Author's Note: Hello again. Thanks to everyone who reviewed (special thanks to Signal27, hope that I used your knowledge to make the story make more sense)! I loved all of the comments and I attempted to amend my issues in this chapter. Hopefully you like it. Please (pretty, pretty please with a strawberry on top) review! Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

PS: To clear up some confusion that might ensue momentarily, in this AU, there was no story of Arthur and Merlin and Camelot. No one has even heard of them. No one knows that there was even such a thing as Camelot or magic.

"So…" Gwaine drawled as he, Lance, and Percival stepped out of Merlin's apartment building and into the light drizzle. The three had already called home and begged their parents to let them skip school that day, pretty easily getting their parents to cave.

Lance looked at Gwaine skeptically, "Yes?" Percival snorted at the more than slightly condescending tone in Lance's voice.

Gwaine threw him a droll glare before continuing, "So, was what we just spent all night doing considered 'furthering a delusion'?"

Percival looked at him, almost shocked, but Lance responded, "I honestly don't know. I mean, magic can't be real. We would have known about it by now if it was. And a manticore, please, who's even heard of a manticore? I know he lied about one thing at least; he can't be twenty five thousand years old. Humans weren't evolved enough to have kingdoms at that point. So there was no way that there was a Camelot at that point in time. The thing I just can't get out of my head is how he fixed his room, and Freya appearing in the water. If that wasn't magic, then I don't know what is."

Percival murmured almost hesitantly, "Maybe it was some sort of magic trick? A trick of the light or something."

Gwaine shook his shaggy mane, "No mate that was way too real to be a simple trick or the light. I think that there are drugs pumping through the vent into his room." Lance scoffed, but Gwaine went on nonetheless, "Think about it this way, has he ever talked about magic somewhere other than the confines of his own room? Have you ever seen him bring Freya's 'magical bowl' somewhere other than his apartment? If there were drugs it would make sense that he would be confused, and since we inhaled the drugs, we were confused and hallucinated as well!"

Percival tilted his head thoughtfully, "What about Freya? She seemed to think that she was as old as Merlin thinks he is. She isn't in the room getting drugged."

Lance joined into the speculation, "There's always the off chance that she wasn't real. I mean, we could have hallucinated her as well."

Percival, always the devil's advocate, said, "Maybe, but he talks about her outside of his apartment. Gwaine had made the comment about him not talking about magic outside the confines of his own room, but he talks about Freya all the time." It was true. The kid went on about her like she made the world go round.

Gwaine gave a half-hearted glare in Percival's direction, who, under the scrutiny, only shrugged, "What if he actually knew someone named Freya, and his drug addled mind merges the Freya he knew and the Freya he imagines into the same person?" The others nodded and, as they walked to Lance's house, they continued to speculate on what was going on and how to help their friend.

Merlin growled in frustration. He put his crystal away, one that he had gleaned from the very walls of the crystal cave, and he put his head in his hands. He too had already called in sick at the school, wanting to give more thought to the plans they had made, and, admittedly to spy on the knights.

He should have known better than to think that anyone in this generation would possibly believe in magic! The warlock dug his palms into his eyes, trying to grind out his frustrations. Freya's voice floated from somewhere to the left of him, "My love, are you alright?" Merlin growled again as an answer.

"What is it?" Freya tried again.

Merlin lifted his head, "Can I come see you Freya, at the lake I mean? I just need to spend some time with you."

Freya gave him a huge smile and said, "Of course, my love! How soon can you be here? Oh, and don't think that you distracted me from my earlier question," Merlin gave her a sheepish grin and she continued, "Because you still owe me an explanation when you get here."

Merlin threw her a lopsided grin and said, "I will be there in just a couple of hours. I'm going by train, so it might take awhile. You know how slow trains can be. I'm just going to leave my messenger bag here." Merlin gave her a concerned glance and added, "Freya, what's wrong? You are tenser than one of Arthur's bow strings."

At this, Freya tensed even more, but Merlin doubted that anyone but himself would have been able to notice. She covered it up quickly with, "Nothing's wrong Merlin. I'm just anxious to see you."

Merlin frowned at her, his earlier grievances forgotten, "Freya." His voice was dangerous, and had anyone else been listening, they would have shrunk back in fear. "Freya," he tried again, "Tell me what's wrong. I can help you with it, but you have to tell me." Freya had had her fair share of troubles being the guardian of Avalon, and Merlin had helped her as she helped him.

