When at last Merlin woke, he was lying on his back in bed. A soft light from outside fell over him, and he heard the rush of a relentless rain storm outside. He felt his eyes itch with unwept tears.

With a huff, he leaned into the pillows. Perhaps all of it, from escaping the Crystal Cave to the adventure in the Enchanted Forest to...he dare not think or hope about it...had been a dream.

But then, he heard his footsteps across the room and felt him standing at the foot of the bed. Merlin had lived so many lives with him that he could recognize him by his movements. He felt his blood go cold.

"Look who finally decided to wake up. Merlin, you are undoubtedly the laziest person I have ever had the misfortune of having to work with..."Arthur's familiar snarky teasing voice echoed off the walls. Merlin felt a jolt pass through his body like a horse had kicked him and looked up.

Arthur stood at the foot of his bed, arms folded, studying him. He was clearly worried, but trying to make it seem as if he wasn't so as not to alarm Merlin.

"Oh, don't look like you've seen a ghost, Merlin! I was dead, yes, but I'm not anymore..." He teased, shaking his head at the look of absolute wonder struck emotion on Merlin's face.

Merlin sat up. He could already feel his eyes filling up with tears. As he began to register that Arthur's promised return from Death, that he had waited and waited and waited for and had never come, had finally happened, he was getting overwhelmed.

Arthur studied him, and Merlin could tell he was a little bit uncomfortable, as his tears were starting to make him vulnerable. Arthur nodded and turned his back to Merlin, shuffling over to the window.

"You've been unconscious for three days. I suppose seeing me not...well...dead...?...I suppose it frightened you so much you fell into a coma. I...I am truly sorry for frightening you." He said with his back turned. Merlin continued to stare at him, choking back tears. He kept his back turned, and stared out the window.

"The day we won the battle, it started to rain. It's been raining and it hasn't stopped. When...when she couldn't wake you up, Regina went to find a memory potion to make me recall all that has happened since we...um...since we were together last?" Arthur kept his back turned. His voice was starting to break up and get emotional.

Merlin was moved by the warble in his voice. He hauled himself to his feet. With soft, brushing steps he went to him and reached out a quaking hand and laid it on his shoulder. He tenderly turned him around and studied him, laying a quaking hand on his cheek to see if it was real. It was not only real but also warm with life's blood in it. The last time Merlin had laid his hand on Arthur's cheek it was cold with death.

Arthur was about to say something but Merlin threw his arms around him so hard he heard his shoulders pop. Arthur let out a little pained breath instead and gently gathered Merlin close. Merlin was sobbing now. His knees had turned to butter and he leaned into the crook of Arthur's neck and wept bitterly. Only Arthur's steady arms kept him from melting into the floor in a puddle of his own sobbing.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice shook. He put his hand in his hair.

"Remember when I told you no man is worth your tears? And you said I wasn't...? Merlin? Please...please don't cry for me...Honestly, you were right, I'm...really not worth all this fuss, royal prat as I am.."Arthur teased, uttering a broken laugh, horrified by Merlin's dejected weeping.

Merlin reached up and collared him roughly. He was about to snap at him for the joke because he was worth a whole lot more than tears to Merlin who had repeated the brutal cycle of trying to save him for 25 million years...Merlin's voice died in his throat. He couldn't scold him for trying to make him feel better. How was he to know what he'd been through all these long eons of waiting?

"Shh...shh..."Merlin shook his head.

Arthur's eyes flooded tears too now. He swallowed hard, too upset by the look on Merlin's face to be embarrassed.

"Really, please don't cry. See...look at me! Really look. I'm alright now, Merlin? I'm alright, see...? I'm not hurt anymore..."Arthur frowned, mortified by the pain in Merlin's expression.

"Shh!" Merlin hugged him again, much gentler than before.

"Shh, I'm sorry I'm blubbering over you...you have no idea how long you've been gone. 25 ages...or more...or less. I don't know. It blended together...oh! oh, goodness...please don't talk...just let me hold you for a moment..." Merlin pulled him closer still.

