Work Text:
He sees shadows of Arthur everywhere he turns.
In the trees and in the shining sun above. Sometimes it takes all the strength Merlin has not to shout at the injustices of it all, to sit at the lake and scream for what he had lost. But most of the time – the very long time, he must add – he wandered from place to place, meeting new people and trying to see the good in them once again.
Sometimes Arthur visits him in dreams. It’s not the real Arthur, Merlin knows that, instead its visions of the adventures they had been on before. Fighting the gryphon, or traipsing through forests for dragon’s eggs or indeed fighting each other in the marketplace or through their words which in the end meant little.
He sees Arthur’s bravery in the children he heals, those who are on death’s door unlike he was able to do with Arthur. Merlin sees him in the loyalty of friends and the truthfulness of their words.
But there is plenty of time to dwell on the past. Merlin must move on through countless wars where he tries to help the best he can, walking the country and eventually the continent and eventually the new world. And again, he sees injustices. Not of magic for that is long gone, but people fighting amongst each other because of their race and beliefs and Merlin almost sees some irony in it.
He spends years away from the lake and the site of Camelot. He returns at the turn of the millennium and sits for a while, staring into the lake’s depths. Merlin is close to sleep when he hears the clank of armour and the flap of a mighty dragon’s wing.
He turns and sees the shadow of Arthur and the Knights of Camelot in the darkness. Merlin smiles for the first time in a long time.