So we meet again... (a merthur au)

Memories Once Forgotten

"So... Merlin," Arthur tried the name on his tongue, it felt odd but not unfamiliar. "The whole being-reincarnated thing... That was a lie?"

"For you, no." Merlin looked out the window, thoughts whizzing through his mind at warpspeed. "I never lied, I merely did not correct you when you implied we were both reincarnated. I'm the same Merlin as before, albeit older and not quite as mild tempered as I was a thousand or so years ago--I never could perfect lying-- so learned to I dance around it."

"A thousand years..." Arthur exhaled sharply, "how old are you now, then?"

"Let's see... you stop keeping track after the first two hundred years, but somewhere in the range of one-thousand five-hundred... give or take a decade?" Merlin chuckled at the confused and shocked expression that crossed Arthur's face.

"And all that time, you looked for me?" Arthur asked, a combination of wonder and somber etched in his face.

"Honestly, no." Merlin sighed, "After Arthur-- well the king's-- your-- death, I just wanted to be alone for a while. I travelled the world, learned a few languages, I actually met some of the great pioneers of science and the arts. Oscar Wilde, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Rembrandt, Leo... You would have liked Leo, he was a real pleasure to be around."

"Leo?"

"DaVinci, he had a wonderful mind, and skill beyond compare. ...Actually, he even modelled a few portraits after me."

"Are you serious?!" Arthur yelled, excited.

"No, not really," Merlin laughed, his dark mood lifting somewhat. "We were good friends, though. I was the first person he showed his blueprint for his design that would later become the tank."

"You are dropping a lot of names, right now. Have any proof?" Arthur asked in amusement, checking in the rear view to see Wade still asleep.

"I was friends with Sir Tennyson once, very close, I have a book of his with a handwritten enscription to me... That was one of the nice things about back then. You could drift in and out of lives of those with such great talents and feel the smallest inkling that you had made a difference in their life.

"I remember quite well, even now... It was 1835, some time in the spring. I had taken a stroll in the botanical gardens, fallen asleep beneath a tree.

"I'm unsure how long I was asleep, but I found myself awoken by the sound of humming. He was in his mid-twenties, with a focused expression and nimble fingers-- I only mention this because he was doing some kind of fidgeting with a coin with such complete focus that I found dexterous.

"He had noticed me on the other side of the tree from where he sat on the bench, but when I stood and straightened my suit he asked if I often took to sleeping in the dirt." Merlin got a reserved smile as he recounted the story, striking a hint of jealousy in Arthur. "Anyway, I asked him if he often interrogated strangers, and that made him laugh. I introduced myself as Emrys, from the beginning, when the king died I went by Emrys from that point on-- at first to hide my magic and past, then because I grew accustomed to hearing the name.

"After an hour or so of polite conversation, he invited me along to a poetry reading with a few of his friends. That's what you did back then, you know, had artistic get-togethers. While I can remember their faces and poetry, their names have long since faded from my mind, since we never met after that...