"You asked me to come?"

"Yes. It seems that our… problem just got bigger."

"What?" She was alarmed. "How? Why?"

"Why, I can't tell you. How: the other one has woken up. Funny," She spat, resisting the urge to lean forward, "I thought he was going to die?"

"I-I was… he should have, I tried, but Merlin-"

"Damn him!" She screeched, "That meddler ruins everything! Will I never be rid of him?"

"I will try again, milady, but I will need to get closer-"

"No. We're not going to kill Merlin."

"…I'm sorry?"

"Not like that. It won't work, now. We'll have to get at him a different way."

"How?"

She smirked. "You shall see soon enough. But do not worry yourself with this one. I will take care of it myself. In the meantime, keep searching for the records. I need them if I… if we are to continue on as planned."

"Yes, milady. Only…"

"What?" She snapped.

"If I find them, the records. Will you teach me, like you promised? Will you help me?"

Her face softened, and she smiled. "Of course, I have not forgotten. I promise. But first, I need to finish my work in Camelot. You understand."

"Yes, milady."

Gaius was giving the Older Merlin a once-over examination, his discomfort with the situation overruled by his medical protocol. "How do you feel?" he asked the man.

"I can't feel my magic too well, and can't use it, which we just discovered the hard way. My head hurts. Merlin here's gotten me a tincture for it." He nodded thanks at his younger self, and Gaius nodded as well.

"Good. Good. Well, you're awake, might as well get some food in you. Merlin?" He looked to his ward, and the boy nodded and left for the pantry. "I'll start preparing some more potion for you – if it's worked so far, you'll be needing more in the morning." Merlin wasn't entirely sure what Gaius was talking about, but assumed he'd been given some kind of medication while he was asleep. Gaius turned to Arthur. "Arthur, you watched when I was making it yesterday – could you give me some help?" After the king agreed, the two left to the back of the room where Gaius kept his ingredients.

Young Merlin returned shortly with a plate of bread and hastily re-heated stew. His older self took the tray and ate appreciatively. He hadn't felt hungry before, but the moment the aroma of the broth hit his nose, his stomach felt unbearably empty. "This potion Gaius is making, I assume he gave it to me while I was asleep," He asked himself around bites of bread, "what is it?"

"An elixir made to treat the lapses," Merlin explained as he poured a glass of water.

"The lapses?" His older self looked up at him in surprise.

"Yes. Gaius tells me it's like a sickness, only it targets-"

"The magic, yes, I know," Older Merlin told him, "I've seen it happen before. Only… how did Gaius come up with it?" He looked over to where the physician was grinding herbs in a pestle and directing Arthur to which ingredients he needed.

"You weren't waking up, and Gaius couldn't figure out why. It was actually Arthur who suggested that it might be because your magic had been hurt in some way."

Merlin stopped and stared midbite. "Really?" He swallowed and looked over at Arthur, an almost fatherly pride gleaming in his eye. "Well, what do you know," He said in an aside to his younger self, "The Clot Pole gets clever." Younger Merlin couldn't help but laugh, and his older self turned back to look at him. "Just goes to show you, even the most idiomatic royal imbeciles will surprise you once in a while. I'm glad he figured it out." He began eating again.

Younger Merlin couldn't help but watch his older counterpart with an interested smile on his face. By the look of him, he'd expected his future self to be a completely different person than who he was now – and in many ways, he was. But there was something there, something that Merlin knew was still him. Him, but more.

"Does he really get that clever?" Merlin asked, and his older self looked up at him. "I mean, the one I'm stuck with is still pretty much an idiot."

Merlin smiled at him. "Well, he definitely has his moments. And don't sell him short just yet," He wagged a chastising crust of bread at his younger self, "He's a growing boy. One day he might just decide to think and act like a man. You'll just have to endure him until that day comes." Merlin winked at him, and although he'd said it in encouragement, the younger Merlin frowned.

"Is… Is it worth it?" He asked quietly. Older Merlin sensed the shift in mood immediately, and looked up to see his younger counterpart watching him with a worried but hopeful expression. Merlin swallowed and set his half-eaten meal aside and looked up to the younger man in front of him. It was strange to give advice to yourself, but beyond the face that was his and a mind that he still understood like no other, Merlin could see someone that wasn't him – not anymore. He could see a scared, tired boy with far too many questions left unanswered. He remembered what that felt like. He couldn't not answer.

