Here is the last chapter. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Time

Merlin was lying in the middle of a white room. He blinked several times, at first not sure if what he was seeing was only his eyes playing tricks on him. Where was he?

The floor looked solid but it didn't feel that way. In fact it didn't feel like anything at all. Merlin ran his hand across the surface, but he couldn't feel anything. It was like he was lying on air.

Slowly Merlin got to his feet and stared into the bright whiteness that seemed to go on forever. Each direction looked exactly the same so he closed his eyes and span around in a circle. He started to feel dizzy so he stopped. When he had steadied himself he opened his eyes. Still nothing but whiteness, but it was better then nothing. So Merlin began to walk.

Everything looked the same. He could be walking upside down for all he knew. Finally after, what seemed to be, almost an hour of walking Merlin stopped.

"Hello?" He called out. "Is anyone there?" No response. He was alone, alone in the middle of nothingness. There was no one else and there might not even be a way out.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Merlin began to walk again in a direction there was no name for. He walked for what felt like days, maybe even longer.

Just when he was about to give up, lay down and let his mind slip away, a dark spot came into view somewhere in the distance. Merlin's eyes focused in on it. It was the only thing other then whiteness that he had seen in days. Filled with newfound hope, Merlin began to run towards the spot. Even though he had been walking for days he wasn't tired. His legs carried him far.

The dark spot in the distance grew larger, then split into two, then three different spots. They grew larger and were given more detail the closer Merlin got to them. He wasn't thinking properly. The buzz of seeing something else in this place had rid his mind of all sense. Then the sense came flooding back to him, hitting him like a roadblock. He stopped.

What if these figures were not friendly? What if they were dangerous? Hope died inside him as he thought of these questions. Why did he have to kill his own hope?

Merlin looked down at what he guessed was the ground. When he looked up again the figures were closer, but he hadn't moved. Confusion crossed him. He blinked and again they were closer. From the details he could see, he could make out that there were two men and a woman, just standing there.

Their stances made it look like they were waiting. Waiting for what, for him?

Merlin blinked once more and again they had closed the distance between them a little more. Something about them seemed familiar. Was it the woman's beautiful dark hair, the younger man's grin, or the older man's sad eyes?

Merlin tapped the side of his head as if perhaps that would help him place where he had seen these three people before. Oh, who were they? Closing his eyes he racked his mind to remember.

"Merlin." A soft familiar voice called him from his forgetfulness and into remembering. Yes, he did know who they were.

"Merlin." Another voice called his name. His eyes burst open as the memories came rushing back to him. Oh, how he had missed them.

"Merlin." The third voice called him once more. He looked at each of their faces individually, trying to take in all that they were.

"Freya? Will? Father?" Merlin mouthed in disbelief. How could this be? How could they be here? They couldn't, and yet they were, standing just in front of him. They were only a few feet away; so close he could almost reach out and touch them.

He took a step forward, reaching out. He was ready to run to them. His friend, the girl he loved, and the man he knew to be his father. His feet ached to run to meet them and leave everything else behind. But a slim hand rapped itself around his left wrist stopping him in his tracks.

"No Merlin, don't go." The hands owner implored him. Slowly he turned around to face the one who had stopped him from going to his lost loved ones. Merlin caught his breath at the sight before him.

The last time he had seen her she had been pale and frail. But the girl who stood before him stood tall. Her golden locks fell to her shoulders and her cheeks were rosy. She was filled with colour. The gown she wore was long and looked like it had been made from the feathers of every bird that had or ever would exist. She looked up at him, the smile on her face was sad. That part of her had not changed.

"Clemence?" Merlin asked, even though the evidence before him was flawless. "But…"

"I'm dead, remember?" A cold chill ran through him as he did. The words seemed so normal for her to say but so inhuman for him to hear.

"What are you doing here when you could be walking amongst the living?"

"What do you think I am doing here?" She answered with another question, but seeing his blank features she answered for him. "We are repaying a debt."

With her words the memories of what had happened to him resurfaced. He stumbled a little but Clemence's firm grip on his wrist steadied him.

"So am I dead?" He asked, fearing what he might hear.

"No." She said simply. "Not yet."

"What do you mean not yet?"

"You are still here, in the in between place. But stay here much longer and you will become like Benedict and I."

Merlin looked back to Will, Freya and his father. They all wore smiles, happy to see him again. But their smiles did not meet their eyes.

"It is not your time." Freya said, tears forming in your eyes. Even though her words were sad Merlin was glad to hear her voice after so long.

"Go back son." His father told him firmly.

"I don't want to be seeing you around here for a long time you hear." Will smirked. Then they vanished. Merlin laughed softly. At least he was able to see them again.

"They will be here for you when your true time comes." She explained.

"I know they will." And he did. He looked back to Clemence, and blinked. Was he seeing things or was Clemence aging?

The form of the young girl before him flickered between three images. She was either the young girl Merlin had first met in the castle of Shades, an old woman, or a beautiful lady. Clemence changed between these three, finally deciding to stick with the beautiful lady.

Merlin had to take a step back. When he said beautiful it was really an understatement. Her golden hair now came down past her shoulders. So is this what she would have looked like if she had been allowed to live longer, if her life had not been cut short?

