A/N: So all I'm going to say about this chapter is that it's really long, especially compared to the next one, but there really wasn't a way to split it that I liked. The momentum just had to play itself out. Lots of closure and friendship fluffiness!

"Sire? Queen Guinevere is asking for you."

"Just a moment—then I want those funds allocated to the lower town relief," Arthur instructed to the castle treasurer. "We were lucky with the damage, so we're well within the means to fund the repairs. That is my decision." He handed some papers back to the cowed older man. "Where is Gwen that she's asking for me?"

"Gaius' chambers."

Arthur nearly tripped as he came around his writing table. Gaius meant Merlin. "Did she say why?"

"Only that you need to come as soon as you can," shrugged the knight. He was a newer recruit whom Arthur hadn't gotten to know yet. And he obviously hadn't been around long enough to understand the gravity of his own message.

Arthur tore out of his chambers as if the Medhir were after him. Since their return, his duties as king precluded checking on his recovering manservant, to his great irritation. Gwen visited when she could, but she also tended to her people to the point of exhaustion. Many refugees needed shelter until further arrangements and repairs were made. Only now, four days after the immortal army, were things beginning to return to normal. So if nothing else, Arthur claimed this short break for himself.

He burst into the physician's chambers, causing Gaius to drop the stack of books he held. "Sire!"

"Gwen asked for me as soon as I was available. What's happened?"

Gaius gestured toward the back room. "You should see for yourself…"

Arthur crossed the chamber in barely half a dozen steps. Despite his anxiety over what awaited him, he had to know. Not knowing was driving him mad. God, Merlin was going to give him a heart attack before this was over…

And he thought he was going to have one when he opened the door. Gwen sat by the plain cot, holding a bowl and spoon. Upon Arthur's entrance, she put the spoon down so as to fix the cold compress sitting above Merlin's eyes. His open eyes. He lay on enough pillows to be fed whatever Gwen had in the bowl, but he was awake.

"You could at least said so, Gwen!" exclaimed Arthur, putting his back to the door frame for support. His neck chafed from the sling, having run the entire way. "I thought the worst for a moment…"

"The king…worried about me?" Merlin joked, though his voice was raspy. The idiot of course immediately tried to sit up. Both Arthur and Gwen pounced on him. Not that the restraint stopped his mouth. "I must be dead, getting this much attention!"

"Shut up, dollop head," grunted Arthur. He wasn't willing to admit how reminiscent Merlin's statement was of recent events. "Scare us like that again and you will be."

They all settled back. Arthur grabbed the small desk chair from the corner and pulled it up to the opposite side of the bed. Despite the bravado, Merlin was still easily worn out. He sank gratefully into the pillows at his back.

"The fever started going down this morning, and he stirred not long after," Gwen explained, adjusting the compress again. She couldn't keep the smile off her face.

Merlin did look worlds better. The color in his face was healthier and more evened out. His eyes were clear and focused. Breathing didn't seem to be a struggle. He was even grinning that ridiculous grin of his. Arthur felt the last of the heaviness fall from his own shoulders.

"It's good to have you back, Merlin."

"Good to be back…"

Gaius bustled in at that very moment. All three younger occupants of the room wrinkled their noses at the vial he carried. The contents were a nauseating purple-green. "It's important that we get some decent nutrients back into you—so don't fuss. We need to keep you from getting sick again in order for you to really start gaining strength." His aging face still carried the worry all of them had felt.

By Merlin's expression, he was rethinking his earlier statement. But he obediently took the vial. Upon drinking the stuff, however, no one expected his reaction.

"That's actually not bad."

Gaius' eyebrows shot upward. Gwen stared at the empty vial. Arthur kept glancing between Merlin and the physician.

"Really," the servant insisted, "it's more like a liquid fruit platter than medicine."

