A/N: Hey, guys! I didn't mean to be away from this story for so long, but I've had a busy homework schedule as of late, and am actually currently suffering from a sudden, nasty cold. However, since raspy voices and a disgusting amount of nose-blowing don't translate into the written word (unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong) the bed-ridden-ness has given me an excuse to write something that isn't for one of my classes.

Also, need I mention it?

MERLIN STARTS TOMORROW.

TOMORROW.

*fangirl screeches*

Enjoy the new chapter!

Morgana had been scrying on Merlin all afternoon. He'd slept rather late into the day, which proved frustrating for her. She was a naturally impatient person, but seeing as the entire burden of progress had been transferred (albeit unwittingly) onto the Older Merlin's shoulders, patience was a necessity. Even after he'd woken up and finally picked up the journal, it was impossible to tell what he thought about it all. He didn't speak, only hunched over on his bed, journal in his lap, turning a page every few minutes.

She sighed, waved her hand, and the image dissolved from her mirror.

She hadn't told Lady Le Fey of her new plans. She had told Lady Le Fey of how she found the journal, but she hadn't told her of the… problems that she'd run into understanding it. However, Lady Le Fey nearly incessantly spoke to Merlin's – that is, Emrys' (wherever he got that name) cleverness and shrewd way of dealing with obstacles. She figured, so long as he thought he was working for his own benefit, she could use his insights to help her to her own ends. But she would not be stupid about it. She would keep a close eye on him the whole time.

Only, for now, there simply wasn't much to see.

Hunch-backed and legs folded, Merlin had his eyebrows set in a strange half-squiggle and was fingering his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger. He wasn't conscious of the fact, but it was how he always appeared when he was reading, particularly when he was researching. More conscious to Merlin's concentration habits, King Arthur had tiptoed into the room, put a kettle on the fire, and made a tray of tea all before Merlin so much as glanced at him.

"So," He asked at length, and Merlin's head shot up in surprise at the sound of his voice. Arthur set down the tray on the bed across from his friend, who rather quickly rationalized the fact that Arthur had been there for some time, and asked, "what've you found so far?"

Merlin sighed and took a cup of tea. "It's interesting, but slow going. This man is methodical, if anything. Sorcerer or not, he's a brilliant scientist. Records nearly everything that happens. He's mentioned Earnan several times, an assistant of sorts in his experiments."

"Experiments?" Arthur asked, sipping at his own tea. "With magic?"

"Mostly. Nothing on time travel yet, though. Although…" He flipped a few pages forward, "I think he's beginning to ask the right questions for it. We'll see what happens."

Arthur nodded, and asked after a minute, "When was this written?"

Merlin flipped a few pages. "Back in the three-hundreds… Each entry is dated, each just a few days apart. Like I said, methodical."

"That's good, right?"

"Oh, yes, it just means I'll have a lot of reading on my hands. He's got small handwriting, you see." Merlin turned the journal so Arthur could look at it. The king's eyebrows rose.

"Neat, at least."

"Mmm, very. Meticulous nature, thorough, and detail-oriented. All good traits for a scientist, especially one who experiments with magic. Still, it's made out for some rather dry reading."

"Ah," Arthur looked around the room. "Want some company? I could bring some lunch up here."

"No, that's fine… and… how did you manage to get here, anyway? I thought you were chained up somewhere in Gaius' chambers?"

Arthur snorted. "Chains aren't Gaius's style. At any rate, my father is apparently still quelling the results of last night's council meeting, and is too distracted to notice me here." He sniffed. "Besides, your younger self has been walking on eggshells around me since yesterday."

Merlin frowned. "Why?"

"I don' t know. It's sudden. I think he and Arthur must've had a row or something."

"But why hold you responsible?"

"Maybe it was about us."

Merlin frowned. "If I see him, I'll ask him about it. Speaking of, how's Arthur?"

King Arthur frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I can't help but feel that… he's a bit…" he shrugged. "out of it, all this. Because he doesn't know about… well, you know…"

"Your magic, you mean."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "There is a reason I didn't say it out loud in the castle, but yes, of course that's what I mean."

