. It obviously sent me to an alternate future to make up for my making Cara, who was from an alternate future that now no longer exists, a part of our world. That preserved the balance. This though makes no sense whatsoever. Someone else has to be doing this," Nimueh said.

"Well, that just makes me feel so much better. Maybe we should try to cast a counter spell to keep ourselves here where we at least know what we're dealing with more or less," Merlin said as the glow surrounding both of them continued to intensify by the moment.

"We'd better try something quickly or we could be drawn straight into a trap," Nimueh said as she linked hands with Merlin.

The two sorcerers began to chant the most powerful counter spell that they knew and poured every bit of energy that they had into it. Nothing seemed to work though. Whoever had cast the spell that was trying to pull them away from this universe was obviously far more powerful than anyone that either of them had ever dealt with before and so far they were winning.

Then Nimueh looked intently at Superman who had been watching them with mute fascination up until now and said, "I can sense that you have a powerful life force. Could I borrow it for our counter spell?"

"Borrow it?" Superman asked in an uneasy voice.

Nimueh smiled at him reassuringly as she said, "It won't hurt you or anything I promise. I just want to tap into that incredible power of yours to cancel out the spell that's trying to take us away from here. Please! We've almost run out of time."

"Yes, go ahead," Superman said because he could already see them both fading away right in front of him.

Nimueh smiled at him gratefully as she said, "Thank you. I just hope that this works."

Nimueh and Merlin both tried the same counter spell again only this time Nimueh gestured towards Superman and used his extremely powerful life force to greatly intensify the effect of it.

Nimueh smiled in triumph as she could feel that it was finally working this time. They were going to break it.

Then suddenly the spell trying to pull them away became even stronger and almost tripled in strength.

"Who is this?!" Nimueh cried out in disbelief as she could already feel herself fading away again after she had momentarily solidified.

"I don't know but you have to admire their persistence that's for sure. I thought that only I was this stubborn," Merlin said.

"They're not going to win. I won't be dragged into who knows what so that we can be ambushed somewhere," Nimueh said as she began draining even more energy from Superman as she cast yet another counter spell.

"Sorry," Merlin said as Superman suddenly cried out in pain.

"No, it's alright. I would appreciate a bit more warning in the future before you do that though," Superman said.

"I don't think it's going to be a problem because this time I'm going to win. Do you hear me, whoever you are? I'm . . . going . . . to win!" Nimueh said defiantly as she gave this newest counter spell everything that she had.

All three of them were suddenly thrown back as a powerful explosion of mystic energy went off in their faces. Merlin and Nimueh had just caused a massive backlash by trying to fight back against the other sorcerer's spell with so much power.

Superman was immediately flung to the ground with enormous force and in his present weakened state due to Nimueh borrowing his life force was momentarily rendered senseless as a result. Once he finally regained his senses, he immediately noticed that both Merlin and Nimueh were gone.

Superman sighed as he said to himself, "Well, I hope for their sake that they were wrong about it being an ambush. Good luck, you two, wherever you are."

Meanwhile Merlin and Nimueh suddenly found themselves in what seemed to be yet another futuristic world as they stood in front of an enormous wheel that seemed to fill up the entire area around them.

Nimueh smiled as she said, "Well, at least this is Albion."

"It's still not the same Albion though," Merlin realized sadly.

"No, this is my universe I'm afraid," A very familiar voice said nearby.

They turned to see Jenny Tyler standing there with a warm smile as she said, "Welcome to modern day London. That's the Millenium Wheel by the way. I bet you'd both enjoy a ride in it if you had the time. You're not going to be here long enough to do much though unfortunately."

"Jenny, what's going on? Are you the one who was pulling us away from that other world?" Merlin asked.

"No, it wasn't me. I'm sorry that I couldn't help you before by the way. I've had my own problems lately after what Nightshade did," Jenny said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Jen. I wish we could have been more helpful against her," Merlin said as he realized that she was talking about the fruitless search for her missing parents who had been lost in the final battle with Nightshade that both Merlin and Nimueh had been involved with not too long ago.

