Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

Leon's ruling emotion for the rest of the night seemed to be relief. While giving Gwaine, Elen, and Hayden all bear hugs, he kept saying, "You don't know how good it is to finally know I'm not crazy...You just don't know…" He sounded almost tearful, hysterical compared to the mostly reserved, controlled Leon of old.

Then again, a week of being imprisoned and taunted by monstrous bandits because he wouldn't join them might do that even without a past life to reckon with.

Over a small campfire and a decent meal, Leon calmed down enough to explain a bit more. "I started getting old memories when I was a child...just ones from when I was that age, thankfully. Everyone thought I was just making stuff up, imagining things...it was fine. I was a kid. But as I got older, the memories got sharper, and darker, and eventually it stopped being funny. No one believed me, of course, except...well, no one, really. Since the earthquakes started I can remember absolutely everything, and there's so much…"

"We only remembered recently," Gwaine said. "I'm sorry, mate; sounds like you had it rough."

"Probably should be used to it." Leon shrugged. "I was the last of the old guard left in Camelot all those years ago. Merlin and I actually talked about it a couple times...about how I seemed to survive anything. The Great Dragon, then that business with the Cup of Life, then my outliving everyone...His theory was some kind of Old Religion blessing when I was young...I mean, I was born before the Great Purge. It could've happened."

"And affected your memories in this life?" Elen looked thoughtful. "I've never heard of anything like that...But I've never heard of reincarnation in the Old Religion, either. Not like this, anyway."

"No prophecies about the end of the world?" Leon asked.

"Again, not like this."

Hayden spoke up unexpectedly. "You mentioned earlier that there might be an exception to your old memories not being taken seriously."

"Not...not really an exception," Leon said, hesitating. "He...he didn't believe me because he didn't have his old memories, but at least he never made me feel like I belonged in a padded room."

"Wait, who didn't have his old memories?" Gwaine demanded.

"Gaius," Leon said matter-of-factly. "He was one of my regular doctors when I was younger...I didn't mention?"

The very rough outlines of a couple plans began to take shape the next day as they left the bandit compound and started back towards the cottage with all the supplies they could carry.

During bursts of conversation, it became clear that one thing they could all agree on was that Merlin, being the immortal, all-powerful sorcerer that he was, was out there somewhere. They could also all agree that if anyone knew at least some of what was going on and what to do about it, it was him.

The third thing they came to a tentative consensus on was that if Merlin felt in any way uncertain about the current state of the world and how to fix it, Gaius would be the one he would turn to first.

"Even after he'd grown old, he still admitted to missing Gaius's counsel," Leon insisted.

"Yes, but that was a good fifteen hundred plus years ago," Elen said. "Is Gaius even still alive?"

"Well, I know where he was living and practicing when everything went south," Leon said. "If...if he did survive all this...He must have his memories back by now."

"If, if, if." Elen muttered. "So how far is he supposed to be?"

"Last I heard, he was in York."

"That's a fair distance on foot," Hayden said. "And it's a city."

They all let the The big towns and cities went to shit first go unspoken. "Maybe he got out," Gwaine said. "Gaius is pretty damn smart and resourceful. No way that's changed. Find him, find Merlin. See? Simple."

"But what if Merlin doesn't even realize any of us are alive again?" Hayden pointed out. "And there's no guarantee he'll go to Gaius in any case."

Gwaine stopped long enough to give Hayden an exasperated look. "Seriously, dear brother-in-law, what's gotten into you? I don't remember you being such a pessimist in your past life!"

"I never had to deal with 21st century Earth in my past life." The other man shook his head and shouldered past the others, taking the lead with a stride much faster than was normal or necessary.

Eyes following her husband, Elen stated, "We'll keep thinking about looking for Gaius...It's a possibility, in any case. Right now, however, we need to get back to the kids. That'll be tomorrow at the earliest."

"Even if we don't find Merlin, we can find other people, reasonable people," Leon said. "Safety in numbers, right? Before the bandits caught up to me, I heard a few rumors of safe havens, new settlements...At least one place seemed pretty credible; I met some people who'd been there, only left to find family...But it's a long way from here, on the Isle of Anglesey."

"So it's in Wales," Elen said, unimpressed. "You're right, that's a very long way without a car. And with God knows how many bandits and sinkholes in the way. "

"We have a lot to think about," Gwaine said. "Elen's right, though. Let's get back to the cottage, make sure the kids are okay, and regroup. We'll discuss future plans more then."

The dogs announced their return long before the cottage came into view. Heidi came running with them, throwing herself into Elen's arms as Turquoise, Jasper, and Pearl swarmed Hayden and Leon. The twins were close behind, Evan looking more exhausted than ever.

While hugging Heidi and joining Elen in giving reassurances, Gwaine looked over his cousin's curly head and glimpsed unmistakable recognition on Evan's face as the teenager looked at Leon.

Oh. Well, that's interesting.

Leon was introduced to the kids...accurately...as someone they'd rescued from some ruffians...leaving out what had happened to said ruffians...and soon enough they were all inside, sorting through supplies and having something of a good time with it. The light from the fireplace, several pillaged candles, and three miraculously-functioning solar-powered lamps held the outside darkness at bay.