"Yes," He told him plainly. "And I know that even as I say that, it doesn't make you feel any better. Nothing will, until you see it for yourself." He smiled bittersweetly, and glanced back over to make sure that Arthur and Gaius couldn't hear them before he turned back to his younger self. He peered at him with perceptive eyes for a moment, before he continued in a quiet tone. "You want to ask me how it happens," he said, and nodded his head sideways towards Arthur, "How he finds out. What he does." Although Younger Merlin said nothing in reply, his expression said it all. "I can't tell you, and you probably guessed that. But I can tell you, with certainty, it is worth it." His voice resonated with a wisdom and a sincerity that would leave the Younger Merlin wondering how the sound would develop in his own voice one day, "No matter what happens, no matter if it's a short time or a long time, a hard time or a happy time, you have to know Merlin, it will be worth it. All of it. But I'm not going to spoil it for you – for myself, rather." He looked his younger self in the eye, and smiled with a knowledge that sparkled. "Believe me, you won't want to miss it for the world."

Younger Merlin watched him with an open expression of wonder, and even as he opened his mouth to ask a second question, Gaius interrupted them.

"Here we are," He said, holding up a glass bottle filled with a dark, maroon colored liquid. At the sight of it, the Older Merlin grimaced.

"That's going to taste vile, isn't it?"

"Well," Gaius said, peering up at the mixture against Merlin's conjured light, "I find that, in medicine, the viler it tastes, the better it will work. You did eat something, didn't you? It will help you keep it down."

Merlin twitched an eyebrow in irritation. He'd taken the potion in the past; he knew exactly what to expect where taste and nausea was concerned. "At least there's that. Still – Gaius, I had a thought just now, you may want to hear it."

"Yes?" Gaius looked at him from under his permanently raised eyebrow.

"Merlin tells me that you've been giving me the potion for the lapses," he gestured to the vial that Gaius held, "And while I'm thankful for it, I don't think that that is what woke me up." Both Gaius and Younger Merlin turned to look at him.

"Well what did, then?" Gaius asked.

"Him." Merlin pointed at himself. Younger Merlin mimicked the motion.

"Me?" He asked.

"Your magic, anyway. Tell me, did you happen to touch me – even brush my arm or something, before I woke up?"

Gaius spoke up first. "No, I told him it was too dangerous, that it could possible mess up-"

"Well…" Young Merlin twisted his hands and looked guilty.

"Merlin!"

"I'm sorry!" Young Merlin turned defensively toward his mentor. "I had to! What else was I supposed to do? I had to make sure he was alright, after…" He hesitated as he realized that his other self didn't yet know that he'd nearly been poisoned. "After Morgana was here, and…"

"Wait, Morgana?" His older self looked alarmed. He swallowed. "No. Nevermind. You can tell me later. What matters is," he looked back up at them after steading himself, "I haven't got any magic to spare at the moment, but he does. And when we touch, it appears, we can share that magic."

"The magic that keeps you alive," Gaius put in.

"The magic that, because it's injured, kept me asleep," Merlin said.

"But because my magic is fine…" Young Merlin said,

"Exactly." Merlin finished for them. When you touched me, Merlin, you unwittingly gave me a bit of your magic, enough to wake me." He stopped and took a deep breath. When he exhaled, his expression was pained. "However, I'm afraid it won't last much longer. I'm bound to fall over again sooner rather than later." He wobbled a bit on his cot. Younger Merlin immediately stepped forward and grabbed the older man's arm. Merlin stopped swaying, and smiled at him. "Thanks. Though I think that, the more I stay awake, the more it'll take to keep me going. We need to think of a more permanent solution."

There was a pause while they thought. Eventually, Gaius said, "Are you saying that you aren't suffering from the lapses?" He asked.

"No, I am," Merlin said, "But it's… complicated. That potion won't do me much good. Most sorcerers would be able to get out and about and slowly exercise their magic until its healthy again. I can't exactly get out and about if I can't even stand up for my magic being gone. The potion itself will help – if I can somehow manage to stay awake long enough to let it."

"I could enchant it," Younger Merlin said. All eyes turned to him. He looked between his mentor and his older self. "I mean, it'd be a bit impractical if I'd go around having to grab his arm so he doesn't faint ever other second," He explained, "but if I could… infuse the potion with some magic, my magic, maybe it'd help. Give a bit of a boost that would make it more compatible with my – your magic."

