Me: next chapter! Thanks to all who reviewed- it means so much!

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I used to own a heart, but the show belonging to BBC stole it. The name of the show is Merlin.

~Pokemon67 sucks at finding grammatical errors. You have been warned~

They walked for a few more hours before making camp. Freya (she had finally told him her name) was about to collapse with exhaustion and as they were near more populated territory, Arthur decided that a watch would be best. So he stood guard while Freya slept.

Even though she knew she wasn't going to turn, Freya seemed afraid to fall asleep. So Arthur caught her up on what had been happening in Camelot. He told her about the times Morgana had usurped the throne. He told her about the founding of the Round Table. He told her about Gwen and how he had fallen in love with her and married her. He told her about training sessions, how Leon had to constantly remind them what they were supposed to be doing, how Lanelot had given each session his all, how Elyan used to laugh at all the jokes Gwaine cracked, how Mordred could never understand why they didn't wear less armor to move around faster, and how Percival would always win the sparing. He told her about the times before Morgana had left. How she once had Gwen hide his boots every couple of weeks. How they all went to save Ealdor. How he had met Merlin and how they had fought in the street. Listening to all the stories, all the tragedy and happiness that came from Arthur's life, Freya eventually fell asleep.

Arthur watched her. He supposed that is was the first time since she had been cursed that she slept without fear. He sighed and watched the dark woods. Telling Freya the stories made him feel empty and anxious— he wanted to get home so badly. To see everyone, to make new memories with them. And to repair the damage this war had left on them all.

….

Freya got up during the night to switch places with Arthur so he could get some sleep too. Arthur supposed that going how many years with such little sleep was a hard habit to break, and that Freya was going to have to ease herself into this novel idea of sleeping though the night.

Arthur slept only a little, and they were away from their camp just as the sun was rising. They ate some roots Freya had recognized as they walked to their destination.

They walked all day. Arthur asked about Freya's life, and she told him a little. She told him of her home, perfect and shiny by a beautiful lake. She seemed uncomfortable talking about it, and Arthur assumed that she had lost her home because of her curse. So he didn't push for details and they spent most of the trek in silence.

Arthur figured that he and Freya, whether or not she stayed in Camelot, would always have this wall. This unease that the other was wary of the other for being the murderer/victim. But that was alright by them. As they had both learned in the lake— what was important was that they were alive.

By walking all day, they reached Camelot by nightfall. Arthur couldn't hide the smirk on his face as he approached his castle walls. Freya seemed apprehensive. Of course she would be. This was the place she had meet her doom. The last time she had come through these gates had been in chains.

Arthur looked down at his clothes. ''My goodness, I can't wait to see Merlin's face when I tell him I want these salvaged,'' he said. Mentioning the servant's name had the desired effect. Freya looked more determined to enter the gates.

They didn't run into any patrols. It made sense that they wouldn't— after all, they were busy cleaning up after a war. They didn't see any guards at the gate either, just a bustle of people. Refugees scrambling in and out of the city to get home now that the fighting was over. Arthur supposed the guards were in the crowd somewhere, tying to keep order. But standing in the way of families eager to get home was a futile attempt. Arthur would have to figure out a way to make things run a little more smoothly when he got home.

Home. He was here, in Camelot. The castle was not ten minutes from him.

They slipped through the gate without anyone noticing— no one cared about a few more dirty looking people. It wasn't until they got nearer to the upper town that Arthur noticed people stopping to stare.

Children were playing by their front doors to avoid the bustle of people. They stopped playing with their dolls and cards to stare at the dirty man that reminded them of their king. It wasn't until they passed into the upper town that a teenage girl with red haired shouted, ''It's King Arthur!''

Suddenly there was whispering everywhere as adults turned to stare at the person who claimed to see their dead king. Then they'd spot him and gasp and ask each other if they were all seeing the same ghost.

Arthur didn't pay any attention to them— there was only one person he wanted to address at the moment and he wouldn't speak to anyone until he did.

News traveled fast in Camelot, especially if the dead were taking a walk up along Main Street. By the time Arthur reached the castle, people were already gathered in the courtyard, staring at him and Freya.

Arthur was prepared to walk past them without a glance, when the castle doors opened and a group of bewildered looking people came down the steps to see the spectacle.

Gwen was at the front.

Gwenivere. ''Gwenivere!''

Gwen stopped in her tracks to stare. She looked tired, and more weary then curious as the other people were. Her face studied his, and he could see her trying to understand, trying to rationalize how Arthur could be standing here when Merlin had come back declaring him dead.