"You both did the best that you could. It wasn't your fault. Let's not worry about that right now though. That's my problem. Right now you're the ones who are being flung across dimensions this time around. Only in your case you're not lost. Not really," Jenny said with an encouraging look on her face.

"What are you not telling us?" Nimueh asked.

"It's not a trap, Nimueh. It was an attempt by someone to bring you back to your proper universe only you botched it by fighting back as hard as you did. Luckily I was able to redirect you to my world until they could find you again or who knows where you would have turned up next," Jenny said.

"So someone was trying to bring us back home? Who?" Merlin asked.

"They're not just trying to do it, Merlin. They are. They're just about to try to pull you back again any minute now. Don't fight them this time, okay?" Jenny said.

"Are you sure about this?" Nimueh asked.

"Trust me. The person who's doing this would never hurt you," Jenny said to Nimueh.

Nimueh nodded as she said, "I do trust you. I just don't understand how they could bring me back and still keep Cara there too. How did they figure that out? Oh, I guess you don't know her do you? Cara is . . ."

"Your granddaughter who started all this in the first place when you refused to let her be erased from existence," Jenny said with an amused look.

"Yeah, I discovered a long time ago that Jenny tends to know almost everything, Nimueh," Merlin said as he saw the disbelieving look on Nimueh's face.

"It's one of the few good things about being the Guardian of the Multiverse. I completely agree with you about saving Cara by the way, Nimueh. I would have done exactly the same thing in your place even knowing all of the trouble that it would cause as a result. It seems that we're pretty similar when it comes down to it. We would both do anything to protect the people that we love," Jenny said with a faraway look in her eyes.

Nimueh saw from the look on her face that there was still something that she wasn't telling them just yet though.

"We're not going back to our own time are we? It'll be the right universe but we'll still be in the future won't we?" Nimueh guessed.

Jenny nodded as she said, "Sorry. That's why you keep going to future times no matter where you turn up. You still can't go back to your own time yet if you want to keep Cara from fading away. Don't worry though. Things won't stay this way forever. The person who's trying to help you will make sure of that. I can't tell you any more than that."

"I think that you've told us enough. Thanks, Jen," Merlin said as he hugged her tightly in gratitude.

Nimueh cleared her throat loudly as she said, "This is supposed to be our honeymoon, Merlin, and you're already hugging another girl."

"It's just Jenny," Merlin said defensively as Jenny watched the two of them in amusement.

"That's the only reason why I haven't incinerated you yet," Nimueh said as she broke out into a playful smile.

Jenny was happy that she had apparently given them both their hope back once more after they had come there in an almost frantic state earlier. They were both going to need it where they were going.

They still had a long road to walk down before they could return home again.

"I can feel it starting again," Nimueh said anxiously as the same spell as before started to pull her and Merlin away.

"It's okay. No matter what you find there don't worry about it. It's going to be alright in the end, okay?" Jenny said.

"I have to tell you that you're really making me look forward to this so far," Merlin said with a frown as he began to fade away once more.

Jenny smiled at him encouragingly and waved as she said, "Good bye, Merlin. Oh, and make sure to say hello to Katie for me, okay?"

"Katie?" Merlin asked as he started to fade away completely now.

"You'll see," Jenny said with an enigmatic smile.

Then Merlin and Nimueh suddenly found themselves in the exact same place in yet another future London only Jenny was no longer there. They could both feel it this time. They were finally back home in their own Albion at last.

"Finally! I thought it was going to take forever to get you two here. Really, Nimey, you're too stubborn for your own good sometimes," Sophia said behind them.

They turned to see a grinning Sophia standing there dressed in the exact same kind of clothing that they had seen on everyone else in this future time. It was definitely extremely jarring to them to suddenly see her dressed in what the people of this time would call blue jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers.

"You look ridiculous," Merlin said as he started to laugh at her.

"Excuse me? I'm dressed in the height of today's fashion. You're the ones who look ridiculous here, Little Brother," Sophia said indignantly.

"Some things never change it seems. You two are still fighting," Nimueh said as she sighed in relief at the sense of familiarity that brought to her.