Arthur ruffled Merlin's hair. Merlin cried harder then because Arthur was rarely gentle with him in their lives before. Merlin had, after all, been a servant for the better half of their lives. Only near Arthur's final days, had he been free at last to open up to him and reveal that, in his true heart, they were the dearest of friends.

Merlin cried because at long, long last the wall of king and servant came down. Now they were two sides of the same coin. At last, they could openly be two halves that composed a whole soul.

"I know you didn't want me to talk, but I honestly need to tell you something...Something I never told you...Merlin...Please don't cry. I know I treated you poorly as your king, as you were forced to pretend to be a servant...but...Merlin, I'm sorry about that...listen...I need to tell you that I love you..."he paused. Merlin felt the top of his head burn. He had always wanted to hear him actually say that aloud, but never thought he would.

"Really, I am sorry about the way I treated you. Please, I've been...I've been wanting to say that all this time since I've been away from you...Merlin, I love you, you are my truest, oldest, dearest friend..and I am deeply hurt that I have hurt you so badly...Please know that. I-I have to be honest with you-I never meant to..." Arthur stuttered as Merlin reached up and put a hand over his lips.

"Shh...you don't have to apologize to me...you don't. What were you meant to do, huh? You couldn't control the cruel hand fate dealt me, to always be fighting for the Destiny of Albion, but to watch you die every time. How could you know that this would be the price for saving me...for saving all of us? To save your kingdom, you shattered it. It was my duty, and my honor, dear Arthur, to gather the pieces and try at least to knit them together again." Merlin was shaking. He gulped at how deeply upset and truly vulnerable Arthur was at this moment. Perhaps more than he had ever been.

"I know you love me, Arthur. You...why you...you died for me. You died for me, although I wish our places were exchanged. I-I love you as well, in case you didn't know already?" Merlin felt his lips tremble. He had never been able to bring himself to accept that fact. He would have given his life a thousand, thousand times to save Arthur.

So, when Arthur laid his life down for him, it had rocked Merlin's entire understanding of the universe. He simply could not accept it. He was "sacrificed by a witch" in Merlin's mind all this time. But now, now he realized that, no...Nimueh had not sacrificed Arthur. Arthur had sacrificed himself willing at Nimueh's hand, to save Merlin first and foremost, and his people with him.

Arthur looked hollow now. Merlin felt a spike of fear, seeing a sudden cold change of forgetful darkness come over his features. He swayed a bit, as if he was about to swoon.

"I...I don't actually...I don't actually remember what happened all that well..." Arthur sniffed back his own tears. He studied Merlin. With a nervous puff, he took Merlin's arm and led him back over to the bed. Then, he pulled him up into it with him and laid down on his back, letting a soft breath through his nostrils that sounded like all the breath going out of his body.

Merlin lay beside him, scared now. Arthur suddenly looked mortally exhausted and weak, as if he was deathly ill. Merlin felt queasy.

"MM sorry...I-I don't know what's come over me, but thinking about it even drains all the life from me...I feel...I feel so exhausted I can barely talk..."Arthur admitted, voice airy.

"Don't talk. Arthur, I'm begging you, lay there and rest. It's okay...We're going to be okay. We'll figure it out, whatever we're meant to figure out, you and me, just as we have always done in all the lives we've lived together...Mm? Please...you don't feel bad because I feel bad...okay? I just missed you and...I won't lie... you died a terrible death...but...Arthur, please, let's not talk about that right now;you just rest."

Merlin realized absentmindedly that his hand had gone to Arthur's hair and he was running his fingers through it gently, ruffling it up to stand in small pillars that would have been quite amusing except for the sunken look of pure exhaustion in his eyes.

Arthur studied Merlin for a moment. Then, he weakly smiled and nodded. Merlin nodded back and reached and pulled him into his arms, knowing what he needed before he asked. Merlin felt his eyes forced shut, and he wanted to scream, but he gave him what he wanted. It had always been Arthur's dying wish, in every Legend, for Merlin to hold him at the end. Merlin's arms shook as he felt him fall asleep in his arms.

"Oh, if this is a dream, may I never, never wake up again..."Merlin leaned down and kissed Arthur on top of his head, pulling him closer. He slept like a child for several hours there in Merlin's trusted arms as the rain outside continued to steadily fall.