"You must go back Merlin." Her voice was more mature.

"How?"

"Listen, can you hear them?" She asked. Merlin listened. Even though neither of them were speaking there was still noise, mutterings. The voices grew louder and more distinguished.

"Merlin!" They yelled at him.

"Stay with us Merlin."

"You have so much explaining to do, you can't go yet."

"We need you Merlin." The voices kept repeating his name as if they were worried he might forget it.

"Don't leave." The voices came closer, almost as if the people who were speaking them were right next to him. For a moment the white room became a dark hall but changed back in an instance.

"They are waiting for you." A deep voice came from behind Clemence. Merlin looked behind her to see a tall man, as tall as him, come towards them with a grin on his face.

"Benedict?" Merlin was shocked. The man didn't say anything but engulfed Merlin in a bear hug. Clemence giggled at the sight.

The older Benedict put him down and took a step back but his grin was not as large as before. "Go back."

"But I don't know how." He complained. Suddenly Clemence was before him. She had her hands on either side of his face. Staring deeply into his eyes.

"All you have to do is listen." She breathed. "Close your eyes and listen." Standing on her tip tows she lent forward and placed a soft kiss on Merlin's forehead.

"Will you be there when I open them?" He asked in hope. Clemence broke eye contact and stared down at the ground, but she did not remove her hands from his face.

"No." Benedict answered for her, as she was unable to answer his simple question. "Our time amongst the living has come to an end."

"Why?" Clemence's hands dropped from his face but Merlin grasped them with his, not willing to let go.

"We made a promise." Benedict explained. "You have upheld your part of the bargain, now it is our turn." He placed his hands on his sister's shoulders for comfort. "You are in your time of need. We are giving you the last of our life force."

"No!" Merlin cried.

"Its ok." Clemence finally found her voice. "We have waited for the day when the one would come to claim the sword that we protected with our lives. That day has come and now we are free. You have done us a service."

"Do not fret. This is what we want."

"I don't want you to go." Merlin hadn't known Clemence and Benedict for very long, only a few days, but he had become attached to the apparitions. What they had been through was more then anyone should ever go through. They had been stuck half alive and half dead for a hundred years but he still could not part with them. "You can't leave."

Clemence lifted one of her soft hands once more to caress Merlin's face. She brushed away a few tears that were falling from his eyes. The feathers of her dress brushed his skin. Her touch was soothing. As she wiped away his tears she began to hum a song. Merlin gasped slightly as he recognized it. It was the same one he had been humming before he had started the incantation to reveal the young ghost.

"We have to go." Benedict removed his hands from his sister's shoulders. "Our time is up and they are waiting for us."

But Clemence did not want to go just yet. There was one more then she had to do. Merlin did too so he rapped her in his arms for their silent goodbye.

Clemence slowly pushed herself away and began to walk past Merlin into the whiteness. She still had a hold of one of his hands. As she passed his ear she whispered, "Thank you."

Merlin held on as long as he could before her slender hand slipped from his. His tears fell in silence, without Clemence there to wipe them away. He let them fall.

He looked back once more to see what had become of them. He saw that they had transformed back into the forms they had died in. Hand in hand they were running towards two adults, they had their arms open wide to them. Merlin could only guess who they were as the children launched themselves into their parent's arms.

For a moment the children too looked back and waved. Merlin smiled and closed his eyes. The voices came to him once more. They came closer and closer until they were too loud. The deafening sound forced his eyes open and he found himself lying on the wooden floor of the throne room. Gwen was cradling him in her arms. There were gasps of relief all around him and he knew that everything was going to be all right.

Tears soaked the cheeks of everyone there. They were all wiping them away as the danger was over. But Merlin did not wipe his away. He let them fall, still remembering Clemence's soft touch as she had wiped them away.

From that moment on no one ever questioned Arthur of being the once and future King. With Dima at his side he ruled over all of Albion as their greatest king.

Arthur never lived up to the agreement he had made with Morgana. When the sword had chosen him he had not banished her from Camelot never to return. Instead he took her in. She lived in her old room.

Morgana's mind was shattered and Arthur did not have the heart to throw her out, so he took care of her. The old Morgana was still in there somewhere. She never spoke or moved again. Her eyes stared blankly out the window from her chair.

Arthur had been distant for a few days after discovering his best friend's secret but he eventually came around and made him court Sorcerer, I mean Warlock.

But even years later Merlin could still hear the laughter of Clemence and Benedict from the scene he had seen from their past of them playing in the rain. Finally they were at peace. He would never forget them.

And time. Time is everything. What does it mean you ask? Well now there is the question, the question that we all must face in the end. What did our time mean to us? Every second of our lives the one thing that remains constant is time. Slowly, very slowly our time ticks down until we have no time left. And then…time…stops.

Thank you for reading and please Review.

This is the first fanfic I have completed.

Should I write a prequel about what happened to Benedict and Clemence before they died? The pole is on my profile.

I am writing another story so if you like this on please read that one as well. It is called Always.

Thanks again for sticking with me and the reviews I have gotten are awesome. You guys are the best.