About an hour later, Gwaine asked Evan to help bring in some more firewood. Once out in the chilly evening air, he grasped the boy's shoulder and turned him around to face him, making sure the light from the nearest window lit up both their faces. "Can I ask you a question?"

Evan hesitated for an instant. "Yeah, of course."

"How long have you remembered?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, Everard."

In a millisecond, the innocent facade crumbled, and as the teenager squared his shoulders and looked directly into his cousin's eyes, all Gwaine could see was Everard Barclayn: famed warrior, diplomat, and King of Bernicia. "I could ask the same question."

Feeling rather like he was reporting the results of a patrol to his king, Gwaine answered, "Since the incident with the boar. Elen remembered then, too. Hayden knew sooner. Leon...apparently he's been recalling things since childhood."

"Hmm." Everard sighed, gaze distant. "The dreams were so vivid for so long. Finally, I accepted that they must be real, in some way, and...and then it was all there. Every memory, every sensation...everything." He refocused on Gwaine. "That was a few weeks ago."

"So you've remembered longer than me or Elen." Getting confirmation in the form of a nod, Gwaine asked, "Why didn't you tell us? Surely you must've suspected when we...Or Hayden, even, he's actually quite obvious about it…"

"I don't know. I've been trying not to think about it." The words came out lightly, yet somehow colder than the wintry air around them.

I see now. "Because of how Elwin died?"

"Leave it!" Everard snarled. "That's an order!"

And suddenly he's just a kid again. Scoffing, Gwaine replied, "Last I checked, Ev, you're not my king anymore." He turned away. "Let's get that firewood before we freeze out here. Or Elen sends out a search party."

Everard didn't speak to him directly for days after that, and Gwaine found himself recalling with newfound vividness just how withdrawn and difficult Everard had gotten near the end of his life, and wished that he'd been a little more tactful in their confrontation.

He told Elen and Hayden this...he'd made sure all the adults knew about Everard...and his sister said, "He'll get over it. Everard's no fool, never was."

"He's also an old king who likely feels like he's trapped in the body of a teenager," Hayden said. "Compared to him, we're lucky."

"Shit, I didn't think of it like that." What's it going to be like for Elwin? Or Hertha?

He had ample time to consider that over the next few months. Any plans to go anywhere other than on another brief supply mission had to be put on hold when the snows arrived.

Something they all learned very quickly was that four adults, two teenagers, and one pre-teen trapped in a small house in midwinter was a sure recipe for frayed nerves and extreme discomfort.

The little white mutt Pearl grew lethargic and died within a few weeks of the first snowfall. Turquoise and Jasper seemed to understand what had happened and became as subdued as their master; only Elen seemed able to get through to Hayden at all. Meanwhile, Everard stayed aloof and Ethan followed his lead, although he showed no signs of remembering who he used to be.

Gwaine found himself spending a lot of time with Leon, reminiscing about Albion when Ethan and Heidi weren't in earshot and finding other things to talk about when they were. Heidi actually came to like Leon and pestered him constantly about where he was from, what he did, and how he'd survived the apocalypse.

"Sheer luck, mostly," was Leon's response to the last question, though he whispered to Gwaine a few moments later later, "and probably some sorcerer's so called blessing a thousand years ago."

Despite lack of personal space, constant worry over supplies, and the ever-present cold, Gwaine thought it could have been much worse. We have a roof over our heads, a decent stash of food, and an old friend back from the dead. Definitely could be worse.

Only, it was still pretty bad when Everard got into a pitched battle with Hayden over the continued survival of the pets...apparently Everard thought the dogs and lizards would be more useful dead than alive, if not very tasty...when supplies started going faster than expected...We could only gather so much...and when Heidi poured boiling over her hand by accident and Elen went frantic over their limited supply of medicine.

"Garth," she said roughly, using his other name due to Ethan being nearby at the time, "I can do quite a bit with what we have, but if she gets gangrene or something…"

"She won't, sis. You won't let that happen."

She turned away at that, grumbling under her breath something like, "Why didn't I learn some damn healing magic from Mother when I had the chance…"

Fortunately, Heidi's hand healed well and spring did eventually approach with multiple short thaws and warmer winds. With the decrease in snow and ice, Gwaine found he could look past the lingering tension and anxiety in the house to the future.

"We can't stay here forever, especially if the weather goes all weird again," he told Leon as they hacked up more firewood one rather warmish morning. "We won't be able to feed ourselves eventually. We don't have the tools to hunt properly, even. I guess Elen could use magic…"

"But what if something happens to her?" Leon said. "You're right; finding Merlin, or just going somewhere with more people, hopefully trustworthy ones…"

"Like the Isle of Anglesey?" Gwaine brought his axe down through a round of wood. "I kind of want more confirmation of that rumor before we go running across half of England. I'm kind of reluctant to abandon this place completely until we've got more information."

Leon agreed, but in the end the timeline of their leaving it wasn't up to them.

It was up to the next round of earthquakes.