A/N: The stables scene in this chapter was inspired by a manip done by Wil1969 way back in November 2012 which has been nagging me to write something for it all this time. This story was initially written just to accommodate it. Find it on my Tumblr page or via the link on my PP.

Chapter Four

Emrys Manor – June 2059

Merlin really wanted to check up on Morgana after her outburst, but Arthur didn't give him much of a chance, pulling him impatiently back towards the main Hall.

"You said you'd introduce me," the blonde man insisted, moving him over to one side of the room.

"What? Oh, to Jen. Yes, of course," Merlin replied, as he was even more physically manhandled towards Gwen.

"Oh, hello, Martin. Where did you disappear to?" the young lady asked as they approached. Then she saw Arthur and froze, and Merlin tried not to laugh as he noted her slight confusion and the obvious sense of familiarity.

"Jen, this is Archie who's an engineer," Merlin said. "Jennifer's going to work with me programming weather models in the computer and perhaps designing any new systems we might need."

"Jennifer?" Arthur blinked, also wrestling with the feeling of familiarity. "That's a lovely name."

She smiled shyly. "Thanks."

"And you'll never guess," Merlin continued with a broad grin. "I was looking at the personnel file for this project and noticed something really interesting about you two."

Arthur raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Prying into private documents, were we, Martin?"

"They're hardly private," he replied lightly. "Anyway, as I was saying, it seems you two share a birthday."

"Really, you were born on the ninth of September?"he asked Gwen.

"Yes," she replied quietly. "What a coincidence."

"The same year too," Merlin continued gleefully, delighted to be able to share the exciting news with someone after almost twenty-three years. He had been exceptionally excited when he'd realised Arthur and Guinevere had been born on the very same day.

And now, right on cue, came the third point of the triangle.

"Oh, Archie, I want you to meet my very good friend, Landon," Gwen said. "Landon this is Archie and, you know Martin, of course."

Lancelot laughed. "But, of course. It's nice to meet you, Archie."

"It seems everyone here knows everyone else already," Arthur commented.

"Not everyone," Merlin replied. "But some people have met up with a couple of others over the years, it's true."

Inevitable really, when the Round Table had a constant influence on its members, always pulling them into its orbit.

"And how did you two meet?" Arthur asked Gwen and Lancelot

"Oh, we went to school together," she replied brightly. "Childhood sweethearts and all of that."

"You're going out together?" Arthur asked.

"Well we were but, not any more," Gwen replied brightly.

"Really?" Arthur appeared confused and surprised at this, seeing the two were obviously so friendly, but then, from what Merlin knew, his love affairs tended to be brief and the break ups always brutal.

"Oh, we're still best friends," Lancelot confirmed. "We just felt it wouldn't work – what with us being so young - and so we decided to focus on our careers first."

"We decided?" Gwen asked him, with a raise of an eyebrow, and her friend shrugged, sheepishly.

Lancelot, typically, had been the one who'd decided he wasn't good enough for her, and that sticking around might tempt his friend not to follow her educational dreams. Merlin knew Gwen well enough in all her incarnations to understand that she wouldn't let being in love prevent her from being herself.

She had accepted the offer of 'just good friends' with typical grace and seemed happy enough without him. Could it really be possible that the three of them might find some sort of peace this time around?

He shook his head as he left the trio to their conversation. "Still the optimist, after all this time, Merlin? " he mumbled to himself.

It always felt wonderful when all nine members of the Round Table were back in the same room, but there were others here at this party too. A few satellite souls who were occasionally brought into orbit, plus some random people who simply had the skills they needed at this time. Elena was here, as were Gilli and Mithian, and it seemed that whenever he turned around Merlin saw another old soul from his long distant past. He couldn't help but wonder why there seemed to be quite so many turning up this time around.

And Morgana, it seemed, was now a permanent member of the Circle, having appeared every single time so far; perhaps because of the place she'd been awarded back in King Æthelstan's time, or perhaps because her soul had some unfinished business of its own. Considering what Merlin already knew of this Morgana, he suspected the latter.

In fact, there was only one key player who Merlin had not yet come across. Mordred. And, despite what had happened last time around, that fact was making him very nervous indeed.