"Well, I did crush some fruits and vegetables to mix with the tincture, and there's plenty more where that came from," shrugged Gaius. "I figured it would be the best way to get you to eat if I couldn't wake you. Of course, that's a moot point now…"

"You say it's supposed to help keep him from getting sick?" Arthur asked.

"That was the idea—"

"I think you're on to something. A drink that keeps you in good health. The knights could probably use it on patrols and the like, and it would be easier to carry than fruit. Write it out to give to the kitchens!"

This put quite the pleased expression on Gaius' face. Merlin gestured for some water, which Gwen carefully gave him. Gaius cleared away the vial and finished dishes. Now that the excitement was wearing off, Arthur felt a number of questions nagging at his mind. He had been able to explain things well enough to the knights. The ones that personally knew Merlin, especially, had taken fairly to the truth of the situation. Some even said that it made sense. The servant was odd at the best of times, and had a knack for ending up in curious situations. To be sure, all the knights had their varying degrees of apprehension about magic, having followed Arthur through many a tussle with Morgana. But that didn't stop them from understanding their king's reasoning in the desperate situation. They trusted his judgment, for which he was grateful.

He still had a lot of gaps in the story, though, and only Merlin could fill them.

"Could I have the room, please?" Arthur asked Gwen. Her expression quickly filled with disappointment and worry. "Nothing serious, I just want a chance to talk with Merlin. Man to man, you know?"

Merlin appeared to catch on. "It's okay, Gwen. I do owe him my life, after all. Go take some time for yourself."

She left, grudgingly, and not without giving Arthur a poignant 'be gentle' look. Once the door shut, Arthur found himself quite fidgety. Okay, maybe this wasn't so easy. Merlin watched him with a knowing and slightly apprehensive face.

"Merlin—" "Arthur—" they started at once. Merlin chuckled his tension out.

"You haven't been an easy person to figure out these past weeks," Arthur tried again. His warlock-servant's expression turned to amusement.

"So you finally succeeded then?"

Now Arthur could work up a laugh. "Not even close! I'd like to think I've made some progress, though. Once I got past the, uh, big…um…"

"My magic?" Merlin offered.

"Yeah."

"Look, I don't expect you to change everything just for m—" Suddenly Arthur cut off Merlin's statement with a fierce—dare he admit it—hug. He didn't want his friend to speak. To excuse his own existence away. He didn't want Merlin keep believing the greatest part of himself was a problem.

"You were gone, Merlin!" God, he couldn't believe how choked up he sounded. Sheesh, it was just a one-armed hug. "I watched, I felt you die. And I knew what I had seen had been magic, but I couldn't feel anything except the emptiness you left behind. The whole kingdom was changed. It took three weeks of that before I understood how much of our present lives were owed to you."

Merlin hovered somewhere between brushing the whole thing off and being impressed with this outpouring, as Arthur released him. The compress plopped to the floor, forgotten. "I really wouldn't take it that far…"

"All those times you got away with magic, right under our noses? Sneaking around saving me, my father, Guinevere, the entire kingdom—plenty of people who would have had you killed without a second thought, and you risked it every time! Gaius told me everything when I tried to gather your things. The stories, it was all I could do to fathom you actually doing them." He had to take a moment to collect his emotions. No need to turn into a girl over this. "I just need to hear it from you. Why?"

Contemplation briefly darkened Merlin's features. "Wait, you went through my things?"

"Well, we couldn't exactly leave your mess here forever. I'm sure your mother would have wanted some of it. Oh, that staff you had under your bed, by the way…yeah…it's kind of, um…gone."

"All of my things?"

"You were dead, Merlin. That was before I started seeing ghosts and having to fight off Morgana's revenge. And you're avoiding my question."

"…What was the question again?"

Yup, same old idiot. Arthur rolled his eyes. "An all-powerful sorcerer—"

"Warlock."

"Whatever, still can't follow a minute of conversation," Arthur brushed off. "The point is, why, of all the things you could have done, did you stay here? As a servant, no less! Anywhere else would have been safer for…someone like you. You could have demanded power, money, anything. Why keep to a tiny back room serving someone you didn't even like at first?"