"I say why mess with the classics?" Sophia admitted with a chuckle.

Then she suddenly turned serious as she said, "Come on, you two. I need to take you to the others. We have to get this done as quickly as possible. The longer that we delay here, the greater the chance is that this entire timeline will be completely undone somehow. Of course some people would think that might not be such a bad thing I suppose."

"What do you mean by that? This time doesn't seem so bad to me," Merlin said.

"It isn't but . . . Oh, you'll just have to find out all about that later. I can't take a chance of influencing the past by telling you any more than that," Sophia said.

Merlin and Nimueh both exchanged a glance as they became filled with questions about their own future now that they knew that Sophia would never answer. So they decided to ask her a question that she would answer instead.

"So you're going to send us back to our own time then? You know how to do that?" Nimueh asked.

"Not me personally but someone that you know very well does, yes. You'll find out soon. Follow me and I'll drive you there," Sophia said.

"Drive?" Merlin asked as Sophia gestured to another one of those horseless carriages that they had seen before.

"Yeah, drive. It's called a car, Merlin, and it takes you places much faster than a horse can. It's not as cool as teleportation but it's much less conspicuous. Come on. Get in," Sophia said with a grin as she opened the car doors for them.

Merlin and Nimueh looked at each other uneasily for a moment and then got into the car while Sophia got behind the wheel. Sophia immediately took off at a rapid speed as she barreled down the road grinning like a maniac.

"Uh, you do know how to drive this thing don't you?" Merlin asked as his face turned white.

"Of course I do. I'm an excellent driver. I've only been in one accident . . . this month," Sophia said proudly.

"Soph, slow down!" Merlin screamed as Sophia barely missed another car.

"Oh, don't be such a wimp, Merlin. I saw him," Sophia complained.

"Wimp?" Merlin said with a frown.

Sophia laughed as she said, "Katie's going to have so much fun seeing you like this. I bet she gets a big kick out of it."

"Katie? Jenny mentioned a Katie too. Who is she?" Nimueh asked.

Sophia smiled evilly as she said, "You'll see."

Soon (but not soon enough for a terrified Merlin who yelped at every near miss that Sophia made) they finally arrived at their destination which turned out to be a large house surrounded by a huge iron fence that was off to itself and far away from the rest of the city. Whoever lived there definitely didn't want anyone intruding on their privacy it seemed.

As Sophia came up to the gate, she said into a speaker, "Let me in, Katie. I have a surprise for you."

"Yeah, well I have one for you too," A young woman's voice answered in an aggravated tone.

"Oh, no! Not again," Sophia said.

"Yes, again. They're back to finish us all off. They really don't want us here," The woman said.

"Well, tough, because he will return one day whether they like it or not. I have a promise to keep," Sophia said with a determined look.

What promise was she talking about and who was returning from where? Merlin wondered.

Suddenly all questions were driven out of his mind as the gate in front of them exploded and an entire horde of demonic beings poured out of it. They looked at Merlin with huge smiles on their faces as they slowly ran towards him.

"Now is our one best chance to destroy Emrys long before he ever becomes what he will someday be. Then we won't have to worry about the Return in the first place. Destroy them!" One of the creatures shouted.

"I don't think so," The same young woman who had talked to Sophia earlier said as she appeared out of nowhere in-between Merlin and the massive army.

Then right in front of Merlin and Nimueh's shocked eyes, she immediately started to incinerate every single one of the massive army with an enormous burst of energy from her hands! All of them turned to ashes in a single instant before they could even emit a single cry.

The young woman now turned around to reveal that she resembled Nimueh far too much for it to be a coincidence as she looked at Merlin in shock and said, "Oh, my . . . ! This is . . . You're so young. I can't believe that it's really you!"

"Hard to believe that this is what he used to be like isn't it?" Sophia said with a grin.

"I don't know for sure but I think I'm being insulted," Merlin said.

"It's Sophia, Merlin. I'm sure," Nimueh said with a chuckle.

"Well, the relationship between you two is definitely the same," The young girl said with a fond smile.

Nimueh looked at her closely as she said, "You're . . . You're our daughter aren't you?"