Merlin sat back, a clear expression on his face. "Why didn't I think of that?" He asked the air. Gaius chuckled.

"You just did. Good thinking, Merlin. Arthur? Are you still getting more ingredients together? We'll need more of that elixir as soon as we can." He turned back to Older Merlin. "You'll still need to drink that, of course," he pointed to the bottle, "after Merlin enchants it. And I need to start making more." He sighed heavily. "I should tell you, Merlin, Uther has been stopping by every so often to see if you're awake. When he finds out you are, he'll want to talk with you about what happened, how you got here."

Merlin paled. He'd already done the math in his head; he knew they were in Uther's reign. But he had tried not to think of it. No such luck, it seemed. He wondered if the Younger Arthur would come by, as well.

"Of course," He said tightly. Gaius went to help Arthur. Merlin picked up the vial of elixir and handed it to himself. "Now. After you enchant this concoction that I only wish was tasteless, you can tell me about what, exactly, Morgana was up to."

Merlin nodded. "Right. We're not entirely sure, mind you."

"I still want to hear it. I might have an idea or two." He blinked against a sudden sense of vertigo. "But the potion first."

Merlin glanced down at it. "How do I go about enchanting it?"

Merlin thought for a moment. "I think I might know the trick. Repeat after me. Begíete,"

"Begíete,"

"Rice afoles drýcræft,"

"Rice afoles drýcræft,"

"You'll want to hold the bottle while you're doing this. And careful on the next pronunciation – it's a bit trickier than what you're used to. Bearme bræcdrenc,"

"Bearme bræcdrenc,"

"Ágíeme æfne ágoest,"

"Ágíeme æfne ágoest…"

Arthur wasn't sure what to do.

It was mid-morning, and he was lying in bed, awake. He hadn't had breakfast yet. Usually, he'd be complaining, but there was no one to complain to.

Merlin hadn't shown up for work that morning, something that usually had the Prince riled up in a fit and ranting about useless servants who didn't know what 'morning' meant. But that particular morning, nothing about life felt quite 'normal'. He'd tried it for a few days, to completely forget about the fact that there was another version of himself hiding in Camelot under Gaius' care, even more so the fact that Merlin was probably taking care of said other self. However hard he tried to ignore it, the reality of the situation lingered like an annoying itch at the back of Arthur's mind. He'd been avoiding Gaius' chambers altogether ever since he walked in and saw himself – his older self – in the middle of a panic attack.

Arthur wasn't sure what to think about it. It was magic, obviously. But there was no sorcerer. It was just him and Merlin… from the future. He hadn't believed it at first, the whole time travel idea, but it seemed more and more that there was no other explanation. Also, while Merlin knew of the Prince's discomfort and tried his hardest not to mention the newcomers in everyday conversation, inevitably, it came up, and when it did, Merlin spoke of the Other Arthur, and he did so as if it were actually Arthur. Arthur couldn't help but be hurt by it. Who was Merlin to compare him to this new, strange man? He refused to think of him as him. He couldn't be. The notion was ridiculous. He was Arthur. And there couldn't be two of him.

Arthur sighed and tried once more not to think about it. The concept made his head hurt, but Arthur couldn't deny that the notion of meeting himself from the future scared him. What kind of man would he been in fifteen years? What kind if king? He would have so many questions, ones that he wasn't sure he wanted the answers to. And yet… something deep in gut told him that he should do something about it. He frowned and wondered if the churning in his stomach was from nerves or because was still hungry.

He should go fetch Merlin. He normally world, cursing and yelling as he went, but he'd been avoiding Gaius' rooms for knowledge of who was there, now.

But damnit, he was hungry.

Not that Merlin would care.

Still.

Sighing, Arthur dragged himself out of bed and pulled a shirt on. Scowling, he made his way down through the castle, putting on a stiff face and trying to psyche himself up for whatever he might find in Gaius' chambers when he got there. But before he could get there, he rather literally ran into Guinevere.

"Arthur!" She exclaimed, and he apologized, helping her up from where she'd fall down.

"Gwen, is something wrong?" He asked when he saw her startled expression.

"Haven't you heard?" When he shook his head, she told him: "Merlin, his lookalike, the Older Merlin - he's woken up."