The visions; the flashes; the life outside of him...swept past. Awake and asleep; darkness and dreams.

"You've brought peace at last...With all your magic, Merlin, and you can't save my life...There's something I want to say..."

"You're not going to say goodbye." His companion, his best friend, had said.

"No, Merlin. Everything you've done. I know now...for me, for Camelot...for the kingdom you helped me build..." He could barely get the words out. His lungs were on fire...his throat threatened to close on him.

"You'd have done it without me." ...Ever humble, even with the knowledge the king now possessed.

Struggling for the last breath, he croaked out. "Maybe. I want to say...something...I've never...said to you before: Thank you."

The mist began to shroud his mind. He heard his friend in the background. Merlin's voice sounded frantic, before the darkness engulfed him. "Arthur...No! Arthur! Arthur! Arthur. Come on. Arthur!"

He blinked, trying to clear the haze from his mind.

"A sword in a stone." One man stated, sounding somewhat surprised. His accent was strange, as were his clothes.

The king scoffed silently...He looked, and saw what the man did. The sword was not what he expected. It was a shining silver color with a black wrapping on the hilt. There were no runes...nothing in the rather unwieldy style, that suggested it was anything out of the ordinary...completely unlike the sword he had pulled from the stone, years before. The block of stone was rather unimpressive, too.

The woman had a different accent. "What's that supposed to mean?"

A second man spoke up. "Well, King Arthur once pulled a sword from a stone as proof of his righteousness and royalty."

'Righteousness?' He thought to himself. At least the royalty part was correct. Although, he had already known of his lineage when it happened. The man wearing the glasses made it sound as if it had been a surprise when it happened.

The first man spoke again. "Excalibur."

Arthur would have laughed, had he been able to. The sword before them looked nothing like it!

'Glasses' was speaking, in a condescending tone. "Actually, that's a common misconception. See, Excalibur was forged by the Lady of the Lake at Avalon, but it wasn't given to King Arthur until after the sword he pulled from the stone broke in battle."

He laughed inside the confines of his mind. "'Lady of the Lake?' Are you some sort of idiot? Have you been in the tavern with Merlin?" Arthur tried to move, but couldn't. "MY Sword didn't break!"

He watched as the foreigners attempted to pull the sword from the stone.

Suddenly, another man appeared, as if by magic. Bathed in a white light, he was dressed in long, glowing robes and held a staff. The white beard reminded the king of Merlin's disguise.

"Welcome, ye Knights of the Round Table. Men of honor. Followers of the path of Righteousness. Only those with wealth of knowledge and truth of spirit, shall be given access to the underworld. The storehouse of riches of Ambrosius Aurelianus. Prove ye worthy, and all shall be revealed." The ghost-like sorcerer said.

Arthur's eyes widened, wondering what type of game was being played. The people in the room were most certainly NOT his knights.

"That's incredible." Glasses said, in an awestruck voice. "Certain scholars have speculated that Ambrosius and Arthur were one and the same, but that would have made him seventy-four years old at the Battle of Mount Badon. It's actually quite fascinating. See, Ambrosius was the son of the Emperor Constantine…"

"Mount Badon? Ambrosius? What are you babbling about?!" He felt his lips curl into a snarl. The first actual movement, aside from his mental ranting. Momentarily stunned, he missed the next parts of the conversation.

Another man, as large as Percival, but darker skinned, and sporting a gold symbol on his brow, spoke up. "Perhaps there is something in these tunnels."

The first man, possibly the leader, seemed pleased. "See, that is why he's here. Genius. We're going to split up. I'm with Teal'c. Yo! Wait up." He ran off after the large man, back into the fog.

Glasses and the woman soon moved away, too. The king was left alone, staring at a sword he couldn't touch.

An elderly woman was lying on the ground, between him and the stone.

"Thank you," she said. Her voice was weak and feeble. "My time has come. When you have lived as long as I, you no longer fear the journey to the next world. I have a gift for you. You showed kindness, and compassion. Those are the qualities of a true king..."

Uther suddenly appeared before him. "How can I be proud of a son who ignores everything that I taught him?... Who is destroying my legacy?"

He was then thrust into a familiar clearing. The stone and sword in front of him morphed into a more familiar sight. He could hear Merlin speaking to him in the background.

"You have to believe, Arthur...You're destined to be Albion's greatest king...Nothing, not even this stone, can stand in your way."