Freya pursed her lips and said, "I'm sorry Merlin, I just don't know what to say. There is nothing wrong."

Merlin frowned at her. She had never not told him what was wrong before and that was saying something, being that their relationship was twenty five thousand years in the making. He would find out what was wrong when he met up with her in a few hours. He hastily said goodbye, giving her one more frown and a questioning, before heading out and locking his door behind him.

Gwaine, Lance, and Percival had convinced the others to skip school as well, feeling slightly bad for Ms. Gorlois as she would have literally no one in her homeroom today. They just all felt like it was a bit more necessary to discuss Merlin's drug dependency (the three had come to the conclusion that it was, in fact, drugs that were causing the strange behavior). They hadn't informed the others as to why they were calling the meeting of the round table at the Pencil Shaker Café. Most of their friends had been looking for an excuse to get out of school anyway, and had agreed immediately.

Once everyone had sat down in the café, Lance began. The threesome had already agreed on what they were going to say, "We think that Merlin pumps drugs through his vent." Not that subtle, but it drew their attention, namely the attention of the two ladies.

"What?!" Gwen and Morgana shrieked in sync.

Percival nodded stoically as Lance and Gwaine related the tale of last night. Arthur looked shocked as he realized the implications of what they were saying, and the rest just looked like they really weren't sure what was going on.

Gwen, after getting over her initial reaction, said, "I really don't feel comfortable talking about him without him being here. We should call him and invite him to the café. You know, confront him about it." The others nodded their consent, if somewhat dazedly.

Lance pulled out his phone and punched in Merlin's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Merlin, it's Lance."

"Um… yeah, I know. It says your name on the phone when you call me. I don't know anyone else with the name Lancelot."

"Oh, well, yeah. Anyways, I was wondering if you could come down to the Pencil Shaker? I figured that you skipped today as well. Um, all of us are down here. So, do you want to come?"

"Why do I feel like something's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I was just wondering if you wanted to come."

"Uh, I actually can't. I'm sorry. I was going to see Freya, at the lake. I'm already on the train now. If you want, though, I can get out my laptop and we can Skype?"

"That'd be great. Um, hold on for a sec and tell me when you're ready."

"… ready."

"Alright, I'm calling you now…"

"Got it. I'm hanging up now."

Then Merlin's face filled Lance's screen and he positioned the laptop so everyone could see Merlin and Merlin could see everyone. Merlin smiled uncertainly, "So, what's up?"

Arthur scowled at him and said, "We know about your drug addiction."

Merlin rose his eyebrows higher than even Gaius could manage and spluttered, "I'm sorry, say what now?"

Gwen burst into tears, crying, "Oh Merlin! Why didn't you just tell us that you're addicted to drugs? We could have helped you! I know that you have a hard time coping what with your parents dead, but you have friends and we care about you. You don't need to turn to drugs to be happy. We can make you happy." By the end of this little spiel, Morgana was also crying.

Merlin started to splutter again, completely flustered, "Alright then, wow. I really don't know what to say and I am concerned as to what Lance, Gwaine, and Percival told you. What exactly did you guys say?"

"We told them everything that happened, even how the drugs affected us and made us see things that weren't there. It really isn't nice to force us to have drugs against our will." Lance admonished him.

Merlin put his face in his hands and sighed a bone wary sigh that made the occupants of the round table glance at him, concerned, "Look, I'm not crazy. I don't have drugs pumping through my vent system. I am clean, my house is clean, and you guys are clean. I have no clue what to say to convince you. Obviously showing you the truth and being attacked by a manticore can't prove to you the truth, so I won't try."

Gwen started crying even harder, "I'm sorry, it's all just so tragic! You lose your parents and fall victim to drugs and then imagine a girlfriend and then force feed us drugs too so you don't have to feel alone."

Arthur put his hand on her shoulder as Leon hugged Morgana, the two men glaring at Merlin as if this was his fault. Merlin banged his head on the table in front of him. Throughout the past, people had wondered why he wasn't trusting and forthcoming. This is why. He continued through gritted teeth, "Guys, I. Do. Not. Do. Drugs. At. All. Please, why can't you believe me? And don't say that someone else is pumping drugs through my vents because, and you can even call the landlady and ask her, my vents are broken. They don't even pump air let alone drugs."