Merlin chuckled at the early memory. "Can't say it was my first choice for a plan at the time. Kilgarrah sort of had to push me into it. He's really the reason I could do what I did a lot of the time."

"Wait—who?"

"Oh, Gaius didn't mention him? Strange. Well, I suppose it wasn't crucial compared to…nevermind. You see, I had a bit of a history with a certain magical creature before he…uh, escaped the cavern beneath Camelot," the servant admitted the last part very quickly.

"You mean the DRAGON?!" sputtered Arthur. He didn't know what was more bizarre, that it had a name or that Merlin had befriended it. The mental image was comical.

"He's not so bad when he's not working out years of pent-up bitterness at being chained deep underground. Never gives you anything straight, though. Lectures about understanding others, but insists on letting every magical person I meet die. Goes on about destiny one minute and then throws a fuss when the only way to protect you is to, say, close the veil in your place. I thought protecting you was my destiny! Gets you all turned around, that one."

"Okay, stop there—what about the part where I killed that dragon after he escaped?" Arthur glared at Merlin's carefully schooled face. And then the dots connected. "But of course, that was yet another brilliant cover-up by you, wasn't it? How'd you do it?"

"I take it Gaius then also didn't mention that the last dragonlord turned out to be, well, closer than we thought," muttered Merlin. He picked at some loose threads in his cover. Arthur realized this was the first time he had seen the manservant honestly shy about a subject. Merlin really had to work up to his next statement. "He was…my father, Arthur. Balinor. I finally got to meet him, only to have him die in my arms. Turns out that's how the powers are passed down, too. We never lost them, after all."

"Those wyverns at the Fisherking's castle…they also stopped attacking when you arrived," mused Arthur.

"Yes, that was my doing."

Arthur paused to take this all in. They really were a pair, after everything they went through. All the trials they had faced together. He studied Merlin's current state—exhausted, even though he tried to hide it while Arthur pressed him with questions. The thought had never occurred to him how many times Merlin came out the worse for wear, and Arthur had never bothered to question this. In fact, he usually just made Merlin's life harder. The servant bore it all. Never complained, never wavered, put everything before his own wants and opinions. Well maybe not always his opinions, given how many times Arthur didn't listen, buggered things up, and yet miraculously saved the day. The more he thought, the more he found himself in awe of the strength of the man in front of him. Merlin had to be the most deceptive looking individual on the earth.

"You're a good man, Arthur."

"What?"

Merlin met his gaze steadily. "That's why. Took me a good while to see it, but I found the good in you. The leader you wanted to be. Kilgarrah helped with that as well. Then it didn't matter what our destinies were, who we came up against, or even if I could ever be myself. I believed you could be great, whatever that meant. And that was enough."

Arthur's mouth fell open. His efforts to close it failed, to what must have been comical effect. It elicited a smile from Merlin, anyway. He didn't know what kind of answer he expected, but it certainly wasn't that.

"The beauty of dying is that you get a chance to see the worth of your choices," Merlin continued in Arthur's silence. "It was all worth it, Arthur. I would have gladly moved on if it was required of me. That's how life should work."

"Until you got yourself stuck between worlds, and Morgana tried to use you as a puppet to take over everything," Arthur blurted before he really processed the thought.

Merlin laughed. "I did, didn't I? Can't say being a warlock was ever easy."

"Only you, Merlin. Only you would have the preposterous fortune to end up like that after being murdered!" They laughed together for a few moments, knowing how true the statement was. Then it brought something else to Arthur's mind. "How did you manage reaching out like that, anyway? And taking that dragon-ghost form?"

"Well, as you and Gaius figured out, I was suspended between the living and spirit worlds, so in some ways, I could exist in either one. Never fully, though, and since I was dead, it took much more energy to appear here. Any spirit with strong enough intentions can communicate through dreams."

