Chapter Nine:
London July 2061
Morgana and Emrys strolled into Uther's house a couple of weeks after they'd originally been invited.
"You're late," Uther said in way of a greeting.
"And you're rude," Merlin countered without a pause. "Always have been."
He did so love being able to say things like that in his old guise.
"Have you seen what the press have done with this, old man?" Uther continued, waving a newspaper in his face. "They've made your team and my family into a laughing stock."
"Not at all," Merlin disagreed. "Your son and his team are national heroes. Most of this country's teenagers have one or other of their posters up on their walls."
Including his younger self, which he thought most odd.
"What?" Arthur wasn't the only one to look shocked at the news. The recent press conference and all the ensuing publicity had suddenly thrown the whole group into the media spotlight.
"You're a pin up, Archie," Merlin continued with a grin. "Add the rest of your handsome team to the mix and you can just hear the sound of thousands of young hearts breaking." He cupped one hand against his ear. "Listen... Yup, there you go!"
"Enough of this nonsense," Uther snapped. "Why were you two not at the conference or here last week, and where is..." Uther grabbed a nearby newspaper and waved a surprisingly flattering picture of young Merlin in Morgana's direction. "... this one? The love of your life, according to Maureen."
"Martin couldn't make it," she replied calmly. "He had to attend the funeral of a friend – his childhood sweetheart. He was really upset about it all, poor thing."
Arthur grabbed his sister's arm as she sauntered past him. "Why have you not been answering your phone?" he hissed.
"There's a really bad signal down in that valley at the moment," she replied, smiling sweetly at him.
"It was fine the last time I visited."
She shrugged. "Now it's not."
"And Lord Emrys?" Arthur continued. "What's his excuse for not attending?"
She rolled her eyes. "You remember why the old man was determined to invest so much of his own time and money to the project, don't you?"
Arthur shrugged. "His land was flooding?"
"Yes and now, thanks to us, it's not. He obviously had a lot of work to do surveying it since the water receded."
"What's really going on, Morgan?" Arthur pushed. "What are you not telling us?"
"And what's all this about an earthquake?" Uther was asking Emrys. "That must have been near where you lived."
"Very close, yes," Merlin replied, exchanging a wry look with Morgana.
"The papers have their own theory on that, of course," Uther continued.
"Quakes here are rare, it's true," Merlin replied. "But not unheard of."
"Yes, you see. That's what I told them," Gaius said. "It was a year or two after the 2014 floods if I remember correctly."
"January 2015 just outside Winchester," Merlin replied quickly, pulling a face. "As I said, it happens from time to time."
Morgana turned to him with a look that was half frustrated, half amused. "What did you do that time?" she whispered.
"A complete accident, honestly," he whispered back. "I was just passing through."
"And?"
Merlin shook his head. "Long story."
"Well, you may have solved some of the problems in the short term," Uther continued. "And you may well have been awarded this prestigious Thames contract, but I'm still not happy about so many of these things going on behind my back."
"I'm sorry, Father, honestly I am," Arthur said. "I promise we didn't keep anything from you deliberately. It's just this project has been such a whirlwind... the time flew by so quickly you see and we were all so busy." He shrugged. "I promise I'll keep in touch more often now, especially as we're working so much closer this time around."
"Moira?"
She shrugged. "I promise to bring Martin to see you as soon as he gets back from the funeral." She suddenly grinned, slyly. "And then the whole family can sit down and discuss the double wedding Archie and I have been planning."
"What?"
"Really not helping, Morgan," Arthur complained.
~o~0~o~
May 2061
Project Camelot was complete and the designs had finally been approved. The engineering side of the team still had work to do, but Morgana's job was definitely over. Merlin didn't feel there was any need for Martin to travel over there either, as any further computer work could easily be covered by Gwen and Percival.
So, it was time to go home and spend some quality time with Morgana whilst also keeping an eye on the valley as the project work commenced to the west.
Merlin had long ago learnt to revel in the pleasure of those rare romantic relationships he became involved in, whilst working hard not to think too much about the future. As a rule, he didn't tend to experience huge sexual cravings but, once the circle opened, he usually found himself pulled into a close connection with one old soul or another – although it tended to be either Arthur or Morgana.
And after the initial depression of having lost Arthur as his lover back when he was Æthelstan, Merlin quickly became rather more philosophical about the whole thing. The wheel would turn, the Circle would reopen and he would see everyone again. It was that knowledge which kept him going in the long years in-between and also gave him the ability to relax and enjoy each romantic relationship when they happened, and this time with Morgana was exceptional. Not since her original version had she ever had such strong magic, and this meant that the two of them could experiment and find ways to use it both in and out of the bedroom.
And yes, now she was no longer on any drugs, medicinal or recreational, she was a lot happier and far more stable. However, she was still Morgana and she was still a Seer. That one fact would never change.
And so she continued to have her visions and her nightmares and Merlin tried to be around to be supportive and help her to remember. But he inevitably had distractions of his own and it was only now, back here in the valley, that he begun to understand what some of her earlier cryptic comments had meant and finally started to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
"The water recedes, but it is not enough, and Emrys cannot defeat this threat alone. For two are needed to begin the Centre's rise and only then, when Avalon bleeds,will the third arrive to create a new circle in place of the old.