Morgana, ever the observant one, spoke up then through her tears, "How about this, you say that you're great at history right? You've got a one hundred in the class?" She waited for Merlin to nod hesitantly before she continued, "Then how can you think that you're twenty five thousand years old? People didn't have permanent buildings at that point."

"Ha!" Merlin all but shouted, "I can explain that one. So, about ten thousand years ago, the first civilizations popped up, right? Wrong. They had been around for about thirty thousand years before that. Unfortunately, about a thousand years after Arthur died, disaster struck. A group of about three hundred sorcerers gathered together to turn the entire world into an oasis where everything could flourish and people could become rich on the land. I warned them that it wouldn't work. Earth had created itself a certain way, and doesn't like to be meddled with. So, when they tried to meddle with it, it promptly destroyed all of the humans except the hunter and gatherer people who Earth felt wouldn't threaten it. And, of course I survived because I am a creature of the Earth. And then that's why no one knows the story of Camelot, all knowledge of the civilizations before the explosion was lost in the explosion. There." It always felt slightly awkward and slightly exhilarating to tell the truth. Merlin remembered when he told his story to Gwen and the knights that were left alive after the battle of Camlaan and its aftermath.

The others just stared at him even more forlornly, at which he ground his teeth in anger. He was stressed about what was going on with the weird, know it all sorcerer(ess). He was stressed about what was going on with Freya. He was especially stressed at the fact that Arthur had to face some unknown evil to help Albion and yet he was just staring at him like he was a junkie. Merlin was so done right about now.

"Alright. I've been nice. I've told the truth, which is something that I haven't done in a very long time. I tried to trust people and you accused me of using drugs. Well, if you want to talk to me anymore about my drug problem, I will be coming back on the five o'clock train this afternoon. Up until then, I will be hanging out with my real girlfriend at the Mystic Lakes in Winchester." He harrumphed before ending the communication.

The knights all sat back into their chairs. The girls sniffled and held their significant others' hand. Surprisingly, it was Mordred who spoke first, "What if," he began, "What if he was telling the truth about all of it?"

This time, the occupants of the round table all looked at him as if he were the one doing drugs. Mordred crunched in on himself, defensive, "What?"

Leon spoke slowly as if Mordred wasn't the same age as the rest of them, as if he was but a child, "Mordred, magic isn't real."

Mordred scowled fiercely at his friend, "Magic is real." He spat out, "I never told you this because, and I guess this is how Merlin felt, I felt like you would ridicule me. My religion is pagan. I follow the laws of the Old Religion as do my family. Some members of my family have been cursed with magic – it used to be a gift, you know – but that was a long time ago. Magic seems to have almost died out." The teens gaped at Mordred, unsure of how to react. They had known him all his life and yet they never knew this. And they knew for certain that he was not on drugs.

Lance spoke first, "What about that thing he said about the three hundred sorcerers or so? Does your religion teach that to be real?" Mordred nodded solemnly.

Arthur shook his head in denial, "No. No! This is all wrong. Magic is not real. Magic has never been real. If you want to change my incredibly firm belief on that, then show me magic. Prove to me that magic is real," he charged on without letting Mordred answer, almost as if he was afraid of what Mordred could show him, "I mean, if it was real, we would have known about it by now. And besides, the idea that we are reincarnated versions of some ancient king and his knights is ridiculous. Morgana isn't some… some witch and Mordred isn't a druid. Merlin is most definitely not a sorcerer."

Elyan put his finger in the air, "Warlock."

Arthur turned slowly to stare at him incredulously, "What did you just say?"

"Warlock. He's a warlock, not a sorcerer. The difference is that a warlock is born with his or her magic whereas a sorcerer has to learn theirs. Warlocks also can use magic instinctually and without spells, although, spells can help to focus their power." Elyan replied calmly. At the rest of the table, aside from Gwen and Mordred who were nodding sagely, turning incredulous stares his way, he said, "What? I live with Gaius, who, by the way, also happens to practice the Old Religion."

"That can't be a coincidence." Morgana muttered, talking to herself more than anyone.