~o~0~o~

Merlin rarely drunk alcohol because, like drugs, it tended to mess with his magic and threatened to expose him as a result. Anyway, nothing gave him the same high as actually using said magic, so he rarely saw the point. However, his own experiences of various stimulants at various times during his long life had taught him how to purge them from his system, as he'd just demonstrated on Morgana. Perhaps this time he could help her properly, although it was frustrating that he'd been distracted during her childhood when she'd first shown signs of strange behaviour and hadn't been close enough to her branch of the family to effectively intervene.

Was it too late again? Was this always to be their fate? Surely this time he could be there for her, considering these unique circumstances. Hopefully he would be the one she'd ultimately turn towards rather than Morgause. Merlin had kept a close eye on that soul recently and so far there was no sign of the two of them connecting. Hopefully he could keep Morgana away from both Morgause and Mordred when he finally appeared.

The lack of alcohol in his system meant Merlin was able to wake up at dawn as usual and he quickly dressed in grey jeans and a light shirt and headed down to the stables to muck out the horses, whilst Arthur and the rest of them slept on.

Yes, very little had changed in that regard, except for the fact that it was Merlin who now owned the horses, the stables, this manor house and all the land surrounding it. He smiled as he got on with this early morning chore - whistling to himself - happy to have everyone back where they belonged. The country was enjoying a rare dry spell this summer which meant the heat was already starting to build. It was a good opportunity for river levels to return to normal (whatever that meant in this day and age) and was promising as far as starting any flood defence work this autumn was concerned. Merlin rubbed his hand across his brow with a sigh, starting to struggle in the rising temperature, and stripped off his shirt in order to continue the task in more comfort.

"What did you do to me, Martin?" Morgana strode into the stables wearing dark jeans and a white vest t-shirt.

"Me?" he asked, putting on an innocent air.

"Don't try that on me. I know you somehow sobered me up."

"And you're awake quite early I see. Trouble sleeping?"

"No, actually. For once I slept quite well."

He grinned at her broadly. "Glad to have helped."

"What? You think that was you? It wasn't. The only way I can sleep properly now is with a little help."

"Vicious circle, drugs are, especially with your… abilities."

She moved like lightening, snatching the fork from his hand and throwing it to one side before pushing hard at his chest until his back hit the brick wall of the stable.

"What would you know of it?" she hissed.

"Ow, Morgana!" He tried to push her back but she grabbed his wrists and pinned them over his head, pushing her own body against him.

"Tell me what you did!" she demanded.

"You were the one who announced to the whole Hall that I was like you." He wriggled slightly, but she held him firmly and he suddenly became very aware of their position. One of her legs was between his and her breasts were now pushed up against his naked chest. Her face was now exceptionally close to his now and Merlin licked his lips, quite unable to stop thinking of the kiss they'd shared the previous night. "Thanks for that, by the way," he continued, as calmly as he could. "Good job no-one was paying attention."

"You really do have the same problem?" she asked. Her voice was now softer but she stayed where she was, her fingers very gently caressing his wrists as she held him firmly. "You... make things happen?

"Yes."

"And do you... see things sometimes? Visions? Both waking and sleeping."

"From time to time."

"But you're... so..."

"Yes?"

"...ordinary."

His amusement at that comment simply annoyed her enough to tighten her grip and push herself closer. He groaned and she smiled, relishing the effect she was having on him. Despite being determined to resist, he couldn't help moving his head slightly towards her, searching for a kiss.

"Not until you answer my question," she threatened. "What did you do?"

"I purged the drugs from your system," he admitted.

"How?"

"What we have is not an illness, Morgan, you know that, don't you?"

She nodded. "I begun to understand something of the problem in my teens. Stopped taking my medication to see what would happen."

"What did happen?"

"I went back to falling into the strange trances I'd experienced as a child and, although I couldn't always remember them, I was often able to record certain elements in drawings in the days afterwards. I tried to hide it all from my father but I wasn't always successful and he, of course, kept trying to get me back into therapy."

"But Guy thinks you can help us on this project."

"Guy's even crazier than I am."

He shook his head. "You're not crazy, Morgan and neither is he. You can help us here. We need your assistance, in fact."

"How do you know this?"

"Guy has helped me too. Him and Lord Emrys."

She shook her head. "That old fool scares me."

Merlin smiled slightly, "I know. Look, can you let me go now? My arms are aching."