"A new circle, a new dawn. A new heir to inherit the cave. Three sorcerers to ensure Albion's magic is fully restored."
~o~0~o~
When Morgana came around from her latest trance it was to find Merlin deep in thought, surrounded by numerous drawings and copies of her previous visions.
"Emrys cannot defeat this threat alone," he quoted. "I worked that one out before and it's why I've been training you. I've known for some time what needed to be done to save the cave, but even my magic isn't strong enough to accomplish such a feat. I'm going to need you to help me."
"I see," she said, sliding over to get a better view. "The centre rises. I've said that before, haven't I?" She grabbed a piece of paper and begun to study it.
"Yes but this stuff about an heir is new," Merlin replied. "It makes sense though, I did wonder how even the two of us were going to be able to move it quite so much."
"Move what?"
He shook his head. "Perhaps it's Mordred," he continued. "Perhaps he's the heir. I've still not discovered his whereabouts this time around."
"I don't think so," she replied, looking up from the paper. "I don't think that vision was referring to any of the original souls."
"And before you said 'Avalon falls' but, today it was 'bleeds'. Only..." Merlin shook his head. "Language issues again – the words are always changing."
"Avalon is real?" Morgana asked.
He nodded. "Yes. The lake is here, on my land."
She sat up straighter, her eyes wide. "Really? Can I see it?"
"If you like." He picked up another drawing. "I've worked so hard to protect it over the years, but the main reason I felt I couldn't do too much about this magic problem was..." His heart dropped as he put all the pieces together and finally understood what was going to happen. "No..." He suddenly found it very difficult to breathe.
"What? What is it?" Morgana asked.
"The Centre rises and Avalon..." Merlin jumped up and started to head towards the door. "It can't be true. It just can't be!"
"What?"
~o~0~o~
"Merlin stop! Slow down. Where are you going?" Morgana rushed out of the house after him.
"To the lake. I need to talk to someone. I need to find out for sure."
"What?"
He didn't answer her. He dare not stop. His heart pounded loudly in his ears as he ran the familiar route to the old lake, Morgana now hot on his heels.
Freya was waiting for him; standing delicately on the water surface, still dressed in the borrowed gown and quite unchanged from the day Merlin had first lay her to rest here. He stopped, stunned. It had been a long time since she'd appeared to him quite so clearly.
"The lady of the lake," Morgana breathed.
Merlin hadn't given much thought about her following him, but it seemed that neither was objecting to the other's presence.
"We meet again, Morgana," Freya said with a small bow. "And I am pleased to see you fully healed."
"Healed?"she asked.
"Your mind was not especially healthy when you last came to seek my advice."
"She did?" Merlin looked between them, surprised. "You didn't tell me that, Freya."
"I have had some business other than yours to attend to over the centuries, Merlin," she retorted with a teasing smile.
He winced. "Of course. Sorry."
"And now that business has ended and I may finally rest."
"No!" he shouted. "No, I came here today so you could deny Morgana's vision, not confirm it."
"Our Circle is ending, Merlin," she said. "I am not the first to leave it, but my departure does herald the birth of the next cycle."
He shook his head. "I have spent my life protecting you and this place. I cannot now be the cause of its undoing."
"Dear, gentle, Merlin. My time has come and I fervently hope that my soul will soon be free to swim with all the others, rather than be trapped here for all eternity. You would not deny me that, would you? You would not deny me the chance to live a mortal life again."
"I would see you again, the next time around?" he asked.
She smiled, shaking her head. "You still do not fully understand, my love, but you must remember that your task has always been to protect Albion over and above Arthur or me or this lake. We were just the means to help you to achieve that goal. Now we are not."
"No..." his voice was a whisper.
"You know what needs to be done," she continued. "You've known for many years and now, with Morgana by your side, you have the power to accomplish the task."
"But..."
"It must happen or everything you have worked for will be in vain." She looked up at Morgana with a smile. "May I have some time alone with Merlin? I need to convince him of the necessity of this task and... we need to say our farewells."
"Freya..." he sobbed.
"Of course," Morgana replied, but she moved forward at first, putting a gentle hand on Merlin's shoulder. "I'll give you two some time alone but I won't move far away. We'll talk about this some more afterwards, yes?"
He shook his head, still in denial about what needed to be done.
"Yes, stay close, Morgana," Freya said. "Because I wish to talk to you afterwards. Help you to understand what is happening here."
"Of course," she said, nodding her head, so deeply it was almost a bow. Then she reluctantly moved away from the pair, trying to resist the temptation to use her magic to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"I just hope he doesn't hate me for that vision," she whispered to herself.
~o~0~o~
A/N: Time for a couple of comments.
1: One of the reasons for the delay in this part of MOT was due to strange guilt. I started to plan this idea of flooding causing major problems in the UK during late 2013 and, when the serious floods occurred in early 2014 I felt strangely guilty and I think that was one reason why I couldn't get focused, preferring to work on other stories.
2: The good news was that I was able to include the 2014 floods in this new draft as well as the earlier 2007. Both are mentioned during this fic.
3: I started back on this in early 2015 and already had much of the plot sorted when I heard of an earthquake in Winchester - the old capital of Wessex - in January this year. My first thought on hearing the news was, "What have you done now, Merlin?" Inevitably that got included in this chapter.