Merlin

How Long?

I didn't know what to think. Every moment sense Morgana's return had been riddled with emotions from the past; inescapable emotions. Even though I was good enough at masking them, I could not deny them any longer. Morgana came back with no memories; it was well enough that she did not have them, it gave me the chance to pay my debt to her. Arthur came back just as I was about to die; of course I wanted him back, but it was not how I expected it to be. And of course Mordred had to come back. Of all the people, why him? Then Gwaine was there. I had to admit, I wouldn't have expected anyone else to return. But I did not want any of them to return in this manner. I couldn't change how things unfolded, but if I had the chance to try again, I would've:
A. Killed Mordred when I had the chance.
B. Killed Morgause before she got the chance to meet Morgana.
C. Not poisoned Morgana.

Why did I never listen to Kilgharrah? I heard what he had to say, but I never believed him, and, of course, he always ended up being right.

So there I stood, next to Gwaine for the first time in one-thousand, five-hundred and fifty-nine years. It was that long, for the last time that I saw Gwaine was only a couple of days before Arthur died.

"So," said Gwaine. "Do you mind telling me what's been going on?"

"Yeah," I said. "Starting with what?"

"How about what is with this bloody place!" Gwaine shouted frustratedly. He was clearly not accustomed to this place yet. Not that I expected him to be.

"Ah," I said. "Well, it's sort have been about one-thousand, five-hundred and fifty-nine years since you died..."

"What?" Gwaine yelled both outraged and surprised.

"I know..." I said scratching my head.
"Arthur was just as surprised."

"How are we here?" Gwaine questioned.

"Honestly," I began, "I don't know. The only one that I knew would come back was Arthur."

"The only one?" he echoed. "You mean that there are more than just us three."

"Yeah. Morgana and Mordred are back," I said, the idea of Mordred being here still frustrated me, but Morgana was alright.

"Morgana?" he put his hand to his forehead like he was having trouble processing the information.

"Yeah," I said nonchalantly.

"So, she's here? You don't seem to worried, Merlin," said Gwaine.

"I'm not," I said. "About that," I added.

Gwaine seemed both confused and vexed. "Why?"

"Because," Arthur cut in. "Morgana is on our side now."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Okay," I said. "Gwaine, we will explain everything. But, can we walk back? I would like there to be no chance at all of Mordred finding us."

"Very well. Walk where?"

"Perilous Lands."

"Ah... What?"

"I told you, we'll explain. Let's go,"
I said.

"Fine," Gwaine responded rolling his eyes.

As we walked, we told Gwaine of everything that happened after he was gone. Somehow the bit about me having magic and being immortal got left out of the conversation, which was weird because I had no reason to keep that from him. We did tell him of what happened when Morgana returned, and how Arthur had died. It was very surprising how much sense it made despite the fact that we left all clues of magic out. I still couldn't figure out why we had.