The woman smiled as she said, "Guilty as charged, Mum. My name's Katie. Well, it's Katie de Luc in this time. We decided to use Lancelot's last name in this century. I'm sure that he wouldn't mind."

Merlin frowned as he realized, "Arthur and the knights are all dead aren't they?"

Katie nodded as she said, "Long dead. Camelot was a long time ago now, Dad. We survived the Fall though because we have magic and that magic has made us all immortal or close enough to it anyway."

"So it's true then. We do live forever," Merlin said.

"Yes, we do only it's not as great as it might seem to outlive everything that you know," A voice that Merlin knew all too well said.

"Hello, Merlin," An old man with a long white beard, who Merlin would have once recognized as Dragoon but was now apparently his future self, said.

"Hello. So apparently we really do look that bad when we get old, huh?" Merlin asked.

"Not all of us. Some of us are looking pretty good for being around fifteen hundred years old I think," Another Nimueh who looked exactly the same as Merlin's Nimueh said as she joined the older Merlin.

"Why do you get to stay young in your old age and I look like I'm a million years old?" Merlin complained to Nimueh.

"Hey, don't blame me. I can't help it if I'm just naturally beautiful," Nimueh said making her future self laugh.

"I still can't believe that you were ever that young, Dad," Katie said in disbelief to the older Merlin.

"I had to let myself age or no one would have taken me seriously. Be honest now. Would anyone be afraid of someone who looks like that?" The older Merlin said.

"What's wrong with how I look?" Merlin said indignantly.

"Well, for one thing, you look about twelve," Katie said laughing.

"She's definitely got your sense of humor alright," Merlin said to Nimueh with a frown.

"So you're the one who brought us here then?" Nimueh asked the older Merlin while ignoring her husband.

"Yes, I had to make sure that the two of you were sent back to your proper time and not lost forever in order to ensure our own future after all. Now I just have to say the proper spell, one that I spent centuries looking for by the way, and both you and Cara will be able to exist in the same time and place together at last," The older Merlin said.

"No, you won't I'm afraid. I will prevent you from sending your past selves back home and therefore ensure that this entire timeline will have never happened in the first place. The future will belong to me forever then," A voice that sounded impossibly ancient said from behind them.

They turned to see an extremely old woman whose eyes were nevertheless filled with almost supernatural power and strength standing there at the head of yet another army of demonic beings. She smiled with a cruel smile at Merlin and Nimueh as if she was already envisioning their deaths even as she addressed them.

"What's the matter? Don't you recognize me?" The old woman asked Nimueh.

"Should I?" Nimueh asked.

"You certainly should but I can see why you wouldn't. I have changed quite a bit since you last saw me. Well, a lot actually come to think of it. I was still an owl at that point wasn't I?" The old woman said.

"Blodeuwedd," Nimueh said with a groan.

"Yeah, we never get rid of her I'm afraid," The older Nimueh said.

"No, and you never will now. I'm going to make sure of that because I'm going to kill your past self right here and now and make sure that the Return never happens. Arthur and his knights will never be reborn and Camelot will not return to wipe the world clean of evil. I will become the supreme power on Earth. Destroy her!" Blodeuwedd shouted to the army behind her.

"Well, that's not so bad. We can take them," Nimueh said confidently.

"Uh, Nimueh," Merlin said as he pointed behind Blodeuwedd to a massive portal that was opening up behind her.

It was a portal that was now unleashing a massive tide of creatures into the world while Blodeuwedd laughed.

"Wipe them out! All of them! There will be no Camelot or a united Albion either then or in the future. There will be no golden age period. There will only be my rule: the rule of the Dark Goddess," Blodeuwedd said as she watched her armies attack with malicious glee.

Next: Will Merlin and Nimueh ever make it out of the future alive in order to even have a future in the first place? We'll find out next time as they fight for their lives against the Dark Goddess even as we meet her allies, The Brotherhood of Shadows. Sounds ominous, doesn't it? We'll also see some other familiar faces as we find out who else has survived into modern times from our cast and how they've been faring in this future world.