Hey guys, the next three chapters are not from the perspective of just one ship/fandom but from all of them.
The whole story has been building up to this and I thoroughly hope that you have enjoyed the story so far...
much love xox
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The drive from the hotel to the strip of road where Remus was hit was only short, and thankfully due to Castiel having teleported himself there, it wasn't a squishy trip either. Dean had made Merlin ride up front (he appeared to have the weaker stomach between him and Arthur), and it seemed to help; Merlin only appeared slightly pale. The car was mostly silent, their minds set on the task at hand once they arrived; it was going to be a long night, and they all knew it.
Dean pulled the Impala up on the side of the road as he had done the previous day…that seemed a lifetime ago, so much had transpired in such a small space of time. After turning the car off Dean spun in his seat to look at his passengers and finally broke the silence.
"This is it," he announced.
They all glanced out of the windows, confronted with the reality that they were in fact 'here' and what that now implied for each other. There wasn't much to see besides the black of the tar and the dark green and brown shadows of the forest in the last glow of setting sunlight.
"C'mon, let's get moving," Dean encouraged as he opened his door, seeing that no one had stirred. He moved straight around to the trunk and popped it open.
Slowly but surely the other four men exited the Impala and waited patiently for Dean to finish rummaging through the trunk. Eventually he closed the lid and slung a bag over his shoulder, Dean handed a torch to Arthur and another to Nick, "It's a light, just press the button at the end to turn it on," he told Arthur, who was looking at the device with confusion.
Arthur's mouth made a little 'o' as he pressed the button and a stream of light appeared from the other end, Merlin came over to examine it with him; it was certainly an upgrade from carrying around an open flame on a stick.
Howling was heard in the distance, more than one, at least five Dean counted, he hoped it was only one werewolf, but knowing his luck it was probably five werewolves. Dean sighed and then realised someone was missing, he glanced around, his eyes bounced from tree to tree; where was Cas? As if the angel had heard his thoughts (and maybe he had), Dean spotted a tan trench coat stumbling between a shrub and a thick tree trunk, "Over here, Cas!" Dean waved, "We'll come to you."
After checking left and right, the small group of men crossed the road to the angel, Dean pulled Cas in with one arm curled around his narrow hips and kissed his cheek. They had wasted too much time dancing around each other; Dean didn't take any moment with Cas for granted, not anymore.
Once Dean had let him go, Castiel explained his absence, "I went ahead to check that the anomalies were still there, and they are," there were sighs of relief all round, "however they seem to be…quivering, I don't know how else to describe it," he looked to Nick and Stephen hoping they would understand.
The two men looked at each other, concern was obvious on their faces, they didn't have as long as they'd hoped, "That's not a good sign," Nick voiced what they feared, "we need to go now, we've never tried to hold one open before, let alone seven, I wouldn't even know how to try, but it might be the only thing we can do until the others arrive."
Another werewolf howled in the distance breaking the conversation, it was time to hustle.
Immediately, Dean set a fast pace and led the way back from where Cas had come from. He recognised certain landmarks from when they had been here yesterday; a rock shaped like an obelisk, a tree so gnarled it was almost bent in half and a tree stump cut close to the ground, it's diameter was so large that if Dean had laid on it only his feet would have hung off the edge.
They reached the clearing and stopped dead in their tracks, "Cas…didn't you say there were seven anomalies?" Dean asked, he already knew the answer, but he was hoping he was wrong.
Castiel frowned, "There were a few minutes ago, where did the seventh one go?"
Horror was written all over Stephen and Nick's faces, "It closed," Stephen's voice was soft with disbelief.
"Who's anomaly was it? Do you know?" Castiel enquired.
"It's not ours, we came from the one on the far end over there," Merlin announced as he pointed to the anomaly furthest to the right. He was very relieved it wasn't theirs, they didn't belong here, and Camelot needed it's king.
Nick rubbed his chin, "We came through this one," he motioned to the anomaly on the opposite end, "and I believe Bruce and Tony were next to us," everyone followed with their eyes, "next to them was…" a large empty space sat between Tony and Bruce's anomaly and the next one, it was obvious that was where the missing one had been, "Remus and his family," Nick finished dejectedly, the realisation that their friends would never go home really dampened things, he felt slightly guilty that he and Stephen would be able to return but the family of four were stuck here.
A heavy silence filled the darkened clearing, the moon hadn't risen high enough yet to reach them, the only light now came from their torches and the anomalies which shone like miniature suns. Again it was Dean that spoke first, "How do we fix this? Can we re-open it or something?"
"We can't," Nick was angry, his fists balled at his sides, it wasn't fair.
Stephen sighed, "It will only re-open by itself, and we've only seen that happen a handful of times, once an anomaly is closed, its usually gone for good."
Merlin glanced at Arthur and the King caught his gaze, it was a risk, but he could feel how strong the natural energy was here, it called to his magic like an old friend, he had to try to fix this. There hadn't been time to discuss it with his King, but Arthur would understand, he hoped, "I have to try."
"I know," Arthur knew that look in his lover's eyes, Merlin would do what Merlin always did; anything he could to help, even if that meant exposing his magic. He grasped one of Merlin's hands and squeezed it, "Don't do anything too stupid."
Merlin smirked, "Who, me?" he kissed Arthur, lingering only for a moment to memorise the warm dryness of his King's lips and then he pulled away and walked further out into the middle of the clearing away from the group.