Arthur shrugged. "I'm not sure. He tends to avoid me – I can't really blame him – but I wonder sometimes if he has any idea… You haven't told him, have you?"

"Of course not. Although, I did tell him I've studied magic."

"What?" Arthur looked surprised. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Arthur," Merlin said rationally, "I was helping him research in magic books. I was reading text in the Old Tongue. I couldn't possibly deny it."

The king nodded. "Still… I know you probably think I was utterly stupid back then – now, whatever, for not realizing that you had magic, but… Arthur is quite clever. He could figure it out, you know."

Merlin didn't say anything, and Arthur took that as an agreement, and continued, "And if he does, it could change an awful about this… this world, like you were telling me, making it all the harder for us to get back. You need to be careful about what you say."

Merlin sighed in frustration. "You know, I was trying so hard to forget about that."

"Right, sorry." Arthur looked contritely down at his tea. Merlin went back to his reading, and when his eyebrows resumed their intense twist and his fingers found their way back to his mouth, Arthur finished off his tea and stood. "Right, then, I'll leave you to it." And although Merlin didn't hear him through his trance of concentration, Arthur stopped at the door and added, "Good luck, old friend."

Merlin rubbed at his eyes. Even after sleeping in and not bothering to change from his night clothes, spending all his waking hours engrossed in Eoran's research was sapping his energy.

The vast majority of the entries were purely devoted to Eoran's experiments, but Merlin had enjoyed some small glimpses into his personal life. There was a small series of entries during which Eoran was bedridden with an illness, and had occupied himself by writing about his days and the books he'd been reading to pass the time. Other, short entries in between experiments spoke more on his surroundings and environment. He spoke often of his younger brother, Earnan, who he'd practically raised after both their parents' lives were taken by a sickness. His mother, a sorceress, was the reason Eoran and Earnan both had magic. Although his father did not have magic, Eoran recalled that he had loved his wife and sons dearly. It was an image that touched Merlin's heart, because it was the type of magic and non-magic interactions that he'd dreamed of since childhood. The two brothers had apparently lived on a small homestead with some livestock on the edge of a village in the area that would become Cenred's kingdom (although it was not Ealdor, Merlin was secretly disappointed to learn) and led a mostly quiet life. Earnan was happy to use his magic to assist the villagers as they needed it, and Eoran found their quiet, secluded surroundings a perfect place to practice (and experiment) with various forms of magic. Eoran often lamented the troubles he went through to acquire quality magic books (and it was a predicament Merlin was all too familiar with) but managed to make do. The man was a genius, Merlin had decided, and performed much of his own research purely out of his own initiative. He was logical, rational, and driven. And although Eoran obviously loved his brother, it was easy to tell from the way he spoke of him that Earnan could not be less like him where personality was concerned. Merlin had actually just reached the portion of the book where Eoran had begun to experiment with time travel when a knock on the door broke him from his concentration. He sat up with a start and looked over to see his younger self standing in the doorway.

"Sorry," the boy smiled at him, "I came to bring you this," He held out a bottle of the medication that Gaius had been brewing for him.

"Yes, of course, thank you." Merlin shook himself and took the medicine. He actually had begun to feel himself recovering, lately, but was still unable to perform magic. He set the bottle aside.

"Have you found anything so far?" Younger Merlin asked inquisitively, peeking over at the book Older Merlin still had in his lap.

"A bit, not too much yet, but getting there." He rubbed his face, and frowned when he saw something on his younger face. "What happened to your eye?"

Merlin straightened and touched his face. "Oh," He blushed. "Ah, well, Arthur happened."

"Oh," Older Merlin said in understanding. "Which was it this time – the goblet or the boot?"

"Neither, actually," the boy responded, "He's growing more creative; a half-eaten apple."

Older Merlin winced in sympathy, but said nothing. Younger Merlin began to awkwardly shuffle out of the room, but his older self stopped him before he could leave. "Merlin?"

"Hmm?" He turned back.

"It's been a bit lonely cooped up in here all day – care to join me for a bit?"

"I, uhm… alright." Merlin turned around and shut the door, before coming to sit awkwardly at the foot of his older self's bed. Older Merlin had marked his place in Eoran's journal and tied up the leather strap around it.

