~ But if stars shouldn't shine
By the very first time,

Then dear it's fine...

"So fiiine, byyyy, meee." he sings along and she almost falls off the park bench.

Morgana whips around and sees him standing there with an infuriating smile on his face.

"I didn't know you could sing."

"There's so many things you still don't know about me."

Maybe I'd like to keep it that way, she thinks; but instead of voicing her thoughts, Morgana asks, "How did you find me?" The answer is pretty obvious.

But he still does a little demonstration for her. Pulling his palm out of his jeans pocket, he creates a sparkling rose snowflake and makes it fly around on a hot July night. Eventually it falls by her feet and melts into the soft grass.

She smirks. "So what, now you can sing and you're Elsa too?"

"Would you like to hear my rendition of 'Let It Go'?" he begins earnestly, but she stops him with one 'please, spare me' look.

He puts his hands up in surrender and then moves to sit beside her on the large bench, making sure to keep some distance between them lest she runs away once more like a startled deer.

But Morgana doesn't mind. She taps on her screen to lower the volume, and then turns to face him. "I thought you'd be angry."

"Initially I was. Mostly at myself."

"At yourself? For?" She's not used to him owning up to his mistakes. Well except for that one time near the very end, but she prefers not to dwell on that.

"For being stupid enough to think we'd actually have a chance after all that happened between us."

"Yet here you are." She looks up at the pitch black, starless sky. "Ever the optimist."

"It's a disease." he informs her wryly.

"Then I sincerely hope it's not contagious." she says as she turns the music up, not in the mood for talking anymore.

They sit and listen to Morgana's favorite obscure bands. Merlin hums along to songs he's never heard before. She tries to tune him out, but it's not working. Not when it feels like there's an anvil sitting on her chest that can only be removed by him.

"For as long as I can remember, I've always known about my past. Being born with these memories is not pleasant. Neither is having sudden, violent flashbacks in the middle of World Literature class or a high school dance. And then there's the mark you gave me. They thought it was a birthmark, as if that isn't the most foolish thing I've heard in my life." She rolls her eyes. "But, then again, what other explanation could you conjure up for a newborn having a perfect jagged line placed conveniently down her stomach? God's art, my parents used to say. "

It's dark, and he really shouldn't be able to see it, but he does, astonishingly clear. When she pulls up her t-shirt and shows him the nasty scar on her abdomen.

His confusion is apparent, so she explains. "I covered it up the night we were together, after twenty five years I've become quite the expert at hiding the ugly parts of my previous life. Both internal and external."

"I'm sorry." He doesn't know what else to say.

Morgana goes on like she didn't hear him. "It served as a nice little reminder; every time I saw it, I was taken back to our last encounter. Some days I would spend hours sitting in front of the mirror staring at it, tracing my fingers over the puckered skin, imagining how much I would love to give you a similar wound, or something far worse, if I ever got the chance."

She looks back at him. "Clearly things didn't go as planned. When I first saw you at my shop, I felt your power immediately. I knew there was no way I could physically harm you, especially when I had no magic of my own. But then I thought: so what? Why not hit him where it'll hurt more?" She reaches over and gently taps his heart.

"It was far too easy; I was surprised by how readily you went along with my little game of not pretending to know one another. I didn't get it at first, but slowly I understood. The poor, centuries' old warlock was starved for company. Even if that company was no one other than the witch who destroyed everything."

Her mocking tone falls away with the last part. "Sadly, it turns out the witch heavily underestimated how much the warlock meant to her."

Morgana stares at her palm, still resting on his chest, and he puts his hand over hers. "Is that why you ran away? Because you cared too much instead of too little? And here I thought it was the latter."

She entwines their fingers together. "I wish."

Merlin pulls her closer and wraps his arms around her. She shrivels under his touch, feeling small and stupid and... safe.

Her lips part in a soft gasp when she feels his free hand slide under her clothes and press down on her scar. An icy sensation takes over and it's like she's burning up and cooling down at the same time. She looks down. It's gone. He's erased that piece of their past she's been carrying for so long.

"If only healing our inner scars were as simple. Truth be told, I don't know how to fix the colossal mess that we are, but I know that I'm willing to try because it's been months and I've tried my hardest to let you go, but the problem is that I can't. Morgana, I can't give up on us. I want to use this second chance."

His unspoken question of "Do you?" hangs in the air between them.

There's so many reasons for her to say no and turn away; but she crosses them off one by one in her head until she reaches the one reason for her to say yes.

She doesn't answer so much in words, but simply pulls him down in a searing kiss, pouring all her old sorrow and hope for new joy in it. He does the same.

Flowers bloom on the tree above them and a thousand twinkling stars suddenly light up the obsidian sky.

Morgana looks around in wonder once they break apart. All she's ever known was the dark side of Emrys' power, this was her first time witnessing the beauty of Merlin's magic.

"And it's all for you." he says as he holds her against his chest. "It'll only ever be for you."

~ Cause we can give it time, so much time, with me. ~

XXXXXXXXXX

Here's the happy ending!

Hope ya'll liked it! And if you want you can check out the song, my entire inspiration for the second part came from it tbh, it's such a perfect mergana reincarnation song for me!

(Stars by The XX)