"But it still caused you pain?"

"That was because Morgana was already trying to seize control. I ended up having to fight her and try to help you. She was the only one powerful enough to challenge me, even as I was. Perhaps Cornelius Sigan could have, but his spirit is locked away from both worlds. Anyway, I could have learned to be like Freya—a kind of guidance and communication between the worlds for future students of the Old Religion. Over time, my closeness with magic would have allowed me to develop control over the very conduit I had become."

Sure, that sounds like fun…except you'd still be dead! Arthur thought sourly. "We were able to get you out, though. It still brought everything back into balance, and I kind of prefer this outcome! Please, don't talk like things would have been better where you were."

"Sorry. I guess that means it wasn't really my time yet. We still have more to do as king and servant," posited Merlin.

Arthur wanted to throw a retort about behaving according to one's station, when he realized saying so at this point sounded ridiculous. They had already upset pretty much any conventions pertaining to stations. Kings saving servants, servants saving kingdoms, servants going behind the king's back, both using illegal magic…what did any of it matter? Arthur had his truest friend and counsel back. His world hadn't crashed into ruin just because said friend was a sorcer—warlock. He mentally promised to get that right someday. Everything might just get better, in fact.

"Speaking of which, when do you want me back to work?"

Arthur nearly jumped clear of his seat. "Beg pardon?"

"Or is it too complicated to try to get my job back?" pressed Merlin. He was less successful in suppressing the giant yawn that followed. But he watched Arthur expectantly.

"Let me get this straight—you've come back from the dead turning out to be an all-powerful sorcerer—"

"Warlock."

"Ugh yes, yes, I know! This has been a bit much to cram into less than a week, don't you think? The point is, you could ask for anything, and you want to go back to being a servant? MY servant, of all things?"

Merlin blinked owlishly from his cot. Then the question appeared to sink into his tired brain, and he broke into that grin Arthur once thought he would never see again. "But you know I wouldn't ask for anything else. My place is by your side, helping bring about Albion, making sure you're all clean and polished, and occasionally saving your royally pratish rear end." He pulled his arms up to block the spare pillow aimed at his face. They were both laughing, to the point where Gaius stuck his head around the door looking incredibly confused. That's when Merlin sobered back up. "Really, I can think of no place I would rather be than serving you. Although a lighter workload from time to time would be nice."

"Well if it's serving you want, be careful what you wish for," Arthur shrugged wryly. He sighed when Merlin yawned again. "You should probably get some rest before Gaius lectures us both. Worry about getting back to work later."

Merlin nodded; already his eyelids grew heavy. Arthur helped him straighten the blankets, and then headed for the door under Gaius' scrutinizing gaze. "Oh—I did have one more question."

"Fire ah-ah-away…" Merlin replied sleepily.

"Did anyone else ever know?"

Arthur bit his lip as he watched Merlin dredge up the answer from carefully guarded memories. There was relief on the servant's face, but also pain. "Almost no one, besides my mother and Gaius. Lancelot figured it out on his own, confronted me about it, too. And the Druids I've met over the years always knew. With the whole prophecy thing as Emrys and so on. Freya was the first person I felt safe actually telling, before she died. Mostly, I've just managed alone. A lot of us do."

"I see…well, then…" How to follow that? "Maybe we can work to change that." Arthur jumped as Gaius cleared his throat behind him. "That's for tomorrow. I'll quit badgering you." He turned once more to leave.

"Arthur?"

He spun on his heel. "Hmm?"

"Thank you, really. Some might call us even now, but I don't know if I could ever repay you for what you did."

"You're very welcome, Merlin. Anything for a friend. I mean it."

There you go, lovelies! Just one chapter to go, and I'll leave you with one request-please review! If you loved a chapter, tell me what made it work! If you weren't so thrilled, point it out to me! I want to put out the best stories I can, and you all are in the perfect position to help. Much love!

~bryne