Hadn't Merlin come back?

As if summoned by Arthur's thought of him, Gaius and Merlin struggled to get to the front of the crowd on the steps. They too stopped and stared. It seemed everyone in that square was waiting for the another person to break the silence.

Arthur kept his eyes on Gwenivere. Oh God, she was beautiful. Slowly, she took a step down when Leon grabbed her arm.

She, Leon, and Merlin had some fierce match of whispering before Gwen pulled her arm away and descended down the steps. Leon discreetly put his hand on his sword, prepared if the need arose to defend Camelot's ruler.

The sound of Gwen's heels clicking on the stone seemed deafening in the otherwise silent square. Arthur watched her as she approached him. The way she walked with her head held high, not in arrogance, as one might expect of a queen, but in confidence. She wasn't given the queen ship by right of birth, she earned it. The people wanted her here and she would stay to serve.

Oh, how he loved her.

She finally reached him. They stood face to face and the rest of the square might of well not have existed for the attention Arthur was paying to it. He was in a different world, staring into the deep brown of Gwen's eyes. Brown eyes that were as warm as the fires weary travelers gathered around when she was happy. Brown eyes that were like the jagged rocks travelers feared they would crash their ships into when she was angry.

Those eyes had never looked so angry before.

If you hurt her friends, family, anyone she cared about, you would see Gwen's glare and it would haunt you. To make a kind and caring person like Gwen angry, you had to have really messed up. So to see that look directed at him right now cut into Arthur sharper than any wound.

''I have had several travelers come to my doors these past few weeks,'' Gwen began. Her voice was calm— like a knife being sharpened before it was used to stab. ''So many, telling tale tales about how they had 'seen Arthur Pendragon rise from the dead!' and 'his ghost spoke to me!'. These visits are on top of Camelot trying to rectify all the damage that has been done by the recent war, and stave off impending wars with kingdoms who view us as particularly weak at the moment. So,'' She lowered her voice and leaned in closer. ''You will either admit right now that you are an imposter using an enchantment making a mockery of my dead husband, or you will prove that you are really Arthur. Do one or the other in ten seconds or I will cut you down where you stand.''

Arthur realized the gravity of the situation of the kingdom. Freya had been wrong: it had been a few weeks, not days. Camelot was having trouble bouncing back from the damage of the war, and other kingdoms were thinking that this was their golden opportunity to finally conquer Camelot and add it to their wealth. Of course, this was why Gwen was the angriest he had ever seen her— her entire world was being threatened. Everyone and everything she cared about, every man, woman, and child in Camelot, was in danger. And now here was what she believed to be a stranger, mocking her husband— the man she loved the most, pledged her life to— by wearing his face, setting the kingdom she was desperately trying to keep together in a frenzy.

If their roles had been reversed, he would have already lashed out.

But he needed to convince her it was him. He needed to come back and help her.

''Convince you?'' He said in his old, arrogant way. ''Gladly, I'll convince you, Queen Gwenivere.'' Gwen's eyes flashed at the tone. He could see her mentally counting down the seconds she was granting him to live. ''With all my heart.''

Arthur could hear Merlin gasp on the steps— he had been the only one besides Mordred to hear him say those words to get the possessed Gwenivere to enter the water. There was still silence in the square, but Arthur was sure it had been longer than ten seconds.

Gwen's eyes were still hard. They were filling with tears. ''Are you really real-'' she was cut off as Arthur kissed her.

If he had died again after that kiss, Arthur wouldn't have cared. To come back for just one more word, one more kiss would've been worth it. But what was a great part of that kiss was that it wasn't his and Gwen's last one: there would be more. Oh, yes. He was going to make sure there were many more.

Gwen pulled away and wrapped her arms around his neck. Arthur hugged her and placed his dirt covered hand in her soft, black curls that she had hanging down her back. ''I'm sorry,'' he whispered in her ear. ''I love you and I'm so sorry.''

''I don't care,'' she whispered back. ''Never go away again. Never.''

''Never,'' he agreed. And he meant it. If nobles wanted to see him they could come here; otherwise, he and Gwen would hop on a horse together and go. Never would he be apart from her again.

He pulled away and looked at her face. Her eyes were soft again, the water in them making them look like the rocks that showed travelers they were not in danger, but home.

Gwen, holding his hand, turned back to face the crowd, who were still watching with bated breath. ''Long live the King!'' She shouted.

The crowd were silent. Then the knights got on their knees. ''Long live the King!'' Leon shouted back.