The knights didn't know where to look. Gwen, Elyan, Mordred, and now Morgana had all seemed to accept this as the once and for all truth. But it couldn't be, could it? Lance frowned, his forehead crinkling in thought. His life was based ninety percent on science and logic and was having a hard time accepting something so illogical. He frowned deeper, saying slowly, "Maybe… maybe we should give Merlin a chance, somewhere other than his apartment, to show us the truth. Everything they said makes a confusing, illogical… magical sort of sense."

There was no arguing now. With Lance, ever the staunch believer in science and not magic, saying that there was an over fifty percent chance (they knew that because he never proposed an idea without it having an over fifty percent success rate) that magic was real, no one could possibly disagree. Except Arthur. Of course.

Arthur slammed his fist onto the table, "No! What has gotten into all of your heads? Magic. Is. Not. Real!"

Gwen slapped his arm, "Arthur! Shame on you! You should at least give him the benefit of the doubt."

"There is no doubt," Arthur growled, "I doubt nothing. Magic isn't real and you all are insane. When you get your brains from whatever magic pot of gold you left them in, come and find me. Until then, I don't want to hear another word about magic." He stalked out of the café, leaving the rest of his friends confused and more than a little afraid.

Merlin had finally gotten off of that awful train. He was in a pretty foul mood, and as such, wasn't as careful as usual. He should have just used teleportation. He was tired from all of the cross country teleporting he had to do recently with all the attacks and all the new supplies he needed. As these thoughts crossed his mind, he didn't see the person sneaking up behind him.

Merlin was also incredibly angry about his whole destiny and Arthur being reborn. Was it too hard for him and the other knights to believe in magic? Merlin had tried this time. He had planned everything out to a tee and yet, after only two weeks, he had screwed up his entire destiny. Again.

Then there was Freya. She had been acting very strangely when he talked to her and that concerned him. She had also been laying on the love talk pretty thick, which was nice, but unusual. And nothing should be unusual between a couple who have known each other for thousands of years.

Merlin had reached the clearing the butted right up against the lake, but was hidden from all other lake-goers. He waded into the water and smiled when Freya came into view. Then he frowned as he saw the tear tracks streaming down her face. "Freya, what's wrong?" Merlin was starting to panic.

"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry! They made me and they threatened me and I didn't know what else to do! They said that if I told you they would kill Arthur, and if I told someone other than you that they would kill you and who could I tell anyways?" Fresh tears were tracking their way down her face. "I'm so sorry!" She repeated.

Merlin held her face tenderly between his long fingers and he kissed her gently. "Freya," he soothed, "Freya, it's alright. Slow down and let me know what happened step by step. I love you and I forgive you. It will be okay."

"Oh will it?" A new voice sneered from behind them. Merlin turned, his arm partially wrapped around Freya's waist in protection. Merlin's eyes widened at the scene in front of him. He was not expecting this.

Arrayed in front of him in what could be called a defensive position (meaning the sniveling cowards without magic in back and the powerful people who actually ran the operations and have magic in front) was every villain he had ever faced. At least, not including Morgana and Mordred, for which he was grateful. There was Agravaine, Morgause, Nimueh, Alvarr, Aulfric, and Sofia. There was Edwin, Sigan, Tristan de Bois, and Dagr. Enmyria, Helios, Lamia, Kara, Kanen, Jarl, Mary Collins, Nollar. The gathering was so huge that Merlin could barely count.

His breath caught in his throat as he struggled to breathe. Being Merlin, his first thought was that he needed to warn Arthur and his second thought was that there was no way Arthur could take on all of these people at once. Merlin groped behind him and held onto Freya's hand, only to feel her twist his arm up behind his back and snarl in his ear, "Don't move or I'll break it."

"Freya?" Merlin was ashamed to admit that his voice broke and a tear or two trailed down his face. It was all just too much. The nightmares, the disbelief of those he had called friends, the gathering of every enemy he ever made reborn, and now Freya's betrayal. He felt rage start to coil and mix with his magic, but he pushed it down. Not yet, he told himself firmly, raising his head high to look at the converging crowd. He had told Arthur where he was going. They would find him. They would find him.

His thoughts turned fuzzier and fuzzier as Morgause whispered some ancient spell in tandem with Nimueh and his vision darkened. The last thing he saw before he fell into a sleep like death was Freya's cold, unsmiling face and he whispered so only she could hear him, "I forgive you."