With the last words, Arthur felt himself able to move, but his body was stiff and didn't appear to be at his full command. He gripped the hilt with one hand...closed his eyes...

"Have faith." Came Merlin's whisper from behind him.

He heard another voice...the man who attempted to pull out the sword earlier. "All right, we passed the tests. So this should work."

At the same moment, Arthur closed his eyes and freed his own sword from the stone, just as he had done in the clearing. He held it up, and realized he could feel the physical weight of the blade, although it looked nothing like his beautifully crafted blade.

His vision narrowed, as if a helm with a very small slit in the visor was placed on his head. A full plate mail suit, something he only wore when jousting, appeared upon him. The king's body was weak, especially under the weight of the armor he now wore.

He turned to the man who held the impostor sword. Arthur felt the need to fight. He wasn't sure why, but he wasted no time to ponder on it. The king could barely see through the visor, but he raised his weapon.

"Should've known it wouldn't be that easy." The man in the dark green and black uniform muttered.

They began trading blows. Arthur skillfully gained the upper hand. The others were too busy chattering to make the fight worthwhile. The king saw little use in putting his full effort behind his swings.

The largest man in the group raised his weapon. Other than a loud noise, nothing happened. Even they appeared shocked.

"It appears to be a hologram." The dark man stated plainly.

Arthur's opponent was distracted. He turned to his companion, leaning on the sword. "A hologram?"

The king took the opportunity to strike. His sword went through the other man, causing a magical green light, but didn't appear to actually cut the man.

Arthur stepped back, it would only be fair to let the man have another go. "You need a lesson in swordplay," he told the man, but the words fell on deaf ears.

A few more strikes and the large man called out. "Colonel Mitchell, the sword."

"What the hell is this!" Arthur yelled. He realized, once again, that they were unable to hear him. The sword passed right through the large man, as if one, or both, weren't real. Arthur swung again, this time in anger that these others were employing unfair tactics. They had no honor...no knowledge of the rules of engagement in a duel.

The man...Mitchell...rolled, narrowly avoiding Arthur's strike. He came up with the sword in his hand, and Arthur managed to knock him off his feet. His jaw was set with determination. He stepped back and readied his stance. One more chance...that was all he was willing to give to this idiot in front of him.

Mitchell pushed his friend off and came back swinging. Arthur cursed the restrictive plate armor. He was beginning to feel weak under its weight.

Somehow, despite his lack of skill, Mitchell gained the upper hand. Arthur's body was giving out. It refused to respond to his commands.

"You gave me no choice..." Mordred's voice echoed through his head.

Arthur felt the searing pain of his opponent's blade cutting through him. His heart burned and the cavern, with the people and the imitation sword, melted away.

He couldn't move again. He felt immense pain in his chest. Forcing his eyes open, he saw her; the love he had left, just hours before. She looked older, as if the weight of the crown had taken its toll on her. Was it hours? Was it days?...Weeks, months, years? Merlin had carried him away from her. His mind screamed her name, but she slept on inside the odd coffin...

"GUINEVERE!"

"Arthur...Oh my god...Arthur?"

He could hear the panic in her voice. His eyes opened again, even though he couldn't recall closing them.

She was there...and so was the pain. His chest burned as if a dragon dwelt inside.

...And then there was nothing.

AN: I used various transcripts from Merlin and also from Stargate:SG1 season episodes 1 and 2. (I don't own them, they are just borrowed from online sources)

Special thanks, as always to Nance for her amazing proofreading!

So...this chapter was meant to tie into the last bit in part one, so for those of you who might not have put it together. Arthur was subconsciously linked to the hologram in the cave from ep 9x1 of Stargate. And I don't know when, but yes there will possibly be a rematch between Arthur and Cameron sometime in the future. LOL

Nance: OMG you're so funny! Yeah...Merlin and Arthur will definitely have their hands full defending their ladies. As for your theory...you're sort of close, but not quite there hehe. Since I described a child in the other story, I completely forgot about a physical description in this one. I will be remedying that in a future chap.

Flamie: hehe Here's a bit more, and it's getting closer!

TiP: Thank you so much for your monologue! It's going to be a long road for recovery, but I think in the end it will be worth it.

AWanderersHaven: Thank you so much for your review! It's always exciting to see a new name pop up! I'm so excited to lead you on even more! hehe

For everyone else who reads and has fav'ed and alerted to me and this story: Thank you!