"Arthur tells me you're upset about something," he said, not looking up. He paused in what he was doing. "Well, not exactly that. He said you've been 'walking on eggshells' since yesterday. Of course I know that means something is bothering you." He set the journal on his nightstand and turned back to himself with a soft expression. "Is something wrong?"

Younger Merlin chewed on his lip and squirmed, but eventually confessed, "It's Arthur. He's… he's been asking me questions about magic."

Older Merlin tried to keep his expression clear. "What kind of questions?"

"Just… about it. It's so out of the blue, yesterday he asked me what I thought about magic. When I asked him why he wanted to know, he said that it was something you had said to him." He wrung his hands. "What did you say to him?"

Older Merlin watched himself and sighed. "I told him I studied magic." Merlin stiffened and sucked in a startled breath, and so he made quick to say, "I didn't tell him I was magic – in fact, he asked me if I could do magic, and I said no. Which, I can't, when you think about it." Young Merlin looked almost annoyed, but shrugged and nodded.

"But… why tell him?

"We were researching magic. How could he not ask about it? I couldn't lie to him." And Merlin only realized how much that must have stung after he said it. Realizing his mistake, he added too late, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," younger Merlin said. "It's good to know that one day I'll be able to think that way."

Older Merlin smiled. "You can go ahead and think that way with my Arthur, you know."

"I know, but… It's… hard. To even imagine it, you know?"

"I do. Very well. Don't worry about it, it'll come." Merlin watched his younger self for a moment, then added, "he was worried, is all. He does do that, occasionally, I don't know if you know."

"I do. A little bit."

Merlin smiled. "That'll come, too." There was a pause, and Older Merlin heaved a sigh. "Very well. I think I'm very near to finding out what Eoran's discovered about this time travel business, but unfortunately, I need sleep first." He looked up at his younger self. "Look out for Arthur while I'm cooped up in here, would you? Both of him. He's not nearly as much of a clotpole as he makes himself out to be most the time. Really a bit soft on the inside."

"Well that comes across well," Merlin rubbed his black eye. Older Merlin chuckled.

"I never said he wasn't a prat on the outside."

"And rough around the edges."

"That's why you're there to polish him up. Gwen'll help, too."

Merlin got a very curious look in his eye. "Gwen?"

"Oh, no, I've said too much. Forget I said that?" But there was no stopping the smile that had appeared on Young Merlin's face.

"Don't think I can, but I won't mention it to either of them, if that's what you mean."

Merlin shook his head. "Good enough. Now, you need sleep too. Off you get," And even though it was himself, Merlin just couldn't shake the feeling that he was talking to his son. It was a disconcerting, but strangely… fond feeling.

"Of course. Goodnight, Merlin,"

"Sleep well, Merlin."

The door shut softly, and Merlin turned back to his bed. He spotted Eoran's journal sitting on the small table, and it was practically singing to him to read it. He shook himself. "No, no, need sleep. Sleep first, read later. Sleep first, read later." He snuffed the candles and climbed under the covers. Sleep. He needed sleep. Even warlocks needed their rest. Especially warlocks with the lapses. Especially warlocks with the lapses who needed to figure out time travel. Time travel. Eoran. Eoran wrote about time travel. In his journal. Which was sitting, right there, on the table, within reach, with all the answers…

No! Sleep first!

Merlin tossed and turned restlessly for what might have been hours, or minutes. It was still dark when he finally gave up with a sigh.

"Oh, damn it all."

He relit the candle and picked up Eoran's journal.

A/N: Now, when one is as lazy as I am and doesn't bother writing an outline to the story one is writing, one always ends up wishing they could take back and/or change bits of their story as they go further into the plot. I've run into this self-inflicted problem several times, and although usually I just work around it, in this case, I actually will amend something I said earlier on in the story. It's a small detail, but I thought I should mention it:

(Kudos to you if you actually remember this) Way back in chapter 14, at the very end, I noted that Eoran was younger than Earnan. I've modified this and swapped their ages. I will change that reference in chapter 14 once I upload this chapter. Just thought I'd let you know! Editorial detail!

Hope you all enjoyed it!

Happy Series 5 premiere! (can you believe it's finally here?!)