The entire square took up the chant. ''Long live the King!''

Gwen turned back to him. Arthur couldn't stop staring at her. She was perfect. She smiled at him. ''By the way,'' she leaned up and whispered in his ear so he could hear over the noise. ''I love you too.''

…...

It was a busy evening. A meal was prepared for the king, and he insisted on being brought up to date on everything that had happened.

So he ate and Gwen, sitting next to him, filled him in. Many men had been lost in the war, leaving the army numbers severely reduced. Arthur was horrified to hear that Gwaine was included in those numbers. Another good person struck down because of the ban of magic.

The neighboring kingdoms were preparing for war. It was mostly the kingdom of the departed Cenred, which was causing the most trouble. The kingdom had fallen to Cenred's young son, whose advisors were ruling 'in his stead'. They wanted to conquer Camelot. The other kingdoms didn't want war, but if Camelot was going to be taken, they wanted it to fall into their hands, not in the fickle hands of the young ruler's advisors. Along with that, Gwenivere had removed the ban of magic. She had removed it in such fury and hast that many were left speechless at the action.

''It was rash of me,'' she admitted. ''But it needed to be done and I just couldn't—'' she faltered. Arthur understood. He knew now that, in light of recent events, magic needed to be accepted, not feared. Gwen had lost so much to the fear of magic— her best friend, father, brother, and her husband. Arthur was glad that she had gone ahead and done the deed.

''It's alright,'' he assured her. ''We'll figure it out.'' And they would. Though all these things weighed on his mind, Arthur wasn't worried. These problems could be solved. Together, he and Gwen would solve them.

Merlin sat across from Gwen, Leon next to him. Gwen had also told him of Merlin's promotion to Court Magician (Arthur's reply of ''I'm gone for two seconds and you find a new job'' had sent Merlin into laughter and hugging of Arthur). ''I think I know how to settle the whole post-ban-removal fear,'' he said. ''The real problem is keeping Prince Crispin's adviser's away.''

Arthur nodded. ''If the other kingdoms really don't want war, then I'm sure we can find some way of making an alliance of sorts.''

''We tried, my lord,'' Percival spoke up from next to Gwen. ''But they feel Camelot has nothing to offer them.''

''Then we appeal to people as friends.'' Images of Mithian and Elena went though Arthur's mind. If anyone would help Camelot, they would.

They ended their meeting a few minutes later, Arthur claiming he needed to rest. While that was true on some points, what he really wanted was to make sure Gwenivere rested.

She looked exhausted. These issues had been weighting heavily on her and as she suddenly found herself as Camelot's sole ruler, she had had to face it alone. She needed rest, as Arthur was certain that whatever little she had gotten had not been peaceful.

Leon and Percival filed out of the room. They gave Arthur one last look on the way out, as if they expected him to disappear the second they turned their backs. When they left, Merlin too made ready to leave.

''So, does this mean I'll have to dress myself?'' Arthur whined as he watched his former manservant leave the room.

Merlin let that grin of his spread across his face. ''It would be an honor, sire,'' he mockingly, emphasizing the word honor— another one of their inside jokes.

Soon Arthur and Gwenivere were alone, Merlin having gone back to his chambers. They laid there in the dark, Gwen on his chest, her hand on his heart to assure herself it was still beating. ''I love you.''

Arthur pulled the covers around her, kissing her forehead. ''I love you too,'' he whispered. ''Sleep.''

It wasn't long before Gwen's breathing evened out. Arthur leaned against the headboard, thanking the gods for this moment.

He let his thoughts wander. There was one thing that hadn't been rectified today, and he didn't know what to do about it.

Freya had vanished. In the square, as Gwen lead him to the castle, he had turned to her and realized she was gone. She had been with him in the lower town. Had he lost her in the upper town? Had she simply blended into the crowd?

The worst part about it is that he didn't know if he should say anything to Merlin. Rumors would no doubt start to circulate about the girl that was following Arthur as he made his way home. What if Merlin heard them? What if he asked Arthur about them?

Part of Arthur felt the urge to sneak out and look for Freya. But he couldn't bring himself to leave Gwen's side, nor give her a heart attack should she wake up and find him gone. No, he'd have to trust that Freya knew what she was doing and keep an ear out for her tomorrow. Maybe she was just waiting, looking for an opportunity to approach Merlin in private.

Me: Hope you enjoyed! The next chapter will be up soon! Please, tell me what you think in a review- they make me so happy!

Happy Writing!