"What are you doing?" Castiel asked, his head cocked to the side.
Merlin knelt on the dewy grass in the middle of the clearing and put the palms of his hands to the ground, "I'm going to try to boost the energy of the earth and hopefully it will bring back the seventh anomaly while holding the others steady enough for everyone to get home."
"How the hell are you going to do that? We don't have the equipment for that sort of thing, even if it were possible," Nick was confused to say the least.
"He's a witch," Dean stated, his eyes narrowed on Merlin and his face serious.
"I'd prefer wizard or sorcerer, but essentially Dean is correct; I have the gift of magic. I can feel the energy in the ground, so I should be able to do something," Merlin explained, "how did you know Dean?"
"You're freaking Merlin!" Dean exclaimed as if that answered the question, but Merlin just gave him a curious look. The hunter sighed and rolled his eyes, "Let's just say I had a hunch."
"Do you need us to do anything?" Stephen asked, obviously he and Nick were not experienced with witches, or wizards, or whatever they wanted to be called, like Dean and Castiel seemed to be. Add magic to the list of unbelievable things that they had learnt about while here.
"Just watch the rest of the anomalies and tell me if they start to weaken…and don't touch me," Merlin instructed. With a fleeting glance at Arthur, Merlin closed his eyes and palms flat to the ground he concentrated on feeling the flow of energy beneath the grass and the soil and the roots below. It took some time but he managed to tap into the earth, it was overwhelming, like hearing and seeing and feeling everything at once, as if he himself had become a part of the earth. His veins flowed with currents of golden energy, he could see it in his mind, bright sparkling gold like the sun, like the anomalies and like his own magic.
He didn't know of any spells to use, he hadn't even been sure this would work, so Merlin just focused his magic, he saw the anomalies in his mind and pushed that golden energy into them. He could also see the seventh anomaly, it was barely there, like the embers of a fire; dying out but easily reignited.
"They're steadying!" Stephen spoke with pure awe; he couldn't believe what he was seeing. If they made it back home, maybe they could create a device that replicated what Merlin was doing; it would be revolutionary to their work.
Merlin heard Stephen in the back of his mind, at least that was working, now he needed to bring the seventh anomaly back to life. He visualised the shining light in his mind, saw it whole again and felt the way his magic combined with the earth's energy as he directed them into the dying embers of the anomaly. He felt the sparks and then the anomaly roared back into life, the force of it in his mind almost knocked him over.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"Bloody hell."
"Witches, man."
Arthur cautiously moved towards Merlin, "Merlin are you okay?" he had watched his lover as the others had watched the anomalies, he saw Merlin take an invisible blow as the seventh anomaly had spurred back to life.
"I'm fine, don't touch me," Merlin warned again, his voice was rough as if he hadn't used it in weeks and he still had his eyes squeezed shut.
Now he was closer and he was pointing the light of the torch on the ground, Arthur noticed that the grass had grown up around Merlin, and little white and purple wildflowers had sprung up in a circle around the wizard.
Merlin frowned suddenly, something felt wrong, the energy was ebbing out of the anomaly again, he could see it dying like a star extinguishing in his mind. He tried to will the golden light to stay lit, but he wasn't strong enough to keep it from dousing once again. The anomaly closed again and the light went out in Merlin's mind, the force of it knocked him back and broke his connection with the earth's energy.
"Merlin!" Arthur gasped and rushed forward kneeling next to the wizard.
Merlin coughed and clutched onto Arthur's arms, "I'm not strong enough to hold it open," he rasped, his voice still rough.
"Shit," Dean murmured, "what now?" he wondered aloud.
Nick and Stephen looked worried, "I don't know, after that display I don't think anything we do will help," Nick felt defeated, "at least the ones still open appear to be stronger."
Without a word Castiel strode up to Merlin, he observed the young man for a moment and then offered his hand, "Can you feel my grace; my energy?"
Merlin stared at the appendage for a beat before taking it, he nodded, Castiel had a well of power and discipline inside, in his mind he could see a cool blue, white and silver fog pulsing through the angel's body. The longer he probed, the more he could see with his eyes, like the outline of Castiel's feathered wings, a shadow against the brightness of the anomalies, enormous and elegant. He slowly let go of Castiel's hand and realised his mouth was open in wonderment.
"Do you think that by tapping into mine and Gabriel's grace that you would have sufficient power to hold open the anomaly long enough for Remus and his family to get through safely?" Castiel questioned.
"I-I don't know, your energy is different, but it might work, we can only try…" Merlin answered, he felt sapped, but there was no time to recharge, he would just have to muster up all the oomph he could and get everyone home.
"Cas, are you sure?" Dean asked quietly as he pressed close to the angel.
Before Cas could respond, a howl sounded far too close for comfort, everyone turned to look in the direction of the noise. Nick and Arthur pointed their torches and Dean dropped the bag off his shoulder then pulled a gun from the back of his jeans.
"We are out of time and options, Dean," Castiel told him as his angel blade appeared from the end of his right sleeve.
Dean knew Cas was right, but he didn't have to like his angel putting himself at risk again, "Just once I'd like to have an easy case, is that too much to ask for?" he complained and pointed the gun straight ahead, his wrists crossed over to shine his torch as well. The hunter steadied his stance, anticipation heavy in the air as shadows began to appear between the trees running towards them.