"You started to answer my question though?"

"Yes, and I'll do my best to keep answering any others you may have."

She grinned. "Then I should thank you. Very few people have ever been honest with me, and that includes Guy and Lord Emrys."

Then she kissed him, still holding his wrists, and making sure she rubbed just as much of her body up against his in the process. It felt exactly as he remembered it from before. Better even. Her magic was exceptionally strong and Merlin could feel it wrapping around his own, like flames dancing over the logs on a fire.

When she finally released him, Merlin knew his cheeks were bright red.

"There," she declared. "I knew Archie had it wrong about you."

"Perhaps I just have my own special label," he replied a little defensively. "Perhaps there are only certain people I'm drawn to in that way."

"Really? You're attracted to me because we share the same..."

"...gift? Perhaps."

"And Archie?" she asked slyly. "I've seen the way you look at him."

Merlin shrugged "Perhaps it's more that I'm attracted to those whose destiny I share."

"Destiny?" Morgana said with the type of genuine smile he had so rarely seen from her in any incarnation. "Really? Aren't you the romantic one."

~o~0~o~

London 2039

"Thank you for coming at such short notice, Lord Emrys," Gaius said as he let Merlin into a rather grand house in the suburbs of north London.

"Well, your message sounded urgent," Merlin replied. "And you know I'm always happy to help a former student."

"I think they've made a terrible mistake," Gaius begun before he'd barely set foot in the house.

"Who have? What mistake?"

"The Severn barrier," Gaius continued. "The government chose to go with the cheapest option, of course, and at the time I didn't think much of it, assuming that any solution would be better than nothing."

"But..?"

"It's going to make things worse."

"Really? But the Thames one has worked fine for decades."

He shook his head. "That's a different river and a completely different system."

"And so..?"

Gaius frowned. "Actually, I don't have any proper evidence to back my theory up, which I urgently need to get, and yet I do have a 'source' of sorts, even though I can't exactly use it to convince the government as it stands."

"So you want me to review your findings and help 'pull a few strings' again?" Merlin asked.

Gaius winced. "Possibly but, in this case, I'm looking for your input as a language specialist."

Merlin stared at him. "I don't understand."

"Please take a seat. I've a recording to show you." Gaius poured Merlin a drink and they settled down in front of the large screen. "You see, I'm often asked to babysit my niece, mostly because her mother won't trust her health issues to many people."

"She's sick?"

"That's what her family believes – her father especially. She's prone to these strange fits and draws some very odd things at times. But then there are the trances."

"Trances?"

"She's just five you see..."

Gaius pointed the remote at the screen and a recording of a small girl talking started to play. However, despite her very young age, the voice coming out of her mouth was that of a woman, using words Merlin had not heard for centuries.

"I missed the beginning of that," he said, gaping at the screen in disbelief.

"Yes, I know," Gaius replied, putting it back to the beginning. "I started recording just as soon as I could, but there wasn't much warning. One minute Moira was talking and playing normally and the next she launched into this speech. I don't recognise the language she's speaking as such, but certain words seemed familiar and, along with her comments in English afterwards, I realised-"

"-again please," Merlin said as he leant forward and listened intently to the words spoken in the language he had not heard since he'd lived in Camelot. A small, five year old girl, talking in Morgana's voice with Morgana's words,

"...and the west will be subject to flood after flood until a great dam is built to stop the water. But this will be badly done and will cause a far greater evil. For the valley will flood, as will the cave, and magic shall disappear from the land forever."

Merlin stood up abruptly. "I have to go home," he announced, his eyes wild.

"But, did you understand what she said?" Gaius called after him. "What language was it? Was it about the flood moving onto somewhere far more important?"

"Yes," Merlin replied, putting on his coat.

"But, what's happening to Moira? Why is she getting these visions? And why does she speak in that voice and that language?"

"I will come back and help with that as soon as I can, I promise," Merlin called back over his shoulder as he left. "I do need to meet the girl and her parents and try and reassure them all but, right now, I have to go to the Severn and see for myself. I have to be certain the valley is safe."

~o~0~o~

A/N: The comment about Mordred and 'what happened last time around' is, in fact, referring to his previous reincarnation which we've not visited yet. So, the lack of explanation given here is deliberate, I'm afraid. Although you will find out more later on in this story

18/2/15

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